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Show 12 Vernal Express Wednesday, August 6, 1997 Gangs violate the law by Carol Jewart Society Writer The Uintah School District and Uintah County Sheriff's Department will hold a Gang Awareness Update Conference at Uintah High School, Aug. 14 from 9 a.m. to 1 1 a.m. The topics to be addressed are: 1. How to recognize youth involved in-volved in gangs. 2. Gang activity in the Uintah Basin. 3. Safe schools policy. 4. Displays of gang paraphernalia from our area. 5. What can parents and communities commu-nities do? 6. What can schools do? "The gang problem in the Uintah Basin is very similar to the problems prob-lems on the Wasatch Front," said Detective Keith Campbell, Uintah County Gang Project. "But on a smaller scale and not as violent. The gangs here are in their infancy stage but they're building and growing." In the summer of 1991, a local gang consisting of 10 youths from the same neighborhood with an average av-erage age of 10 years old, was involved in-volved in numerous incidents of graffiti and theft. It wasn't until 1993 when gang involvement increased. A new group emerged. Campbell explained ex-plained how this group emerged as the result of a local youth being incarcerated in-carcerated in the Decker Lake Youth Facility with a gang member from Chicago, 111. This relationship provided the necessary education for this youth to establish a particular particu-lar gang in our area. There were actually ac-tually rival gangs, thus observing a major increase in graffiti, assaults, and aggravated assaults. In 1995, with the assistance of a grant, the Uintah Basin Gang Unit was created. This unit consists of officers from the Uintah County Sheriff's Department, Vernal City Police, and the Naples City Police. "It's not against the law to be a gang member but it's the crimes they commit. Technically when I talk about gangs, I am talking about criminal street gangs. Even though the criminal street gangs in Vernal change from week to week we still try to keep on top of it," Campbell said, "and we've been pretty successful." suc-cessful." "Age wise the gangs are the same as on the Wasatch Front. We have had some as young as eight and nine years old, up to the thirties." said Campbell. "In the past, gangs were brought together for cultural reasons now they don't really need a reason." Detective Rich Montanez of the Salt Lake Area Gang Project shares his knowledge of the common gang member who often share common identifying signs. Pictures may show members throwing up handsigns, declaring If you have any Society News or Feature Story ideas Call Carol Jewart at Wm VERNAL Express Come sec what's blooming this week at Split Mountain Greenhouse a L kid (glffiS Trees & Shrub Special 2S Off All Evergreens Through Aug. 12. Lrxaietl on the joui.Ii kle of Itwy 40 injciicn Ojxii Monday through Salunl.iv. 9-6 Sumbv 1-3 780-3312 their gang affiliation. Bandannas of every color are used to claim gang affiliation and serve as the flag of the gang. These may be worn as a sweatband, hanging from a rear pocket, or covering the top of the head and tied in the back. Montanez went on to explain, oversized over-sized pants, sagging at the waist, with the cuffs rolled up are common. com-mon. Sagging is recognized within the gang culture as a non-verbal form of disrespect similar to verbalsymbolic ver-balsymbolic obscenities. "The criminal gang member first started the baggy clothes to conceal weapons," Campbell said, "but on the flip side of the coin you look in the Sears catalogue and you will find the style now is the same as what gang members are wearing." Baseball hats are popular, and may include gang names or symbols sym-bols written on the outside, underneath under-neath the brim, or inside the hat. Athletic shoes are preferred, such as Nike, Fila, Converse and other popular brands. According to Sgt. Joe Guzman from the Homicide Bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department, "members of the Mexican Mafia shaved their heads when they went to war. This became an identifier within the incarceration setting." "Here you don't see a lot of gang colors, bandannas, tattoos and things because they figure that's like waving a flag," explained Detective Campbell. "In your bigger big-ger areas the gangs want to dress in their colors because their numbers are so great that law enforcement can't deal with everybody that's doing do-ing that same kind of thing. Here if we see four or five kids that are dressed alike and in the same colors the law enforcement deals with them right then." The male-female ratio used to be 20 to 1, now it's 15 to 1 and the function of the female used to be auxiliary but is now independent. Detective Rosie Rivera and Detective Victor Quezada of the Salt Lake Gang Project describe the roles of female gangs in the gang community. , .... Females have been involved in gangs from the beginning of the 1900's. Since that time the female members are on the increase. The role of the female gang has also changed. Depending on the style of gang, girls may have different roles within their gang. The roles range from a secondary or subordinate to male members, to a sexual object within the gang culture to an equal participant with males. Female gang members are more likely to belong to cliques or offshoots of male-dominated gangs. "We do have female gangs in our area," Campbell said, "They arc just as wicked as their male counterparts. coun-terparts. They dress the same, act the same and are just as violent, sometimes they are even more violent vio-lent because they are female." Low self esteem, lack of complete com-plete and proper education, and r. tl 1C 789-3511 in Jensen iirouna lovrri fatalistic outlook on life are contributing con-tributing factors to the increase of crime and violence among females said the detectives of the Salt Lake Gang Project. Opportunities to build self-esteem and create a belief in their own self-worth through achievement are also important. These young women need to be taught proper values to instill motivation moti-vation and ' the desire to become better-educated, law-abiding citizens. citi-zens. These female gang members need help in finding ways out of these gangs. Many female gang members stated that there is nothing else for them to do, and that they believe that once you're in a gang, it's too late to get out. What is the attraction? Detective Campbell says "that many youths join gangs and get involved in their crimes because they are young and if they get into trouble not much really re-ally happens to them. "Probably the biggest reason, though, is curiosity. Gang membership member-ship does a lot of things for a lot of people. For some it is a sense of belonging, be-longing, for others a challenge, a thrill or replaces a family or maybe even for protection. There are a few kids that join gangs to get structure in their lives which should be taught at home." Campbell further stated that most gang members go to school. How well they do is another story. "These kids want to go to school because that is where the action is. They don't want to sit at home and be bored. "These kids that become gang members come from all walks of life. There are as many gang members mem-bers that come from two family homes with six figure incomes, as there are from broken and low income in-come homes. We noticed a rapid emergence of activity among the members of the Native American community. It was discovered that this may be related to the fact that several Native American youth were enrolled in boarding schools in California or Oklahoma. This would technically fall under the jurisdiction ju-risdiction of Tribal law because they spend much of their time on the reservation, but when they attend at-tend our schools and commence with criminal activities, then they fall under our jurisdiction." said Campbell. "We work a lot with the metro gang unit out of Salt Lake and I went to Colorado to consult on a gang data base that we arc going to put together. It's a cooperative effort ef-fort which includes the Vcmal City Police, Uintah County Sheriff's Department, Naples City Police and Roosevelt is on board. We have been very successful especially on the cast side of Uintah County. "If wc sec a group of kids out past curfew, which for 16 and under is 10:30 p.m. lo 5 a.m., 1 7 -18, 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. seven days a week unless accompanied by a parent or guardian, parked in no parking, or y4v wi lv vlv ydv iv ylv i?pl i Sif For current UDOT 24 hour road conditions report IDial 1-800-492-2400 iX siv A p iff fS r New Event... Ulnlati County Eali SESOUICiHTiHHIAL WG-OF-WAR COMPETIJIOH villi ll $10 for 10 perton team iig. 8. Fty df 5 pm In ftenf Of the 0'3"rf 5M"itt contact Pegv Palion, r. oawn nrarinn thi geasorl'S efsf and Holiest Sryes? AsN tor 7V6 "TOP TEN" ?: 789-8920 These famous petroglyphs have been marred and perhaps destroyed by grafatti. A $500 reward is being be-ing offered for information leading to the arrest and convicition of those responsible. no loitering areas, they will be talking talk-ing to one of the officers. We have had a few complaints but when the day shift starts the next morning they can tell within three hours whether the gang unit had been out the night before. The reports are small and very little burglaries and destruction of property. When kids are out after curfew there is one thing they can do and that's get into trouble. The movie houses are closed and most organized orga-nized activities are over. What's left is criminal trespass, criminal mischief, mis-chief, criminal burglary, illegal consumption of alcohol and drugs. "There have been 30 gangs with 250 identified members in the Uintah Basin," said Campbell. "Suppression efforts have been successful, suc-cessful, however the problem Is still very much alive in our area." Steve Nawojczyk, Arkansas Attorney General's Gang Task Force said, "I don't pretend to have the answer. No one has the answer. When I was a kid, my schoolmates and I joined groups like the Boy Scouts and the 4-H Club. Now, we have thousands upon thousands of kids who are involuntarily made members of the 5-H Club, homeless, home-less, helpless, hungry, hugless and hopeless. It is a feeding ground for gang leaders lo provide a twisted version of the love, money, protection protec-tion and respect that they often can't find at home." Nawojczyk believes the schools could help address the solution: Tolerate no misbehavior by gang members or others in schools. Ban the handsignals and types of dress, such as bandannas, etc. Maybe a study of the school uniform should be looked in to. Find creative ways to punish students stu-dents who misbehave without suspending sus-pending or expelling them. Designate adults in the schools to identify and remove gang-related graffiti. Use school volunteers to teach students who can't read how to read.. "It takes a community to raise a child," believes Campbell. "Everybody needs to pitch in. We can't just leave it up lo the schools and (he law enforcement. The multi-angle approach we've taken is to educate the adults to recognize the problem and to deal with it and educate edu-cate ihc youth not to get involved. f Rangely ft SEPTEMBERFEST ,0:tTALENTSHOW W Sept. 11-5 pm Rangely Elks Park "All Kinds of Acts Wanted" Mall form to or for more Info: CHERI SMITH 174 County Rd. 46 Rangely, CO 81648 (970) 675-8021 Name Address , City Phone , Taient . Utah State University Uintah Basin Branch Campus Announces a Second Scholarship Drive. Scholarships Academic iLcadcrship Sterling Scholar iRodeo General Specific Areas of Study Applications available at VcmaljRootcvcll Offices for those who have not submitted an application this year. Deadline: August 10, 1997 Resistance type education and suppression sup-pression on the other hand, dealing with the crime they commit. "I think one of the greatest things you can do with your kids is to have great communication. Kids join gangs for different reasons and it's the parents that's the last to know. "The gangs in Vernal and the surrounding sur-rounding areas do not deserve recognition and this is the reason the names of the gangs are not going go-ing to be published," continues Campbell. "It's a double-edged sword. If you don't publicize anything any-thing about gangs and what they are doing, then the public thinks there are no gangs, or when you do publicize publi-cize them it encourages the gangs, increases membership and crime because they are proud of the media attention." Effective teaching alone will not Community Calendar August 2-16 Quilt show to be held at the Western Heritage Museum. For more information call Marget 789-7399. August 4-9 Uintah County Fair to begin at 8 a.m. on Monday at Western Park. The theme is "Walking in For more information contact Leah Hamson, 781-5300. The Uintah High School Girls Basketball program will be spon soring a Girls Basketball Shooting Fundamentals Clinic at the Vernal Middle School. For more information or to sign up for the clinic, stop by the Uintah Recreation District Office on the 3rd floor of the State and County Building August 6 The PDQ Team Penning Association will sponsor a jackpot during dur-ing the county fair beginning at 7 p.m. They will run an open B, 5, novice, two-on-two and youth divisions. The jackpot will be open to Tri-County residents. Call Cindy Merrill at 789-6002. August 7,8,9 and 11 Ashley Community Theatre presents, "From Darkness To Light" at 7:30 p.m. at Vernal Junior High School. For more information call 789-0720 August 12 The Chamber of Commerce will hold a luncheon at the 7-11 Ranch Restaurant at 12 noon. Guest speakers are the Uintah County Library Board. Teen Recovery Meeting for 13 to 19-year-olds with a drug or alcohol al-cohol problem, 7 p.m. at 110 N. 500 W. 3 Try outs for Outlaw Trail doggers will be held at 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Powerhouse Theatre, 435 N. Vernal Ave. For more information call 789-2378. August 14 Fibromyalgia SyndromeChronic Fatigue Syndrome support group meeting with questionaires regarding yours or family members' mem-bers' symptoms with question and answer discussion to follow. Snacks will be provided at the meeting. For more information call Judy Johnson at 789-5121. Gang Awareness Update Conference to be held at Uintah High School from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., sponsored by Uintah School District and Uintah County Sheriff's Department. October 11-25 Tickets for the Vernal Temple Open House are available by calling call-ing locally, 781-2554 or toll-free, 1-800-216-5844. Anyone is wel come to attend the open house. Tickets will be mailed to your nome. To place items of public Interest on the community calendar mai to Vernal Express, P.O. Box 1000 or call the Express at 789-3511 Materials subject to edit. Deadline Is Monday at 12 noon. impact the gang crisis. Only when the total community acts in concert will we see a downward trend in gang activity. Effective classrooms are a large part of an appropriate prevention strategy. Also needed are appropriate investments in targeted tar-geted gang prevention and intervention interven-tion funding; family-centered, therapeutic ther-apeutic solutions to difficult problems; prob-lems; and appropriate levels of alternative al-ternative settings, including lockup facilities which always include appropriate ap-propriate programming to teach these young people to act as caring community members. When we achieve the vision in which there are childyouth focused, fo-cused, community based, family centered, service systems in place across the state, then we will successfully suc-cessfully resolve not only the symptoms, symp-toms, but the disease itself. Kunz, 789-2769 or Janis Bigelow, the Footsteps of the Past in 1997." at 152 E. 100 N. 4 W Main Vernal |