[StBernard] Change Louisiana: Crime Epidemic Must End

[Westley Annis]

A Special Message from John Georges on the Crime Problem in Louisiana 


Share your thoughs on crime here
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January 6, 2007 

Dear Fellow Louisianans:

Less than a week into 2007, my heart is heavy and I feel great pain for
Louisiana.  We had six murders in New Orleans on the day of the Sugar Bowl
--  fourteen in the area the course of a week.   Included in this are 36
year old filmmaker, wife and mother of a 2 year old, Helen Hill, whose
husband, physician and musician Paul Gailiunas was also shot three times in
their Marigny home, and Hot 8 Brass Band drummer Dinerral Shavers.
<http://hcrowd.bm23.com/public/?q=message_link&fn=Key&id=bzrrlijtielpitdezrh
bdglltshpbmo&link=axxcrytpmimchbdxqjimhchwczcsbbb> Crime is no longer just
"a problem" - the graphic in the Times-Picayune today shows it is a cancer
rapidly eating away at the City
<http://hcrowd.bm23.com/public/?q=message_link&fn=Key&id=bzrrlijtielpitdezrh
bdglltshpbmo&link=akmdfilnzgpqdlchycuqtnhuqhywbmk>  -- it is an epidemic
that threatens to finish the job Katrina started 15 months ago.  The murder
rate in New Orleans is on track to be 8 to 12 times above the national
average.   Crime is spreading beyond the New Orleans borders and becoming a
problem for all of Louisiana.  

Safe levees, clean government, money to rebuild, affordable insurance, good
schools  - none of these matter if we are not safe from violent crime.  With
so many of these murders coming from what appears to be drug related
violence, we have to declare war on the urban terrorists today.  No matter
how enticing the culture and spirit of New Orleans is, we could soon reach a
point where no business, no family, no tourist will risk their life to be a
part of it.   Once again our elected officials lack the sense of urgency
necessary to solve this problem so it is time for the citizens to take
action and demand a permanent solution to this pandemic.

The City and the NOPD cannot do this alone -- the crime wave has spread
beyond the borders and is threatening the entire state.  The lowlifes know
our criminal justice system is broken and they are taking every advantage of
the situation.  It is time for the federal government and the state to work
together to find a permanent solution to this problem - we either need to
train the national guard for a greater police role long term or we need to
assign additional permanent state troopers to New Orleans because abandoned
areas are notorious breeding grounds for crime.  Witnesses need real
protection, our courts need to work, our DA's need the resources to do their
jobs, like a centralized computer system to track career criminals, and we
need enough public defenders to do it right the first time.  The 12%
conviction rate in the New Orleans courts is unacceptable and dangerous.

Our leadership in Washington needs to demand immediate increased federal
action on the drug problem because the drug cartel is poised to create new
nationwide distribution channels through New Orleans given its strategic
importance. We cannot let the urban terrorists at home take away the
freedoms our young men and women are fighting to protect from terrorists
abroad. 

Today, a friend told me that when she could not sleep last night, she was
moved to read the internet tributes to Helen Hill
<http://hcrowd.bm23.com/public/?q=message_link&fn=Key&id=bzrrlijtielpitdezrh
bdglltshpbmo&link=bvnvkfrujmehedmwyfwtfxihjahqbke> .  She and Dr. Paul
Gailiunas were New Orleanians by choice, a Canadian doctor/musician and a
South Carolina film maker, they met at Harvard and married 10 years ago. On
a trip to New Orleans decided it was where they wanted to make their home
and moved here in 2001.  In 2004, Dr. Paul founded Little Doctor's
Neighborhood Clinic that served working poor and Helen won a Rockefeller
Filmmaking fellowship.  Two years ago, their son Francis Pop was born and
they were so excited to have a native New Orleanian who would grow up with
the magic of Mardi Gras. After losing everything to Katrina at their
Mid-City home, they came back, renting a shotgun home in the Marginy that
would accommodate their potbellied pig as well.  At her 1992 Harvard
graduation, a Louisiana classmate, Charles E. Roemer IV gave the student
address, "asking graduates to "say `yes', say 'fantastic 'and change a life
forever."  By all accounts she and Dr. Paul took this advice and ran with it
-- and it took them to Louisiana.  For Helen Hill, we should have a simple
goal: create a New Orleans -- and a Louisiana -- where all children can grow
up with the magic of Mardi Gras - safe, wonderful and devoted to community. 

If you have any leads to any of the 14 murders committed last week, call
Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or toll-free (877) 903-7867.  If you have
any suggestions or comments on what we need to do to fight crime now, click
here to make comments on ChangeLouisiana.com
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bdglltshpbmo&link=aobihydqpfbjhhwycjgrjzksfmiobgj> .  It will take each and
every one of us to solve this problem. 

John Georges 

P.S. If you have anything interesting happening in your community that
should be featured on ChangeLouisiana
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johngeorges at changelouisiana.com.  Our interactive news and information site
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