Delegate Tom Rust has arranged for a Town Hall Meeting to discuss Gang Violence in Sterling . Our local elected officials need to hear from all of us concerned about conditions in our communities brought about by the presence of Gangs and those Illegal Migrants engaged in unlawful activities.
Please make some time to attend this important event.
(Sterling, VA) — Delegate Tom Rust announced a Town Hall Meeting on Gang Violence to be held in Sterling. Rust will be joined by Congressman Frank Wolf, Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott York and Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio in discussing state, local and federal efforts to combat gang violence.
“After speaking with many residents of Sterling, it is clear that people would like more information about what steps have been taken to stop criminal gangs,” said Rust. ”I hope this will serve as an opportunity for the public to find out more about the steps their government is taking to combat gang violence, and to give their representatives feedback. I am especially appreciative of Congressman Wolf, Chairman York and Supervisor Delgaudio for participating in this meeting.”
WHO: Congressman Frank Wolf, Delegate Tom Rust, Chairman Scott York, Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio
WHAT: Sterling Town Hall Meeting on Gang Violence
WHEN: Wednesday, July 1, 2009
7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Park View High School Auditorium
400 W Laurel Avenue
Sterling, VA 20164
WHY: Community Meeting
For more information, please call (703) 437-9400 or email trust@tomrust.org.
[...] For more information on this, go to NovaTownHall. [...]
“Our local elected officials need to hear from all of us concerned about conditions in our communities brought about by the presence of Gangs and those Illegal Migrants engaged in unlawful activities.”
Two questions – why did you capitalize Gangs and Illegal Migrants? and Do the elected officals not need to hear about legal migrants or citizens engaged in unlawful activities or are you trying to contend that these groups do not engage in unlawful activities?
Eric, those you mention in your last sentence of para two we have been pretty much able to keep a workable lid on over the years around here — and I’m talking 30 years of observation in the Park. It’s the other guys which have caused a succession of public meetings to discuss a deteriorating crime situation. It is also those other guys who have me out on the street on Neighborhood Watch patrols, something I never even considered until about four-five years ago when the “invasion” became so intense and obvious. That’s a fact, lad. You don’t like it? Tough.
Actually very simple Troll, per the FBI, we get rid of gangs, we get rid of up to 80% of U.S. crime.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-01-29-ms13_N.htm
Can we get a summary of the meeting last night? I was out of town and could not make it
Troll:
I will respond to your second question.
Our experience is that homegrown knuckleheads although a threat to public safety can be managed with current assets including existing public policy. It is the substantial influx of non-American knuckleheads that places a greater strain on our Public Safety infrastructure. Not to mention the even possible greater strain on other Gov’t forces such as Zoning and Public health to name but two. No jurisdiction can import or accept additional burdens on Public Safety and other Gov’t services without both a strain as well as a drop in overall performance. Our resources are finite and in the current economic climate on the decline. All the more reason to develop aggressive public policies aimed at causing an exodus of Illegal Alien knuckleheads. Then we can concentrate our focus on our home grown troublemakers. Which for those responsible is a full time job in and of itself.
PS: Listen to Wolverine, he knows what he is talking about. His knowledge base on this matter comes from real experience.
W. Nelson,
Frank Wolf did a 10 minute overview of the history of the task force, timeline, etc. He just secured another 3 million for the Northern VA and I believe Shenandoah Valley Gang Task Forces. Wolfe just put forth legislation in Congres for 35 million for an FBI/ATF Gang initiative. Wolfe also mentioned a new FBI report that showed NOVA as a bright spot in combatting gangs, contact his office for a copy.
Tom Rust spoke at the state legislative level suince 2001, stiffer penalties and sentences for gang crimes. Enforcement bills (sorry, didn’t write them down), using the VA maintenance code (mentioned Ch 3) as an enforcement tool. Rust also expressed an interest in making the Gang Coordinator that works with the VA AG’s office (this position was created under AG McDonnell) a statewide office.
Chmn York didn’t say much, patted himself on the back for keeping the LCSO’s office budget intact during the last budget cycle. Either York or Delgaudio mentioned a 2 million $ grant from the VA Dept of Housing to fund incentives for people to buy blighted properties, as well as 1.6 million from the county budget to assist county employees on the purchase of a home. A total of 3.6 million to provide incentives for homeownership, but I did not hear if that was for the whole county or just the east. Probably whole county. Delgaudio said that the Sterling sub-station would be finished on early 2010, York stated that is would be fully staffed.
Delgaudio also mentioned an EPA grant that McGimsey applied for, targeting improvements at the Sterling shopping center. He was pretty skeptical about getting the EPA involved at the county level, basically said “the EPA scares the hell out of me” but was willing to look at the plan involved. He mentioned the owner of part of the Sterling shopping center was being engaged in dialogue in reference to the vacant space. Delgaudio also mentioned further Women’s self defense classes in Aug, no date yet.
Edward Ryan with GRIT spoke on intervention and youth programs to keep kids at risk kids out of gangs.
Det Spurlock and Capt Frye with the LCSO were there, they answered questions on gang stats and overall trends. Crime, gang and other, is at a low right now all over NOVA. Frye spoke to the crack down after the crime spike last summer and the outcome was gang members self-deporting. There will also be continued dialogue with the public in these gang awareness forums, looking towards Aug.
There were questions from the audience. Our own G. Stone encouraged York to fulfill his promise to meet with Corey Stewart in PWC on initiatives to combat blight and gangs, Yorks response was less than enthusiastic and he inclined that PWC was not having much success. He is full of it of course, but Stone asked him again to work regionally as Rep. Wolfe encouraged. We’ll see if York ever makes the effort.
Those were my notes, there were other questions, some legitimate, some crackpot, but it was an okay open forum. Probably 150 people were there, mostly long time citizens of Sterling Park.
Cathymac:
Excellent report !
I would add that Sterling Park and the residents of Loudoun County are lucky to have Capt Frye of the Sheriffs Dept managing law enforcement efforts in sterling. No organization is perfect and opinions abound regarding the effectiveness and efforts of the Sheriffs Dept,whether general or specific in nature. But make no mistake, Capt Frye is dedicated to making Sterling a better place to live and work. After he gets moved in to the new Substation, I am convinced you will see even a greater improvement in public safety in eastern Loudoun county, if for no other reason there will be far more man hours dedicated to direct law enforcement activities as opposed to ancillary or transportation tasks associated with travel to and from Leesburg.
cmac, thanks for the update, it is appreciated.
I got a call today from one of the attendees who was amused that Alanna Almaeda showed up and ponied up her ten year old to ask Rep. Wolf about supporting the DREAM act that would give amnesty to illegal aliens up to the age of 25. Wolf correctly observed the question had nothing to do with the gang problems in Sterling Park and said he wasn’t supporting it.
Funny you guys will draw the illegal alien activists from PWC that can’t get traction locally, and even funnier that they try to use their kids as props when doing so. I’m sure some folks there were wondering what in the heck was going on with children from outside the county asking amnesty questions at a neighborhood meeting about gang activity in Sterling Park. Then again, you’ve probably seen enough antics from the illegal alien crowd that such things aren’t as unusual as they should be.
I got very positive comments about Greg Stone’s performance. Way to keep the heat on, and make elected officials go on record about fulfilling (or not) their campaign promises!
The Sterling substation is going to save 6000 manhours driving back and forth to Leesburg, which in my estimation is over 2 years of one Deputy’s salary. The Deputy time on the streets is going to make a huge difference and I concur that Frye is the guy!
GregL, I didn’t even know what the Dream Act was but I assumed it had something to do with something for illegals. Could you imagine if I had brought my 11 year old daughter to the meeting to ask a question on the opposite side? I think I would have had my tires slashed by now.
Greg L
Thanks for helping us get the word out on this thing. As you well know we need all the help we can get.
For those of you who have not seen Greg’s video work from the Republican convention you should check it out. Greg had some top notch interviews with varied political figures.
Good report, Cathymac. What I found interesting from my perspective is the estimate from Rick Frye that we have between 50 and 100 hardcore gang members in our area plus the usual transients and that many of our problems stem from the criminal activities of the “associates”, i.e. those trying to qualify for hardcore membership. He mentioned specifically the rash of car break-ins we are experiencing.
In my personal opinion, this is bad from the aspect of the sheer number of street criminals with which we have to deal. However, this also means that these guys are less experienced, make mistakes, are easier to spot, and are more easily scared off when they realize they are being watched. This emphasizes the need for a wider and more intensive citizen participation in Neighborhood Watch. You will never sweep your area totally clean unless NW absolutely floods the streets. However, we are now getting feedback that these cretins are very wary of active watch areas and tend to avoid them in favor of those places where citizens are judged to be less alert and less apt to pick up the phone and call the LCSO. We have a growing number of incipient watches in the Sterling area, but we need to blanket the place to be absolutely effective.
There was an elderly gentleman from the Lansdowne retirement coummunity who lodged a query as to why he was not seeing more patrol car visibility in this area. I and Mrs. Wolverine have often discussed that between us as we go on patrol after patrol without seeing all that many LCSO units out there. We are now jokingly agreeing that Rick Frye must have acquired some of those Klingon warship cloaking devices from the old Star Trek series. The patrol cars are out there, I can assure you.
I believe I may have remarked on this blog some time ago about a 911 call we made concerning a possible house burglary. We hadn’t seen a patrol car all night up until midnight when we made the call. Whammo. Four patrol cars and a K-9 team within three or four minutes. Another incident came when I put in a call to the Community Policing Officer to come to my place for some urgent consultations. The CPO and a second deputy were in my living room almost before I could shut down the computer. Just a couple of days ago about midnight, we decided to pull into a parking space overlooking Sterling Boulevard and do some static surveillance. We hadn’t seen a patrol car all night. No sooner had we parked when we witnessed no less than three separate pullovers or approaches on the Boulevard in rapid succession, at least one seeming to be a DUI arrest. They are out there as far as we are concerned.
That 10-year-old with the Dream Act question. Like most people in the room, we immediately suspected something fishy. Never dreamed, however, that it was the child of dear old Alanna. What a great display of courage. Send out a kid to speak your piece. Gives you a better appreciation of what Greg L. has to go through in PWC.
The Stoner is getting pretty good at ambushes in public meetings. He certainly had Scott York flustered for a minute there. Not that I ever expected York to follow through on his previous, spur-of-the-moment promise to consult with Stewart on the illegal immigrant issue — which I also distinctly remember, although not the part about having Stewart speak directly to the Loudoun County BOS. I’m still not holding my breath on this. Quite frankly, I think York may be between a rock and a hard place on this given the current makeup of the BOS when you get past Delgaudio and Waters. But, is his heart in it? From his response last night about the success or lack thereof in PWC, I am beginning to doubt it.
Wolv, Although people tend to take what they want from the 50-100 estimate, I agree that it was important that Frye and Spurlock differentiate between the hard core gangsters and the wannabe’s. The GRIT guy touched on this as well, since it is the new recruits and wannabes that perpetuate most of the petty crime – car break ins, property destruction, etc.
The Landsdowne elderly gentleman really didn’t get an explanation, did he? He voiced his concern and no one responded, or maybe I wasn’t listening.
A Middle School teacher made a good point about not reaching a wider audience, which I tend to agree with. The same 100-150 people go to everyone one of these meeting and there were very few parents of MS and HS aged kids there. Unfortunately the same MS teacher chastised people for “using these forums to get their names in the paper”, which I thought was pretty snotty.
My experience this AM with the Sheriffs Dept was quite good. They were prompt in responding to my call concerning last nights break in of my car and theft of my brief case. Apparently there was a rash of auto smash and grabs last night throughout Cascades and Countryside. I was lucky enough to be a target.These little pricks smashed my passenger side window and extracted my brief case packed full of very important stuff.
The responding deputy was prompt, professional and concerned.
Why would any sane person leave a briefcase “packed full of very important stuff” in his car?
No, I’m not defending the “little pricks”, but surely gstone must have known better than to leave ANYTHING of importance and/or value in a car.
Guess G is a mortal human after all..
Perhaps the stuff is important to only G. Stone and of no value to the smash and grabbers, but lessons learned.
This seems to happen every summer in Cascades, not sure if it is just bored HS punks or the wannabes that were discussed at the Park View meeting.
Lovisa
Your so right, it’s my fault. If only had I not left my stuff in my locked car in front of my house those little angels would not have been forced to cross over into the dark side and become “little pricks ”
let me apoligize in advance for having corrupted our youth.
@ Cathymac
Thanks for that excellent summary!
GStone –
Inane comment! You know very well what I mean.
But it’s hard to admit to being stupid or un-thinking, I know.
It’s hard for me to admit that even as perfect a person as I am, I might do dumb things at times. Like driving away with my purse on top of the car….
Damn, Greg, sorry to hear about that.
Anyone make it by the fireworks at the golf course ? Tom Rust had quite a presence there.
GregL,
During the Town Hall meeting Congressman Wolf answered the question by stating that he didn’t believe the two were related but that he would “look into” co-sponsoring the Dream Act.
I didn’t hear about this illegal alien gang attack stabbing on July 4, in Sterling Park.
“One of the men grabbed him from behind and both attacked him. They stabbed the victim repeatedly, then fled the scene.
Witnesses were able to give a good description of the assailants to police and both Salmeron-Zelayandai and Hernandez-Trochez were apprehended shortly after the attack.”
Another illegal alien gang attack in Loudoun County
http://www.examiner.com/x-5919-Norfolk-Crime-Examiner%7ey2009m7d7-Another-illegal-alien-gang-attack-in-Loudoun-County
From what I have seen thus far, HE, it looks like this was an inter-gang thing. Could be wrong, but I doubt it.
Doesn’t Mrs. Almeda live in Frank Wolf’s district and isn’t he her congressman? Why should she be excluded from speaking to him?
Does she have to pass a test to be allowed to speak to her representative or to have her child address him?
HE:
Thanks for the link. It inspired me to do the following might I suggest we all do the same. keep the heat on .
Dear Supervisors:
Whether you want to admit it or not, we have a problem in Sterling Park. Contrary to popular belief among certain members of this board, as well as some county officials, there is not a force field at the Loudoun county line repelling Illegal migrants and associated Gang members from entering the county. In fact, due in large part to your ignoring the issue, Loudoun County has become a destination of choice for illegal gang members.
Just last week Delegate Tom Rust had a Town Hall meeting in Sterling Park. The representation from the Board of Supervisors at that important meeting consisted of Chairman York and Supervisor Delgaudio. The rest of you were absent. This board will never begin to find solutions by ignoring or showing no interest in the issue. There are no more important issues than the safety and well being of this counties citizens.
At the Town Hall meeting Congressman Frank Wolf spoke about doing two things.
1. Work on regional solutions- All the more reason to consult with other jurisdictions such as Prince William County to find local solutions.
2. Step on the Gas- Do something NOW ! Stop dithering.
The stabbing in Sterling Park on the 4th of July by a wanted Illegal Gang member should underscore the seriousness of the situation and compel you to action. I am not sure what further evidence you need.
Regards
Greg Stone
Another illegal alien gang attack in Loudoun County
http://www.examiner.com/x-5919-Norfolk-Crime-Examiner%7ey2009m7d7-Another-illegal-alien-gang-attack-in-Loudoun-County
–
Greg Stone
Yes, Firestorm; and I’ll bet Alanna loses no opportunity to natter at Wolf in multiple forums every time she gets the chance. The subject of that meeting was specifically the status of our local efforts to combat gang activity in Sterling. Wolf brushed off the question, as well he should have. The Alanna query was out of order and irrelevant to the discussion, a blatant attempt to throw a monkey wrench into the situation and a cowardly one at that, since the perp herself did not have the courage to stand up. But, then, that’s typical Alanna and her little cabal.
Why is Alanna such a threat? I don’t think coming to a meeting with some people whose comments I have read here is cowardly at all. In fact, it sounds fairly brave, judging from the remarks I have read here.
Any time a congressman or senator are in a public gathering, a constituent should be able to ask any question he or she has.
Actually, the Dream Act and gang problems are not so unrelated as one would think.
Alanna is part of the problem, not the solution.
“Actually, the Dream Act and gang problems are not so unrelated as one would think.”
If true, yet another reason why the Dream Act should be called the Nightmare Act.
SHOT TO HELL: LAW ENFORCEMENT IS SO SCREWED BY
OBAMA & HOMELAND SECURITY: SO MUCH FOR COMMUNITY SAFETY.
The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it was revising a program that authorized local police to enforce federal immigration law — a controversial aspect of U.S. border policy.
Opponents said the program, known as 287g, was intended to identify criminal aliens but instead has led to racial profiling; it allowed local police to identify and arrest illegal immigrants for such minor infractions as a broken tail light. Program supporters said it has been an effective tool for combating illegal immigration.
The new guidelines sharply reduce the ability of local law enforcement to arrest and screen suspected illegal immigrants. They are intended to prevent sheriff and police departments from arresting people “for minor offenses as a guise to initiate removal proceedings,” according to Homeland Security. The program will instead focus on more serious criminals.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124726259338825191.html
Hopefully, one of those jokers she is so determined to protect will break into Janet Napolitano’s car and steal her briefcase full of important papers.