Restraining Gangbangers

Injunction a good tool to use against gangs

By Kelvin Wade | | April 02, 2009 17:17

Last Friday, Fairfield resident Tyler Giugni was sentenced to 12 years to life in prison for his part in the brutal beating of Joseph Pettaway.

In August 2005, Giugni, Stephen Armstrong and Corey Reitmeier dragged Pettaway, who was homeless and sleeping in his car in the Parkway Community Church parking lot, out of his vehicle and viciously beat him, leaving him in a pool of blood. Pettaway was left blind and brain damaged.

The other two defendants will be sentenced soon on lesser charges. Reitmeier reportedly made a mocking cell phone video of Pettaway while he lay bleeding. These two predators should receive the maximum sentence for this despicable crime.

After reading that Giugni, Reitmeier and Armstrong were in a gang, it irked me that Fairfield hasn't cracked down on gangbangers with gang injunctions. It's an idea that has been bandied about for quite some time. Councilman John Mraz has pushed for injunctions and is frustrated with the lack of progress.

Depending on how they're worded, injunctions can prohibit known gang members from associating together, banish them from specified neighborhoods, prevent them from wearing gang colors and throwing gang signs, and establish curfews for gang members, including adults. Violations would allow them to be picked up for being in contempt of court. It's an effective technique that allows gang-infested neighborhoods to breathe freely for a change.

Last Friday, a Superior Court judge issued an injunction against 55 members of a street gang in order to break up the gang. Los Angeles has 37 active injunctions against 57 gangs. Even San Francisco has gang injunctions.

They're not without controversy. Some argue they violate the right to free assembly. But injunctions have been court tested and upheld.

It's not a magic wand that will solve our gang problem. But it's another tool. We have programs and activities to help kids stay out of trouble. It's important that we give kids options and try to help place them on the right path.

But we also need tools like gang injunctions and gang suppression units. And let's face it. Fairfield needs tough, aggressive, boot-on-the-neck law enforcement to deal with the predators out there looking to rot our city from within.

On a side note, coincidentally, I worked alongside Joseph Pettaway a few times years ago when we both worked for the school district maintenance department. So when I first heard of his horrible beating, he wasn't an anonymous homeless man to me. He was the easygoing, half-smiling co-worker I enjoyed working with nearly 20 years ago. My heart goes out to Joe and his family.

We should throw the book at thugs who victimize our fellow citizens. But we've got to take steps to disrupt the activities of these bands of bad guys. Not only do we have to give the Joseph Pettaways of our community justice, but we have to do a better job of preventing these horrors from happening.

Police Chief Kenton Rainey, City Attorney Greg Stepanicich and whoever else needs to be involved, let's get these injunctions in place and show all those punks and wannabes out there that we're serious. Peace.

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1-2-3-4 What the Hell are we fighting for?

It was a blunder to go into Iraq when they didn't attack us and posed no real threat to us. Most people get that now. But we're there. We're in Afghanistan, which was the right country to invade to make sure that the Islamo-fascists there don't pull off another spectacular attack against America or our interests. The number one interest of America in these regions should and is safety for the United States.

What I object to is spending our tax dollars and risking the lives of our brave servicemen and women to support brutal policies that our incompatible with our values. In plain English, it's been reported that Iraq is in the process of executing homosexuals for the crime of being gay. And in Afghanistan, a recent law has reportedly passed that allows spousal rape, that limits when women can leave their homes, forbids women from working or getting an education without their husband's permission and other measures that limit women's rights.

This is bullshit. I'm all for self-determination. I'm for countries making their own laws and rules. If the Netherlands wants legalized marijuana, then that's their business. Countries are free to set their societies up the way that works for them. To a point.

That point is breached when it's our tax dollars and the lives of our friends, children, brothers, sisters and parents on the line. They're not fighting, bleeding and dying so they can maintain the freedom to kill gays. We shouldn't subsidize a society's efforts to limit women's rights. It's our money that paid for the buildings where these horrible laws are made.

Our forces are abroad to protect American interests. As a by product, we help in rebuilding these nations.

You want to act like savages? You want to run your country like it's 200 AD instead of 2009? You don't do it with our tax dollars. You don't do it with our backing.

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How about getting off smokers' backs for a change. Read more on The Other Side DR blog by clicking HERE.