Number One, With a Bullet

As the self-appointed online chronicler of the Mon-Yough area, I guess I need to mention the recent rash of shootings in and around the city, notably:

• Jan. 15: James Robertson, 34, and Dominique Cochran, 23, fatally shot following argument in 1500 block of Scott Street. County police are seeking Leroy Harris, 23
• Jan. 19: Donyea Thomas, 27, fatally shot by unknown assailants inside Hi-View Garden Apartments, Coursin Street; girlfriend wounded
• Feb. 7: Unidentified 17-year-old male shot and wounded, 2500 block of Jenny Lind Street
• Feb. 19: Sidney McLean, 42, fatally shot outside J. Huston Bar & Lounge, Lysle Boulevard

And those are only the shootings in the city since the first of the year --- it doesn't count the Nov. 26 shooting in West Mifflin (one dead, two wounded).

Props to Mayor Jim Brewster for stepping up with his youth violence coalition, but this is not a McKeesport problem, it's a regional problem. Where are the mayors of West Mifflin, Duquesne, Glassport, Port Vue, etc.? It's time for them to step forward, too.

I haven't really written anything about this, mostly because I don't have anything useful to add. (That's never stopped me in the past, of course.)

It goes without saying that this is bad (I feel like Mr. Mackey on "South Park" ... "Gunning down people in the stairway of their apartment building is bad, mm-kay?"), but if I had any solutions, I'd be driving a patrol car or teaching sociology, not screwing around on the Internet.

I'm not going to speculate on why these victims were killed, though I have some theories (you do too, I'll bet), and it looks like these people had enemies who wanted to harm them.

The good news, if you can call it that, is that the Mon-Yough area doesn't seem to have a lot of random crime, where the victim doesn't have any connection to the perpetrator. That's no comfort if you have a shooting in your neighborhood --- or if someone you know gets shot, and I feel bad for people who knew the victims.

But you don't seem likely to get shot randomly by some nut. I was talking to a friend who works for a non-profit agency in Braddock, and he gets mad when people tell him the borough is dangerous. "I'm there all hours of the day and night, and I've been there for 20 years, and no one ever bothers me," he says.

Thank God, I've had the same experience in 15 years of wandering the Mon Valley, but try convincing someone from outside the area that it's relatively safe.

Look, when people are poor, other people will victimize them, and these days, it's almost always drug-related. It's the same story in Duquesne, Greensburg, Monessen, Washington, New Kensington or any urban area in Western Pennsylvania.

And frankly, there were always these sorts of crimes --- but 40 years ago, it wasn't drugs, it was illegal booze and cigarettes and gambling. Also, the criminals didn't have automatic weapons --- they beat the crap out of their victims, or stabbed them, or shot them with a six-shot "Saturday Night Special." You couldn't do a "drive-by" with brass knuckles or a leather sap.

I don't want to get on a gun-control rant, but only the most addled NRA apologist doesn't admit that cheap automatic and semi-automatic weapons are a major contributing factor in turning non-fatal beatings and knifings of "the good ol' days" into fatal stabbings.

And don't bother feeding me the line, "Well, if the police would enforce the gun laws ..." Bull. The market is flooded with guns. We need to start shutting them off at the sources --- at the manufacturers and importers --- and local and county police can't do a thing about that --- it's a federal problem. Your Congress, which is terrified by the gun lobby, has no will to do anything. Telling local police to "enforce the gun laws" is like throwing a drowning man both ends of a rope.

Anyway, like I said, I have no answers, just frustration that this stuff is happening, and that it's probably going to keep happening.

But I, for one, am not going to let it discourage me from doing what I want to do, when I want to do it, in the Mon-Yough area, and I hope you go where you want to go and do what you want to do, too.

(Don't be stupid. Hey, you wanna go pick up a hooker or buy crack, don't be surprised if bad things happen.)

So go see the library, attend a concert or a high-school basketball game, and never, never, never let the bad guys take over.

. . .

P.S.: Want to drop a dime on a bad guy, but do it anonymously?

Crime Stoppers Hotline: 1-800-4-PA-TIPS

Allegheny County Sheriff's Fugitive Task Force: (412) 350-4714

. . .

Jefferson Hills website: There was a nice article in the Daily News the other night (unfortunately, I can't find it online) about a man who's launched a non-profit website about Jefferson Hills. (Thank you to the Alert Reader who sent me the URL, because I misplaced the newspaper. Mea culpa.)

Someone should start a website about McKeesport. Wow, wouldn't that be something!

Bitter? Sarcastic? Me? Nah.

I'm going to go sit in the corner and suck my thumb. I feel a pout coming on.

. . .

To Do This Weekend: If you're not pouting, then head over to UPMC McKeesport Hospital, which is presenting "Amandla!! A Celebration of African Arts." It's a performance by peace activist and Malawi native Masankho Banda. That's at 12 noon tomorrow in the Kelly Conference Center, 1500 Fifth Ave. at Evans Street. Call (412) 432-7284. ... KDKA-TV newscaster and McKeesport native Harold Hayes will talk about his life and work at 4 p.m. Sunday at the McKeesport Heritage Center, 1832 Arboretum Drive in Renziehausen Park. Call (412) 678-1832.