Neighborhood shootings are no joking matter
Published June 17, 2004
The mayor of Boynton Beach has an interesting solution to the city's crime problem.
Since January, some of Boynton's poorest streets have been plagued by an outburst of violence. Police have investigated at least seven shootings, including several drive-bys.
Three people have died by gunfire, compared to one killing in 2003.
In two cases, police have made arrests. But they've been hampered in most of the others. Witnesses, apparently fearing retaliation, won't come forward. There's speculation it's all tied to drugs.
Mayor Jerry Taylor commented on the situation earlier this month. At a City Commission meeting, he said the problem was one of "bad guys against bad guys."
Then he offered a remedy:
"I'll probably be criticized for saying this, but I wish they were better shots."
That wasn't all. When a commissioner asked how officials could help fight crime in the city, Taylor answered, "Do you have a weapons permit?"
I don't know why the mayor expected to be criticized. All he did was jokingly advocate that certain citizens be used for target practice.
Boy, how come no one thought of this sooner?
Instead of sending crime suspects through the justice system -- where they're likely to be returned to the streets some day -- wouldn't it be more efficient to sponsor lessons for them at firing ranges?
Just last week, a 21-year-old named Timothy Alexander fired two or three shots at an 18-year-old. He missed. Alexander was charged with aggravated assault.
Now, if Alexander had been up on his firearms skills, the authorities could have charged him with murder and maybe put him away for good.
His intended victim would be dead, but there's no need to feel bad about that. The mayor tells us they're all bad guys.
Of course, you'll always have your spoilsports who look down on this kind of thinking.
I found a bunch of them in the neighborhood that's most threatened by the gunfire.
Did I mention that the neighborhood we're talking about, just north of Boynton's City Hall, is made up mainly of black people? That most of the victims and shooters are black?
People here have the quaint idea that city officials should be striving to protect their safety, not making light of bloodshed.
Donald Godfrey, 45, was visiting at the Boynton Terrace Apartments, not far from where some of the shootings took place. He was shocked at what the mayor said.
"That's real sad. That's an insult. That's a racial remark," Godfrey said.
He was with a half-dozen men and women, sitting in the shade on a sparse lawn outside the public-housing complex, sipping Budweisers and gabbing on a 90-degree afternoon.
Jennifer Butler, 36, expressed alarm for her son, Joshua, 13. He rides his gleaming red bicycle on the same streets where people are dodging bullets.
"The mayor wouldn't care," she concluded, "about a black boy being shot."
The people I spoke with said they hated the violence. But when they look around, they don't see hardened criminals.
"These kids aren't bad," Godfrey argued. "They don't have a mother or father, a lot of them. They're not raised right. They don't have the understanding, the love, the support."
This doesn't give you a pass if you shoot someone. But it does suggest that a better solution might be shutting down the drug trafficking that fuels the violence.
Taylor told me he has indeed urged police to crack down on the dealing. And he insists he didn't mean anything racial by his gunfire remarks.
"Bad guys come in all colors," he said this week. "Good people shouldn't be insulted. Only the bad guys -- and if they're insulted, I don't care."
Taylor probably means no harm. But words matter. And he chose his badly.
A white mayor joking about raising the death count in a black neighborhood. What kind of comfort is that to people who live there?
Howard Goodman's column is published Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. He can be reached at hgoodman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6638.
