The new year was barely two weeks old in East Baton Rouge Parish and already there had been three murders and three other young, innocent people shot and wounded by stray bullets. This unfathomable start to 2012 has the community once again angry and fearful, and the editorial in the latest edition of 225 calls on local leaders to make fighting crime a top priority. “We live in a parish in which many of us are paralyzed by the fear of crime. This is a shameful indictment of a place that likes to bill itself as ‘America’s next great city,’ ” says the magazine. “Especially shocking is that while our crime rates continue to escalate, those in large cities like New York are on the decline. How can this be? … This is an election year for the mayor and the Metro Council, and we, the people of this parish, must unite and demand something more than powerful soundbites on the 6 o’clock news. This is not a white issue or a black issue. It is not a north Baton Rouge issue or a south Baton Rouge issue. This is an East Baton Rouge Parish issue. The question to Mayor Holden, members of the Metro Council, Sheriff Sid Gautreaux and Baton Rouge Police Chief Dewayne White is a simple one: Crime is out of control in this parish, and what are each of you going to do about it?” Read the full editorial here, and send your comments to editor@225batonrouge.com.
Today’s poll question: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing Baton Rouge today?
