Broad daylight: Crime concerns still an issue for Goldsboro ... and beyond

At 12:30 p.m., a 19-year-old was shot on a city street, outside a home in Goldsboro.

Down the road a bit, a mobile meth lab was found at a local motel, in a parking lot, operating in broad daylight in front of anyone walking by.

And those are just two of the latest examples of the problems that are facing Goldsboro and cities like it.

There is another hotel in town that has been robbed -- twice -- and a couple gas stations that have had their share of attacks as well.

And all of that should concern anyone who wants to have a safe, vibrant and growing Goldsboro -- and anyone else who wants to claim that crime is getting better and that it does not affect the health of the neighborhoods in the city and the families who live in them.

What is so scary about this recent batch of crime news is that they did not happen at 3 a.m. with no one around.

These violations were in the middle of the day, where anyone, even a child, could have walked by and become a victim, too.

A shooting at 12:30 p.m.? Now that is reason for concern -- and a reason to wonder if the criminals even see it as a risk to commit crimes anymore.

There are always excuses made for young people who commit crimes. They come from bad neighborhoods. They have rotten parents who give them no guidance. They are uneducated, so they have nowhere else to turn but to drugs and crime.

Perhaps it is time to be a little more strict, a little less understanding and to clamp down on young offenders, well before they end up as suspects in a robbery or shooting -- or as a victim.

The new breed of criminal really is young and stupid. They have no conscience and no understanding of right and wrong. They want something, they take it. Someone makes them mad, they shoot them, no matter who is around.

They are thugs and should be dealt with as thugs. Crime has to not pay from the first moment they venture into that arena -- or they get worse and worse.

And now, they are not even afraid to park their meth lab right in a public parking lot and create a drug right there in the city, near a busy area that sees a lot of traffic every day.

That's a sign that we all have to be more vigilant, more determined and more willing to call in a tip when something doesn't seem right.

This is a war -- and we need to act now to make sure we are on the winning side.

Published in Editorials on September 23, 2009 11:02 AM