Interesting "conjunction of events" in Emerald City these last two days. Yesterday, the Standard-Examiner published this short piece, buried in a Top of Utah section sidebar. We'll republish the whole story, inasmuch as it was very short:
OGDEN - Police say they received eight separate calls complaining of people shooting guns in the city early Sunday morning. Eight different vehicles or residents were targeted between 2 a.m. and 2:50 a.m. Sunday.Gang war in Ogden? Go figure. According to Boss Godfrey's 2007 municipal election campaign propaganda, Godfrey is a crime fighter; and no such thing could ever happen while crime-fighter Godfrey is in charge. Such events are impossible in Emerald City, under the little wizard's watch.
Ogden Duty Lt. Scott Conley said damage was found at some locations where gunshots were heard. At one of the locations, on the 2700 block of Quicy Avenue, six 9mm shell casings were found in the street, and six bullet holes were found in windows, siding and shingles in surrounding homes.
On the 2800 block of Jefferson Avenue, four bullet holes were found in a Dodge Durango.
The total area spanned 26th to 30th street, and Monroe Boulevard to Lincoln Avenue.
Conley said a white sedan and a red sedan seemed to be travelling together, and the shots seemed to have come from the two vehicles.
He said one victim told police he received a message on his answering machine saying that he had started a war and he was next.
"We will be following up on all leads," Conley said.
Of course we at Weber County Forum already know Godfrey lied about his so-called crime-fighting credentials.
And here's where the previously mentioned interesting conjunction of events comes in:
We got this email missive from Ogden City Council Chair Amy Wicks on Monday morning:
I was one of the people calling 911 at 2:45 early Sunday morning. We need to address the gang issue now...and not wait for Department of Workforce Services to possibly get a program up and running sometime after the end of summer. All of our neighborhood revitalization programs are a waste of time and money if we don't take care of this issue NOW. Would you feel good investing your own time and money in the East Central neighborhood if you woke up to the sound of gunshots in the middle of the night several times in the past year?Godfrey the crime fighter? Ha...Ha...HA. Would YOU invest your money in Ogden while a declared Ogden "gang war" was going on?
At long last one of the responsible adults in Ogden City government has become acutely (and uncomfortably) aware of the wholly unattended gang problem in Ogden. And now that Amy's on the case, we're quite confident she won't let it rest.
It'll be interesting to see what happens to the Ogden gang problem... now that actual grownups like Council Chair Wicks are back in charge.
That's our take, although we do readily admit we haven't been attending crime conferences for the last 35 years.
And what say our gentle readers about this?
