Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Woodland Problems

Last week, I encountered a group of about six teens outside a convenience market on Woodland's Main Street, and I sensed something was very wrong. The teens approached me and asked for a dollar. I refused. The teens looked very troubled, almost despondent, but it wasn't at all clear what it was they were upset about.

Life in Woodland is increasingly troubled, in general:
A recent spate of gang activity in Woodland drew a packed house of concerned parents at the Woodland High School auditorium tonight. Local law enforcement representatives were on hand to answer questions from the 200 people who attended a forum on gang violence sponsored by the Woodland Joint Unified School District. Some of the responses drew gasps from the crowd, such as when Woodland Police Department Sgt. Tom Davis, supervisor of the department's gang unit, estimated there were about 670 validated gang members in the city of roughly 56,000 population. Davis added that there were "several hundred others we haven't made contact with." A brutal attack on a 13-year-old boy Tuesday was the result of simmering tensions between street gangs in the city of roughly 56,000 people, police said. Three assailants attacked the boy Tuesday around 7:30 p.m. while he was walking near the corner of Lemen Avenue and Donnelly Circle, according to the Woodland Police Department. The boy was beaten with a bat and stabbed in the upper torso, police said. He was being treatment at UC Davis Medical Center, said Lt. Charlie Wilts, Woodland Police Department spokesman.

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