Gun Violence is a Markell Problem, not Just a "City" problem

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

Sixteen-year-old D’Andre Green was outside the Brookside Community Center late Saturday with his best friend, waiting for a ride to pick them up, when shots rang out and everyone scattered. The bullet did not hit the gunman’s intended target, but instead cut down the unsuspecting teenager, according to the victim’s father.

In the hours after the news of D'Andre Green's murder, the comment section on the News Journal filled with posts about crime and gun violence and its creep from the City of Wilmington to local suburbs.

There's is no denying it - the City of Wilmington has a per capita gun violence and murder rate that has thrust it into the top 1% of most violent places to live or visit. In fact, Wilmington has been at critical mass for several years. Meanwhile calls for intervention have been largely ignored. It's clear that the City itself lacks the resources to maintain peace, even its Mayor has failed to produce a detailed plan for intervention, despite running a platform that promised to reduce violence. And its city council recently sent a Hail Mary shot to the Center for Disease Control begging for assistance in addressing their crime pandemic.

But, Wilmington isn't the only Delaware city facing higher than average crime statistics. D'andre Green was murdered in Newark while waiting for a ride home. He was an innocent bystander and not an intended victim. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was in Brookside, 3.9 square miles and one of Newark's roughest neighborhoods.

The locals will tell you that Brookside is far from surburban paradise. Although originally built to house workers for the now dismantled Chrysler plant, the current neighborhood carries a bit of a reputation for crime, drugs, violence, and poverty. However, it would be unfair to fail to mention that there are small enclaves within the 4 miles that comprise the census designation tract of respectful, friendly, caring residents.

Brookside's challenge is its central location in Newark, DE, a city a with crime rate similar to the Dover, Milford, and Seaford, and a violence rate that according to the FBI exceeds the national norm. While Newark still pales when compared to Wilmington, the reality is that what appears to be an increase of crime within the suburbs likely has little to do with sprawling urban violence. Newark's violence isn't something new. It's just something that is seldom publicized - which likely makes Newark even less safe than Wilmington. Folks going into Wilmington know what they are putting on the line. Folks coming to Newark often think they are heading somewhere "safe" and they let their guard down. They stand at the end of long lane waiting for a ride. They end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Wilmington's problem isn't just Wilmington's problem. Violence is a statewide problem - one our Governor has failed to address, year after year, over two terms. It's time for Markell to put his money where his mouth is and declare war on violence and crime. Delawarean's deserve better. Certainly, D'andre did.

1950s Construction of Either Brookside Shopping Center or Brookside Elementary School

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GOLD Alert: Please Help Find Dale Shortlidge!

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

We see them often enough - Gold Alerts - issued for a special class of the missing: the elderly, the disabled, and those at risk for suicide. Gold Alerts work like Amber Alerts - they cause us to be more aware of the people around us as we go about our day. If the alert works, someone thinks they may have seen the missing person and calls the police. That tip may be the tip that brings a family member home.

We hope it's never you or yours - because this Gold Alert hits especially close to home - the uncle of our son's friend. If you've seen Dale or think you might have seen Dale sometime since December 19th, please call it in to the police. Please help us bring Dale back to his family.

From the News Journal: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20131226/NEWS/312260058/Police-seek-help-locating-missing-Glasgow-man

Police seek help locating missing Glasgow man

Dec. 26, 2013 9:39 AM |

Dale Shortlidge / New Castle County Police

New Castle County police are asking the public’s help in locating a Glasgow man who was heard from a week ago when he texted his family he was “headed to the beach.”
Dale Shortlidge, 42, who lives in the 100 block of Bartley Drive in the Pleasant Valley Estates community, was reported missing on Wednesday, said Cpl. Jacob Andrews.
Family members told police that they received a text from him on Dec. 18 indicating he was going to the beach, but he had no known access to a vehicle, Andrews said.
Officers checked surrounding areas and places that Shortlidge was known to frequent, but could not locate him.
Andrews said his medical status is such that there is real concern for his welfare.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call police at (302) 573-2800 or visit the website at: www.nccpd.com. Tips can also be phoned into Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333.

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Starlight Foundation's Gift to Chronically and Terminally Ill Children in Delaware

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20131222/NEWS03/312220037/Teaching-sick-children-boosted-by-tablet-gift

...the school serves a tiny student body with unique needs. Its students all have some kind of major medical condition that makes attending a regular school difficult or impossible.“Most of our students would be home-bound if they weren’t here,” said Coleen O’Connor, the Fist State School’s director...

The First State School is generally unknown to most. I had my first knowledgeable introduction to the school when a friend found her daughter a candidate for the program. It's made all the difference for our Maura Grier, who in her own right is a quite an amazing young lady with an amazing family to match, and whom the NJ article highlights:

But the equipment is especially helpful in dealing with some of the symptoms the First State students have to overcome if they are to learn.
Take Maura Grier, who’s in 7th grade. She has several health issues, including a connective tissue disorder that makes many of her joints and limbs weak.
Maura’s mom, Colleen, says the tablets allow her to read and watch educational videos in the positions that are most comfortable for her.
“If she isn’t feeling well, she can work from any position. She’s supposed to keep her head straight as often as possible, so she can set the tablet up on books so that it’s basically at eye-level,” she said. “It’s so light that she can carry it with her and put it where she needs it to be. You can’t read a book like that, and you certainly can’t write like that.”

Writing can be painful for Maura, especially if she has to do a lot of it. So typing on an iPad presents a huge advantage.“If I have to write a lot, my hands start to hurt. I get frustrated and it’s hard to concentrate,” she said. “I just can’t learn very well like that.”

And since the general fiscal year is not quite at a close and we know many of you are still contemplating your your end-of-year write-offs - here's our endorsement of the school and it's directors pitch for donations:

It’s a huge advantage for our teachers, because they can take one student aside and work with them individually while the others work at their own pace on the tablets,” O’Connor said.Ideally, the school would have a tablet for every student, though they’re getting by now by sharing. Potential donors can help by visiting starlight.org and clicking on the “Starlight Wish Lists” tab.

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Cecil County to Host KKK - Call it the Duck Dynasty Phenomenan...

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

From the News Journal: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20131220/NEWS/312200041/Klan-group-gather-Cecil-County-tonight

By now, y'all know that I was feral child, who enjoyed the freedom and safety of rural childhood. I spent the first 10 years of my life living in the back woods of Cecil County, Maryland. Back then, our address was 301 Beggars Row Rd. (Street name has since been changed) the one and only conduit to Elkton's 5th Avenue - And yes, Elkton, MD has a 5th Avenue. 5th Avenue was a dirt lane that ended in large gravel cul-de-sac.

When you grow-up rural, you live by the sun and the moon. We could count on the nearby stream to nurse bullfrogs for catching and the old oak woods to leaf up each spring, always ripe for exploring. While our house had real plumbing, several of the home owners still relied on out-houses. A nearby farmer once brought my mother a just-slaughtered chicken to cook for Thanksgiving. (We weren't just rural, we were poor.)

I grew-up oblivious to our poverty, a childhood filled with mostly fond memories. But, there is one particular memory that I have never been able to shake - what happened on 5th Avenue. Beggar's Row Road was generally a quiet and peaceful place. But, at least once a month, as dusk settled across the farmland and forests, a caravan of cars and motorcycles sped down the lane and turned onto 5th Avenue destined for the gravel dead-end - for their regular KKK gathering. It was on these nights that my parents kept us - all five children - very close to home. In fact, all five of us were put on notice early on that we were to never go down 5th Avenue.

So, it is with a heavy heart that I read the NJ article. It's been more than 25 years since our family left Beggar's Row Road to call Delaware home. Yet, it seems that no matter how much things change, they tend to stay the same.

The Klan will march in Elkton, their right is guaranteed by the constitution. They will cloak their message of hate through their mastery of peaceful protest. But, there is something we can do about it - we can ignore them. Because negative attention is positive attention and no attention at all is even better than negative attention.

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