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OpinionNovember 2, 2000

Cape Girardeau enjoys good schools, a healthy businesses climate and dependable services. And we generally enjoy a low crime rate. That makes it all the more upsetting when a teen-ager is gunned down in a park in the middle of a residential neighborhood in broad daylight...

Cape Girardeau enjoys good schools, a healthy businesses climate and dependable services. And we generally enjoy a low crime rate. That makes it all the more upsetting when a teen-ager is gunned down in a park in the middle of a residential neighborhood in broad daylight.

When Jesus Sides was shot Oct. 19 in Indian Park as part of a long-running family feud, it reminded us there is a segment of our society that believes in settling differences with guns. It reminded us that we aren't immune from their actions here in Cape Girardeau, even when we're walking just a few blocks away from our beautiful downtown tourist district.

But it's not just one incident in one park that's disturbing. Police statistics show that there were 208 assaults in southeast Cape Girardeau as of mid-October this year. The next highest number was in northeast Cape Girardeau, with 87 assaults.

It's no secret there's a problem with Good Hope Street, just a block away from Indian Park. The combination of too much liquor, too much time and not enough sense is leading to an endless stream of incidents near the eastern end of the street. Neighbors routinely report large, loud gatherings in the wee hours of the morning. Those gatherings often turn nasty, and then the police become involved.

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So the question becomes: What are we going to do?

The police chief says his force is doing all it can with the resources available. The department has a substation on Good Hope Street -- unmanned at night because all the officers are out on the street, the chief says -- and conducts regular meetings with neighborhood residents. It's up to the citizens, the chief says, to report crimes and then follow through with testifying against the perpetrators.

But it's also up to our justice system to ensure everyone who participated in the Sides shoot-out is rounded up and prosecuted to the fullest extent.

What can't be allowed to happen is a situation like the one involving our friends to the south in Sikeston, where the city council filled almost two pages of the local newspaper with a warning to drug dealers who have taken over a section of their town. The city council wrote that it would no longer tolerate drug activity and code violations.

It was a bold declaration and good first step in reclaiming part of their community. Here in Cape Girardeau, we don't even want to lose part of ours.

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