Woman fatally shot in the Thurston area
KVAL
Wendy Jo Whitaker, 35 was fatally shot early this morning around 6:45 AM in the Springfield Thurston area around the 5100 block of E street.
Jerry hunter, who lives nearby, said he and his wife heard maybe five rapid shots just before 7:00 AM.
" Rick Harrison, Springfield police captain, said investigators have not ruled out the possibility of a drive by shooting."
(Photo courtesy of kval)
According to some of my sources, there's also some acts of vandalism in the immediate area that same morning resulting in multiple vehicles having their tires slashed.
The question that I have is how long is the public going to put up with the lack of protection.
Perhaps, if our public employees are unable to perform the job that they were hired to do, e.g. protect our citizens, then maybe it is time to start firing those employees.
For example, I'm not sure if Springfield has passed this ordinance yet, however both Eugene and lane county will not respond to a home alarm system. It is required that a security officer investigate the alarm before a police officer is dispatch.
So what is the point? The police claim that there are too many false alarms. I agree. That is the responsibility of the installer to ensure that an alarm system is reliable and the responsibility of the business or home owner to prevent false alarms.
However, it is like the little boy that cried wolf.
What really gets me about this is that it was published in the newspaper!
How does the above analogy relate?
The same way that it relates to the district attorney's office publicly announcing which crimes that they will not prosecute, that due to lack of jail space, when someone is arrested it is mostly a "catch and release" scenario similar to fishing. It invites criminals and criminal activity in the area because they know that there will be no consequences for their actions.
The solution…
Start enforcing the laws, open up more jails and also budget to staff them would be good for starters.
And on the issue funding… As I've always said, it is OUR tax money which is divvied up in to different budgets. However, it is still always "right pocket, left pocket, it is still the same pair of pants."
E.g. people need to decide which is more important. Protecting our citizens or more park's.
Forget the " exclusion zones" BS, as they are proposing in the city of Eugene. Get serious and start enforcing the damn laws.
7 comments:
the slashing of the tires happened Saturday night, and that is the first event of anything in that neighbor for several years. When posting a comment, please verify the facts
Anon 754 is correct. The shooting was intended for the male that lived there and not the female but it looks like it was not a drive-by but instead a target.
Leave the commentary alone until you look through all the facts. I think another issue you need to bring up before sounding like an idiot is you won't find the mayor and council in Springfield making rotten comments towards their police. The other thing Springfield residents approved a jail that will be opened in 2010.
Calm down Francis-Even KVAL is calling it a "DriveBy" shooting. "Police worked through the night to locate two suspects in the drive-by shooting death of Wendy Jo Whitaker, who was found shot to death behind the wheel of her car on E Street in Springfield."
I think your snarkiness is wasted here because you and Robin seem to be on the same side. Prioritize what funding we do have to secure protection of the citizens first before other pet projects.
One thing I don't understand is how can Springfield pay to build and run a new jail but they can't afford to support the Lane County jail with enough funds to guarantee there are spaces available for their criminals. Is this new jail suppose to be a money maker or something? Is it staffed by illegal aliens? How can it be cost effective to build a new facility? Anyone help here?
Here are the facts… Although I may be a day off regarding the tires slashing… The facts are that it did happen, and that I was a day off is inconsequential. The real issue as bobkatt pointed out, is priorities.
The facts are that the mayor and Springfield police do have their act together vs. Eugene in my opinion. (I'm not putting down Eugene police, just the bureaucracy) Springfield has proven time and time again that is more responsive to its citizens.
Bobkatt
In the election of 2006, Springfield residents supported both the county proposal and the city justice center proposal. When it comes to public safety Springfield is more than happy to ante up.
Remember, according to the DA (before the Lane County cuts), even with the addition of the Springfield jail beds Lane County was still about 400 beds short of where we should be.
Thanks for the reply but I am still puzzled. If Spfd. is willing to pay for the beds it needs at the county jail, why does it need a separate jail? Is it too expensive at the county? As far as I know, the jails don't make profits so how can it be wise to build and staff a jail in Spfd. instead of renting some beds in the county jail? Something is missing.
Are you saying that the county jail is too small to house everyone necessary? I was under the impression that the county jail was not full, that they were even reducing the number of inmates that they normally have because of staff cutbacks. If Spfd is willing to build a jail and hire staff wouldn't it be cheaper just to pay the ones the county laid off? Sorry to be so dense.
Personally, I think the jails need to be less attractive so offenders would not want to go to jail. As it is a regular joe-working guy can't afford all the extras we give the criminals. Going to jail means hot & cold running water, heating and air conditioning, 3 square meals a day, laundry service, a gym to work out in, basketball courts, free medical care, cable TV...you get the picture. Illinois just opened a state of the art building which I thought was a government office building with beautiful glass walls, tile floors, new HD TV and decorated 'cells'. Something is wrong with that picture.
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