Archive for Harrisburg Crime
WHP-21 Turns The Heat Up On Lavenda/Mayor Reed
WHP-21 Unleashes The Dogs On Lavenda/Reed
I gotta say…this is the kind of stuff that gets me more excited than a redneck at a NASCAR race-
Tonight, a mere twenty-four hours after yesterday’s ass kicking WHP’s Jason Bristol gave to John Lavenda and the Sports Hall of Fame debacle, he followed up with a one-two that would knock Ivan Drago to the ground and leave Rocky laughing speaking coherently.
Here’s the video- and a link to the full text of the story-
Another Lawsuit Against The City
Eric Veronikis reports in today’s online version of the Central Penn Business Journal that “Three contractors that worked on the broken down Capitol View Commerce Center project in Harrisburg filed a class-action lawsuit this afternoon against Harrisburg and Commerce Bank/Harrisburg.”
The city acted as a clearinghouse for the public money invested in the project, and the contractors said they cannot get answers from city officials either. There are about $17 million in city, county, state and federal tax dollars promised for the project.
Do Reed and Newhouse Censor Crime Data?
Apparently so.
A female in her mid-twenties was shot in the head while walking on North Street between Second and Third this past Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Fortunately, the scumbag who shot her didn’t have much experience with a handgun and only grazed her skull- and she lived.
But the fact is- a young professional female who was walking alone towards an upscale eating/drinking establishment was shot in the head on Saturday night.
And possibly the only thing that’s worse than this poor girl getting scarred for life for simply walking the streets of Harrisburg alone after dark is the fact that the Patriot News and PennLive did not report the crime until Monday afternoon.
Over twenty four hours passed before David Newhouse’s “news” paper/internet news site decided to post any information.
And ironically, mere minutes before the article appeared on PennLive, a poster in the Harrisburg forum questioned why the news organization hadn’t yet reported on an important and certainly newsworthy crime.
Why did the Patriot/PennLive not report on this incident immediately?
A logical assumption would be that they would have posted the news no later than 8AM Sunday morning.
But “logic” and “The Patriot News” don’t seem to know eachother. Maybe someone can introduce them?
David V. Vitale, Legal Counsel in the Democratic Caucus Office of Legal Services sent out a mass emailer at 10:06 this morning. In the email, he stated that the family of the victim did call the news organizations [none were specifically named in the email] and they informed the family that they do not report on crime unless the incident is confirmed by The Mayors Office.
I, too, had a similar experience when I heard of the Patriot News Correspondant who was robbed at gunpoint while walking on Herr Street. I called the records office and was informed that, essentially, nothing is official unless the Mayor says it is.
Which is complete and total bullshit.
The Mayor should not EVER have the ability or right to censor or approve the distribution of information on what happens within the city.
The Mayor is OUR SERVANT.
But apparently, he sometimes forgets that.
Steven R Reed is a SERVANT of the people of Harrisburg. It’s not the other way around.
News of this heinous crime should have been on the front page, above the fold and on every news channel by Monday morning.
But it wasn’t.
A message was sent out on Facebook earlier today. An attorney in the Capital sent a mass emailer. And the topic was brought to light on the Harrisburg forum of PennLive before ANY news of this event hit our mainstream media.
When, Mr Newhouse and Mr. Reed, is that going to change?
The people who voted you into office over twenty five years ago DEMAND to know what’s going on in their city.
And you, sir, have ZERO right to deny us that information.
This Is Home- This Is Mean Street
A good friend of mine got shot in the head this past Saturday night.
The fact that I had to type those words into this post is simply too much for me to wrap my head around.
You see, I used to think that this crime problem we’re having in the city is all Mayor Reed’s fault.
But lately, I’ve been thinking it’s a bit different than that.
No, I’m not giving Reed a pass by ANY stretch- as I do believe that he could be doing more proactive public safety work rather than a limp reactive stance. But this problem is not limited to Harrisburg.
Crime is up across the board in a lot of cities. Especially depressed areas like ours.
The less that people have and the more the people are taxed, the more desperate acts will happen. In greater numbers, no less.
And we can have all the crime watch groups we want- but if national trends don’t change- we’re all pretty much fucked.
Sure, leave the lights on in the living room and front porch. Walk in groups. Don’t walk the streets at night. Lock your car doors. Be aware of your surroundings.
Almost sounds like we’re talking about a third world country, doesn’t it?
I’m not saying that we need to bury our heads in the sand. We DO expect to live in a safe community. We SHOULD be able to walk to the store past dark without fear of being mugged. And singer-songwriters who are walking to a relatively upscale bar which sits in the shadow of our state’s Capitol should not be getting shot in the head en route.
I don’t have the answers. But I’ve got plenty of questions.
