Audio clip
Miguel Garcia
DALTON, Ga. — As a 21-year-old Dalton man serves a 20-year prison term for the Memorial Day slaying of a Dalton High School football player, the community still grapples with the gang violence that a prosecutor said led to that tragedy.
Gangs in Dalton have become more prevalent in recent years, authorities say.
“Gangs are something that’s come on in the last five, six, eight years here, in Dalton,” Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood said. “We do have them.”
On Saturday, the Coalition of Latino Leaders, or CLILA, held its second awareness forum on gangs in Dalton for parents and teens. CLILA President America Gruner said, “We want to show that Latinos are part of the solution.”
Fifteen-year-old Christian Mercantety attended the forum to “keep ... focused on good things.” Christian, who wore his long, curly hair in a ponytail, said, “Young people in Dalton, they think they’re cool because they’re in a gang.”
Last year, five Hispanic men were charged with gang crimes in connection to the shooting death of 16-year-old Andre Johnson. District Attorney Kermit McManus revealed in December that Andre had “claimed” the Crips gang. A rivalry between the Crips and the Hispanic Tiny Winos gang spurred the shooting, he said.
In recent years, North Georgia has seen a proliferation of Hispanic gangs, said David Nahmias, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. He attributes this growth in part to the region’s burgeoning immigrant population.
“Immigrants don’t have deep community ties, and so their children are more susceptible to the lure of gangs,” said Mr. Nahmias, who prosecuted Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian immigrant gang members in the 1990s.
He said that young teens with nothing to do after school are particularly vulnerable to gangs.
On Saturday, Dalton Mayor David Pennington sat on a panel at the forum. He has emphasized the need to engage the city’s Hispanic community and provide young people with activities that will keep them away from gangs.
Mr. Pennington is working to rebuild Dalton’s Community Center, in part, to tackle the gang issue.
Still, gang prevention can also start with parents, said Mary Colon, a 35-year-old mother who attended the forum. Ms. Colon’s 14-year-old son Eddy was recruited by the Bloods and then threatened when he tried to leave the gang.
“He wouldn’t trust me to tell me he was in trouble,” Ms. Colon said.
She urges other parents to take the time to communicate regularly with their children, and to earn their trust. Ms. Colon knows parents are busy, she said.
But, she added, “This has got to be a priority.”
On The Web
For more information on gangs and gang prevention, visit the National Youth Gang Center at http://www.iir.com/nygc/
