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WILKES-BARRE — It was a comment about a local festival that, at first, sounded funny, but then struck a bit of fear in the heart.
“I heard they had an ammunition booth,” someone said about the community event.
Another said, “Yeah, and a meth booth, too.”
Funny? Not really, but statements of stark reality? Yes.
Many towns in Wyoming Valley and especially its major city, Wilkes-Barre, have seen an alarming increase in violent crime.
Druggies, desperate for a fix, are taking loaded guns into convenience stores and mom and pop operations, pointing the guns and threatening store owners — sometimes firing those weapons — all for a few bucks to get what they need from their corner dealer.
Add to these incidents the ever-increasing drug-deals-gone-bad where the desperadoes fire guns at each other and we have a situation that, frankly, scares the hell out of residents, visitors and people passing through.
Even a harmless homeless man like Kurt Swan became a victim of the senseless violence. His body was discovered last week — he had been stabbed several times. He was 49 years old.
Mayor Tony George has yet to fulfill his promise of restoring “law and order” to the city. He campaigned using that slogan — “law and order.” Candidate Tony, a former city police chief, said he would make the city safe again. He said it was key to everything else, like economic development. Come to think of it, we haven’t heard a lot of news about economic development coming to the city, either.
In the wake of all the recent violent crime, where is Mayor Tony? And where is his hand-picked Police Chief Marcella Lendacky? Where is the response to this crime? Where is the image of a new sheriff in town — a former police chief supposed to be all about “law and order.”
When are we going to hear about what Mayor Tony “Law and Order” George is going to do in response to the increase in violent crime? When will he show the criminal element that he means business? That his campaign promise of “law and order” will not be just that — a promise?
I emailed Mayor Tony, Chief Lendacky, Administrator Ted Wampole and Executive Assistant to the Mayor Tyler Ryan, asking them all to respond to questions about this rise in violent crime.
So far, I have heard from none of them.
• I asked if Mayor Tony feels the city is safer since he assumed the mayor’s seat. No response.
• I asked what Mayor Tony is doing to improve crime-fighting in the city. No response.
• I asked if Mayor Tony feels his residents, businesses and visitors should feel safe being in Wilkes-Barre. No response.
Not to belabor the point, but Mayor Tony campaigned on the law and order issue. He convinced enough voters to support him largely based on that promise and they nominated him for the job. Mayor Tony then campaigned in the general election, again using the promise of “law and order” to convince voters to elect him.
Listen to businessman John Harch, who has operated in the city for 62 years. Harch told a Times Leader reporter the violent crime in the city “is brutal.” He said, “It’s just the way things are today. People are gun happy.”
Is this the world we live in today? Are we to accept this atmosphere of violent crime just because it’s the way it is today?
Or are we to look to our mayor and expect a response? Shouldn’t we be hearing what Mayor Tony, Chief Lendacky and our city police force are going to do to send a message to the criminals?
Mayor Tony needs to make good on his promise. He needs to act, and act now. He can’t allow his residents to accept this violent crime because it’s “just the way things are today.”
Crime is getting worse in the city and in Wyoming Valley. Municipal police forces are depleted, if not eliminated. The lack of sufficient funding to pay for adequate police protection is a disgrace. As a result, crime — violent crime — is on the rise.
And neighborhoods, where houses with bullet holes in them can be found, are becoming more and more unsafe.
It’s time for “law and order” to be much more than a campaign promise.