“Enough is enough” concerned residents speak out about gun violence at city council meeting
February 11, 2020
A shooting took place between two individuals Sunday, and while no one was injured, residents who live on the northeast side of town are saying enough is enough.
The incident occurred at E. Birch St. and Robert Stalls Avenue near the Eurma C. Hayes Center where the Carbondale Women for Change group meets. The group came to Tuesday’s city council meeting to voice their concerns.
Ginger Rye, a member of Women for Change, said what disturbed her most were the bullets that flew through the home of 95-year-old Carbondale native, Rosie Miller.
Advertisement
“The bullet shattered her window, it penetrated a hat that she wore to church and it went through a jewelry box,” Rye said.
Miller’s daughter spoke at the City Council meeting. She said if she was three minutes late, they’d both be dead.
“Glass was everywhere, glass was in the hallway, in the bathroom, in the kitchen,” Miller’s daughter said. “My mother sits right where that bullet came through.”
“Enough is enough,” Rye said. “The northeast side of Carbondale is seeing too much gun violence.”
Other concerned residents suggested ways the city could reduce gun violence including adding more streets on the northeast side and possibly more youth activities.
“My suggestion for the young people is an activity center […] a youth center to get their minds off violence,” Sheila Brown, a Carbondale resident, said. “Work with some of these teenagers that didn’t graduate to get jobs.”
Council member Adam Loos said he also sees violence in his neighborhood on the northwest side of Carbondale.
Advertisement*
“They aren’t just on the northeast side, I live on the northwest side of town and I routinely hear gunshots at my house,” Loos said.
Stephanie Brown, a member of the Carbondale Human Relations Commission said she invites everyone to share their ideas with the commission.
The Human Relations Commission meets the first Monday of each month and comes up with strategies to better serve the members of the community, Brown said. They meet at 5 p.m. in room 103 of City Hall.
Staff reporter Jacob Lorenz can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jtlorenz6. To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.
Advertisement
Anthony Hamelin • Feb 11, 2020 at 11:03 pm
Dear Editor,
I graduated SIUC in 2007 and moved back last April. I remember when Carbondale was not so violent. There were no shootings in the five years I lived here from 2002 to 2007 that I can recall. It is a different Carbondale then back then. I am a Democrat, but throwing money into more social programs without cracking down with more law and order by the police is a waste of money. We need a two pronged approach. God knows the police force is plenty big enough for a town of this small size. But, the police need the go-ahead from the Mayor and City Council. We all know politics come into play .The police know who the ‘problem childs’ are so to speak, and where they are. Maybe it’s time our leaders recognize the need to get a little proactive and some say tough, and let the police use tactics and policies New York City used to combat their crime problem with Stop and Frisk and other legal ways to get the guns and would be shooters off the streets before they shoot. Not to mention the drugs. If it is too uncomfortable for these criminals to be here because of a proactive police, hopefully they will move out and go elsewhere, to maybe St. Louis or Chicago…..I keep reading those cities have unsolved shootings and murders almost nightly. If many of our criminals and would.-be shooters, move there, and they might find they can get away with their crimes up there, but not down here , if our city leaders look beyond politics and let the police crack down. It could not hurt. This town is becoming little Chicago if things don’t change soon