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As the city grows, so does the criminal element
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Wed Dec 12, 2007 21:19:40 CST
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Comment From: CG23Sailor  (Report this comment as a violation)

Mr Bishop. First let me say I love reading your column every time I get the paper.

But in this case I believe you missed the mark.

Yes, Victoria is growing.
Yes, we have a very high (per capita) crime rate in victoria even compared to cities far larger than us (San Antonio for example)

But if you look at the crime reports for the past several years you will see that, while still high, the crime in Victoria has been trending slowly down over the past 5 years.

The Well Fargo ATM Shooting you mention is an example of a recent spike in violent crime and crime in general over the past month or so that we have been experiancing. The Rattan street Gangwar shootout, the Daylight robbery in the mall parking lot. The huge increase in Car burglaries and home invasions are more examples.

Why the sudden spike in crime in the past few months? Not because of City growth. The City has been growing while crime has been dropping.

It is because the word on the street is this:

If you are gonna do a crime... NOW is the time.

and you can lay that blame right on DA Tyler's doorstep with his bringing the Justice system of Victoria to a grinding smoking halt. Comment From: ErnieCash  (Report this comment as a violation)

Mr. Bishop,

Your article certainly brings home a few truths. Having grown up in small towns - much smaller than Victoria - and, to be fair, in simpler times, for most of my "formative years" I suppose I took for granted that as kids we could almost fearlessly roam the streets or roads of these towns without a lot of concern and without our parents getting catatonic as long as we were home by dinnertime.

It peeves me more than a little about some of the remarks that have been made in other forums inferring that Victorians and their ilk are ignorant backwoods rednecks! Usually made by those who see themselves fortunate enough to have "escaped" the small town stigma and moved to the liberated garden spots of Austin, San Antonio or Houston, I find these remarks demeaning and unfair to people who don't think they should have to regard their homes as prisons, who enjoy an evening walk with their spouse through a calm neighborhood and whose only purpose for carrying a firearm is to put food on the table.

To those "enlightened" individuals I simply say, "Enjoy your rush hour commutes and your security-barred windows and doors. Enjoy sharing your roads with drivers who, like yourself, drive like you have no reason left to live. Enjoy your crime rates and the fear that you or your family might be next on the list of casualties. I'll take my small town mentality every single time."

It's just too bad that with the apparent current trends, I may prefer to spend my not-too-distant retirement somewhere less "progressive."

Ernie Comment From: texasmom  (Report this comment as a violation)

Jim I agree with you!