CITIES NEED FEDS' HELP TO FIGHT GANGS

Cities across the country are seeing an increase in violent crime, in
part because gangs from the East and West coasts are looking for new
turf. This affects cities as large as St. Louis and as small as Huntington.

While Huntington has focused more on the presence and activity of
gangs from Detroit bringing crack cocaine to town, the city has been
usually quiet in one regard. The city had six homicides in 2004 and
13 last year, but none so far this year, with the year almost half over.

When we didn't pay attention to the problem, bad things happened.
When we paid attention, things got better. But we have had a couple
of close calls, and it's only a matter of time before another
drug-related homicide or drive-by shooting brings us back to reality.

Rather than building bridges to nowhere in Alaska and unnecessary
rail lines along the Gulf Coast, the federal government should
marshal all the resources available to help local communities fight
this new problem. This new form of domestic terrorism is too big for
the communities themselves to solve.