The Ojai Post

• Just as McDonald’s can not set up business in Ojai by city ordinance, and just as Santa Cruz must be a nuclear-free zone by city ordinance, so can Ojai be a gang-free zone by city ordinance.
• Gang affiliation must carry a minimum mandatory jail sentence. The Hell’s Angels have already been declared a criminal organization by the state of California.
• Gangs are not social clubs, they are money-making entities, distributing poison; so RICO laws should apply to all prosecutions.
• If Ojai doesn’t have the police or the police don’t have the balls to actively pursue gangs, consider that Oakland hired private police to augment their police force.
• This is a wealthy enough community that can handle this expense, if necessary.
• Residents of Ojai should point out gang houses to the police and cc the FBI; if the police don’t do anything about it, and something happens, there will be an accountability issue.
• If this stabbing/murder was a hate-crime, we must deal with it as such.
• Being a gringo in Ojai is just as unpleasant as being a Mexican in Ojai.
• It is parents’ duty to clean up prejudice among their families.
• Religious leaders in town should also aggressively attack the problem of racism. Lip-service is not enough.

Tyler, I think it's a heck of a lot more complicated than bandanna colors.

A couple of years ago, we had escalating violence between kids in Oak View. Some were Anglo, some Latino, some from Oak View, some from other places around the Valley and down on the Avenue. Eventually, other family members got caught in the proverbial crossfire, and a grandmother of one of the people involved was injured in an altercation in front of her house.

In an effort to help put a stop to this dynamic, neighbors hosted a meeting at the Oak View Park and Resource Center. We had kids and extended families from both "sides" of this particular turf war, and attempted, as a community, to facilitate a conversation about how we might stop the violence. We were genuinely afraid someone was going to get killed.

Some really interesting things struck me through the course of these conversations.

1. While there were some deep and ugly racial layers to the violence, it was not for a moment as simple as "brown kids versus beige kids" -- these kids all knew each other and their relationships were often extremely complicated, and their friendships and loyalties were as well. My own sense, at least in our case, was that racial hatred was at times a genuine layer, but it was also a convenient reason for tension.

2. Both groups of kids truly felt victimized by the other group of kids. They each had passionate examples, some first person, and many second hand, about verbal and/or physical violence that one group had inflicted on another. There was, without doubt, intimidation and violence going both ways.

3. There was not, at least when we started, a whole lot of owning up to their own mistakes and ugly behavior on either side -- a lot of rationalizing, a certain amount of shaping stories, etc. These are, in fact, children, as tragic as it is, and they have very childish "I'm the good guy" perceptions along with some very sophisticated manipulation techniques of grownups. This did get a bit better as we talked, and kids got called out if they said things that were blatantly untrue or preposterous. (As in "we just wanted to talk with his father!" when asked why 20 kids with baseball bats and pipes arrived on the doorstep of one of the people in our neighborhood -- who is, by the way, allegedly involved in this tragedy.)

4. The parents were frequently a huge part of the problem -- ranging from outright fear, resentment, hatred, etc. of the other group to a sense of disconnect about what their kids were capable of. Not all parents, by any means, but enough that the problems got compounded. Kids who truly had nothing to do with this conversation did, occasionally, run into issues with other kids, but that was rare.

5. Tough talk does seem to be a part of these kids' worlds. The Oak View kids had their own "gang" going -- OVG for Oak View Gangsters -- and did a lot of posturing. In Oak View, most of the Latino kids were not affiliated with OSL (some yes, but most no). Depending on the situation, these kids defined their group as a gang or simply as a group of friends who protect each other. We were watching MySpace pages trying to get a jump on when kids would be meeting and the trash talk was pretty unbelievable -- lots of "gangta wannabe" nonsense.

But the most fascinating part of these conversations, to me anyway, is that both of these groups, as they sat across the room from each other, had the same deep stories cooking about how they were disempowered, how the police either mistreated and/or didn't listen to them, how they were marginalized, etc. And there was both truth and fiction in these stories. But they were the same.

We obviously didn't solve this tension completely with these conversations -- and I sadly wish now that we'd found a way to continue them -- but they did make a difference, and the energy in Oak View, at least, has been different.

So, was this about the color of a bandanna one kid wore to a party? Maybe in part. But it's a fraction of the back story of years of tension between kids who are thinking tribally, who have older siblings and family who have been a part of these rhythms for years. In any case, it's absolutely tragic all the way around, for everyone involved.

All the best,
Leigh

Leigh, just for clarification: Did 20 or so white kids with baseball bats show up at this kid "Alex"'s house at sometime in the past?

Or was it 20 or so Latino kids showing up at the slain boy's house?

Do you have any idea what the supposed grievance was that sent this mob over to whoever's house it was?

PS: All that verbiage, and I'm still not done!

I just wanted to say that we actually had a series of meetings -- we didn't get through all of this in one night, by a long shot!

And since I'm back...

And I can say that throughout what was happening here, most residents were genuinely impressed by the police. They were attentive, supportive, aware of exactly who the players were, and doing everything they could to intercept problems. But they cannot be everywhere at all times, and have pretty strict guidelines about who/when/where/why they can intercede. Our tightly knit Neighborhood Watch group made a huge difference because we were paying attention and we had a pretty much zero tolerance policy for any nonsense from kids, and called the cops if someone so much as sneezed wrong -- but we had a really strong need to reach out and meet them, too. We did a lot of walking in the evening, and would talk to all of the kids we came across, just shooting the breeze. We were learning names and faces, and so were they, and we all got more human to one another. Anonymity feeds this crap, and then it explodes.

So, I guess my comment to those who are bashing the police for "letting" this happen is: how often do you talk to the kids in your neighborhood, regardless of anyone's skin color? How often to you call the police if you see a problem? How many of your neighbors do you know? What have you personally done to try and help our kids get along? The only chance we've got to stop this is if the grownups are, in fact grownups, and are paying attention. Otherwise, kids this age do, really frequently, become characters in Lord of the Flies.

Best,
Leigh

Anon 3:

It wasn't either Alex or Seth's house, but the family house of the other person who's been arrested in conjunction with this homicide.

It was a group of white kids, and there had been a whole series of back and forth incidents building up to it. A cup of soda was thrown into a car, a truck was vandalized, a kid got jumped in Oak View, etc. -- and so on and so on

The specific incident that these kids were responding to was a truck that supposedly was vandalized by a Latino, and they believed it was the young man in that house. They trashed his father's truck and hit his grandmother to the ground.

This was two years ago, but all of this, all of it, enters into these kids' myth-making about who they are and who their tribes are, and who has been "done wrong." It doesn't go away -- it echoes and gets louder.

So, my point is, while the posturing may be about a color, it's really about a whole set of stories that these kids keep re-telling each other, and an ongoing feeling of being persecuted. At least in Oak View, with the kids that are engaged in all of this, that persecution belief is true of all of the kids involved.

Hope this is helpful.

Best,
Leigh

Leigh, you've just shed more light on this than all the blathering so far.

I remember a famous case in California about an Indian known as Hootie Croy. I may get these facts wrong as I am going off an old recollection. Basically, Hootie Croy had been convicted and sentenced to death after an incident in which he shot a police officer up in northern California dead, point blank, in a shootout that ensued after an alleged attempted robbery gone bad.

At least, that was the first trial version, a case in which the white establishment was calling for Indians' heads in general, much as we are seeing certain people call for Latino heads in general here in Ojai in response to this case.

The California Supreme Court reversed his conviction and ordered a new trial due to a number of errors. The new trial took place in San Francisco, far from the heated atmosphere of the first trial.

In the second trial, evidence was introduced that what happened was the following: Hootie and some Indian friends had been out hunting, and went to stop at a convenience store to get some beer. The white owner freaked at Indians with guns in his store, refused to sell, and either called the cops, or the cops happened to conveniently show up. The cops came at the Indians with guns drawn. Hootie and friends ran, and a car chase ensued. The police fired at Hootie's car; the Indians fired back. The Indians made it to their property and into a house. Thirty-odd sheriff's deputies surrounded the house, and a gunfight ensued.

After some period, during which Hootie's two friends had been killed by police gunfire, the parties called a ceasefire. Hootie used the ceasefire to sneak out under cover of darkness up the hill to the next house, where his grandmother lived. As he climbed into her window, a sheriff's deputy who was using the ceasefire to sneak up around the house saw him and shot him in the back. Hootie turned around and shot the officer point blank, killing him.

The case is famous for its so-called "cultural self-defense." Evidence was introduced going back to a local incident on Thanksgiving Day in 1935, when over 500 Indian men, women and children were invited by the white townspeople to Turkey Head Island. They were fed poisoned turkey. Hundreds died. Evidence was introduced that since that time, local Indians well understood that if they have a run-in with white authority, they are going to be shot dead. Not arrested or otherwise given due process. The sheriff's deputies in the incident apparently testified frankly that they pulled guns first, and were shooting to kill.

In the second trial, Hootie Croy was acquitted. Self defense.

Here in Ojai, 20 white kids show up at a Latino kid's house with baseball bats and assault his grandmother. No wonder these kids are carrying knives, and think they might need to use them.

Does not diminish the tragedy here one ittie bit. But does change the blame equation, which in turn points to different, and hopefully better solutions. Like the community involvement you are talking about. (Although, this incident shows more needs to be done.) Like loud, vociferous condemnation of racist spew and hatred. Like accountability for all the incidents short of murder that lead to it. Like NOT bringing a "gang task force" here to prosecute the white boys' race war against the Latinos.

I live in Meiners Oaks can honestly attest that there is no organization less interested in stopping gang activity than the ojai men and women in blue.

part of the tragedy of this whole thing is, it wasn't racially motivated. wrong place at the wrong time. alex was looking for trouble to try and prove s omething. and it just happened to be seth who came out. its sad. our children can't show respect or mourn for their friend because of these stupid colors. because then people think your flying your colors. my girls are not allowed to walk home anymore because their skin is browner. they get followed by police and suspicious people. i feel for the family, i have five of my own. whether your in a gang or just know someone, people just assume the worst.i heard shooting fish in a cracker barrel. so how long do i have to keep my girls home because its open season on brown people.yes, i am pissed at what happened. he didn't deserve it. i cried like he's my own son. i don't wish that on any parent regardless of color or beliefs. on honestly, i don't see this disappearing very soon. which is very sad. we all ALL have to keep our eyes and ears open. my prayers and my heart go out to seths family. my family and i will be there saturday to help in anyway we can. my mother lives away from here. and is donating two handmade quilts for the auction. and she knows not one of the people in this .threre is nothing i can say or do to make it better, cuz i know it won't help. i can only help with what i can. and you can be sure we will be there this saturday. god bless us one and all. i think we are going to need it in the near future.
my daughter said

"blue+red=purple and purple = peace

we are sporting purple ribbons

Seth lived on my block and all his friends are hanging red bandanas out of the window driving up and down the block.
Inciting and antagonizing. THEY BELONG AT HOME.
This action is very dangerous and more are bound to end up with Seth or Alex if people don't keep their kids at home and the Police don't stop this BS.

I'm beginning to worry about that car wash fundraiser--will it be a safe place for people to gather? Wouldn't they be sitting ducks for any sicko who wants to either a) take revenge for what's going to happen to Alex in the criminal justice system or b) stir up trouble by making people think the browns are attacking them. I wouldn't go near the church on Saturday.

what we are experiencing in our valley is the same as we are participating in national economics, and worldwide culture.

the prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor (google it) tells much of the story ... the coming together again of the indigenous and southern peoples with the corporate-science and northern peoples ...

but of course it is global, not just a story of El Norte and the South, the Americas.

some call it the the birth of the Adi Shaki, the Maitreya, the Messiah ... our global family we now recognize as one great living being, personality. other names are Ma Adi, Maschiak, Global Consciousness, the Grid, the Electromagnetic Field ... chi, gong, spirit, mind ... you name it, her, us.

the word to use is not racial, or economic ... it is about culture and community. the problem we have experienced in El Norte for 200 years is that the system here was set up to deny culture ... the lifestyles, the spiritual traditions, the ceremonies and activities of community, the relationships with nature medicine and nature.

the system was set up to end indigenous cultures and wisdom, and all cultures (such as Asian, Polynesian, African, Arabic, you name it) which did not fit in with the European cultural/religious history.

this has resulted in the elimination of 95 percent of our beloved Earth's forests, rainforests, wetlands, rivers, large animal life, and large ocean life.

as it has also resulted in the public school and media systems which are only designed to keep us in ignorance and make everyone into soldiers, taxpayers, consumers, and worker-slaves.

by keeping us in ignorance, it blocks us from forming community and becoming the decision-makers (of all people together) at all levels ... local, regional, continental, and worldwide.

until we change our local communities and schools to honor EVERY child, woman and man ... to PROTECT every child, woman and man ... until we RESPECT all cultures, all ethical lifestyles which honor life and the planet, until we teach all spiritual traditions of the world ... then we stay in the argument and the conflict.

when we love and honor and protect and nurture every person equally (but differently as to their personality and culture) ...

when we respect and enable the equal teachings of all cultures and spiritual traditions ...

when we ACTUALLY begin to love and heal our Mother Earth, returning the forests and the wetlands, living land, air and ocean ...

then our families and community will have turned to one of mutual celebration, sculpting, artistry, music and wonder.

imagine if we all, in West Ojai our Valley-wide, got together daily to plant trees, organize coops, green and simplify and fix the homes of our friends and neighbors ...

and artistry, architecture, and performance/prayer to astound our world, and bring tears to its, her, all our eyes?

for all our sacred relations ...

mitakuye oyasin

I love the purple ribbon idea and also send condolences out to all directly affected.

I just felt ill when I drove by on Sunday and saw all the police cars and people gathered--knew something really bad had happened-didn't learn till later what. I also was once again reminded by how much realer this kind of thing is when it strikes close to home. Even all the murders in Oxnard can feel safely far away...but the reality is that we are all so interconnected. I think Leigh's comments about the power of how we tell this story are incredibly important. I think youth and adults sitting together and talking and listening and talking and listening until there is a shared narrative that honors the deep grief but includes nuance and self-reflection is a path forward that has hope.

seriously - was this all over a bandana color? My child, too young to know what all this means - wears bandanas and scarves and puts them on our little dog when we walk as decoration. My child is far far too young to know "color meaning" and I guess I am too old to know that colors represent gang affiliation. Does that mean our simple lives are at risk when we walk around town parading our favorite colors of the day?

I agree with the first post - THERE SHOULD BE A NO TOLERANCE POLICY IN OJAI. And I agree parents with older children and children at risk need to meet to discuss tolerance issues between races because committing a violent crime based on being offended for wearing a color is not only ludicrous but pathetic. Colors are not symbols like the swastika - I wear bandanas to work in the garden then walk to Rainbow Bridge in them for lunch - I had no idea I was representing a race.

I maybe simplifying the facts because I don't know the two boys involved but it is not a far stretch in our society or news to hear of someone being murdered for colors or for standing up to punks who spray paint and defile public spaces. Several people have been killed in Los Angeles for speaking out to gangs who spray paint.

I am truly sick of seeing spray paint "tags" around aliso, the farmers market, Casa De Lago etc. This town has changed since I moved here 5 years ago. And yes the police can do more and active parents need to pressure our town council to act so the parents who don't mind their kids will suffer consequences either with curfews or public humiliation.. If this small town allows one more person to die with similar circumstances we are pathetic and hopeless.

In this Age of Aquarius "we break free of centuries of false doctrines, destructive indoctrinations, absurd ideas, and children’s stories about God, education, medicine, and love. The corrupt foundations of false society crumble. This time of crises is not the signal of the end of the world. What comes is not the end, but the beginning. The dream humanity has lived for centuries ends and we awaken to a bright new day, a bright new way .

Now in the Age of Aquarius, everything becomes unified. All our differences, all our dualities mix together like the fragrances of a flower shop, with all of the different flowers adding their bouquet to the overall mix until they are inseparable. Each individual flower remains distinct and individual, each one’s fragrance is unique and discernible when you come up close to it, yet joined together in unity with the others in the wonderful mixture that is the smell of the shop.

http://www.adishakti.org/age_of_aquarius.htm

some practical and compassionate ideas and solutions are being gathered at ojaipeace.org, if you wish to invest your energies in that direction.

We've had a murder,cars being broken into,homes robbed ,people being intiminated and you people are talking about racism ? We have a gang problem. OSL ! They are a Mexican gang . That's a fact, its not racism. Its fact !!!!

We used to sleep with our back door open ! No more !

The only gang I want to see in this valley wears red and white !

"The only gang I want to see in this valley wears red and white !"

You realize that this attitude is why a gang like OSL exists, don't you?

Children and teens group together naturally for lots of reasons -- geography, family, cultural identity, interests, activities, etc. Children and teens group together and get aggressive when they feel marginalized or threatened or ignored -- gangs are about power in numbers.

I think we need to ask ourselves why ANY child in this valley would feel that they need to be in any gang to survive. We pride ourselves on this place being the antithesis of the big, heartless city, and we've got creative and financial resources that are almost bottomless here. Why are kids in our community feeling hurt and angry and frightened enough to want to gang together?

Any gang that is described as a "criminal street gang" as OSL is by the police is, absolutely, a genuine and serious problem. But this fantasy that somehow this group emerged out of a vacuum is patently absurd. These kids have, over the last 20 years, grouped together to define an identity and a safety that's larger than themselves. They've done so in large part because they've felt threatened. And the white kids have done so as well.

In my neighborhood, the problems have been with the white kid gangs, almost unilaterally. They're the ones who were stealing, gathering in huge groups and roaming the streams 30 to 40 at a time, throwing beer bottles at neighbors, frightening innocent Latino teens locally until, for example, one girl was sent to Mexico (by her American citizen family) because they were afraid for her safety, etc. The "Oak View Gangsters" were the ones who set a vehicle of ours on fire in front of our house. They were the ones who descended with baseball bats on a group of unsuspecting Latino guys who'd come to the resource center one afternoon -- ironically, because they thought they were being protective of me. The only reason no one was seriously injured or killed was that the police were already nearby and had thought something like this would happen, so they were on the scene in seconds. These kids were so amped up that as they're laying on the ground with their hands laced behind their heads as the cops are trying to sort out what was happening and they're still screaming obscenities at each other. This was about eight years ago. This tension is not new!

This murder was brutal, horrifying, terrible -- but it didn't happen in a vacuum. These kids have been pushing at each other for years, and it was a matter of time before someone got seriously injured or killed.

The problem isn't skin color or cultural background, the problem is that this community has not ever risen up and taken responsibility for our childrens' well being, for all of our children, regardless of their ethnicity or socio-economic status. We have not been paying enough attention, and have been hoping someone else will solve the problem.

So, saying "OSL is the problem" is completely unhelpful. It's not true, and there is no solution there.

Yes, there should be legal ramifications if kids commit crimes, but as we saw here in Oak View, the police were being vilified regardless of what they did, as well. If they reacted swiftly and strongly, they were accused of being brutal, not understanding that "these were just kids, and kids will be kids." If they laid back, and were less aggressive with arrests and such (or if they didn't exhibit ESP to know what children were where and what trouble they were going to get into before it happened), they were stupid, lazy, disconnected, uninterested, you name it.

Psychologically, when we frantically look to blame everyone around us, that generally means that we're holding some of the responsibility bag -- maybe a lot of it. And, as our children horrifically demonstrated last weekend, hate begets hate, violence begets violence. They desperately need grownups to step up and help them break this cycle so we don't lose any more of them.

Evan, I'll be over to ojaipeace.org to try and be as helpful as I can to that conversation.

Best,
Leigh

To the idiot who said the only gang you want to see in the valley wears red and white: please take your white supremacist BS with you to prison. That is where your racists affiliations belong.
To suggest that the crime in Ojai is the sole responsibility of Mexican gangs is so profoundly ignorant, it is comical.
I know as many good Mexican kids as I do white. None of the kids involved with these gangs are going to college~ they are sick substance using lost souls, on both sides. Being a member of a gang is not what educated professionals choose~ so lets get our children the best education possible! I will include you in my prayers for them as well.
A gang free Ojai. Thats's what I want.

Leigh, i continue to be so impressed with and grateful for your educated and compassionately coherent wisdom. You are a tremendous resource to our community!

Generally speaking, i'm in a "block party" kind of mindset...and then found it on my giant "How To Build Community" poster (purchased, of course, from Ojai House). Anyone up for a little organizing?

PLEASE PRAY READ YOUR BIBLE AND HUG YOUR TEENS AND GO BACK TO WHEN YOU WERE A TEEN IN THESE DAYS AND TIME YOU NEED TO FIND PEACE WITHIN YOURSELF SO WE COULD PASS IT ON TO OUR CHILDREN WE ARE ALL CHILDREN OF A HIGHIER POWER AND WE WILL ALL FACE THAT POWER WHAT EVER OUR COLOR OF OUR SKIN IS GOD WORKS WITH SINNERS GOOD BAD EVEN PEOPLE WHO CAN'T PRAY IN THIS SITUATION MY HEART CRIES FOR BOTH FAMILIES INVOLVE AND I PRAY THAT WE BRING BACK THE INNOCUOUS IN OUR CHILDREN AS OUR PARENTS DID AND HAVE THEM TALK TO GOD A GOOD MORNING AND GIUDE ME ON MY WAY THE CHILDREN NEED TO HEAR IT SO HUG THEM AND REMIND THEM GOD LOVES THEM NO MATTER WHAT LOVE AND PEACE TO BOTH FAMILIES AND TO ALL IN THE OJAI VALLEY THAT I LOVE SO MUCH FOR THERE IS WHERE I BROUGHT UP MY CHILDREN

To all of you in the Ojai area please understand this!!

What happen last week is something that will not be forgotten..but you need to all remember..that there were many victims in this crime.

We need to pray for both families..for the lost of there son's.

Nothing can change what happen and nothing will. Its the start of a long road for both families and it will never end until there all together again.

I know from experience what both families are going threw.

One of the hardest things is going to be to forgive and continue with your life..it will never be the same..but know it is the best thing to do

One family lost a son to death and another lost there son to prison. Do you think one is different from the other..NO!!!

We need to pray for both families!!!

From someone who has lost someone to death and prison..To forgive and open your heart is the only way to get peace..but its the hardest thing you can do.

I am in the temple of quietness. Thine eternal kingdom of peace is spread tier upon tier before my gaze. May this infinite kingdom, long hidden hehind darkness, remain manifest within me. Peace fills my body; peace fills my heart and dwells within my love; peace within,without, everywhere. God is peace, I am his child. I am peace. God and I are one. Infinite peace surrounds my life and permeates all the moments of my existence. Peace unto myself; peace unto my family; peace unto my nation; peace unto my world; peace unto my cosmos. Goodwill to all nations, goodwill to all creatures; for all are my brothers and God is our common father. We live in the United States of the World with God and Truth as our leaders. Heavenly Father, may Thy kingdom of peace come on earth as it is in heaven, that we all may be freed from divisive inharmonies and become perfect citizens, in body, mind, and soul,of Thy
world. Aum. Amen.

This alarmed me. I was reading and found the following October 23, 2007 article. If you read the article please note that it mentions Gabriel Arellano (OSL). According the all the papers who wrote of crime, he is the OSL member who drove Alex Medina to the home where he murdered Seth Scarmanach. I am posting this here to mention that there IS youth gang activity in the valley and many are worried about what will happen at Nordhoff after the recent youth gang related violance without the safety officer’s presence.

Here is the article:

Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Gang Crackdown Nets Six
Sheriff’s Gang Unit makes arrests after gang-related attacks

By Nao Braverman
Six suspected Ojai Valley gang members were arrested on Oct. 17 and 18 after a month-long investigation by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Gang Unit. Investigators examined the events of three separate attacks over the past month and arrested Kyle Root, Christian Hames, Fidel Duran, Rocky Holbert, and two juveniles.
Twenty-year-old Root, 18-year-old Hames and a juvenile suspected to be an Oak View Gang member, were charged for assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly attacking a 39-year-old male and 65-year-old female on the 500 block of Santa Ana Boulevard in Oak View on Sept. 18.
Gang investigators believe the Santa Ana Blvd. location to be the residence of a rival Ojai Surenos Locos gang member and suspect the attack to be a retaliation for a separate attack committed by the rival gang.
Duran, 18, a suspected member of the OSL was arrested for conspiracy in relation to a Sept. 27 incident where Duran, along with previously arrested Gabriel Arellano and another OSL member, allegedly threw a cup filled with soda into a car occupied by two female adults and a 2-year-old toddler, on Ojai Avenue at Fox Street, striking the female passenger. Investigators believe that at least one of the passengers had ties with an OVG gang member.
Holbert, 18, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon during the most recent Oct. 6 OVG attack where six individuals, ranging from 13 to 20 years old, were hit with a metal pipe, in front of Dahl’s Market in Oak View. Though the victims had no association with any gang, the assailants mistakenly identified them as members of the OSL gang.
The OSL, a Hispanic criminal street gang based in Ojai, has about 15 to 20 gang members and has been in the area for about 20 years said Ojai Police Capt. Bruce Norris. The OVG, a predominantly white, territorial, criminal street gang that claims the unincorporated area of Oak View, has about 10 to 15 members and has also been around for about 20 years, probably going by different names in the past, Norris said.
He added that the the conflict between the two gangs appears to be racial and territorial.
Though the police department has been working to tackle problems with the two gangs fighting over the past two years, gang-related violence in Ojai had been very low this year, up until the middle of September, said Norris.
The six person, Sheriff’s Gang Unit, created in February, was introduced to address a recent rise in gang-related crime within Ventura County, and is often called upon where a gang enhancement is included in the charge.
Residents are encouraged to call the Gang Tip Hotline at 1-88858GANGS to anonymously report criminal gang activity.
Posted by OVN administrator at 6:15 PM
Labels: ojai

Hi Reading:

This is part of the back and forth violence that I was talking about above -- Gabe lives down the street from me, and it was his grandmother and father who were injured. The kids who were arrested in this attack were part of a group of about 20 kids who showed up at Gabe's family's house with bats and pipes.

Somehow, we need to find a way to help these kids (and young adults) out of this vengeful reality. Until we do, this violence is going to continue.

When we had community conversations about this set of violent interactions, it was actually the young women in the group who initially pushed to make this happen -- two of them had children (one of whom was the child in the car when the soda cup was thrown through the window), and they suddenly awoke to the fact that this truly wasn't a game.

Perhaps this horrible tragedy can be a bigger opening for more kids in the Valley to really look at where this bickering, traded violence, and tribal thinking can land anyone. I sure hope so!

Thanks for sharing,

Best,
Leigh

Leigh,

First of all I wanted to say how caring and wise I thought your post and what you and those who cared in Oak View did. You were more sensitive, caring and REAL with these at risk kids than any post or any group I have read about anywhere in this valley. I have great respect for you.

You might have heard that Nordhoff is dropping their SRO because of budget cuts and because the school board, Kathy Smith in particular, feel that the music department is more important than the safety officer on campus (Read Ojai Blog). This is really sad, especially in light of recent events.

Who will intervene for these kids--Latino or White--who are angry and need help and support before ugliness happens? You and those in Oak View who cared began an amazing intervention--an intervention that is an example to everyone in this valley. I wish it could have continued. We need to come together in this community to help these kids, Latino or White, before it becomes too late for those particular young lives. Again, your post and what you did was by far the most caring and wise I have read. Thank you.

Reading, above you pasted a whole article from the OVN. That's not strictly legal under the fair use doctrine of US copyright Law.

As for Music vs the safety officer, if there were no music or arts offered, the would most likely need more than one police officer.

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

spk | May 9, 2009 10:18 PM

I was not breaking the law by quoting an entire article, I did not copy the entire thing. I left off the blog title! So I’m very sorry but you most likely can’t sue me for that. How absurd!

I realize music and the arts are vital programs in our schools. Believe me I have always worked very hard to raise money (and have raised a lot) and awareness for these programs in this valley and everywhere else I have lived. However, our children’s safety must come before everything else in our schools or anywhere else. I think all of us can agree with that. I do not wish to fall into petty arguments with anyone, nor do I have time to do so.

Anon -

Clearly it would be difficult to sue you because you are anonymous and this sort of thing is rampant on the 'net anyway so lots of times it goes unnoticed. However, it could potentially be a problem for the OP if it became routine practice here, so whenever it happens those of us who know better have a responsibility to say so - not because we want anybody to get sued or are threatening to sue anybody (how absurd!) but because we don't want to see the OP open to any legal action or posturing.

What you did *is* a violation of fair use. You may think that is absurd but it is the law. There is a gray area though - many people agree that you can copy whole articles on other boards but when you do you *must* also include a direct link to the original. It's the equivalent of citing your sources.

I don't think spk was trying to be confrontational. I think he was trying to share knowledge that he has that you may not have, with an eye toward protecting the OP community. Is that really so bad?

cee

Tanya. Thank you. I will be aware of this information next time. And I also hope spk understood that I really do care about the arts and music in our schools, but that kid's safety must come first. It may sound extreme but there are white gangs and Latino gangs around here and both are extremely angry right now. This should not leak into general racism but it could.

Actually I do not need to keep my children in public schools at all, and my family and I could leave this town at any time, but many have no choice!

The public schools in Ojai were one of the reasons we moved here. They are fantastic. Our teachers are as good or better than any of the private school teachers anywhere around. However... the schools have been hit hard by declining enrollment and budget cuts. They are suffering. I have heard that many parents want to pull their kids from Nordhoff if there is no SRO and either move, home school, or enroll them in private schools. This will only hurt our schools more. AND if the gang and related drug problem is allowed to continue, the face of Ojai will change. Some only care about their property values. Those will will affected as well. I hope the best for everyone in this community and I wish I could do more to help. I really do..

anyone wanna help put together a coalition of orgs and businesses to fund a public workshop on forgiveness by a world-renowned speaker, and to start a mindfulness training program in a suffering local school?

Evan-
Having lived in Taos,New Mexico and also visiting there often..I am aware of an organization that is effectively changing cultural differences.......and helping to alter this escalating violence, in general. " M.E.N." http://www.nonviolentmen.org/MenModel%20Revise.htmlhttpwww.nonviolentmen.org/MenModel%20Revise.html
GrammieS.

Evan, That sounds like something that could help. Tell us more when you can.

To someone who cares. Thank you for what you said and I agree.

I have to say that I have read through many of these posts. This is by far the most sane site I have seen. If we could get this out, and if people would consider this entire dialog, it could help.

Again, Leigh, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your wisdom and caring. I know you care about both the Latino and the White kids in these gangs or those young people flirting on the perimeter of the gangs. Can we help these kids before it is too late?

I would like to state my name but I can not.

Hey Reading:

Thanks so much for your kind words. I am very lucky to have a really special group of neighbors who all leaned in to help make these conversations happen. It was pretty remarkable. And, as I said, I wish we'd found a way to keep the dialogue going.

But you're right, I do care, as do so many of us, about all of our kids in this Valley. I hope that we can find a way to keep talking to each other, and help those of our kids who are teetering on the edge of disaster to find a way back into balance.

All the best,
Leigh