It was with a great deal of sadness that I read Sheriff Randall Johnson’s letter to the editor in your newspaper on May 28, 2008.
Sheriff Johnson has had the reputation over the years as being a great sheriff. However, it would appear from reading his comments that if he truly believes what he wrote, he has lost his grip on reality or he has his head in the sand.
How can he really believe, as he states, “Let me be clear — Fayette County does not have a gang problem”? Is he insinuating that we must wait until we are overrun with gangs before we acknowledge we do in fact have a gang problem?
Apparently so, since he emphasizes in his statement by using, “Let me be clear.” How can you be clear looking through sand? I cannot comprehend how Sheriff Johnson can in good conscience make such a statement.
There have been numerous reports in the media about gang activity in our county. It was reported by The Citizen on May 15, 2008, that Fayetteville police arrested five on gang charges from a gunfire incident. The incident occurred at The Banquet Hall off Glynn Street on Jan. 27. The arrests were made in connection with an argument between gang members from Creekside High School in Fulton County, ending with one person firing a gunshot into the air, police said.
Then there was a published report in The Citizen on May 31, 2008, announcing the arrest of one more involved in the Jan. 27 gunfire incident. Also, this article included the following, “When the first five arrests were made two weeks ago, police searched one of the suspects’ homes and found gang paraphernalia and ‘gang bibles,’ which are books containing gang rules and information that must be memorized, police said.”
It appears that Sheriff Johnson is in denial about Fayette County’s gang problem. This being the case, how can we expect the Sheriff’s Department to do a proper job to protect us from gangs?
Thank God that Dave Simmons alerted us to the gang problem several months ago.
Harold Bost
Chairman, Committee to Elect Dave Simmons Sheriff
Fayetteville, Ga.