Well, it’s about crime, folks!
Grimes County Crime Stoppers had the opportunity to participate in the “Stop the Violence Navasota TX” rally Saturday afternoon at Friendship Baptist Church. It was organized by Terrence Creeks, Sr., the father of a recent shooting victim. Creeks is to be applauded for taking steps to bring A New Direction Ministry here to share their strategy on how Navasotans can diffuse what Rev. Coleman Cox called a “ticking time bomb.”
Given the subject matter, you would have expected a packed house. Not so, but the ability to stream live on Facebook reached the interested who were hesitant to attend. I find it disheartening that many folks in the line of fire, so to speak, won’t read the newspaper with Matt Ybarra’s coverage of the event, and many who will read it may think what’s going on has nothing to do with them. Keep in mind that you don’t have to be sitting on top of a powder keg when it explodes to get burned!
One of the elements of the proposed strategy for stopping the violence actually is as old as time and that is holding people accountable for their actions. This rally was a call for action by mothers, fathers, grandparents, immediate and extended family, and yes, the entire Navasota community to draw the line in the sand and say, ‘We’re not putting up with this anymore!’
The current reluctance for families to hold their youthful bad actors accountable wasn’t always the norm here. There were a number of folks in the audience with the shared experience of growing up in Navasota and Grimes County when a kid couldn’t get by with misbehaving. The community standards didn’t allow it! If a child got out of line, the ‘village’ pipeline made sure the families were brought up to speed on what that youngster had done, and the family would make sure they were held accountable for their misdeeds. Unfortunately, the pipeline has shut down and no one is sharing information about illegal activity with family members, much less law enforcement.
In my opinion, it is nothing short of a crime that today’s society can create myriad technological wonders but can’t seem to create families and communities that love their children enough to administer that much-needed tough love. We see the results in places like Chicago and Detroit where the inmates now run the asylum and whole communities cower in fear.
This is where Grimes County Crime Stoppers can restore some of that communication. Not only are we one of 150 Crime Stoppers organizations in Texas but we are part of a nationwide and worldwide network. Yes, Crime Stoppers exists even in Africa, Australia, Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and New Zealand! And it works!
Crime Stoppers operates on the premise that someone besides the criminal has information that can solve a crime, but the biggest roadblocks are fear of retaliation, apathy and reluctance to become involved. Crime Stoppers provides a way to report crime anonymously through its tip line and will pay a reward of up to $1,000 for information which leads to an arrest. Not only does state law prohibit the release of a tipster’s name by Crime Stoppers but tipsters can’t be forced to testify. Since the tips are the sole property of Crime Stoppers, not the district attorney or law enforcement, they are purged.
The bottom line is if you know something, say something! Call (936) 873-2000 or go to www.p3tips. com. Given the direction we’re headed, I’d say it’s about crime, folks!
Disclosure: Connie Clements is the president of Grimes County Crime Stoppers.
The column represents the thoughts and opinions of Connie Clements. Opinion columns are NOT the opinion of the Navasota Examiner.
Clements is a freelance reporter for the Navasota Examiner and an award-winning columnist.