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Teen center raises fear of gang activity
(by Mike Klimko - December 03, 2008)
Teen center raises fear of gang activity
By MIKE KLIMKO
The checkered past for youth crowds in Solon is grounds to decide against opening a teen center anywhere in the community, Police Chief Wayne E. Godzich said.
Events proposed for teens at the T.S. Macklin Event Centre on Enterprise Parkway could draw gangs and put patrons and police at risk, Mr. Godzich said at last week's meeting of the city planning commission.
Permitting teen events there could lead to trouble similar to what was experienced on Miles Road in 1998, he said, when dozens of teens involved in a gang fight surrounded police. "My real concern was this: They had my officers encircled. And there was a strong possibility that our officers could have been injured," Mr. Godzich said.
"That was in 1998. Gangs are more dangerous now than ever. Gangs have no respect for life and property and especially for a policeman. I've seen the problems associated with teen clubs, time and time again."
In 1998, police broke up a confrontation between as many as 60 members of one gang and 50 to 75 members of another gang in the parking lot at the dance club near Brainard and Miles roads, Mr. Godzich said. Solon police were assisted by other area departments, he said.
Teen centers in Solon have been failures, he said, including one at a shopping center on Aurora Road (Route 43) and at the club on Miles Road, due to unruly behavior.
"Some time in the early '70s, we had a teen center open in Solon Square shopping center," Mr. Godzich said. "If my memory serves me right, it lasted about two weeks. And it was closed for the usual thing: fighting, drinking, drugs," he said.
"In 1998, a gang fight developed between rival gangs involving baseball bats at the Soma Dance Club on Miles Road. The gang fight was prevented only after about 15 officers from five different area police departments were called," Mr. Godzich said.
"There's also a fight involving two teens that involved brass knuckles, which resulted in one of them going to the hospital. It was opened again under the name Plum Crazy. And they tried to restrict admittance to local teens. It closed shortly," he said.
"Here's the point: I don't want anybody injured or possibly killed in the City of Solon or anywhere, if we can prevent it. Where large crowds come together, when gang influence is a strong possibility, where the environment is remote, who knows what else illegal activity could take place?"
Drawing the gang element along with other teens to the area could subject patrons of nearby hotels and restaurants to vandalism, violence and theft, Mr. Godzich said.
"They can only control what goes on inside the club, and not outside," he said of teen-center operators. "Even if they remove the problem individuals from inside the club, the problem moves outside the club, just like it did at the Soma Dance Club, which endangered my officers," Mr. Godzich said.
"I can never, ever let that happen again. After all, how will everyone's safety be affected? One of the most important functions of the police department is to prevent crime. That's exactly what I'm trying to do here."
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