ah, warner (11/2/2007 9:17:47 AM)

Wannabes Unite!

American first, (11/2/2007 10:28:39 AM)

Well hopefully the 1804 law will deal with them.

DSSJW, (11/2/2007 10:28:47 AM)

I previously lived in this area and am not surprised this sort of activity is happening in the Panhandle, especially with the recent influx of the hog farm industry and change in the typical farming and ranching employment base.

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Also, the close proximity to Liberal, KS adds to this problem. They have had a small scale gang population for years.

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Hopefully the schools, the community leaders and the law enforcement groups will continue to move forward in keeping gang activity to a bare minimum.

dot, dot (11/2/2007 10:39:03 AM)

It's not just in the western rural areas. Stilwell has deadly gangs and has had for quite some time.

Scrapin' By, Gotebo (11/2/2007 10:49:00 AM)

You can thank the federal government for a lot of this.

By the Federal Government's disregard for our stopping the flow of illegal aliens over our boarders -- the same borders they swore to protect -- gangs of illegals have infiltrated the American heartland.

Wake up, people. Vote out those lousy leaders that continue to allow illegals to just sashay into the country, bringing their drug gangs with them.

Forget the Political Correctness BS and decide whether you want to free ourselves of this menace or watch as American turns into a nasty bordertown.

?, (11/2/2007 11:02:34 AM)

when did black people become illegal aliens?

HAL, (11/2/2007 11:15:00 AM)

Did they said the gangs were Black people!

LM, Cleveland (11/2/2007 11:16:28 AM)

Groups of Illegal Aliens are not Gangs. They are Companies,Batalions,or Divisions of Passively Invading Foreign Nationals.

This is Military Stuff...and the Bulk of Our Miitary are Fighting Foreign Wars.

Hyram, (11/2/2007 11:47:28 AM)

These gangs are largely hispanic. #3 is right about the causes. Law enforcement in this area needs to be trained to deal with gangs and better paid for the dangers involved. Guymon is a major stop for illegal drugs trucked in from Mexico, according to the Dept of Justice website.

Kristi, (11/2/2007 11:57:35 AM)

What an ignorant question-"When did black people become illegal aliens?" AND hello genius there are black people that could be illegals..such as ones from Africa.There is more than blacks in gangs. Not very smart there, are ya?

Ivan R, Tulsa (11/2/2007 12:10:27 PM)

Kristi and "?", don't forget that latins from the Dominican Republic or areas around Haiti are considered black by good ole Okies. They probably have nothing to fear from 1804 since they aren't brown.

Ivan R, Tulsa (11/2/2007 12:13:21 PM)

I'm sorry, Okies that can distinguish those latin people from African Americans will probably still want them deported to Mexico. Afterall, everything between Texas and Antarctica is Mexico, you know.

?, (11/2/2007 12:32:18 PM)

in order to effectively stop gang activity, we have to eliminate the people on the inside such as police officers and such that are working with the gangs. Let's focus on not only gangs, but occults as well. They are just as busy working evil. All races, all colors. . . .

John, Chandler (11/2/2007 12:41:09 PM)

HB 1804 does not cover people who there from other states or cities. I doubt if they are illegals here recruiting gang members. The smaller towns in Oklahoma need help from their citizens to report possible gang activity citizens of smaller must realize they can deny gangs exist in their towns. My home town in California for the longest time that they had a gang problem and now they are finally admitting a gang problem.

Steve, (11/2/2007 12:50:29 PM)

this is for Ivan R post 11 & 12

Hypocrite!!!!!! you take a derogatory comment that one made and tag all “Okies” as these “Blind Racist”. Well “Pot” (referring to the pot that called the kettle black) what ya got to say now. Tagging a group of people (either by race, culture, or location) is wrong… so this makes you wrong and in the same boat as the people you claim to be racist!!!! If you want it to stop, then first do the right thing and act the right way yourself!!!

Wake Up, (11/2/2007 1:06:33 PM)

If not for the futile war on drugs, there would likely be no gangs & none of the violence that comes with them. Just as the mafia was created by alcohol prohibition, these gangs are created & empowered by drug prohibition. Immigrants are just being scapegoated. Even if you were able to stop illegal immigration, it would do little if anything to help with the gang problem. The only thing you can do is to remove the economic incentive to join a gang. Drug abuse is bad, but the Drug War is worse.

K, (11/2/2007 1:14:28 PM)

Oh my goodness, PEOPLE! Gangs are not limited to a certain race; in fact, gangs are well diversified in any minority or majority "classification". STOP trying to make this a "racist" or "1804" issue, and try to START educating yourself on how to protect your loved ones from succumbing to the influence of any GANG...

Ivan R, Tulsa (11/2/2007 1:28:05 PM)

Good observation Steve. However, I have to point out that I'm an Okie too. So, instead of being a hipocrite, I'm acting right on track with the same stereotype that Okie's make sweeping generalizations about race, culture or location. Through a weird kind of Catch-22, I am justified in generalizing Okies as ignorant (not necessarily racist).

Ivan R, Tulsa (11/2/2007 1:37:03 PM)

hypocrite - sorry for the spelling.

Steve, (11/2/2007 1:39:09 PM)

Ivan,

once again please refer to post #15. Ivan, you too can get past that stereotype "stamping" that so many people have a problem with! I've lived here all my life. In fact I grew up and still live in rural Oklahoma. I'm not ignorant and see people the way you do. There are millions in Oklahoma... Don't say "always" and "everyone" etc... I have to teach my children this and they actually have gotten it. Obviously your mother did not teach you this. Unfortunatly that spawns another "social tagger" (either race, culture, or location). You can still change!!!!

Ivan R, Tulsa (11/2/2007 1:58:15 PM)

Steve, while stereotypes don't describe ALL members of a particular race, culture, location, they likely DO describe a large percentage or sometimes a majority of the group. If a stereotype didn't instantly bring to mind MOST of the group described, it wouldn't be an effective stereotype and would drop by the wayside. You do make some good points and it's nice to see someone who doesn't fit the generalization.

Imogene, Tulsa (11/2/2007 1:58:19 PM)

What in the world does the writer refer to when he states this problem is due to "population shifts". My, my, call everything anything but what we know it is.

Dan Howard of OutragedPatriots.com, Tulsa (11/2/2007 2:13:04 PM)

First of all, it is OBVIOUS that the AP left out any reference to the color of the skin of any of the gang members, probably for politically correct purposes.... yet, I do not operate on political correctness, just the 'correct' part. Since I am very familiar with the Guymon and Hooker areas and the current problems there, I can tell you that 90+% percent of any gang problems there are the result of violent criminal gangs from Mexico, El Salvador and those areas with the majority of those members being illegal aliens and even recently released prison inmates/violent criminals. However, there are rare instances when whites and blacks have become members of these gangs as well.

The main point of this is that it doesn't matter what the skin color is of any of these gang members!! For the 1900th time, THIS IS NOT ABOUT RACE !!! IT IS ABOUT CRIME AND THE VIOLATION OF OUR LAWS !!!!!

This story is about VIOLENT CRIMINAL GANGS infiltrating northwest Oklahoma and the fact is that the majority of them happen to be associated with MS-13, Big Sur, Mexican Mafia affiliates, and their likes and the majority of them are ILLEGAL ALIENS. Nothing racist there folks, just giving you the straight truth. Oklahomans could care less if these maggots are white, red, brown, yellow, black, or green..... if you are a LAWBREAKER, we will not roll over and capitulate to their crime and we will fight back for peace and rule of law.

The only people hollering RACE on this deal are the RACISTS THEMSELVES!

Oklahomans WILL NOT tolerate illegal aliens, criminal alien gang members, nor any other violent law breakers invading this great state and demanding how we will make and enforce OUR LAWS !!!

So, get off the race card as you are just disclosing your obvious 2-digit IQ when you play it.

Oh yeah, REP. RANDY TERRILL for GOVERNOR in 2010 !!!!!

Ricky, Kellyville (11/2/2007 2:20:45 PM)

Imogene, I thought the very same thing. This "population shifts" trash is just a media term for illegal mexicans swarming into our country like flies on manure. The only gang prevention strategy (another of those stupid terms bureaucrats like to use) we need is to have the military securing our border and in all the states rounding these turkeys up and putting them on cattle cars headed south of the border.

mj, Tulsa (11/2/2007 2:56:05 PM)

HB 1804 will help alot because it mandates ALL law enforcement agencies in the state to check status on ANY ARRESTIBLE CRIME ! The 287(g) program should be the avenue for these agencies as the Feds will provide the service and bring local officers up to speed on the status-check procedure.