All of us at The Eagle are excited about the upcoming elections on April 6th. But we know there’s room for discussion and debate before that day gets here. We’ve teamed up with the League of Women Voters and Stephens College to bring you an open forum for Mayoral Candidates, City Council Candidates, as well as the pros & cons on Proposition One (Downtown Cameras).
The event will be held in the Windsor Auditorium on the Stephens Campus begining at 6:30pm and is free and open to the public. Mike Ferguson will broadcast live from the venue and Tom Bradley will act as moderator. Questions for candidates can be submitted on-line here from The Eagle website’s home page.
Fact: According to the Columbia Police Chief, the rate of violent crime in Downtown Columbia is flat from ’08 to ’09 and more arrests have been made due to the new downtown police unit.
Fact: Karen Taylor and Bob McDavid continuously state that assault arrests are up 23% as they attempt to garner support for their Proposition 1 initiative.
Fact: The average age of the Columbia voter is 65.
Considering these facts, isn’t it morally questionable for Taylor and McDavid to use the downtown assault arrest percentage to justify their push for cameras?
Isn’t this simply an attempt to frighten the older voter?
Doesn’t this arrest percentage mean that downtown was safer in ’09 than ’08?
If we are really so concerned about violent crime, shouldn’t we stop sending SWAT teams to kick down doors and shoot small dogs in front of children for a “small amount” of marijuana and instead focus these police resources on violent crimes that actually have a victim?