Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, December 5, 1997
Definition of a gang
According to the Lawrence police department, a street gang is an ongoing organization, association or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal that has a common name or identifying signs, colors, or symbols. Individually or collectively, their members and associates engage in, or have engaged in, criminal activity.
"It's not against the law to be a gang member," said Mike McAtee, Lawrence police detective. "It's against the law to commit a crime. The whole purpose of a gang is to commit crime."
McAtee said a person must meet all of the listed criteria to be identified as a gang member.
Those criteria include:
An individual who admits membership to a gang and displays a knowledge of gang activities
An individual who is identified as a gang member by a reliable informant
An individual who resides in or frequents a gang area and assumes a gang's dress style
An individual who has been arrested several times in the company of known gang members for offenses that are consistent with gang activity
An individual who does not meet the above criteria but has strong ties with a gang is identified as a gang associate.
Gang behavior seen in Lawrence youth
Continued from page 1A
Trying to leave the life
Kelly Lewis, a 16-year-old former member of SPL, a Lawrence based gang, lives at 203 Glencow. He was throwing a going-away party for his friend on Sept. 7, the night the gang fight erupted.
Lewis, a Free State High School student, said most of the 30 young people, who attended what police labeled a gang-related function, left around midnight to be home in time for their curfews.
After midnight, members of HOYAS, a rival Lawrence gang, showed up at Lewis' home.
"The guy that was doing the stabbing was looking for me," Lewis said. "We had been in confrontations before."
Lewis made the call to 911 and did not go outside until after the fight was over, and three Lawrence teen-agers, Brandon Masquas, Scott Brown and Dan Webber, had been stabbed.
After the incident, Lewis quit the SPL gang, which he had joined when he was 14 years old. He said he joined because he and his friends thought it would be cool to be in their own gang.
Lewis, who has not been charged with any crime related to the stabbing, said his mom knew he had been in a gang.
"She never thought that it was that big of a deal," Lewis said.
Even though he quit SPL, Lewis said his ties to the gang had not been severed.
"I still have to watch my back," Lewis said. "At school I have to constantly look over my shoulder. It's going to take a while, but people aren't going to be looking at me anymore as a gang member."
Hidden signs of trouble
Michael Young. 18-year-old Lawrence freshman and member of the city's gang prevention committee since August, is two years older than Lewis. Young didn't know Lewis from high school and never saw any signs of gangs at Lawrence High School.
Young said the gang incident that occurred at Lewis' home did not shock him since joining the committee, but it would have four months ago.
"The first reaction is that it wouldn't happen here. This is Lawrence. I think it is very easy for us to insulate ourselves at KU." Young said. "Looking back at it, I know there were signs."
And there are signs. Wells said.
Graffiti littered with gang symbols and gang related incidents are signs of Lawrence's gang problem. But he said signs like graffiti go unnoticed by the public because of a city ordinance requiring graffiti to be removed immediately.
"We have taken a very aggressive posture in Lawrence to get rid of it as soon as it pops up," Wells said. "It's here and gone rather quickly and that's not by acci dent. It's by design."
But people should have little doubt that there are gangs in Lawrence, Wells said.
A look at the juveniles arrested in the September stabbing paints a decidedly upscale picture of Lawrence gang activity. The parents of the four juveniles charged with felonies include a KU professor of law, a former city commissioner and a Lawrence business owner.
Naming the players
William Alan Rector, 17, has been charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder. Richard and Debbie Rector are his parents. His father is employed by a local business, and his mother works at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Richard Rector acknowledges there are gangs in Lawrence but said the September stabbing was not a gang fight.
"I think that the police have a hard time distinguishing real gangs from real kids," Rector said.
Zachary Turner is the son of Jo Anderson, a former city commissioner. His father is Ronald Turner, a resident of Topeka. The 17-year-old has been charged with one count of alding and abetting aggravated battery.
Sarah Gottlieb, 16, is being charged with one count of aiding and abetting aggravated battery and one count of aiding a felon. Gottlieb is the daughter of David Gottlieb, professor of law, and Rita Sloan. Like many of the other individuals involved in this incident, Gottlieb does not fit the stereotypical gang profile.
Anna Kimbrell, 16, has been charged with one count of aiding and abetting aggravated battery. Kimbrell is the daughter of David Kimbrell, owner of Oread Laboratories, Inc. Her mother is Janet Boulet Kimbrell.
On the night of the incident, Gottlieb and Kimbrell were found at 4 a.m. at the Airport Motel, 1493 U.S. Highway 40, along with Jason Freeman and Skyland Love. Freeman and Love are charged as adults with four counts of aiding and abetting aggravated battery and one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery. Gottlieb, police said, drove some of the individuals involved in the incident to the motel.
Three other adults have been charged with four counts of aiding and abetting aggravated battery and one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated battery.
Information on the background of the five adults involved in the incident is contained in district court files, which were checked out by judges and lawyers.
The nine people charged in the incident will appear in court during the next four months.
Kimbrell's father said the fight had been blown out of proportion by the media. He said the incident at 203 Glenview may have been a fight among teenagers that went too far.
Child's play
"This certainly wasn't a gang problem," Kimbrell said. "I'm not trying to save that it wasn't serious."
Kimbrell did not comment on the
"The first reaction is that it wouldn't happen here.
This is Lawrence."
Michael Young, lawrence freshman, member of the gang prevention committee
incident other than to say that he thought his daughter was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Anna has not been a problem child," Kimbrell said. "This isn't the pattern of Anna's life at all."
"It has caused a lot of heartache on the family," Kimbrell said.
Kimbrell said the incident had caused his family embarrassment and a lot of money. Anna, who was on the staff of Free State High School's newspaper and was an honor roll student, has changed schools. She now attends a private school in the Kansas City area.
Lewis said the fight was not a normal Lawrence gang activity. He said gang members in Lawrence did little more than hang out.
"Anybody in gangs in Lawrence doesn't do a damn thing," Lewis said. "I don't think the public should be afraid of gangs. The gangs in Lawrence are not out to terrorize people."
Lewis said the concern should be centered on gangs from larger cities that make stops in Lawrence.
"I think there are more people coming down from Topeka and Kansas City," Lewis said. "That is something that everyone should be worried about."
Insight from a convicted gangster
Richard J. Solere, 20, from the Topeka area, is serving a 24-month sentence in the Winfield Correctional Facility. He was convicted for a drive-by shooting that took place in June of 1996 at 13th and New Jersey Streets.
The 4 a.m. shooting marked a house with six bullet holes, including one in a bedroom. Four people were in the house.
"I can't really say why I did that drive-by that got me in prison. I never intended to kill nobody or hurt nobody," Solere said. "I never thought that I would get caught because, to me, it wasn't that big of a deal. But I guess I was wrong and now I'm in here."
Solere also said Lawrence gangs
did not hit the stereotype and questioned if Lawrence had gangs at all.
"I don't feel Lawrence has a real gang problem. For one, there aren't
real gangs in Lawrence. There's a lot of wanna-be gangsters," Solere said. "All the real gang-related violence in Lawrence has been from gangs from other cities."
Solere said while there were gangs in Lawrence affiliated with larger gangs, the Lawrence gangs did not act like their counterparts from
larger cities, who protected territory and had members from rough neighborhoods.
"Most of the youngsters come from good homes and are just trying to be cool," Solere said. "They don't know what it's really like to live that life on an everyday basis. If they actually grew up in a larger city where the shit is real and drive-by's and killings are an everyday thing, then I guarantee they wouldn't want to be gangsters no more."
To discourage gang activity, the police department and the gang prevention committee have sponsored several public forums about gangs.
Rebecca Gooden, who serves on the gang prevention committee, said Lawrence's early action against gangs was intended to prevent what could become an uncontrollable problem.
Solele said parents had to play an integral role in children's lives to keep them out of gangs. Education and gang awareness will help them to make the right choices, he said.
"I feel that parents can only help protect their kids from gangs by living in a neighborhood that is less likely to be gang infested. But the fact of the matter is, gangs are everywhere you go." Solere said.
Solele said public forums and being tough on crime could prevent gang problems.
"It's possible for a community to deal with and keep gangs out by simply getting involved." Solere said.
"Let the gangs know that they're not going to tolerate gang activity. If there's pressure, then gangs won't be around too long. I think the Lawrence police are on top of the little gang problem they have."
Ska Mob Tour to skank into Bottleneck this evening
By Tom Winter
Kansan staff writer
twinter@kansan.com
New York City ska will come to the Bottleneck late this afternoon.
The Ska Mob Tour, a collection of three New York-based ska bands, will begin playing shortly after the doors open at 5 p.m. Tickets are $12.
Of the three bands — the Slackers, Stubborn All Starss and Skin-
nerbox — the Slackers and Skin nerbox have previously played the Bottleneck.
Jango, vocalist and trombone player for the Slackers and Stubborn All Stars, said the Ska Mob Tour was made up of 16 musicians from two bands, which together actually represent three bands.
This is because the Stubborn All Stars is a mixture of band members from the Slackers and Skinnerbox.
"We guarantee 25 guys' worth of entertainment with only 16 guys in the bands," Jango said. "We did this show some time in March or April when the Slackers and Skinnerbox played together, and we just had the best time."
The bands are made up of a bunch of old friends from New York, Jango said.
"It was a way to get out on the road without leaving any of our boys at home," he said.
The bands have played 11 shows
so far on the tour and have another two and a half weeks to go before returning home. They also plan to tour together again in March.
"If you like to dance, you're going to dig it," Jango said. "Our music runs the gamut from '50s to '90s ska."
Jango said the music was a perspective of what was going on in ska, particularly in the New York ska scene.
"It's a more rootsy kind of s
than what you'd usually witness," he said.
Josh Hunt, booking and publicity agent for Avalanche Productions, booked the bands.
"They're great bands," Hunt said. "Live, they sound like they do recorded."
Hunt said the audiences had enjoyed Skinnerbox and the Slackers when they had played in Lawrence before.
The all-ages show will end by 9:30 p.m.
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