Talking gangs: youth speak up

Bishop Michael Jackson of the Emmanuel Christian Center in Ruckersville believes there are gangs in Greene County. Sheriff Scott Haas says there are gang members living in Greene County, but his office has no evidence that they have organized a gang here.
Both men have used the term "wannabes" when trying to explain the difference between actual gang members and those who would like to be gang members.
But, says an area youth, "Wannabes do as much as a real gang. If you 'wannabe' a gang, you're a gang. If they 'wannabe' gangs, you've got a problem."
He was one of several members of a local youth group that volunteered to speak to the Record about what they knew of gang activity in the county, on condition of anonymity.
The group consisted of teenagers from Greene, as well as some from Albemarle and Louisa.
Haas says there are gang influences to Greene's south, west, and north.
A young man from Louisa says, "A whole bunch of people got kicked out of school. Bloods and Crips and another one called Gonz."
The Crips got its start in California in the late 1960s on and around high school campuses by extorting money and committing assaults and robberies. The Bloods, formed in 1972, became a rival.
Since then, the activities of these gangs have become increasingly violent, and increasingly a national problem, according to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service provided by the United States Department of Justice.
In Albemarle, says one teenager, there's "a gang that to get in you have to rob a person … they stand outside apartments and wait."
Haas says there are people moving into the county who have tried to bring gang activity with them.
During the discussion on gangs, a William Monroe High School student says: "Five guys in high school surrounded my brother at Dairy Queen and pulled a gun on him."
Sheriff's Office personnel responded to the incident but no gun was to be found. The alleged victim refused to fill out a complaint.
Another time, at the same place, says the same student, a seven-year-old was smacked in the face by a group of teenagers.
In Ruckersville, say two of the teenagers, who were interviewed, a group spray-painted a sign at the entrance to a subdivision.
While symbols have been appearing around the county sporadically as walls, sidewalks and signs are defaced, some youth say those that "wannabe," or that perhaps already are, gang members, advertise themselves in other ways as well.
Students at WMHS "have flags hanging out of their pockets," says one of the group. "There's a white flag, a black flag, and a green flag." Kids with the same color flags "walk around in groups and try to intimidate."
In Dyke, no one in the group knew of any gangs, or gang wannabes, but they did know of a fight club made up of teenagers.
"They are not fighting people they don't like. They are just fighting to fight, and they always stop it before somebody gets hurt," says one of the teenagers.
Another, who claims no knowledge of gangs or wannabes of any sort, says all Greene County is is boring. "In Stanardsville, kids hang out at Dairy Queen. In Ruckersville they hang out at Sheetz. There's a park, but there's no transportation to the park."
Haas says having nothing to do is a large part of the problem.
"You've got a bunch of kids in the county who are susceptible to influences coming in, good or bad," he says. "It only takes one person to get an organized gang started … these kids need something to do."