Residents hope meeting will dissolve ‘Crips’ threat

By Penni Schaefer

07/03/08 — CONNEAUT LAKE — More than 100 people crowded into Conneaut Lake’s Fifth Street Presbyterian Church Wednesday night to listen, learn and participate in a townhall-style meeting about rumors circulating about gang-type violence happening in the borough.

“Children are being approached and told that they can either join by getting ‘beat-in’ or they will be harassed on a daily basis,” Rita Damratoski, a co-organizer for the meeting said. “This is all new to us and that’s why we wanted the community to band together on this!”

Damratoski and her husband, Mark, are both residents of Conneaut Lake. Both said they decided to assemble the meeting after one of their sons narrowly escaped getting beat-up by a group of unruly teenagers.

“We’re not sure why they are doing it, but we’re concerned that these kids are running around beating up other kids in the community,” Mark Damratoski said. “What worries me is that, unlike when we were growing up, these kids have absolutely no respect for adults — not even their own parents can control them.”

When the Damratoskis approached the group of kids, Mark said the young people began picking up rocks and some were spitting on the couple.

“We’re frustrated,” Mark said. “After reporting the incident to Pennsylvania State Police we were told that they couldn’t do anything because it was our word against theirs.”

That’s when they decided to call a meeting and invite the community.

“Everyone knows these kids who are running around calling themselves ‘Crips’ aren’t really part of their gang,” he said. “But the kids of the community are still worried about getting beat up anyway.”

After speaking with friends, neighbors and other parents whose kids have allegedly been objects of abuse, the Damratoskis said they knew they had touched on a sore spot in the community.

“After the PSP discouraged us from filing a report, I decided that it was pointless to contact Conneaut Lake Regional Police Department,” he said. “They’ve been doing a wonderful job dispersing the groups when they see them, but it doesn’t last for long. They’ve got cell phones and so they just regroup.”

According to Chief Todd Pfeifer of Conneaut Lake Regional Police Department, they’ve known about the groups of kids for quite some time and have been “working surreptitiously to deal with them,” he told the group.

“With the little money we have to spend, we’re doing a lot,” he said. “I cannot tell you everything that we’re doing or else I’d have to quit and then let them run this town!”

Pfeifer said he is working with a forensic officer from PSP who is showing him more high-tech ways of gathering information on the growing list of kids who have already been implicated in hoodlum-type behavior in the borough.

“We’ve already got a list of 30 kids and that continues to grow,” he said. “But after the fight broke out in front of the Pizza Hut (in the borough) Sunday night, we’ve had to really take a more aggressive stance.”

During the meeting, several people spoke out against the recent decision to shut down the community’s Sunday night teen dances.

A recent Conneaut Lake graduate told the crowd that shutting down the dances put the good kids at a disadvantage, “gives the ‘gang’ an advantage” and also “helps them gain momentum” in the community.

He also suggested that the police use technology, such as cyberspace, to identify the kids through MySpace and the postings on their pages.

“After you identify them, you can identify their motives and then know how to deal with them.”

But with regard to the dances, Pfeifer stood firm. “Forty kids were fighting in the street,” he said. “The dances that were once a benefit are now a problem.”

Pfeifer said he did not take the decision to stop the dances lightly.

“Prior to this year, the dances were almost incident-free, with the exception of a few disorderly conducts,” he said. “Dances gave the kids something to do and brought business to the local economy because parents would drop their kids off and then a lot of them would go out for dinner.”

But after kids were found hiding alcohol in the woods, more assaults and a possible sexual assault that is still being investigated, the scuffle in the street Sunday was the last straw.

“I had to consider the safety of the town, not just of the kids,” Pfeifer said. “I have to also think about the safety of the passing motorists and the people who live and visit the area.”

Pfeifer did admit that the meeting Wednesday had some eye-opening information, because he had never heard about some of the incidents that people were discussing.

“I gave everyone the opportunity to step up here first,” he said. “And a lot of this stuff we (police) didn’t know was going on. If I don’t know, I can’t fix it for you!”

After discussion with community members, Pfeifer admitted that while he has no experience in the formation of a crime watch group, he would make the necessary contacts to get the ball rolling for citizens who were interested.

Pfeifer also told attendees that there were other measures that the department planned on taking to address the problem.

During the meeting, Pfeifer said kids will sooner or later get the message as they get arrested and ordered to perform community service.

“We’ll put Junior out painting the curbs or raking the sand at the beach,” he said. “Then maybe the next time they will think twice about doing something they know is wrong.”

And if that approach doesn’t work, there are other ways of driving home the seriousness of the situation to both the delinquent kids and their parents.

“We’re going to take a more proactive approach,” he said. “We’re going to get the message out that either parents will control their kids or it’s going to be too expensive for them to live here in Conneaut Lake because they will be cited.”