Principal Advises Early Action Against Gangs

The gang problem in the Spokane Valley is here to stay and will only get worse if it is not controlled.

That’s the message Dennis Birr delivered to concerned parents, business leaders and school administrators gathered Tuesday morning at Ponderosa Elementary.

“It’s not a fad, it’s a lifestyle,” said Birr, a Sunnyside, Wash., middle school principal who has been a leader in addressing growing gang problems in the southeastern Washington community.

Birr said school administrators waited too long to fight back against gangs in Sunnyside. Consequently, fights became a daily occurrence at schools and drive-by shootings around schools were commonplace.

Gang leaders actively recruit new members from schools, targeting middle schools, Birr said. They prey on youths who are looking for a place to belong.

Nationwide, the average age of a gang member is 13-1/2, he said. Few are older than 30.

“The reason you don’t find many gang members over 30 is because they’re either dead or in prison,” Birr said.

Sunnyside school administrators have recently reclaimed the schools by making changes that included establishing a dress code and outlawing cellular telephones and pagers.

Other areas have not been as lucky. In California, school officials focused on intervention and now admit they are losing the battle against gangs, Birr said.

Although Central Valley’s gang problem may pale in comparison to big cities, the school district is not without its gang problems, administrators and parents said.

“I’ve had kids in my office telling me that they don’t care if they die. That’s their destiny,” said Evergreen Junior High assistant principal Karl Ota.

Kathy Miles and her family found graffiti on the sliding glass door of their home at Christmas time a couple of years ago. The message was a gang’s way of marking a house for death, deputies told Miles.

Fortunately, the graffiti artists were only copying symbols they had seen elsewhere and were not issuing a threat.

“We have to realize it’s happening in our nice neighborhoods too,” Miles said.

Gangs use graffiti as a way to mark territory, show allegiance to each other and issue threats to rival gangs. Key to stopping gang activity from spreading is by crippling their communication system.

“Graffiti’s become a major problem in the Valley,” said Joe Ferrell, a police chaplain and minister at the Valley’s Church of the Nazarene.

Successfully preventing gangs from taking over the Valley means schools, businesses and community members must work with sheriff’s deputies, Birr said.

“If you don’t think it happens in Central Valley, you’ve got your head buried in the sand,” Birr said.

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