ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 8, 1997 TAG: 9703100103
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
Big crime stories recently have shaken Roanoke's peaceful self-image. Perhaps Roanokers should be jarred from complacency - but they shouldn't be driven to panic.
ROANOKE is what journalists call a "bad news town." That is not to say, "a town in which bad things happen with great frequency," but rather, "a quiet town."
Rip-roaring events of the type that sells out newspapers at boxes and stands - unusually violent crimes, or wild sex scandals involving public figures - occur infrequently (if ever, in the latter case).
Yet beneath its placid surface, the news of the past couple of weeks has illustrated, Roanoke is not immune from major crime.
Last week, the U.S. Attorney's Office made public the indictments of 41 people accused of involvement in drug trafficking, including several key figures in Colombia's notorious Cali drug cartel. This week, federal authorities charged two Roanoke businessmen and eight other people with racketeering; authorities alleged that the group comprises a "crime family" involved in murder, arson, drug distribution, extortion and burglary.
These are frightening allegations. On top of them, an anonymous Washington leaker is making thus-far unsubstantiated claims that the businessmen, both Americans born on the West Bank, have been funneling money to Middle East terrorists.
When faced with such disturbing news, residents of a relatively peaceful city such as Roanoke must give up the pretense that evil can never possibly touch their lives. Neither, however, should they launch into frenzied imaginings that criminals are poised to overrun the place, destroying all that is good.
Though this is a nation of immigrants, such fears tend to be magnified when suspicion falls on newer arrivals, as is true in both recent cases. It would be unjust to cast a net of mistrust over innocent people who happen to share the same background.
A courageous response in the face of evil was exemplified by storeowner Joseph Kirk, whose business was vandalized, then burned out by arsonists. He was neither intimidated nor driven to retaliate. He rebuilt.
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