Sheriff David Morgan VIOLENT TEEN GANGS Sheriff David Morgan talked last week about the rise of teenage gangs in Escambia County. He warned that these gangs, commonly referred to as “hybrid gangs,” can be much more violent and unpredictable than the nationally known Bloods, Crips and MS-13. “The gang experts will tell you that they are much more violent than the national gangs because they tend to not have hierarchy,” said Morgan on News Talk 1370 WCOA’s Pensacola Speaks.
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He explained their lack of structure makes them more violent. “If you go to one of the national gangs, whether it's a motorcycle gang or whatever, there's almost a military-like structure to this gang,” the sheriff said. “If you violate the norms, the mores, the rules, the laws of the gang, punishment is swift, severe and certain.” Morgan said the leadership is more fluid in these gangs of teens. “You could be the gang leader today, I could be the gang leader tomorrow, Don (Parker) could be the day after,” he said. “It depends upon who shows up today with the most money, the most drugs, et cetera.” The lack of organization can be a recipe for disaster. He explained. “What you fear from the local gangs is that the biggest whack job in the gang today shows up with the biggest gun and decides, ‘Today would be a good day to do some retaliation or some drive-by shooting.’ Because they're in charge today, it becomes chaos. That's why they are much more dangerous than some of your, again, nationallyknown gangs that are very well-structured.”
STUDER WORLD UPDATES The initial use
of old Main Street Sewage Treatment Plant on Main Street will be as a parking lot for Blue Wahoos season ticket holders, according to Quint Studer, who with his wife Rishy, owns both the Blue Wahoos and the 18-acre site. What are the long-term plans for the site’s development? His answer might surprise you. “Rishy and I go back and forth on it,” said Studer on Pensacola Speaks. “When we first bought it, we thought we were going to put a lot of buildings on it, but when my father was dying in Fort Myers, we spent a lot of time at a community park there.” He said the park had a water feature, places where families could picnic and a train that went around it. "More and more, if we can't find the absolute building to go there, we are thinking that one of our legacies could build a park there." Studer said the Community Maritime Park is looking like it will not be the community park
that was originally envisioned in 2005 with its plans for hotel, high-rise luxury condominiums and apartments, and a marina. "We want to create a place where people will come to picnic, to run, to jog, to workout, to maybe do some boating activities," Studer said. "That is what's sort of in the back of our minds." Studer said that the proposed apartments for the old News Journal building on Romana Street, which he and his wife also own, are in the design phase while they seek conceptual approval from the various city boards, talk with potential general contractors and try to lock down financing for the $50-million project. He said the demolition of the building should start later this month. Podcasts of these and other interviews are available on Podomatic.com and our websites, inweekly.net and ricksblog.biz. Pensacola Speaks airs weekdays from 5-6 p.m. on News Talk 1370 WCOA. {in}
"We want to create a place where people will come to picnic, to run, to jog, to workout, to maybe do some boating activities.” Quint Studer
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