The Allen County Republican Headquarters was host for United States Congress Person Mark Souder of the Third Congressional District and United States Congress Person Mike Pence of the Sixth Congressional District endorsement of Ken Fries for Allen County Sheriff.
According to Souder's official website, U.S. Representative Mark Edward Souder was first elected to Congress in 1994 after working for U.S. Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) for 10 years during Coats' tenure in the House and Senate. The congressman is "a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, which is the primary body in Congress to address issues of terrorism and the security of the nation, according to his website". And his website states, "Souder has been a champion of legislation to make faith-based organizations eligible to receive federal grants to help address cultural problems such as drug addiction, teen pregnancy and gang activity."
Souder's endorsement of Fries addressed gang activity, in the area of human smuggling,drugs and guns. Do we have a ongoing gang problem? Well listening to Souder, after the ATF snagged 170 guns going out of Fort Wayne and with Goshen with an issue of human smuggling it is something a candidate for sheriff should be concerned. The other endorsement came from U.S. Representative Pence.
Congress Person Pence according to his official website was "elected to Congress in November 2000 and was re-elected to the Sixth Congressional District, encompassing much of the eastern half of Indiana, in 2002 and 2004." More from the website, "Mike Pence was born in Columbus, Indiana, graduated from Hanover College in 1981 and earned his Doctorate in Jurisprudence from Indiana University School of Law in 1986. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Rep. Pence was appointed to the Judiciary Committee, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. Pence participated in drafting the Patriot Act and legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security."
This was on the website also, "[d]uring the 108th Congress, Rep. Pence authored the Truth in Domain Names Act, which President Bush signed into law as part of historic child protection legislation. The law will punish those who use misleading domain names to attract children to sexually explicit Internet sites and has already been employed by federal prosecutors to clean up the Internet."
Pence called Ken Fries a "cop's cop" and the the right man at the right time to lead Allen County." The theme this morning appeared to be on electing responsible leadership. Leadership with experience for addressing the growing citizens' fear of homeland or afar terror and disasters. Pence suggested that during times of disasters, the person who citizens call is their local sheriff.
Pence mentioned that this might be the first "joint endorsement" of a candidate. Was this really a joint endorsement of Ken Fries, or a way for free advertisement to bolster support for Souder? Some in the community believe that for the first time a candidate from the Democratic Party will give Souder a run for the district seat. That candidate may be Tom Hayhurst. Nevertheless, Ken Fries was the headliner. Fries spoke on gangs.
Ken Fries suggested with the melting pot atmosphere of the city, that it is just a matter of time before an explosion of gang activity. While some activities by groups of youth may not appear to be gang activity it surely can rise to that level if left unchecked seem to be the warning. The community needs to remove its blinders if they do not think that gang organizational power of the past could not return to the city. In other words, overzealous of monitoring youth could lead to a preemptive strike toward groups hanging together. More interesting was a statement by Fries that at least a million dollars a month leaves northeast Indiana from drug activity.
Of course, all these hypos had me a little confused, because peers tends to hang out with their peers. So, I suggested that if they are truly concerned about criminal activity, the 2500 Block of Warsaw Street could be a starting point. Just in case, city, state, and federal were not sharing information, I thought it was best to let them know and be on the same page, that at least one citizen was concerned. It's not like I have not made phone calls, expressed the problem to city council, an open letter to the Police Chief, and to the public at large. I think I've just about covered all bases.
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