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Get help to avert violence, councilwoman urges
YOUNGSTOWN
City Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st, is urging city residents facing crises in their lives to call Guy Burney, director of the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, to avail themselves of a host of services, including conflict resolution, mental health, job placement and education-related assistance.
Gillam and several other current and incoming city council members gathered late Monday afternoon to conduct a news conference outside city hall in the aftermath of a series of homicides in the city within the past month.
“Anybody that needs help that has a dispute going on, and before there’s a killing and retaliations, needs to join this program,” Gillam said of CIRV. “He can help you with all kinds of services,” Gillam said of Burney.
She added that Burney, who is assisted by volunteers, needs paid support staff.
“Any service in the city that’s preventing violence and preventing lives being lost definitely should receive more funding,” said her soon-to-be successor, Julius Oliver.
“When you do spend money on the front end, you spend less money on the back end” for incarceration of people who commit crimes, said Janet Tarpley, D-6th.
“What we’re trying to do here is to make sure everybody in our community feels safe,” she added.
“Young people have to stop killing each other over things that don’t make any sense,” Tarpley added.
Those with crises requiring immediate attention, such as suicidal thoughts or an immediate need for emergency shelter, should call Help Hotline, Gillam said.
Burney’s number is 330-742-8779. It is answered by a recording during non-business hours, and messages may be left on his voicemail.
Help Hotline’s number is 330-747-2696. Help Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day.
Two of those assembled for the news conference said they didn’t think the city needs more gun-control laws.
“There are sufficient laws on the books right now, and we have officers who are enforcing those laws,” said incoming 6th Ward Councilwoman Anita Davis, a former city police detective sergeant.
“We have adequate gun-control laws in place, but there are certain people in our community that should not have guns, such as those that are mentally challenged,” said Nate Pinkard, D-3rd, former Mill Creek MetroParks police chief.
“It’s incumbent upon all of us to report crimes in our communities,” Pinkard added.
“I don’t like the fact that people can go to gun shows and buy guns and not have background checks. I have a problem with that. That needs to change,” Gillam said.
Tarpley said she concurred with Gillam’s call for ending the gun-show loophole.