West side Association meetings minutes December 2, 2010

Meeting called to order by Pres. Connie Drexler at 11:54 PM

approval of November minutes

Treasurers Report

• had $7200
• collected $260
• spent $2200
• spent $500 on celebration of lights
• second payment of $1667 to grand opera house
• new balance $5200

Notes: one open pledge left to grand opera house, renewal letters go out in January

Chamber Report by John Casper

• discussed post office consolidation plan
• post office lost $8.5 billion last year, post office illumination in Oshkosh will save $4.6 million by closing Oshkosh facility
• the chamber requested details however they are not coming in and are not expected to come
• GE oil and gas may close facility in town study was just launched
• 2 software development companies may expand Department of Commerce is involved
• Horizon Group improvements near outlet mall
• New North, bringing possible new business in town

New Business:

1. 2011 board members election, noted and approved
2. support of celebration of lights – board passed

Guest Speaker introduced by Robin Jennings:

Officer Chee Vang, of the Oshkosh Police Department, Chee Vang is here to discuss gang activity in the Oshkosh area and greater Fox River Valley

• community involvement and awareness is key
• gangs use violence to create fear
• officer Vang shows us a video of local gang members describing their culture their signs and roots traced to communities across the country
• definition of the gang: group of three or more individuals formal or informal that have something in common
• money and drugs are common problems with gangs
• we can prevent many of the problems by simply locking our doors and garage doors
• there are seven gangs in Oshkosh with over 200 kids as members

Jugalo's is the most common group of gangs in the Oshkosh area their primary malfunction is they are seeking and looking for love and home life which they have no mouth currently. This could be from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

Three common traits to jugalo's:

1. violence equals earn respect
2. intimidation equals control those around them
3. fear equals accomplish goals

There are many issues making the gang situation worsen Oshkosh:

• prison does not help this group of individuals they build stronger gang affiliations in jail and prison
• currently Oshkosh does not have a full-time gang unit is just a group of volunteer police officers
• this new group started recently within the past four years

Other Common Gangs Found in Oshkosh:

• Cripts, folk nation, Asian Hispanics jugalo's and bikers
• Chicago gang influence
• the folk nation: primary color is blue, they use a six pointed star or pitchfork to identify themselves we can see them spray-painted on several buildings in the Valley
• the people nation: primary colors red, they use a five pointed star to identify themselves
• Asian gangs primarily from California, the blogs and the crypts

Other important things to remember we are doing the gang.

• gangs have a 360° importance on everything effecting all aspects of gang members life
• gangs commonly use acronyms and letter word replacement for identifying themselves for example the number 74 equals GD the seventh in the fourth letters of the alphabet's GD is gangster disciples which is part of the folk nation. Kickback equals kicc bkaak
• if you see the brand 54 is gang attire so please don't be buying this for your children or relatives
• other gang notes: the following gangs have also been involved in the Oshkosh area; menace of destruction, there connected to the Asian creek killers; MS 13,Mara Sulvatrucha, an El Salvadorian gang tied to many murders across United States.
• More on the jugalo's and jugglett's: these gang members are devoted to the insane clown posse which is a very dark and violent music culture they've been around since 1989 typical gang members join when the are middle school typically those individuals seeking for love and sense of community and home are the most heavily influenced and to join the gang. They give drugs in drinks and love they create the ideal family life family life for those with little or no guidance. Commentate you will seen for them is J4L they typically meet every Tuesday between seven and 10 PM downtown Oshkosh. If you ever see a bumper with a little dude running with a hatchet he is called the running hatchet man and is a common identifier to this gang affiliation. Closing these members typically where our black blue or red.

What Can We Do?

• Call the police when you see weird stuff
• most activity is on the west side of Oshkosh, typically theft
• more no loitering signs need to be placed

Things parents should do to help prevent their child from being involved in a gang:

1. be involved and show love
2. monitor Facebook and MySpace accounts
3. ask questions

Officer Vang finished by telling us about a program he would like to introduce to Oshkosh

"Step Up"

• this program would focus on school age children typically in middle school
• it is program designed to prevent children from getting involved in the gangs my first place
• officer Vang is driven by passion for helping these kids
• officer Vang a native of Minneapolis was once involved in a gang as a middle schooler
• currently the union prevents officers from doing this type of work on their own free time
• officer Vang is going to need to present this at some point to the police chief
• questions and answers
• as a group we discussed writing a letter in support of officer Vang's program, step up, as a group we decided to write a letter and encouraged other members to write letters in his support we are going to send these letters to officer Vang directly so he may use them when needed.

Meeting adjourned at 1 PM