2008 Woodie Awards
Violence plagues some students
Justin Calderon
Issue date: 5/3/07 Section: News
Violence is a growing trend in America that is bred out of pure necessity; necessity to live and to be noticed-two statements that are one in the same. Whether it is by force of economic adversity or by overwhelming indifference and disrespect, American violence has become a rising share in a bull market. The academic community of Poughkeepsie has become submerged in a haven of batteries, burglaries, and assaults. The perpetual omnipresence of hostility in the Poughkeepsie area has some citizens looking over their shoulders on the way to their driveways. Once the capital of New York State, Poughkeepsie has since been selectively transformed into a perfect cross section of modern day America-filled with an ever growing economic gap that promotes violence and segregation.
The Marist College community lies just to the northwest corner of Poughkeepsie and over the past few decades has become an intricate part in restoring wealth to the impoverished city center. However, the academic community has also bared an onslaught of violence in the after hours of the Poughkeepsie night.
Over the past year criminal activity towards the academic community has become a recurring trend, and cases where force is used are no longer scarce. The average Marist student knows someone, or 'knows of someone' who has been accosted in the city of Poughkeepsie. Most of the recent incidents of criminal violence have occurred outside of school grounds, but that is not always the case.
Friday 13; a day infamously known for conjuring up events of utter-misfortune did just that this past April for Jim Mearns, a senior and employee of ResNet at Marist College. At about 1:30am that Friday night Mearns was walking back from Mahoney's behind the train station and towards the small steel bridge off of North Water Street. Before he reached the steel bridge a black Honda Civic stopped in front of him and he noticed one man exit from the car. His optimistic nature followed first and he said assumed the strangers had good intentions until the headlights suddenly switched off revealing the shadows of two more men. Mearns began calling out to the men and then, as much quickly as instinctually, raised his voice to a shout in hopes to cause some intimidation in the approaching shadows.
The Marist College community lies just to the northwest corner of Poughkeepsie and over the past few decades has become an intricate part in restoring wealth to the impoverished city center. However, the academic community has also bared an onslaught of violence in the after hours of the Poughkeepsie night.
Over the past year criminal activity towards the academic community has become a recurring trend, and cases where force is used are no longer scarce. The average Marist student knows someone, or 'knows of someone' who has been accosted in the city of Poughkeepsie. Most of the recent incidents of criminal violence have occurred outside of school grounds, but that is not always the case.
Friday 13; a day infamously known for conjuring up events of utter-misfortune did just that this past April for Jim Mearns, a senior and employee of ResNet at Marist College. At about 1:30am that Friday night Mearns was walking back from Mahoney's behind the train station and towards the small steel bridge off of North Water Street. Before he reached the steel bridge a black Honda Civic stopped in front of him and he noticed one man exit from the car. His optimistic nature followed first and he said assumed the strangers had good intentions until the headlights suddenly switched off revealing the shadows of two more men. Mearns began calling out to the men and then, as much quickly as instinctually, raised his voice to a shout in hopes to cause some intimidation in the approaching shadows.
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