COMMUNITY CALLED TO ACTION IN FIGHT AGAINST SANTA FE GANGS PROBLEM.

Byline: SANDRA BALTAZAR MARTINEZ

Gangs. Gang members. At-risk youth. Latinos. Hispanics. Accountability. Responsibility. Community.

At a Thursday night meeting at La Farge Library, these were the words used over and over by people worried about people. More than 60 Santa Fe residents showed up to talk about a problem that plagues families, schools and businesses: gangs.

The problem is stark and serious. Santa Fe Police Detective Matthew Martinez said all schools, from elementary to high-school levels, are having gang problems. Gang recruitment increasingly involves younger children, he said: At a local elementary school, an 8-year-old recently walked onto the campus with the gang signSUR13 marked on his arm.

The meeting, organized by the Mayor's Youth Advisory Board and moderated by its chair, Alex Wirth, discussed the issue and some possible solutions. No city councilors or school board members attended, though Capital High School Principal Melanie Romero, SFPD officers, parents, teens and many citizens showed up.

"I think everyone is here because they feel like a victim," said Angelo Jaramillo, Northern New Mexico GearUp program coordinator, which includes Capital High.

"I've been asking everyone for help. This is my third year fighting," said Ana Alvarado, a Capital High parent. She said she has turned to the city, school board and law enforcement for help with her own children and with school-related issues that affect other Latino students at Capital.

Richard De Mella, city of Santa Fe juvenile justice planner, said that broken adults contribute to raisingkids who demand a high level of attention. But society should not categorize them as "high-risk kids," he added.

"We should not have to go to the police when our kids are in trouble; that's too late by then," De Mella said, adding that the community as a whole is failing to act.

One of the key solutions, argued Jaime Becerril, a social worker and community activist, is to not set the problem aside and pretend it's not happening in Santa Fe.

"The first thing that we need to do is talk about the problem, because as a community we are not doing it," he said, adding that the city should learn from the broken zero-tolerance, juvenile-incarcerating system that California currently has.

The communal approach has been lost over the years, said Anthony Trujillo, a deacon at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish who has worked with youth for 37 years. People only care about issues when it affects their own home, he added. Until then, "They say lo siento, 'I'm sorry,' to the neighbor down the street." Others in the audience nodded in agreement.

Several youths spoke, too. They said they want principals, teachers and police officers to listen to their version of the story when an incident occurs and before they are expelled, suspended or thrown into the juvenile system.

"Make it fair for everyone, even if it means wearing uniforms," said Aljavin Ramirez, 16, after the meeting. Ramirez said he got expelled on the second day of school for having a notepad with 187 written on it, a police code for a homicide. He had also gotten in trouble in the past for wearing a bracelet and a belt buckle with a marijuana plant printed on them.

"But I see white kids with big marijuana plants on the (shirts) and nothing happens to them. Why isn't it equal?" he said. His mother, Lidia Soto, listened with a concerned look on her face.

For John Goekler, a member of the Santa Fe Swarm -- a local group that focuses on social change for children -- the solution to troubled youth and gangs comes in many pieces and it requires teamwork to implement the changes. "Schools have not abandoned the community,

the community has abandoned schools," Goekler said.

One of the many solutions offered toward the end of the meeting was to get the business community involved. Santa Fe Police Deputy Chief Abram Anaya said adults should be role models and offer their time.

"Show them a better life and show them how to get there. That can be done now, and it's free," Anaya said.

Contact Sandra Baltazar Martinez at 986-3062

or [e-mail].