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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Good grief.


2 posted on 07/19/2005 9:56:20 AM PDT by Gabz ((Chincoteague, VA) USSG Warning: Portable sewing machines are known to cause broken ankles)
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To: Gabz

Yes here is the AP report of the event. Doesn't make a lot of sense:

Three dead in Racine shooting

State Wire
Published July 17, 2005

RACINE, Wis. (AP) - Three men were killed and four people were wounded in a shooting at a city parking lot in a district near several bars early Sunday, and officers were looking for suspects, police said.

A patrolling officer heard several gunshots around 2 a.m. and traced them to a municipal parking lot where he found a large group of people, including those with gunshot wounds, police said.

Investigators haven't determined what prompted the shootings, Sgt. William Macemon said.

"We haven't ruled anything out at this point because we just don't know,'' he said.

An argument outside the Mr. Kool bar may have led to the shootings, WTMJ-TV reported. One woman who said she was a witness told the station, "Everybody was fighting, arguing, crying, running. Everything you all want to know, that's what it was. It was chaotic.''

Macemon said police have not connected the incident to any particular bar in the business district where the shootings occurred.

The shootings killed Ryan Lockridge and Aaron Woods, both 23, and Frank Mister, 22, police said. All three were from Racine.

Two of the dead were shot in the abdomen and one in the head, said Racine Chief Medical Examiner Tom Terry.

It was likely the two shot in the abdomen bled to death and that the head wound killed the third victim, he said. Autopsies are due to be performed Monday.

The deaths brought the number of people killed in Racine this year to 10, double last year's total. Racine has not had double-digit homicides in at least 10 years.

Three men and a woman, all in their 20s, were treated for injuries and released from a hospital, Macemon said.


8 posted on 07/19/2005 10:08:10 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: Gabz

Some more details of the mayhem on Washington Street:

Three killed, four injured in Wash Ave. shooting; City's 2005 murder toll reaches 10
By Janine Anderson

RACINE - City officials, looking to stem a spate of murders that have plagued Racine this summer, will begin reviewing today how to respond to the most recent slaying: a triple homicide early Sunday morning on Washington Avenue.

"It's a tragedy that there are folks out in the community with this kind of lack of regard for one and another," Mayor Gary Becker said Sunday evening. "It's a tragedy to the community in so many different ways."

Three people were killed, and four more injured, following a shooting at 1:56 a.m. in the 1300 block of Washington Avenue. Sgt. William Macemon, a spokesman for the Racine Police Department, said investigators have not "ruled anything out" as they try to unravel what led to the shootings.

The victims were discovered by a Racine police officer who heard the shots and traced them to a parking lot in the southwest corner of Washington Avenue and 13th Street. A large group of people was found, along with the victims.

Killed were Ryan Lockridge, 23; Frank Mister, 22, and Aaron Woods, 23. Injured were three men, ages 23, 24 and 26, and a 28-year-old woman. All seven victims were from Racine. Police have not released the identities of the surviving victims for their protection.

Chief Medical Examiner Tom Terry said the three dead men all had bullet wounds; two of the men were shot in the abdomen, one was shot in the head. He said no official cause of death has been determined yet, but that it is likely that the two who were shot in the abdomen bled to death and that the head wound killed the third victim. Autopsies are due to be performed Monday.

An officer on the scene Sunday afternoon said there were roughly 200 people in the parking lot when the shooting occurred and that members of gangs from the north and south sides of the city were present.

Several blocks of Washington Avenue on either side of the parking lot were closed to traffic until about 4:30 p.m., and access to businesses and homes in the area was restricted. People whose cars had been parked in the blocks-long crime scene were unable to get to them until late afternoon. Some cars were towed from the area. Chalk outlines and blood stains remained on the ground throughout the day.

Police are talking with people as they come to reclaim their vehicles, some of whom had been waiting for hours.

Macemon said Sunday it was too early to tell where the people involved had been before the shooting, and with the large crowd there are still many people that need to be identified and talked to.

"There's nothing we can confirm," he said. "We have just too many people to try to talk to. We can't generalize the entire crowd."

He said it is too early to tell what precipitated the shooting, though "so far we have not ruled out anything."

Debora Smith lives a few blocks from the scene. She said she heard the shots early Sunday morning.

"When I went outside everything was chaos," she said. "I heard it and went to see what's going on. There were police everywhere."

John Kopulos, co-owner of The Corner House restaurant located about a block from the shooting, said the incident shouldn't impact the Uptown area. He noted that The Corner House hires its own security and was closed well before the violence broke out on Sunday.

"I don't have any concerns," he said. "We have security outside, all of my patrons are safe. This was outside of my control. This is a good neighborhood, a good area. (The shootings) were an aberration. They could have happened anywhere."

"We're working hard to make this a sustainable area for business," Kopolus added. "This isn't an Uptown issue, it's a gang issue."

Becker said city officials would look today at what can be done to address the violence that has erupted in Racine in recent weeks. Sunday morning's shootings brings the city's murder toll to 10 for the year - double the number in 2004.

Racine has not seen homicides in the double-digits in at least 10 years.

"It's a tragedy for the victims and their families," Becker said. It's a tragedy for the black community, which these (murders) are impacting so heavily. And it's a tragedy for the community at large, in the sense of public safety. This is not the image people want for their community."


10 posted on 07/19/2005 10:12:13 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: Gabz

This article from last year has some hints in it about the neighborhood where this event took place:

ENTERPRISE
From the August 20, 2004 print edition
The only 'champion' for local Hispanic radio
After brief knockout, 'ma and pa' owners bounce back from vandalism
Rich Kirchen
Vandals briefly knocked southeastern Wisconsin's only full-time Spanish-language radio station off the air a year ago, and the husband-wife station owners took it personally, though they say they don't know who committed the crime.

WBJX-AM (1460) has been broadcasting since August 2003 from a temporary antenna at the same Mount Pleasant site in Racine County where the transmission tower's guy wires were cut and the tower toppled, said Robert Jeffers, who owns the station with his wife, Patricia Martinez Jeffers. They reported the vandalism to the Racine County Sheriff's Department but no one has been arrested.

The unsolved crime against the Jeffers' station is yet another challenge to the station's already-challenged existence. They say they are committed to keeping WBJX, known as "La Campeona" ("The Champion") on the air as a service to the Milwaukee-Racine area's Mexican-American community. They hope eventually to erect a new set of towers that produce a stronger signal.

"La Campeona means champion for something -- it's not just a slogan," says Martinez Jeffers.

She is proud of the perseverance that she and her husband have shown in surviving as literally a mom-and-pop operation in a radio industry populated with huge radio station chains.

The couple are the only full-time employees and both perform multiple roles while juggling parenting duties. If they do a remote broadcast from an event, such as last weekend's Mexican Fiesta in Racine, they take the equipment there, set it up, appear on the air, disassemble the equipment and return it to the station.

Robert is the chief engineer, main advertising salesman, production manager and bill collector. Patricia is a celebrity with listeners as the only full-time host of a live show weekdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and also sells commercials.

The Jeffers don't disclose the station's annual revenue but say it's enough to keep the station afloat and pay their wages. Advertising rates are $25 to $32 per 30-second spot, depending on frequency.

Storefront studio
The WBJX studio and office is housed in a neighborhood storefront space between Professional Bilingual Services & Staffing and Jimmy's Mr. Kool Sports Bar at 1334 Washington Ave. in Racine's Uptown area.

Jeffers and his father, Donald, who is now deceased, bought the station in 1996 from US Radio Inc., Philadelphia, and before that had leased the station for about two years.

Robert Jeffers had worked for 15 years as chief engineer for a Chicago radio station group that included Spanish-language station, WIND-AM (560). The Jeffers determined the Hispanic market in southeastern Wisconsin was underserved.

"This was our dream -- to create a local station," says Jeffers, who declines to disclose the purchase price.

Patricia, a Chicago native who worked at her family's Mexican restaurant while growing up, met the Jeffers when she was selling advertising for the Yellow Pages. The elder Jeffers convinced her to change jobs and sell ads for WBJX in 1996. Robert urged Patricia to go on the air as a disc jockey due to her communication skills. Their romantic relationship followed and they married about two years ago.

One survival strategy for the station has been automation of programming, which keeps personnel costs to a minimum. Aside from Patricia's weekday afternoon drive time show, only two weekend shows are carried live.

While the Jeffers actively sell commercial time, most advertisers approach the station as the only radio outlet for reaching Hispanics in the area. Much of the ad time is bought by advertising agencies, on behalf of the state government and educational systems.

"We know it's an important market segment to the college," says Synovia Youngblood, Milwaukee Area Technical College's marketing director.

Growing audience
While the Hispanic population in southeastern Wisconsin is growing at a rapid clip, radio ratings service Arbitron counts about 85,000 Hispanics in the Milwaukee-Racine metro area, or about 5.9 percent of the audience. WBJX had a cumulative audience averaging nearly 15,000 per week in the spring Arbitron ratings and ranked 27th among all stations.

The station plays a mix of music appealing to Mexican-Americans, including salsa, mariachi and merengue. The Jeffers refer to it as a "variety" format that appeals to listeners from teens to their 70s.

Patricia makes on-air comments aimed at the betterment of the Hispanic community, including urging teenagers to stay in school and Spanish speakers to learn English.

"We'll entertain you, but we're also obligated to educate our audience," she says.

The Jeffers are "in the right place at the right time" with a local Spanish-language station appealing to the burgeoning Hispanic communities in the area, says Tim Etes, vice president and general manager of WEZY-FM (92.1) and WRJN-AM (1400) in Racine.

"If they continue to provide a local product to the Hispanic community, that's where radio is going to survive in the future," Etes said.

The Jeffers hope to strengthen their product by building new transmitter towers with more power at a new site that would allow WBJX to reach farther into Milwaukee County and eastern Waukesha County. They have yet to file the plan with the Federal Communications Commission.

The total cost for land and equipment would be $350,000 to $450,000, Robert Jeffers estimates. The Jeffers will seek investors to finance the project.

"We don't just want a bean counter," says Patricia. "We want someone who is interested in the station's place in serving the community."



© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.


13 posted on 07/19/2005 10:21:09 AM PDT by robowombat
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