I’ve always appreciated this statement from "The Shadow" as he tormented "criminals" in those golden radio days of my youth.

Tuesday, April 03, 2001

I’ve always appreciated this statement from "The Shadow" as he tormented "criminals" in those golden radio days of my youth. "The Shadow" played Sunday afternoons – suspenseful from beginning to end. Along with the suspense was the busy time in one’s mind visualizing the setting and the dialog.

One had to work hard at that as you sat glued to your chair and to the dialog. I think there were only two brief advertisements, one for O’Henry Bars and the other for Phillip Morris cigarettes.

There’s been much talk here in "Mayberry" about the escape two Sundays ago that excited many but also brought concern to the community.

From what was depicted of the "fugitives," I gathered they would hide out with "gang members."

It was interesting to read that Powers showed up on the doorstep Sunday night of a lifelong friend – "crying, bloody and cold" – scared to go back to Austin.

The woman had known Vernon Powers Jr. since birth. What happened along the way?

As a "junior," I’m sure his father was as proud of his birth as we all are when a child is born.

"It was a great day for law enforcement," special agent Paul McCabe said. "You had to see it."

Peter Orput, the deputy attorney general who is prosecuting the murder case said, "I’m so proud of these guys, (the Gang Strike Force). I love you guys."

I suspect there was love for Vernon Powers Jr., too, no doubt from his mother and his father who gave him the "junior," as well as the "auntlike person" who harbored them.

Years ago, I worked with a young man – he was in a gang. He talked about how life was good until sixth grade. Up until then, the fact that he was Hispanic hadn’t mattered. Then the prejudices started falling hard upon him.

Another young man I came to know was sent here from Chicago for treatment. He was Hispanic. He had been shot at 11. His father didn’t want to see him come back to Chicago’s West Side – afraid for his safety.

I took him and two others back for a home visit. At the detention center in Chicago, one boy’s probation officer said he wouldn’t even take his client to the complex where he lived – it was that unsafe.

Passing by the other boy’s dad’s house, he told me opposing gang members occupied the house next door and if he were seen being dropped off, they could kill him.

We drove on to his brother’s place in his turf and picked up another brother there. I took them back to his father’s place late that afternoon and let them out in the alley behind the house. In the blink of an eye, they scaled the back fence and dashed into the house. I was scared.

He played football the next fall while staying at another Minnesota site before finally being sent back to Chicago.

I was told later he served time for attempted murder.

The last I heard he wound up literally in pieces in an alley.

Another boy I used to talk to had been in a gang in Illinois before his family moved to this area. He described the gang there and what it meant to him – not the killing and crime we associate with it but the sense of family – "It was like on ‘Cheers,’" he said, "where everybody knew your name."

At this particular school, a Hispanic liaison person from the University of Minnesota would come to the school, which had a number of Hispanics students, and accomplish more with these kids between the bells in the hallways then a counselor would in three years.

The last I heard of this guy he was planning to go to the university when he graduated.

Wasn’t it Billie Holiday, the blues singer, who said, "It’s hard to sit in church and listen to any damn sermon with an empty stomach."

I don’t know of anyone in our community beside Gabrielle Holvick who made any attempt to find what "the aunt-like person" knew that allowed her to provide a shelter in the storm for the fugitives.

I don’t think it was fear.

What happened along the way is the story that may need to be listened to – instead of the graphic coverage of the Gang Strike Force, the state Fugitive Task Force and the FBI’s SWAT team.

I was scared, too, when Powers and Christian were at large, but maybe not as much as they were.

Visiting Riverside City College last year, it was nice to see so many minority students.

I believe education can make a difference, however, some of the roads traveled through it are filled with potholes, some that can swallow you up – as early as sixth grade.

If we elect to authorize concealed weapons as the Legislature is proposing, maybe next they could sanction gun fights.

Bob Vilt is news clerk at the Austin Daily Herald. His column appears Tuesdays. Call him at 434-2236 or e-mail him at newsroom@austindailyherald.com.