Deadly summer – Editorial

Most of us will remember the summer of 2011 for its brutal, record-breaking heat.

But for too many Baton Rouge families, it’s been a summer of despair, grief and gnawing emptiness.

In early July, Belgian-born Sylviane Lozada vanished from her South Baton Rouge neighborhood. A national board-certified teacher at Brusly High School, respected by coworkers and friends, she had twice called sheriff’s deputies after domestic disputes with her husband Oscar. This time, though, cops had to interview him via international phone call; he had left for Venezuela with the couple’s 5-year-old daughter.

Colleagues and friends could only weep and wonder at a pair of prayer vigils held in Sylviane’s absence.

Across town, another family observed a painful anniversary. Deanna Wesley’s loved ones gathered in early August for a candlelight service near BREC’s North Street Park, close to where Wesley’s body was found seven years earlier. The mother of three was one of seven women found murdered near the park between 1999 and 2004, yet her killing remains unsolved. Some in her family feel frustrated and neglected by a justice system that solved many higher-profile killings from the same period.

This summer’s stories of Lozada’s disappearance and Wesley’s unsolved murder had to share news space with a spate of shootings that left murder victims strewn from Staring Lane to Main Street.

It’s time Mayor Kip Holden and the metro council quit bickering over budgets and bond issues and make crime the topic of discussion. The mayor needs to resolve whatever differences he has with the sheriff’s office and the district attorney so they can work as a team.

But that’s only the start. Our community needs to address the causes of violence, not just last-resort solutions.

And we expect our justice system to apply the same resources and diligence to solving all crimes, whether they occur on manicured suburban streets or in dimly lit inner-city parks.