ChaneysGotaGun
October 17th, 2007, 01:56 AM
http://http://www.tonawanda-news.com/local/local_story_290000600.html
CITY OF TONAWANDA: ‘Fresh Boys’ father speaks out
By Dave Hill/hilld@gnnewspaper.com
The Tonawanda News
Lately, a lot of people have been referring to Salvatore Mayes as “Fresh Boy No. 1.”
In light of what’s happened at Tonawanda High School in the past week, that designation has made Leo Mayes’ son public enemy number one, and he wants Salvatore’s name cleared.
Ever since the issue of a group of youths calling themselves the Fresh Boys causing trouble in the City of Tonawanda was brought into the open at a Tonawanda Board of Education meeting Oct. 9, Salvatore and several of his friends who comprised the original Fresh Boys have been getting a bad rap because they are being blamed for the current problem, Leo Mayes said.
Monday, both spoke out about what has been going on.
The irony in the recent gang-like behavior is that Salvatore Mayes and his buddies say they never meant for their group to become a gang. They banded together shortly after Mark Johnson, who lived next door to the Mayes, committed suicide April 15, two weeks before his 15th birthday.
After Johnson’s death, Leo Mayes said his son starting getting mocked by other classmates who would pretend to choke themselves. He said that based on the threats and taunting Salvatore and his friends have received, he understands their frustration.
Still, he said, “What people need to know is these Fresh Boys really aren’t that bad. It was just five original friends.”
The group of close friends decided to call themselves the Fresh Boys in honor of Mark, whose nickname was “fresh” because of all the new clothes he wore. Eventually, more kids joined the group, but some of them started getting into criminal trouble. City of Tonawanda Det. Tim Toth reported last week that police received 60 complaints of gang activity and have made 21 arrests.
Salvatore, Johnson and some friends used to hang out and play basketball at Mayes’ house. “They got into some dumb boy things when they were kids, but they weren’t out assaulting people, they weren’t out intimidating, getting these little fourth- and fifth-graders to join this gang,” Leo Mayes said, adding that he wants people to know that both his son and Mark Johnson aren’t to blame for what the Fresh Boys are doing now.
Once things started getting out of hand in recent months, Salvatore, 17, and his friend Josh Cook, 16, say they stopped associating themselves with the Fresh Boys, a group that has swelled to more than 30 people.
“Twenty, 25 of us just do it for Mark,” Salvatore said. “The other five make it into a gang. We stopped chillin’ with them after they started causing all the problems. We started the Fresh Boys so people would realize how good Mark was, what kind of person he was. We never meant it to be a gang.”
Cook agreed.
“They’re (the other 25 or so youths) getting in trouble and we’re getting blamed for it,” Cook said.
Things worsened when school officials held a press conference Friday after rumors circulated throughout the week that there was going to be some sort of violent attack carried out at the high school; nothing happened, but one student was charged with falsely reporting an incident.
Given what transpired, Leo Mayes’ life hasn’t been what it was before last week. “I lost my job (and) I lost my best friend,” he said. He worked for Mark Johnson’s father before he was fired last Friday, he said, adding that Mark’s father won’t even talk to him now.
Leo Mayes said that two months ago one of the trouble-making Fresh Boys fired gunshots at his house, and he also receives a lot of dirty looks from his neighbors because they believe his son has had a hand in the rash of gang-like activity, which has included students being threatened at Tonawanda High School and fights at Ives Pond skate park.
In addition, numerous students are sparring via the Internet on their MySpace pages, this includes members of the Tonawanda varsity football team. Leo Mayes has kept his son home from school since last Friday because of the rumored violence.
Regardless of who’s causing the trouble, Toth said the Fresh Boys have created a real community problem for the City of Tonawanda, and it’s up to parents – both of the gang members and other students – as well as police and school officials to work together not only to solve the current problem but also to ensure a long-term solution. Toth says that involves making sure the children have constructive ways to use their time.
“Whether it was (formed by) good intentions or not, things obviously at some point got out of control,” Toth said. “We have a community problem that we are trying to address.”
Police and school officials have attempted to quell concerns by holding meetings with parents of the Fresh Boys. One such meeting was supposed to be held Monday, but it was postponed because of all of the Homecoming week activities.
Tonawanda City Schools Superintendent Barbara Peters said that the district is going to be sending several people to a gang awareness training seminar. She and City of Tonawanda Police Chief Cindy Young praised the communication and intelligence gathering between both school officials and the police department, which helped avert anything serious from happening.
Peters added that while schools in Buffalo and Niagara Falls are very familiar with gang activity in their schools, it’s new ground for Tonawanda schools. “We in Tonawanda have never really had to deal with these situations before and still, what we have dealt with just last week is extremely minor in comparison to what some of the other city schools have seen,” Peters said.
______________________________________________
I don't like long articles anymore than the next person, but this one's worth a read.
Five friends "band together" to pay homage to a deceased friend, and 25 other youths inexplicably join them? Their behavior results in 61 calls to the police, and 21 arrests.
The father of the gang's organizer makes them look like they're out collecting canned goods for the needy and helping the blind cross the street.
The parents of each and every one of these wanna-be gangsters should be held civilly liable for any of the mischief they've caused. After the court proceedings, they should bus all 25 of them to any part of the East Side of Buffalo; wherein they would find out what its like to be a victim. If they successfully made it back to Tonawanda, they could change their name to the brutally sodomized white boys.
CITY OF TONAWANDA: ‘Fresh Boys’ father speaks out
By Dave Hill/hilld@gnnewspaper.com
The Tonawanda News
Lately, a lot of people have been referring to Salvatore Mayes as “Fresh Boy No. 1.”
In light of what’s happened at Tonawanda High School in the past week, that designation has made Leo Mayes’ son public enemy number one, and he wants Salvatore’s name cleared.
Ever since the issue of a group of youths calling themselves the Fresh Boys causing trouble in the City of Tonawanda was brought into the open at a Tonawanda Board of Education meeting Oct. 9, Salvatore and several of his friends who comprised the original Fresh Boys have been getting a bad rap because they are being blamed for the current problem, Leo Mayes said.
Monday, both spoke out about what has been going on.
The irony in the recent gang-like behavior is that Salvatore Mayes and his buddies say they never meant for their group to become a gang. They banded together shortly after Mark Johnson, who lived next door to the Mayes, committed suicide April 15, two weeks before his 15th birthday.
After Johnson’s death, Leo Mayes said his son starting getting mocked by other classmates who would pretend to choke themselves. He said that based on the threats and taunting Salvatore and his friends have received, he understands their frustration.
Still, he said, “What people need to know is these Fresh Boys really aren’t that bad. It was just five original friends.”
The group of close friends decided to call themselves the Fresh Boys in honor of Mark, whose nickname was “fresh” because of all the new clothes he wore. Eventually, more kids joined the group, but some of them started getting into criminal trouble. City of Tonawanda Det. Tim Toth reported last week that police received 60 complaints of gang activity and have made 21 arrests.
Salvatore, Johnson and some friends used to hang out and play basketball at Mayes’ house. “They got into some dumb boy things when they were kids, but they weren’t out assaulting people, they weren’t out intimidating, getting these little fourth- and fifth-graders to join this gang,” Leo Mayes said, adding that he wants people to know that both his son and Mark Johnson aren’t to blame for what the Fresh Boys are doing now.
Once things started getting out of hand in recent months, Salvatore, 17, and his friend Josh Cook, 16, say they stopped associating themselves with the Fresh Boys, a group that has swelled to more than 30 people.
“Twenty, 25 of us just do it for Mark,” Salvatore said. “The other five make it into a gang. We stopped chillin’ with them after they started causing all the problems. We started the Fresh Boys so people would realize how good Mark was, what kind of person he was. We never meant it to be a gang.”
Cook agreed.
“They’re (the other 25 or so youths) getting in trouble and we’re getting blamed for it,” Cook said.
Things worsened when school officials held a press conference Friday after rumors circulated throughout the week that there was going to be some sort of violent attack carried out at the high school; nothing happened, but one student was charged with falsely reporting an incident.
Given what transpired, Leo Mayes’ life hasn’t been what it was before last week. “I lost my job (and) I lost my best friend,” he said. He worked for Mark Johnson’s father before he was fired last Friday, he said, adding that Mark’s father won’t even talk to him now.
Leo Mayes said that two months ago one of the trouble-making Fresh Boys fired gunshots at his house, and he also receives a lot of dirty looks from his neighbors because they believe his son has had a hand in the rash of gang-like activity, which has included students being threatened at Tonawanda High School and fights at Ives Pond skate park.
In addition, numerous students are sparring via the Internet on their MySpace pages, this includes members of the Tonawanda varsity football team. Leo Mayes has kept his son home from school since last Friday because of the rumored violence.
Regardless of who’s causing the trouble, Toth said the Fresh Boys have created a real community problem for the City of Tonawanda, and it’s up to parents – both of the gang members and other students – as well as police and school officials to work together not only to solve the current problem but also to ensure a long-term solution. Toth says that involves making sure the children have constructive ways to use their time.
“Whether it was (formed by) good intentions or not, things obviously at some point got out of control,” Toth said. “We have a community problem that we are trying to address.”
Police and school officials have attempted to quell concerns by holding meetings with parents of the Fresh Boys. One such meeting was supposed to be held Monday, but it was postponed because of all of the Homecoming week activities.
Tonawanda City Schools Superintendent Barbara Peters said that the district is going to be sending several people to a gang awareness training seminar. She and City of Tonawanda Police Chief Cindy Young praised the communication and intelligence gathering between both school officials and the police department, which helped avert anything serious from happening.
Peters added that while schools in Buffalo and Niagara Falls are very familiar with gang activity in their schools, it’s new ground for Tonawanda schools. “We in Tonawanda have never really had to deal with these situations before and still, what we have dealt with just last week is extremely minor in comparison to what some of the other city schools have seen,” Peters said.
______________________________________________
I don't like long articles anymore than the next person, but this one's worth a read.
Five friends "band together" to pay homage to a deceased friend, and 25 other youths inexplicably join them? Their behavior results in 61 calls to the police, and 21 arrests.
The father of the gang's organizer makes them look like they're out collecting canned goods for the needy and helping the blind cross the street.
The parents of each and every one of these wanna-be gangsters should be held civilly liable for any of the mischief they've caused. After the court proceedings, they should bus all 25 of them to any part of the East Side of Buffalo; wherein they would find out what its like to be a victim. If they successfully made it back to Tonawanda, they could change their name to the brutally sodomized white boys.