As a concerned Durham resident and parent I am very saddened that the murder rate continues to rise among males age 18-30. Not only was my son's blood spilled (which was some of my own), this senseless waste of life has to stop now.

I wait patiently on a resolution in my son's case and am constantly told a case like this takes time. I wait because I know God saw the whole thing. The killers have hidden from the Durham Police Department, but there is nowhere they can go out of the sight of God.

We as a community need to stop turning our heads as if these events are not happening to us but to someone else. We must realize the impact that murder has on newcomers coming to live in Durham, on business owners whose customers are shopping somewhere else and on our older population who now fear to come and go and enjoy the rest of their lives.

The City of Durham has done a marvelous thing in the areas of cultural arts and beautification for adults. (Examples: the blue-colored bridge over the freeway, the downtown area and the walking trail.) What investments have been made for the youth? I know about the skateboard park. It fills a need for some of our youth.

Our youth are our future and will one day take care of us, we hope. It would be sad if they move away to become contributing citizens to the welfare of another city because there was nothing for them to do in Durham growing up. Or if they felt Durham was not safe.

We must invest in our youth. Has anyone asked some of them recently what they want to see happen in Durham?

Mayor Bell indicated there was a program some time ago that helped young men prepare for jobs. He said the funds ran out.

Did that mean the need for the program disappeared? Why was an initiative not taken to hold fund raisers and acquire sponsors to keep the program going. After all, our mayor sits in high places with people of importance all the time. So, where do they go from here? Now he is back in office and has another chance to do more. I hope he looks at what he has done and concentrates on what he did not get accomplished.

The citizens should stop thinking the problems here belong to someone else. Durham should focus on a rebuild project that would note where we are and where we want to be in years to come.

The police representative at a Durham Parents Of Murdered Children meeting said they just simply did not have the resources to work on cold cases.

That is unacceptable. Let's place our city tax money where it counts the most.

Have you ever noticed the traffic coming to Durham on I-40 and I-540 in the morning and then noticed the traffic leaving Durham at 5 p.m.? Why is all the money and traffic going out of Durham to increase the revenue of cities elsewhere after 5?

As a mother, I would like to see every mom, sister, aunt and friend of the family come together to fight to save our males from destruction. As the move is on to protest in America, we must join in to fight for the precious lives of our children.