In rural Thornton, the spectre of gang violence raises its ugly head

Feelings of anger, sorrow and disbelief fuse together whenever Judy Garcia passes people she thinks are gang members on the streets of this small rural town.

Two months ago, Garcia's father, 39-year-old Jesus Contreras, was mistakenly gunned down in an alleged gang-related shooting in front of a graffiti-scarred Thornton liquor store.

"I can't believe he's dead because these fools wanted revenge on another person," said Garcia, 20.

Chaz Harrison, the alleged gunman, was arrested on a murder warrant and is now also charged with committing a crime to further the actions of a gang.

But Garcia's family's pain lingers. So, too, does the gang activity that caused it.

What's missing, residents say, is a solution.

Small town, big troubles

Thornton residents often say the police response to their small town northwest of Lodi off Interstate 5 near the county line often seems like too little too late when gang activity does happen.

California has two dominant gangs, the Sureños and the Norteños, which have operations throughout the state. Both gangs are made up mostly of Hispanic members.

Detective Rex Yturri, the only full-time gang detective for the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department, said there are about 15 to 20 registered Sureños — when they're not in prison. Another 15 to 20 juveniles are "associate members of the gang," he said.

Thornton tends to be a stronghold for Sureños, while Norteños are more prominent in Galt, he said.

Yet, Yturri said the small rural town is also home to about eight or nine Norteños.

He said the that doesn't actually cause too many problems, until one particular Norteño member is in town. Nearly every time a gang problem arises in Thornton, Yturri said, that one man has returned.

One time, Yturri said, residents told him a gang ringleader dressed in camouflage with a bandolier of ammunition strapped around him carried a high-power rifle while walking down the a main street in Thornton shooting at lampposts when he saw someone.

There was one problem: Yturri only heard about it long after the incident.

"We never got one call about it," he said. "It's an intimidation thing."

Some say intimidation plays a part, but it is more a matter of frustration with police response.

Cindy Chumbley, a Thornton resident in charge of the Neighborhood Watch program, shows Paula Soto, right, San Joaquin County Community Services assistant, and Roger Adams, a Thornton resident, new Neighborhood Watch signs on March 3, 2005. (News-Sentinel file photo)

"We call, make a report and by the time they get here everybody is gone," said Elvira Becerra, a Thornton teacher and business owner. People see (gang crime), then they ignore it because there is nothing they can do."

Garcia, too, believes gangs are going unchecked.

"There's no security here. They do anything they want," she said.

Much of the gang activity in the area revolves around drugs, particularly the sale of crank, Yturri said. Some of it comes from Galt, some from Lodi and much of it passes through Thornton as its distributed throughout the region, he said.

Because Thornton is at the Northern edge of San Joaquin County, it doesn't get as much law enforcement patrol. It's up to citizens to call, and then deputies sometimes have to drive for miles before arriving. Unless it's an emergency, they won't use their lights and sirens.

Generally, most reports come from the Thornton Fire Department and store owners who actually have a vested interest in the town, he said.

Yturri wasn't always the only detective working on gangs for the Sheriff's Department. But when grants ran out and the budget grew tight, priorities shifted. What was once a six-deputy gang unit has been reduced to just Yturri.

Breeding grounds

It's been about four years since the last gang-related fight in the New Hope School District, said Joanne Oien, the superintendent and principal of the 220-student district.

The school has a strict dress code and anything remotely gang-related is banned. Still, some older students in the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school arrive for class dressed in the style of clothing similar to what gang members wear — baggy pants, long belts and T-shirts with gang symbols such as hand signs or "13" infused into the background.

Students are ordered to change if they dress that way.

Gangs aren't so much a problem as a nuisance, Oien said.

"It's an aggravation. When you've got to pull a kid out, they lose instructional time," said Oien, who has worked in the district for 19 years.

About 60 percent of students are the children of migrants, and the population changes each school year as families move when work dries up, Oien said.

"It kind of comes and goes," Oien said. When Thornton children get older, they go to high school in Galt, which is not far away but in a different county.

At school, students sometimes approach seventh-grade teacher Elvira Becerra, who also runs a tax service, and tell her they've been pressured by peers to join a gang.

"If they don't have the guts to say no, they're going to get dragged into it," she said.

Sometimes the pressure is too much.

Becerra said she sometimes sees former students hanging out with reputed gang members near Circle H Market and the library.

"They just think it's cool or they want to be protected or accepted," Becerra said.

Searching for identity

David Leon, a professor of Chicano studies at California State University, Sacramento, said youths involved in gangs in rural areas are usually copying what they see elsewhere.

"I would say they're mimicking what is happening in urban areas. But I think it's more than that," he said.

Many Thornton residents are migrant workers. But their English-speaking children can get caught between their parents immigrant culture and the dominant American culture. In search of identity, such youths act out, Leon said.

Teenagers — many in blue baseball or football jerseys — stand and talk near the streets in Thornton's government assisted housing area dubbed the "Thornton Projects" by graffiti vandals.

Youths say they are unfairly labeled by deputies as gang members if they wear baggy pants or the other trappings of gang life.

"They think anyone with a blue sweater or jacket is a Sureño. Let them think that," 15-year-old Nathan Del Toro said in a patois of the streets.

Being in a small town, youths form strong bonds, even with the few actual gang members in town, said Del Toro, who attends Galt High School.

"There's a couple of people who claim blue, and they're our friends and we have their back. And the (deputies) think we're gang members."

A new community center in Thornton, and the youth-oriented activities that would come with, is one way to lessen the allure of gang life, said the area's county supervisor Jack Sieglock.

"Hopefully we can get the kids more activities," he said.

The county is setting aside federal grant money to build the center, which could be finished as soon as 2007, Sieglock said.

The number of deputies assigned to the county's unincorporated areas has grown in recent years. Seven years ago 87 officers were assigned to those areas, while now there are 119, Sieglock said.

Beyond that, the county can do little because the root of the problem is inside the home. Parents must step up, Sieglock said.

"I don't look at government as the solution to a lot of situations. If they treat their kids right and work with them, they'll raise good citizens for America."

For Garcia, the daughter of Contreras the man accidentally shot in a suspected gang shooting, her town has become too violent.

She and her mother, Maria Ramos, are concerned for the safety of themselves and their children and plan to move away from Thornton.

Garcia, who has one child, believes alleged gang members in town are behind rashes of thefts, vehicle break-ins and home burglaries.

The town is different since the family moved there 10 years ago, Garcia said.

"It's not the same, and we have bad memories about my dad," Garcia said. "It used to be a calm town. But now it's getting worse."

Contact reporter Jake Armstrong at jakea@lodinews.com

Reader Feedback

El Guapo wrote on Feb 21, 2006 10:32 AM:

" JOHNNY BOY, lets meet. I would love to have a face to face conversation with you about this matter. You name the time and place, I will even bring the beer. "

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