Residents say more needs to be done to stop violence
Little League pitcher Teshawn Coleman, 12, tossed a ball with Officer Dennis Simmonds yesterday at Harambee Park. (Wendy Maeda/ Globe Staff)
Children are not flooding playgrounds like they used to, and the number of players in a youth baseball league has plummeted since the shooting of a 4-year-old boy two weeks ago in Harambee Park, visitors there said yesterday.
The Dorchester-Roxbury Little League, which had 200 participants, is down to about 100, mostly because parents are worried, said John Gordon, president of the league.
“Two teams showed up today; that should have been 24 children,’’ he said. “We only had eight.’’
Yesterday at the park the two baseball teams competed under the gaze of a Boston police officer in his cruiser.
“That car hasn’t moved,’’ Gordon said. “It was here yesterday, and it’s probably building dust around it.’’
FULL STORY HERE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/10/residents_say_more_needs_to_be_done_to_stop_violence/