On Friday August 23rd 2007, a young man was gunned down at the foot of Loyal Hill, Devonshire. At the announcement of the shooting, there were widespread expressions of horror at the realisation that a young man had been murdered by shooting in "so called" peaceful Bermuda.

This sympathy, co-mingled with shock, began to dissipate when it was discovered that the victim was wearing a bullet proof vest and that he must have been involved in dangerous activity to warrant such protection.

However, all we know at present are the rumours. Since no one has been charged with these murders we must treat the rumours as hearsay until the perpetrators have been convicted in a court of law.

Still, there are real reasons for concern. There can be no question that the behaviour of our young people is changing in ways that offend both the visual and auditory senses. We are alarmed at the dress code or lack of same, and most of us experience regularly the rudeness that is readily apparent at the slightest provocation of these young people.

Just a few weeks ago, I pulled out of an intersection prematurely and almost collided with a car driven by a young man who was obviously speeding although he did have the right of way. He slowed down leaned out of his window and shouted "why the f*** do you have a licence, you f****** old b******".

This retort was completely unprovoked and unnecessary. Although what I did was wrong, there was no likelihood of an accident. In fact, the only reason that the young man had a reason to be concerned about a possible accident arose out of the fact that he was definitely speeding. Later, when relating the incident to two young relatives, they did nothing to reassure me.

"But Cousin Cal you were wrong," they both commented. I replied: "Granted, but that was no reason for such rudeness."

To which my cousins retorted: "That's just it, Cousin Cal, today's youth just do not have the same moral values with which you were brought up. And who is to say that your generation was right and today's generation is wrong?"

That last statement carried with it a lot of truth. It is well known that the young of each generation tend to resist the teachings of the previous generation and on many occasions, the resistance of the young lead to much needed reform.

Those of us over the age of 60 remember well the resistance to the Victorian sexual values that existed during the middle of the last century. In fact, there was no description of the sex act in novels until D.H. Lawrence broke the ice with "Lady Chatterley's Lover". Still, it took the Supreme Court of the United States to enable book sellers to place this book on their book shelves in the United States.

Actually, the tendency of young people to congregate in gangs is not new. When I was a young man, I belonged to the Sound Side gang – a group of teenagers who lived on Radnor Road, and hung out at Creighton's Corner.

Sometimes we would venture down to Crawl Hill and get into a 'shouting match' with the Crawl Hill gang. However, on weekends, both gangs hung around Crawl Club and waited for the fights that would occur between adults around 10 or 11 o'clock without fail.

Still, there was no gang warfare as seems to be prevalent today. By gang warfare, I refer to the practice of gangs carrying weapons to engage each other in battles over turf or drug distribution. In my day, the use of weaponry during fights was frowned upon although there were occasions when the use of weaponry was considered legitimate.

This was the case when a person was picking on someone who was very much smaller and unable to defend himself. If the weaker person picked up a rock or a large stick to defend himself, no one was likely to intervene. And if the bully got hurt, everyone laughed and ridiculed him.

The criminalisation of today's gangs no doubt reflects the breakdown of the family and the community. In my day, the family was supreme. And family meant not only parents but also uncles and aunts.

In addition, there were the family friends. These included other families who were not closely related but who belonged to the same community by virtue of decades of living in the same area. In these circumstances, the growth of gangs as we now know them today was virtually impossible.

However, the community in the sense described, was destroyed when transportation was seriously upgraded. This upgrade began with the introduction of the train, which was followed by the advent of the motorbike and culminated with the widespread sale of the motor car.

The improvement of the modes of transportation meant that whole families could not only visit with friends in far off parishes but they could choose to live in these parishes and visit other members of the family with relative ease, no matter where they resided.

Clearly, this loosening of the strong local community ties assisted the growth of gangs as we know them today. What are the solutions to this startling increase in gang violence?

There are several solutions being offered and most appear to make sense. However, I believe that a vital aspect towards establishing a lasting solution would be the re-building of the local community.

And I believe that a major step towards the recreation of the local community would be the abolishment of the appointed Parish Vestry system and the re-establishment of the elected Parish Vestry system.

Elected Parish Vestries would go a long way towards the reintegration of communities that were drastically disintegrated by the improved modes of transportation.

Currently, the Vestry Officials need only to be concerned with meeting the objectives of the person who appoints them. However, if they were to be elected, they would have to be concerned with meeting the objectives of the Parish residents who elect them.

Elected Vestries would require the Vestry official to become fully conversant with local social and economic issues as they emerge. Hence the Vestry Official would soon serve as a useful bridge between institutions functioning in the community – such as schools and churches – the residents of the community and the national government.

This coordinating activity which would rapidly become the role of elected Vestry Officials, would raise awareness of the need for assistance for dysfunctional families, the collection of trash, the preservation of open spaces and the need for adequate security by the community working in cooperation with the police.

But overall, elected Parish officials would certainly encourage Bermudians and non-Bermudians alike to work together to resolve the local manifestation of issues that are regional or national in scope.

Let us restore the elected Parish Vestry system and save our youth through united action that is based on the coming together of the citizens of the Parish to resolve the many issues affecting their youth.

calvin@northrock.bm