Cape Girardeau’s Gun Violence Task Force holds first meeting
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – The first Gun Violence Task Force meeting took place Tuesday at the Cape Girardeau City Hall building as many members of the community from a variety of different background come together to work to eliminate gun violence in Cape Girardeau.
Members of the community like Southeast Missouri State University’s President Carlos Vargas say the event was a success.
“The event was very good,” said Vargas. “I really liked it and the number of people that were there, the background and the expertise that they have.”
Vargas says ending gun violence is important to him not only as a citizen of Cape Girardeau but also as the leader of the university.
“I, as the university, we are interested in being part of this conversation and trying to do our part to help the process,” Vargas said. “You know we have many students that have come to Cape Girardeau, to the university, and certainty gun violence is not something that is appealing to the parents when they consider maybe coming here.” Vargas says because of that “We want to figure out and identify some sources of problems and see if there’s the potential for some action that we can take to be able to reduce and mitigate this problem.”
Other members of the task force are here, like Leslie Washington, because they have lost a loved one due to gun violence and look to eliminate the issue.
“I’m happy that I came,” said Washington. “And I’m happy I was appointed to it. I’m just looking for some resolve here in the community with Cape Girardeau with gun violence and bring others in the fold eventually.”
During the meeting they went over statistics and explored ideas to stop the gun violence, eventually studying what has worked for other communities, and then bringing those findings to the city.
Dr. Vargas says he is confident this task force will make an impact finding solutions. Hopefully saving lives, he is excited to see what they can accomplish as they move forward as a task force for the city.
“With this being our first meeting, it was an opportunity to get to know each other,” said Vargas. “People talked about why they were interested in being here I think there’s a commonality of interest to try to figure out how we can mitigate the issues with Gun violence.”
The force is made up of 27 different members and non-voting members –
Committee members include:
- Jessica Hill – co-chair
- Adam Kidd – co-chair
- Howard Benyon
- Carlos Vargas
- Leslie Washington
- Nancy Scheller
- Nita DeBose
- Alix Gasser
- Amber Walker
- Rob Gilligan
- Shannon Truxel
- Lee Schlitt
- Laura Selbo
- Dr. Melissa Stickel
- Adrian Taylor
- Clint Tracy
- Lynn Ware
- Jared Ritter
- Tina Wright
City liaisons (non-voting) include:
- Mayor Stacy Kinder
- Dr. Kenneth Haskin
- Adam Glueck
- Nicolette Brennan
- Gayle Conrad
- Shannon Farris
- Randy Morris
- Trevor Pulley
The task force will meet the first and third Thursday of every month leading into December, and is open to the general public as they work towards minimizing gun violence in the city of Cape Girardeau.
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