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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TopCat who wrote (347551)	8/20/2007 10:20:32 AM
From: SilentZ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573439

By the way, this is my neighborhood -- every one of these three attacks from the last two days is within a five-ten minute walk of my apartment -- one was two blocks away... timesunion.com ALBANY -- The party atmosphere outside Albany's string of Pearl Street nightspots turned violent early Sunday in two separate stabbings -- including one that left a man with a nearly five-inch gash on his forehead after he confronted people in a car that sideswiped him and a friend. An arrest was made in that 3 a.m. attack, but a suspect is still at large in a nearly simultaneous stabbing that occurred less than a block away. Yet another stabbing happened 90 minutes earlier at Lark and Lancaster streets, in the city's upscale Center Square neighborhood. Those attacks took place just a day after 15-year-old Shahied Oliver of Albany was gunned down by an unknown assailant at a raucous early morning party at the Skyline Garden apartments in Arbor Hill. All the violence comes on the heels of a University at Albany study that showed Albany's violent crime rate exceeds the national average. Police Chief James Tuffey denied that the violence was indicative of a larger crime problem in the state's capital. "This is an anomaly," he said of the violence on North Pearl Street. "We have very safe days down there; this was very unusual." The city has tried to promote North Pearl's mix of bars and restaurants between Clinton Avenue and State Street as a hub of a burgeoning entertainment district. On weekends, crowds of young people roam the area, bouncing from club to club well into the night. Tuffey said his department has a heavy presence on Pearl Street and that the stabbings were likely isolated incidents fueled by alcohol. He said police would evaluate the stabbings today and then make a decision about increasing police presence in the area. City Common Council member Dominick Calsolaro, of the First Ward, said he was troubled by the stabbings, particularly since a report issued this month by researchers at the University at Albany found that the city's violent crime rate has grown faster than the national average since 1999. "The mood is that people are afraid," said Calsolaro, who lives a block from where a woman was wounded Friday when she was shot through the window of her home on Slingerlands Street. "I'm not sure what the answer to all this is. Maybe we have to (be) getting to the kids sooner," said Calsolaro, who spearheaded the recent creation of the city's Gun Violence Task Force. He said he expected a violent start to the school year next month when students return to Albany High School and renew rivalries that have simmered over the summer. Oliver was the city's first homicide victim this year. He was attending a birthday party for a 16-year-old girl in the Skyline Garden Apartments just off Lark Street when he was shot at about 1:30 a.m. Witnesses said music at the party was so loud they didn't hear the gunfire. Police said they had few new details about the shooting they could share with the public. Sunday on North Pearl Street, Oliver Salmon, 22, of Troy, was among three men who got out of a car that had been speeding near Steuben Street at about 3 a.m. when the car's side mirror clipped two pedestrians, police said. One of the pedestrians, 40-year-old Robert Hanks of Glenmont, shouted at the car to slow down. When an argument and shoving began, Salmon allegedly cut a 4-inch gash across Hank's forehead. A passerby, James Santaski, whose age and address were not released by police, came to Hanks' aid and was stabbed in the back, officers said. Medical conditions were not available for either man. The alleged assailants fled in their car, but two were caught moments later by a patrol officer at State and Lodge streets. Salmon remained in the Albany County jail Sunday after being arraigned in City Court on charges of felony second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a knife. A passenger in the car, 22-year-old Leon Grant of Troy, was released after being charged with obstruction. A third suspect in the attack evaded capture. At almost the same time, another stabbing took place outside another Pearl Street nightspot less than a block away, near Columbia Street. Jonathan Hart, 25, of Colonie suffered a four-inch cut to his chest after getting into a dispute. Hart was treated and released from Albany Medical Center Hospital. No description of the assailant was available from police Sunday. In a separate stabbing, 17-year-old Rasheed Caldwell of 338 Clinton Ave. remained in the county jail without bail on charges of second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a knife. Caldwell allegedly stabbed Charles Winter in the stomach, left shoulder and upper body at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday during a large fight at the corner of Lark and Lancaster streets. An Albany resident, Winter was treated overnight at Albany Medical Center Hospital. Police had no further information on his condition or age. No motive had been established for the attack.