St. Edward Speaks Out on Acts of Violence

By: Kim Eiten - Email

Updated: Thu 11:47 AM, Aug 30, 2012

"Are we the perfect community? Heck no. We've got problems here too. When you're born and raised here and you see the outpouring that people give you, they want it construed that it's not the entire community, it's a few people doing this." -St. Edward Mayor Marvin Haas

The first story drove hundreds of comments.

As one family told Nebraska Central News earlier this week, they feel targeted by their neighbors. They say it's acts of violence that are driven by racism.

Now, the town of St. Edward is speaking out. Many said they don't want these isolated incidents to reflect on the whole community.

Blake Griesen was born and raised in St. Edward.

He said the town has problems, including some isolated incidents that one family has labeled racially driven.

"When I first heard about it, I was not happy. I was just about sick," he said. "I've talked to a lot of people in town and they feel the same way. Nobody deserves stuff like that to happen.

But, he said, those problems are no different from those found in other towns. He said the good in St. Edward far outweighs the bad.

"When something like this comes up, people tend to focus on those people and the negative things that happen," Griesen said. "They just don't see all the good things that come out of the community."

Mayor Marvin Haas agreed.

"Are we the perfect community? Heck no. We've got problems here too," he said. "When you're born and raised here and you see the outpouring that people give you, they want it construed that it's not the entire community, it's a few people doing this."

As NCN reported earlier this week, those issues include a string of violence and vandalism between a few individuals.

The Samuels family said they don't feel safe.

But, now, even they want to clarify. They said their problems aren't community wide.

Shannon Samuels said St. Edward welcomed the family with open arms and acts of generosity when they moved in four years ago.

"Let's be honest about what's going on. I didn't say the town was bad," Samuels said. "What we're going through, we shouldn't have to go through that."

But, he said, that doesn't cancel out recent problems with some in the neighborhood.

"There's tons of good people, but it ain't no secret what's been going on with us," Samuels said.

Mayor Haas said he hopes the family decides to stay. But, he said, either way the community will continue to pull together.

"The problem is never going to be solved," Haas said. "I don't wish that on anybody. 99.9% of the people in St. Edward don't wish that on anybody."

Once again, NCN has continued to contact law enforcement and public officials for background information.

Neither St. Edward Police nor Boone County Attorney were able to provide public records today.