EDITORIAL: Dealing with such tragedy

Today we can't help but wonder what's going on in our quiet community when two law enforcement officers are gunned down in the line of duty just five weeks apart.

Our hearts and prayers are with the family of Aiken Public Safety Master Cpl. Sandy Rogers, a 28-year veteran who was shot Saturday morning during a routine investigation at Eustis Park. It's hard because our hearts are still aching from the loss Aiken Public Safety Master Officer Scotty Richardson just days before Christmas. Richardson was shot during a traffic stop in Aiken. On Wednesday we will bury another of Aiken's finest.

During a vigil Sunday night to honor Rogers, those gathered tried to find words that would help them make understand: Words like "senseless," "tragic" and "unthinkable." But the reality is we can't make sense of it because to most of us these are unimaginable actions committed by monsters and desperate people.

We urge the community to avoid rushing to judgment as a way to cope and find answers. Let law enforcement investigate and let the judicial system do it's job. It will be slow and cumbersome. There's no instant gratification in this messy business.

We must support the families of the victims and our local officers who have lost two colleagues in such a short time. And we must support each other and find a way to turn what has happened into something we can make sense of.

We must come together, as we did Sunday night at the vigil in Eustis Park. Four young people from the neighborhood near the park organized the vigil to honor Rogers. What started as a small event attracted more than 200 people from all walks of life - all coming together to honor a beloved officer and to begin the healing process.

The social issues that often lead to crime aren't unique to Aiken County - they just seem to have slapped us in the face harder these days. These are not racial issues - they cross those lines everyday. And it's getting worse.

We have a unique opportunity to stop and come together as one Aiken County to begin to tackle the multitude of problems and the issues that contributed to bringing us to the place we are today.

Shadie Hall, director of the Aiken-Barnwell Headstart program, said it well during the vigil. "We have to do something differently. We have to take control of our children and have to take control of our community. We have to community police. We just can't leave it up to law enforcement. We have to do it as individuals. If each person out here today just took it upon themselves to take one child under their wing, just think about how many young people we could save."

Perhaps that will be part of the legacy that these fine officers leave behind.