Communities that want to make gangs less attractive need to give young people something else to do, some way to feel they belong and a voice in the solution.

Community residents can't shut their doors and leave the job to police, to schools.

Youth advisory councils would give young people opportunity to participate in government decisions affecting them and to offer advice for reaching their age groups. After-school programs with activities of interest to middle and high school students would keep them off the streets.

Teams of youths could be used by the schools to resolve conflicts and reduce violence. And a centralized clearing house could give parents one place to call to learn about available activities for their children. Those were some of the gang-fighting suggestions gang prevention specialist Steve Nawojczyk offered Radcliff officials, parents and residents of Radcliff and Elizabethtown Thursday night in a special program at Stithton Baptist Church.

The program, which drew a small crowd of 30 to 40 people, came after Nawojczyk made fast-paced, attention-grabbing presentations to several hundred middle and high school students Wednesday and Thursday about the potentially deadly consequences of gang life.

Those sessions made some youths willing to respond to adult attempts and overtures to prevent them from joining gangs, he said.

Police can go after the gang leaders, but "the rest of the community has to be there for intervention and prevention," Nawojczyk said. "We have to let them know we want them in our society," he said. "You have to be creative in your community."

Nawojczyk laid out a six-point plan for fighting back against gangs that included more after-school programs for youths who may otherwise be home alone or unsupervised. Other recommendations included creating in-school programs, such as conflict mediation. Youths can be trained in a process to reduce and resolve discord. Parent support groups can tap the experiences and knowledge of other parents whose children have joined gangs or whose children were victims of gang violence.

And neighborhood watch groups where residents really keep tabs on the actions of each other's children also can help combat gang influence. One key component missing in Radcliff is an avenue to communicate and coordinate programs, one city official said. Some programs, such as after-school, church and other activities, already exist. "Actually there's a lot more then we're aware of," said city council member Sheila Enyart.

For older youths, the city may want to consider keeping Colvin Community Center, which closes about 5 p.m., open later, she said.

Like Enyart, some listeners said they were disappointed in the low turnout. What the issue needs is community residents' attention, some said. Others came prepared to hear what they could do.

"I feel concern for the young people, I feel concern for Radcliff and I feel concern for our neighborhood,"said Esther Bryant of Radcliff. "I'd like to learn whatever I can do to help."

Elizabethtown resident Ella Custard is a parent who wants to look out for her child.

"We have a teen-ager," Custard said. "We're concerned about him and all the kids in the community and what we can do to stop it."

EDITORIAL Community's candor about gangs is first step

It's a refreshing change. The new openness shown these days about Hardin County's gang problem is refreshingly different.

Five or six years ago -- when the seeds of gang activity were being planted here -- some residents backpedaled from the issue as quickly as they could. Denial was the name of the game.

Now, police, schools, churches and many residents are eager to learn all they can about the gang blight in order to combat it. The appearance of noted gang expert Steve Nawojczyk in local schools this week to talk with students about the dangers of gangs is proof positive good things are happening.

True, we'd all be better off without gang activity. There's no doubt about that, but it's here. We need to educate the community how to combat gang activity and eventually root it from the scene. But to successfully carry out that task, young people and adults alike must know the enemy and how to beat it.

That all-important first step means being candid with ourselves and others about the problem. We're well on our way.