Editor:

After reading the article "A 'new breed' in Edgewood" in your June 10 edition, I wondered if I stood up in a community meeting in Bel Air and said I "sensed" that the town was being overrun with gang members and Oxycodone addicts it would be placed on the front page of The Aegis. Of course not. So it was surprising to me to read that Edgewood was being taken over by "miscreants" based on nothing but a "sense" that new people were seen in the area.

Of course, Edgewood is not Mayberry. But then again, neither is Bel Air, where there have also been recent incidents of Oxycodone theft. I'm sure that Edgewood residents are concerned with increased theft and unknown people in the neighborhood and good for them for wanting to step up and keep safe. I'm sure many neighborhoods in Harford County share those concerns. My problem is not with them but with the article that once again paints a broad stroke of Edgewood. I don't live there but my son attends Edgewood Middle School, a school that is doing great things every day. He has prospered there. Unfortunately, due to the stigma of its location, I am asked repeatedly if my son has encountered danger in the hallways or has been threatened by gang members. I'm sure this article will bring more discussions to my door about, "did you hear the new problems they're having in Edgewood? New gang members coming in?" Then the rumors will get bigger and better. Or at least that's my "sense" of what will happen.

Mary Bekker

Abingdon