In 2008, Calhoun County endured the most criminally deadly year in memory. Twenty people died from gunshots, stabbings and beatings. But what a difference a year makes: At 2009's halfway point, the area has witnessed only two homicides.

The first was McKinley Mack Young, shot and killed at his home on the 2900 block of Newborn Street on May 10. Blaine Justice Lovell, who had first fled to Mississippi before being captured and returned to Calhoun County, was charged with Young's death.

Charles Andre Jennings, 46, of McDaniel Avenue, was shot on June 11 and died June 18.

By this time last year, the county had seen 11 killings, a contrast which baffles residents, law-enforcement officials and researchers. But it's a contrast they're thankful for.

Some, like Anniston police Capt. Richard Smith, see luck as a primary element. Others, like Councilman Ben Little, see God's blessing the city with peace, while two sociologists see the lull as a minor statistical variation.

The 20 violent deaths were just the cap of a deadly trend — 2007 saw 17, and 2006 saw 16.

Killings 'shockingly high'

The 20 homicides in 2008 crossed three jurisdictions — 14 in Anniston, four in Calhoun County and two in Oxford.

Thus the focus falls on Anniston. The county's largest city has a U.S. Census estimate of 23,689, compared to Oxford's 20,329.

Anniston's homicide rate last year, per capita, climbed higher than St. Louis, Baltimore, Jackson, Miss. and Birmingham.

"Your rate is really, shockingly high for a city that size," said David M. Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. It comes across that way, he said, because "when you're dealing with small counts, very small differences wind up making huge differences in rates."

In a city Anniston's size, a single killing increases the rate by .04 per 1,000 people. In a city the size of Jackson, Miss., a single killing only changes things by .005 per 1,000 people.

This leaves the 20 people killed in Calhoun County in 2008 as less of a data point and as more of an emotional marker.

A deadly combination

Murders spring from a complex web of personalities, Oxford police Chief Bill Partridge said.

"We just haven't had the right combination yet (this year)," he said.

The two deaths for his jurisdiction in 2008 represent two categories of homicide — those that occur during the commission of another crime and those committed during a dispute. The first in Oxford was the death of Sean Adam Cook, shot and killed at the Pak-A-Sak Grocery store, in what police said was a robbery. Three people have been charged in Cook's death.

"Homicide is the hardest for law enforcement to police," Partridge said. There is little prevention police can do, he said.

He's pessimistic for the summer months. His experience as Calhoun County coroner (2001-07) leads him to believe that killings will return as the thermometer continues its upward climb.

This concern is echoed by other officers, who expect to see more crime in general as temperatures heat up.

But last year was just the opposite. In June and July, there were no killings, although there were multiple robberies and assaults. It wasn't until Aug. 16 that Richard Elliot Massey, 30, was killed. Ronald Jerome Ball, 23, was charged with Massey's murder. Investigators at the time said Ball believed Massey was hiding Ball's keys.

The most difficult situation to deal with is a domestic dispute, said Cecilia Tubbs, a former federal probation officer and criminal justice program coordinator at Jefferson State Community College near Birmingham.

"It's one of the worst calls for officers to go on," she said. "It's volatile; you're going into the middle of a crazy and chaotic situation."

Tubbs specifically pointed to killings in which women have a chance to leave but don't take it. Instead, they leave themselves at the mercy of their abusers, she said.

That apparently happened to Hazel Goodson, who police say was beaten to death by her ex-husband, Glen Goodson, on Nov. 18. She had signed a protection order against him, but, police say, she was killed while the two were drinking at the home they shared in Choccolocco. He remained in Calhoun County Jail Saturday with bond set at $100,000. Glen Goodson was indicted by a grand jury April 30 on a charge of murder.

Fighting back

As 2008 became marked with more and more death, Stop the Violence formed. Based in the Anniston Funeral Home Outreach Ministry, it is a homegrown effort to fight crime.

The group targeted what it termed the roots of crime — poverty, poor education and drug and alcohol abuse.

Members started with a number of Fun Days, which brought law enforcement and local communities together.

They began to feed people throughout the city. Sunlight Baptist Church Pastor Frederick Durant, deputy coordinator of the group, told The Star in the past that it was a plan to help knit the community together.

Other efforts at community involvement have fizzled, but some have stuck.

Some areas have reactivated defunct neighborhood watches. Sheriff Larry Amerson says such groups work best by simply bringing people together. He said residents become more willing to watch out for each other and report what crimes are happening.

Bernard Thornton, 44, of the 1700 block of McKleroy Avenue, said his neighborhood has been mostly crime-free because of that neighborly feeling. He said his neighbors watched his home while he was away, and no one is afraid to call police if they see suspicious activities.

However, his neighborhood, though seemingly safe itself, is ringed by homicide sites.

Anniston Councilman Little said residents need to call police whenever they feel something is wrong.

"It's not being a snitch; it's saying we're not tolerating it in the community," he said.

That's what Sandra Miller, 45, of the 2200 block of McKleroy, said. Four people were killed last year within five blocks of her home.

According to Miller, she and her neighbors are becoming more involved with each other to discourage troublemakers. It's been largely personal, she said, but efforts like neighborhood watches and encouragement from officials have helped stimulate the interaction.

There was also a rally and march held Saturday, called "Stop the Violence Family Awareness Day," a yearly event begun by Steven Folks, director of Anniston's Parks and Recreation Department. It's not directly associated with the program from Anniston Funeral Home.

Kennedy, the director of the Center for Crime Prevention in New York, said Anniston's small size helps ensure some of these programs will work. A small group like Stop the Violence can fight assault, robbery, rape and murder without becoming overstretched, he said.

But all of the programs hinge on resident involvement; law-enforcement officials freely admit they can't do it all.

Kennedy said local people's refusal to accept crime is what makes programs like Operation Ceasefire successful. He was one of three directors of that program in Boston, where pastors and other leaders in the community talked with gang leaders and perpetrators of crime. The leaders' aims, he said, were to impress upon the criminals the damage their crimes had done to residents as well as to accept the person who committed the crime while rejecting the crime.

The system now has 75 locations nationwide, and is credited with cutting murders in the areas where it's active, he said. Youth related murders in Boston fell by 71 percent in two years, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, part of the Department of Justice.

Funding the crime-fighters

Anniston continues to wrestle with ways to keep the killings away.

John Spain ran for the Anniston City Council in 2008 on a platform centered on tough law enforcement. He said the city needs to get the city staff, elected officials and community members together to fight for their community.

"I look to our citizens to become a part of this entire process," he said.

He wasn't sure when he would formally introduce the plan.

Little had said he's dealt with the Police Department extensively, trying to ensure protection of his constituents.

Anniston police Chief John Dryden had said he's received some calls for additional presence, but nothing out of the ordinary,

Last week Little proposed spending $1.5 million on development in west Anniston, including $200,000 for police.

Sandy McCullars was relaxing recently on the corner of Marabale Street and Wilkerson Drive in Hobson City, a block from where Broderick Few was killed on April 1, 2008. Gordon Raynard McGrue, 21, of Anniston is charged with shooting and killing Few, possibly over problems with women, Calhoun County Sheriff Larry Amerson said.

McCullars, of Oxford, said a major preventative measure is the seemingly endless police patrols she sees in Hobson City. She says their presence makes her feel safer, especially since Hobson City no longer has its own police force.

Although the town is part of the sheriff's jurisdiction, she says Hobson City also sees regular visits from Oxford and Anniston police as well as Alabama state troopers.

The weapon of choice

Alabama ranks second nationwide for gun deaths, behind Louisiana, according to the Violence Policy Center, a Washington-based non-profit group that advocates against gun crime. In this area, however, that statistic has not taken a street-level toll: Fewer people are shooting at each other this year, Oxford's Partridge said. He said that's made a major difference in the number of homicides.

By a large margin, guns were the weapon most used in 2008 homicides. Last year, 15 of the homicides were committed with a firearm. Three people were killed with blades and two with blunt weapons.

"Guns are easy and convenient and thorough," said Jefferson State's Tubbs.

Approximately 10,000 people in Calhoun County hold pistol permits.

Guns' lethal nature can amplify an attack, turning what would otherwise be an assault into a murder.

That idea was seen in one death last year and a minor incident earlier this year.

For example, a single small-caliber bullet in his neck killed Jerry Lewis Turner Feb. 19, 2008. Yet six shots were fired by two juveniles at a man near his home on May 22 this year and the man escaped unharmed. The two juveniles were arrested.

If one of those rounds had hit at the wrong spot, the victim could easily have been this year's first slaying.

A gun is clean and neat, but people will use whatever is available in a crime of passion, Councilman Spain said.

"In a crime of passion," he said, "if you've got a gun in your hand, you're going to use it. If you've got a stick in your hand, you're going to use it. If you've got a knife in your hand, you're going to use it."

A man was nearly killed this year when two people kicked and punched him, took a break, and then beat him again, using a garbage can.

Chief Dryden said without prompt and skilled medical assistance, that type of case could easily have been a homicide.

Counting crime

"Fortunately for everyone, homicides are a rare occurrence," Kennedy said.

Even in New Orleans, the deadliest city of more than 100,000 people, there are .64 killings for every 1,000 people.

Though FBI statistics for 2008 are not yet available on cities with fewer than 100,000 people, Anniston stood at .59 per 1,000 people in 2008 (or nearly 6 per 10,000), based on the number of murders and the census-estimated population.

In 2008, Anniston had an overall violent crime rate of 22.78 per 1,000 people, based on a similar count by The Star. Calhoun County overall had a rate of 5.49 per 1,000 people. Despite the comparative rarity of killing, it doesn't shift perceptions about overall crime levels, Spain said.

If there were no murders, he said, people would think the city is safer, even if it's not.

It's difficult, if not impossible, to explain such shifts when only 20,000 people are involved, Kennedy said.

"When you're dealing with small counts," he said, "very small differences wind up making huge differences in rates."