Fort Dodge has a problem. It is a deadly problem.

The problem we are talking about is ongoing senseless violence that is taking the lives of too many young adults. That violence is also leaving others with physical scars that will last a lifetime, while the survivors of those whose lives ended too soon will struggle with emotional scars for the remainder of their days.

The latest spasm of violence happened Tuesday. One young man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting.

Just a month earlier, a young woman, a mother of three boys, was shot to death.

And if all that isn’t bad enough, two men were injured in a shootout on March 7 at a convenience store on busy Fifth Avenue South.

In that same week, two men were injured in a stabbing.

It must stop.

Fort Dodge cannot be the thriving community we all want it to be if this bloodshed continues.

It must stop.

Finding a way to make it stop is the challenge facing all Fort Dodge residents.

We ask everyone – from senior citizens to schoolchildren – to give some thought to what little things they might be able to do in their daily lives that might help end the spiral of violence.

The burden of solving this problem will inevitably fall most heavily on leaders at all levels. That includes elected officials, educators, pastors, business leaders and those leading civic groups.

What is needed is a concerted effort to bring all those people together to find a way to stop the ongoing violence and dissuade our young people from getting into a lifestyle in which guns and knives are the preferred way to solve any issue that comes up.

Fort Dodge can become a thriving community for business, recreation and culture. Or it can degenerate into a place associated mainly with crime.

It is up to all of us to work together to put Fort Dodge on the path to being the peaceful home we all want.