If you are a retiree from the Indianapolis Star, the News or the Times, or worked in broadcast media or public relations or anything associated, you may already know about the Hardscrabble Press Club.

Here is the latest, form Marion Garmel, onetime art and book critic at the News, and theater critic at the Star:

"For the past 17 years, John Sellers has kept the roster of the Hardscrabble Press Club, which meets Tuesdays at 10 a.m. at Glendale Library (God and the Library Board willing).

"John, who originally worked for the Franklin Evening Star, is in failing health. He passed  the roster on to Gerry LaFollette, who worked on the Indianapolis News and Times.

"Gerry will be the official attendance taker, maybe for the next 17 years. John took over that role from Frank Widner, who was the original attendance taker.

"The Hardscrabble Press Club is composed mostly of retired reporters who once worked on the Indianapolis Times and, when that folded in 1965, split to other papers and jobs. They encompass former Indianapolis
News, Star, broadcast, public relations and photo people.

"Among those at the recent meeting:Dick Mittman, Marion Garmel, Stan Huseland, Mark Sellers (John's
grandson), Carol Keppler, Bob Sellers (John's son), Russ Leonard, Carl Henn and Rodger Birchfield, Gerry LaFollette, John Sellers, Lawrence (Bo) Connor, Al Bolin and Charles Schisla."

Thanks to Marion for letting us know the latest.

From my perch, which is basically a seat on the rocker in the small Butler-Tarkington cottage where I live, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Mayor Greg Ballard and new safety director Frank Straub have done a dynamite job in their response to the shootings Saturday Downtown. Ten young people, ages 10 to 18, were wounded by gunfire after the Indiana Black Expo teen fling event.

As Straub said, we have in this city an excellent police department. And, as quoted in this morning's Indianapoois Star, "This is a safe city; this is a city where safety is job one."

As Straub predicted, they got their suspect, who is allegedly seen on video firing away. They vowed to bring him in in 48 hours; they did it in 24. Good work.

He is Shamus L. Patton, 17, and he is charged in two of three shooting incidents.

The Star this morning does not sugarcoat Patton's backstory; reporters Tania Lopez and Vic Ryckeart have my respect.

They write that Patton has "a long arrest record (and) is a member of a street gang known as the 34th Street Savage Boys." A former neighbor is quoted as saying that Patton was "a little gang-banger, a smart aleck," and apparently a high school drop out -- he atttended Renaissance School and Warren Central and was arrested at both (threatening a secretary at the first; having a handgun at home when he was picked up at Warren Central High).

I know this is all a deadly serious business, but I admit I laoughted out loud at what one of Patton's male relatives said to WISH-TV Channel 8 last night -- (best coverage of everything). When asked how the family was going to proceed, this man said,

"First of all, we're gonna pray to God. Then we're gonna talk to our ministers. Then we're gonna get a good lawyer."

Good strategy, there. A little late for the kid, but still, you might want to put that lawyer thing ahead of the ministers...

The phrase, "Take Back the Night," was used by the women's movement as early as 1976 to convey the message that women around the globe would no longer be silent victims of rape and other sexual violence.

It's a good expression; it cuts to the heart of women demanding "the right to move freely in their communities at day and night without harassment and sexual assault."

Now it's time for Indiana Black Expo and others -- whites and blacks -- who care about our city's youth to "take back the night." Take it back from those irresponsible parents who think it's OK for young kids to be out on the streets without supervision on the second Saturday night of every Expo, the day that traditionally features a concert geared to teens. "Take back the night" means eliminating that particular Expo event, permanently. Because it is covered in childrens' blood.

Ten young people between the ages of 10 and 18 were shot Saturday in Downtown Indianapolis. I love the disclaimers in the Indianapolis Star's first online version of this: "None of the shootings occurred at venues hosting Black Expo activities." That's like trying to pretend that Custer's Last Stand had nothing to do with the Indians' rage. Everyone knows those kids would not have been Downtown Saturday without the lure of Expo and its raucous concert, which must be in some minds the equivalent of a license to go "wilding" -- the term first used in the Central Park jogger assault, whether accurately or not.

The shootings -- fortunately, no one has died --  have certainly put Indianapolis on the media map: at last count, CNN, Fox News, Drudge Report, CBS and MSNBC have all carried accounts.

The irony, of course, is that Rev. Al Sharpton of New York was here a week ago, railing about how bad things are with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and its relations with the black community. Let's get real -- the kids who did these shootings (members of "low-level gangs" according to cops), are responsible for their actions, just as the parents of the children who were wounded are responsible for the safety of their offspring. The police are not the bad guys, nor are they the enemy of this city's black community.

I am all about the bennies of Black Expo...well, as much as a middle-aged white woman can be. This is not an anti-Expo rant. But those who lead Expo, and the parents who permit their kids to be out on the streets late, have to "take back the night." They must make the Downtown safe again on the second Saturday of the 40-year-old event.

Somebody has to take charge.  The nervous nelly media won't do it; God forbid that anyone at the Star or any local TV outlet would ever publicly criticize Expo. Years ago, I wrote a column about an older black woman in a wheelchair who used to go Downtown during Expo and other Downtown events to sing and sell flowers -- she was known as "the Flower Lady." She was always safe in her little corner at Maryland and Illinois -- until the night young people from Expo ran wild and knocked her down, wheelchair and all.

A year after that column ran, and during the next Expo, I wanted to revisit the incident -- give readers an update on how the Flower Lady was doing and again air her concerns and grievances about the out-of-control youth who swarmed Downtown and injured her. The newspaper's big cheeses nixed it; too much bad publicity for Expo, too negative, no longer releveant, etc.

That column would have been nothing compared to this CNN headline, complete with video: "10 injured in Indiana shootings."

Take back the night.