COMMENTARIES ON VIOLENCE : We Live in Comfortable Suburbia and Now We, Too, Are Afraid : Bucolic scenes and laid-back days are perhaps in the past. But optimism, civic pride still prevail.

I moved from Hermosa Beach to San Clemente 18 years ago.

I had taught English in Los Angeles for five years. One of our students had been killed on the way home from school because he refused to give up his leather jacket. During my last year at Los Angeles City Unified School District, eight adults on campus were physically assaulted by students or parents. Traffic congestion in the metropolitan area was worsening.

The fragrance of orange groves adjacent to the freeway greeted me as I relocated to the southern tip of Orange County. My wife and I could get hamburgers at a local fast-food restaurant and then park and watch cows grazing in serene pastures. The groves are gone now, and so are the cows.

One of my students here died this fall from having a paint roller thrust through his brain. Another student lies in a hospital with a bullet in his chest. These atrocities did not happen at school, but they shook our community to its foundations.

Law enforcement, school and city officials have been working to combat gangs and youth violence for several years, but it took the death of Steve Woods to really wake up this casual seaside town. Will the outrage continue long enough to make a difference?

Two themes have emerged from these recent tragedies. One is that parents must take charge of their children. Police and teachers cannot replace parents in providing effective supervision and guidance for their children. We need to empower families so that young people are taught respect and accountability.

The second clear need is that each community must develop a youth task force that will bring together parents, business people, churches, counselors, city officials, educators and law enforcement officers.

A cogent action plan must be implemented in every community. Good leaders and successful programs exist. Let’s identify the leaders and support the programs.

The orange groves and grazing cows are difficult to find these days, but I remember the three seniors from San Clemente High School who were accepted by the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., last spring, and I am optimistic about the future. Our town is still a wonderful place in which to live, but we will need to work very hard to keep it that way.