By Frank Roberts

While crime is on the uptick, terrorist groups are out to destroy us, bigger and better weapons are being created to destroy the world — what concerns a whole lot of folks? Concrete monuments and cloth flags.

You see these issues all over the television news and in the headlines of every newspaper. They are, seemingly, far more important than the swiftly rising crime rate. Evil activities are rampant, yet so many of them, for whatever reason don’t even rate a paragraph on page seven, or a note at the tail end of a newscast.

Gay marriages get a lot of attention. Riots? Killings? All that senseless stuff — so much of it goes by the wayside. Scant attention is paid to frightening stories about large, heartless gangs tearing up and stealing from stores on city streets. Beatings are becoming so commonplace they rate little, if any, space.

News is not news if the print and television powers-that-be feel sensitivity against letting the public know that meanness has become a commonplace fact of life. Stories about large gangs of people that should be told? They are either played down or ignored altogether.

There is often coverage of very nice people getting together for prayer, but there is zilch about young marauders. Why?

Look at our own backyard: When a mob attacked two reporters in Norfolk, the Virginian-Pilot politely referred to it as a street altercation; About 40,000 people visited Virginia Beach in the summer of 2013 to — as a newspaper so politely put it — “let off steam.” The ensuing chaos, danger, theft, violence, lawlessness was described by dozens of people.

According to akdart.com some victims offered eyewitness accounts that “the local media could not, or would not present.”

The above stories are a very small sampling of what is happening around the country. You can fill in the blank spaces.

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And, there are historic events that also were ignored, left out of history books. For example, did you know that Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon testified on Deep Throat’s behalf in a trial unrelated to his more publicized problems?

You’ve heard that politics make strange bedfellows.

And historian Owen J. Hurd let us know that Paul Revere was kicked out of the military. Is that in the history books? For the most part, no.

More history: John Tyler, the 10th U.S. president, has two living grandchildren, 74 and 71 years old.

Still more history: President Lincoln owned a bar. His partner was William Berry. The saloon, in Springfield, Ill., was named Berry and Lincoln. Honest Abe didn’t even get top billing.

ABC News unearthed that item.

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Finally: What city has the highest number zip code in the U. S.? 99950 will get your letter to Ketchikan.

During a 60-year career spanning newspapers, radio and television, Frank Roberts has been there and done that. Today, he’s doing it in retirement from North Carolina, but he continues to keep an eye set on Suffolk and an ear cocked on country music. Email him at froberts73@embarqmail.com.