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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1973)
YMCA receiving funds for Juvenile Justice Project By KATHY GLANVILLE Of the Emerald “A 17-year-old Arkansas youth died after a day in the state penitentiary: he was chased by a car, shot at, forced to do pushups for 31 minutes and subjected to other abuses which resulted in his death.” This is a quote from Sen. Birch Bayh in the Winter 1973 YMCA Newsletter. Bayh’s example of the flagrant mistreatment of youthful offenders in the United States illustrates the need for restructuring the federal approach to problems of juvenile delinquency. The campus YMCA along with Central Lane Family YMCA, is one of the 70 YMCA’s receiving funds to do a Juvenile Justice Project, under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, the result of a bill sponsored by Bayh. “It’s a very exciting thing that we’re just getting into,” explained YMCA director Kirk Johnson. “The Juvenile Justice Project is a national project of the National Council of YMCA’s,” ex plained Johnson. “The YMCA is a fairly radical organization. They have several 5-year goals, one of them is to alleviate injustices in the juvenile justice system and to provide alternatives to the justice program. “I think that basically Lane County has a very good juvenile department,” said Johnson. “Skip worth (the Lane County juvenile detention center) is very concerned with getting kids out of there and back into the community. There are some very concerned and good people here, however there is a crying need for foster home care.” The Campus YMCA is presently seeking a director for its Foster Home Project. Their overall goal will be to locate 45 short term foster homes for runaways in the 10-14 year age group by June 1975. The project will focus on the two schools which have the highest incidents of runaways in the YMCA service area: Jefferson and Madison junior high schools. Each family involved will go through training sessions run by the YMCA. “At the present time,” said Johnson, “Foster homes just aren’t here. County and city agencies just haven’t been able to make a concentrated effort in this area. “Children who run away from home have few alternatives beyond the Juvenile Detention Center. These are adolescents who have not committed a crime and yet have to be institutionalized, which places a criminal stigma on the adolescent,” Johnson says. ACTION, the federal “umbrella” organization, which encompasses such voluntary agencies as VISTA, will pay the director’s salary for the first year. However, Johnson stated that there would be other expenses to meet, such as transportation and training for the foster families. “The Weyerhauser Foundation has expressed interest in helping to fund the project,” said Johnson. “The Juvenile Court, Juvenile Department and State Children’s Services Division have already committed themselves to assist with manpower and data collection,” said Johnson. The University YMCA, which is not affiliated with the University, is basically a student service organization which does a lot of work in the Eugene community. Six University students have already indicated an interest in working with the director of the new project. Voters reject school tax levies After an unenthusiastic turnout at the polls, Eugene voters ap parently rejected the Eugene School District’s proposed 1973-74 $26 million budget and a proposal for publicly supported kin dergartens. The Lane County Intermediate Education District’s proposed budget of $21.5 million also ap peared to be going down county wide. As of press time with 21 out of 31 precincts reporting for District 4-J and 46 out of 73 reporting for IED the results were: The 4-J budget; 4812 yes, 6431 no; the IED proposal; 2330 yes, 4466 no; the kindergarten proposal; 2047 yes, 4567 no. Voting in the annual school election was light throughout the day. Only 7 of 821 registered voters at Willagillespie School had bothered to cast ballots by 10 a.m. Monday morning. Edgewood Elementary School reported 45 ballots cast by 10 a.m. out of a possible 2,360. The kindergarten proposal, which requested $706,700 to initiate a kindergarten program for Eugene five-year-olds, was the latest of a series of such proposals to be rejected by Eugene voters over the past few years. The $26 million requested by the new budget was up $2.4 million (10 per cent) over last year. Of that increase, 1.3 million was to go for higher teacher salaries, $700,000 for hgiher social security taxes and retirement premiums, and $150,000 for the hiring of 15 new teachers. Sam Frear, Chairman of the Eugene School Board, was not Two journalism instructors put photographs on display Photographs by George Beltran and Bernard Freemesser, of the University Journalism School faculty are on display through May 21 in the Photography at Oregon Gallery of the University Museum of Art. Beltran is a visiting assistant professor of journalism and Freemesser is a professor of journalism. The work reporesents the interests and experiences of the two photographers during the past year, with Beltran exhibiting solely in black and white and Freemesser only in color. Beltran’s photographs are of both people and selected areas of the landscape. Of particular interest to Oregonians is a rendition of a distant lumber mill with wigwam burner blanketed in snow. The subtle tonalities of white with the black accentsof the industrial forms exemplify Beltran’s effective control of his craft. Although Freemesser is continuing to work primarily in black and white, he has chosen this exhibit to reveal a revived interest in the use of color as form. Those already familiar with Freemesser’s earlier work in the landscape will see quite a different approach in the recent photographs, representing more the econography of the western states than the landscape itself. While many of Freemesser’s works show experiences in various states, several are unmistakable from Oregon, such as the barn with one side painted in a familiar advertisement and the interpretive study of the John Day River in Central Oregon. The University Museum is open from 1 to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. It is closed Mondays. surprised by the election results. “This is not entirely unex pected,” said Frear, “There is a general feeling by taxpayers of unwillingness to pay property taxes for schools — one reason I favored the May 1st issue._ “There is a general concern by the taxpayers over the cost of schools. However inflation hits the schools like everyone else,” he said. “At the board meeting we decide if necessary,” explained Frear, “to hold new elections July 19.” —1:30 p.m. The Billie Holiday Vol. 1 -KWAX-FM news, features, sports! 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