Page A5
August 11, 1999
— (Jije ^ lo rtla n ò (fìbeeruer
Park Bureau Bond M easure
Goes to Work
Alberta Street
Youth Mural
Youth Express Cultural Identity
through Public Art
The five-year com m unity driven
plan to revitalize NE Alberta Street
includes projects to involve neigh
borhood youth in creating public art.
Currently two neighborhood youth,
Adrian and Sheree, are working with
an artist to paint a travelling mural for
display on Alberta. The kids benefit
from having a one-on-one learning
experience with professional artist
Suzy Kitman, and from acquiring a
sense o f com m unity pride and re
sponsibility. The youth are working
outdoors on Alberta between 14,h and
15th Avenues throughout August.
Public art has been a focus for
cultural identity in the com m unity
revitalization o f diverse neighbor
hoods o f NE Portland w hile at the
same tim e we are seeing a decline in
art program s in public schools. This
project will benefit kids who have an
interest in art and w ant to learn more.
Also, A lberta art gallery ow ners ex
pressed an interest for A lberta Street
to becom e a “m ural district" (there
are already close to ten visible m u
rals w ithin 16 blocks) as this is an
opportunity to enhance the street’s
cultural identity.
Youth Festival
Housing Our Families, Inc., along
with Self Enhancement, Inc. and Boise
Neighborhood Association is announc
ing l t ' s ^ Annual Youth Festival. Kids
and adults o f all ages are invited to
atten d th is c e le b ra tio n o f ou r
community’s youth. The Festival will
be held Saturday, August 14, 1999 at
Unthank Park. The festival will begin at
11:00 a.m. and will run until 6:00 p.m.
T ^ S S S o n d m e a s u re fo rP o rtla n d P a rk s R e c re a tio n included funds for improvements in Woodlawn
Park. Anticipated were a variety of projects that would make the park safer and more pleasant to use.
This year’s Festival w ill include
an array o f fun-filled activities for
old and young alike. T h ere’ll be
gam es for sm aller kids, a 3 on 3
basketball tournam ent, and live m u
sic for kids and parents to enjoy. A
food court will be available as well.
For more inform ation, please con
tact Renee Johnson at H ousing Our
Fam ilies, 335-0947.
Child-Abuse Deaths
Underreported
B> BRENDA C. C O L E M A N __________
.C T he A ssociated P ress
C H IC A G O - T he n u m b e r o f
young ch ild ren killed by their p a r
ents or ca reg iv ers is u nderreported
by nearly 60 percent, researchers
rep o rted today in the Journal o f the
A m erican M edical A ssociation.
T he stu d y w as b a s e d on an
analysis o f N orth C aro lin a records,
b ut rese arch e rs said th e resu lts
reflec t the situ a tio n n atio n w id e
b ec au se all sta te s use the sam e
sy stem to c la ssify deaths.
C a re g iv e rs c o m m it 85 p erc en t
o f the h o m ic id e s o f c h ild re n 10
and u n d er, and stran g e rs are the
k illers o n ly 3 p e rc e n t o f the tim e,
said Dr. M arcia H erm a n -G id d e n s,
lead au th o r o f the study.
■’So far, w e as a so c iety have
not cared en o u g h to do w h at w e
need to do to g et a c c u ra te d ata on
ch ild ab u se h o m ic id e s ,” she said.
‘ ’ I f you d o n ’th a v e good d ata about
the p ro b lem , good n u m b e rs, you
c a n ’t p o ssib ly b eg in to do a n y
th in g ab o u t it.”
H erm a n -G id d e n s, w ho teach es
m atern al and ch ild h ea lth at the
U n iv ersity o f N o rth C a ro lin a, said
the p ro b lem is that all states use
the In te rn a tio n a l C la ssific a tio n o f
D iseases to rec o rd d ea th s, an d the
sy ste m 's specificatio n s are flaw ed.
F or exam ple, three children w ho
are sta b b ed to d ea th w o u ld not be
listed as a b u se v ic tim s b ecau se the
cla ssific a tio n sy stem says abuse
d e a th s r e s u lt fro m a s trin g o f
ev e n ts, not an iso la te d ep iso d e,
she said.
Her study counted child abuse
deaths if they resulted from a single
episode such as a shooting or from a
string o f events, and came at the hands
o f caregivers - including babysitters
and boyfriends o f mothers.
W ith that system in m ind, the
researchers analyzed records from
m edical exam iners, police and other
sources on the 259 hom icides o f
children 10 and younger in N orth
C arolina from 1985 through 1996.
O f th o se , .the s ta te 's sy stem
u n d e r r e p o r te d th e n u m b e r o f
d eath s from b a tte rin g o r abuse by
58.7 p erc en t, the rese arch e rs said.
B io lo g ical p are n ts c o m m itted 64
p erc en t o f the killin g s.
T ra n sla te d to a n atio n al scale,
the stu d y su g g e sts that 6 ,500 m ore
ch ild ren than n atio n al statistics re
flect w ere v ic tim s o f h o m ic id e due
to ab u se from 1985 th ro u g h 1996.
T he rese arch e rs estim a ted th at in
1996, 835 c h ild re n d ied at the
h ands o f careg iv e rs n atio n w id e.
S idney Johnson, p resid e n t o f
P re v e n t C h ild A b u se A m eric a,
w hich w as not involved in the study,
said it gives credibility to w hat some
experts have been saying for years
- that tw ice as m any children are
abused as reports indicate.
H e rm a n -G id d e n s s a id d e a th
ce rtific a te s need to be red esig n ed
to ac co m m o d ate in fo rm atio n re
lated to abuse, and m ed ical ex a m
in e rs and c o ro n e rs n e e d b e tte r
train in g to rec o g n ize su ch deaths.
The 1994 bond m easure for Port
land Parks & Recreation included
funds for improvements in W oodlawn
Park. Anticipated w ere a variety o f
projects that w ould m ake the park
safer and more pleasant to use.
Planning for W oodlaw n Park im
provements began in May. 1998 when
a project new sletter and survey was
Some Youth Violence Declines
R euters
CHICAGO - Some types o f violent
behavior are dec lining among teen-agers
but conditions that threaten youth safety
remain unacceptably high overall, ac
cording to a survey released Tuesday.
The information from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
was gathered over a num ber o f years
ending in 1997. before the highly pub
licized school shootings o f the past
two years including the Colum bine
school massacre in April w here 13
people were killed by two students
who apparently com m itted suicide.
The report found that the num ber
o fh ig h school students w ho reported
carrying a w eapon o f any type during
the previous m onth declined from
26.1 percent in 1991 to 18.3 percent
in 1997. The num ber o f youngsters
who said they w ere in a physical fight
in the previous year declined by 14
percent over the sam e period. .
In addition the survey found de
creases in the num ber o f students
Cannon’s
who said they had carried a w eapon
on school property or w ere involved
in a fight there.
‘ ’ Despite these recent reductions rates
o f youth homicide, nonfatal victimiza
tion and perpetration o f violence remain
at historically high levels,” said the re
port published in this week's Journal of
the American Medical Association.
* ’ In addition, this study did not find
significant decreases in the percentage
o f students feeling too unsafe to go to
school, being threatened or injured with
a weapon on school property, or having
property stolen or deliberately dam
aged at school,’ ’ it added. •
It also said there had been no de
crease in the percentage o f students
carrying weapons other than guns
‘'an d in 1997 this behavior was twice
as prevalent as gun carrying ...”
“ T herefore, although the reduc
tions in gun carrying and fighting are
encouraging, theprev alen ceo fy o u th
sent throughout the neighborhood.
Inform ation gathered from that ini
tial survey and subsequent public
m eetings through the sum m er and
fall helped shape the final plan. C on
struction, o riginally scheduled to
begin in the fall o f ‘98, was resched
uled to accom m odate a m ore ex
tended com m unity planning process.
The project is now underw ay and
im provem ents will be com plete by
late fall ‘99.
The W oodlaw n Park im prove
m ent plan, includes the following:
• Picnic A rea Im provem ents.
• Play Areas.
• Spray Fountain.
• Basketball Court.
• V olleyball Court.
• Baseball D iam ond and Field:
• Park Landscape.
A nd th at’s not all! The park sign
will be relocated to a new planting
bed, the dum pster enclosure w ill be
rem oved to increase visibility into
the park, and the chess tables will be
m oved to the open lawn.
violence and school violence is still
unacceptably h ig h ,” it concluded.
It rem ains to be seen, the report
said, w hether the m ore recent acts o f
school violence w ill result in more
students carrying w eapons to school.
The data cam e from the federal
governm ent’s Y outh Behavior Risk
Surveys w hich have been conducted
periodically since 1990 and involve
a representative sam ple ofU .S . teen
agers. The sam ple size was not listed.
Totally Dynamic LTD and Famm Entertainment-Spurts and Marketing Agency
present....
T heist Annual
,-tland Urban Festjv
A Celebration of Community and Support
= R IB EXPRESS=
(FORMERLY CHUCK HINTON’S)
Catering
& Take-Out
for
Acú<iues
uU aé¿s
•
•
•
•
Sandwiches
Salads
Dinners
Catering
Come out and
picnic with the
family
• Chicken • Pork Ribs •
• Beef Ribs •
foo^^
0»^
Join us to help bring about awareness ot Addictions
substance abuse
- SUMMER HOURS -
MONDAY: 1 1 :00AM - OlOOPM
ttiboay : 11:00 am - 9:00 pm
WEDNESDAY: 1 1 ¡0 0 AM-1 PM A 4 p M-9 p M
THURSDAY: 1 1 ¡0 0 AM • 9:00PM
FRIDAY: 1 1 ’. 0 0 AM - 10:00PM
11:00 am - 10:00 pm
1:0Q pm -8 pm
33rd & N.E. KILLINQSWORTH
(3328 N.E. Klllingsworth)
SATURDAY
S unday :
2 8 8 -3 8 3 6
Event sponsorships and
Booth spare limited.
C a l l t o d a y ! 331-9554
S atu rd ay , A ugust 28
View die premiere issue of
1U:OO am — 10:UU pm
Imagine That! magazine— a
in the Emanuel Legacy Lot
(corner of Williams and Russell
in NE Portland)
Admission is FREE!
vehicle of support, saying
“ NO” Io drugs, domestic
and gang violence.
Oui ihunki lu Vulunleers uj America Oregon fur l/ie dunaiiuii uj graphic services and event vulunleers.