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