Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 29, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 readers forum Winnipeg free press 7 july m juvenile violence a makeup Call the fatal shooting of 13yearold Joseph last weekend has once again raised questions about the underlying causes of juvenile Reader Margaret a former teacher and freelance writer living in weighs in with her one of the most frightening Phenomena of our time is the increase in crime by it is alarm not Only because of escalating fre Quency but because of the often shockingly violent nature of the ten Jearolds bludgeon a Twoy Earold to death in in Eastern two with mercilessly Bash an elderly couple to death with baseball Northern a seven Earold assists a 14yearold to kill a classmate his own age by beating him and slashing his Throat after a playground and in Young gangs stalk and shoot to death their who is to blame for this problem is it the fault of health services for not providing psychological support or the responsibility of the education system for cutting programs or not providing lunches is it the fault of the province for cutting allowances to Foster parents the underlying causes of burgeon ing juvenile crime Are much More Basic and can be clearly pinpointed in three areas less than competent uncontrolled exposure to explicit and an unrealistic Legal Many parents no longer take responsibility for the actions of their they As often As not defend their children against any form of discipline or when Michael Fay was caned in Singapore for his father left no Stone unturned in trying to have the sentence All the while expounding upon his sons status As a we would not wish to see can ing become the discipline of Choice in while this May be an extreme it is still a fact that Many parents no longer support discipline of their children by on a local we have seen teenage girls apprehended for Only to have their parents descend furiously upon the store officials As if they were the ones who had perpetrated the and More teenage boys who were forced to doff their clothing when caught trespassing were made put by their parents to be the wronged Are aware of where their Margaret Riddell children Are and what they Are they they have set curfews and rules which they enforce and they Are not afraid to discipline when even under these youngsters sometimes break the those who have no idea where their boys and girls Are at any Given hour of the Day or if they do have they enforce them inconsistently or not at and when their children run afoul of the they blame the int it children used to have a claim on inno they were protected As much As possible from exposure to acts of atrocity and unsupervised youngsters have unprecedented Access to sex and even parents who Monitor their families television viewing cant guarantee that their Chil Dren will never see something objection not being have virtually no control Over what their children might be watching when they visit their friends for and in particular television and can be held at least partly responsible for much of the negative education that Chil Dren the other major Facilitator of child crime is the Legal specifically the Young offenders even the term Young offenders seems to suggest pampered Lack of effective deterrents makes the Young offenders act an impotent link in the Legal the general Public perception is that the Legal system is no longer the Justice sys it has always seemed to me to be a curious anomaly that in an Era when children have been earlier exposed to All sorts of both valuable and that the authors of the Young offenders act would assume that the age of responsibility should go up instead of Many children under the age of 12 Are worldwide in ways that their parents never dreamed they know that they Are the unt ouch they know that they can literally get away with another aspect of the Legal system that is coming under criticism is what is seen As the erosion of the parents right to Dis we Are very much aware that curbs on discipline have resulted from abuses of that it is time for some common sense to surely it is possible to differentiate Between discipline and abuse should parents be subject to charges out of by strangers who May have witnessed discipline that they did not agree with we Are always Only one generation away from the human race has struggled upward for each generation we would a Little More cultured and a Little More it is a fragile condition and even in our time it occasionally As has happened in Iraq and the desire to act in a civilized manner is not innate it has to be passed or to each children left to devise their own social structures without the guidance of Posi Tive adult experience Are Quick to revert to is this what is happening is the explosion of cruel kid crimes a portent of things to come what happens As these children move into adulthood who is ultimately responsible who is teaching civilization who is conveying the concepts of right and wrong and con science and responsibility recent events Are a loud makeup wed better get Portage and main is designed to give readers a Chance to write about issues they care if you would like to write a Contact Brian editorial Page at letters to the new Guy in town has fresh View having recently come from the Minneapolis heart Institute to your City to restructure a heart program at health sciences i was saddened by Reading City councils decision on the Arena and the the Issue is not one of hockey alone but one of identity and of economic Impact that will affect businesses and tax revenues in a Waterfall effect Well beyond the vision of those debating the it is regretful that Winnipeg future should be trusted to such Small time concept thinkers who place their own re election and politics in front of what is the Correct thing to it was a Paradox today to read a very expensive brochure that arrived on my desk from Winnipeg and the department of tourism extolling the Virtues of the City and emphasizing its professional sports and entertainment events in an attempt to entice conventions it is readily apparent that City councillors have not even read the products of their own Adver i Trust that More mature and responsible people May determine the future of this City than those who seem to be vested with that authority William my Winnipeg Turley Story warms the heart it warmed my heart to read the Story about Eva cancer find free july and her remarkable breakthrough in the Field of cancer research and cell in these precarious times of self doubt and collective doubt about the Cost and the value to society of scientists doing pure in especially proud of her discovery and even More proud of her achievement because she happens to be a i Hope and Pray that the thought Ful and caring within our society will recognize the value of scientists and their Peers that do so called pure the Impact and potential Bene fit to All Mankind of the results of relatively few scientists Are so immense As to Render meaningless the objections and the complain ing of the less informed and those in favor of a diminishing of our educational to your col and to scientists in Mani politicians and those in charge of our Are you listening Neil Winnipeg Mother defends police pals i have just finished Reading the article police and pals probed free july to say i am astonished and outraged with the biased reporting in the paper would be a Gross it sickens me that Winnipeg finest Are constantly shed in How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone such an unfavourable in writing to lend my support in some Small Way to the officers who take the away from then own every year to give a group of boys a unique and memo Rable experience in the wilderness i would imagine some of these boys have never been camping or let alone canoeing and port aging and having the Opportunity to rough my who is a rather quiet and self conscious was privileged to have been included in this years Canoe he was elated about being Able to but the experience far outweighed his he had nothing but Good things to say about the trip the the the joking the boy that he bunked he said there were a couple of boys with an Atti tude but he had such a Good time that he already wanted to know if he could go again next this Doest sound like Boot Camp to it sounds like men and boys joking around and maybe rough housing a i feel it was a great experience for Scott and id Send him again in a Glenda Wilson Winnipeg social spending causes crime solving the problem of crime and youth gangs is not achieved by increased government canadians have to accept the fact that we must not have a paternal relationship with columnist Dan cutbacks produce gangs free july 26 has made a horrible error in describing government cutbacks As the cause of gangs in this we would like to remind Lett that although this kind of Liberal think ing rules the predominant Media in it does not infect the minds of average it seems to be beyond Lett to consider skyrocketing illegitimacy weakening family leniency toward criminals As potential causes of Lett describes himself As a responsible yet he rebuffs some common sense thought with respect to youth or adult poverty is not the source of As crime rates lower during the depression the Issue of a new Arena for the City is one of growth and identity and not just a building in which to play than in spite of increased social spending Over the last three especially youth has been on the social spending has weakened the family Structure by replacing the role of the and has created a Cycle of dependency for its recipe we submit that social spend ing is closer to the cause of youth crime than it is to the Kar Kroeker Winnipeg Werier should enjoy life in regards to Val Weiers outcry against personal water Stop infernal noise july whether you live in the City or in a cottage by the rarely have the Chance to choose your be it harleys cruising Down your or pics play ing in the one has to be Toler ant of since the invention of the they have fast become a popular form of in spite of the popularity of the pc i think it is Safe to assume that no one has come close to committing suicide because of this Loutish behaviour is a Legal sport that brings sheer enjoy ment to Val Werier should relax and come to the realization that life is too Short to waste being uptight about something he cannot Rya Poetker Winnipeg can drownings be prevented further to All the Media cover age of recent drownings and the return of Beach i was a wit Ness to a near drowning at West Hawk Lake Beach on july it was the same scenario which recently claimed the lives of two Young boys at Winnipeg Beach Rescue turns tragic free july the difference my and another couple a Man and his i went to the Rescue of two Young men in what could have been another disaster fortunately resulted in a Happy ending due to the Quick and unselfish aide provided to these Young upon returning Home from the i was further distressed to read about the boy who drowned in the Fairford perhaps if there had been proper Beach patrols life saving devices these recent tragedies could have been Sandy Allen Winnipeg Foster cuts unfair i was surprised to read that Winnipeg child and family services is slashing payments for special needs children in Foster care Homes by six per cuts out rage Foster parents free july i read finance minister Paul Martin supposedly was unaware the executive members of the Royal Bank of Canada had granted their members a substantial yearly raise in their it is my opinion the executive members do not need any raise in salaries at this people Are worried about supporting a hockey this will make Foster Chil Dren have to live on less support services in the priority should be the morale of the Foster parents and the children they care after All the children will be the future Walter Bell Winnipeg preset prices for preteens in response to the letter pre teens need Sharp i agree that to Purchase clothing for children aged 10 to 13 is very i have a 10yearold daughter who is almost five feet tall and weighs 94 this is not out of the her friends Are All around the same height and she cant fit into the regu Lar childrens sizes any longer and we must Purchase ladies clothing for Here is an example Chil Drens leggings size 714 usually can be found for but As soon As you move to an adult size they Are i save the get because she is younger than but that is not much of a it would be an advantage to adult clothing stores to have a preset pricing policy for this age even if you have to bring your child in to prove the items being bought Are for in sure sales would increase and children could Wear More fashion ably suitable Kim Freund Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau great tufw5 out All 1 shit pint imagination its a 7he0ounp5 hapfbhih6 ;