Parent Help USA needs your time and...
Parent Help USA needs your time and your help
My name is Sally Kanarek. I started Parent Help USA and Mothers
Against Child Abuse in 1987 after working with teenage survivors of
suicide. I dedicated my work in memory of my sister who committed
suicide.
Child abuse is not an excuse for murder or any crime, but it is a
common thread in many preventable deaths and lives lost to violence.
We know that child abuse keeps hurting long after the abuse is over.
It does not just hurt a child, it can devastate a lifetime. And one
in four families in the United States have a child-abuse problem.
In this country in one year, almost 3 million children are
reported beaten, neglected, abandoned, sexually abused or exploited
for child pornography and murdered in their own homes by parents,
caretakers, strangers or neighbors. These children can be a few weeks
old; for others, help does not come until a child is seriously
injured after years of abuse. Millions and millions of dollars are
spent on reacting to a child-abuse problem with foster homes and an
overburdened and grossly inadequate system.
We know home is where life makes up its mind. Parents deserve to
be prepared for the most important job by having parenting education
early in the life of newborns. And by including child abuse awareness
in the early grades and parenting education in later grades, domestic
violence and child abuse could be significantly reduced through early
intervention. What kind of an education are we giving our children if
after 12 years of schooling they have not learned they should not be
sexually abused or battered by anyone? Or that they should not
victimize others? And should not a good education include values that
teach us there are more humane answers than a dumpster for an
unwanted newborn or an unplanned pregnancy?
The child abuse problem today says that a great nation cannot
protect the basic human rights of its children. I believe we can. The
Blue Ribbon is the international symbol for child abuse. Parent Help
USA believes the Blue Ribbon Bill is needed today more than ever. It
is about child-abuse awareness and prevention education in our
schools. This bill also would help us to reduce drug abuse and crime,
as experts tell us a person abused as a child is 1,000 times more likely to commit a crime.
We ask for your support, which begins with taking action. Become a
member of Parent Help USA today. April is National Child Abuse
Awareness Month. Help us to have it really mean something. Our work
is about ending the suffering of the most vulnerable and innocent
among us. Children are the future parents of this nation and Lord
knows we still have a lot to learn.
We all want a safer nation and world. Children are the seeds of
peace for tomorrow. We need your help to continue our work.
To contact Parent Help USA, call (949) 650-3461 or visit its Web
site at parenthelpusa.org. Our open house and members mixer is April
27 at our new office at 330 W. Bay St., Suite 120, Costa Mesa.
SALLY KANAREK
Costa Mesa
Public will decide fate of retail in Costa Mesa
I hear “enough is enough” of retail in Costa Mesa. But who has the
right to dictate that? I’ll tell you who -- it’s the public that
ultimately will decide. Look at Kmart, Ice Chalet and Kona Lanes.
If you use the “enough is enough” argument, when does Costa Mesa
intend to stop adding car dealerships on Harbor Boulevard or
approving more Jiffy Lubes that have already taken over our major
street corners?
Competition is the greatest form of providing fair prices and
value so that all people can obtain goods and services regardless of
their economic status. What is really good for Costa Mesa -- a 99ould
Store or a Kohl’s?
DEBORAH WATSON
Costa Mesa
Segerstroms doing a lot for Newport-Mesa youth
Last month, one of your readers inquired: “Haven’t the Segerstroms
had enough?” In her words, “First, South Coast Plaza [the city
derives as much as 40% of its budget from this world-class
destination], then Ikea, now Kohl.” She goes on to chide the
Segerstroms for “shoving another store down our throats” and implores
that (the Segerstroms?) “give our kids more than just another store.”
Sergerstrom ownership has given our kids more than the writer
realizes. Just to refresh her memory, the Newport Mesa Unified School
District will receive $2 million from the Segerstroms from the Ikea
transaction and she forgets that the Orange County Performing Arts
Center, which she suggests is for the “Geritol generation,” annually
hosts 400,000 school children, kindergarten through 12th grade, and
after the expansion is completed, that number will grow to 500,000.
In fact, Jerry Mandel, president of the Orange County Performing
Arts Center is emphatic that “Education is a major mission of the
Performing Arts Center.” It seems to be that the writer’s plea that
“our kids be given more than just another store” is being answered.
WERNER ESCHER
Newport Beach
* EDITOR’S NOTE: Werner Escher is a longtime Segerstrom official.
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