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.