Underage Drinking Coalition

We had a good turnout last night in Valentine at the Minnechaduza Foundation for our first meeting. North Central District Health Department's prevention coordinator Camille Ohri talked about the importance of (admittedly dry) statistics was followed by Paula Hunke-Davis relating the painful experience of losing her son Brandon in an alcohol-related mishap. This touched everyone deeply and we appreciate Paula's courage to share with strangers this story of a preventable tragedy. Public Health nurse Veta Hungerford, also with NCDHD, provided a coalition-building overview with an outline of possible next steps. There was good discussion throughout and passionate conversation during the last half-hour revolving around:
1.) Yes, there is an underage drinking problem in Cherry County! Attending teens commented that they were aware of many instances of peers in 6th grade drinking, primarily in rural homes rather than city, often initiated with older though still not 21 siblings.
2.) Presence and involvement of Law Enforcement is crucial to the success of any underage drinking reduction effort. In the 9-county (Cherry, Keya Paha, Brown, Rock, Boyd, Holt, Knox, Antelope, Pierce) area where first meetings have been held, LE has attended only in Rock and (one other?). As Project Extra Mile puts it, "LE (of existing law) is prevention".
3.) There was an observation and agreement that "kids don't get in trouble when breaking the law," meaning that LE seems to turn a blind eye in a lot of situations, and even when LE & prosecution follow through, parents pay the fine or otherwise "take care of it". There was also concensus that to get LE to the table, trust must be built and "finger-pointing" or blaming must not occur.
4.) Kids need help with goal setting, which will help build and sustain high self-esteem.

Skype Beta demo

Skype 4.0 Beta - Introductory Demo
Uploaded by SkypeConversations

Webinar Series

Heart City Child Advocacy Center has subscribed to the following presentation based on our online survey. Meetings will be at the Yucca Dune building at 148 1/2 East 1st Street in Valentine.
This 90-minute, interactive training will integrate both a conference call via audio Polycom and web-based presentation of slides on our 108" screen. All handouts will be available about one week before the presentations if you call us at 402-376-8027. All webinars take place at 1:00 pm Central. Refreshments will be provided. See you here!


Prenatal Methamphetamine Exposure & Child Outcome: What Do We Know? , Thursday, April 24 2008 Barry M. Lester, Ph.D. Professor, Psychiatry & Human Behavior and Pediatrics Director, Brown Center for the Study of Children Providence, RI
Systematic research on the developmental outcome of children with prenatal methamphetamine exposure is just beginning. Findings from most available studies are difficult to interpret because of methodological problems. This presentation will review the current literature and then present findings from the Infant Development Environment And Lifestyle (IDEAL) study. IDEAL is a multisite longitudinal study of approximately 400 methamphetamine exposed and methamphetamine unexposed children. Findings from birth to age three will be discussed.

Apathy continued

"The tyranny of a principal in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy." --Montesquieu, 1748

Investment

How do we engage those members of the community who claim to be invested, claim to be our partner, but when it comes down to it, take the easy way out and do little or nothing? We can try to bribe others with our meager training $$ to join us at the table. And if there is a stick available, we can threaten its use. The reality is that the money is thin and the stick is laughable: "You're going to hit me with that?" We can talk about moral or legal duty all day long and come night fall the question will still be, "what if I don't?"