“She is on the computer, watching crazy TV shows, the house phone rings, then the cell phone goes off, and on top of that she may have her headphones on,” a parent commented about teen life today in a special video presented at a town hall meeting on underage drinking here Wednesday.
The video is part of the H.O.P.E Coalition response to a call from a federal government agency to launch campaigns on underage drinking during April, which is Alcohol Awareness Month. With prom and graduation
season here, local organizations and community members came together to address the issue.
H.O.P.E. Coalition spokesperson Tonya Domokos had the group watch a video produced by students known as SPU's, or Special Prevention Units, groups of students from local high schools that work to help their peers make smart choices when it comes to using drugs or alcohol.
The crown watched a video entitled, “Stop, Think, Choose”, which was created by SPU's, in which they they performed their own music and dancing.
Recent Hempstead County statistics from a 2008 risk assessment study taken by students in the sixth, eighth, 10th, and 12th grades, showed 20.8 percent of sixth graders admitting to some alcohol use, and 5.2 percent admitting, by unanimous testing, they participate in binge drinking.
Teresa Pribilski, a drug court counselor, presented the shocking statistics to the group.
“ The people with the problem know we are not looking, and they are just going to keep on,” Pribilski said.
“Where you see sixth graders drinking, if we are not addressing the problem, then they are still going to be drinking in the seventh grade,” Domokos said.
Hope Police Chief J.R. Wilson, part of a guest panel on juvenile activity, answered questions.
“ Our role in juvenile matters is one where the state acts as a parent. It is different than how we approach adults, which takes more of an adversarial approach. In the state of Arkansas a child under 10 cannot be charged with a crime. If they commit criminal conduct between the ages of 10 and 17, it is considered juvenile delinquency. It may then fall under a family in need, or what I call a child in need of services,” Wilson said.
Wilson also said the HPD gets involved in issues of neglect that occur within the city of Hope. He said in some cases a child can be tried as an adult.
“ Personally there are a lot of things to think about when it comes to juvenile matters. For us, juvenile law gets complicated. It challenges police practice,” Wilson explained.
He said the HPD must adhere to court decisions adhered to by judges in juvenile cases.
“ We also work with various groups and entities that work with juveniles. HPD remains committed to good programs and support of juveniles in the city. We have to learn to be patient. We have to learn to work with them. We do not want to become their adversary and push them to more difficulty later in life. We want to help parents help their children become the man or woman we want them to be,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the Hope Police Department does not have a detective solely for juvenile crime as many larger departments do, and sometimes the department lacks special needs resources. He said the HPD spends many hours in all types of training and the sole mission of the department in to protect everyone's constitutional rights.
“Consequently, sometimes we get pulled in so many different directions, where we tend to suffer, is trying to over-do things, we don't do anything very well. In trying to address problems and make good decisions, we know juveniles face environmental and physiological factors in their lives. Each child is different,” he added.
He compared juvenile court situations to his own home with his own sons.
“I can't teach one son the same way as another. I think the role of the court, trying to address that complicates things for the legislature and the courts. We typically take a one size fits all approach and it doesn't work out that way. With young people, their brains change and their body chemistry is changing,” he said.
Another short video presentation shown by the H.O.P.E. Coalition was entitled “Parent Chronicles.” In the video, local parents and their children were interviewed at separate times.
“ As a parent, we think we know what our kids are doing. The Parent Chronicles shows the difference in what kids say they are doing, to what the parents think they are doing, to what they are actually doing. It is totally different, what the parents think they actually know about their kids,” Domokos said.
Four sets of parents with children were interviewed on the video.
In all four cases, the parents and the children said the opposite thing at least once. It also addressed the issue of the technology gap between parents and students, or children.
“ My mom does not know about the whole computer thing,” a student commented.”
“My mom wouldn't even know how to get to my Facebook” one student said.
“ I really do not know what he is doing on My Space,” a parent said.
“ I do not believe parents today have any idea what it is like to be a teenager today. We should know more about what they think, where they are and what they are doing,” another parent commented.
Another student commented, “There are things on my cell phone I really do not want my mom to see.”
“ The culture is really different than it was 30 or 20 years ago,” a teen said.
“ I think the internet has taken up so much of who they are,” a parent said.
Keynote speaker Robert H. Holt, of Little Rock, encouraged all those attending to get involved in youth programs. Holt is the Executive Director of L.O.V.E., (Let Our Violence End), a program that works to stop teen violence and to promote good decision making through the SPU groups.
“ They all need volunteers,” he said.
