Pete Colbenson: Counting Kids on the Streets

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In the season of warm fuzzy sweaters and family get-togethers, many young people in Georgia have but one New Year’s resolution – a safe place to sleep at night.  An unknown number of teenagers and young adults are alone and homeless in Georgia. Who they are and where they are – no one knows much about them. For the first time Georgia is undertaking an ambitious project to count a representative sample of these homeless youth statewide, and develop a uniform reporting system. Funded by the Governor’s Office for Families and Children, the project takes place during the last week of January. The Homeless Youth Count Project is part of a bi-annual census of homeless people of all ages, mandated by HUD.  As part of this initiative The State Department of Community Affairs is sending out a questionnaire to service providers in 152 counties, which for the first time, will ask for specific information about homeless young people, 24 and younger.

Alcohol Fuels Teen Brawl at Athens Nightclub

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Hundreds of teenagers were caught up in a drunken brawl that spilled outside a nightclub in Athens, Ga. More than a dozen police officers broke up the fights and shut down the party at El Paisano on North Street Wednesday night.  The Athens Banner-Herald reports that many of the teens were bloodied from fighting, including a 13-year old girl. They found cups of alcohol and a 16-year old boy holding a bottle of vodka. Three teens were arrested, including a 17-year old boy with a bloody nose, who was carrying a bag of fake crack cocaine. An off-duty Clark County sheriff’s deputy who was hired to provide security was apparently not in the club when police arrived.

Boy Busted for Using a Marking Pen in Class

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A 13-year old boy was hauled off to jail last week for using a permanent marker in his Oklahoma City middle school.  A seventh grade math teacher claims the boy tried to hide the marker when she asked him for it. Teacher DeLynn Woodside called police and signed a complaint, saying the child was “writing on a piece of paper, which caused it to bleed over onto the desk.” TheSmokingGun.com broke this story with a link to the arrest records. The teen is accused of violating Municipal Code Section 35-202, originally aimed at stopping graffiti on private property:
No person may possess an aerosol spray paint container or broad-tipped indelible marker on any private property unless the owner, agent, manager, or other person having control of the property consented to the presence of the aerosol spray paint container or broad-tipped indelible marker. The internet is buzzing about the story, which many consider outrageous. One website points out that the law should not apply in this case, because the incident took place in a public school.

Kids Join Gangs for Protection, Respect & Friends, Report Says

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There's some new nationwide research on why kids are involved in gangs and how to stop them from joining up. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention released its December 2010 report called Gang Prevention: An Overview of Research and Programs.

The report highlights why kids join gangs and how communities can best combat gang activity. The OJJDP found that not all strategies work. But, here are a few that do:

Parent and family involvement
Training teachers and parents to manage unruly young people
Providing education that teaches kids interpersonal skills

For some insight on how to rescue a teenager from a gang, check out the column from Sedgrid Lewis in Ideas and Opinions at JJIE.org.

Teen Unemployment At An All Time High

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Teen unemployment has never been worse. This year with only 1 in 6 high school kids have been able to find and hold a job. Black and Asian teens have had the hardest time getting jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is bad news for teens who may decide not to go to college or who need to support themselves while getting a higher education. Youth Today writes about the problem, urging state and national workforce development agencies to pay special attention to the teen unemployment problem.

Clayton Faith Forum to Keep Kids Out of Trouble

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Churches and faith-based groups will get together to January to map out anti-gang and youth violence strategies. Several Clayton County public service agencies, leaders of churches and faith based groups are collaborating on January 22 to hold the 2011 Clayton County Community Faith Forum. The forum will teach churches and parents how to keep kids out of trouble. Here are details:

Date: January 22, 2011

Time: 10am – 1pm

Location: Morrow Center

1180 Southlake Circle, Suite 100

Morrow, Georgia 30260

To check out the flyer, click here.

Southern Poverty Law Center Sues Birmingham Schools for Using Mace on Children

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Teens in Birmingham, Ala. schools have been routinely sprayed with mace and pepper spray as punishment for minor offenses. The Southern Poverty Law Center has now filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Birmingham City School District on behalf of students who've had chemicals used on them. “We must ask ourselves, what kind of school system allows armed officers to come in and use mace on its children,” said Ebony Glenn Howard, lead attorney on the case for the Center. Hundreds of students were arrested in the Birmingham City Schools last year for minor offenses that could have been taken care of in the principal’s office, according to the Center.

Teen Murder Suicide Leaves Macon Community Baffled

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Families are struggling to figure out what happened to cause 19-year-old Vonn Gibbons to kill his 7-year-old son and then turn the gun on himself Saturday night. The murder suicide occurred at Gibbons home in Macon, Ga at 12:22 a.m., according to police. Authorities determined that Gibbons shot his son in the head and shot himself in the chest, but have not yet determined why Gibbons committed the acts. Gibbons’ neighbor Darnell Cummings saw a cream colored car that may have been leaving the Gibbon’s home between 12:20 and 12:30 a.m Sunday morning, the Macon Telegraph reports. Cummings noticed the car because she witnessed two young men beating Gibbons in his front yard a few weeks earlier.

Bullying Horror Stories: Civil Rights Workers Get Personal

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A new anti bullying video is out from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. It focuses on fighting the harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender kids and those who don’t conform to gender stereotypes about male or female behavior or appearance. The video features several Division employees sharing their childhood struggles with being bullied and harassed. In this short video, the staff was surprisingly candid about not only being attacked by other kids, but by parents and teachers as well. Staffers go on to encourage young people who are bullied and harassed, by letting them know their futures are still bright.

Author of Pedophilia Guide Arrested by Outraged Sheriff 1,800 Miles Away

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When “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure” showed up for sale on Amazon.com in November, there was a flood of disgust and anger across the country. Facing threats of a boycott, the online retail giant dropped it. But the Sheriff of Polk County Florida did not. Sheriff Grady Judd used Florida’s obscenity law to get a warrant for author Phillip Greaves and charge him with a felony, even though Greaves lives 1,800 miles away in Pueblo, Colorado. Judd says Florida has an unusually detailed law that prohibits selling, giving or transmitting child pornography.