Abuse

Orioles baseball veteran Pat Kelly and representatives from local law enforcement agencies will make presentations to the Westminster Elementary "Just Say No" club Friday.This is the school's first club program for fifth-graders this year.In other drug-prevention news, East Middle will play host to a Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Seminar for the community, parents and teachers at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15.

The United Way provides a variety of substance-abuse prevention and treatment services in Anne Arundel County. These services range from individual counseling and substance abuse-related delinquency prevention services to comprehensive, family-focused services targeted toward suicide prevention.Among the programs the United Way supports is the Annapolis Bywater Boys and Girls Club. This group provides delinquency, school drop-out, and drug-abuse prevention services to 350 area youths.Information: 547-8000, Ext. 362.CLUB DONATES PROCEEDSThe Paint and Powder Club Inc. has designated the child abuse Prevention Center of Maryland to receive the proceeds from its annual variety show,"Frankly Speaking," which takes place at 8 p.m. May 31 and June 1 atthe Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College.

A Pikesville woman wanted in an incident last month that left a 2-year-old boy with burns from a scalding liquid and a fractured skull surrendered to authorities yesterday, Baltimore County police said. Montia Gennetta Hughes, 21, of the 800 block of Judy Lane, has been charged with first-degree child abuse and first-degree assault, police said. The child, a friend's son, was abused Dec. 13 while Hughes was watching him at a Ramada Inn in Towson while the mother worked, police said. The child was severely burned on about a third of his body

When Northeast High School teacher Ronald W. Price confessed to having sex with students, he opened a Pandora's Box of miseries.For the past two years, the Anne Arundel County school system has been absorbed in rooting out child abusers, disciplining administrators who ignored reports of abuse, and rewriting policies on abuse investigations. The results have been mixed. A child abuser, Price, is behind bars and the school system now has clearer guidelines on how to deal with child abuse allegations.

BEFORE ROME can put its stamp of approval on the U.S. Catholic Church's strict policy on clergy abuse, the powers that be want to discuss it. What more is there to discuss? Priests who prey on children for sexual gratification don't belong in a collar. Due to the often-serial nature of this crime, a sex offender's presence in parishes poses a threat to children. Period. But the Vatican, in a letter issued last week to American church leaders, said the "zero tolerance" policy adopted by the bishops in Dallas last June conflicted with church law, apparently as it relates to a priest's due process rights.

Much television attention is being paid in this back-to-school week to the challenges of the classroom, but Baltimore County's Comcast Cablevision tonight tackles an extra-curricular subject of concern to teens and their parents.A special one-hour edition of "Steering Clear" (at 8 o'clock on Comcast channel 2) starkly outlines the societal consequences of alcohol abuse."In reality, the drug alcohol is the number one cause of most of our crime and violence," asserts host Mike Gimbel, director of the county's Office of Substance Abuse.

The Child Abuse Prevention Center of Maryland -- a private, nonprofit organization that helps families build safe, nonviolent home environments -- will open an office in Bel Air to serve Harford County residents later this month.The Baltimore-based organization trains volunteer "lay therapists" to regularly visit families in their homes and offer moral support and alternative disciplines to parents struggling with the day-to-day stress of raising children.The Bel Air office will open at 7 W. Courtland St. as soon as a local coordinator is named, said Stephanie Davis, CAPC executive director.

It is probably naive to think that a Howard County judge's decision last week to grant a suspended sentence to a Columbia woman who murdered her abusive boyfriend signals broad acceptance of battered-spouse syndrome as a reasonable defense. More likely, the ruling simply indicates society's ongoing uncertainty over the issue.While Maryland courts, like those in 10 other states, permit defense attorneys to introduce evidence of the aforementioned syndrome, most women who have offered it as a defense have been convicted.

GATHERED in a Northeast Baltimore parish hall recently to talk about the clergy sex abuse scandal, 165 parishioners of St. Matthew's Catholic Church couldn't wait to get started. They had plenty to say: Deal with allegations promptly. No more cover-ups. Address the problem from the top down. Educate parishioners on the demands of the priesthood. Hold leaders accountable to the laity. Tell us how this happened. Those concerns reflect many of the critical issues that make up a proposed national church policy to deal with the sexual abuse of children by clergy.

The results of an investigation into how the Anne Arundel County school system responded to complaints of child abuse won't be turned over to Maryland's school superintendent until 15 days after its Nov. 30 due date.The report by special investigators Alan I. Baron and Eleanor M. Carey was supposed to be given to Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick today, but the investigator hired by the school system requested an extension of the deadline. The extension was granted by Dr. Grasmick yesterday.