Youth Violence

A town meeting to discuss youth violence drew a small crowd in Columbia last night, but U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin had a message for those who stayed away."

Wearing a double-breasted suit and a large, white hard hat, the Rev. Robert Turner, pastor of St. John Baptist Church in Columbia, was ready to get down to business.Standing before a panel of Howard County school, police and family service officials last night, Turner launched into a stirring speech.His words were aimed at the panel and an audience of concerned parents, their children and members of the Columbia community who met to discuss how to prevent an incident such as the one at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

WASHINGTON -- Gun rights advocates moved toward a victory in the House last night in their drive to prevent Congress from adopting new restrictions on gun ownership as its primary response to the recent rash of school shootings.In votes late night, a bipartisan majority was expected to weaken controls on firearms sales at gun shows that were approved by the Senate in the wake of the student massacre in Littleton, Colo.The showdown came after the House voted 287 to 139 to approve broader legislation addressing aspects of American culture that contribute to youth violence.

Mama Kay is trying to keep her actors focused. No easy task because most of them aren't actors. They're East Baltimore teen-agers who signed up for summer jobs and ended up on stage."

WASHINGTON -- Gun rights advocates moved last night toward a victory in the House in their drive to prevent Congress from adopting new restrictions on gun ownership as its primary response to the recent rash of school shootings.In votes timed by Republican leaders to come after the evening newscasts, a bipartisan majority backed by the National Rifle Association was expected to weaken controls on firearms sales at gun shows that were approved by the Senate in the wake of the student massacre in Littleton, Colo.

PRESIDENT Clinton's summit on youth violence was held last week with much attention paid to the possible causes of the recent school tragedies -- guns and media violence making it to the top of the list.Though these are important issues that intensify the risk for violence, I am troubled by a startling omission from the list of potential causes: the under-diagnosis and under-treatment of mental illness in children and adolescents.This under-reported factor was brought to light in a report by Dr. Jeffrey Fagan, director of the Center for Violence Prevention Research at Columbia University, in a recent New York Times article.

WASHINGTON -- Hoping to jump-start a grass-roots campaign against youth violence, President Clinton announced the formation yesterday of a nonprofit organization to safeguard children, and he unveiled a guest list for Monday's White House youth summit that is top-heavy with powerful Washington lobbyists.Since the school massacre April 20 in Littleton, Colo., White House aides have sought to focus on youth violence through a steady stream of events and proposals, hoping that the tragedy will mark a turning point for a nation beset by school violence.

Two drug organizations in East Baltimore began to collapse yesterday as 22 people were charged with drug and weapons-related offenses in a new effort to curtail violence in the city, authorities said."

PRESIDENT Clinton's recent summit on youth violence focused on how movies and television glorify violence and on how easily guns can be purchased.While these are logical contributors to youth violence, little attention was paid to the daily violence itself that is overlooked in the nation's schools.Our schools regularly allow many children to be harassed, intimidated and even beaten by their peers without intervening. Too often, parents of bullies, educators and others look the other way.The series of school shootings -- including one yesterday in suburban Atlanta that injured six people -- should spur schools to be committed to a "zero-tolerance" policy on aggression.

WASHINGTON -- Hoping to spark "a grass-roots movement to turn away from violence," President Clinton announced yesterday that he will summon religious leaders, entertainment and Internet industry executives, explosives manufacturers and weapons makers to the White House for a youth-violence summit on May 10.In the wake of the Littleton shootings, the president once again pleaded for parents to connect with the children, children to connect with their peers,...

A terrifying cell-phone video of a Chicago high school honors student being beaten to death by a brawling mob threw a national spotlight on the issue of youth violence and the toll it takes on victims. Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited the city to open what they called a national conversation about the homicide epidemic that kills dozens of Chicago students every year. As officials there scramble to adopt new strategies to keep kids safe, they might look to Baltimore, where efforts to quell juvenile violence are focusing on identifying the youngsters most at risk before they are killed or commit a crime.

Rawlings-Blake: I apologize We must hold all of our public officials to the highest possible standard. This is a belief that I hold close to my heart. I work hard to earn the trust and respect of all I serve. Regrettably, sometimes I fall short. On a local radio show, I suggested that Brian D. Morris was being treated unfairly because he was black. Upon reflection, I deeply regret my remarks. Rather than attempting to explain my remarks, I would like to express my remorse. Throughout my public and private life, I have always strived to bridge the divide in our great city.

At age 14, police say, Radames Reyes ordered a pizza with the intention of robbing the deliveryman - and shot him when he failed to comply with the teenager's demands. Reyes, now 15, was identified after police obtained the phone number that placed the order and used cell towers to triangulate its location, a technology that is being increasingly used to track suspects. Witnesses later told police that Reyes told them he had committed the killing Nov. 23 of Adam Diarra, 22, who was shot in the Wakefield community, according to charging documents.

Six public schools that received city funding for after-school programs last year will not get that money this year, leaving principals scrambling for activities to occupy youngsters and some City Council members crying foul. The shortfall will affect about 450 children ages 5 through 15, according to Baltimore's Safe and Sound Campaign. The reductions are in part because of cuts this year from the city and the school system and because of a new emphasis from the mayor's office on allocating funds to high school students and three neighborhoods with high youth violence rates.

As police sift through the facts of last weekend's deadly brawl on a football field at a Howard County high school, one contributing factor has emerged: underage drinking. Some of the participants in the fight, in which an 18-year-old was killed by a blow to the head with an aluminum baseball bat, appeared to be intoxicated. A party at a house near the football field was raided that night, and police issued 15 citations for underage drinking. Experts say alcohol and youth violence often intersect, sometimes with tragic results.

See Jane Hit: Why Girls Are Growing More Violent and What Can Be Done About It James Garbarino Penguin / 304 pages / $25.95 In Girl World, the primeval land of catty, jealous adolescent females that was described in such colorful and alarming detail by Rosalind Wiseman in Queen Bees and Wannabes and Rachel Simmons in Odd Girl Out, baby boomer parents found their worst nightmares about their daughters confirmed. The sugar-and-spice darlings might still look pretty in pink, but they could be just as power-hungry and aggressive as their combative, in-your-face brothers.

Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, Baltimore's high-profile and innovative health commissioner for more than a decade, will tell his staff today that he is resigning his post at the end of next week to run for Maryland's 3rd District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Beilenson - known for bringing to the city an array of initiatives ranging from needle exchange to interventions to combat youth violence - said last night that he will officially announce June 22 that he is running for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin.

Almost 200 people from public and private agencies attended the Carroll County Response to Family Violence Conference, a daylong program of speakers and workshops on child abuse and youth violence at Carroll Community College. The program Friday was organized by the county's Local Management Board and the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council for public and private organizations, with a $37,000 state grant from the Office of Crime Control and Prevention. Clifton Files, a lawyer and social worker with Family and Children's Services of Baltimore County, closed the session by recounting the effect on his family after his father murdered his mother when Files was a 7-year-old boy in a small Indiana town.

Commissioners OK bonds to help company expand The Carroll County commissioners authorized yesterday $10 million in industrial revenue bonds to help Shelter Systems Limited acquire land and expand its company. The bonds will help Shelter Systems, a manufacturer of floor and roof trusses, buy 25 acres at Meadow Branch Industrial Park in Westminster. The company plans to construct a 130,000-square-foot building on the property. Federal revenue bonds provide the funding, and the county serves as a conduit for the funds.

Merger of GBA, GBC can better business climate Donald P. Hutchinson will be stepping down as president of the Greater Baltimore Committee in order to lead the Maryland division of SunTrust Bank. We all owe Mr. Hutchinson our thanks for his service to our community and our best wishes for success in his new challenge ("Hutchinson's leaving fuels talk of merging GBC, 2 other groups," Oct. 8). But the corporate and economic development world of Baltimore has changed tremendously since the founding of the GBC and since the start of Mr. Hutchinson's tenure.