Youth Violence

Last year's rampage at Columbine High School, the nation's worst schoolhouse shooting spree, left America numb and hoping such senseless killings would end. They haven't. Recently, a 6-year-old Michigan boy took a handgun to school and killed a classmate; a 7-year-old Alabama boy fatally shot a 5-year-old neighbor with an air gun loaded with pellets or BB shot; a man shot and killed three victims near Pittsburgh in an apparent hate crime; a Memphis gunman reportedly killed four people at a fire scene; and recently in Baltimore County, a mentally disturbed man allegedly shot and killed four people.

Like so many Baltimore teen-agers, Atlantis Alston knows a peer who has been killed. Her friend, Tiesha Kelly, knows kids who belong to gangs or sell drugs. Now they want to know what adults plan to do about it. Their search for solutions to the violent climate troubling Baltimore led them to an "Urban Adolescent Violence" workshop yesterday at the Sheppard Pratt Conference Center. It was run by David Miller, a former Calverton Middle School teacher who tries to steer kids away from trouble.

As state officials announced yesterday that the eighth guard at one of its boot camps for juveniles had been fired, the legislature scheduled hearings to investigate a pattern of violence against teen-agers in custody and the lack of supervision once they're released. The fired guard had worked at Meadow Mountain Leadership Challenge, one of three Garrett County facilities that had been operated as boot camps for some of the state's juvenile delinquents. Gov. Parris N. Glendening suspended the camps last month after reports appeared in The Sun about guards routinely assaulting delinquents.

The newly elected leader of one of Baltimore's largest church groups says members plan to expand beyond their historical borders and focus on the city's youth in an attempt to curb 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."

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."

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."

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.

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.