Thursday, March 27, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
NEXT MONTH WILL be dedicated to making the public aware of child abuse and neglect. Called Public Awareness for Child Abuse/Neglect Prevention Month, it will be a most appropriate time for all of us to participate in preventing the unnecessary pain and death visited upon children. Strange as it may seem, most of the pain and death is delivered by family members and caretakers.
Mary Louise Sloan and several other people involved in this vital project will be bringing this message to our community during the entire month. It's most appropriate that the Governor's Conference on Nevada's Future: Building Communities by Strengthening Families will be held May 6-7 at the Stardust hotel convention center.
Less than two months ago, this column related problems of child abuse that were happening in this area 33 years ago. A 1964 column by the late SUN Publisher Hank Greenspun and a more recent series by writer Merilyn Potters were used as the basis for the column. This, combined with the present rash of local children being killed and abused, drew heated responses from our readers.
SUN reader Albert Pero of Pahrump wrote, "The public should be informed of physical and especially other signs to be aware of in children, that could be the result of child abuse. Neighbors should be more alert of children in their neighborhood. Leaders, anyone in charge of children, should be more alert. Teachers, bus drivers, coaches, priests, police, baby sitters and even relatives. Maybe police have to be more diligent in shutting down porno photographic places, especially child porno places. A major situation which leads to child abuse is a woman with children allowing a boyfriend to move in with her. Some men have their own motives and therefore could care less about the children."
Mary Louise and other people involved with the Nevada Children's Trust Fund intend to influence public attitudes and guide people toward the family resources that are available. She points out that there are several agencies that have received prevention grants, including WE-CAN Inc.; Boys and Girls Club; Advocates to End Domestic Violence; FACT; Safe House; University of Nevada, Reno Cooperative Extension-Southern Nevada; Las Vegas Indian Center and many more throughout Nevada.
Further information about these programs and how we all can contribute to preventing child abuse will be appearing in the SUN.
If this full-court press against child abuse fails, we should follow the suggestion from 94-year-old SUN reader Clarice Corbett, who wrote, "I am so upset over your column today and my only suggestion is to immediately put to death anyone who beats a child."
A retired California youth worker wrote, "You ask for ways to combat this continuous spate of cruelty to children. There is only one way to stop it. Treat each case as a capital crime, with capital punishment. Anyone who deliberately hurts a child should be put to death.
"Our laws have been twisted and warped by people who have no firsthand knowledge of the problem. I am an old man, but there is no way that I would stand by and watch a child being hurt, even though the law says it's not my business. I think that children are everyone's business, and it's time the lawyers and the judges realized that."
There's plenty of support out there for people willing to face this terrible social problem which continues to worsen with time. April will be the month for all of us to make others aware of the problem and guide them to agencies that can help solve it.
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