News Scrapbook 1989

San Diego, CA !San Diego Co.I Evening Tribune /Clr, D. 123,064)

Scene Ann Lander 2 / Erma Bambeck 2 / Com'ics 4 / Crossword 4 / Entertainment 6 / Movies 6 / Scrabble 9 / TV 8

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TRIBL.:

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John Sinor'• column returns tomorrow

OF THE

Rachael, below, is one ofa bunch of fourth-graders who have some strong idea::, for Mayor O'Connor's ...

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By Jane Clifford Tribune SUI/ Writer W ELL, IT'S MAY nounced in her January State of the City address that children would be her pnonty in 1989. She et aside sewag , g wth, traffic and all the other big-<:ity headaches to focus on things that would make San Diego a better place for children. Wonder what they would tell the mayor ... The poll was small and very 1Dfor- mal - the thoughts of 30 fourth- graders at Walker Elementary in Mira Mesa. Walker is a large elementary school in the San Diego Unified School District. About 1.000 children fill its classrooms. About half are white, the rest a mix of ethnic groups. It's a school the district se- lected as representative of the aver- age student population in San Diego. And a place to poll average kids about their city Fourth-grade teacher Sandra Hams, whose commitment to chil- dren has translated into 23 years in the classroom, welcomed the idea and explained the concept to her stu- dents: Maureen O'Connor is the mayor of their city. Her priority this year is children's needs. Harris' students were a little fidgety. It was their last day before a long break. Inside, the classroom was warm. Outside, a Santa Ana baked the mesa. They nodded in understanding as they were told of the mayor's plans: • A NASA-like space camp where children could learn about space and science in general and aerospace ca- reers in particular O'Connor pro- posed funding the facility through a "public/private partnership" such as is being used to pay for the Soviet Arts Festival in the "Year of the Child." Mayor O'Connor an-

Tribune photos by Barry F,t~immons Other fourth-graders with opinions: Hong-Huong, left, who "would just start helping kids," and Alby

• A children's worksbop-museum- academy in Balboa Park, modeled after the Children's Museum of San Diego. • A "Children's Czar," who would act as the San Diego's first child-care coordinator and also head the city's activities for young people, promot- ing on-site child care facilities for city employees, off-site reading and recreation programs for latchkey kids and jobs for teen-agers. • Establishment of Kids' Club San ne Diego sites through the police and nu recreation departments and the Ji- in brary. The goal would be to provide cri Ft ill es

• A "landmark children's play cen- ter in a suitable park environment." Sandra Harris' fourth-graders agreed these sounded like good ideas.

teens who could

employment for teach younger children

to read,

draw, write, dance, etc.; and which, once a month, would afford free ad- mission for local children to facili-

Farah is glad the mayor wants to ties on city-owned.property such as do something about day care. So IS the zoo, Sea World, museums and the Michael: "My Mom complains about s·;,;,;~~.:,___ __:_______ how hard it is to find it."

Ramses, too, wishes the mayor luck on this issue. He said the prob- lem in his family is how far his mom has to drive for care she feels is ade- quate for her children. But these 19 boys and 11 girls are unammous wtth a sole concern: Please see MAYOR: D-3, Col. 3

San Diego, CA (s an Diego Co.I Daily Transcript (Cir. D. 10,000) 9 - 89

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D-; Children's Voice To Be ~everaged c< '5'5 USD'sPu liclnterestLaw SanDiegoDai1yTran.,.rip1s1a11w,;i,,, To Focus On Care, Abuse By JOE NABBEFELD The 9-year-old University of San Diego Center for Public Interest

dren--------7

~Diego, Monday, May 1, 1989

TIIE~TRIBUNE

AYOR: What San Diego children want her to know Conti 11 ed From 1>1 perienced crime up close. Tricia.

lppointed Fellmeth to the post. Bar Discipline The program has resulted in tak- ng discipline out of an undefined power core in the Bar that worked with volunteer referees handling discipline cases and putting it in the hands of a professional State Bar Court staffed with full-time Judges. The unpaid Bar monitor post lasts until 1991, said Fellmeth. Fellmeth said his only income comes from his roughly $70,000 USD professor salary, not from the center's projects, which take up about 75 percent of his time, though ch of it overlaps with his consumer law teaching. In an interview yesterday, Fellmeth, father of two, said his goal when he formed the center was to become an advocate for children, but the opportunity hadn't arrisen until now. The center has formed what it calls the California Children's Ad- vocacy Institute to carry out the grant project. The institute has of- fices in San Francisco, Sacramento, including a full-time lobbyist, and at the USD center. Children's Center Goals: It will first aim at: • "The lack of adequate child care spaces, due in part to the unavailability of affordable liabili- ty insurance for f~mily day care fa- cilities and child care centers." • "Child abuse detection, using San Diego as a case study."

Fellmeth said the center will at- tempt to amplify the recent critical findings by the County Grand Jury. • "The overall fragmentation and lack of coordination in the state's delivery of children's ser- vices." This will include producing a newsletter to the agencies in- volved that are scattered through- out the state. Peterson Heads Board Local land use attorney Paul Peterson chairs the new California Children's Advocacy Institute's board of directors, which also in- cludes: • Dr. Birt Harvey, president- elect of the American Academy of Pediatrics; • Dr. Quynh Kieu, professor of pediatrics at UC Irvine and presi- dent of the Indochinese ancil,A.mer- ican Women's Association; • Los Angeles deputy district attorney Thomas A. Papageorge; • Los Angeles attorney and former State Bar President Sam Williams; • Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Leon Kaplan, who works in that court's juvenile division; • National City Junior High Principal Gloria Perez Samson. The center's three staff people are lawyer Kate Turnbull, Mark McWilliams, who headed Hastings College of Law's environmental law section, and Steve Barrow, lobbyist for Common Cause for five years. The program will also use the participation of students. d [ 2

tion, the environment and nuclear

weapons.

A few of the kids, though, nodded in agreement with Scott, who's leery about the idea of Kids' Clubs being set up in rec centers. "Gangs hang out at the rec centers," he said. And these youngsters have other issues they want their mayor to ad- dress. Concerns that illustrate child- hood isn't what_it used to be, no mat- Rick wants "more police and pa- trol cars in his neighborhood." So do Eduardo, and Josh, who told of rob- ter ~here you live.

there's a

"In my neighborhood

en Roy,

"Stop drugs," said Liem,

And some of the kids, when asked what they would do if they were mayor of San Diego, shared dreams

gang," said Jill. ''They robbed my 'Tm scared to go to the park be- cause of the gangs," added Ryan. And most of these youngsters voiced doubts they would be able to get to Balboa Park on school days to take ad~antage of a space camp or a academy. T_hey are_ Iµte children ID most American families: They have parents who work. Most said there's no one to take dad's truck." ch!ldren

ark

then

"No more drugs," the rest answer- ~.one fter another, to the question, What do you want the mayor to do

that speak volumes.

"I would just start helping kids,"

for children?" Drugs ran ond problem

close race with a sec-

I

said Hong-Huong.

Matt would build a park "just for Law, a self-described Nader's kids and kids' parents." Under his ad- Raiders takeout, has received a ministration, no one else would get $409,000 two-year grant to lobby

Many firushed their sentences_ th~

by and Eric did·

way Jacquel1De, ... and stop the gangs"

for improving child abuse preven- tion and state dehvery of child care

in.

O'Connor, a former teacher, is on the record about both those prob-

Maryam would "help people not to services. take drugs," and Gerald would make

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"One group who can't represent

IS ome.

nes near

any

ays.

em nyw ere on wee

er speec

:~,people "S topped selling drugs to themselves is children. There are

Jason and Taneshia put it simply:

that she wants the city to provide weren't even sure how often they'd activities that offer "someplace fer get to downtown San Diego on week-

800 lobbyists in Sacramento repre-

"Stop crime."

And Huong jVOQld do her best to sent i n g h O rs e

traders t

the childr n to go an something pos- itive for them to do" as alternatives But scrunched-up noses and puz- zled looks were the respome to, "Do you think the mayor's plans will help to drugs and gangs

"No more child abuse," said Obedt. Shari, Rachael, Paul and Anja have more global concerns - pollu-

ends.

0 s~Q(I more time with podiatrists. One or two are for __ children," said Robert Fellmeth ,-(

"let paren their kids."

More than hall the class - 17 kids indicated transportation as a problem for activities located in Bal- boa Park: Fully one-third of the stu- dents 1Dd1cated they would prefer to live someplace other than San Diego. ID age All 30 hands went up to show support -

r :::::::::::::;::::::::::._____ -=======:::::;:;::::=;===~-----

head of the Center for Public In- terest Law, at a pres., conference

ye erda

't ,e going to do what we can

you?"

ranging

children

Thes

in

leverage children's voice

to

from 9 to 11, hv; a long way from 3oth and Impenal. But these nice m y. kid from average farnili ID a md- suburb have the same fears. They talked about avoiding parks in their own neighborhoods because th y have been offered drugs or plan. fngbtened by people hanging around. v ral also talked about having ex- t dle-cla

fo_r more to do in their own commu- Maixue just wants "a place to play at the park ... but I need the police." "Make the kids' clubs," urged upport of the mayor's Tommy, ID "Get mor~ places for child!(n ~o go, to do th1Dgs after school, said

Sacra ento and elsewhere." The $409,000 comes from Weingart Foundation in Lob An- geles, set up by the late busi- nessman Ben Weingart. The Weingart Foundation previ- ously granted the Center for Public Interest Law $150,000 over three years to study the disciplining of doctors in the state. The first report from that program, issued last month, said there is almost no ef- fective disciplining of doctors by the state's Board of Medical Quali- ty Assurance. The Weingart Foundation has also funded studies by the conser- vative Pacific Legal Foundation. Fellmeth, a Harvard Law School graduate who worked for renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader between 1968 and 1973 and then as an assistant district attorney here prosecuting antitrust cases, formed the Center for Public Interest Law nine years ago when he became a USD consumer law professor. UCAN Formation During those nine years the center has taken on a number of large and small projects. Fellmeth said it brought about the formation of the Utilities Consumer Action Network, or UCAN, the consumer watchdog of San Diego Gas & Elec- tric. UCAN director Michael Shames was one of Fellmeth's stu- Please tum to Page A the

San Diego, CA !San Diego Co.I Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 123,064) MAY 2 - 1989 Jl/~ ,. C. I Est

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Tore·ros sign Arizona high school guard Tri~ St.1/1 Report d,-cr 7 s- floor He leaves Chaparral as both Th.£ U D basketball team yes er- the single-season and career field- day a~e signing of Neal goal percentage leader anc! also J , a 6-foot-3 guard at Chaparral holds the school record for single- High ID Scottsdale, Ariz., to a nation- gam_e (43 points) and career (1,870) al letter of mt nt Meyer, a second- scoring. . t m ~11- late selection, averaged Meyer is the second player signed 26.5 pom and 8.2 rebounds a game by USO during the spring signing pe,- along with 4.6 assists and 3 4 steals rlod Pat Holbert, a 6-3 guard from this P t e on Mesa (Anz.) CC, signed a scholarship Mey r could be a three-pomt agreement last week. The Toreros threat for the Toreros after shootin signed forward Shawn Hamilton a .3 percent from three-porn! range teammate of Holbert s at Mesa d~r- and 68.2 percent overall from the ing last fall's early signing peri~.

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