American Gang Crisis Alert: School Recruitment and Response

On January 30, 2007 the North Jersey Regional Crime Prevention Officers Association through the leadership of its President Lt. Patrick Fay of the Hackensack Police Department, in partnership with the Bergen County Sheriffs Department, Jersey City Police Department and Fairleigh Dickinson University, presented Preventing Gang Recruitment in Schools to 175 attendees.

The event, originally to be hosted by Bergen County Sheriff Leo P. McGuire at the Bergen County Jail Amphitheater, was moved to Fairleigh Dickinson University's Petrocelli College Edward Williams Hall due to the overwhelming response. This was clearly indicative of the community concern on the gang crisis as representatives from the schools, community, government and law enforcement mobilized to address the issue.

Police Officer Franklin Maisonet and Detective Ben Wilson of the Jersey City Police Department gang awareness unit gave a compelling presentation on gangs which they stated were inseparable from guns, drugs and violence. In their extraordinary remarks, they stressed the following:

• Gangs will viciously murder without warning and MS-13 is the most vicious of gangs and will kill anyone for money. Recently, MS-13 murdered an entire family in California, decapitated the victims and posted their heads on four telephone poles of an intersection to instill fear into their rivals. A favorite intimidation tactic of MS-13 is murder with mutilation and amputation as elements of their modus operandi (method of operation).
• The gang mentality is cultivated at a very young age through reinforced indoctrination. Recently a 2nd grade class with a very organized structure of a gang president, vice president, treasury and sergeant at arms beat up other children for milk money. These children even had rules which had to be memorized and followed.
• The criteria of super gangs such as MS-13, the Crips, Bloods, DDPs (Dominicans Don't Play) are that they have at least 1,000 or more members, exist in numerous states, network aggressively and have extensive drug distribution capabilities.
• Unfortunately, the gang culture is growing from approximately 75,000 members fifteen years ago to over two million members nationwide.
• Gang awareness is critical to prevent school influence and recruitment as well as for personal safety, safety of communities and effective law enforcement response. Educators must have their eyes wide open since recruitment not only takes place in schools but they communicate through school approved posters. A recent "No Child Left Behind" poster showed Latin King hand signals and colors and was circulated and posted through all Jersey City public schools without knowledge of implications from school authorities.
• Gang glorification takes place through music, magazines, clothing styles and MTV which according to Officer Maisonet, can unfortunately stand at times for "Mutilation of Teenage Values." The song "Gang Banging 101" should be reviewed since it expresses a chronology of American gangs.
• When different gangs, previously violently competitive such as the Bloods and the Crips form a kinship, it is highly dangerous for their common enemy is law enforcement.
• Gang members often infiltrate the military where they develop weapons skills. Gangs also infiltrate major American companies where they intimidate, recruit and engage in criminal activity.
• Gang members often change their colors, signals and use alternate names to confuse their rivals such as 2 gun Harry for Mad Stone Blood, Blazin Billy for Sex, Money, Murder and Freaky Tye for Blood Stone Villain.
• Children as young as infants are dressed in gang colors and beads and pose for photos with gang symbols and weapons. The years of continual reinforcement of gang protocol in children leads to hard core gang fanaticism.
• Gangs that previously accepted only other blacks or Hispanics now have an open door policy, a gang version of equal opportunity.
• Colors, beads, hand signals, graffiti, rituals and protocol are essential to the gang culture and the crossing of the line can easily lead to brutality and death to the perpetrator as well as to family members. Gang leaders have their own security details and assassins who would kill on command and through pre-arranged signals.
• There is a unity of gang mood developing under the acronym of UGN (United Gang Nation) which would be a deviant collaboration of numerous gangs against law enforcement.
• Too many individuals in government, corporations and schools are in serious denial of gang problems within their own backyard.
• Gang members love to "snitch" about competitive gangs which gives savvy law enforcement personnel exceptional intelligence. Female gang members will often "snitch" if romantically betrayed.
• DDPs (Dominicans Don't Play) are very dangerous on the east coast and have a large share of the drug market due to their partnership with Colombian Cartels.
• The documentary Bastards of the Party explores the history of the Southern California street gangs from the 1950's through the 1990's. It exposes murder and the barbaric lifestyle of the gangs as well as the staggering casualties of the LA gang wars.
• Young women, many influenced by the gang culture, are the fastest growing U.S. prison population, a growth of 800% over the last twenty years.
• The cost of dealing with a juvenile who has to be incarcerated is expressed in NYC stats. It cost $9,739.00 per year to educate a NYC youth and $130,670.00 per year to incarcerate one.
• Gangs communicate through the internet with sites such as myspace.com and numerous other sites. Many are them are very computer savvy with creation of sites, profiles and the ability to send a virus to a law enforcement personnel.
• Graffiti is the newspaper of the streets which marks territory. Law enforcement must be vigilant and READ, REPORT, RECORD and REMOVE.

Schools provide America with the opportunity to prevent gang recruitment and influences. The American school system provides the greatest venue for gang awareness and resistance for youth and also for parents, educators and the community at large. If educators and law enforcement personnel develop an earned trust of the youth in our schools, they will inspire their confidence to work together to address the gang crisis. One of the major enemies of gang prevention is the denial of "not my child" or "not in my school" and leadership, perseverance and education is the antidote to this toxic attitude.

READ MORE

NJ Attorney General Online Gang Free Community	Click here to visit site
Michigan State University Gang Resources	Click here to visit site
North Jersey Regional Ctime Prevention Officers Association	Click here to visit site

The Power of Freedom: National Constitution Center

The United States Constitution is the foundation for the most fundamental rights of Americans and an inspiring masterpiece of government, literature, law, history, philosophy and theology.

There is a museum, which opened on July 4, 2003, dedicated to the ideas and ideals that formed America, changed the world and continue to influence people everywhere.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The National Constitution Center was created by an act of Congress and is in Philadelphia, sitting alongside Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. The museum allows visitors to observe an award winning performance of Freedom Rising which is a multi media theatrical event in the round featuring live acting, experience over 100 interactive exhibits, simulate the oath of the presidential office, observe the 39 signers of the constitution cast in life size bronze, interact with the signers and the evolution of the constitutional experience and decide a supreme court case.

This museum reminds us of the treasure of America expressed in the United States Constitution which is a living document that upholds and sanctifies freedom, liberty and civil rights.

READ MORE

National Constitution Center

Click here to visit site

Holocaust Remembrance Day: Remember, Reflect, Resolve

On November 1, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution introduced by Israel and set aside January 27 of each year as Holocaust Remembrance Day. This date marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau which was the largest Nazi concentration camp. In adopting the resolution, the assembly urged the nations of the world to observe the day so that future generations will be spared acts of genocide.

The United Nations resolution also rejects denial of the Holocaust in full or in part and condemns without reserve discrimination any violence based on ethnicity or religion. The assembly also requested United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Anan to establish an outreach program on the "Holocaust and the United Nations" as well as measures to mobilize civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education.

In an atrocity unparalleled in evil and scope, six million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. Between 1940 and 1945, about 1.5 million men, women and children died at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz, is the author of 36 works dealing with Judaism, the Holocaust and the moral responsibility of all people to fight hatred, racism and genocide. In his book, Night, one of the most profound and renowned works of Holocaust literature, Wiesel records his lifelong personal anguish with the Holocaust:

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."

READ MORE

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum	Click here to visit site
BBC UK Interactive Map of Auschwitz	Click here to visit site

Spotlight On: Ronald E. Calissi, Esq.

Mr. Calissi is Executive Associate Dean for Off-Campus Credit Programs at Fairleigh Dickinson University, a position he assumed in 2001 after retiring from nearly 30 years of state and county government service. He oversees 55 strategically located off-campus sites from Cape May to Mahwah where graduate, undergraduate and certified public manager programs are conducted. He is the former Director of the Bergen County Department of Public Safety which includes the offices and divisions of Consumer Affairs, Weights and Measures, Medical Examiner, Highway Safety, County Police, Emergency Management, and Public Safety Education/Law & Public Safety Institute - Police, Fire & EMS Academies. For 22 years he was the Director of the Institute (formerly known as the Police & Fire Academy), which is regarded as New Jersey's premier training facility for the emergency services community. Mr Calissi is also Of Counsel to the law firm of DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick, Cole & Wisler, LLP in Teaneck, N.J.

A former Bergen County Sheriff's Officer, Prosecutor's Investigator and Special State Investigator with the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, Mr. Calissi holds a Bachelor's degree in history and government and an Executive MBA in Management from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall Law School and has been a member of the New Jersey Bar for 25 years. He is also a Certified Financial Planner and a Certified Public Manager.

Mr. Calissi is an instructor/consultant for New Jersey's Human Resource Development Institute, The United Nations, American Red Cross, NJ Department of Human Services Police, Port Authority of NY & NJ, Bergen County Technical Schools and many other major public and non-profit organizations. He teaches numerous graduate and undergraduate leadership courses in the University's Certified Public Manager, Master of Administrative Science and Bachelor of Arts in Individualized Studies programs. He also teaches Social, Legal & Ethical Issues for FDU's College of Business Administration. In addition, Mr. Calissi is the author of the book Counterpoint: The Edgar Smith Case, a non-fiction account of a highly publicized 1957 New Jersey murder case, prosecuted by his late father, Guy W. Calissi, a former Bergen County Prosecutor and New Jersey Superior Court Judge.

In April 2001, Mr. Calissi was awarded The Pinnacle, Fairleigh Dickinson University's highest award for achievement bestowed on only 100 of the one hundred thousand graduates of the university.

American Youth: Wealth before Character?

According to a January 23, 2007 by Martha Irvine, Associated Press National Writer, "new polls find that the obsession with material things is growing – and that being rich is more important to today's young people than in the past."

The article quotes statistics stating that 80 percent of 18-25 year-olds in America see getting rich as a top goal for their generation. Conversely, a very small percentage of youth believe helping the needy and being a leader in their community is important.

Ann Fishman, a generational marketing consultant in New Orleans states in the article, "For young people, a cell phone is normal, an iPod is normal; a Game Boy is normal."

Psychologist Jean Twenge states, "There are alot of young people hitting 25 who are making, say, $35,000.00 a year, who expected they'd be millionaires or at least making six figures. We tell them they are special and can achieve anything but their finding out it's not true."

One philosophy that responds to this "hyper-focus" on materialism is the California University of Pennsylvania Institute. This philosophy was initiated In response to a report from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education urging the systems universities to give increased attention to values during the 1990's. The university commitment to values has been reflected in numerous ways including the adoption of civility, integrity and responsibility as its core values and the general education requirement that all students take one course from a values menu.

Visit the California University of Pennsylvania Institute

Read Martha Irvine's AP article

In Remembrance: Officer Tyrone D. Franklin

On January 7, 2007 at 1:15am, Officer Tyron D. Franklin, 23, was shot to death while inside a Paterson, New Jersey restaurant. Officer Franklin was a rookie police officer who graduated from the academy in April, 2006.

According to a New York Times report, Detective Lt. Anthony Triana, a spokesman for the Paterson Police Department, stated that Officer Franklin, off duty and in plain clothes at the time, refused to surrender his wallet during a robbery. The killer then took out his gun and started shooting hitting Officer Franklin several times as well as a restaurant patron at least once. Officer Franklin was pronounced dead at Saint Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson.

The suspect in the fatal shooting of Officer Franklin has been arrested and is a member of the Crips street gang according to law enforcement authorities. A tattoo showing numbered dice on his right hand marked him as a Crips member.

Thousands of police officers from across the State of New Jersey and beyond honored Officer Franklin at his funeral on January 13.

View Officer Tyrone D. Franklin Tribute

Racial Intolerance Ignites Gang War Killing

Cheryl Green, a 14 year old eighth grader who loved watching TV with her mother, was shot dead on January 16, 2006 in Los Angeles. Latino gang members were on the prowl, looking to kill any black person they could find. Unfortunately, Cheryl was the first they came across and their racial hatred expressed itself through her murder. The spray of bullets that killed her while she chatted innocently with friends left several other young people injured.

Police said the killing of Cheryl is indicative of a wave of bias-related attacks and incidents where racial and ethnic tension often ignite. With the major riots of 1965 (Watts Riot) and 1992 (Rodney King Verdict Riot) still seared in our memories, recent Latino versus black confrontations are a concern to civil rights advocates and communities. Rivalries between Latin and black gangs are fuel for racial intolerance and this is often heightened due to changing neighborhood dynamics.

The gang threat in Los Angeles is "ground zero for modern gang activity" according to FBI Director Robert Mueller who traveled to Los Angeles on January 18, 2007 to discuss the nationwide battle against gang violence.

According to a New York Times January 17, 2007 article, Rabbi Allen Freehling, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, said growth in recent hate crimes reflects government and community leadership failure to prepare residents for socioeconomic changes "and therefore people have a tendency to lash out, out of desperation."

View the FBI Director's LA Visit Concerning Gangs

Visit Los Angeles County Human Rights Commission

Freedom Writers: The Transforming Power of a Teacher

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel and Da Vinci portrayed the Mona Lisa. Through the works of artistic masters, people can glimpse moments of darkness and brutality, but also find serenity, comfort, and inspiration. But above and beyond the mastery of all of the world's greatest artists, only a teacher can mold the heart of a child and the future of a nation.

In the newly released movie Freedom Writers, a teacher is able to transform the hardened hearts of her students. It is the dramatic retelling of the true story about Erin Gruwell, who was able to connect with her students who are trapped in a world of gangs, intolerance and violence. Utilizing The Diary of Anne Frank, she is able to teach the class about the horrors of the holocaust and compare the actions of the Nazis to the depravity of gang violence.

America is under siege with the pervasiveness of the debased gang mentality, so profoundly influenced by broken families, shattered communities, drugs for pleasure and profit, despair, disillusionment and the crisis of leadership. Freedom Writers delivers hope through the power of a dedicated, passionate and persevering teacher who can mold hearts and transform lives, a classroom, a school and the community.

Learn more about the Freedom Writers Foundation

Visit the Freedom Writers Movie website

D.A.R.E. is Community Policing

Millions of youth around the world will benefit in 2007 from D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), a dynamic program that helps youth avoid gangs, guns, drugs and violence.

D.A.R.E. programs are in 75 percent of American school districts and in 43 other countries. It is universally understood as an initiative of community policing.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, D.A.R.E. benefits local communities by:

• Humanizing law enforcement so youth can relate to them in a personnel manner
• Placing police in roles of support and not just as enforcing laws
• Opens communication between youth and the police
• Serves as a bridging mechanism to information beyond drug-related topics
• Develops collaboration with the entire school community including parents, families and staff to effectively deal with community issues

Through this positive interaction that forges partnership between youth and police, future dedicated law enforcement personnel, so vital to the infrastructure of a community and the nation, are inspired.

Visit the official D.A.R.E. web site

Threats to America: FBI Assessment

On Thursday, January 11, 2007, Director Robert S. Mueller III of the FBI joined leaders from the intelligence community before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill to present the most serious threats facing the United States.

The sobering assessment from the FBI includes:

• International Terrorism in General
• Al Qaeda
• Homegrown International Terrorism
• Threats from International Terrorist Groups
• Domestic Terrorism
• Weapons of Mass Destruction
• Foreign Intelligence and Espionage
• Cyber Security Threats

Director Mueller stressed the importance of collaboration with leaders in intelligence, law enforcement, military and diplomatic circles in the global war on terrorism.

Read FBI Director Mueller's Statement

Youth Coaching Principles: Sportsmanship, Leadership, Citizenship

If youth sports coaching throughout the United States were to be honestly evaluated, there would be some alarming concerns exhibited by poor example, lack of training and certification, omission of background/reference checks and inappropriate cultivation of a hyper-aggressive atmosphere. Conversely, the qualities of effective youth coaching must be sportsmanship, leadership and citizenship with an unwavering focus on the best interest of the young that are entrusted to their care. Coaches must be trained, evaluated and required to concentrate on character education and positive reinforcement, ingredients which must be the core of youth social and skill development.

American sport programs must turn the tide from a failing grade that does not have the total education of the youth at heart due to a win at all cost dysfunction. The proper youth athletic education program centers and inspires life lessons that include:

• Character
• Fair Play
• Teamwork
• Dedication to Study, Family and Community
• Respect
• Hard Work
• Patriotism
• Commitment
• Civility
• Proper Nutrition and Hygiene
• Safety
• Leadership
• Integrity
• Diversity
• Honesty
• Responsibility
• Self Control
• Compassion

The future of America is its youth and character education, as well as a code of ethics, must be cultivated by the coach and inseparable from personal example in all school, league and community athletic programs.

Read the National Youth Sports Coaches Association's Code of Ethics

The Global War on Terror

On Thursday, January 11, 2007, Brigadier General Robert L. Caslen, Jr., U.S. Army Commandant of Cadets at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, presented The Global War on Terror: The Long War. This compelling and insightful presentation took place at the Thayer Hotel in West Point as coordinated by the West Point-Highland Falls Rotary Club.

General Caslen's distinguished career includes joint positions such as the Director, J-3, Joint Task Force Bravo in Honduras, as the Executive Officer to the Commander of the Multi-National Forces, and then to the Commander of the U.S. Forces United Nations Command during Operations Restore and Uphold Democracy. In support of the Global War on Terrorism, he served as the Assistant Deputy Director for Strategy and Policy, J-5 on the Joint Staff, and then as Chief of Staff of the Coalition Joint Task Force Mountain, 10th Mountain Division in Baghram, Afghanistan.

Prior to assuming command of the United States Corps of Cadets as the 70th Commandant, General Caslen was the Deputy Director for the War on Terrorism, within the Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate (J-5), The Joint Staff. In this position, he provided strategic, policy and planning guidance in support of the Global War on Terrorism to include combating weapons of mass destruction.

During the presentation, General Caslen remarked that the war on terrorism is global and not confined within the boundaries of Iraq. He pointed out the dichotomy between the extremists who misrepresent Islam as opposed to mainstream Islam. According to General Caslen, Al Qaeda, has a fourfold plan which includes:

1. Expelling Americans from Iraq
2. Establishing an Islamic authority unit it develops into a caliphate
3. Extending jihad to secular countries neighboring Iraq
4. Clashing with Israel because Israel was established only to challenge any new Islamic entity

General Caslen also stated that the long range intentions of these extremists included having:

• The strongest army
• The strongest currency
• The largest country in the world
• Atomic and super power
• One half of the world population in an Islamic State

As a response to these radical extremists, he remarked that the National Strategic Framework of the United States for the Global War on Terrorism includes:

• Protecting and defending the homeland and U.S. interests abroad
• Attacking terrorists and their capacity to operate effectively at home and abroad
• Supporting mainstream Islam's efforts to reject extremism

There is a war of ideas, a clash between extremism and mainstream Islam, and General Caslen stated that it will take time for an American victory. In order to achieve this end, America must:

• Expand foreign partnerships
• Strengthen the capacity to prevent terrorist acquisition of weapons of mass destruction
• Institutionalize domestically and internationally the war on terror

America must also have perseverance, not necessarily only combative, according to the General, and we must address:

• Reversing grievances in the Muslim world
• Discrediting violent extremist ideology
• Building partnerships with other nations

In short, the strategic aims of a free and open society is to defeat violent extremism as a threat to freedom and to create an environment inhospitable to violent extremists and all who support them.

Read General Robert L. Caslen, Jr. Biography

Spotlight On: Chief Joseph A. Devine

Chief Joseph A. Devine has twenty-seven years of experience in public administration and law enforcement including eight years as a Chief Law Enforcement Officer. Additionally, he has over eight years of experience as a college professor and is a Certified Public Manager and Certified Chief Executive Law Enforcement Officer. Joseph is also a graduate of the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar in 1995 and the FBI National Academy in 1999.

Joseph Devine began his law enforcement career in 1979 as an officer with the Morris County Sheriff's Department in New Jersey, becoming a detective with the Bureau of Criminal Identification. He became an investigator for the Morris County Prosecutor's Office in 1981, assigned to the Special Investigative Section. Chief Devine left the prosecutor's office in 1981 to join the Rockaway Township Police Department, climbing the ranks to sergeant in 1985, lieutenant in 1990, captain in 1992 and chief on July 1, 1998.

Under his leadership as chief, the Rockaway Township Police Department dramatically reduced crime due to his emphasis of community policing. Chief Devine implemented the Cops in Schools program within the Rockaway Township Schools and the Morris Hills Regional School District. He also expanded the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program in the schools. From January 2002 - July 2006, Joseph was Chief of Investigations for the Morris County Prosecutors Office in Morristown, New Jersey. He oversaw an office of 175 employees responsible for the investigation and prosecution of indictable crimes. The office was comprised of:

• Major Crimes Unit
• Sex Crimes Unit
• Juvenile/Missing Persons
• Domestic Violence Unit
• Arson/Environmental Crimes Unit
• Narcotics/Gambling Unit
• Fugitive Unit
• Professional Standards Unit
• Computer Crimes Unit
• Critical Infrastructure Protection Unit
• Intelligence Unit
• Homeland Security Division and Urban Area Security Initiative

Chief Devine holds two masters degrees, one in administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University and the other in criminal justice from Jersey City State College. He will soon complete a doctorate of education program at Seton Hall University with a concentration in organizational leadership. Currently, Joseph Devine is an Adjunct Professor of Management and Organizational Leadership at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Faculty Profile: Dr. Joseph A. Devine

SAFESTATE

Throughout the United States, the country is rising to the occasion to address the culture of crime and violence. The California Attorney General's Crime and Prevention Center's SAFESTATE is one example of the response needed to transform America with educational initiatives and programs, such as:

• Child Abuse
• Child Safety
• Children Exposed to Violence
• Community Conflict
• Community and Personal Safety
• Community Oriented Policing
• Domestic Violence
• Drug and Alcohol Prevention
• Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse
• Funding Opportunities
• Gangs and Youth Violence
• Hate Crimes
• High-Tech Crimes
• Human Trafficking
• Office of Victims' Services
• Resources
• School Safety

Read More:
http://www.safestate.org/

Coast to Coast Teenage Killings

 
Tacoma, Washington
Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, was charged with the first degree murder of 17-year-old Samnay Kok. The killing took place near a row of lockers just before school began on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at Henry Foss High School in Tacoma, Washington. It was the first school shooting headline for the nation for the new year which follows a year of horrific school violence events throughout the nation.

Witnesses to the killing told law enforcement that Chanthabouly pointed a handgun inches away from Kok's face and shot him after saying "What's Up?" After the shot to the face, the shooter stood over the body and fired two more rounds that hit Kok.

The shooting took place just before the 7:30am bell on the first day of school after the holiday recess.

Kok was born to parents who fled to America to escape the killing fields of Khmer Rouge in Cambodia during the 1980's.

According to an Associated Press report, Rorth Kok, the father of the murdered student said Samney hoped to become a member of the United States Army after high school graduation. Since Kok is the father of an 18-month old boy, the father was quoted to say,

"My son is gone and his baby is always crying for his father,"

before breaking into sobs.

Newark, New Jersey
On the eastern coast of the United States, there has already been 5 killings in Newark, New Jersey during the first days of 2007. On Sunday, January 7, two teenagers (Newark's 4th and 5th murder victims of 2007) were killed in broad daylight in gang related street violence.

These tragedies remind us of the pervasiveness of violence throughout the nation. Violence has become a daily headline from the streets of Newark, NJ to the schools of Tacoma, Washington

Ironically, the Pierce County website states,

"Pierce County is one of the most livable communities in the nation."

Visit the Pierce County, Washington website...

Visit the Newark, New Jersey website...

Dangers of Ecstasy: Community Alert

Ecstasy, a popular "club drug," is one of the most dangerous drugs threatening the youth of America. It is a drug that is very easy to obtain and has effects similar to amphetamines and hallucinogens.

Ecstasy is easily distributed and is very popular at social events like concerts, raves and hip hop parties. Some of the basic facts of ecstasy include:

• Street Names: E, Adam, Roll, Bean, X, XTC, Clarity, Essence, Stacy, Lover's Speed, and Eve
• Form: Pills, which are usually white, yellow or brown
• Size, Shape and Design vary but they are very small
• Pills are often designer symbol branded

An overdose of Ecstasy can result in:

• Extremely high body temperatures
• High blood Pressure
• Hallucinations
• Fast heartbeat
• Breathing Problems
• Death

Read More at www.clubdrugs.gov

Marijuana Dangers: Basic Facts

Marijuana is by far the world's most commonly used illicit drug and far more dangerous then many users realize.

The source of marijuana is the hemp plant (cannabis sativa) which has been cultivated for psychoactive properties for thousands of years. Cannabis, also known commonly as grass, weed or pot, has at least 400 different chemicals but the main mind-altering ingredient is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol).

Experts affirm that marijuana use reduces learning ability and limits the brains capacity to absorb and retain information. Chronic abusers are also susceptible to:

• Chest Colds
• Bronchitis
• Anxiety, Panic Attacks and Paranoia
• Emphysema
• Bronchial Asthma
• Damaged Lungs and Airways
• Increased Risk of Cancer
• Immune System Damage
• Psychological Dependence
• Impaired Judgment
• Loss of Concentration and Coordination
• Increased Risk of Accidents

Read Office of National Drug Control Policy Facts

Pandemic Flu: Get Informed, Be Prepared

The U.S. Government has one stop access to avian and pandemic flu information which is managed by the Department of Health and Human Services.

A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. A flu pandemic occurs due to a new influenza virus for which people have limited or no immunity and for which there is no vaccine. The disease spreads person-to-person, carries serious sickness and can sweep a country and the globe very quickly.

With a pandemic, the entire world is at risk and countermeasures may delay it but cannot stop it. Health experts are concerned that H5N1, a highly pathogenic avian virus will spread. It is particularly dangerous because:

• It is especially virulent
• It can spread by migratory birds
• It can be spread from birds to mammals and, in some cases, to humans
• It continues to evolve

The U.S. Government web site contains details which include:

• Whats Happening Now
• Avian Influenza Viruses
• Avian Influenza in Birds
• Human Infection with Avian Influenza Viruses
• Vaccination and Treatment for H5N1 Virus in Humans
• What would be the Impact of a Pandemic
• How are We Preparing
• Fact sheets
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• History of Pandemics

Click here to read more about pandemic flu...

Methamphetamine Awareness

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, methamphetamine abuse has become a tremendous challenge for the entire nation. It is essential to intensify education, prevention and intervention – especially in our nation's schools – on the destructive effects of meth on the user and the community.

As a highly addictive stimulant that dramatically affects the central nervous system, methamphetamine is profoundly dangerous. Meth comes in powder, crystal, rock and tablet form and its crystal form is called "crystal meth." It can be swallowed, smoked, snorted or injected with a hypodermic needle.

Manufacturing
Drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin are derived from plants but meth is manufactured through store bought chemicals. Very crude laboratories often "cook" meth but there are also super labs aside from small toxic labs.

Meth Affects on the User
In the long term, a person using meth may experience irritability, fatigue, headaches, anxiety, sleeplessness, confusion, aggressive feelings, violent rages, cravings for more meth, and depression. They may become psychotic and experience paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, and delusions. The paranoia may lead to homicidal or suicidal thoughts.

A fairly common hallucination experienced by meth users is the so-called crank bug. The user gets the sensation that there are insects creeping on top of, or underneath, his/her skin. The user will pick at or scratch the skin trying to get rid of these imaginary bugs. This scratching can create open sores that may become infected.

Societal Impact
Parents high on meth often neglect their children whom are often severely impacted with mental, physical and emotional consequences. Youth who abuse methamphetamine open the door to serious emotional, mental, physical and criminal consequences.

Read more about Meth Awareness from the U.S. Department of Justice