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10- mt UAHOLINA TIMESi—SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1994 OU Students CARE’ For Troubled Youths Through New Program le Barajas . Wft failce/i nKrtiit r»mKlofVkc in .•x_. j . . By Anne Barajas OU News Services NORMAN - You see the headlines and the nightly news; drivc-by shootings, gang fights, guns in the schools. The sprciid of crime and violence among youth makes many feel helpless. But for three young men from the University of Oklahoma, such news has made them loci like it’s time to make a difference. Kevin McPherson of PERRY, Wesley Long of OKLAHOMA CITY and Ricky Keys of WAGONER are mating a difference in the lives of Oklahoma City youths through their innovative program called Community Adolescent Rehabilitation Effoit, or CARE. CARE is targeted at youths ages 12 to 17 from the northeast Quadran; of Oklahoma City who have been convicted of a crime. On average, some 440 juveniles commit misdemeanor or felony crimes each month in' Oklahoma County. McPherson said. "The majority of crimes don’t happen in the northeast quadrant," he said. "But the crimes do start there." McPherson is a doctoral student in higher education and training and development at OU. Long, also a doctoral student, is studying social foundations in education, and Keys recently received his master’s degree in health care administration from OU’s Health Sciences Center. The three founders developed the CARE program more than a year ago, after many discussions about the challenges facing inner-city youths, particularly young black men. 'We talked about problems in the community and discovered there were no programs that addressed the problems the way we felt they should be addressed." McPherson said. So the three consulted with such juvenile justice law experts as Sam Gonzales, chief of the Oklahoma City Police Department; Dave Oklahoma Department of Public Safety; and then Oklahoma Sen. Vicki Miles-LaGrange. Our question was, ‘What do you do with kids when they first commit a crime. The answer, they discovered, is that most area youths who commit crimes are returned home without any effective foIlow-uD counseling or training. ^ We thought, ‘When these kids first commit a crime, why not send them through a program to teach them decision-making skills and how to function successfully in society?’" McPherson said. Together, they wrote and submitted a grant to the Oklahoma County I District Attorney’s Council. The result was an award of nearly $250 000 lo establish the CARE program. Since the first funds were made available in July, McPherson and his colleagues have established a corporation with a northeast Oklahoma City headquarters and a staff of four full-time and eight part-time workers apd eight volunteers, ranging from social workers to cooks. CARE s clients, who currently number 25, are referred to the agency by the Oklahoma Juvenile Bureau, The client and a parent or guardian are required to undergo a six-week training and counseling program to - Y OEPTr Kroger Chilled Orange Juice. ■ 28dSHEET5 PER ROLL 1 PLY RE ■ ■ ~J70 SHEETS PER ROLL 2 PLY UL Charmin Bath Tissue ■TH THE DELI-PASTRY SHOPPE" Fresh Baked Italian Bread $J99 Springdale 2% Lowfat Milk S«99 cal. a 89( Kroger Tomato Soup BUY ONE- GET ONE FREE! DORITOS THINS OR ' Doritos Tortilla Chips 2J3 U.S.D.A. CHOICE, CRAIN FED BEEF Porterhouse or T-Bone Steak - us GRADE A Wampler/Longacre ^ ^ ^ Chicken Breast OuC Quarters m. 09 NO CASH? HO CHECKS?, NOPROBLEMf U.S. GRADE A (4-7-LB. AVC.I Frozen Turkey Breast gy CALORIE COUNTDOWN Bits and Pieces By Susan Duff * It was a great boon to dieti,ig parents when those fast-food ham- burgerjoints that eater to kids started offering salads on the menu. It meant we grown-ups could have our nutri tious greens, dietary fiber, limited fat grams and reduced calorie counts while Junior pigged out on the burgers and fries. The irony is that some of the salads sold at such establishments aren’t particularly low in fat grams and calories. At one burger eatery, in fact, the chef’s salad with ranch dressing has more fat (about 26 grams) and almost the same amount of calories (over 500) as the super big burger. Stick with the raw veggie salads without pro cessed meat and/or cheese, and use the reduced-calorie dressings, too. * Are you waking up at a new time? Have you recently given up smoking? Is a family member on a new schedule? Any or all such lifestyle changes can affect the ef fectiveness of your weight-loss diet. If your wakeup and bedtime hours have changed, or if you’re on a new shift at work, or if someone in your family has recently changed their hours, you might have to adjust your mealtimes to suit the new. schedule. You may want to eat smaller meals more frequently (many nutritionists recommend this), or you might want to change the relative size of your meals, i.e., big breakfast, medium lunch, small dinner. If you just gave up smoking, you probably need to find lots of nibble foods that are low in calo ries. In addition to raw vegetables cut into bite-size pieces, have fat- free crackers and sugar-free hard candies on hand for a while — at least until you get used to kicking loam life, coping and employment skills. Most of the 25 now in CAR already have been convicted of a felony, McPherson said. "A lot of the kids have never been taught something basic like how i tie a tie or balance a checkbook, or why you even keep a checkbook ” h said. But the most basic thing taught by CARE, McPherson noted i decision-making skills. A lot of our youth have problems accepting responsibility for thei actions, he said. The fundamentals of action and reaction are key at CARE. Fo instance, McPherson said, one client is a former gang member who want to become a computer scientist. So CARE employees arc reaching hin what It takes to get to college and succeed. Although CARE has only been offered for three months, the rcsiilr already are obvious, McPherson said. "The community is glad to have someone out there who’s willing u deal With the kids. And the kids see successful black men which i\ something they don’t always see — who are willing to spend time will them." The time McPherson and the CARE staff spend with clients is considerable, with clients reporting to the program after each school day Weekends are their own, although McPherson said many students sti|! show up on CARE’S doorstep. They just want to come," he said, adding that staff members will offei such entertainment as videos to clients who want to joifi them ot weekends. "The bottom line is, if they’re with us, they can’t be in trouble." Some clients have been in double nearly all of their young lives, and part of CARE s mission is to teach them about commitment to society and theii ^ community. As a result, CARE clients are involved in such efforts as feeding the homeless, cleaning up neighborhoods, and mowing lawm and repairing homes of the elderly. In addition to volunteer work efforts, CARE focuses on the employment future of its clients by teaching them job skills. "Our program is realistic," McPherson said. "A lot of these kids will never do better as long as they don’t get some kind of employment or their parents don’t get some kind of employment." After six weeks in the program, CARE clients are placed in an aftercare" program, which tracks their performance in school and provides job-search assistance and monthly support groups to help them keep from back-sliding. The CARE staff tries to pair up program graduates who can lean on each other in difficult times. And, graduates always are welcome at CARE. Because of our commitment and because it’s our community, our involvement continues after they leave. As long as you want to be involved with us, we’ll be involved with you," McPherson said. In the end. the most basic goal McPherson, Long and Keys have set for the youths in CARE is quite simple. "If nothing else, we want our clients to be able lo make critical decisions," McPherson said. "If you choose to break the law, don’t blame anyone but yourself — because you do have choices." the smoking habit. ■* When you start working out or add new exercise to your usual work out, it may not mean immediate weight loss. Many dieters find their appetites are substantially increased during the first week of starting an exercise pro gram. The best way to deal with this is to increase your intake of complex carbohydrates—grains, breads, pasta, vegetables, fruits —the foods that are mostefficiently used for eneig . 'a hen you’re physically active. Adu 'iou- ally, there are healthy forms of pi cal exercise, like weightlifting, t, may actually cause v- ini.- . added muscle, a- cise iv aiw-:i. The Eiffel Tower is tall, but per haps not as tall as you might think. Its height is 985 feet, nearly 300 feet less than the Empire State Building in New York. A Japanese haiku poem has .a ngia structure of three lines and 17 syl lables— five in the first line, seven in the second line and five in ti'e last line. A haiku, by the way, is supposed to capture the essence of a mon ?nt. In medieval times, the so-callcv. ■■philo-sopher’s stone” was the sub stance that was believed to turn com mon metals into gold. F avoritc Can Be Pri Good cooks often add their own twists to traditional meals, creating new recipes that are delicious and convenient. Whether designed for family dinners or special enter taining, those are just the types of recipes that could win big at the 1995 National Beef Cook-Off®. Entries are now being accepted for the National Beef Cook-Off, which food experts recognize as one of America’s foremost cooking competi tions. Qualifying recipes must be original creations of amateur cooks, ready in an hour or less and contaii no more than eight ingredient Winners of the 1995 Cook-Off v share an all-time high $45d in cash prizes, including a $25 grand prize. One recipe, entered in th^ r.'U;} Beef Cook-Off on its merit f t t iitor- taining, is “Sesame Beef Salad,’’ win ner of a $2,000 honorable mention prize. Created by a Missouri career woman, the light, flavorful recipe features thin-sliced boneless beef top sirloin steak with Asian seasonings, served over rice noodles (or pasta) with crisp-tender vegetables. Sesame Beef Salad Total preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes 1 pound boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut 1 inch thick 8 ounces fresh pea pods, cut diagonally in half if large 4 to 8 ounces uncooked thin rice noodles or vermicelli Water 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil 1 large red or yellow bell pepper, cut into julienne strips 1 tablespoon sesame seeds 1 small head Boston or Bibb lettuce 1 small head radicchio 1 tablespoon sesame seeds Marinade: 3 tablespoons peanut oil 3 rablespoons rice vinegar 5 teaspoons soy sauce or tamari to 1 teaspoon hot chili oil (preferably with garlic) r -y Recipes /inning Meals “Sesame Beef Salad” is a prize-winning, Asian-style combinatioi lean, boneless beef, rice noodles and vegetables. 1. Heat large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Place beef steak in skillet and cook 9 to 12 minutes for rare to medium doneness, turning once. 2. Trim fat from steak. Carve steak into thin slices. In medium bowl, com bine marinade ingredients. Add steak slices; toss to coat. Cover and set aside in refrigerator. 3. In large pot, bring water to a boil. Add pea pods; cook 1 to 2 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove from water; immediately rinse pea pods with cold water. Drain; set aside. 4. In same boiling water, add noodles. Stir; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until tender. Drain; rinse with cold water. Using large spoon, press noodles against strainer to remove excess water. Drizzle noodles with sesame oil; toss to coat. 5. In large bowl, combine resei beef, pea pods, bell pepper an tablespoon sesame seeds. To se arrange lettuce and radicchio lec on serving platter. Top with nood Arrange beef mixture over nood Garnish with 1 tablespoon ses£ seeds. Makes 4 servings (serving s 1/4 of recipe). Finalists in the 1995 National E Cook-Off will prepare their dis: at the National Beef Cook-Off Fir to be held Sept. 21-23, 1995, Little Rock, Arkansas. Entries ; due June 1, 1994. For more information or an en form, contact your state beef coun of write to National Beef Cook-' Entries, P.O. Box 3240, Chicago, I 60654, or call 1-800-621-7011.
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Jan. 8, 1994, edition 1
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