6A THE NEWS-JOURNAL Raeford, N.C.
June 12,1996
Task force discusses
needs of Hoke youth
By Jen Osborn
Staff writer
Although there are many Hoke
County groups, organizations and
agencies whose sole purpose is to
advocate for local children, many
sometimes end up working against
each other instead of with one an
other. But that may be changing.
Developing a collaborative rela
tionship was one of the main objec
tives of more than 10 Hoke County
agencies whose representatives joined
together with the Youth ServicesTask
Force Monday morning to update one
another on the needs of local youth
and learn about Community Based
Alternative (CBA) programs.
Agencies invited to the breakfast
included Hoke County schools, so
cial services, the Cooperative Exten
sion Office, Sandhills Mental Health,
the health department, the police and
sheriffs departments, district court
judges, the district attorney’s office,
the city and county managers, the city
mayor, city council members and
members of the board of county com
missioners.
Allison Newton, chairman of the
Youth Services Task Force that rec
ommends CBA programs for area
children, explained that CBA is funded
through the state and from the Hoke
County commissioners.
The breakfast meeting was impor
tant, she said, to help keep the lines of
communication open among those
organizations that work with youth.
“We feel like a lot of problems in
our county are caused by lack of re
sources,’ Newton said. “But we feel
along with that comes lack of com
munication.”
Also at the meeting, Regina Deese,
chief court counselor, explained
CBA’s three programs—early inter
vention, alternatives to detention and
the new alternatives to out of school
suspensions.
George Holden, CBA’s regional
consultant, said CBA’s philosophy is
to offer alternatives to placing chil
dren in institutions.
“We’re seeing younger children
committing more serious crimes in
the community,” Newton said, ex
plaining why CBA services are nec-
e.ssary in North Carolina. “We have to
put the oil where the squeak is.”
Not only does CBA work to keep
children out of institutions, but it also
helps save the state and counties
money in the long run.
According to Ken Foster, assistant
director of the division of youth ser
vices, the community services sec
tion of the division is responsible for
developing an array of less expensive
community based alternative pro
grams to help local communities deal
with the problems of troubled youth,
reduce crime and delinquency and
save the tax payers money.
For example, the following are
some statistics offered by Foster;
•Last year (fiscal year 1994-95) in
program’s director.
Other students who are coming
back to school from a juvenile pro
gram may also find the program to be
one that helps them make an easier
transition back to school. Moss said.
Because Hoke County is consid
ered a target county (which means 50
percent of i ts CBA referra I s m ust come
from the courts or law enforcement).
Moss said the program was chosen
over the 4-H Life Skills program be-
“V^e're seeing younger children committing more
serious crimes in the community. We have to put the
oil where the squeak is. ”
— George Holden
Hoke County, 188 juveniles were
brought before the court charged with
309 criminal offenses. Seven of those
offenses were serious felonies.
•Forty-nine juveniles were held in
secure detention awaiting trial at an
average cost of $ 1,800 for a total of
just over $88,200, half of which was
paid for by Hoke County and half by
the state of North Carolina.
•Four juveniles were committed to
training schools at $46,000 per com
mitment for a total cost to the state of
$184,000.
Yet the total cost of offeri ng CBA
services to Hoke County last year was
only $140,514.
According to Foster, the CBA pro
grams listed above served 191 new
admissions last year, 46 percent of
whom were court involved youth.
There were 162 program terminations
during the year with 91 (56 percent)
successfully completing the program
experience and only 1 percent being
committed to training school. The
average total cost for these programs
was $867 per child.
New program
Instead of funding the 4-H Life
Skills program, this year the CBA
task force decided to add a new pro
gram — alternatives to out of school
suspensions, a program that would
address academic areas as well as
things like self-esteem problems, al
cohol or drug abuse or absence of
positive role models in a setting away
from the school.
“Students who would be suspended
three to 10 days will have the option
of participating and that would allow
them to remain in attendance at their
own school,” said Jeff Moss, the
cause it targets seventh through twelfth
gradestudents who belter fit the refer
ral age. The 4-H Life Skills program,
while still a valuable program, targets
younger children, he said.
“We’re following children and
children are changing,” Newton said.
Students involved in alternatives
to out of school suspensions will be
housed at the National Guard Armory
and must provide their own transptrr-
tation.
“What we looked at was a way to
put some responsibility back onto the
students and not just make it a free
ride,” Moss said.
Individual curriculum will target
such topics as uncooperative attitudes,
solving conflicts, vandalism, learn
ing from mistakes, being responsible
for actions, decisions and conse
quences, and problems with relation
ships and authority, among others
“I think it will have a very positise
impct on students that wish to par
ticipate and not have attendance prob-
■ lems and also want to keep their grades
up,” Moss said.
Hoke County students who are
suspended from school for more than
seven daysare indanger of tailingthe
school year. So. if a student is sus
pended for 10 days. Moss explained,
without the program he is in s iolation
of the attendance policy. But v. ith the
voluntary alternatives to outof scIkhiI
suspensions program, the student has
the opportunity to keep himsel I out ut
the non-at tenda nee categi )ry and won't
fail the school year.
Throughout the program (’B \
hopes to refer students to its program
from principals, counselors, juvenile
court and public agencies. They esti
mate they will serve about 2IMI youth
during a year-long tunding |x;iiod
.aUtSIH
WTTM THC
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Ph(i(ob> Kri*>tin Outhric
Turkey Festival wear
Check out this year's Turkey Festival souvenirs. They're on sale now at the Raeford-Hoke Chamber of
Commerce and the House of Raeford Retail Store They have specialty golf shirts, adult slacks and
shorts, long sleeve and short sleeve t-shirts. totes, aprons, hats, cups, pins and more Victoria Lynch
(left) models a t-shirt along with her mother Jackie, wtro mcxlels n pair of slacks, while Mitchell Sports
shows off the golf shirt and the hat
Deer eauses car accident
A deer that ran into the ro,utw.iv
w as the cause of a two car aeculenton
Walter Gibson Ri'ad late Satiirdav
night that sent one local man to the
hospital for injuries, said Set K 1)
Jacobs of the N.C. Highway I’.itrol
J acivbs sa id a I 'k* 11*1 y mout tul 11VI n
by Randy U'e Smith. 2”. i>t R u tonl
was traveling east on Walter (iif",in
Road while a l‘>95 BMW Jnvin bv
lerrv l.iwniue Biiirur Vj ui Smith was reporiediv in)ured and
1 .iiJiiiibiiu'wa ■ tr ivi li'ic wi ,1 .r| ibv' iji.n ti^ ( a|X' 1 ear V.ilUw Medical
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tiirned and sti ipj^xd near Smith to ren
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Ni 4re- - writ tikil but Jacobs
I ■ J - itb ai Ic stair- -I ilvout
1""" HI ;; > whik Hruncr's
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New scout troop to he formed
.\ iH‘w bin SLOUl tri‘ >]* um , it
scout pack has bel li t"inH-,l in
Raetord
Raeford Anim.il ( liiiK I--thi '
lereilori’am/ationof HS \ Itn *n
aiidC ubScout l*js k Mil I hi ,
will serve the bms tii'iii S. mi’ II
and Wr-l ll.'ke '
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