ACTIVIST HEADS TO D.C. TO TALK ON ALCOHOL ABUSE.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer Ray Chavira, a Palmdale activist, is on the East Coast to urge a gathering of the nation's Latino leaders to push for tighter ordinances and advertising reforms to curb alcohol-related juvenile crime. Chavira, a deputy probation officer probation officer n. 1. An official usually attached to a juvenile court and charged with the care of juvenile delinquents. 2. An official charged with supervising convicts at large on suspended sentence or probation. and a member of the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Commission on Alcoholism alcoholism, disease characterized by impaired control over the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Alcoholism is a serious problem worldwide; in the United States the wide availability of alcoholic beverages makes alcohol the most accessible drug, and alcoholism is , will speak today at the annual summit of the National Council of La Raza The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is the largest Hispanic advocacy organization in the United States. The NCLR was founded in 1968 as a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing discrimination and poverty and to improving the lives and economic opportunities of in Philadelphia. Chavira will attend a panel discussion on alcohol at the summit. ``We need to reduce alcohol availability and accessibility,'' Chavira said. ``We need to focus on environmental strategies looking at the number and placement of alcohol outlets.'' The National Council of La Raza is a nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. , nonpartisan organization established in 1968 to reduce poverty and discrimination for Latinos in the U.S. This year's summit will feature Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., as the keynote speaker. Chavira, 66, said he wanted to attend the summit this year because of concerns of the disproportionate numbers of Latino youths being arrested for alcohol-related offenses. Young Latinos accounted for 61.6 percent of the arrests for alcohol-related offenses in Los Angeles County in 1997, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. probation department statistics. ``Cities have it within their power to impose stricter conditions then they have in the past,'' Chavira said. ``The cities have it in their power to reduce the billboard advertising.'' Communities also need to use counter advertising to inform the public about the safety hazards of alcohol, Chavira said. Another tactic that should be encouraged, Chavira said, is efforts to raise taxes on alcoholic beverages
Chavira's anti-alcohol work is based on personal experience. Chavira was a drinker for 25 years before quitting in 1975. In addition to serving on the county's Commission on Alcoholism, Chavira served on the state's Advisory Board on Alcohol-Related Problems, founded the Los Angeles County Alcohol Policy Coalition and founded the High Desert Alcohol Policy Coalition. |
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