D.D.'S EYES ARE SET ON CITY HALL.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
ARLETA - The kid says he may run for mayor of 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. some day. Now, wouldn't that be something? An African-American boy who starts out life a 4-pound crack baby crack baby An infant born to a crack-addicted mother, who is often premature, ↓ birth weight, and has birth defects, respiratory, and neurologic defects; CBs are 4 times more likely to be premature, more commonly suffer SIDS, and given the mothers' high , abandoned behind an L.A. hospital, grows up to run the city one day. Stick that one in your reality TV file. No bloods and guts, no sex, no big chase scene. Just a great kid going from crack baby to head of the class. His name's Dale Daniel Pawley - D.D. to his family and friends - and he's a 19-year-old junior at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX right now, majoring in political science in preparation for a law degree, then maybe a run at politics. He was one of a few dozen college students receiving $1,500 scholarship checks Saturday from the Dolls, a great group of Los Angeles and Valley women who raise funds to help students and people in this city who need a leg up financially from time to time. I was asked to present D.D. with his scholarship check, and to say a few words about how the kid made it from crack baby to head of the class. When I first met him three years ago, D.D. was already on his way - graduating as class valedictorian from Osborne Christian School A Christian School is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country according to the religious, educational, and political culture. in Arleta with a 3.97 grade-point average. When Ila and Dale Pawley first met him, he was a 3-day-old crack baby lying in a hospital crib, crying and writhing in pain from drug withdrawal - curled in a fetal position fetal position n. A position of the body at rest in which the spine is curved, the head is bowed forward, and the arms and legs are drawn in toward the chest. , stiff as a board. As I wrote back in 1998, L.A. County adoption workers were dubious in 1982 about a middle-age, white couple from the Valley adopting a drug- addicted ad·dict·ed adj. 1. Physiologically or psychologically dependent on a habit-forming substance. 2. Compulsively or habitually involved in a practice or behavior, such as gambling. African-American baby - even though the Pawleys had already adopted three children of mixed races in addition to the three kids they had of their own. The baby's race and medical condition didn't matter, Ila and Dale told them. All that did matter was a home and some love, and they had plenty of both to give him. But he would be slow, the doctors warned them. The drugs in his system would affect his motor skills, and he'd be mentally delayed - a nice way of saying the baby in that crib would always be behind the curve, a slow learner. The Pawleys told the doctors to let them worry about that. They wanted the boy. Anything else? And now here it was, 1998, and Ila and Dale Pawley were sitting in a high school auditorium listening to Dave Hunt For other persons named Dave Hunt, see Dave Hunt (disambiguation). Dave Hunt (1926 – ) is a Christian apologist, speaker, radio commentator and author. He has been in full-time ministry since 1973. , principal of Osborne Christian School, talk about how their adopted son, D.D. - class valedictorian - had blown by the curve and was headed for college. There weren't two prouder parents in America that night. You don't forget those first nights after you brought him home, Ila and Dale said. You don't forget the long hours you massaged his tormented body, trying to uncurl him from the stiff, fetal position the drug withdrawal was causing. You don't forget the nights you didn't sleep because he didn't sleep, and you took turns holding him to your chest so he could hear your heartbeat. ``No one knew much about drug-addicted babies back then,'' Ila told me. ``Dale and I read everything we could get our hands on and even went to Stanford University Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. to talk with doctors working with drug babies up there. ``You know what turned out to work best?'' she said. ``Normal parenting. Love, hugging, caring, teaching.'' He had a lot of people to thank, D.D. said Saturday, but no one more than his parents. Without their hard work, dedication and love, he wouldn't be standing here right now accepting this scholarship check, he said. He carries 13 units per semester se·mes·ter n. One of two divisions of 15 to 18 weeks each of an academic year. [German, from Latin (cursus) s at the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , in addition to working 30 hours a week to make ends meet, he told the Dolls. He could sure use this money. ``My parents provide me with a car, and a home to live in but, financially, they cannot be of any additional assistance,'' he said. ``They have adopted 11 children, and still have four at home. My siblings siblings npl (formal) → frères et sœurs mpl (de mêmes parents) and I all had mental and physical imperfections due to our being exposed to drugs and alcohol before birth. ``My parents adopted us all, and taught us how to be productive citizens of society,'' D.D. said, thanking the women for their generosity. It was the Pawleys, as well as their son, who touched all the members deeply, said Suzie Labowe, president of the Dolls who can be contacted at (818) 344-6795. ``What an incredible couple they are to take children with physical problems, like D.D., into their home to love, nurture, and raise them into wonderful young people,'' she said. ``They are incredible people.'' Someday some·day adv. At an indefinite time in the future. Usage Note: The adverbs someday and sometime express future time indefinitely: We'll succeed someday. Come sometime. , the kids says, he hopes to be in a position to pay back his parents some. Maybe, when he's mayor. He'll stand on the steps of City Hall, and hand them the keys to the city. Because if anyone deserves them, it's Dale and Ila Pawley. |
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