DARING KIDS TO BE DIFFERENT : POLICE PUT POSITIVE SPIN ON PARK PARTHENIA `GANG'.Byline: Marni McEntee Daily News Staff Writer Inside a stiflingly hot, vacant apartment at the Park Parthenia complex, 40 children have relinquished re·lin·quish tr.v. re·lin·quished, re·lin·quish·ing, re·lin·quish·es 1. To retire from; give up or abandon. 2. To put aside or desist from (something practiced, professed, or intended). 3. an hour of daylight. It's not an hour for horseplay horse·play n. Rowdy or rough play. horseplay Noun rough or rowdy play Noun 1. and lazing about. It's a 60-minute gang initiation. But this isn't a ``gang'' in the usual sense of the word - it's a group of kids dedicated to cleaning up their neighborhood. 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. police Officer Sally Barnes stands before the kids of this crime-plagued neighborhood with one message: ``If you want to join a gang, come join our gang.'' The message is the cornerstone of the Junior Neighborhood Watch program, started five years ago by Barnes and police community volunteer Brenda Shaw at another Northridge apartment complex. The goal is to give kids vulnerable to crime, drugs, and street gangs an option to the streets. They brought the idea to Park Parthenia in April. ``We're trying to turn this whole area around,'' said Barnes, a senior lead officer in the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division. These grade-schoolers are a start. The Park Parthenia kids, some as young as 4, are rapt as Barnes and LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. Officer Clark Baker, an invited guest, lead discussions on traffic and bicycle safety Bicycle safety is the use of practices designed to reduce risk associated with cycling. Some of this subject matter is hotly debated: for example, the discussions as to whether bicycle helmets or cyclepaths really deliver improved safety. . They also administer a heavy dose of etiquette etiquette, name for the codes of rules governing social or diplomatic intercourse. These codes vary from the more or less flexible laws of social usage (differing according to local customs or taboos) to the rigid conventions of court and military circles, and they . They learn the golden rule, and about taking care of each other. Barnes, already a familiar face around the complex she patrols, urges the kids to talk to her anytime they see her in the neighborhood. The children already seemed well-versed in anti-drug and anti-gang messages, which they readily parrot parrot, common name for members of the order Psittaciformes, comprising 315 species of colorful birds, pantropical in distribution, including the parakeet. Parrots have large heads and short necks, strong feet with two toes in front and two in back (facilitating back. It's the basics of life that Barnes and Shaw seek to impart. ``We always stress citizenship, getting along, what it feels like to be a victim. It's courtesy,'' Barnes said. ``General things that we find these kids are lacking.'' Sometimes, the conversation takes on a more serious tone, like how to keep from being kidnapped Kidnapped caught in the intrigues of Scottish factions, David Balfour and Alan Breck are shipwrecked, escape from the king’s soldiers, and undergo great dangers. [Br. Lit.: R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped] See : Adventurousness or hit by a car. One little boy raises his hand to offer up the first of several stories he feels compelled to share. ``If you stick your head outside the car window and your parents don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. , they could shut the window and your head could get stuck,'' he says solemnly. Barnes and Clark can't do much except nod in agreement. Sometimes, Barnes says, that's enough. ``That's all these kids want is acknowledgment acknowledgment, in law, formal declaration or admission by a person who executed an instrument (e.g., a will or a deed) that the instrument is his. The acknowledgment is made before a court, a notary public, or any other authorized person. ,'' she said. Barnes looks over some of their report cards, handing out praise where it's due. One little boy brings in a certificate of achievement he earned during his grade school science fair. Little Gabriela Del Toro Toro may refer to:
Gabriela grins when Shaw notices her good scores and zero absences from school. ``It's like bucks. When I see a good report card, that's my paycheck. I can't take it to the bank and cash it but it's my paycheck,'' Shaw tells Gabriela. Later, the little girl adds, ``We do the best we can.'' Indeed, that's all anyone can ask, Barnes said. The second meeting at Park Parthenia drew only a few eager youngsters until Barnes sent a few kids out into the streets to gather their friends. She gently turned parents away; this session is strictly for kids. But the leaders have high hopes that the Park Parthenia watch group will thrive, like the tremendously popular meetings started five years ago in the apartment-thick neighborhood of Malden Street. It actually was a success carved carve v. carved, carv·ing, carves v.tr. 1. a. To divide into pieces by cutting; slice: carved a roast. b. out of a failure. Barnes and Shaw had hoped to organize a Neighborhood Watch program among adult tenants. Shaw had plastered plas·tered adj. Slang Intoxicated; drunk. plastered Adjective Slang drunk Adj. 1. the area with fliers to advertise the meetings, but nobody came. But when Shaw ventured out around the neighborhood to drum up support for Neighborhood Watch, however, she was trailed by a bevy bevy a flock of birds. of curious kids. ``She's like the Pied Piper Pied Piper charms children of Hamelin with music. [Children’s Lit.: “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” in Dramatic Lyrics, Fisher, 279–281] See : Enchantment . She attracts everyone,'' Barnes said. The two decided to put their energy into the kids, and launched the Junior Neighborhood Watch on the curb of a Malden Street cul-de-sac. Now, they use a vacant apartment. First, about 25 kids showed up. Eventually, it grew to about 60 children. ``They wanted to belong to something and we gave them something to do - something to think about,'' Barnes said. True to the group's name, Barnes credits a few of the Malden Street Junior Watchers with helping police nab a drunk-driving suspect who had ducked into an apartment after hitting a parked car. The kids pointed the police to the driver's hiding place. The program includes graffiti cleanups and other work projects around the neighborhood. Some youngsters have participated in five- and 10-K runs. Michele Doubet, an elementary school elementary school: see school. substitute teacher, has visited the Junior Watch group several times, bringing her exotic musical instruments to entertain the kids. ``These are kids whose families are struggling to make ends meet,'' Doubet said. ``She (Barnes) is giving them a lot of lessons in so many important aspects of their lives.'' Shaw has installed a separate telephone message line in her home, where kids can call when they need help. Sometimes, they phone up with tales about abuse. Other times, they ask for help with their homework. The leaders offer incentives to keep the kids coming to the meetings - bonus points toward prizes when they get good grades or achieve something else, and school supplies or other small gifts that are handed out in a raffle during each meeting. Nine-year-old John Jimenez makes the sign of the cross as the raffle numbers are read off at Park Parthenia. Eventually, he wins some school supplies. The meeting ends with cookies and juice, and an admonition Any formal verbal statement made during a trial by a judge to advise and caution the jury on their duty as jurors, on the admissibility or nonadmissibility of evidence, or on the purpose for which any evidence admitted may be considered by them. to come back the next time. Ten-year-old Christian Garcia said he would. ``I want to learn more,'' he said. CAPTION(S): 6 Photos Photo: (1--color) LAPD Officer Clark Baker lets Laura Ma rtinez, 10, try out his motorcycle and helmet at Park Parthenia in Northridge. (2--color) Kids at Park Parthenia listen attentively at a meeting. (3--color) ``If you want to join a gang, come join our gang.'' - Sally Barnes, Los Angeles senior lead officer (4) LAPD motor Officer Clark Baker talks about traffic safety during a meeting of the Junior Neighborhood Watch program at Park Parthenia. (5) Senior lead Officer Sally Barnes takes report cards from kids at the Junior Neighborhood Watch program. (6) Children are given bonus points and coupons for attending meetings. Gus Ruelas/Daily News |
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