Tuesday, October 19, 1999
PAGE 7A
Laredo Morning Times
STATE/NATIONAL
Texan targets teenagers
to ease blood shortage
BY CHRIS FLETCHER
Associated Press Writer
AP photo
Jury selection begins
Nathaniel Jamar Abraham, 13, of Pontiac, Michigan, has his leg shackles removed by an Oakland County
Sheriff deputy prior to the start of jury selection Monday. Abraham was charged as an adult with the firstdegree murder of the Oct. 29, 1997 shooting death of Ronnie Green in Pontiac. Abraham is the youngest person in Michigan to be tried as an adult in a first-degree murder.
Wireless phones join fight
against domestic violence
BY JOSH ROMONEK
Associated Press Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) —
Kimberly Rachel, who was in an
abusive relationship for nine
years, said a wireless telephone
may have been more useful
than a court order in helping protect her from domestic violence.
”I had a protective order
against my abuser. But that‘s
just a piece of paper. It won‘t
stop a bullet,” the 33-year-old
mother of three said Monday.
Admittedly, a wireless phone
won‘t stop a bullet either, but
Ms. Rachel said, ”It‘s a quick
contact to law enforcement. And
law enforcement can stop an
attack.”
Ms. Rachel, who plans on
becoming a lawyer, made her
remarks
at
the
Crime
Prevention Resource Center
where three major wireless carriers put aside their competitive
differences and announced the
donation of 100 phones and airtime to 12 domestic violence
agencies in Tarrant, Dallas and
Denton counties.
The joint donation by PrimeCo,
AT&T Wireless Services and
Southwestern Bell Wireless
comes as the companies recognize
National
Domestic
Violence Awareness Month.
The phones, which will go to victims and caseworkers, are preprogrammed to dial 911 or other
emergency services. Some of
the phones also come with airtime allowing regular phone
Documentary details
sex among youngsters
BY JAMES PILCHER
Associated Press Writer
CONYERS, Ga. (AP) — The
suburban Atlanta county still
recovering from a school shooting in May is back in the national spotlight because of a documentary detailing shocking sexual behavior among youngsters.
Airing Tuesday as part of the
PBS series ”Frontline,” the documentary centers on a 1996
syphilis outbreak that infected
17 Rockdale County teen-agers
and forced 250 others to get
medical treatment.
The documentary features
interviews with teens who claim
they‘ve had as many as 100
sexual partners or joined in
group sex parties. Some report
becoming sexually active as
young as age 12.
While most Rockdale residents have yet to see the documentary, reports of its contents
have upset local leaders and
parents. The county is one of
the wealthiest in the Atlanta
area.
”No one is happy about it,
even if we know that we‘re
being used as an example of
what‘s going on everywhere.
No one likes to be slammed in
front of the whole country,” said
Bill Hughey, director of the
Rockdale Coalition, a nonprofit
youth organization.
”No matter what the focus of
the show, just to have our dirty
laundry aired is going to turn
some people off from coming
here.”
During the program, three
teen-age girls use stuffed animals to depict how classmates
participate in multiple-partner
sex. Other teens recount group
sex parties at upper middleclass homes.
Barak Goodman, who co-produced the program with his wife,
Rachel Dretzin Goodman, said it
is not intended to make
Rockdale County seem aberrant.
”We wanted to show that this
behavior is really just flags or indicators that something much more
profound is afflicting our kids
everywhere,” Goodman said.
The documentary opens with
a reference to the shooting in
May, when 15-year-old T.J.
Solomon wounded six classmates. The youth is awaiting
trial on adult charges.
calls.
The announcement in Fort
Worth is part of the national Call
to Protect campaign, whose
members include several wireless carriers, as well as
Motorola Inc., which provides
many of the phones, and the
National Coalition Against
Domestic Violence.
The campaign‘s goal is to provide 11,000 phones, many of
them donated and refurbished,
to combat domestic violence.
In Corpus Christi, U.S. Cellular
also announced Monday that it
was giving 100 wireless phones
to the Corpus Christi Women‘s
Shelter, which will distribute the
phones as part of its domestic
violence prevention efforts in 12
South Texas counties.
BOLING, Texas (AP) —
Halloween is two weeks away,
but 72-year-old Sylvan Miori is
already wearing a tuxedo, cape
and plastic Dracula fangs.
”Hey, it‘s the blood guy!” a
teen-ager says as the silverhaired vampire sweeps onto the
campus of Boling High School,
45 miles from Houston.
”How you doing?” Miori says
through the fake teeth. ”You old
enough to give blood?”
Shaking hands and slapping
backs, the retired businessman
and self-made millionaire works
the teen-age crowd. By the time
he reaches the door of the
school‘s temporary blood-donation clinic, he has talked a few
more students into rolling up
their sleeves.
Miori is trying to ease the
nation‘s blood shortage by getting young people in the habit of
donating as regularly as his
World War II generation did.
He founded a program called
Teens Are People Savers, or
TAPS, which encourages young
people to donate blood by providing schools with gift certificates that can be applied
toward student activities, such
as
graduation
parties.
Certificates worth up to $1,000
at stores such as Wal-Mart are
awarded.
Since its inception five years
ago at nearby Wharton High
School, the blood program has
spread across 10 Texas counties, producing more than
22,000 units of roughly a pint
each.
”What you‘re getting with
these kids is our future — a
generation of new givers,” Miori
said. ”If we can keep that going,
you‘ll always have a brand new
bunch of people turning 17
years old.”
TAPS may be one solution to
what some experts fear is an
emerging national crisis. A
study by the National Blood
Data Resource Center predicted that demand for blood in the
United States could outstrip
supply as soon as next year.
Those concerns have reached
Washington, where a House
subcommittee is to hold the
last of three hearings Tuesday
on the severity of the shortage.
Experts cite numerous pressures on the blood supply,
including tougher donor-screening restrictions, an aging population that is becoming too ill to
give blood, and the proliferation
of medical advances that
require substantial amounts of
blood, such as organ transplants.
There is also a generation gap
among donors: A poll Oct. 11
by America‘s Blood Centers,
the national network that supplies about 45 percent of the
nation‘s blood, found that 68
percent of people ages 18 to 24
have never donated blood to a
blood bank. By comparison,
only 22 percent of Americans
55 and over have never donated.
”Individuals in the age group of
55 and up are more sensitive to
the need for blood because of
their experiences in World War
II. Regrettably, as these folks
age they become more susceptible to the diseases that preclude giving blood,” said Bill T.
Teague, president of Houston‘s
Gulf Coast Regional Blood
Center.
”That‘s why it‘s so important
younger people understand the
need for blood, be educated
about the donation process, get
their fears addressed and get
the opportunity to donate,” he
added. ”And that‘s why TAPS is
such a success.”
Miori, a Navy veteran, created
TAPS in 1995 after reading a
newspaper article about the
declining blood supply. The former auto parts dealer and beer
distributor spoke to students at
Wharton High, offering $1,000
toward their graduation party.
He got 107 donations. Since
then, Miori has spent thousands
of his own dollars promoting the
program.
On the day of his visit to Boling
High, the school earned $500
for its graduation festivities.
Many students said the incentives helped get them in the
door to donate, but they left with
the satisfaction of knowing they
may save lives.
”It just feels good, knowing
you‘re helping people,” said
Julie Walker, 17, student blood
drive chairman.
With financial support from
foundations and corporate
sponsors, TAPS has now
donated more than $250,000 to
about 50 schools.
”Hell, I‘m going to die,” Miori
said. ”They‘re going to lose a
good blood donor when I die.
So we need to get these young
people started now.”