Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 April 2004 — Page 1

Preparing a conscious community today and beyond Spotlight to benefit Indiana AIDS fund. Page Cl

INDIANA’S GREATEST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

Volume 109 ■ Number 15 ■ Since 1895 ■ FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2004 ■ www.indlanapolisrecorder.com ■ Four Sections ■ 75C COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT VITAL IN PREVENTING CHILD ABUSE

Recorder Production Manager, Jeana Marie Lewis, recently wed Tidiani Ouattara during a private ceremony, see page C8 for more photos. Annual O'Neal Super Shootout The Jermaine O'Neal Super Shootout will be April 10 at Conseco Fieldhouse. The Super Shootout will feature the Boy's All-Star Teams, Slam-Dunk contest and 3-point contest. The girls game starts at 1:30 p.m. and the boys game at 4 p.m. Tickets are $5. For more information call (317) 917-2811. Second Chance prom The Wheeler Boys & Girls Club unit would like to invite all those who have not experienced their high school prom or would like to go again to come to the benefit prom. The Second Chance Prom will be April 24 at the Hyatt Regency downtown, One S. Capitol Ave. from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tickets are now available at the Wheeler Boys & Girls Club, 2310 E. 30 ,h St., or by calling (317) 926-4222. BMV will be closed for holiday The Bureau of Motor Vehicles will close all license branches and administrative offices April 9 and April 10 in observance of Good Friday and Easter. License branches and administrative offices will reopen April 12 for normal business hours. Motorists can use BMV Express automated services for renewing standard vehicle registration via telephone, Internet or selfservice terminals when walk-in service is unavailable. BMV Express touch-tone renewal is available by calling 1-877-4New-BMV. Internet users can renew both a standard vehicle registration and driver license online at www.in.gov/bmv. Searching for community service awardees Mayor Bart Peterson is looking for a few good volunteers to honor with the 2004 Community Service Award.

► See BRIEFS, Page A3

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Abuse of innocence

By ERICKA P. THOMPSON Staff Writer Is there an effective way to prevent child abuse? What one person may see as punishment, another may view as abuse or neglect so where does the answer lie? April is Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month in Indiana and over the next two weeks The Recorder will focus on this serious issue. Last year in Indiana, 51 children died from abuse and neglect, 61,492 children were reported as victims and 20,368 cases were confirmed to be true. Prevent Child Abuse, a not-for-profit organization, is a major resource that is dedicated to lessening these numbers. Striving to offer as many avenues as possible to help abuse and neglect victims, Executive Director Andrea Marshall says during the organization’s 27 years of existence the focus has always been the welfare of children and their future. “The organization was started by a group of volunteers who worked in the field with children and families and were tired and frustrated by seeing all of the damage, harm and deaths that was being done to children,” she said. “No one was doing anything to raise awareness about how serious the problem was and that there were ways to prevent it from happening.” Now that the seriousness of child abuse has been made known, how do you define what is and isn’t abuse? Is beating a child the only form of abuse? What about leaving a child unattended for hours at a time? Or leaving a child in the care of someone who is not qualified? Marshall says each situation is abuse because they each put the child in some level of danger. She defines each situation as neglect and says it is just as harmful as physical abuse. “When you look at the reports and statistics year after year, neglect is the most prevalent form of abuse, she said.

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“Under Indiana statutes there are three types of abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Neglect is by far the most dominant.” Marshall added, “More children die from neglect than physical and sexual abuse combined. Neglect is not a frivolous thing. It can kill or permanently damage and harm the health and well being of a child." So what steps should be taken to prevent 20,000 children in Indiana who are abused or neglected each year? Cindy Collier, director of policy at the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration says community involvement is critical. “There are 1.6 million children in Indiana, obviously there can’t be a case worker in even home. Our hotline gets 60,000 calls a

year so what is more important is to talk about prevention and there are ways that communities and not-for-profit organizations can get involved,” she said. “Look for the warning signs in parents because if people try to diffuse the situation before it comes to the point where there is neglect and abuse. This is how neighbors, churches, teachers and other groups can help. When you’re helping the parent, you’re helping the child.” Although a caseworker could not be reached for this story, Child Protective Services (CPS) has an important role in protecting Indiana’s children from abuse and neglect. When a child is in danger CPS may remove the child from the home. It also prevents, corrects or assists in solving problems that may result in abuse or neglect. The overwhelming overload of child abuse cases that case workers are responsible for and the several high profile cases of abuse and neglect is one of the reasons Gov. Joe Kernan created the Child Protection Task Force. “The fact that we have a government program to protect kids from adults is a tragedy, but it is our solemn responsibility so we must do it well,” he said during his State of the State Address in January. “I am creating, by executive order an independent Child Protection Task Force to investigate the circumstances of seriously endangered children. This task force will focus on our most vulnerable children, and will aggressively investigate complaints regarding their abusers and find a safe place for these kids to live.” The task force, which is compiled of 12 panel members, ► $•• NEGLECT, Pag* A3

In Boone County a child development center is part of CAGI’s many programs offered to the poor or working poor in central Indiana. (ommunily group promoles economic self-reliance

By ERICKA C. WHEELER Stafl Writer Imagine an upper-middle class family that seemed to have it all - the car, the home and the good health. Now imagine having all that taken away because of one tragic accident. And no agency or government program would help you because you were not classified at poverty level before the

tragedy. These are the situations that theCommunity Action ofGreater Indianapolis(CAGI) is faced with everyday. “Those that come to us often come with pride,” said CAGI President John Thomas. “Sometimes they have never had to ask for assistance before in their life. But now they have come to us and ► See COMMUNITY, Page A2

'Hurricane' blows ink town Leaves behind knowledge, nof desfruefion

By JOSHUA COHEN Staff Writer When you look at Dr. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, when you hearhim speak either to a crowd or one individual, there is one undeniable impression he will leave with you. Carter is a man who at ever)' waking moment of his life, is glad to be free. “I am a surv ivor of the American 'so-called’ justice system,” said Carter at the Steward and Associates 2004 Speaker Series at Martin University. “And true history can only be written by those who survived that history." Carter spoke of his experiences in prison where he was incarcerated for 20 years after being falsely convicted of triple homicide. Carter started off the evening on a light note discussing the audience’s possible false hopes. “If anyone came tonight with the expectation of seei ng Denzel Washington, 1 apologize,” he joked in reference to Washington’s portrayal of him

in the 1999 movie “The Hurricane.” Carter, who earned his doctoral degree in Australia, has found how to laugh and joke with no bitterness or anger after his long imprisonment. “Hate and anger only consumes the vessel that contains it,” he said. It wasn’t always that way with him. After he first went to prison, Carter refused to wear the prison uniform, earning himself many consecutive days in the hole. “Because I knew I wasn’t guilty, I refused to act guilty,” he recalled. One day during a routine medical exam, Carter saw his reflection in the mirror and could not recognize himself. “I couldn’t believe the monster 1 saw.” He was rail thin and had on his worn out and tattered suit he had come into prison with. He realized that he needed to make a change. “It always smelled like death warmed over in the hole,” Carter described. “There is simply dark-

► See HURRICANE, Pag* A2

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