
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 21, 1993                   TAG: 9305210461
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PLENTY FOR YOUTH TO WORRY ABOUT

I CUT OUT 15 articles, using four papers, for a child-development project at Cave Spring High School where I am a senior. This sickens me. Why? Most of them were about children dying, committing crimes or both. Examples of headlines include "17-year-old killer gets life sentence," "Trial ordered for boys suspected in tot-slaying" (the boys were 10 years old, the victim was 2), and "Teen guilty in carjack slaying." There were other articles like this that I didn't cut out. I may be only 17 years old, but articles like this still shock me.

What lessons are being taught to us? What makes a kid do things like this? I don't understand.

As kids, we are supposed to be the future of the world. If this is true, I'm seriously worried about the future. Something needs to be done. As I see more and more kids turning to crime, I become scared of what kind of world my children will be left with. I may be young, but I feel I have every right to be worried. MARIE BOUCHER ROANOKE COUNTY

by CNB