
DATE: Thursday, October 2, 1997             TAG: 9710020499

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KIA MORGAN ALLEN  AND ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITERS 

                                            LENGTH:  101 lines

DOOR-TO-DOOR FUND-RAISERS CRITICIZED AFTER N.J. BOY'S DEATH LOCAL PARENTS ALSO VOICE CONCERN ABOUST SALES PRACTICE.

Candy Johnson shadows her daughter J'Ettera when the 11-year-old knocks on strangers' doors to peddle her candy treats. Johnson doesn't like being a door-to-door saleswoman, but she knows it's the only way her daughter's martial arts school can earn money for a trip to Orlando.

She also knows that danger could lurk behind any door.

``I would never let her go alone or even with a friend,'' said Johnson, a Portsmouth resident. ``When someone sees a kid walking around with a box with only two or three bars in it, they can figure that they have about $40 or $50 bucks on them, and people have been killed for a lot less.''

Johnson's concerns were echoed by other Hampton Roads parents and the National PTA on Wednesday, after a 15-year-old New Jersey boy was charged with murdering an 11-year-old boy who disappeared while selling merchandise door to door for a school fund-raiser.

The 11-year-old victim was sexually assaulted and strangled in the suspect's home, said E. David Millard, a New Jersey prosecutor.

Edward Peter Werner disappeared Saturday. Tracking dogs found his body late Monday night in woods he frequently used as a shortcut from his neighborhood to the suspect's nearby neighborhood.

The suspect apparently had no prior contact or relationship with Edward, Millard said. He described the incident as a ``chance encounter'' and refused to say anything else about a possible motive for the crime.

Edward was carrying cash when he went to the suspect's house in an adjoining neighborhood that is ``very safe'' and ``a good area,'' Millard said.

The prosecutor would not discuss many details of the crime, including whether the suspect answered the door, what sort of device was used in the strangling or whether the body was fully clothed when it was found.

Millard said the accused youth's parents cooperated with investigators.

The suspect was being held in the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center, Millard said, following an initial appearance Wednesday morning in juvenile court.

Local school officials said Wednesday that children are discouraged, and sometimes prohibited, from doing door-to-door sales by themselves. The National PTA discourages local groups from sponsoring fund-raisers. Instead, the group tries to teach the local PTAs how to lobby for more state and local funding.

``We have a long-standing policy that children should not have to do fund raising, that they should not bear the financial burden for raising money for resources for their school,'' said Patty Yoxall, director of the National PTA.

Bethanne Bradshaw, spokeswoman for Suffolk schools, said the district strongly encourages parents to accompany their children on fund-raising ventures. The district doesn't want its students going door to door alone.

``Especially with the elementary school-age children, that's something we recommend against because of concerns about safety,'' Bradshaw said.

Virginia Beach school policy prohibits elementary- and middle-school students from canvassing neighborhoods for fund-raising purposes.

Tallwood Elementary principal Linda Tanner said that other than the PTA wrapping-paper sale going on now, the school might sell magazines later in the year.

``What usually happens is the parents take it to work,'' she said.

Still, many children make their way onto streets alone, boxes bursting with candy treats and envelopes stuffed with cash.

Cindy Mayer, a member of the Taylor Elementary PTA in Norfolk, said she has seen children going door to door by themselves. ``They're told specifically not to, but where there's no active parental involvement, they do,'' she said.

As Virginian-Pilot reporters compiled this story, a 14-year-old Virginia Beach student entered the newsroom to seek sponsors for a teen pageant. Her mother waited outside.

``Because of the crime rate, I just feel it's safer for me to bring her,'' said Margarita D'Angelo, a court reporter. ``I just don't feel it's safe for children to be out on the street.'' So D'Angelo drives her daughter from business to business.

At Christa McAuliffe Middle School, where the slain New Jersey boy was one of the top sellers in the periodic PTA fund-raisers, some students were so upset Tuesday morning that their parents took them home.

Many others turned to the 19 counselors brought in to help them with their grief, schools spokeswoman Stephanie Yusko said.

The district also suspended fund-raisers like the one in which Edward had hit the streets in hopes of winning a pair of walkie-talkies for sales of candy, nuts and wrapping paper.

Back in Hampton Roads, Johnson will continue to walk the fund-raising walk with her daughter. The two sold M&Ms and other goodies at 40 homes one weekend in the Churchland section of Portsmouth. But Johnson said, after this school year, things need to change.

``We need to sit down . . . and come up with a plan where they can appeal to other adults in the community by hosting bazaars instead of putting these kids on the streets with these items. It's dangerous.'' MEMO: Staff writer Aleta Payne and The Associated Press contributed to

this story. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

ASSOCIATED PRESS photos

Jimmy Kube, 13, of Jackson Township, N.J., prays Wednesday after

placing flowers by a tree in memory of Edward Werner, top photo, who

disappeared while selling goods door to door for a school

fund-raiser.

GARY C. KNAPP

Candy Johnson accompanies her daughter J'Ettera when she takes part

in door-to-door fund-raisers.