The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 12

12-A MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1996 GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS Most sex crimes are kids The Associated Press of sex offenders in state prisons attacked children, and a third these victims were offspring or of then 1 attackers, Justice Department reported In a report based on the largest survey ever of state prison inmates, the department said children under age 18 bear the brunt of sex offenses and that child molesting remains a crime most often perpetrated by relatives and acquaintances rather than strangers. The department's Bureau of Statistics estimated that state prisons held 43,552 inmates in 1991 who raped or sexually assaulted children under 18. That represents 65.5 percent of the estimated 66,482 state inmates convicted of raping or sexually assaulting victims of all ages. "This high rate of child victims is behind the heightened concern and the growing number of states passing laws that provide for notifying neighborhoods when sexual predators move in," said David Beatty, acting executive director of the National Victims Center, a private advocacy group in Arlington, "The majority of sex crimes are committed against children because they are more helpless, easier targets and easier to intimidate into silence." The Justice Department data are consistent with a 1992 national survey of crime victims. The Justice Department study found that more than half the child victims of rape or sexual assault were age 12 or younger.

Among all child victims of violence, three-fourths were female. A third of child molesters had attacked their own. child or stepchild. Another hah 0 of the molesters were a friend, acquaintance or more-distant relative of their victim. Only one in seven molested a child who was a stranger.

Three out of four child molesters committed their crimes either in their own home or the child's home. The government found that prisoners who had attacked children were mostly male, 97 percent, and were more likely to be white, nearly 70 percent, and married or divorced, 64 percent, than prisoners who had victimized those 18 or older. The average child victimizer was five years older than the average inmate who attacked adults. Policy has students protesting The Associated Press MEKRIMACK, N.H. Ask Tom Gotsill, an English teacher for 30 years, how Walt Whitman's homosexuality affected his poetry.

"I can't discuss that," Gotsill James Roy, a math teacher for 21 years, surely can explain a newspaper article citing AIDS "I apologize. I just can't talk that," Eoy responds, lowering his head as color rises in ills face. Until this school year, both deachers would have answered Shese questions. Ibday, they back jaway for fear of violating a school ban on teachers dis- -cussing homosexuality as a part pf life and living. "For the first time in my life, I -feel I have to look over my shoul- every time I say something," Kay, who has joined parents others suing Merrimack in federal court on the policy inhibits free- -oom of speech, 'y The policy, titled the "Prohibition of Alternative Lifestyle Instruction," has pitted neighbor against neighbor in this town of 22,450.

The school board's conservative majority is standing firm, insisting the policy protects children. Hundreds of students, however, are wearing black armbands or pink triangle pins in protest. Meanwhile, teachers have altered how they teach such classics as "Moby Dick," "Of Mice and Men," "The Glass Menagerie" and William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "As You Like It" to avoid any discussion of homosexuality, either in plot or authorship. Under the policy, enacted on a 3-2 vote last August, teachers are not allowed to pass out materials, instruct or offer counseling portraying homosexuality as an acceptable way of life. School board chairman Chris Ager, who proposed the policy, has said violations would be regarded as insubordination grounds for firing.

Ager won't specify what he would consider a violation, so teachers say they are in the dark. 1 will say that as of today, not a single teacher has been disciplined as a result of this policy," Ager says. That's because teachers are taking every precaution to protect their jobs, says SueRuggeri, president of the Merrimack Teachers' Association, one of the plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court lawsuit. According to the suit, classes no longer address ADDS prevention and suicide among gay teens.

Teachers say "Twelfth Night" has been withdrawn from instruction. Its comical plot involves a young woman who disguises herself as a page, who falls in love with his-her master, who becomes fond of the page but pines for a countess, who becomes infatuated with the page, not knowing him to be a her. Roy, whose two children attend Merrimack schools, says fighting the policy through the courts was the best tiling he could think to do. "I believe that I can make a difference in kids' lives. I would be teaching them nothing if I quit in this battle," he says.

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For more information, call Sharon Robert at (713) 337-1516. E3 MERCHANTS BANK Locally Owned. Community Minded. 2801 Main Street Texas 77568 (713) 337-1516 and 13 convenient locations! Member Bertolino Principal Continued from 1-A Bertolino's youngest daughter, said her father had 21 children, including four sets of twins. She also talked of how he would walk up to 10th Street and Seawall Boulevard, look into the Gulf and determine whether the fish were moving that day.

"That's how Bertolino's View got its name," she said. The street was dedicated shortly after his death in 1960. Somewhere along the line, Charles Bertolino learned to box from a Filipino man who worked on one the ships. And in between fishing, baking and saving lives, he also found time to teach his sons to box. Eddie Bertolino went on to be a three-time lightweight champ in 1947 and 1948.

According to the monument, Bertolino swam five miles a day in the gulf, even into his 70s. Part of the reason might have been that Charles Bertolino's father drowned when Charles was three. "My grandfather's death might have had a little to do with why my father was a lifeguard," Eddie Bertolino said. "But he was just that kind of man." He wanted to help people, and since he was always around the water, he helped people by saving their lives, Bertolino said. Continued from! -A Sunday and said she thinks parents are prepared for today's school board meeting.

'We. have laid down to-the- point issues to discuss during the meeting," she said. Kendricks would not say exactly what those issues were. At the High Island School auditorium, the school board meeting will allow an open discussion from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., according to the board's agenda.

After the discussion, the school board will hold an executive session. During the open session, speakers are allowed five minutes. The student body will also choose a representative. "The auditorium holds about 300 people," Bridgett Borden said. "I hope that people have to sit on each other's lap to get inside." Borden said Chiavarolotti, or "Mr.

has pulled the community together. "He gained the respect of the community," Borden said. For instance, he has buses run from the ferry all the way to High Island School, she said. Sunday's meeting was initially scheduled to be held at Stingaree restaurant in High Island. The meeting was moved because of an ordinance that doesn't allow public meetings to be held where alcohol is served.

Charles Bertolino in 1950. Recycle for your children's sake. DAELYNEWS "There 9 too much time and money wasted on lawsuits that could be settled outside the courtroom." All too often, bitter lawsuits that could be settled outside of the courtroom cost both sides thousands of dollars and clog up our courts. Norma Venso. believes mediation outside the courtroom is the best way to unclog our courts and save citizens' money.

That's why, if she is elected as our next 56th District Court Judge, Venso will orde'r mediation in all civil lawsuits before they come to her courtroom. Venso is an experienced mediator, herself, having mediated more than 131 lawsuits. She is a also the past president of the Galveston County Mediators Association and is a part-time instructor in mediation at the University of Houston- Clear Lake. More mediation will lead to more settlements, less money spent by both sides of cases, and quicker hearings on aeriouR criminal caaca and complex civil suits. That's what we need.

That's what we'll get with Norma Venso as our next District Judge. "As a District Judge, Fll save time and money by encouraging lawsuit settlements through mediation." Venso has the qualifications and experience to make a great judge. Court Approved Mediator of Civil Disputes Appointed a Special Master by a District Judge State Bar of Texas Lecturer Vice President, Anti-Theft League of Galveston Rotary Club member Texas Bar Foundation member J.D., University of Texas School of Law B.A., Government, University of Texas NORMA VENSO for DISTRICT JUDGE 56' DISTRICT COURT Ailv, ty Nonllil Vein" Campaign, Timber. Treasurer, 12212 Oak I jnr, Diclttnioit, TX 77530 SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 744-8811 MaMand 888-7711 or 1-800-681-8811.