The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 18

1 A18 THE NEWS JOURNAL THURSDAY, DEC. 2, 1993 Lawmaker wants warnings on violent video games as free speech, they are too violent to be played by children. "Few parents would buy these games for their kids if they really knew what was in them," Lieberman said at a Capitol Hill news conference. Sega of America one of the nation's largest video game distributors, said it is already keeping violent games away from children and younger teen-agers. Sega Vice President Bill White said, "The adult market today wants something more than just playing Pac Man." Lieberman showed reporters segments of two video games, "Mortal Kombat" and "Night Trap." Mortal Kombat features two martial-arts warriors pounding away at each other amid much spattering of blood.

The game instructs a player to "finish" a downed opponent. The choices for murder include ripping the heart out of the victim or removing, in one blow, the victim's head and spinal column. In Night Trap, the goal is to prevent a gang of black-hooded from capturing scantily clad sorority members and using a neck drill device to drain their blood. The software for the game includes images from scenes filmed with real actors. In the scene played at the news conference, the attackers get their screaming victim and attach the blood-draining device to her neck with a high-pitched drilling noise.

Lieberman said he would prefer that Congress ban such violent games but he said they are constitutionally protected. Captain Kangaroo, also known as Bob Keeshan, said his initial reaction on seeing the videos was "disbelief I just could not believe anybody could go that far." Keeshan said greed was the sole motive behind the games. Lieberman quoted one industry estimate that Mortal Kombat would generate $100 million in business this Christmas season. He said more than three million copies of the game have already been sold. Sega said that games intended for mature audiences account for only 2 percent of sales.

The games cost between $40 and $80 but can be rented at video stores for a few dollars. They are also available in video arcades. Lieberman's bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Herb Kohl, would give the video game industry one year to produce "a credible, uniform system to warn parents." If the industry failed to produce its own system of ratings or warning labels, the bill would create an independent council to impose a warning system. By JOHN DIAMOND Associated Press WASHINGTON A screaming sorority member beset by bloodsucking attackers; a fight ending with the removal of the head and spine of the loser.

These video game images must be kept from children through parental warnings, a lawmaker said Wednesday. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, flanked by Captain Kangaroo and other children's advocates, said that while these and similar video games are protected Agency: Targets violence FROM PAGE A1 tions in an effort to reduce youth violence and crime. The Boys and Girls Club will have two designated centers. The designated centers will expand their normal hours of operation so they can be open late at night, offering everything from "moonlight" basketball leagues to arts and crafts programs.

In addition, Martin said, the centers will: Offer individual and family counseling. Provide substance abuse treatment and counseling. Provide parenting and conflict resolution classes. Teach GED (high-school equivalency) classes. Offer a mentor program matching youths with adults willing to act as role models and counselors.

Provide referral services. "It turns out that dealing with youth is not a 9-to-5 endeavor. We have to invade their world. We can't just close the doors on programs at 5 o'clock and go home. We have to do something to get them off the streets at night," Martin said.

Madeline Warns, president of United Way of Delaware, agreed. "This is primarily a nocturnal population," she said. "If we're going to reach them, we have to reach them at night." Warns also spoke at Wednesday's Kiwanis meeting, telling the audience that "no one is immune to the trend in youth violence." Warns said that Delaware, for example, ranks ninth out of 50 states in terms of the number of juvenile arrests, according to a study by the Center for the Study of Social Policy. "It's an American epidemic and we need to fight to take our communities back," she said. The trends indicate a serious problem, she said: 25 percent of the children who die each year are killed by gunshot.

Sixty-six percent of teens in a recent nationwide survey said they can get a gun within 24 hours. Twenty percent of teens in a recent nationwide survey said they would shoot someone who had stolen something from them. Fifteen percent of the children who attend schools go to class with a weapon of some kind. Martin said that although the initiative "looks good on paper," it may not be the solution to youth violence in Delaware. For that reason, he said, the University of Delaware has agreed to monitor the pilot project and evaluate its effectiveness.

"There's no sense continuing to do something that isn't working," he said. "If it doesn't work then we'll have to try something new." Cell: Man awaits word on release FROM PACE A1 Loper called prison "a godsend," helping him kick dope, alcohol and tobacco. He now attends church regularly and is engaged to be married. "I'd keep him myself if I could," said McGaughan, who is bound by law to hire only veterans as full-time cemetery employees. Loper has a temporary job through the Correction Department's work-release program.

He lives at the Plummer Center in Wilmington. "I've had job offers, and one employer is willing to wait for me if my release doesn't take too long," Loper said. "I hope the job's still there. Lots of employers don't want to hire you if you're on work-release, because there are so many restrictions." "I'm not happy about the wait, either," Loper said Wednesday. "But I realize everything has procedures, and I'm hanging on, trying to have patience." "Right now, I just want to get cM with my life" he said.

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