The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • 6

SECOND EDITION The Modesto Bee COMMUNITIES Thursday May 18 2000 B-3 trophies Saturday at Boogie at the Maddux Youth Center in Modesto The free program is scheduled from 1 pm to 9 pm at the center at 615 Sierra Drive The event will be hosted by Ivan Manriquez a dancer who has toured the United States and performed with rapper and movie star Will Smith Featured performers will include Rush Tribe Top Ramen and The Cuff Disc jockeys will include Jorge One Don Juan Frankie and BISR For more information call 577-5355 Murder Mystery Plus dinner A Murder Mystery Dinner in which participants will dine as they try to solve a mystery will be held Sunday at Appetez Restaurant in Modesto as a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society The cost is $40 per person Reservations should be made by calling the restaurant at 577-5099 The restaurant is at 825 Roseburg Ave The event will begin promptly at 5 pm and conclude at 9 pm Dog Clinic Shots licenses A low-cost rabies vaccination and dog license clinic will be held from 6 pm to 8 pm today at Pioneer Park in Newman The Stanislaus County Department of Animal Services and the Northern San Joaquin Veterinary Medical Association are sponsoring the clinic Rabies vaccinations will cost $5 per dog Dog licenses must be purchased at the same time License fees depend on whether dogs are spayed or neutered Parvo and distemper vaccinations will be available for $9 each Dogs must be on a leash The clinic will be held rain or shine For more information call Animal Services at 558-7387 Hip-hop contest Hip-hop dancers will compete for JAY SOUZA Setting sail The second annual Lake Yosemite Sailboat Regatta will be held Saturday and Sunday at Lake Yosemite north of Merced Last inaugural event attracted sailboats from throughout California Including the Daysailer-class boat in the foreground which is trying to get past a Banshee-class craft Sponsored by the Lake Yosemite Sailing Association the regatta begins at 11 am The call 468-3679 Winter Guard Meeting scheduled The San Joaquin Valley Chapter of the National Association for Uniformed Services will meet Saturday The 10 am to noon session will be at Castle Air Museum in Atwater The guest speaker Air Force Col Chuck Winter will give a talk titled Rickenbacker and The public is invited For more information call Orrie Taylor at 723-8274 or Leeman Pierce at 723-8098 Group Picnic 10th-year fete Changing Attitudes in Recovery groups for people suffering from selfesteem problems will gather for a picnic on Sunday to celebrate their 10th anniversary The picnic will be at Whitmore Park College and Bowen avenues Modesto The picnic set for noon to 5 pm will feature barbecuing birthday cake sodas and volleyball games Members and friends interested in attending the picnic are asked to bring meat to barbecue paper goods and a dish to share For more information call 577-1667 Smoke Test Ceres sewers The city of Ceres will conduct smoke testing on its sewer system to check for leaks beginning Tuesday As part of the testing the city will pour liquid smoke into manholes said Michael Riddell the sanitation services supervisor Fans will force the smoke into the sewer system and workers will walk through neighborhoods looking for leaks Riddell said Notices have been left on doors to notify residents Riddell said The notices include telephone numbers people can call if they have questions during the testing he said While some smoke could enter buildings Riddell stressed that it is nontoxic and will not leave stains He said owners can get rid of the smoke by ventilating their buildings MERCED BLOOD BANK Today's inventory and needs final race will begin at 11 am Sunday A barbecue will be held at 6:30 pm Saturday at the sailing clubhouse adjacent to the main parking lot at the lake some of the regular residents animals that have been injured or for other reasons cannot be returned to the wild The entrance fee per family is one of the above items or dinner napkins bottled drinking water frozen vegetable mix paper towels laundry detergent heating pad 1 -gallon plastic bags with zipper closures liquid hand soap or nonflavored Pedialyte The shower will be from 10 am to 3 pm at the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center at the Fox Grove Fishing Access off Geer Road at the Tuolumne River For more information call 883-9414 Inmate Art Sale To aid children Deuel Vocational Institution will present an art sale Friday and Saturday to benefit abused children The prison is at 23500 Kasson Road near Tracy Paintings ceramics wood furniture handmade guitars hand-bound books and other items made by inmates will be displayed in the in-service training building near the entrance to the state prison The show will run from 9 am to 5 pm Friday and from 9 am to 3 pm Saturday The DVI Victims Services Committee is sponsoring the event Proceeds go to the San Joaquin County Child Abuse Prevention Crisis Nursery in Stockton Gospel Time Choirs food praise Gospel Fest 2000 featuring choirs from Modesto Sacramento and the Bay Area along with dancers food and other vendors will take place from 1 1 am to 9 pm Saturday at Mellis Park in Modesto The park is at Martin Luther King Drive and California Avenue The First Christian Methodist Episcopal Church of Modesto is sponsoring the event For more information call 526-9464 Free Food San Joaquin sites Low-income residents of San Joaquin County can get free government-surplus food at several sites today The food will be distributed until it runs out Starting times and locations: 7 am at the Ripon Community Center 312 Fourth St 8 am at the Lathrop Community Center 15557 Fifth St 8 am at the Manteca Library 320 Center St and 9 am at the Escalon CARE Center 1531 Second St The food is available to households whose monthly income does not exceed $906 for one person $1221 for two $1536 for three $1851 for four $2166 for five or $2481 for six Each participant must bring a grocery bag For more information event Riverbank High award-winning drum line and winter guard will perform for the community Friday in the gym The free 8 pm performance is a thank you for the continued support of the high school music program Baby Shower For wildlife Like most baby showers the one Saturday at the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center is aimed at helping care for newborns Unlike most though the gift list includes liquid bleach 13-gallon trash bags postage stamps and smooth peanut butter Each spring the wildlife center near Hughson is inundated with baby birds coyotes and other critters Staff members nurture the animals with the goal of releasing them into the wild The baby shower is an annual event to help the center stock up on needed supplies The baby shower will include refreshments and games and participants also will be able to visit 301 13th St Merced Open Monday through Friday Appointments encouraged 385-7073 Source: Merced County Blood Bank THE BEE Problems at CYA end soon Lawmakers told improvements made but treatment of wards a horror story By JON MATTHEWS BEE CAPITOL BUREAU conditions Former wards and parents of wards told the committee that conditions and rehabilitation opportunities at the 11 institutions can vary dramatically but that many wards live in crowded mass housing units and have been in constant fear of physical attacks from other wards and retaliation from staff Former ward Armando Lopez who now is employed and attending school in the San Fernando Valley area said the atmosphere of danger meant he was able to take full advantage of rehabilitation programs only during the final years of his CYA term not during his first years outrageous allegations some of which true many of which are true and most of which we can corroborate with staff without any trouble at all The staff knows this is happening and the staff cares about it But for a whole host of reasons they have not spoken up as they ought to have to the degree they ought to he said White added that while many CYA wards have opportunities for education and other programs many other wards have no programming Legislators heard numerous recommendations for how to reform the system including providing more money for treatment programs and housing wards in smaller more personal facilities 4 1 fights between inmates and rival gang members by putting them together White told the committee that Gov Davis has made a commitment to clean up such problems And Robert Presley secretary of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency said the administration has taken many steps to end abuses including banning certain harsh disciplinary practices and biomedical research on wards and is working hard to improve employee training and recruitment procedures as well as leadership But White bluntly described the CYA which has about 7500 wards as an institution rebounding from a long deep decline and previous lack of leadership While he praised the vast majority of CYA staff members as genuinely caring about turning wards around he said the employees are within a context of a (previous) leadership vacuum this ethical and spiritual collapse if you will and are seeing things that they have been so inured to over the years that they speak up about White a former Sacramento County district attorney appointed to his post last year by Davis estimated that he has talked to about 1000 CYA wards and staff members talk to wards every day of the week in different institutions and we hear some of the most Hardware Gift Items I i SACRAMENTO Confronted with stories of rape drugs gang violence and other horrors that have faced wards of the California Youth Authority state legislators were bluntly told Tuesday that the agency is beset with deep long-term problems that despite progress cannot be solved immediately would be impossible to overstate the dimension of the the Youth and Adult Correctional inspector general Steve White told a special hearing of the state Senate and Assembly Public Safety committees committee needs to know it and the people who are genuinely concerned about the CYA need to appreciate it and it is going to take some time problems go back a long ways they are continuing as we speak There has been very significant improvement over the last year but there is a whole lot more to Both administrators and legislators agreed that the CYA needs to do more to restore a focus on the rehabilitation of youthful offenders rather than simply warehousing them in punitive Trusted for Three Generations Fear is first priority not that the programs were not available during that time The programs were there But you are so busy trying to defend yourself that you really have time to take advantage of the quality he told the committee After a six-month investigation White reported last year that there had been longstanding abuses at the Herman Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino Some of the 1400 wards at the institution had been drugged slammed into walls and forced into cells with feces and urine on the floors the report said report also said guards set up potential Assess all needs Sen John Vasconcellos D-Santa Clara said he will immediately ask new CYA Director Jerry Harper to fulfilling obligation to assess all wards as to their needs education vocational psychological substance abuse so that with appropriate programming and treatment they will be paroled as safer more productive Some legislators voiced concern that they do not have enough access to confidential reports on CYA 250 Market St 632-3983 SOURCE Just off West Main in Downtown Turlock If' Mon Fri 8-6 Thursday 8-8 Saturday 8-5.