Anaheim Residents Ask for Salvation From Crime in Park

Five months after the federal government blocked the City of Anaheim from starting an anti-gang program with the Salvation Army, some residents say they are feeling the repercussions.

More than 300 people concerned about safety at Pearson Park met with the city’s chief of parks and recreation Wednesday night to ask why he has not moved forward with the anti-gang program, which they see as pivotal to deterring crime.

For members and neighbors of the St. Boniface Church in Anaheim, the nearby park has turned from a place of play to one of fear.

‘Afraid for Their Lives’

Senior citizens “don’t go there,” said Dorothy Morozzo, a member of the church. “They’re afraid to go. They’re afraid for their lives.”

The residents asked Chris Jarvi, Anaheim’s director of parks, for better lighting, more park rangers and speedier progress on the youth outreach program.

Jarvi said that there is a request for better lighting at Pearson for the 1987-88 fiscal year and that an extended park ranger program for Pearson, Modjeska and Brookhurst parks is in the works. But the $150,000 youth program involving federal money remains on hold pending further talks with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Last July, the proposed youth program aimed at preventing gang activity and providing counseling for teen-agers hit a snag when HUD told the city that a contract with the Salvation Army would violate the doctrine of separation of church and state. HUD officials said the Salvation Army is considered a religious organization.

Same Question Arose Earlier

The same question arose this year in Burbank over a proposal to give $10,000 to the Salvation Army for motel room vouchers for the homeless and in Glendale over an allocation to the Catholic Youth Organization for a new building.

The youth outreach services--including counseling, crisis intervention, information and referral programs--were recommended to the Anaheim City Council last January. Although a 1984 report had concluded that there were no “formal gangs” in Anaheim, it indicated that the potential for the formation of street gangs existed.

Since July, HUD officials have visited the Anaheim Salvation Army office to ensure that the rooms that would house the youth outreach and recreation services do not have crosses or other religious symbols, Salvation Army Capt. Joseph L. Huttenlocker said Thursday.

The Salvation Army also has added a clause to its pending contract with the city that states that the federal money will not be used for religious worship, counseling, instruction or “other activities of a religious nature.”

“We intentionally put in that language to neutralize” the statement of religious mission that is included in all contracts with the Salvation Army, said Steve E. Swaim, Anaheim community services division manager.

‘Operated on Quasi-Military Pattern’

The two-paragraph statement explains that the Salvation Army, founded in 1865, is “an international religious and charitable movement organized and operated on a quasi-military pattern and is a branch of the Christian Church.”

The organization, with its philosophy of “soup, soap and salvation,” is a religious organization with a social emphasis, Huttenlocker explained.

Huttenlocker and Swaim said they thought that the Salvation Army planned to consider revising its mission statement during a conference this week in New Jersey, but Andrew Miller, the national commander of the Salvation Army, said Thursday that the issue had not surfaced.

“There can’t be any change in the mission statement. That’s just what we are,” Miller said in a phone interview from New Jersey. “The army has never backed off what it is. We are the Salvation Army, and that’s what we are.”