PREVIEW

Benefit Pits Stars, Probation Officers in a Slam-Dunk for Juvenile Halls

This is one time the beneficiaries of a celebrity fund-raiser won’t be on hand to see the event. They’ll be locked up instead.

Sunday’s concert and basketball game in the Cal State Northridge Gymnasium will raise money for inmates at the county’s three juvenile halls. On the double bill are a 6 p.m. concert featuring actor-singers John Schneider and John Stamos, and singer-songwriter Michael Stanton, followed by an 8 p.m. basketball game pitting Schneider, ex-Laker Norm Nixon, ex-Raider Lyle Alzado, comedian Paul Rodriguez, ex-boxer Ken Norton and other notables against a county Probation Department team. Rooting the players on will be a nine-member cheerleading squad.

And although the incarcerated youths will miss the evening, billed a “Slam ‘n’ Jam Against Delinquency,” its organizers believe many will be helped in the long run.

“When they get out of juvenile hall, we want these kids to go in some direction besides selling crack,” said Cynthia Birt, a member of Just People, a volunteer group that takes various programs into Sylmar Juvenile Hall. “We want to let these kids know someone cares about them, because lots of them don’t have fathers or mothers.”

Stanton, another Just People organizer, worked as Schneider’s producer when the former “Dukes of Hazard” star toured as a country singer. The two of them and Stamos, star of TV’s “Full House,” play guitars and sing. Their concert will include country and pop songs.

Stanton takes part in monthly discussion groups with youths at Sylmar Juvenile Hall. He helped organize quarterly shows that are staged there by the Wild Life Way Station animal preserve.

“When you think of poor kids in an orphanage, that’s what Juvenile Hall is like,” he said. “These kids are mostly forgotten.”

The basketball game could develop into a close contest. The celebrities have accomplished players, including Nixon and ex-Laker Ron Carter. But the Probation Department team is no pushover. Department spokesman Craig Levy said the squad, called the Protectors, has been champion of the Peace Officers League two years in a row. The league includes teams from the Los Angeles Police and Fire departments and the county Sheriff’s Department.

“People don’t know what a probation officer does,” said Levy. “They have the stereotype of a guy behind a desk shuffling papers.”

In fact, he said, probation officers help staff the juvenile halls and the county’s youth detention camps. They must be able to handle youths who have histories of violence.

“We have some big guys, some pretty athletic guys,” Levy said.

Tickets to the concert and game are $20. The cost is tax deductible. Proceeds will go in part to fund scholarships that are awarded by the Probation Department. The scholarships, ranging from $50 to $1,500, are for youths who leave a juvenile hall and want to resume their education.

“Slam ‘n’ Jam Against Delinquency”; Sunday, concert 6 p.m., game 8 p.m.; Cal State Northridge Gymnasium; enter Zelzah Avenue and Plummer Street; tickets $20; call Ticketron, 818-763-9101, or at the door.