AGOURA HILLS : Meeting to Focus on Teen-Age Violence

Alarmed over the fatal stabbing of an Agoura Hills teen-ager last month, city officials and a homeowners group have scheduled a community meeting to discuss ways to help troubled youth.

“Kids killing kids with knives in Old Agoura? What the hell is going on here?” said Jess Thomas, president of the Old Agoura Homeowners Assn.

He and other community leaders are urging parents to take more responsibility for their children’s behavior.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Monday in the Agoura High School auditorium, 28545 W. Driver Ave.

A panel, including Capt. Jerry Walker of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, will be on hand to answer questions.

James Farris III was stabbed to death May 22 during what police say was an attempted robbery at the back-yard clubhouse of Michael McLoren, who was wounded.

Police said two adults and three juveniles participated in the attack, which occurred after Farris and McLoren, both 16, refused to hand over a locked box that contained marijuana and cash.

A July 24 hearing will determine whether two 17-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy charged in the crime will be tried as adults, authorities said.

Brandon Wade Hein, 18, of Oak Park, has been ordered to stand trial and Jason Holland, also 18, of Thousand Oaks, is scheduled to be arraigned July 26 in Malibu Municipal Court.

Various public meetings have been held to help the community come to terms with the crime and to try to stop teen-age violence.

However, Mayor Louise Rishoff is hoping that Monday’s meeting will result in a formal plan to help teen-agers stay out of trouble.

“At other meetings, the turnouts have been very disappointing,” she said. “What I’m hoping is that this one will not be just a one-shot, question-and-answer session, but the start of some serious goal-setting. Hopefully, some task forces will spin out of this, as people identify areas they are particularly interested in.”

Said Thomas: “Somehow, we’ve got to reach out to every single one of our children and parents and convince them that responsible citizenship is the only thing that is going to bring sanity back to our society. So far, we have failed miserably.”