Young Victims of Violence Recalled
* Three years ago, after a Friday night football game, a 17-year-old San Clemente youth was speared through the head with a paint roller rod while trying to avoid a confrontation with other teens.
Twenty-nine days later, without regaining consciousness, Steve Woods died.
That same year, 77 other youths fell victim to youth violence in Orange County: the honor student who was beaten and buried alive; the 3-year-old shot while playing in his yard; the new mother also killed in a drive-by shooting; the young boy shot because he refused to give up his skateboard; the young Marine who was beaten and left semiconscious in the path of a freight train; and the girl who was shot in the chest while sitting in a car waiting for her boyfriend.
Will anyone remember these and other young people who have lost their future to senseless violence?
More important, will anyone care?
Referenced victims: Stuart Tay, Steven Martinez, Debbie Gonzales, Christopher Vargas, Jason Smith and Angela Wagner.
PHIL MARTIN
Trabuco Canyon
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