Leaders Share Ideas on Making Youths Safer

To a younger Ralph Morales, it was OK for his Bay Area church to raise money through a card game called “showdown,” in which the stakes were a bottle of booze. “The drinking booth and the showdown booth always brought in the most money” at the annual church festival, Morales said.

But as he got older, Morales began to question the appropriateness of mixing church and alcohol. After all, children were a major part of most church events.

Today, Morales is executive director of the Hayward, Calif., Interfaith Prevention Program and is involved in a different sort of showdown, between communities and alcohol peddlers. The stakes this time are the lives of young people.

At the Safer Neighborhoods Summit ‘97, a gathering Tuesday of nearly 60 religious and community leaders at the TowneHouse in Ventura, Morales said it is time for the community to change the policies that allow alcohol to get in the hands of youths.

Sponsored by the Ventura Interfaith Ministerial Assn. and the Community Partners for Safer Neighborhoods, the daylong summit was intended to make people aware of how alcohol and youth violence go together and of the toll they take on youth and the community.

“Alcohol was a link to youth violence that was being overlooked,” said Pat Barrett, community services director for the Center for Positive Living.

The Rev. Marilyn K. Miller, co-chairwoman of the Interfaith Ministerial Assn., spoke about children being the barometer of an area’s health. Communities have fallen ill in recent years, she said, and it shows in the children. Among the symptoms is increased alcohol use among young people, she said.

Miller said the solution is not to tell people what they can and cannot do. Rather, it is to change the policies of the civic, social and public institutions that allow alcohol, or the message that alcohol is OK to use in the hands of minors.

“We do not feel it is the right of any group to tell anyone what to do in their home,” Miller said. “The strategy being used on a more widespread basis is to manage the settings where problems occur.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean new legislation, said Zelenne Cardenas, vice president of the state-run California Council on Alcohol Policy. It could be as easy as setting rules at home and sticking to them.

Ventura Mayor Jack Tingstrom said the city will not tolerate any crime, including alcohol sales to minors, and is willing to consider proposals from the community to help keep crime down and keep children safe and healthy.

“Everything that we are doing here is for the future,” Tingstrom said.