1993_04 Insight April 1993

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ARTH IN THE BALANCE!
An Insight Special Report Inside
California State University, Fresno
NSIGHT
Wednesday, April 28,1993
CSU Fresno's Premier News Source
Volume 25, Issue 22
Child abuse up;
CPS overloaded
♦ Underfunded Child
Protective Services
contributes to social
worker burnout.
By Michele D'Ambrosio
Staff Writer
Shelby Obcry never lived to sec his
first birthday. Six-month-old Shelby
was born prematurely with chronic
lung problems. After his death last
May. his parents
were charged with
felony neglect.
Just five months
later. Rose Ann
Palumbo died after her skull was
shattered by a person caring for her.
Dr. David Haddcn,
Fresno County
Coroner, said Rose
Ann had suffered
chronic abuse up
until her death, including a fractured
rib.
Shelby and Rose Ann died after
multiple referrals to Fresno County
Child Protective Services.
The Fresno Bee reported that health
professionals and others had alerted
Fresno County's Child Protective
Services 18 times that Shelby and his
siblings were not properly cared for—
right up to a few days before Shelby's
death when a counselor warned CPS
that the boy was in grave medical
danger. Rose Ann's aunt said five
calls were made to CPS about the
abuse her niece was enduring, but
action was delayed.
Child abuse and neglect is a leading
causeof childhood deaths in the United
States, according to the California
Stale Office of the Attorney General.
Battling the rise in child abuse reports
lias left Fresno County CPS overloaded and underfunded. Many say
this, combined with the serious nature
of child abuse, results in a high rate of
turnover for CPS social workers.
Dr.Joan Henderson, CSUF director
of professional experiences in the
school of education, said in the last
eight years child abuse reports have
quadrupled all over the country, probably because of
     two factors.
"More people
are reporting because there's so
much being written and so many
classes on child
abuse," she said.
"But I also think
that it's the increase in stress
that occurs in the
world today and
all the changes in
our families."
Henderson identified the family
changes as an increase in single-parent homes, an increase of children
bom out of wedlock and an increase
in individuals who come into the home
and have access to children.
"I'm not saying single-parent families cause child abuse," she said. "I'll
just use ancxamplc of a young mother,
17 years old, no support and out of
wedlock. She has a child that has
tremendous physical and emotional
handicaps.
See Abuse, page A4.
Sexual and child
abuse scars
survivors...
PAGE A4
Budget cuts slam door
on juvenile offenders
♦ Officials fear that
a crippled justice
system can not
reform offenders.
By Mike Fleming
Staff Writer
Part 1 in a 3-part series
Thirteen-year-olds are killing
people. Eleven-year-olds arc turning to armed robbery. Nine-year-
olds are stealing cars.
And with severe budget cutbacks,
a short-handed staff and limited
resources, Fresno County is finding itself nearly helpless against
this wave of juvenile crime.
Local officials fear that these
young offenders are not receiving
the attention, structure, or the intervention that they need because
ofthe crippled juveni le justice system, and they don't know where to
turn.
The officials believe that while
most state dollars are earmarked to
handle serious, violent offenders,
the focus needs to shift to the be
ginning offender who could benefit from guidance, from counseling and from intervention.
"We're losing the bank," said
Roger Palomino, dircctorof juvenile probation services. "Our energies'are directed at the hardcore offender, and we're losing
the younger kids altogether. We're
losing the power to intervene and
to help these kids."
The statistics paint a similarly
bleak picture.
More than 13,000 youngsters
were referred to the probation department by arresting officers in
1992, an increase of more than
2.000 referrals from 1990. Fewer
than 3,000 of these juvcnilesevcr
appeared in juvenile court, however, because the time, the money
and the manpower don't exist to
process these cases. The other
10,000 juveniles were handled "informally." Most of these youngsters were merely reprimanded and
released.
A Bleak Outlook
As bad as the current situation
may appear, officials expect that
See Juveniles, page A8.
Evaporating reflections
-
' Kelly Jantzen/b
Vernal pools once covered the Valley floor during spring and winter. These pools, just east of the corner of Academy and Shaw avenues, are
among the remaining two percent threatened by development For more on this and other evironmental stories, please read on to page B4.
Cancer drug: peril or panacea?
♦ Innovative breast
cancer drug may
cause side-effects.
By Katharine Barrans
Staff Writer
Breast cancer is the most common
form of cancer in North American
women and the second leading cause
of cancer deaths. One in nine women
will contract the disease within her
lifetime.
This year, it is expected thai over
180,000 women in the United States
alone will be diagnosed with breast
cancer, and more lhan 46.000 will die
from it, according to the National
Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel
Project (NSABP).
The NS ABP, a research group based
in Pittsburgh, received funds from the
National Cancer Institute in 1991, to
conduct a study on the prevention of
breast cancer in women considered to
be at high risk for contracting the
disease.
Carol Plcskoff, program coordinator for the San Valley Community-
Clinical Oncology Program, is working with the NSABP in conducting
the study. She said that they have
received al least 200 responses from
women in the area who want to participate in ihe study. As of Jan.
31.1993, the study had attracted al
most 6,000 women.
"Women have said that they are willing to lake the risk [of being part of the
study] for their children, because it's
such a devastating disease for families," said Plcskoff.
The Breast Cancer Prevention Trial,
which began in June 1992, is a five-
year study attempting to prove or disprove the effectiveness of the drug
Tamoxifen as a preventative measure
in treating the cancer.
The "risk" is that, with any drug, the
effects on an individual level aren't
really known in advance.
"Negative publicity has been a problem," saidPleskoff. "Certain women's
magazines have implied thai there may
be a danger in giving the drug to pre
menopausal women. Tamoxifen has
had a long record of treatment use,
but there are questions as io whether
or noi a normal, healthy woman
should take the drug."
Plcskoff said that is why the study
is being done.
1CI, the company that distributes
Tamoxifen, reports a number of possible problems that may be associated with the use of the drug. Two of
ihc more serious ones are the development of liver cancer and damage
to a growing fetus, if the woman
becomes pregnant while on the drug.
The company's professional information brochure states thai clinical
See Panacea, page A5.
After Waco: students sympathize
By Erik Loyd
Staff Writer
claimed to be Jesus Christ, warned
federal law enforcement agents that
fire would consume them if they tried
to harm him.
As it happened, fire consumed
Koresh and at least 86 people, including 17 children, when fire believed to
have been set by his followers razed
theircompound last Monday in Waco.
Texas.
The flames ended a 51-day siege
after FBI agents assaulted the Branch
Da vidian compound with (ear gas an
armored vehicles.
Some Fresno State students expressed their views of the tragedy.
"It didn' t surprise me," said Kristen
Faktor. "It was a repeat of the Jim
Jones mentality."
Jones persuaded 9O0 followers of
his cult to commit suicide at
Jonestown, Guyana in 1979.
Attorney General Janet Reno, who
approved ihe plan to storm the compound and took responsibility for the
tragedy, said she hadn't considered
the "chances were great for mass suicide." Other officials expressed concern that Koresh would use the some
24 children as shields for a breakout
Negotiation with Koresh had run its
limit without success, so it was decided something had to be done toend
the siege.
The ordeal began on Feb. 28 when
about 100 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents moved on
the compound to arrest Koresh because hiscult had a considerable cache
of weapons and were considered dangerous.
A45-minute gun battle erupted, killing four agents and wounding 15 others, as were some members of the
cult.
The cost to maintain the siege was
reported to run more than SI million
per week.
"It was getting to be like a circus,"
Faktor said. "It was a hard call, because any action the government took
would be like, damned if you do,
damned if you don't"
Another student. Brent Stephens,
said the standoff shouldn't have
dragged on.
"It should have been over a long
time ago," he said. "At least they were
finally doing something. They should
have done it a lot sooner instead of
sitting on their butts."
Koresh said he would surrender,
but never did.
Agen is tri ed to undcrm i ne Koresh' s
authority over the others or break the
spirits of those in the compound,
who may have been held against their
will, by broadcasting chants of Tibetan monks and other noises, but
nothing was effective.
Questions about how the situation
was managed by federal agents were
raised in the aftermath.
"What seemed to rattle my cage
was the FBI's handling of it the cost
and the relentless standoff," said student Laura Barbas. 'This religious
radicalism seemed to be accommodated by ihe FBI and all its 'ex-
pens.'"
"I have a hard time with religious
fanatic people," said Faktor. "It's
really scary. Heattracted people with
low self esteem, and I think he preyed
on people."