NYRA Freedom
ISSN 1933-5229
Volume 3, Issue 10
November 9, 2003
Contents:
Introduction
Police Raid School With Guns Drawn
High Volume of Web Page Traffic
NYRA Member to be on NPR Tonight
Drinking Age Speech at AU
Sex-ED Petition
NYRA Presents Workshops at Conferences
Chapter News
News From the Web
Conclusion
Introduction
A lot of very positive and interesting things are happening. NYRA’s webpage is getting more hits every day. NYRA leaders are giving speeches, workshops, and appearing on national radio and are educating people in the ways of Youth Rights. A separate group is driving for reform in sex education, and a major political figure intends to make the drinking age an integral part of his platform. Good things are happening across the pond and do not be surprised if England becomes the worlds leading nation in terms of Youth Rights. Meanwhile police brutality towards youth has exploded as is seen in the military style raid on a high school in South Carolina.
Police Raid School With Guns Drawn
A dozen officers in Goose Creek, South Carolina stormed through the halls of Stratford High School with guns drawn, forcing 107 students to lay on the floor and submit to a drug dog search. Students were commanded to get on their knees with their hands behind their head, students who did not respond quick enough were put into handcuffs. One student said, “I thought one of the guns was going to go off and shoot or kill somebody, so I just got down to my knees and covered my head for protection.”
The scene, which looks more like Iraq than a high school, was captured by the school surveillance cameras and then broadcast by the media. The raid was an attempt to find marijuana, but no drugs were found. One student said: “They would go put a gun up to them and push them against the wall and they would like take their bookbags.” Parents were outraged at the raid, but principal George McCrackin said he would “utilize whatever forces that I deem necessary” to keep drugs out of the school. State police are now investigating the incident. NYRA members are encouraged to express your outrage by e-mailing Principal George McCrackin at GeorgeMcCrackin@…, the Charleston Post and Courier at letters@…, and your local newspaper.
Get more information at www.youthrights.org
High Volume of Web Page Traffic
For those of you who have been living under a rock, NYRA has a high quality and comprehensive web site. Recently, more and more people have been making use of this valuable tool.
The month of October was the best ever in terms of numbers of people viewing our web page. Youthrights.org had nearly 300,000 hits in the month of October, more than double the number received in recent months. On average nearly 600 people viewed our website every day, nearly 17,000 visits total. Pageviews was near 50,000 for the month.
For people to understand what Youth Rights is, and NYRA’s vital role in protecting and expanding them, it is vital that they read some of the insightful documents found on our website. The more hits our website has, the more likely it is that the general public is aware of NYRA and its activities.
November is so far shaping up to shatter last month’s records, already averaging over 10,000 hits per day. To put the numbers in perspective, our traffic last month was comparable to that of our ally, Youth Venture, and was greater than the usual traffic for http://www.asfar.org, http://www.m-a-y.org, http://www.yfen.org, and http://www.yria.alcade.net combined. This is noted for perspective only, please visit the pages of our Youth Rights friends and boost their page traffic.
The two most popular parts of the website were the voting age and drinking age sections, which means people are not only visiting Youthrights.org, but using Youthrights.org as a vehicle for looking in depth at important Youth Rights issues. This means that NYRA is effectively spreading the word of Youth Rights, and thousands are listening.
NYRA Member to be on NPR Tonight
Laura Finstad, current President of NYRA-DC and Board member will be on National Public Radio tonight. Taped this summer the segment looks at different approaches youth activists use in pushing for their issues. While an informal discussion, the program will look at whether it is better to work within the system or confront it through direct action. NYRA believes both are important and a balance must be struck between the two.
The program airs between 9pm and 12pm EST tonight, Sunday, November 9. All NYRA members are strongly encouraged to listen in. For those who are interested we will be having a listening party in the NYRA chatroom starting at 9pm. Listen online at http://www.wamu.org/real/index.html
More information on the program here: http://www.wamu.org/thatdemocracyshow/
Sex-ED Petition
A petition for honest sexual education is currently being circulated by a NYRA ally. The people responsible for the petition were hoping to have 50,000 signatures already, but they still encourage people to sign it.
The petition is sponsored by Advocates for Youth, an organization dedicated to helping young people maintain sexual and reproductive health. The petition cites parallels between sexual education and drug education as reasoning to avoid a “just say no” approach to sex ed. Advocates for Youth feels that young people need to know the truth about sex, and too often they are kept from the facts which leads to problems. They believe that abstinence is still a good method of protection, but they also say that contraception should be taught as well.
While NYRA does not work on sex Ed, we feel it is important to highlight the efforts of other pro-youth organizations. Those who wish to sign the petition should visit www.advocatesforyouth.org/petition
Drinking Age Speech at AU
The minimum legal drinking age has always been a key part of NYRA’s platform. On Wednesday night NYRA President Alex Koroknay-Palicz spoke to a crowd at the Mary Graydon Center in American University about lowering the drinking age. By all accounts, the event, organized by Jess Wunsch of the campus Housing and Dining office, went well. The people who came to hear Alex speak supported the idea of lowering the drinking age, read NYRA’s drinking age FAQ and bought NYRA buttons.
The drinking age is a pertinent issue on collage campuses, especially at AU, where an ageist parental notification policy is in place.
NYRA Presents Workshops at Conferences
On Wednesday, October 29th, NYRA President and Executive Director Alex Koroknay-Palicz presented a workshop at the National Youth Leaders Conference, it was the fourth he has done in the month of October. He spoke at length to small groups of attendees about NYRA and Youth Rights.
Always known as someone who can successfully communicate NYRA’s message to the public, Alex received a great reaction from many of the people who attended these events. After a great presentation last Wednesday, Alex managed to quickly sell thirty-six pins in fifteen minutes. Eighteen new members joined at his last NYLC appearance, this is a pretty high number and fairly typical of past NYRA workshops at NYLC.
Alex stated that most people who attended his workshop had a very positive experience and were very open to what he had to say.
Chapter News
Representatives of NYRA-AU had editorials published in the school paper condemning the parental notification policy. NYRA-AU’s budget was approved, and they now have a large sum of money with which to operate.
If anyone lives in the Nassau County, NY area, and would like to attend local NYRA meetings, please send an email to jake0139@….
If you live in North Westchester, NY and are interested in becoming involved with local NYRA activities, please email me at SDavidson@…
News From the Web
http://www.youthrights.org/articles/stratfordraid.html – Gun Wielding Police, Drug Dogs Storm Hallways
http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1066638924205311.xml – Fighting beer blasts
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13581153_method=full_siteid=106694_headline=-VOTE-AT-16-name_page.html – Vote At 16 in UK
http://www.zwire.com/site/10419957.html – 9-year-old arrested for waving toy gun
http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/article148921.ece – Teacher uses fire hose on students
http://www.theomahachannel.com/iowabureau/2569851/detail.html – Too young to use wheelchair? Police threaten fines.
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=135996 – D.C. Council to Consider Ban on Spray Paint Sales to Minors
http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2003_10_05_archive.html#106581985870548234 – Rights and Reason: Compulsory Service in Illinois
http://www.msnbc.com/news/980102.asp – High court to revisit online-porn law
http://kdka.com/local/local_story_295143527.html – County Wants Congress to Lower Voting Age
http://www.idsnews.com/story.php?id=18836 – A new way to catch fake IDs
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/10/14/build/wyoming/38-tshirts.inc – ‘Take a hit’ T-shirts banned from high school
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_email.asp?/news/980091.asp – Supreme Court to rule on pledge
http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=4704 – Student Expelled for Loaning Inhaler to Girlfriend
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/10/03/Northoftampa/Teen_beer_sales_bubbl.shtml – Teen beer sales bubble over
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2003-10-07-reverseage_x.htm – Young workers say their age holds them back
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10323344&BRD=2254&PAG=461&dept_id=450888&rfi=6 – Quarryville reinstates curfew ordinance
Conclusion
As of now, a lot of things are on the horizon. A lot of chapters with great potential are in the formation stage. The voting age campaign in Takoma continues. And perhaps most importantly, some relatively prominent British politicians are coming out in favor of a lower voting age, something very dear to all of our hearts. Expect issues in the coming months to be longer, and full of great news.
