L.V. Sun: Anti-Tagging Message to Youth

Taking the anti-tagging message to youth (Las Vegas Sun)

Total rubbish! Such programs are completely and utterly useless in changing youth behavior!

In response to what officials call a scourge of graffiti tagging, the city wants students to know that writing or painting graffiti is a crime, and that they should be working to beautify their communities instead of defacing them.

As part of Graffiti Awareness Month, the City Council and the Southern Nevada Graffiti Coalition are sponsoring trips in April to nine elementary and middle schools for “signing ceremonies.”

During these services, police and city officials will talk about what graffiti is, why it’s a crime and how gaining permission is the difference between art and graffiti. Students will then be asked to sign a banner, which pledges that they will work to improve their community and not to commit the crime of graffiti.

KLAS-TV: Judge Mosley Ex-Girlfriend in Jail

Bad Checks Lands Judge's Former Girlfriend in Jail
KLAS-TV, 3/19

Terry Mosley, the ex-girlfriend of District Court Judge Donald Mosley, has been arrested and charged with writing bad checks.

When I first read this headline, I felt certain it referred to Amy McNair, (former?) girlfriend of Family Court Judge Steven Jones. Turns out it refers to the "ex" of criminal court judge Donald Mosley.

Apparently the only thing Judge Mosley and his ex-girlfriend Terry have in common is their son, who came to juvenile court a few months ago on a serious charge. I happened to be in Courtroom 18 at the time, and saw the ex-couple in action. Terry is a true nutcase whose sole goal in life seems to be making Judge Mosley's life hell. The kid is stuck in the middle.

I'm not sure the "ex-girlfriend" ended up with the last name "Mosley," but it's apparently a very convoluted 20-year saga, driven by the girlfriend's insanity.

KLAS-TV: Metro Youth Program

Metro Sees Success in Youth Program (KLAS-TV, 2/25)

Metro's Police Athletic League has succeeded in steering some students away from gangs. Now they're going for another goal for the youth program.

Officers work closely with these students and many now want to go into law enforcement. But as mentors, officers wanted to show there are a lot of options out there, regardless of where you come from.

"A lot of the kids love sports, so we kind of use that as a carrot to get them in and get them tutoring and get them help in school," said Melissa Lardomita with the PAL program.

PAL has lured about 300 students into gyms, getting them off the streets and on the right track.

It's kind of obvious that the more stable adult attention you give to kids, the more they are going to be diverted from drugs, gangs and crime. These programs tend to work while the "scared straight" programs don't.

The only problem is that there is never enough adult attention to go around. In America, youth programs have always taken a back seat to pure enforcement, and with budgets being cut, that's only going to get worse.

L.V. Sun: Teen Sentencing

Driver, 16, in crash that killed teen gets six months
(Las Vegas Sun, 2/6)

The teenager driving the truck Coronado High School sophomore Olivia Brandise Hyten, 15, was riding in when she died in a crash last fall will spend the next six months in youth detention

Just about the only punishment there is in juvenile court is six months detention. (It's actually an indeterminate amount based on the youth's behavior.)

Area Teen Up To Something

Area Teen Up To Something
(The Onion, 1/24)

GREENFIELD, OH—A local teenager, standing on the corner of Spring Street and Dunlap Lane, is clearly up to some kind of no good, neighborhood sources reported Thursday.

The teenager, spotted by Greenfield residents at approximately 4:36 p.m., has been described as tall, suspiciously quiet, and almost certainly looking for trouble. According to concerned sources, the teenager has absolutely no business being out there like that. ...

R-J: Teenager owns up to fatality

HENDERSON CRASH: Teenager owns up to fatality: Guilty pleas entered in death of Coronado High sophomore
(Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1/22)

Sounds like a standard teenage tragedy. Several such cases passed through Family Court while I was there.

See my photos from an earlier sentencing on similar charges.