KNOCKOUT GAME - Bored Teens

Teenagers today have very busy worlds.  Friends, school, extra curricular activities, and in hopefully doing their homework. In our ever-changing world technology rules with its smart phones, computers, the internet, video games etc. With all these responsibilities and distractions, one can only imagine why teens would choose to spend their time playing the "knockout game."

Knockout, the knockout game, knockout king, bombing, polar-bearing, and polar-bear hunting, are the names given to assaults in which, purportedly, one or more assailants attempt to knock out an unsuspecting victim, often with a single sucker punch. Serious injuries and deaths have been attributed to knockout. Some commentators in the United States have cast doubt that the knockout game is an actual trend and have termed it a myth or an example of moral panic. Others have focused on the perception that the game is racially motivated and have called for it to be labelled a hate crime.

IN RECENT NEWS 11/29/13

An Elderly woman could be city’s 10th ‘knockout game’ victim. Yvonne Small, 76, fell to the ground after being punched by her assailant on Alabama Ave. and Wortman Ave. in East New York about 11:35 a.m. She was punched in the back of the head by her assailant on Alabama Ave. and Wortman Ave. in East New York about 11:35 a.m., according to police sources. She was treated at Brookdale University Hospital and discharged. Her attacker was being sought by police. As she was being attacked, an already-planned rally against the sick game was wrapping up in the same neighborhood. Activists called for an end to the "game," in which punks try to knock a stranger unconscious with a single punch, then post video of the attack online. "We're not going to tolerate anybody striking, hitting or putting their hands on our women in any shape or fashion," said Tony Herbert, president of the National Action Network Brooklyn chapter. Herbert said activists will pressure social media websites to take down videos of the sick attacks. The "knockout game" has already claimed lives in Syracuse, St. Louis and New Jersey. Several injuries have been reported in Crown Heights. One of the New York victims said he believes he was targeted because he's an Orthodox Jew.


ARE YOUR TEENS BORED?

A new survey finds the risk that teens will smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs increases sharply if they are highly stressed, frequently bored or have substantial amounts of spending money.

Joseph Califano, the chairman and president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, visited The Early Show to discuss the survey's findings and shared tips on how parents can lower the risk of teen substance abuse.

The survey, which was conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found the following:

• High stress teens are twice as likely as low stress teens to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs. 
• Often bored teens are 50 percent likelier than teens not often bored to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs.
• Teens with $25 or more a week in spending money are nearly twice as likely as teens with less to smoke, drink and use illegal drugs, and more than twice as likely to get drunk. 
• Teens exhibiting two or three of these characteristics are at more than three times the risk of substance abuse as those exhibiting none of these characteristics. 
• More than half the nation's 12 to 17-year-olds, or 52 percent, are at greater risk of substance abuse because of high stress, frequent boredom, too much spending money or some combination of these characteristics.

TIPS FOR PARENTS WITH BORED TEENS:

• Be sensitive to the stress in your children's lives and help them cope.
• Understand when and why your children are bored and help relieve their boredom.
• Limit the amount of money your children have to spend and monitor how that money is spent.
• Know who your children's friends are.
• Be engaged in your children's lives: help them with their homework, attend their sports events, participate in activities together and talk to them about drugs.
• Find ways to serve with your kids, it will show them how to love others

OTHER PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH

Boys & Girls Club

http://www.bgca.org/

YMCA

http://www.ymca.net/

Boy Scouts Of America

www.scouting.org/‎

UN-CLOSETED CHANGE - Gay Scouts of America?

The future of scouting is here— Gay Boy Scouts and adult volunteers wore their uniforms Sunday June 2nd 2013 as they marched in Utah's gay pride parade — defying a leader of the youth organization who had said they couldn't do so under the organization's guidelines prohibiting advocating political or social positions.
Peter Brownstein, a Scoutmaster in Salt Lake City who helped organize the Boy Scouts participation in the march, said a few adults and youth marched at the front of the parade in uniform, including a Cub Scout, a Boy Scout and his stepdad, an Eagle Scout, who borrowed a uniform to wear, and an Asst. Scoutmaster.

"Scouting was meant for a young man's journey into manhood not for a gay man's journey into their own agenda! I still don't know why gays are so bent on ruining every single organization in America for their own personal agenda! Why do boy scouts need to be labeled as "gay scouts" or even associated with gays? Scout Oath says it all— On my honor, I will do my best To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. The LDS churches response is a great breakdown for what the Boy Scouts already stood for. There has never been discrimination towards scouts for their sexual orientation. Scouting was to be a focus on personal growth and morals, not for those who wish to have a spotlight placed upon them because of their sexual orientation."

For the past 100 years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has enjoyed a strong relationship with the Boy Scouts of America, based on their mutual interest in helping boys and young men understand and live their duty to God and develop upright moral behavior. As the Church moves forward in its association with the Boy Scouts of America, Church leaders will continue to seek the most effective ways to address the diverse needs of young people in the United States and throughout the world.

The Church’s long-established policy for participation in activities is stated in the basic instructional handbook used by lay leaders of the Church: “young men … who agree to abide by Church standards” are “welcomed warmly and encouraged to participate” This policy applies to LDS Church-sponsored Scout units. Sexual orientation has not previously been—and is not now—a disqualifying factor for boys who want to join Latter-day Saint Scout troops. Willingness to abide by standards of behavior continues to be our compelling interest.

The Boy Scouts of America: An Organization for Boys Not for the Gay Agenda!

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-responds-to-boy-scouts-of-america-policy-vote