The city should develop after-school opportunities

The March 13 article "An After-School Hangout" does not acknowledge the amazing assets the youth of Pittsburgh bring to our region.

The "problem" of teens hanging out Downtown is not a problem if they are supporting local merchants and engaged in opportunities that encourage socializing with their peers in productive ways.

I urge Mayor Bob O'Connor to look at the presence of teens hanging out Downtown not as a "problem" to be solved with more police presence, but rather, as an opportunity for the city to open a true "after-school hangout" in one of the vacant storefronts on Wood Street. It would be perfectly located for a youth program center where teens could receive job readiness training, get help with their studies, get information about higher education, have access to resources in the area and, yes, even hang out with their friends.

As a manager of after-school youth programs and through my work with the national Afterschool Alliance and the Pennsylvania Afterschool/Youth Development Network, I know how after-school programs can keep kids safe, help working families and inspire learning. Mayor O'Connor can join the area's youth-serving organizations and be a champion for these youth and invest in their futures and the future of Pittsburgh.

ALANA S. KULESA
Youth Programs Manager
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh
North Side

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Teach ecology

I must respond to the March 14 letter from my friend Sharon Brady Patil ("From a Cleanup Vet") concerning cleanup efforts in our fair city.

I wholeheartedly recommend her suggestions to the mayor, especially the one regarding opening the city dumps -- let's pay the cost up front and not spend countless hours picking up the dump sites in and around our neighborhoods.

And, if I may, I would add another recommendation: With the revamping of our city schools' curriculum, we have a great opportunity to implement a K-12 ecology curriculum, with a particular emphasis on urban ecology. Teaching the next generation to live lightly on the land, to recycle and use renewable resources and, oh, by the way, not to litter would have a huge impact on the everyday quality of life here in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh has gained a national if not international reputation as a leader in green building. How about if we build on that and become a leader in civic cleanliness?

LYNNE WEBER
North Side

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Our fine faculty

The Community College of Allegheny County has been in the news quite a bit lately, with focus on budget issues and some admitted growing pains as we take the college to a results-oriented, one-college system. One thing that has not changed throughout this effort is the quality of our outstanding faculty and their commitment to improving the lives of students in our region.

Our dedicated, highly qualified faculty members spend countless hours engaging in ongoing professional development, preparing dynamic classroom experiences for our students and providing countless opportunities to foster student engagement and success. In addition to their teaching loads, faculty are driving the wide-scale program of assessment of student learning outcomes to ensure that we are providing the high-quality education the region deserves.

The CCAC faculty do, indeed, prepare our thousands of students for the future and deserve to be recognized and commended for their extraordinary efforts and accomplishments.

STEWART E. SUTIN
President
WENDY F. WEINER
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
CCAC
North Side

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Help for Haiti

For a majority of kids in America, it is all about iPods, cool clothes and how much money you have. For most families in Haiti, it is not like that. Many live in mud huts with dirt floors and straw or tin roofs. As for clothes, it doesn't take an hour to pick out an outfit, because they are lucky if they have even one. In America, you have kids wondering what they want for breakfast or lunch and then complain about dinner, but in Haiti, there are so many who don't get more than one meal a day, which is usually rice and beans, if they get a meal at all.

I had the opportunity to sponsor a girl in Haiti for about five years. Every month, I sent her a letter, picture and a donation that helped her get one hot meal a day, medical attention, an education and a school uniform. During the Christmas season, gift boxes were sent.

Over the years, I've had the privilege several times of talking with Pastor Pierre, a missionary who started the La Croix New Testament Mission in Haiti. What I admire most about Pastor Pierre is how he puts others' needs before his own. The living conditions in Haiti need to change, and I believe that we should be doing something about them.

BRITTANY KETTER
Age 14
South Fayette

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Never shake a baby; instead please call for help

A baby died on the North Side earlier this week. Violent shaking contributed to her death.

Why would a parent or baby sitter shake a baby? Many parents and baby sitters aren't aware of the effects of shaking a baby. Often, frustrated parents and others responsible for a baby's care feel that shaking a baby is a way to make a child stop crying.

Shaking a baby -- even for only a few seconds -- can injure a baby for life, causing blindness, paralysis and brain damage. Almost 25 percent of babies with shaken baby syndrome die.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Family Resources and Allegheny County Department of Human Services have developed a Web site, www.hushlittlebaby.org, with suggestions about how to soothe a crying baby. If you're caring for a baby and you're feeling stressed and annoyed because the baby isn't "behaving," put the baby in a safe place and do something to help yourself calm down. Call a friend, listen to music or call the Parenting WARMLINE at Family Resources for support. The number is 1-800-641-4546 or 1-877-WARMLYN.

Child abuse is preventable.

WALTER HOWARD SMITH JR.
Executive Director
Family Resources
East Liberty

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In its criticism of conduct board, the PG ignores some facts

We correspond with you in our role as former president judges of the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline.

The recent editorial attacking the Judicial Conduct Board because it dismissed a complaint filed against Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy casts aspersions, ignores fact and sadly falls victim to the increasingly common view that everyone's opinion is wrong if it isn't your opinion ("Courting Controversy: Chief Justice Cappy Is Cleared -- Sort Of," Feb. 17).

The Judicial Conduct Board, like the Court of Judicial Discipline, is an independent body established when the voters of Pennsylvania in 1993 approved an amendment to Article V of the Pennsylvania Constitution. That amendment mandated that six members of the board be appointed by the governor and six by the Supreme Court; that six members must be nonlawyers along with three lawyers and three judges; that neither the Supreme Court nor the governor may appoint more than three members from the same political party; and that no member of the board may hold office in a political party organization.

The framers designed the amendment to avoid both judicial domination as well as partisan political influence in order to assure the absolute autonomy of the board.

The Judicial Conduct Board and the Court of Judicial Discipline operate independently of the unified judicial system administered by the Supreme Court, and are separately funded by the legislative and executive branches.

The total autonomy conferred by the constitution upon the members of the Judicial Conduct Board is balanced by the duty to base every decision upon the facts, and to do so free of the influence sought by those who, for political or ideological reasons, or for personal or corporate gain or profit, seek to influence board decisions.

You ignore all of these factors in your haste to condemn. No one would dispute your contention that the citizenry deserves dutiful officials ... many of them would also assert that the people deserve responsible journalists.

JUDGE STEPHEN J. McEWEN JR.
Media, Pa.

Editor's note: The letter was also signed by Judge Joseph F. McCloskey of Pottsville, Ralph J. Sposato of Philadelphia, Sal Cognetti of Scranton, Judge Esther R. Sylvester of Philadelphia and Judge Debbie O'Dell Seneca of Washington.

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