Let Me 'Splain It To You: April 2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

CSI:MISSOURI

Award-winning fiction writer tackles true-life crime tale

By Deborah Wolfe

Published: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 1:24 PM CDT

Since the lifeless body of Jesse Valencia was found on the grounds of his campus apartment in the summer of 2005, Central Missourians have been gripped by the trial and re-trials of his accused killer.

Ex-police officer, Steven Rios, was twice convicted for Valencia's murder and now a third trial may be on the horizon.

The salacious crime involving an extra-marital affair between the police officer and a homosexual college student includes allegations of hearsay and jury tampering. Through nearly four turbulent years, the case has garnered the attention of national media outlets, court watchers, gossipmongers and a well-known Missouri author.

Applauded for her contributions to numerous statewide magazines and beloved by young adult readers for her works of fiction, Barri Bumgarner seems an unlikely candidate to bring this true-life crime drama to the printed page.

(Continue to full version at www.thelaketoday.com)

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Positive Changes in the System

By Deborah Wolfe

With prisons filled to capacity and televisions blasting a seemingly endless parade of marauding teens across the living rooms of America, people may think healing the tragedy of youth violence is a nearly insurmountable task.

   While most critics place blame on a juvenile-justice system that does a better job of molding childhood offenders into hardened criminals than turning young lives around, the state of Missouri has been applauded as “the guiding light for reform in juvenile justice.”

   The accolades, from the American Youth Policy Forum, demonstrate the high regard educators, community leaders and youth advocates have for the Missouri Division of Youth Services (DYS) Juvenile Justice Program.

   This respect was evident when the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School awarded the state with the 2008 Annie E. Casey Innovations Award in Children and Family System Reform.

   Larry Strecker, Missouri DYS regional administrator, attributes the state’s success to a change in focus from a correctional perspective to one that views young people as products of their environment and capable of turning in a positive direction.
(Full version available at www.thelaketoday.com)