1993-1994 Harry Singer Foundation National Essay Contest

Doesn't Anyone Care About The Children?

Teacher: Don Cavallini

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Lexington High School, Lexington, Illinois

so00629_.wmf (4070 bytes) Brian Toon   so00629_.wmf (4070 bytes) Jamey Payne  so00629_.wmf (4070 bytes)Mike Tallon so00629_.wmf (4070 bytes) Julie Thomas
so00629_.wmf (4070 bytes) Nick Eagan  so00629_.wmf (4070 bytes)Mark Hudson  so00629_.wmf (4070 bytes)  Eric Hepner

"In my area, many teenagers are irresponsibly finding themselves in the county jail for minor offenses. To be released, they must have someone post a small bond. Many of these teens have called friends instead of calling their parents to come bail them out. These kids are finding ways to avoid telling their parents the truth or the whole truth about what they did wrong."
Julie Thomas, Lexington High School, Lexington, Illinois

 "An owner of a grocery store in East St. Louis paid as little as sixty-five cents on the dollar for food stamps. He later cashed them in for full value. He redeemed $1.3 million in a year and a half. Ten years earlier Coates Market had been disqualified from the food-stamp program for fraud. Six months later it was back on the program. Two social servicecaseworkers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana issued $50,000 in food stamps to nonexistent recipients. Nobody seemed to notice the state clerk in Minnesota who pocketed $180,000 worth of returned food stamps in nine months."
Mike Tallon, Lexington High School, Lexington, Illinois

"A woman in Chicago was shot in the face by her husband seven years ago, forcing her to suffer the last seven years of her life unable to speak and walk. The lady had to be fed through a tube in her stomach (Her husband's) prison term was for two years."
Julie Thomas, Lexington High School, Lexington, Illinois

"I think that when someone under the legal drinking age gets arrested for an alcohol related incident, they should be forced to contact their parents. Then these teenagers should be forced by law to attend classes on underage drinking and driving. Once the kids do this, they may realize that it is not worth being sent to lectures for acting responsibly."
Julie Thomas, Lexington High School, Lexington, Illinois

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