Weather Site Sections Home Page News Police Report Obituaries Sports Features Calendar Weddings Business Directory Archives Contact Us Classifieds Special Sections Index Discover 2004-2005 Featured Ads	News About 1,000 turn out for child-safety program By Jesef Williams - Intern Holly Adamson, of the Children's Council, right, and Crystal Mims help Johnathan Beckam, 5, and Amy Vernon, 8, make book marks at Child Safety Awareness Day on Saturday. The event, held at Lancaster High School, was organized to raise community awareness about child-safety issues. Photo by Mary Brown/for The Lancaster News Hope Self loves her two daughters and wants them to be as safe as possible. She wants to provide Brooke, 7, and Billie Kay, 4, with information and resources that will help keep them out of harm's way. So when she heard about Child Safety Awareness Day, she knew it would definitely help her with that goal. Self was one of about 1,000 people who attended the event, held Saturday at Lancaster High School. Several county agencies and organization joined forces to offer a fun and educational event that gave parents and children valuable child-safety information. Members of the Lancaster Police Department, Lancaster County Sheriff's Department and Lancaster County EMS were on hand to talk about their role in community safety. Parents registered their children for information kits that would help authorities locate their children if they ever were missing. The kits include physical descriptions, photographs, fingerprints and DNA samples. Parents and children also received information about the Amber Alert, Internet solicitation and the sex-offender registry. "As parents, we sometimes just concentrate on our children and don't look at what's around us," said Hope Self, as she waited in line for Brooke and Billie Kay to be fingerprinted. "This is really educational for kids and adults." Children participated in a seminar that explained how to recognize strangers, call for help and use self-defense tactics. The demonstrations were conducted by Steve Daley, founder and director of radKIDS, a national program for children and adults that stresses protection from violence and harm. LeCorey McIlwain of the sheriff's department presented information about area gangs. He showed people gang paraphernalia and talked about clothing to be aware of. "It surprised me to know all of this (gang activity) is happening in Lancaster County," said Nehemiah Stewart, 13. "I learned a lot of things to watch out for." Palmetto Citizens Against Sexual Assault was one of the event sponsors. PCASA Director Charlene McGriff said the safety initiative was planned in response to the kidnappings and murders of two Florida girls earlier this year. National child safety advocate Ed Smart, spokesman for the National Child Identification Program, was the guest speaker. In 2002, Smart's daughter, Elizabeth, was kidnapped from their Salt Lake City home. She was returned home alive the next year. "Today's society isn't as safe as it was before," Smart said to the crowd. "I encourage everyone to get that child-identification kit." This is the first year the child-safety event has taken place. And by this looking at its success, it should be even better next year, McGriff said. "We hope for it to grow and become bigger," she said. "Next year, we want to have it earlier during the school year." Self, a Lancaster resident, said she and her daughters learned a lot. She'd like to see organizers provide such an event more often. "They should have this maybe once a month," she said. "There are people who couldn't be here today and don't realize what they're missing. This is very important for our community." The event was sponsored by Lancaster County, Founders Federal Credit Union, United Way of Lancaster, The Lancaster News, Lancaster County School District, Lancaster County Sheriff's Department, Lancaster Police Department, the city of Lancaster and PCASA. E-mail this story Back to Results Printer Friendly Version	Online Poll Do you agree with County Council's decision to hire three new deputies in the new county budget? Yes No Not Sure
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