Community needs to address horrific teen acts of violence

A Deerfield Beach teen was set on fire by classmates over minor squabbles involving $40 and ‘snitching’ to the cops. This unfathomable crime occurred two years after ten youths brutally raped and tortured a Palm Beach mother and son for three hours. These inhumane outrages must be examined and stopped.

KATIE ROBB Editorial Editor

Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti dubbed this tragedy, “one of the most heinous crimes I have ever seen.” It started innocently enough. Michael Brewer, 15, borrowed $40 from Matthew Bent, also 15, a fellow classmate at Deerfield Beach High. When Brewer failed to pay Bent back for the game, Bent attempted to steal Brewer’s father’s $500 bicycle. Brewer called the police on Bent, who was later arrested and taken to a juvenile detention center until his release on Monday morning. That same day, Brewer stayed home out of fear of an encounter with Bent.  Little did he know that the encounter he feared would horrifically occur later that afternoon.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, at around 3 p.m. Bent met up with his younger brother Jeremy, 13 and 15 year olds, Steven Shelton, Jesus Mendez, and Denver Colorado Jarvis.  The five teens went to Brewer’s neighborhood, chanting “snitch!” as they surrounded him at the community pool. Bent then ordered the boys to drench Brewer in a bottle of rubbing alcohol, followed by Mendez flicking a lighter at his body. Brewer ran, covered in flames, 150 yards into the pool.

When I first read this story tears ran down my face. I cannot even begin to fathom how a human being could be so cruel to another person.  80 percent of Brewer’s body was burned, the flames singeing off all of his hair and first layers of his skin.  According to Burn Survivor Resource Center, burns are a health problem “more serious than Polio was at its peak.” The physical implications of a burn include electrolyte imbalance, skin and muscle infection, shock and respiratory injury. Even worse than the physical, the emotional implications of the physical deformity and memories of this attack will inevitably scar Brewer for the rest of his life.

My sadness was further peaked by anger after reading that the five boys charged, who have been charged with aggravated assault and Bent for attempted second degree murder, laughed during questioning. Apparently they feel no remorse for the heinous crime they have committed and do not realize the consequences of their actions. Further appalling is the Sun-Sentinel article about Patricia Hollis, mother of Steven Sheldon, whose son was charged with aggravated assault. Hollis said, “As far as I know, he did not have anything to do with it, wrong place at the wrong time”. As hard as it will be for the parents of these delinquents to wrap their mind around the vicious crime their sons have committed, they have to accept and acknowledge what their children have done. Unfortunately now the law must punish and teach these teens what the parents failed to do. The delinquents must also realize that even if they don’t care what will happen to them (proven by the laughing during the court proceedings), they should still care about their parents and how their reputations and their futures will be forever tainted by their mindless, terrible crime.

Hopefully this crime will give a wake up call to parents, families and communities on the seriousness of bullying. Unfortunately this act is not an uncommon occurrence. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 5,958 young people ages 10-24 were murdered- an average of 16 each day- in 2006. If Brewer were to die from these attacks, the five boys could potentially be faced with murder charges. 

According to the Miami Herald, Bent is a known neighborhood bully and his classmates have learned to avoid him. Instead of merely avoiding him these teens should have put him in his place, whether through the SILENCE HURTS hotline or through school disciplinary action, and this tragedy perhaps could have been prevented

Bullying must be stopped at the source. People, especially teens need to take a step back and put themselves in the shoes of the Brewers. Imagine that Michael is your younger brother or best friend. Imagine getting the phone called they received, informing you that your loved one was literally almost burned to death by one of his classmates. The serious implications bullying forever scar, both physically and mentally, impacting the community, friends terminate, family and the victim. It is our job to hinder this epidemic from escalating further.

‘Sexting’ poses serious risks for teens

The seemingly innocent flirtatious craze of “sexting” is proving to have extremely serious implications. Due to the teenage obsession with cell phones, sending promiscuous photos has become a rapidly growing phenomenon. An effort must be made to stop the spread of “sexting,” the practice among teenagers of taking naked, or near-naked photos. using a cell phone or other device, then text messaging or emailing them to boyfriends and girlfriends.

Students that “sext” will receive attention, but not in the way they want. “Sexting” may appear as a harmless act, but in reality “sexting” is breaking the law. In the State of Florida, “sexting” can result in charges of crime against a minor and being branded as a sex offender. Currently lawyers are pushing to make sexting a misdemeanor, even for minors. Innocently hitting the send button on a sexual text surrenders all control a student has over the message, as once sent, the message is possessed in cyberspace. According to the Orlando Daily Bulletin, Philip Alpert, then 18, had his life turned upside down when he and his girlfriend broke up. Craving revenge, he remembered the nude photos she had texted him. When first received, these photos stayed between the couple, but suddenly were in the phones of more than seventy people. Within seconds this girl’s reputation was shattered and both Alpert and his girlfriend faced dire consequences. Charged with transmitting child pornography, Alpert now has to serve five years of probation. Alpert will be a registered sex offender until the age of 43. He lost his friends and got expelled from Valencia Community college.

Not only does “sexting” present problems with the law, but in school as well. Recent provisions to the code of conduct, students can be kicked off sports teams and other disciplinary actions can proceed like suspension and expulsion. According to the Seattle Times, 23 percent of teens feel pressure from peers to send these inappropriate texts and, unfortunately, 20 percent give in. According to ABC news, Jessica Logan, then 18, faced a miserable breakup with her boyfriend, as the ex sent nude photos of her to fellow high school girls. The bullying and harassment led her to commit suicide two months later.

Teens need to fully grasp the future implications of their actions. Whether a teen sends or receives a “sext,” consequences will follow. It only takes one picture, one “sext”, to ruin a whole life, that can’t be worth it.

Texting while driving ban must be passed

Parkland commissioner Jared Moskowitz’s drafted ban against texting and driving passed with initial and unanimous approval as a ban, requiring one more vote to become a law. The “texting and driving” ban prohibits driving in Parkland while utilizing an mp3 player or cell phone. If the law passes it will be enforced as soon as September 23rd.
However, the “texting and driving” ban may not have a chance as a law because it remains unclear if cities are authorized to create their own traffic regulations.

Furthermore, how will this law be effectively enforced? City lines are not always clearly marked so discerning whether or not it is illegal to text in an area could pose a major problem. Even the mayor of Parkland, Michael Udine admits the ban will be hard to enforce. However, he believes it is worth it because studies show that texting while driving is one of the most dangerous things that a driver can do. A recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, a vehicle safety research organization, concluded that drivers who text while behind the wheel of a motor vehicle are 23 times more likely to crash than other drivers. This law if passed should not only become mandatory in Parkland but uniform across Florida.

Waiting to check messages while driving can be torture but it is a necessity. According to Science Daily, teens that text and drive weave in and out of lanes, and in some cases run over pedestrians.

The ban is similar to the mandatory use of seat belts. Without education and enforcement on the subject nobody will abide by it. By now most teenagers can recite the slogan, “click it or ticket.” To make texting and driving an abided by law, teenagers must be educated on the hazards it causes. The U.K. bans texting and driving and has released a graphic commercial showing a circumstance where an accident ended fatally. Airing that commercial in the U.S. could help prevent texting and driving.

A Florida Law called, “Heather’s Law” was proposed after a truck driver texted behind the wheel of his 18-wheeler and caused a fatal accident. Heather’s Law, bill SB-172 would have prohibited a person from operating a motor vehicle on a state highway while texting and or speaking on a cell phone. However, the bill failed to pass and is up for debate again for the third year.

Texting and driving is being compared to as serious an issue as drunk driving. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), more than 5,000 deaths each year are attributed to car crashes.

Local students have shown concern about keeping our streets safe, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) have taken action by participating in events that discourage teens from texting and driving. They participated in the 2009, “Act Out Loud: Raising Voices for Safe Teen Driving” national contest to discourage harmful activities behind the wheel.

All the scary statistics and efforts of the students and commissioners make the difficulty with enforcement seem like an insignificant problem. When you factor in the amount of car crashes and deaths this ban prevents, it proves well worth it.

Obama’s controversial universial health care plan must be enforced

Obama Plan in Four Minutes

In a group of 1000 teenagers, three to five will develop severe scoliosis and ninety-one will suffer from asthma. Both of which fall into the category of pre-existing conditions and cause an inability to obtain coverage once teens are ruthlessly kicked off their families’ insurance plans. The current health care system discriminates against and exploits people every day, teenagers not an exception.

Research conducted by Healthreform.gov confirms that the current system denies 12.6 million non-elderly people health insurance because they have pre-existing conditions. Pre-existing conditions include medical issues that people have before they apply for a new health insurance plan. Insurance companies stick these labels on hard working, kind human beings to justify not providing them with medical care. Pre-existing conditions range from cancer to conditions even more prevalent among teenagers including asthma, respiratory illness, epilepsy, diabetes, and scoliosis. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with severe scoliosis and I had a spinal fusion operation to treat the condition. My type of scoliosis can lead to lung collapse and death, if left untreated. When I finish college, I will no longer receive coverage from my family’s plan, it will become almost impossible to receive quality health insurance. If my mother ever lost her job, my pre-existing condition would prevent my family from obtaining private insurance because the government fails to regulate private insurance companies correctly. When these companies see scoliosis and spinal fusion under the medical history on an insurance application, they can deny the application claiming that, “it’s too big of a risk.”

Insurance companies kick young adults off their parents’ plan either when they turn nineteen, or when they finish undergraduate college. All of the major insurance companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield and United Healthcare, practice this policy. The SCHIP program (the government run children’s health insurance program) also requires young adults to re-enroll for Medicaid, in which fewer people are eligible. This does not account for graduate students or the number of young people who work at service oriented jobs that do not provide health care coverage for their employees. “Obama-care” reforms would allow young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance plan until age 26. This will relieve young people of the burden of paying for health insurance, while allowing them to still receive the medical care they need.

We keep hearing the words from politicians and the news media, “the current health-care system is unsustainable.” The words we need to hear are that, “The current health-care system is wrong.” According to the National Coalition on Health Care, over 22,000 Americans die every year solely because they don’t have health insurance. The United States claims the title of the land of opportunity, but how can we boast if we deny medicine to the people who need it the most? We as teens can make a difference by contacting our congressmen and senators to urge them to vote for health care reform and by raising awareness of the need to change the status quo of health care. The state of the health care system impacts our lives everyday and we can create a better America for now and the future by supporting Obama’s health care reform.