Thursday. April 24. 1980
University Daily Kansan
7
Youth ranch strives to send young offenders home
By GREG RICHARDS
Staff Reporter
It's not an easy thing to say to a child you've grown attached to.
But Jo Rosnerstraten and her surrogate parents at the O'Connell Youth Ranch sometimes must remind the court-paced juveniles that this home is only temporary.
The ranch just southeast of Lawrence is a state-funded temporary care facility that was established in 1982, 15- to 17-year-old youth who violate laws that are only for juveniles of their age. The ranch does not have a phone number.
Jonathan Parker, O'Connell Youth Ranch has five to 15 boys, is designed to prepare them for return to their families, once they learn how to cope with day-to-day life and daily routines.
ESTABLISHED IN 1976 on 160 acres of land donated in a trust by the O'Connell family, the ranch is affiliated with Youth for Christ International.
serves Douglas, Jefferson and Franklin counties.
Soviet and Rebelitative Services pays the ranch for its services on a daily, per child basis. SRB is assigned custody of status animals and humans under temporary facilities, including OYR, which
Although most of the youths at OYR have been there for more than a year, Parker said he thought that the most important goal was returning a child to his original home.
"In my experience with kids, unless the home situation is awfully bad, with sexual abuse or whatever going on, it my bias knows how to handle at home—his natural home," Parker said.
The ranch is staffed full-time by a pair of teaching parents, who run the home as any parents would, but carefully administer
strict house rules and counsel the youths on their behavior and progress.
BOB AND LOUSE Davis have been the primary teaching parents since the first juveniles arrived. Greg and Roslyn Alexander serve five days a month as backroom teacher. Davies a night off, Craig and Jo Boisson are rel护士 about 10 days each month.
Parker described their service as a 'very difficult job', and he must be able to deal with a large variety of problems, both showing concern for the people they would, and maintaining some kind of comfort.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Police Beat
A 22-year Wichita man was arrested by the KU police early morning day after he walked into the lobby of Hoch Street to meet a member of the police division and refused to leave.
Capt. John Mullens of the KU police who officers arrested the man, Karl Wynkoop, for criminal trespassing he also said of his friend, the KU's officer with a cord handle, in one of the man's boats.
KU police charged Wynkoop with trespassing and carrying a concealed weapon. He is in Douglas County Jail with bond set at $1,000. *
A 30-year Lawrence woman will make her first appearance in Douglas County District Court Monday morning on charges of attempted grant theft and forgery.
The charges against the woman, Katherine Mader, Lawrence Ave. or Orchard Lane, stem from an incident last Wednesday in which she allegedly tried to deposit two hundred dollars in Jobina Volkswagen, 2022 Iowa, totaling $12,100, into her own account.
Mader was an employee of the dealership when the attempted theft took place, according to Lawrence police. Mader is free from charges for the hearing in District Court Monday at 11 a.m.
Bradley C. Glacock, Uysses freshman,
was arrested on charges of criminal
damage to property. The 20-year-old man
was charged with assault and burglary.
Court appearance is scheduled for Monday.
KU police arrested an Oliver Hall resident Tuesday in connection with $500 worth ofandalism that occurred in the residence hall, Sunday.
University police were still looking yesterday afternoon for a man who shattered a glass door with his head while trying to escape a security monitor at Corin Hall. Mullens said the man apparently was not seriously hurt in the ordeal but had cut his bare feet in the broken glass leaving blood at the scene. The man escaped in a car, and he is now found on auto matching the description and anecd number in their investigation.
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"I've never seen this kind of emotional investment that these people make to these kids—and to each other." Parker said.
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Greg Alexander said the parents had to be aware of the youths' attempts to take advantage of gaps in the staff's leadership, slaving one parent off the other.
Rosenterrat said, "Our goal is to get them back in their homes."
She added that sometimes she must tell the youths, "We love you, we really care about you, but we're not your mom."
"Well, Bob's using 2 percent milk," he mimicked. "Why are you using whole milk? Gee-maybe you don't like Bob or something!"
"Kids will be kids," she said. "But Bob has established a real line of authority . . . none of this pouting, throwing a r. it. They do, they know they're really in trouble."
Parker is eager to provide additional counsel for the Commission on offenders, and that a QOV, was seeking a grant from the Governor's Committee on Criminal Administration to fund another.
The grant, sponsored by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners and county court services, would provide $132,450 to assist with planning for the setting of parents and administrative personnel.
A youth would live at the ranch for a period of up to three months, Parker said, and would then be returned to his home. That arrangement is applied to help the family work out problems.
"WE ARE OF the conviction that we should work with the whole family, not just the child." Parker said.
Jo Rosentrater agreed.
"The majority of the juvenile offenders we see are boys," he said. "A lot of the reason for that is they have no adequate male role model in the home.
He stressed the importance of working with the father.
At OYR, as much positive reinforcement as possible is given on a point system, where the youth earns various numbers of points
through chores, good behavior, and ability to interact socially, up to the level where he may be released.
The five-bedroom house is a modern, spacious structure designed for use as a youth shelter.
he was eager to get expansion plans started. "I think it's been a need for a long time," he said.
Kent Nobile, director of the county court services and project director for OVR, said he was eager to get expansion plans started.
THE PROPOSED "HOUSE N. 2" would be similar, said Parker, although it would be arranged for co-eed use. House N. 1 is now occupied by six boys.
"I can't emphasize enough that this grew out of the needs of the community."
Other homes in which SRS places juveniles include ten facilities operated by the Meninger Foundation, Inc. of Topeka. There are six such homes, two in Kane County.
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Parker emphasized the importance of the program.
Noble said OYR's three-county range would make the grant application more attractive to the governor's committee.
THE STAFF MAKES sure that the juveniles don't mistake their temporary surroundings for their natural home, although they invite frank relationships.
"This may be the only example of a normal home the kids ever have. When they grow up and get married and have kids, how are they going to do?" he asked.
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