Pledges for peace reinforced

A contest on stopping violence at home is planned for high school students.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- With a little magic and some silly rap moves, Dimples the Clown is helping Lawrence County schoolchildren remember and reinforce pledges of nonviolence they made last year.
"Bullies are not cool. You can be the bully and get into some major trouble," said Stacey Cox, who, as her Dimples persona, visited several schools throughout the county this month.
Cox, of Wampum, Pa., preached the tenets of the pledge of peace and nonviolence that include respect, communication, forgiveness and courage.
"When we show them magic, they remember that, because it's cool. We are hoping they will remember some of the messages that go along with it," Cox said.
Larger effort: The program is part of a larger effort that started last year when Jim and Kathy McGinnis from the Institute of Peace and Justice in St. Louis conducted seminars and visited several schools in Lawrence County to spread the peace message.
Lawrence County Cares, an agency created by a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, has taken over the task of keeping that message fresh in the children's minds and expanding it to include domestic violence issues.
Joe Sarbo, Lawrence County Cares director, said the goal is to raise awareness of domestic violence among children.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
A respect task force made up of New Castle Area High School students is in charge of relaying the nonviolence and domestic violence awareness message to classmates and acting as mentors to younger children in the district, he added.
Contest: The Lawrence County Domestic Violence Task Force is also sponsoring an essay, poetry and poster contest for high school students with the theme of stopping violence in the home, said Sue Ascione, executive director of the Children's Advocacy Center and a member of the county domestic violence task force.
"We are trying to stop the violence at home against adults, children and pets. We've found that there is a connection between domestic violence and pet abuse, too," Ascione said.