Lakeland Area Community Meetings

There were about 20 people at the meeting this evening.  We began with introductions around the circle. Charlotte Hockings then explained the DVD we were going to watch tonight to start our discussion. As many of you remember, five local Lakeland area boys vandalized and burned the Hocking’s Waswaagoning Village a few years ago. It was a terrible act of hatred fueled by drinking. The boys were eventually caught and faced 35 years in prison-each. Nick and Charlotte both felt that sending these boys to prison was not going to accomplish anything good-that in fact they might come out more prejudice than when they went in. They did something really quite remarkable in order to try and make sure these boys lives were not destroyed-they offered the 5 boys a path through Restorative Justice-the option to fulfill certain requirements over a two year period instead of going to jail for arson felony.  They spent a great deal of time working with these boys and developed a path for them to follow:  the boys had to read 4 books, write reports, answer 5 questions about racism, pay fines and complete 250 hours of community service.  They also had to make a video describing what they did to share with others-in the hope that others would learn from the mistakes these boys made and not do such things. This process had a powerful impact on these boys and the Hocking’s, through their actions, have shown the rest of us that there are other options for enforcing consequences while helping teach youth to learn from their mistakes. We watched the first two interviews of the boys and then took time to talk and share responses.
Below are some of the responses shared in the circle:

• The boys in the video touched upon all of the four core issues identified by our process over the past 14 months as they talked about why they did what they did: prejudice, racism, underage drinking/binge drinking, lack of youth connection to the community, poor parenting skills. Their interviews gave us all the chance to look into our children’s worlds here in our area-it was powerful.
• Nick and Charlotte Hockings have given a wonderful example to the community of the restorative process and how it can be used.
• Zero tolerance alone is not the answer with our youth-it is simply not effective enough. Suspending a child from school does not meet the child’s needs-it meets our needs for an expeditious way of handing down consequences. It would take considerable more effort if we developed a restorative plan for each offense, but we felt that it would be certainly worth that effort.
• We discussed having in-school suspensions with adult mentors/role models to work with youth-like the Hocking’s did with the boys from Waswaagoning-when there is an offense in schools. Our group could create and train such a corps, a rapid response community action team that could help schools develop these individual plans with youth and victims using culture and other relevant life skills available. Each child’s life is unique and we must find ways to acknowledge that.
• As the group talked, several people were saying that watching the boys talk had been powerful, and that since the boys covered all of the core issues we are trying to address, they would like to see it shown to others in the community, parents and high school students.  Due to the young age that youth begin drinking in the Northwoods (40% of middle school students surveyed in 2007 in the Lakeland area drank alcohol before the age of 14), it was suggested to present this topic in some way to middle school students as well.  The group discussed that each age group would need the issues presented in a different way, so that it would reach them on their level.  Two of the boys have told Hockings that they are willing to come and speak to groups of people, which would be a very effective aspect to add in to the mix.

The group started brainstorming strategies to incorporate this DVD into classrooms, ILI sessions and other venues where youth gather:

• Make the DVD available to schools for teachers to use.  Option to send people from this group to help facilitate discussions and provide a background to the DVD.  Suggestion to send a brochure along that describes Waswaagoning or a teacher’s guide.
• Show at each middle school’s 8^th grade parent meetings with students.
• Show at teacher in-service, another way to introduce them to Restorative Justice and provide another resource they could use in the classroom with their students.
• How can this become a regular topic to discuss?
• Could this be included into life skills classes?  Or something that all freshmen are involved with?
• Include information about Restorative Justice.
• Show to church groups.

It was decided to bring more ideas and ways to incorporate the DVD to the next meeting so please come prepared to share, brainstorm and discuss the pros and cons of bringing this kind of public service learning into our classrooms. It should be an excellent meeting. Our strategy will be to develop a proposal to share with schools and community groups on how to bring these powerful testimonies into public and learning forums for debate and education.
 
Bob shared a letter with the group that will be sent home with graduation information to parents of seniors encouraging parents to help their youth make healthy and safe decisions during their celebrations.  The letter encourages parents to celebrate without alcohol. A flyer about the program “Parents Who Host Lose the Most” will be included with the letter.  This program spells out the legal ramifications of providing alcohol to underage youth in parents’ homes. The letter is signed by six community leaders:

• Bob Kovar, Project Director for Positive Alternatives Coalition and Intercultural Leadership Initiative
• Hon. Judge Alice Soulier, Lac du Flambeau Tribal Judge
• Steven Michlig, Assistant District Attorney for Oneida County
• Hon. Judge Neal Nielsen, Vilas County Judge
• Dr. Rick Brodhead, Emergency Room Howard Young Medical Center
• Michael Dailey, District Administrator for Lakeland Union High School

The next meeting will be Tuesday June 3^rd.