The Current Online

by Kennieth Jones

In the headlines today, we are bombarded with stories of child molestation and the adults who have come back to tell their stories of being sexually abused as children. We are bombarded with the issue of child molestation in the church and the schools and the cases of celebrity child molestation and statutory rape.

All the media frenzy surrounding these cases and pumping them up in the spotlight has my mind traveling back to my own childhood. At the age of six, I was sexually abused for a three-month period of time while attending a local summer camp here in the city. I covered it up for nearly 13 years, as I fell deeper and deeper into denial about what had happened to me. Child molestation is not a rare occurrence, but as a child not knowing the commonality of it, I felt as though I was alone and no one would understand my pain.

According to the U.S. Justice Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, are an estimated 3,000 cases of child molestation reported yearly. The fact that this many children are molested each year in America is disgusting enough that every time I think about it my stomach turns.

When referring to child molesters, we typically think of a middle-aged male who knows the victim on a very personal level. This, however, was not true in my case. A female day care worker who saw her methods of abuse as a way to control me molested me. I recall being in trouble and she would call me over to her. That is when the moments of horror began for me. I don’t believe I was the only one who suffered that summer, but as I reflect back on the horror of it, I can only pray that I was alone. To be a child stripped of innocence through no choice of yours is a nightmare I wouldn’t wish upon my worst of all enemies.

Though my abuse occurred when I was six, I was not affected by the incident until my junior and senior year in high school. I remember falling into depression and suicidal thoughts and being plagued by nightmares, as well as turning on some of my friends and family. I talked to my youth minister, who in turned connected me with a Christian grief counselor. This did so much to relieve the stress that I was feeling.

Living the life I have lived and the pain that I have dealt with leaves me wondering what type of person would do this to children and leave them mentally wounded.

Child molestation is a very serious mental problem that leaves the victims emotionally branded and feeling dirty and unwanted. It is a very painful experience that we the victims must carry with us forever.

It irritates me to hear people say, you need to get over it and move on with your life. Explain something to me. How am I supposed to just pick up and move on with my life when I was stripped of my only innocence and left feeling ashamed, as though I had done something wrong?

I have finally learned to deal with the abuse and forgive the one who caused it. Though I forgive, I shall never forget and I believe anyone who even thinks of molesting a child should be imprisoned for life and burned alive.

Kennieth Jones

Recycle First, as it is now called, is the new trash plan designed by mayor Kay Barnes and the city council of Kansas City, Mo. to start its residents curbside recycling and produce less trash.

John Stufflebean, director of environmental services of Kansas City, said the new trash plan goes into effect Mar. 1, 2004. The plan will be a series of phases over a nine-month period and will only affect housing units of six-plexes and below, beginning with the areas of the city that produce the most trash.

Once the plan goes into effect, the amount of recycling residents are allowed to produce will be limitless. However, the amount of free trash that residents can put on the curb will be limited to two 40-pound bags of trash per week.

Stufflebean said that if a resident wants to put out more than the allowed two bags, then they must purchase one-dollar yellow tags from the city. If a resident or household has more than those two bags without having purchased the tags, they can expect to be fined up to $500 dollars. Stufflebean added, “a person will receive one warning, then the fines will begin to take effect.”

Stufflebean said Recycle First will not affect residential taxes. Disposal costs are up, while recycling costs are down.

“In the long run, it will save the city money and not cost residents,” he said.

The next logical question is, when consumers are restricted in the amount of trash they can put out, might the problem of illegal dumping occur?

Stufflebean said he believes illegal dumping might become a slight problem in the beginning but it will quickly dissolve. A study of 10,000 American cities that have curbside recycling and 4,000 cities with the same policy that Kansas City will implement found that illegal dumping occurred in the beginning, but soon dropped, as more residents became environmentally conscious.

While the cities outside of Kansas City, will not be affected, residents of Kansas City can expect to start organizing their trash in the near future.

by Kennieth Jones

Are you straight, bisexual, or gay? That is a very good question today when it seems most of the world sleeps around with whomever they please. We have become so sex crazed that it does not matter who or what we sleep with anymore.

The number of STD cases in America has grown to an alarming number. AIDS is still the most deadly of these STDs. We all know plenty about AIDS and how it is contracted. But let’s focus on some of the numbers. According to Judy Aita, United Nations Washington file correspondent, an estimated five million adults and children were infected with AIDS last year. Also, AIDS claimed three percent of all lives in the U.S. last year, not including 401 teenagers and 473 children. Through international AIDS data, approximately 22 million people worldwide have fallen to AIDS.

These numbers might not sound alarming, but consider the incubation period and longevity of the disease. Then consider the number of people who are presently living with the disease.

Women are 12 times more likely than men to contract the disease. Furthermore, the number of cases of women with AIDS in America has grown. This brings me to the original question. Are you straight, bisexual, or gay?

Many of the women in this country who have contracted AIDS through sexual contact have received it from partners who are living a double life. I am referring to the partners who are totally promiscuous and don’t care about sleeping around unprotectedly without their partners having knowledge of this. This also refers to bisexual men who have not let their female partners know about their other lifestyle and who also may be living with AIDS or HIV.

There is nothing wrong with being a bisexual man. However, it is totally that guy’s responsibility to let the women in his life know that he also has a sexual lifestyle with men.

A group of researchers in New York City performed a recent study and concluded that an average of four out of ten infected bisexual or gay men have had unprotected sex with partners who have no knowledge of their infection with disease. These numbers are high enough to scare the life out of anyone who thinks of going into action without protection.

I am not gay bashing or saying that gay and bisexual men are the only ones living with AIDS. Basically, I am saying that gay men should stay with gay men. Bisexual men should choose one side to be faithful to.

It is time for everyone to choose one side to become faithful with and put an end to promiscuity. If you choose to be gay, straight, or bisexual, that is your choice and none of anyone’s business but yours. However, when you become promiscuous and spread disease, then it becomes the business of us all and should be immediately put to an end.

UNDERCOVER BROTHER
by KENNIETH JONES

Many of us seem to plan out every moment of our lives. We make a list of things in life we want to achieve and then follow that list as closely as possible. From a child to a teen, I was raised with the belief that I would one day be a Jayhawk. Then why the heck am I at Longview?

My plan was to graduate from high school and then go off to the University of Kansas with my cousin Erika. All that changed the summer after my senior year, when tragedy struck my family. My cousin, who was only ten months older than I, passed away and left me with two questions: Is faith really all you need? And do our doctors know what they are doing or are they just practicing for a paycheck?

In October of 2001, Eri-Cola (Erika) started to complain of severe stomach pain and that she couldn’t move without feeling that pain. She was checked out by the doctor and was told that nothing was wrong with her. This was only the beginning of it all for my family and me. Through July of the following year, we all went through emotional highs and lows.

My cousin was five feet nine inches and 120 pounds and quickly on her way to pursuing a career in sports medicine or modeling. However, on Thanksgiving that year she had no appetite and did not eat anything. When Christmas rolled around, she was feeling fine and able to eat whatever it was she wanted. The next seven months were just like this.

In January of 2002, my little brother was celebrating his first birthday and Eri-Cola could not even bring herself to move at the party. She had been suffering with a very rare form of arthritis, though it was not yet diagnosed. Once she was diagnosed, she was put on a powerful medication that made her swell up and feel very uncomfortable. Eventually, she was put on some medication that made all of her hair fall out and she began to wear wigs. While everyone around us would be wearing their wigs for fashion, Eri-Cola would have to wear them to disguise her increasing ailment.

At the end of February, she went into the hospital for her first of many stays. While there, she was put on medication and tested at all times of the day, it seemed. She came out of the hospital only to quickly return, but not before losing nearly 20 pounds.

Now standing at about 95-100 pounds, Erika looked almost like death. While in the hospital for her second time, she had to undergo a very painful bone marrow surgery that left her needing to be pumped full of morphine for long periods of time. I remember going to the hospital for long visits and staying to see her and think about all of the good times we had shared together and the many more we would soon share. Erika came out of the hospital on Easter morning and gave her life completely to God. Because of complications to her health and coughing up blood, she had to be rushed to the hospital again. She stayed this time for almost two weeks until doctors felt she was able to go home.

I recall her coming to my graduation and not being able to walk up the stairs. So with her crippled body and wearing her wig, my father carried her up the stairs.

During the first week of June, Eri-Cola had developed a very large hole in her lungs and had to *