Child abuse statistics

Submitted by Julie Eager

Child abuse includes physical, sexual and emotional abuse, as well as neglect.

There are many myths about child abuse.  Check out these facts reported by the Bureau of Justice:

1. More than 4 children die every day due to child abuse in the United States.  About 80% of those that die are under the age of 4.

National data is likely to underestimate the number of children who die from child abuse.

This is the worst record in industrialized nations.

1. 3,000,000 reports of child abuse are made involving 6,000,000 children each year in the United States.
2. About 1/3 of children who are abused grow up to abuse children.  Abused children have higher rates of mental illness, substance abuse and of criminal activities which land them in prison.  They have a higher rate of early pregnancies.
3. Child abuse occurs equally in all socio-economic classes of people.  This is not a crime of poverty or of lack of education or ability.
4. Child molesters typically molest 117 children in their lifetime, most of whom do not report the offence.  Molesters are sometimes violent and threatening to children but often they “groom” children and take advantage of their lack of knowledge and trust for adults.
5.   Girls are three times more often sexually abused than boys.  Half of females who are raped are under the age of 18.
6. Most perpetrators are known by their victims.  Only 5% of perpetrators are strangers to the children.
7. It is estimated that there are 60 million survivors of child sexual assault today.
8. 97 % of sexual offenders who were convicted and imprisoned for their crime were male.  70% were white.

It is very important to remember that nobody deserves abuse.  Do not blame the victim for what abusers do.  Abusers are threatening and dangerous.  Do not attempt to intervene on your own.   Call the Health and Human Services or the law enforcement agency in the area in which the abuse occurred.

Kat Country Hub stats

I checked my overall visitor stats. I have readers from Sweden, India, France, Canada, Netherlands. Ireland, Philippines, Egypt, Nicaragua, Russia, United Kingdom and Thailand. Wow, that is going further than when I did a print paper. I am so excited!!!  This is definitely worth it! Thank you to all who take the time to read the paper. And, I am open to any suggestions you may have for articles, etc. Just let me know. I aim to please.

School Consolidation

School consolidation discussions with the schools in Burt County are progressing, possible to a county-wide school on Highway 32 between Oakland and Tekamah. How do you feel about this?

Sunset last evening

I took these pictures behind our house last night.

Sunset over the grain bins, trucks were there all day, hauling in their harvest. Photo Credit/Denise Gilliland, Editor and Chief, Kat Country Hub.

A Minute with the Mayor

A Minute with the Mayor

October 24, 2013

Hi.  It’s been a while since I last wrote to you.  Sorry about that.  I took a little vacation and that threw off getting out a September article.  Since my last article, the leaves have started changing and the temperature has started to drop.  Fall is finally in full swing and we are moving at light speed towards Thanksgiving and Christmas!  The city has been busy with several items and I need to get you caught up on them.  We’ll start with the budget and the new fiscal year.  This past year’s budget really got knocked around due to all the adjustments that had to be made due to all the grant money we took in and spent, especially the big dollar amounts associated with the building deconstruction and auditorium.  Once the city audit is complete, we’ll have better and more accurate numbers to share.  The new budget is as tight of one as I’ve seen.  Although property valuations increased this year, so have expenses.  Nothing new and nothing we can’t figure out.

The city has approved another partnership between itself, Brehmer Mfg and Northeast Economic Development so Brehmer’s can apply for another expansion community development block grant.  They are going gang busters over there and need to expand again to meet their growing business needs.  We are so fortunate to have them as a community partner.  We are moving through the process of getting Keno up and running.  Contracts and agreements are required and the Branding Iron has been working with the city to make sure all the “t”s are crossed and the”I”s dotted.  It shouldn’t be too much longer before it is all up and running.  I see the BI is already advertising it is open seven days a week keeping with their promise if Keno passed they would open every day.  The city crew replaced the concrete in front of the Happy Day’s senior center.  It had gotten very pity and difficult for some going into the center to make it safely.  Thanks to the center for bringing the issue to my attention.  The city passed an ordinance to issue a $2,000,000 general obligation bond for the new swimming pool.  Rates have started to creep back up so we wanted to lock the rate in now and not take a chance.  I don’t have the percentage rate in front of me but it was approximately four percent with the ability to refinance after five years if the rate goes down.  The council also passed several other ordinances related to vehicles, vehicle parking and storage, fence heights and setbacks and animal control within the city limits.

The pool project is moving along.  The rain set them back a little but they continue to progress.  Once the floors to the pool house and pump house are poured, we’ll see those structures move more quickly.  I know there has been some concern about the size of the pool.  The indented outline certainly makes it look no bigger than a bathtub.  Keep the faith.  Get the memory of the old pool out of your head.  I don’t know too many pools that are that big anymore.  The new pool has an occupancy rating of 240 people so you know it can’t be too small.  Plus remember it was designed for activity and not for lap swimming.  Yes it will be smaller than the old pool but I can guarantee it is bigger than a bathtub! The city auditorium project is still moving forward even though you can’t see any progress at this point.  The engineers are working on the plans and getting it ready for bids.  We are still hoping to get started around the first of the year.  I’m really excited to see this project get underway.  It is such a great space and these updates will continue to keep us competitive in this market.  We did get our reimbursement from the state for the deconstruction grant.  We received $191,280 from the state.  Combine that with the $40,000 we received when the city took over the Gerdes’ building, the city (tax payers) paid a little more than $26,000 out of pocket for the demolition.  Please thank Mike, Mary Lou, Ron and the council for all their efforts.  Otherwise the bill would have been $257,000 to tear those buildings down.  I don’t know about you but I like the $26,000 dollars better!

Last Thursday, the city held a town hall meeting regarding the results from the community survey we sent out earlier this fall.  Once again the community response rate was tremendous.  Thank you to all that sent their surveys in.  The results didn’t reveal anything surprising.  Street condition was at the top of the list as was city beautification – tearing down and fixing up houses around town, revisiting the city’s entrance off of Hwy 77 and maintain city clean-up days with extra assistance to those who can’t get their items to the dumpsters.  Also noted was the community’s desire to maintain a strong local school system and develop opportunities for economic development, housing and maintain a vibrant business community.  The city, along with community help, will continue to work on a plan to address those areas identified in the survey.

Lastly I have to give a shout out to the football team.  A 7 and 1 record for the regular season is an outstanding achievement.  My hat is off to the Coach Dan and his team for taking a physically small group of boys and turning them into a gridiron powerhouse built on speed, desire, guts and heart.  The playoffs begin on the 31^st and it should be a home game.  Load your pockets up with Halloween candy and come out to support your team.  As with any team, they feed off of the crowd’s energy.  It would be great to see the stands packed.  It would also help keep all of us warm as I know it will be cold!  Great job fellas!  Win or lose in the playoffs, know that your community is so very proud of all you have accomplished this year!  That’s it for now.  I’m sure we’ll be talking soon.  Until then, take care.

Mayor Andy Fuston

Meeting Notice

NOTICE OF MEETING

The Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department will hold its Board of Health meeting on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 in Wisner, Nebraska at 2104 21^st Circle, beginning at 4:00 p.m.  The meeting agenda, which shall be kept continuously current, shall be available for public inspection during normal business hours at this location.  Video conferencing via Telehealth can be made available in Norfolk, West Point and Oakland by calling 402-529-2233.