Many parents have sleepless nights worrying about their daughters falling victim to men administering date-rape drugs.  But you want to know my experience? 

More girls are sexually assaulted as a result of consuming, BY THEIR OWN FREE WILL, huge amounts of alcohol to the point where they pass out and are easy prey.  I know many parents are thinking, “Oh, not my little Ashley; she would never do that.”  Well, Mom and Dad, think again.  Your daughters are out there consuming alcoholic beverages and in large amounts - to the point where they poison themselves with alcohol poisoning.  Many of these kids take their first drink at about ten or eleven years of age!

I remember a group of kids that ditched school (I know parents…not your little Ashley) and the group went to a park to hang out and drink.  Two of the juveniles (a male and female) drank themselves into alcohol poisoning.  The female almost died.

Another incident that made news here in L.A. involved a girl that, also drank too much in a park.  The three (maybe four) males that were with her had drug her into a bathroom in the park and were going to go one-by-one and prove what “men” they were. 

Fortunately, some other people in the park saw what was going on and didn’t think it looked right and called the police.  The girl was relatively unharmed, but I’m guessing she won’t willingly consume that amount of alcohol again.

If you have young girls, you have GOT to talk to them.  You need to tell them of the dangers that are out there.  You need to do your best to instill a little bit of fear with the knowledge you’re sharing as well as letting them know you love them and they can come to you - even if they screw up.

One of the first effects of alcohol is lack of judgement.  So, you need to talk to your children.  Let them know consequences - oh, and for boys…usually when they have too much to drink they get into fights with other males who’ve been drinking too much.  Many of them wind up in the hospital, jail, or dead for their efforts.

Know what I’m going to do now?  E-mail my daughter and tell her to read my blog.

Until next time,

KMA367

Tonight I met with my critique group and we got talking about contests.  I gave insight entering contests and what I got out of the experience.  One of my critique group members had a totally different point of view and doesn’t enter contests.  The other member was totally neutral. 

So, the down and dirty question of the day is this:  Do you enter writing contests, and why.  If you don’t, why not.  Do you have any other burning comments about contests you wish to make…if so, feel free.

Until Next Time,

KMA367

My pre-teen granddaughter really wants a cell phone.  Now, I don’t know who she needs to chat with that would warrant the expense of a cell phone, but I needn’t worry.  My daughter is holding steadfast that my granddaughter is too young for the responsibility of a cell phone.

A recent case at work sure caught my attention when it comes to young people and their cell phones.  A young lady in her mid-teens met one of the football players at school and they fell “in love”.  During the course of their relationship the girl was missing her boyfriend a lot.  So she got the great idea to send him a picture of herself via her cell phone.  To make the photo more personal and endearing, she decided it would be a good idea if she took off her top and bra to make a bigger impression on the young lad.  So, after several shots, she got the “perfect photo” and sent it to his cell phone.  She didn’t think it was a big deal - lots of kids were taking semi-nude and nude photos of themselves and sending them to “friends”.

The young man loved the photo!  It made a big impression and he thought it was endearing.  He professed his love of the photo AND her…for the next couple of weeks.  Then disaster struck.  The happy couple broke up.  It wasn’t a pretty break-up.  In fact, the young man was so angry at the circumstances of their break up, he forwarded the “perfect photo”, (via his cell phone) to all his football team mates.  And they passed it on to their friends, and so on and so on.

When the young lady found out about it, (and in high school, it didn’t take long for her to find out) she went right to her parents.  And they came to us.

After much investigation and discussion with the District Attorney, the young man was charged with distributing child pornography - as the girl was a minor.  The young girl’s “perfect photo” is making it’s way around cyberspace…never again to be the private photo it was intended to be.  As much as she’d like to take it back, she can’t.

I tell you this story for a couple of reasons.  Many parents are naive about what their kids are doing with their cell phones.  Many parents don’t understand new technology and don’t know the dangers the new devices can create.  There are many young people who don’t think twice about passing around “risque” photos their friends are sharing. 

Photos that make it into cyberspace are forever images.  They can never be recalled.  You, as a parent must drill that fact into your children.  You must also teach them that passing inappropriate photos can be a crime and they should really think twice before passing something like that around.  

The young man in this story is still waiting for trial.  The young girl in this story has to attend school every day and know that almost everyone at her school has seen the ”perfect photo” .  The other kids at the school are waiting to see if the police will come looking for THEM for passing the photo on to others.

So, parents, before you cave in to the intense pressure to provide your child with a cell phone, be sure they, and you, understand a cell phone can be a friend or foe.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO ON MY IPOD RIGHT NOW: Cold As Ice by Foreigner

Until next time,

KMA367

One of the most frustrating parts of being a police officer is responding to neighbor disputes where adults are behaving like five-year-olds.  As a Senior Lead Officer, a big part of my duties are to handle issues that the “regular” patrol officers don’t have time to tackle.  Very often those issues are neighbor disputes.

What constitutes a neighbor dispute?  It might be a neighbor who parks a motorhome on the street in front of his neighbor’s house,  or maybe a neighbor who uses a leaf-blower to remove leaves and debris from his yard into yours.  Maybe it’s noise complaints, or complaints about teenagers driving too fast in the neighborhood.  I’ve had folks complain about their upstairs neighbors (in an apartment) walking “too much”. 

It might seem that some of these things should be easy fixes, but they’re not.  For example, the motorhome problem?  In Los Angeles, if the person who owns the vehicle moves it every 72 hours, there isn’t a darn thing I can do about the vehicle.  And believe me, the vehicle owners know that rule.  The leaf blowing thing isn’t a crime.  Poor manners, yes.  A crime, no.  And what am I supposed to tell the family who lives in an upper apartment?  Stop walking?

If neighbors have a single problem with each other usually I can work with both parties for resolution.  Where it gets really tricky is when the neighbors seem to thrive on the dispute and, while they complain a lot, they won’t follow any advice on how to minimize or eliminate some of the issues.

In some neighborhoods there are folks who like to annoy everyone on the block.  These are very tough cases to work.  Luckily, each LAPD Station has a City Attorney assigned to work with the Senior Lead Officers to assist them with these larger situations.  The City Attorney’s Office offers free mediation services, but the key to that remedy is that both parties have to agree to go. 

The reality is, a lot of times, nothing gets accomplished with neighbor disputes until the participants grow up and get out of the sandbox.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO ON MY IPOD RIGHT NOW: It Keeps You Runnin’ by the Doobie Brothers

Until Next Time,

KMA367

I hate to admit it, but there are TV shows I watch that might be considered the equivalent of comfort food.  You know the kind of shows…the ones from your childhood that you’ve seen a zillion times and, if asked, you could recite every line.

Sometimes the comfort shows might change.  For example, a few years ago, for me, The Golden Girls was a nightly ritual.  That Sophia cracks me up every time.  But after some time I moved to Law and Order.  The thing about that TV show is it seems to be on all the time on multiple channels.  My L & O phase didn’t last too long.  Currently, Friends is my “top” pick.  I’d never watched the show in prime time, but on my local channel at eleven at night, it’s the perfect show to watch right before bed.  If I can stay awake, Sex and the City is also another comfort show.

But, for me, the granddaddy of all time is:  (drum roll please) I Love Lucy.  Lucy, Ethel, Ricky and Fred never fail to make me smile.  I don’t even have to be watching the television to know what’s going on.  I’ve seen the shows so many times I can picture Lucy and Ethel stuffing chocolates into their mouths or Lucy slipping and falling in a vat of grapes.  How about Ethel and Fred slipping into Richard Widmark’s house with a butterfly net to “capture” a trapped Lucy before Ricky finds out she’s there.  It doesn’t get much better than that.  And the best thing about TV for comfort??? 

No calories!

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO ON MY IPOD RIGHT NOW:  Okee from Muskogee by Merle Haggard

Until next time,

KMA367

I’m sure, for many people, the New Year brought a whole host of promises (better known as resolutions) of ways to improve not only their life.  For writers, I’m sure at least part of the focus was their writing career.

So here we are half way through January and the question is:  How YOU doin’?

My goal is to start sending queries on a regular basis to agents.  I’m also brainstorming my next book, and I’ve got a glimmer of, what I think is, a good idea.  But before I can really focus on the new book idea, I want to get the system in place so I can be activily working on selling A Dozen Deadly Roses. Thanks to my fabulous critique group I feel my work is much stronger and, hopefully, will garner some interest. 

It’s true the first part of this year has thrown me some curve balls, but I am determined to soldier on and get the job done.

I guess what I’m trying to say is:  Even if you haven’t gotten off to a good start with your New Year’s resolutions, don’t give up.  There is nothing magical about January 1st that makes it “the perfect time” to set goals.  The key is to regularly take small steps toward your goal - no matter what the date. 

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO ON MY IPOD RIGHT NOW:  If That’s What it Takes by Michael McDonald

Until Next Time;

KMA367

I lost my father-in-law yesterday.  He was a nice man.  I would call him gentle, although I suspect he might not like that description. 

Gene was a World War II veteran and proud of it.  He had amazing stories to tell of his time serving our country.  He was in the Navy and when he re-told his adventures there was a special vibrancy in eyes and voice.  It was obvious he enjoyed that part of his life.  He loved the ocean and sailing.

I didn’t meet Gene until about sixteen years ago.  He and my mother-in-law, Flo live in Las Vegas - one of my favorite places to visit.  Over the years Gene encouraged me try my hand at playing Blackjack - a game I’d long avoided due to my concerns I wouldn’t be able to count the total on my cards fast enough.  (Math isn’t my strong suit.)  But everytime my husband and I would go to Vegas Gene would continue to give me tips on how to play the game.  Finally, I took the plunge and learned not only could I add plenty fast enough, I had a better understanding of how the game should be played…better than most people - thanks to Gene. 

One of my favorite memories is a day that Gene and I spent together playing Blackjack.  He came to the Strip hotel we were staying at and picked me up.  Always nicely groomed in a polo-type shirt and, usually, white slacks, and white shoes (one of the few men I’ve seen that didn’t look silly in white shoes), I was happy to have him as my gambling partner for the day.  We went to his favorite “local” casinos.  Less glitzy than the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip, these were the places where the smoke was thick but you could still find tables where you could bet two dollars a hand.  We had a great afternoon traveling from “joint to joint”.  I think we each ended the day a few dollars ahead…always a good thing.

Gene’s love of the ocean will be memorialized when his ashes are taken by Navy vessel to a place in the Pacific and scattered.  And from that time on, every time I look at the ocean I’ll think of Gene.

Rest in Peace, Gene.  You will be missed.

Until next time,

KMA367