JUNK 17, 1082
Child abuse in eye of beholder
SUM MKKNKURA.sk AN
BY JENNI BURROWS
It is 7:45 a.m. Mr. and Mrs. X leave for
work, locking the door to the house behind
them. They drive away, leaving their three
children to wait for the bus that will take
them to school. The children are clad in rain
coats, carrying umbrellas. It is raining very
hard.
At the same time, Mr. and Mrs. Y leave
their house in another part of town. Before
they go, they lock their 4-year-old daughter in
her bedroom, telling her that if she's good and
doesn't make any noise, they might let her out
to watch television when they return that
night. The room is cold and dirty.
Mr. Z is sleeping off a hangover. Mrs. Z,
frustrated and angry at her husband, yells at
her 8-year-old son when he asks for more or
ange juice. He persists, and she blows up, hit
ting him in the face, giving him a black eye,
and cutting him with her wedding ring. When
he cries in pain, she pushes him down the
stairs, knocking him unconscious.
Which situation constitutes child abuse?
People must report abuse
The answer lies in the eyes of the person
who reports the situation to the police.
In Lincoln, the answer is "all of the above."
The X, Y and Z parents are all subject to
being accused of child abuse or neglect.
"Child abuse can take many forms," and is
often difficult to identify, said Judy Wong,
unit manager of Lancaster County Child Pro
tective Services. She said that because much
abuse occurs in the privacy of the home and
since neglect is not always visible to the out
side observer, child abuse and neglect is often
not reported.
A child is considered abused or neglected
if he or she is placed in situations dangerous
to physical or mental health; cruelly con
fined, punished,tormented or tortured; de
prived of food, clothing, shelter or care; sex
ually abused; or left unattended in a car if 6
years old or younger.
Emotional scars the worst
Kmotional abuse if very difficult to prove,"
said Ms. Wong. She said that the effects of
emotional abuse are devastating, but that
often the observer cannot make accusations
because of a lack of specific evidence.
Citizens tend not to report child abuse
when they should, Ms. Wong said, because
they are afraid of being sued by the vengeful
parents.
"They don't know that their identity will be
confidential," Ms. Wong said.
Although society places great value on
children, the privacy of the family is also
highly respected Ms. Wong said.
"Parents have the right to discipline their
children," she said. When the discipline be
comes abusive, people continue to look th
other way because "they prefer to believe the
opposite, or else they don't want to get in
volved." In Nebraska citizens are required by law
to report any suspected case of child abuse or
neglect. All states have similar laws, Ms.
Wong said.
Call hotline if in doubt
To report cases of abuse or neglect, people
can call the police, the Child Protective Serv
ices or the Abuse-Neglect Hotline.
Sometimes an abuse report is received
and it turns out that intervention by CPS is
unnecessary. "Sometimes an ex-wife or ex
husband will report because he or she doesn't
like the quality of care that the kids are get
ting under the former spouse," Ms. Wong said.
She said some people will report bruises or
dirty clothes as evidence of abuse or neglect.
In cases like this, she said, the situation is
handled with sensitivity. Often the family is in
need of support or counseling.
"There isn't a high percentage of un
founded reports," Ms. Wong said. "Generally,
there are problems present when we get re
ports. We receive very few crank calls."
Police have hands tied
Abuse and neglect are often difficult to
recognize, many cases are not brought to the
attention of authorities. Lt. Lyle Roberts of
the Lincoln Police Department said that al
though "rape is supposed to be the most unre
ported crime, I wonder about child abuse."
Roberts said that it is "very, very discour
aging" for police to investigate a child abuse
report and not be able to remove the child
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against their better judgement because there
is no imminent danger. According to Roberts
police can only remove the child upon initial
investigation if the child is in obvious danger
due to abuse or neglect.
Although alerting the police is one of the
first steps citizens can take to help an abused
or neglected child, the police have limited
power, Roberts said, and can't remove a child
from a home on suspicion only.
After the initial investigation, the police in
form the county welfare office of the case.
The office then makes an investigation and
takes appropriate action. In some cases social
services are required, but sometimes active
measures must be taken to protect the child.
Kach case is reported to the State Central
Registrar, a confidents file in which the
names of both the victims and alleged perpe
trators are kept.
Any person who suspects that a child is
being abused or neglected can make a report,
and no witnesses are necessary. The number
for the Abuse-Neglect Hotline is 800-652-1999.
It is a toll free call.
Leg of lamb in Lincoln costs lots
BY JIM ANDERSON
The value-conscious meat eater may want
to cross lamb off his or her grocery list for
awhile that is, if it were on the list in the
first place.
According to a number of Lincoln grocers
and meat wholesalers, most Lincoln shoppers
don't buy lamb anyway, and that's part of the
problem : lamb is too expensive.
"It's higher than a cat's back," said Bob
Voss, meat market manager for B & R IGA,
1709 Washington St. "We don't usually handle
it at all because of the price." Voss said that a
small amount is sold by his store frozen
legs of lamb from New Zealand around
Easter to a few buyers in the 40-and-over age
bracket, who traditionally eat lamb for
Easter dinner.
Voss said he buys New Zealand lamb be
cause it is considered the best-tasting by con
sumers. The import duties on this meat add to
the price, he said. On the average, Voss said,
leg of lamb costs $3.89 a pound in Lincoln .A
comparable cut of beef, rump roast, costs
$2.49 a pound.
Less demand means higher prices
The big reason it's so expensive, Voss said,
is the low demand. He calls this a vicious cir
cle: there is less demand for the meat, so less
is on the market. Lamb producers must then
ask a higher price for the meat, compared to
beef, in order to get a return on their invest
ment. "The law of supply and demand works
pretty well here," Voss said.
Aside from the market conditions, he said,
lamb's meat yield is small; only 40 percent of
the animal is edible. The remaining 60 per
cent must be thrown away.
"It just isn't good sense to pay so much for
so little." Voss said. He said that if demand
for lamb were to begin to reach that of beef
or pork it would take about two years for the
price of lamb to approach that of beef or pork
in the state.
Another reason for the relative unpopu
larity of the meat is the fact that Nebraska is
beef and pork country. "People here just are
n't accustomed to lamb." George Roseberry
said. Roseberry is the market manager for
the Belmont Jack and Jill store, 11th and Bel
mont Streets. Roseberry said Nebraskans are
raised on beef and pork and don't know how
to prepare lamb, so they don't bother with it.
He said the demand for lamb throughout Ne
braska, aside from Omaha and Lincoln, is vir
tually non-existent.
Roseberry estimates that fewer than one
percent of Lincolnites eat lamb regularly. He
said people who must eat it as part of a spe
cial diet and those who are fairly well-off
financially are about the only customers for
lamb at his store.
Most lamb is shipped east
About 100,000 sheep are slaughtered in Ne
braska each year, Roseberry said, compared
to more than 50,000 cattle a day. He says this
too contributes to the increased cost. Because
the demand here for lamb is so small, he said,
most of the meat is shipped east, where the
demand is greater, leaving what he called a
lesser quality of meat for local consumers.
According to a spokesman for Cornhusker
Wholesale Meats, Inc., 1443 Cornhusker High
way, no meat wholesalers in the city sell lamb
except for special orders.
Jim Napier, market manager for the
II inky Dinky store at 2535 O St. said his store
doesn't sell lamb unless it's on sale. He agreed
that the demand estimate of less than one
percent is a fair one. He said that veal sells
about as well, citing its expense as the main
reason for low demand.
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