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Sentinel Morning Update: Area groups fight teen suicide numbers
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Each year, more than 1 million people die by suicide worldwide and many more make attempts, according to the American Association of Suicidology.
The International Association for Suicide Prevention, along with the World Health Organization and the World Federation for Mental Health hosted World Suicide Prevention Day Wednesday. This year’s theme was “Think Globally, Plan Nationally, Act Locally,” and focused on translating current scientific knowledge and research about suicidal behavior into practical programs and services that can reduce suicidal behavior and save lives.
The goal of commemorating a day that has such sad consequences is to recognize and act on the warning signs.
Pennsylvania is ranked 32nd in the nation in suicides with 1,430 reported suicides in 2005, which gives the state an 11.5 percent suicide rate, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Those statistics include both adults and juveniles.
Males are three to five times more likely to commit suicide than females, although females attempt suicide more often, according to statistics.
“There are risk factors for suicide,” explained Launa Snyder, outpatient coordinator for Holy Spirit Hospital’s Behavioral Health Center and Teenline, a crisis intervention hotline serving Cumberland and Perry counties.
In fact, 90 percent of suicides have been linked to depression or mood disorders, which often go undetected.
“Sometimes people don’t appear outwardly depressed,” Snyder said.
Along with the rest of this story from Sentinel reporter Andrea Ciccocioppo, here's what else to look for in today’s print and on-line editions:
Country, county struggle with foster care system
Cumberland County is performing a little better than the rest of the state at finding stable, nurturing homes for children who end up in foster care.
A statewide children’s advocacy group released a new report Wednesday giving Pennsylvania’s foster care system low marks as a whole.
Statewide, 28.6 percent of foster children who are reunited with their families end up returning to foster care within a year, and that rate is as high as 40 percent in some counties, according to the report released Wednesday by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.
As of Aug. 31, Cumberland County had 172 children, ranging from infants from to those 18 years of age but still in school in foster care, said Wendy Hoverter, director of Cumberland County Children and Youth Services.
“We had 86 reunifications and we had 20 re-entries within 12 months and that is 23.3 percent,” Hoverter said. “We’re a little better than the state but we would like to improve that.”
The finding shows that child welfare agencies must work harder to address underlying family problems that result in abuse and neglect before allowing foster children to reunite with their birth families, said Joan Benso.
West Shore economists look for a turnaround
An economic expert spoke before the West Shore Chamber of Commerce Wednesday and forecast that the worst of the economic crunch is almost over.
Joel Naroff, chief economist for Commerce Bank, projected that by spring of 2009 “the economy will begin to turn around.”
He also noted that the economy in this area “isn’t doing bad” compared to the state of the national economy or other regions statewide.
“If you think you are in a recessions,” Naroff said, ‘if you feel you are in a recession, you are in a recession.”
Naroff noted that the current economic growth pattern does not fit the definition of a recession but said it is a “mess.”
“The key to everything is the housing market,” Naroff said about economic recovery.
In 2003 the real estate market began to pick up. Naroff opined that by 2004 financial institutions got a “little bit imaginative” giving adjustable rate mortgages to people with lower credit ratings, lower incomes, less work experience and allowing much lower down payments.
“In 2005 we started selling houses and giving mortgages to anyone who could fog a mirror,” Naroff said of the industry as a whole.
Prices were rising at rates that were clearly not sustainable, Naroff added, squarely pointing the blame at lending institutions.
“A lot of them drank their own Kool-Aid,” Naroff opined. “When prices collapsed and they had to start taking losses, that’s what triggered the meltdown.”
Township files lawsuit against developers
Silver Spring Township filed a lawsuit against Sentry Select Insurance Company Wednesday in an attempt to recover bond money from the Altieri building company.
The company now has 20 days to respond, Solicitor Steve Stine said.
Sentry is holding the bond money put up when the Altieri projects started, but that money was posted by Red Lion-based Eastern Development and Design, the developer from whom Altieri bought the property.
A bond is required for developments that include public improvements such as roads or parks.
The suit came in response to complaints from township residents that the builder hasn’t finished many of the projects it had promised, including paving through some of its developments.
Residents also said the company left a number of homes unfinished and did shoddy work on many of the rest, resulting in problems like leaking roofs.
Daren Altieri, principal of the building company, has previously cited a slow economy and housing market as reasons the communities haven’t been finished. His company is in default in some of the neighborhoods, Altieri said.
The township plans to use the money recouped from Sentry to finish the projects and other developers say they may be interested in buying out Altieri, board of supervisors Chairwoman Jan LeBlanc said.
Thyrman Smiley, president of the Gingerfields Homeowners Association, said he is glad to see progress in the case.
Morning Update
The Sentinel Morning Update runs every weekday by 8 a.m. to take a look at what we have planned for our newspaper and Web site. Feel free to offer any suggestions, questions or feedback to jpratt@cumberlink.com
