The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, October 23, 2002

'TOUGH LOVE': U.S.-run behavior modification facility for troubled teens comes under fire.
Story below.
TT/Photo Julio Laínez

October 23

Costa Rican Poets' Circle
Literature recital by Laura Novoa, Francisco Gutierrez, Sonia
Solarte,Luis Enrique Arce, Marianela Cuberto, and special guest
Blas Dotta. Music by Silvie Duran and Ricardo Molina Chubascos
Restaurant,
Moravia. Info: 241-1730.

Swing en 4 in Concert
Jazz and modern music. At 8 p.m. at the National Theater, Av. 2, Ca. 3-5.
Info: 233-1272 or www.swingen4.com

Free Talk "How to Improve Self-Confidence"
By Maricruz Quesada. At 6 p.m., at Manuel Jimenez
Auditorium in the Daily La Nacion building, Llorente, Tibas. Info:
237-0424.

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Government Asks Ticos to 'Count To 10'
By Fabián Borges
Tico Times Staff

President Abel Pacheco and Executive President of Social Security System (Caja) Eliseo Vargas unveiled six new 30-second TV public service announcements yesterday, urging Ticos to control their anger by "counting to ten." The spots are part of a public awareness campaign aimed at reducing violence.

According to statistics released by Vargas, acts of violence ranging from reckless driving to spouse and child abuse constitute a major health crisis that needs to be addressed.

"Violence is the third cause of death among Costa Rican men and women," he explained. "And it is leading cause of death among people between the ages of 15 and 50 - society's most productive age groups."

The ads show various situations when taking a short time-out to clear one's head could potentially prevent a deadly violent act from occurring. The ads cover a wide range of issues, including safe driving, tolerance and respect for the elderly.

The ads will begin airing on national TV and at movie theaters in the coming weeks, and will continue to run through the remaining four years of the Pacheco administration.

Pacheco said he is convinced that using public funds to promote an anti-violence message will serve its purpose and change the way people think.

"This is not wasteful spending," he explained. "It's an investment in health. If we reduce the number of people who suffer violent deaths, we will have won a major health battle."

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Murder Victim's Mom to Revisit C.R.
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff

The bereaved mother of murder victim Shannon Martin, a U.S. student stabbed to death May 13, 2001 in the Pacific port town Golfito, will travel to Costa Rica next month to find out why the 17-month-old case has not yet been solved.

"I want to know more about the developments or lack of developments in the investigation into the murder of my daughter," she told The Tico Times. "Two more suspects were arrested in July, yet no one has been charged with the brutal stabbing death of my daughter Shannon."

The Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) have so far detained two Costa Rican men and one Tica involved for their alleged involvement in the murder (TT, July 19). However, the suspects have not been officially charged, and no trial date has yet been set.

Martin, a 23-year-old biology student at the University of Kansas, was brutally stabbed 15 times while visiting Costa Rica in May 2002 to follow up on a research project she had started here the year before during a study-abroad semester. She was killed on an airstrip access road, just 15 meters from her host family's home (TT, May 18, 2001).

To date, no official motive has been established.

Stauffer, who will be here next month for her fourth visit to Costa Rica, also plans to solicit support for her plan to form an English Technology Center in Golfito (TT, "Perspective", Sept. 27).

"I would like to have the program operational by January 2003," she said. "Therefore, I need to locate financial support and computer equipment and software program contributors while I am in Costa Rica."

Stauffer hopes to sell her idea to Intel representatives while she is in the country.

The activist mom also hopes to form an American Legion Auxiliary in Golfito and to create a children's library.

"The best way our family has to cope with the brutal killing of our daughter and sister is to provide opportunities for the people of Golfito -- to bring opportunity out of the excruciating painful tragedy," she wrote in last month's "Perspective."

To contact Stauffer, or to find out how to help out, e-mail: GolfitoTechCenter@yahoo.com

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U.S. Mom Raids C.R. 'School', Liberates Twins
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff

Orontina- Convinced her twin sons were being held prisoner in a Costa Rican correctional facility, a Louisiana mother aided by hired muscle from the U.S. led a commando-type raid on the Academy Dundee last Thursday, freeing her 16-year-old twin sons and whisking them back to the U.S.

She insists her sons were being brainwashed and inhumanely treated by the institution's teachers, and that the Academy Dundee is more like a prison camp than a school for troubled youth.

Contacted by phone at home this week, the twins told The Tico Times the 155 mostly-U.S. students staying at the academy's Costa Rican compound suffer various forms of extreme punishment.

The academy's owner, however, defends his program's "tough-love" philosophy and says it helps save kid's lives.

Get the whole story in Friday's TT print edition.

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