Gang Poll

The poll that was recently put out here on this blog asked the following question:
What do you honestly think about the gangs in your area? Is the problem getting worse?
100% of the votes that were cast all stated IT'S GETTING WORSE!

Thank you to all who took the time to vote on this. Now - lets get busy and learn to educate ourselves on the ganglife so that we can better protect our communities and our children.
Take Care and stay safe!

HOW YOU DRESS POLL

Here are the results from the poll....

THE QUESTION WAS: DOES APPEARANCE AFFECT THE WAY THAT YOU ARE TREATED?

90% VOTED YES
9% VOTED SOMETIMES

A SAFE PLACE

Published Saturday | October 27, 2007
Watchful Eye gives South Sioux City teens a safe place to go
BY DALTON WALKER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

PLEASE CLICK THE LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IT INTO YOUR BROWSER TO READ THE COMPLETE STORY!

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10169097

VOLUNTEERS WORK KEEPS TABS ON SEX OFFENDERS

Susie Squires compiles information for the Watchful Eye Foundation which publishes Variety Variedad, a magazine that tracks child predators. (Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga)

Volunteer's work keeps tabs on sex offenders *see link bar - Sioux City Journal
By Joanne Fox, Journal staff writer

SOUTH SIOUX CITY -- Susie Squires made a promise to God following a bout with cancer four years ago.

"I told Him if he would save me, I would do something with my life," she shared.

That something resulted in the Watchful Eye Foundation, an organization dedicated to protecting children from child predators.

The specific impetus came from the abuse and murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion of Stanton, Calif. in 2002.

"I looked at that little girl and she so resembled one of my twin daughters when she was that age that it was eerie," Squires recalled. "I could just see that face over and over in my mind."

Squires began noticing that every time she picked up a newspaper or turned on the television, another child was suffering the same horrific fate of Samantha Runnion.

"I knew this had to stop," she insisted.

So, despite the fact that her own children were young adults, Squires set out to be the voice for kids.

Her first step was to publish Variety Variedad magazine, which printed the names, photos, descriptions and addresses for every registered sex offender living in the tri-state communities.

"I had no experience in any of this," she said gesturing to the publications. "I made up a dummy which I took to businesses, asking them to believe in me and help me by advertising in the magazine."

Enough people did believe and the bimonthly magazine came out in November 2005. In addition to the information about the predators, the magazine also includes recipes, stories, children's activities, and other general interest articles, in both English and Spanish.

"If you only speak Spanish, you have no access to information about sex offenders because you can't read English," Squires explained. "I speak Spanish so I know how important this is to the Hispanic community."

She knew her decision to go bilingual was the right one when a Hispanic woman shared that she and her husband worked hard to buy a house, only to discover later through the magazine that a convicted sex offender lived across the street, Squires said.

"All this family wanted to do was live the American dream and to put it point blank, what happened to them, that's just wrong," she added. "Now she can't let her kids out of her sight for fear of what might happen."

On the heels of the magazine, Squires established the Watchful Eye Foundation, a nonprofit corporation that provides safety education for children, such as the Detour program that provides a soccer club, the Runaway Teens program which disseminates fliers to assist in help finding a child and the Yello Dino program that teaches young children to stay safe.

"I liked the Watchful Eye idea about keeping an eye on kids, but I also liked the first two letters were 'w' and 'e' which spells 'we,'" she explained. "We, as a community, need to all be involved."

About a year ago, Squires obtained an office at 1910 Dakota Ave. for an after-school program that provides a safe place for children, 12-17, who might be at risk. In mid-October of last year, Squires discovered a number of registered sex offenders were living at a mobile home court. She organized a walk-through, distributing copies of the magazine and telling residents about the offenders.

The magazine, which is distributed free, the information, the programs are all the result of volunteers, including Squires who donates about 60 hours a week of her time and talent.

Recently, Squires organized a discussion on gangs in the tri-state area.

"We are seeing a lot of graffiti right now," she said. "We've organized some of those kids from the after-school program to help paint over the graffiti."

For as open as she was about the organization, Squires was reluctant to have her photo taken to accompany the article or to share much personal information.

"I've gotten threats," she confessed. "Remember I'm revealing information about criminals who could target me or my family."

More details on the organization can be found by visiting either the magazine's Web site at www.varietyvariedad.com or Watchful Eye's Web site at www.wefusa.com



Read Comments > | Share This Story: - What's this?

pat wrote on Jun 4, 2007 9:50 PM:

" You are our local hero believe me someone needs to speak for our kids. More need to join in how can we help and where can we find this magizine? "

LM wrote on Jun 4, 2007 10:11 AM:

" THANK YOU! As a victim myself, I am grateful to people like you who take this seriously. Molestations should be on everyone's, especially parent's, to help list. Just because this is so common, doesn't mean we should just accept it and move on...this affects the victim their whole life, sometimes RUINING their lives....Susie is an inspiration and I hope everyone who has taken her mission for granted sees that this is possibly the greatest mission! Thank you, Susie! "

COLLEEN wrote on Jun 4, 2007 3:01 AM:

" I THINK THIS A GREAT THING YOU ARE DOING. WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN SOUTH SIOUX CITY AND THE AREA AROUND US. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK "

SEXUAL PREDATORS LOGOS

CLICK THE PICTURE TO SEE IT IN A LARGER FORMAT.

Sex Abuse - It doesn't Happen to just girls

CLICK ON THE PICTURE AND IT WILL CREATE A LARGER FRAME FOR YOU TO READ THE ARTICLE. THIS STORY WAS PUBLISHED IN THE 1ST ISSUE OF OUR MAGAZINE - VARIETY/VARIEDAD. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT EVERYONE REMEMBERS THAT IT JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN TO GIRLS!

SEX OFFENDERS IN TRAILER PARK

http://www.wefusa.com

DO YOU HAVE A STORY?

Do you have a story that you would like told? Were you a victim of sexual abuse and now you would like to share how you survived?
Did someone close to you get abused? Or maybe you were in a gang and have a story to share....regardless what it is, pleae take a few miuntes and jot it down...sorry we do not offer funds to writers at this time...hopefully someday we can. For now it will need to be sent on a volunteer status.

Watchful Eye DeTour Teens Help SSC Win Award!!!

Siouxland City Given "Top Town" Award


A Siouxland city is getting top honors, and a special group of kids are getting part of the credit.

The "Nebraska Community Program" is giving South Sioux City, Nebraska the top award in its size category, for making big improvements to the community.

The program's event was held at the "Marina Inn" in South Sioux City Friday night, where cities from all over the Cornhusker state were honored by Governor Dave Heineman.

The "Watchful Eye Foundation", a local group working to keep kids safe, was named as part of the reason why South Sioux City received this great award.

Susie Squires of the "Watchful Eye Foundation" says, "I think it's an excellent opportunity for South Sioux City to proclaim, which we always have that it's a great place to live and a great to visit and it's a great place to be in general."

Dressed for success, The "Watchful Eye" kids took part in a workshop teaching them the importance and challenges of running their own business. A skill not only beneficial for them, but one that could help their entire state.

Gov. Dave Heineman says, "We have great opportunity in this area and all over the state and Nebraskans are very excited about the future because we aren't going to have a brain drain, we're going to have a brain gain."

Nearly 200 Nebraska cities were in the running for the awards.

Meanwhile, if you'd like more information about the "Watchful Eye Foundation", click on the link found here on our website. www.kcautv.com

CONGRADULATIONS TO THE DeTOUR TEENS!!! THEY WORKED VERY HARD GETTING READY FOR THIS DAY.
MANY THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO PLAYED FAIRY GODMOTHERS AND FAIRY GODFATHERS SO THAT WE COULD GET OUR LITTLE PRINCESSES AND PRINCES READY FOR THEIR FUN FILLED EVENING!

Nebraska Community Notebook Awards!!!!

WATCHFUL EYE FOUNDATION DeTour TEENS PICTURED WITH GOVERNOR DAVE HEINEMAN!!! NOVEMBER 2007!!!!

SEXUAL ABUSE POLL RESULTS

THE POLL ASKED THE FOLLOWING QUESTION - IT RAN FOR 6 DAYS....

"Have you or do you know of someone that has been sexually abused in their life? Was it reported"

66% - yes i was sexually abused

50% - yes i know of someone who was abused

19% - yes it was reported

66% no i kept it a secret

16% -i told but nothing was done to the abuser

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK PART IN THIS....

WHEN A PICTURE SAYS IT ALL.....

The man in the brown jacket that the teenager is leaning on is a off duty police officer who volunteers to work with the teens in DeTour getting them to trust and to respect themselves and others once again. This picture shows the bond between the two.