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economist sun stouflville tribune saturday july 10 1999 3 crime attack on teen extreme example of modernzday bullying expert says television major factor in violent behaviour by jennifer brown staff writer n expert on youth violence says the brutal attack on jonathan wamback was an extreme exam ple of modernday bullying and youth who know no limits this was the ultimate bullying a bunch of guys jumping on another guy without much sense of what they were doing said stu auty president of canadian safe school network a former school administrator with the peel region school board for three years auty headed up the vanier school for young offenders in brampton he is now considered an expert in the area of youth violence auty was speaking at a violence preven tion conference held by the ontario society for the prevention of cruelty to animals in aurora monday in the past understanding youth vio lence was more straightforward said auty noting that now boundaries once respect ed have been crossed in the pursuit of power the bully today has changed the bully today has changed this is a pretty wealthy area and you wouldnt think this would happen in your community auty said a gang jumping all over one person is the bully and in this case the bully is half a dozen people the bully now is the group or the little guy with the weapon auty who had learned of the attack on wamback prior to speaking to the group of police officers and spca workers said the youths involved in the newmarket boys bearing clearly had no sense at any time that they were crossing a line the bully in this case had no bound aries such as when you stop because you might kill the person attempted murder is not unusual today and its not just here or in toronto or hamilton its all over the place said auty who pointed to increase ing prevalence of violence on television as a major factor in the way youth act out more responsibility needs to rest on the parents parents need to know who their kids friends are and who they are hanging out with at night if youve ever watched wwf wrestling it will be a revelation to you youll learn how to beat people up youll see a virtual replication of probably what happened to this kid a bunch of goons jumping on a victim but the wrestling is simulated lack of guidance from parents has also contributed to the prevalence of youth vio lence auty said adding that parents must play a greater role in teaching traditional values to their children more responsibility needs to rest on the parents parents need to know who their kids friends are and who they are hanging out with at night why do kids go to gangs or belong to alternative groups because there is a sense of familial setting or group support network he said every child wants to be supported dont leave it up to the school system to be the parent there is tremendous power in groups it is exhilarating euphoric and exciting and when combined with drugs or booze the mind blurs and they dont think of the impact of their behaviour vital to the safety of a community is a child who has been provided guidelines and grows up to understand limits every child wants to be supported lis tened to dont leave it up to the school sys tem to be the parent auty feels youth crime may start to level off after more than a decade of it increas ing however he does not concede that the rate of violent crime by young people has declined zf to those who say youth violence has flatlined if you really take a hard look at whats really gone down it is soft crime like breaking and entering but violence arid use of weapons has increased three teens remain in custody by jennifer brown staff writer three teens charged with attempted murder in the beating of jonathan wamback remain in custody while the 15yearold newmarket youth continues to struggle for survival in a toronto hospital the three teens appeared briefly in newmarket court last thursday and were sched- i uled to return tuesday for a bail hearing each of the teens has secured his own lawyer and some family members were in court last week when the boys madatheir appearance due to the severity of the charges they face j and the fact they are 16 and 17 years old the three will be tried as adults unless their lawyers can convince a judge otherwise wamback 15 was in ken sturgeon parkin newmarkets stonehaven subdivision between 630 and 830 pm june 29 when three youths confronted him near the public washrooms after a loud argument between the teens there was a fight and wamback fled on foot tak ing an indirect path toward his home wamback tried to hide from his assailants behind some bushes on a neighbours lot the teens got into a grey toyota camry op ated by a fourth youth and went looking for wamback they found him between two houses inear the park area and severely beat him about vhishead wamback was able to get home where he collapsed into unconsciousness he js now in the hospital for sick children in toronto v exclusive families pray for each otheft cmd at sick kids b3t from page 1 a coma but was taken off a respira tor latelast week the doctors cant say what will happen but theyre happy hes off the respirator its too early to say other than it will be a very long recovery said wamback adding while doctors say he may be hear ing hsvparents voices he cannot respond f yesterday mey told lis they might jbe able to move him to anotitefe unit but he is not stabi- lizedjlfe cant be moved until thehi shesjud but on friday wamback received a glimmer of encourage ment from her son when she heard him utter a slight moan today im so happy because he moaned a week ago i was not sure he was going to survive she said i thank god every second that my son was able to moan like he did a multidisciplinary medical teamihcludihgspeciausts nurses respiratory and y therapists- cares tor jonathan larauna the clock v wamback also credits york county r hospital for the care jonathan received when he was first taken to the newmarket hospital i want to thank them for getting him here fast they recognized there was a serious problem right away and got him here quickly jonathan is unable to see visitors right now but wamback said her son will need his friends in the xdays and weeks focome i think jonathans friends would be upset to see him now but jiis friends are wonderful boys weknbw them all and 1 think in the future they will be part of the team to help him jonathan wamback in coma since brutal beating recover but hes just not ready yet and while they hold vigil at men- sons bedside the wambacks ask that the community also think of thornhill resident- brenden todd an 11 yearold boy recovering from a bone marrow transplant at torontos hospital for sick children i thank god every second that my son was able to moan like he did last week todd was in critical condition and urgently needed blood platelets however because of a summer bipod shortage across central ontario he was not getting the number of units he heeded earlier this week to keep his condition from getting worse the families have been consol ing each other at sick kids over trie last two weeks we support each other and there are lots of hugs and kisses and support she said but with the supply of blood dwindling we really wish everyone would make a donation she said asking that people also consider financial donations to the hospital we never thought we would ever need this hospital today im so happy because he moaned a week ago i was not sure he was going to survive