Talk Bronx New York

NYC child sex abuse prosecutor writes book

Jill Starishevsky, a prosecutor with the Bronx District Attorney’s office, poses on the steps of the Bronx Supreme court in New York Wednesday, June 23, 2008. Starishevsky has written a children’s book, titled “My Body,” to help parents and kids deal with sexual abuse.

Prosecutor Jill Starishevsky was working on the case of a little girl who had been consistently raped by her stepfather when she got the idea on how she could help families prevent such horrific acts.

The girl, from a middle-class home in the Bronx, was molested starting at age 6, and like most children, she didn’t tell anyone. Then she watched an episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that happened to be on children who were beaten. The message at the end of the show was simple: If you’re being abused, tell a parent of a teacher.

Something clicked for girl, who by then was 9 years old and had endured repeated rapes for three years. She told her teacher the next day.

The case highlighted an acute problem: Children don’t know they should speak up, because the topic of child sex abuse just isn’t discussed.

“I thought, either Oprah needs to end every show with ‘If you’re being hurt you need to tell someone,’ or someone needs to do something,” Starishevsky said. “All Oprah had to do was say ‘tell a teacher,’ and this horrible abuse stopped.”

Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

Ears Cocked for the Sound of Blasting

KAREN ARGENTI, a 57-year-old environmental consultant who lived on the west side of Jerome Park Reservoir in the Bronx for 20 years, still remembers how the music from concerts in Harris Park, on the reservoir’s east side, used to carry across the water.

That sound carries over water so well is one of many reasons Ms. Argenti can’t believe that for at least three weeks and possibly longer, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection plans to do blasting along the 94-acre reservoir’s eastern edge, near Goulden Avenue and 205th Street.

“The blasting is going to be just like the music,” she said. “People are going to hear it everywhere.”

The agency has long intended to build shafts near the reservoir to connect tunnels, which are part of the Croton Water Filtration Plant project, a treatment facility that the agency is building beneath Van Cortlandt Park. But a few weeks ago, the department announced that instead of drilling to make space for the shafts, it would blast.

According to Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, this plan is significantly different from the one laid out in the 2004 environmental impact statement that outlined the scope and effects of the project. “The fact is when the D.E.P. was trying to sell this to the community, we were specifically told there would be no blasting,” Mr. Dinowitz said, adding that he would like to see a revised environmental impact statement before the work goes further.

But with blasting scheduled to begin in early September, residents have little time left to voice their objections.

Read more..

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post