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Archives > Volume 8 Issue 16 - March 2, 2010 Frantic search for missing 17-year-old Chelsea King...Authorities and volunteers are widening a search for a 17-year-old missing in San Diego County after a registered sex offender was arrested in connection with her disappearance. CBS story here 
Some 1,400 volunteer searchers and more than 100 law enforcement officers failed to find Chelsea King on Sunday, but evidence was found that led to the arrest of 30-year-old John Albert Gardner of Lake Elsinore, California some 75 miles to the north, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said on "The Early Show" Monday.
King disappeared on Thursday after going for a run near Lake Hodges at Rancho Bernardo Community Park in San Diego, a popular regional park full of running trails. Her car, with her cell phone and iPod inside, were found later that night. "We definitely have a connection between Gardner and Chelsea King in connection with her disappearance," Gore said. "So, we'll be working with the district attorney. He will have an appearance in court today, and appropriate charges will be filed." Gore wouldn't elaborate on the nature of the charges or evidence. He told The Associated Press authorities were holding out hope that she would be found. Gardner was taken into custody at a restaurant in Escondido shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday and was being questioned Sunday night. "This investigation is ongoing and specific criminal charges are still being determined," Gore said at a news conference. Investigators also suspect Gardner could be tied to a December 27 assault on a female jogger from Colorado Springs, Gore said. Youthful exposure to old, new media holds promise and peril... Children and teenagers spend more than one-fourth of every day using media such as television, video games, computers and cell phones, according to a new survey of past research that identified both risks and potential benefits for America's youth. ABC News story here 
Youngsters spend more than seven hours per day using media, on average. The majority have a TV in their bedroom as well as access to a computer, the Internet, video-games and a cell phone, according the March 1 online report in Pediatrics.
This exposure to the media can make children more prone to violence, early and unprotected sexual activity, alcohol and tobacco consumption, obesity, attention deficit disorder and possibly poor performance in school, the study found. On the other hand, media can serve as a powerful communication and educational tool for conveying and encouraging healthy attitudes and behaviors. "Studies have shown that media can provide information about safe health practices and can foster social connectedness," Dr. Victor C. Strasburger of the University of New Mexico and colleagues concluded. "However, recent evidence raises concerns about media's effects on aggression, sexual behavior, substance use, disordered eating, and academic difficulties." Strasburger and colleagues reviewed research on the influence of media on youth over the past 50 years, distilling the primary findings of how youth consume "old media" (television, movies, magazines) and "new media" (Internet, video games, cell phones), and how this changes their behaviors and beliefs. Among the findings of the review:
A federal judge on Monday ruled that the man charged in the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart is competent to stand trial, paving the way for him to face charges nearly eight years after the girl was snatched from her bedroom. CBS News story here U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball wrote in a 149-page ruling that Brian David Mitchell, 56, "does not presently suffer from a mental disease or defect that impedes his rational and factual understanding" of the proceedings against him. A court hearing is scheduled on March 26 to set a trial date. Smart was 14 when she was taken at knifepoint from the bedroom of her Salt Lake City home in 2002, sparking a search that riveted the nation. Nine months later, in March 2003, Brian David Mitchell and his now-estranged wife Wanda Eileen Barzee were arrested after they were spotted walking on a suburban street with Smart. It was only later that the horrifying details came to light: Smart was forced into a ritual marriage and repeatedly raped. The ruling follows a 10-day competency hearing held for Mitchell last year, where experts who testified split in their opinions about Mitchell's competency. See vol7_iss55 and vol8_iss10 for more on this story.
Alcohol and marijuana use among teens is on the rise, ending a decade-long decline, a study being released Tuesday found. AP story from FoxNews here "I'm a little worried that we may be seeing the leading edge of a trend here," said Sean Clarkin, director of strategy at The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which was releasing the study. "Historically, you do see the increase in recreational drugs before you see increases in some of the harder drugs." The annual survey found the number of teens in grades 9 through 12 who reported drinking alcohol in the last month rose 11 percent last year, with 39 percent about 6.5 million teens reporting alcohol use. That's up from 35 percent, or about 5.8 million teens, in 2008. For pot, 25 percent of teens reported smoking marijuana in the last month, up from 19 percent. Until last year, those measures for pot and alcohol use had been on a steady decline since 1998, when use hovered around 50 percent of teens for alcohol and 27 percent for pot. The study also found use of the party drug Ecstasy on the rise. Six percent of teens surveyed said they used Ecstasy in the past month, compared with 4 percent in 2008. If parents suspect their teen is using, they need to act quickly, Clarkin said. Monitor them more closely, talk with them about drugs, set rules and consult outside help, like a counselor, doctor, clergy or other resource, he said. If you suspect, visit http://timetoact.drugfree.org/ and eGuide/drugs and alcohol.
The death of Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son, Michael Blosil, who took his life last Friday after struggling with depression for years, highlights teen suicide in the United States. ABC story here Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among older teenagers in America, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health, and boys are four times more at risk than girls. Family therapist Terry Real, the author of "I Don't Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression," said any time something like this happens, "it just makes you shake your head....It's very hard to predict. "We know from research that girls tend to turn things inward...boys and men both tend to turn things outward," Real said. "So you look at not the depression per se, but the things the kid is doing to get away from it: Drugs and alcohol, acting out, along with feeling depressed." See eGuide/depression and eGuide/teen suicide for more information.
Childhood trauma may leave a lasting imprint not just on the psyche but also in the DNA. This news comes from McGill University and the Suicide Brain Bank, a Quebec-based organization that carried out autopsies on suicide victims who had been abused as kids. Discover Magazine/2010/jan-feb Across the board, their brains showed DNA modifications that made them particularly sensitive to stress. Although gene variations are primarily inherited at conception, the findings show that environmental impacts can also introduce them later on. "The idea that abuse changes how genes function opens a new window for behavioral and drug therapy," says study leader and neuroscientist Patrick McGowan. During periods of adversity, the brain triggers release of cortisol, a hormone responsible for the fight-or-flight response. Due to differential gene expression associated with stress, the brains of child-abuse victims had lower levels of glucocorticoid receptors, McGowan found. Cortisol normally binds to these receptors; with fewer of them present, there is more cortisol and less resilience to feelings of stress. In his study, McGowan reviewed medical records and police reports and interviewed family members to determine whether a subject was abused early in life. He then examined the subjects brain tissues and found that among those who had been abused, glucocorticoid-receptor expression was reduced by 40 percent. "If we can identify how these changes occur, we can identify those at high risk and ultimately find ways to treat them," McGowan says.
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