Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Coalition Meeting Held At Local Church

The Boys to Men and Girls to Women Coalition of Prescott held its monthly video night Thursday, March 2, at Munn's Chapel Baptist Church at 6:30 p.m. The title of the video was Abstinence.....It's the Right Choice.'

Devotional was given by Daryl Tidwell, an eleventh grader. The facilitator for the video activities was Hyacinth Deon, curriculum coordinator for the Prescott School District.

The film was 22.10 minutes long and was followed by a discussion on the following concerns: 1) Abstinence  what does it mean to you?; 2) why some people feel pressured into sexual activities; 3) reasons to abstain from sexual activities: 4;00 refusal skills (ways to say no' and mean it); 5) the importance of making good decisions; 6) other ways to show love and showing love without sex; 7) is this for me now or should I wait?; and 8) Bible principles that should guide sexual activities.

Patricia Blake from the Arkansas Department of Health discussed several health and teen pregnancy issues and statistics.

She said one million teenagers become pregnant each year. She also said 40 percent of all teens will become pregnant at least once by the age of 19; every week in Arkansas, 54 teenagers 10-17 have babies; 65% of teen mothers younger than 16 who give birth are still in poverty at age 27; the maternal death rate for teens who are young than 16 is 2= times greater than mothers 20 to 24 years old; each year 3,000,000 teens are affected with sexually transmitted disease in the United States; and HIV and aids are rapidly increasing among young adults in their 20's who became infected in their teen years. Some sexually transmitted diseases are incurable, so why take the risk?, she asked.

These topics were well discussed by parents/guardians, mentees and mentors. It is believed that this video night activities will have a great effect upon all persons in attendance.