Have you equipped your child with sufficient knowledge to keep him at safe distance from sex deviates . . . without frightening him?
Rather than assuming that "nothing like that happens around our neighborhood," have you chatted casually with your youngster to find out if he or his friends have been approached by any odd-acting strangers lately on the streets?
In one New Orleans section, there have been sufficient offenses against children recently to occasion a public meeting tonight.
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ALL THE OFFENSES have been of a minor character so far, said Mrs. Charles Samuel, Jr., publicity chairman for La-Salle School PTA, which is calling the panel discussion.
"We want to try to make sure that the situation is checked before some tragedy occurs.
"It isn't the sort of to.pic that parents like to discuss, but we know a bad situation exists in our locality, and we suspect that our area is not alone in this, in New Orleans.
"For this reason we are inviting any interested parents to attend the panel meeting here at LaSalle (6048 Perrier, 7:45 p. m.) and feel free to participate or just to listen." The PTA leaders decided it was far better to thresh out the problem in public, than to have a running panic set in that would accomplish nothing.
"BESIDES," added Mrs. Samuel, "we feel that if we can learn the situation in other neighborhoods, we may gain a better knowledge of just what; steps need to be taken, by parents and by public authori-
"So often parents don't report these things because they're reluctant to involve their child. But that's just inviting future tragedy."
With Mrs. Edmond Kimble, Jr. as PTA moderator, discussing the problem will be Aaron Kohn, director of the Metropolitan Crime Commission; Capt. C. F. Walker, head of the Juvenile Protection Bureau, New Orleans Police Department; District Attorney Leon Hubert, and Dr. Marvin Miller, assistant professor of psychiatry, LSU Medical School. The topic is, "Protecting Our Children Against Sex Offenders."
