Diversion Programs

The morning of her second day at Starpoint Surgery Center in Studio City, nurse Melony Currier was found in the parking lot, passed out in her car. Once roused, she was escorted to a drug-testing facility to provide a urine sample. In the restroom, she injected an anesthetic she had stolen from the surgery center, according to state records and a Starpoint official.

The problem with Robert Wilkins is that there is only one of him. And that the work he does cannot easily be described or duplicated. At a loss to understand exactly who Wilkins is, and what he does as executive director of the Stuart M. Ketchum-Downtown YMCA, even his colleagues tend to sputter: "a visionary," "an actualizer," "the most ethical" or "most spiritual" or "most profoundly moral" leader this city has ever seen. Inevitably, a part of the Wilkins myth follows.

"A Place Called Home," a safe house for youths, celebrated the opening of a new location Thursday at Central Avenue and 28th Street in South-Central Los Angeles. During the celebration, Suge Knight, president and chairman of Death Row Records, announced plans for a benefit concert with Tupac Shakur and other rap artists in the first week of November at the Shrine Auditorium. Proceeds would go to the safe house.

Maybe there are more trying times growing up than the years between grade school and high school. If so, few can remember them. And certainly, there are tougher neighborhoods than the working-class enclave surrounding Le Conte Middle School in Hollywood. Still, its rough-hewn blocks of noisy streets and crowded apartments don't always feel safe, especially for kids.

A group of youngsters in a city-sponsored gang-prevention program were rewarded for their diligence with two days of sun and surf this week, plus recognition from law enforcement officers and city officials. Community Services Program Inc., a joint effort of San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point, works with schools, community groups and law enforcement agencies to prevent gang violence and drug abuse among youth. About 300 children 9 to 17 years old are enrolled.

One moment, the girls were singing the theme song to "Sesame Street." The next, they were talking about friends they knew who had been raped. Little was taboo for the 13 girls, all between the ages of 13 and 15, and their five collegiate mentors who met Sunday and Monday for a retreat at a sycamore-lined campsite in picturesque Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County.

About 200 county teenagers gathered here Tuesday for "Oye! We Are the Future," a youth rally where they heard motivational speeches urging them to stay strong in the face of such adversity as crime, drugs and family problems. "This is great," said Kara Boonsirisermsook, 17, of Santa Ana. "I've never been to anything like this before and I'm learning a lot."

Two graduates of an innovative program that aims to rehabilitate convicted drug addicts received their diplomas Thursday--and had their slates wiped clean. The two men, 31 and 28, now have no criminal records, and more important, they said, they are drug-free. "I'm thankful for this program," said one of the graduates, a Fullerton resident who was arrested last year and charged with possessing methamphetamine.

Parents and teenagers protested Tuesday that Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's push to transfer more police officers to street patrol duty is harming the department's lauded Jeopardy anti-gang program at the Foothill station. About 60 parents and teens targeted plans to reassign Det. Richard Knapp, who supervises the Foothill program, and Officer John Harden, a popular boxing coach. At the meeting between the protesters and Lt.

Three childhood friends who overcame troubled pasts will celebrate their graduation today from Capistrano Valley High School. For seniors Alfonso Ramirez, 18, Omar Rivera, 17, and Eliseo Maldonado, 18, the commencement ceremony marks the laying to rest of a former life as gang members. And for Ramirez and Maldonado, that past includes arrests, probation or Juvenile Hall.