Youth Commission Sought by DHHS Teacher

DANA POINT-On April 27^th, a group of youths from Dana Hills High School, led by a Dana Hills High School teacher, attempted to put the creation of a youth commission on the Dana Point City Council's agenda. The City Council tabled the issue, and by a vote of 3-2 decided to re-agendize the issue at a later date. Councilman Ossenmacher convinced a majority of the Council that it would be improper for the city to address the issue of establishing another city commission, before the current budget hearings are over. The Council is scheduled to approve the two-year budget on June 22; the Council had decided on May 4^th to address the issue on June 8^th.

A youth commission, however, as noble as it appears on its surface, is really just a special project for high school students, which trivializes the real functions of government. In the end, membership on the commission would become a prize that would become tightly controlled by so-called "student leadership" organizations on the campus, so that in the end, any new commission formed under the auspices of a DHHS teacher, with his students, would ultimately not be representative of the general youth population of Dana Point. It is one thing to say "we care about your opinion," to the youth, and it is quite another to set up a rewards system for students who are being given an appetite for power.

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