A candidate at 18
JASON KEELER has started his political career at the age of 18.
A candidate at 18
By MARK TODD
Staff Writer
MONROE TOWNSHIP - For many 18-year-olds, the arrival of fall means
Homecoming dances and high school football fever.
Jason Keeler is an exception. He's spending the weeks of autumn knocking
on
doors and shaking hands - the old standbys of those who walk the campaign
trail.
Keeler wants to be a trustee in Monroe Township, and is one of six residents
vying for two seats up for election in November. If successful, the lanky
teen
will proudly tell you he would be the youngest Monroe resident ever to serve
as trustee.
The campaign is no spur-of-the-moment whim, either. Keeler's mother,
Dottie, said her son has been waiting years for this opportunity.
"Jason's been interested in politics since he was 9 years old,"
she said. "He
couldn't wait until he turned 18."
The big day came in July, and soon after he was meeting with his seven-
member election committee to map campaign strategy.
"I talked it over with friends and people in the (Republican) party
before I
made a decision," Keeler said.
Keeler is devoting a few hours each day to the campaign, criss-crossing
Ashtabula County's largest township to meet residents and seek their support.
"I've been real surprised at the response," he said. "Quite
a few have said
they'll vote for me."
Keeler also says many are leery of his age and lack of experience. But youth
has its advantages, he said.
"We need responsible leadership, and I've got the vigor to do something,"
he
said.
The Reger Road resident is a Republican, and makes no bones about his party
affiliation. He has assisted the campaigns of area Republican hopefuls,
admires commentator Rush Limbaugh and publisher William F. Buckley, and
is the founder of Ashtabula County Teen Republicans, a new organization.
At
15 he joined the Christian Coalition.
In Keeler's leisure time he likes to collects figures of elephants - which
happens to be the symbol of the Grand Old Party.
Keeler disagrees when a visitor suggests his interest in government is atypical
of today's teens. Many of his friends have similar concerns, he said, but
are
reluctant to subject themselves to the rigors - and abuse - of public life.
"There are too many good people who don't run (for office)," Keeler
said.
He is planning to make politics a big part of his life, although he frowns
at the
term "politician."
"I prefer `career public servant," he said, laughing.
Keeler is unhappy with elected representatives who develop amnesia soon
after Election Day.
"They get to Columbus and Washington D.C., and they get disenfranchised,"
he said. "They forget what they're there to do."
Keeler can't recall any definitive moment when he realized public service
was
beckoning. Government issues weren't a burning topic around the family
dinner table, he said.
"My parents have no real interest in politics," Keeler said, although
he noted
they are solidly behind his campaign.
Keeler's home-schooled education may have been a factor, he said. But when
pressed, he believes he has always harbored a desire to right the wrongs
he has
seen in society the past several years.
"Since I was a child I've always been disturbed by the things I saw
in the
news," Keeler said. "I've always wanted to something about it.
I knew there
were problems, and I wanted to fix them."
But before he can become society's repairman, Keeler must win an election.
As a result, he is throwing himself into the job, handing out flyers and
lining
up campaign signs. There are more doorbells to ring, flyers to distribute
and
signs to prepare.
Dottie Keeler nods when asked about her son's enthusiasm.
"He's pretty focused," she said, smiling.
By LAURA MECKLER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Teen-agers were having babies long before welfare
reform, yet even as states charge ahead on changing the rules for adults,
there's little consensus on what helps the youngest parents become self-
supporting.
Researchers and policy makers agree it's critical to focus on teen
parents. Although only a small fraction of welfare recipients are teen
moms, they are the ones who have often become long-term welfare
dependents.
Historically, more than 70 percent of unmarried adolescent mothers
have gone on welfare within five years of giving birth, and 40 percent
of them have stayed there for at least five years. In addition, more than
half of welfare families have been headed by women who gave birth as
teen-agers.
"There's not one simple answer," said Andrea Kane of the American
Public Welfare Association. "No one knows what works."
Indeed, efforts to prevent teens from having more children, to help
them finish school and to get them off welfare have shown only
occasional success. And states vary widely in the attention they pay to
teen mothers as they implement larger welfare reforms.
Among the programs formally evaluated:
-New Chance, which provided an array of services - job training and
search skills, career counseling, parenting and life skills and family
planning - had no effect on whether teen parents found jobs or left
welfare. However, more of the teens did earn high school equivalency
certificates.
-Learnfare, which reduced welfare grants if teen parents or children on
welfare skipped school, did not make teens more likely to stay in school
or graduate. Still, about half the states have duplicated the Wisconsin-
born program.
-An Ohio program offered a carrot and a stick, paying teen parents
extra if they stayed in school and reducing welfare grants to dropouts.
It increased school attendance and decreased welfare dependence for
parents who were still in school when they entered the program. But it
failed to get teens back to school if they had already dropped out.
California took a different tack, paying extra to teens who got good
grades. An evaluation is underway.
-The Teenage Parent Demonstration, run by the federal government,
offered intensive case management, required teens to be in school,
training or work, and reduced payments to those who did not comply.
It increased participation in school, training and work, but 85 percent
of
participants still lived below the poverty line. And it failed to prevent
teens from having more children.
-In Elmira, N.Y., a home-visiting program had nurses regularly going
to see unmarried and poor new mothers. It reduced the chances of a
second pregnancy and increased work by mothers.
To test their conclusions, researchers ran a second program in an urban
setting, Memphis, Tenn. Those results are to be published this week in
the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The federal government, meanwhile, is running an experiment to see if
home visits are successful when done by non-nurses who are paid less,
like Faith Pickup of Portland, Ore.
A former teen mother who once collected welfare, 25-year-old Pickup
says she can relate to troubles faced by the teens she visits.
"A lot of them feel very isolated," she said. "Friends they
used to hang
out with don't want to hang out anymore. Sometimes their families
kicked them out."
Her presence, said Pickup, may give them "a little bit of hope"
that
they, too, can get off welfare.
But there's no evidence that programs like Portland's will work for large
numbers of teen mothers. And with the exception of Wisconsin's
Learnfare, no program is being replicated widely, largely because none
has proven particularly effective.
The 1996 federal welfare overhaul law requires all states to adopt two
new policies for teen parents: All of them must live with their own
parents or another responsible adult, and no federal money may be paid
to teen parents who are not in school.
Some states have decided that's not enough:
-Oregon requires teen parents in high school equivalency programs to
participate in life skills classes.
-Michigan, Colorado and Oklahoma are trying variations on home
visits.
-In some Virginia counties, "resource mothers" serve as mentors
for
teen mothers, teaching parenting skills and encouraging them to finish
school.
-Maryland focuses on teen fathers, hoping to get them to pay child
support and be involved in their children's lives.
-In Florida, all teen mothers in school are entitled to child care,
transportation and health care.
"We really do need to find something that works for teen parents,"
said
Cathy Mobley, who works on welfare reform for the Kentucky
Department of Social Insurance. "I think we're still experimenting."
This is Eric Tressler, a junior at Geneva High School. While
a serious
and dedicated scholar, Eric enjoys the social aspects of school and being
able to see all his friends.
His favorite class is chemistry since the teacher, Mr. Makijohn, is cool
but kinda strict at the same time, Eric says.
As a Will Smith admirer, his favorite show is the "Fresh Prince of
Bel
Air."
No stranger to the ups and downs of love, Eric says he breaks up with his
girlfriend, Nara DeJesus, every spring. "We've been off and on for
three
years," he said.
Eric is hoping Nara will be his homecoming date. He's still awaiting her
response so keep your fingers crossed.
The drama continues....
So how do you rate yourself? No, we don't mean NC-17 or R or PG.
We're talking about how you feel about your self, your sense of humor,
health and other stuff.
It's part of the USA Weekend magazine annual survey, which has been
published since 1988.
Last year, Teen/Currents published results of local teens.
To take the survey, pull the USA Weekend magazine you got with this
past Sunday's Star Beacon out from that pile of newspapers under the
living room couch, fill it out and send it in. (That's the survey, not the
couch.)
Or....call it up online at www.usaweekend.com, or check out the Star
Beacon's own entrance to
USA Weekend online, available in a link from
the Beacon's Web site, www.ashtabula.net/StarBeacon.
To review:
Survey
Magazine under couch
Web version
Send Teen/Currents staff $20.
OK, so we thought we could get that last one through.
Check out the spaghetti dinner by the Pymatuning Valley Academic
Boosters and Sparkle Market. It's in the school cafeteria Friday from 4
to
7 p.m.
For you pigout fans, it's all you can eat. Get advanced tickets from PV
Academic Boosters, Sparkle Market or Andover Bank.
Be there or be hungry.