Well, President Clinton had his State of the Union address a couple

of weeks ago. Now I would like to have my own, as it pertains to the youth

of this nation.

I recently attended a memorial service for a dear friend of mine, and

two of the speakers were young men. The content of their talk and the poise

of both were very impressive. Neither of them was quoted in the paper, but

they certainly touched over 500 people who attended the service.

I also recently went bowling with the local Preston Baptist Church

Youth Group, along with their advisors, etc. Great time, great kids and a truly

fun night.

So much is printed about juvenile crime. Studies show this and that,

all negatives aimed toward a large portion of our population that is

terribly under-recognized for its tremendous qualities.

As an example, how about the 14-year-old boy in San Francisco that

was deeply move by the tragedy of the Columbine incident. He was

even more concerned about one of the survivors who had massive medical

bills and no insurance. Through his own participation in runs where he

got sponsors for himself and got the idea building, he presented the victim

with a check for $40,000. This for someone he had never met and knew

nothing about.

Three teens back east were greatly disturbed about a young person

whose cord from her coat got stuck in a school bus door and was dragged

to her death. They did the research on how many such incidents had

occurred and came up with a plan for thick brushes to close the doors tight

over hard rubber or metal, allowing such cords to slip through.

So many stories of the great contributions to our communities by

the youth of this country exist, yet the real coverage they deserve is not

generally forthcoming. Local community papers do a far better job than the “big”

papers and national news services, but we need to hear more about the

overwhelming good in the majority of our youth.

Credit for doing what is right and good may not be the goal of these

kids, but it would certainly give them a boost when volunteer work gets a

little tough, or all they hear about in the press is the small percentage of

kids that commit crimes. I know I have touched on this subject before, but

I am compelled to do it again. We have great kids here in Preston and

throughout the nation.

It should also be mentioned that a great many adults fall into the

same category, and I am going to cover that in depth in later columns. Like a

professional golfer that has been around for many years, and since his

first major win, has donated one-half of all his winnings to charity.

Yes, we need to cover all the news, but most seems to lean to toward

the negatives. But then, in one sense, that in itself is a good sign. News is

that which is rare or unusual. That in itself would indicate there is far more

good in this nation than the opposite.

Thought for the week: Have a problem that plagues your daily

life? Find the tools needed to solve the problem from family, friends and

professionals, and apply those tools to the job at hand. And go into it with

the attitude that you can do it today. If you look toward tomorrow, it will

never come, and you will never accomplish your goal.

Preston News Notes author,

Bill Hebert, can be reached at

P.O. Box 918, Preston, WA 98050.