European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doily Magazine and youth violence an examination of four lost lives death on the Highway Donna by William Stevens new York times Donna Riser was a Wisp of a 4 11 inches tall and 100 with delicate features and size four at the age of her Mother she was just becoming less than six months after she left her family on Long new and joined the great Middle class migration to her life had begun to and the future seemed full of Promise and Bobby Joe Clarke was a 18yearold boilermakers Helper with winning a sly wit and Quick qualities that served him Well on the Roughan Dready Blu Collar Side of but he was searching for emotional Solace that would not Calvin Mcneil and Craig Taylor were 21yearold dwellers in the Black neighbourhoods of Houston North both looked younger than their both were free spirited and As an acquaintance put one liked to play basketball and hang around the the other held a steady Job and liked to go Home to play with his two preschool sons while his wife and Mother inlaw played at the same both men sometimes frequented an often dangerous night world where drug traffic and violent behaviour Are facts of the four represented three strata of american three distinct varieties of experience of Young people in the today they Are All resting in fresh victims of a rising tide of violent death that is ravaging the 15to24 age group in the United in Julius the surgeon general of the United reported improved health and medical practices had reduced the Overall death rate for americans by 20 percent Between 1960 and but the rate had increased by 11 percent for those 15 through largely As a result of automobile murder and within 22 Days of the reports Donna Bobby Joe Calvin Mcneil and Craig Taylor became Leshan blood examples of How such Young people Piser died at the end of a night of Christma season revelry after she was pinned inside an automobile that went out of control and she Lay her neck and head while her 22yearold Craig Donna Donna from the Drivers the boiler makers his emotions in Tat went into the put a Winchester Rifle against his Chest and pulled the goodbye said the note he Mcneil and Taylor killed each other Over a woman in the last hours before according to one was said to have stabbed the who then shot his both died of Chest one on the Kitchen the other in the these chosen initially from medical examiners records because they were took place in they could As Well have taken place anywhere in the United on almost any or anywhere in the industrialized such countries As West Germany and Japan report a Simitar surge in deaths among the it is so much a part of life in the United states that it is considered almost routine by All but those directly involved in a particular frequently such cases Are mentioned in metropolitan newspapers if at As in risers automobile usually involving a Driver who has been Are the chief killers of american Young most often the like is the surgeon generals report because White people tend to be More affluent and can afford most suicide like Are White and most homicide like Mcneil and Tay arc Black these three causes account for 75 percent of deaths among americans 15 through the death tally is for every americans 15 through 19 years of age and for every americans 20 through according to the while circumstances each of the major types of Youthful death might be at to what the victims of a rising tide of violent death that is ravaging the 15to24 age group in the United surgeon generals report Calls an inability to Deal appropriately with the opportunities and responsibilities that accompany the transition from child to adult status in an Industrial in one Way or the Houston cases seem to reflect that the main thing on Donna risers mind the last time she talked to her Mother was the Cowboy that was the Day before when she telephoned Home to there was going to be a family reunion in Shirley on Christmas Day As Donnas older Sisters returned from their new Homes in other cities for the one of had preceded Donna to was making a Good living As a barmaid at a and could afford the Christmas doing Well but not yet that could she called Home says Jane Donnas the phone Call was about this Cowboy hat she had brought up with her on an earlier she had bought it in Houston it had feathers on it and All and she wanted to make sure i sent it Back to Houston with Donna had always tried to copy according to her and so after she graduated from High school last she followed the older sister to Houston in search of a Job because none was available near at like she worked As a but she want Cut out for says not As outgoing As Donna eagerly took the secretarial Job that one of her Sisters friends helped the an Craig was a and his company needed a Daniels turned out to be the Man in Donnas life and a link in the Chain that led to her the two became very serious about each according to to her sister seemed As Happy As she had Ever two Days after the last Telephone Call to her Donna and Craig went out on the town with two they had the Christmas spirit and they were out said they visited a number of night spots on the affluent West Side of their stamp ing Early they apparently were on their Way moving smartly toward downtown Craig was driving and Donna was in the right front seat of the purple 1972 american motors somehow the compact car struck a series of  barrels put up As Barri Cades near a construction area on the two Lane the automobile careened out of continued on Page 10 february 1981 the stars and stripes Page 9