PERILS OF YOUTH

An estimated 7,000 Santa Barbara County children without health
coverage will be helped by a program referring elementary students
to Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families program at the same time that
they sign up for free lunches. The locally funded Healthy Kids
program will kick in for thousands more who don’t qualify for the
state and federal programs because they are undocumented immigrants
or because their families make up to three times the federal
poverty level. Teachers hope the program will reduce the number of
students suffering from untreated earaches, toothaches, and poor
vision.

UCSB students hosted a mock call-in show to protest Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to increase UC fees by 8 percent.
According to a statewide UC student organization, fees have risen
80 percent since 2002, making entry into California’s top-tier
educational system off limits to many. Meanwhile, UCSB students
associated with CalPIRG praised plans by the new Democratic
majority in Congress to cut interest rates on student loans, which
were recently raised by the Bush administration and the Senate.
With the reduction in interest rates, CalPIRG estimated the average
UC student will save $4,420 over the life of the loan.

Students and staff at Santa Ynez’s Dunn School are mourning the
death of high school junior Liz Juarez, who hanged herself in the
Figueroa Mountain wilderness. Her body was found on Friday. Juarez,
who is remembered as “a great student and a marvelous dancer,”
celebrated her 17th birthday the Sunday before her death. The Dunn
School community, whose small number was supplemented by the
presence of grief counselors last week, held a remembrance ceremony
for Juarez on Monday. Services at the Family School, which Juarez
attended as a child, followed later in the week.