On Tuesday October 12, 2010 parents and kids came together in the gym of Hollenbeck Middle School to become more educated on what really goes on on the Internet. E-mails were sent out to everyone in the district about the event. Judge Rick Zerr, and Detectives Larry McClain and Tony Stewart discussed topics such as cyber bulling, “sexting”, how to establish family rules about the computer, and chat lingo. They call their program “Youthful Decisions and Unintended Consquences”. The detectives pose at young girls on the Internet to try and catch sex predators.

“If you don’t really know someone, you don’t really know someone,” McClain said.

The men went over all the different kinds of information that people put out on the Internet. Something that was really stressed was how once a person posts something, it’s in the cyber world forever. The event ended with a Q&A session with the men. Overall, the evening turned out to be an educational opportunity for everyone.

“The program has very useful information for parents to tell their kids about staying safe on the Internet,” Scott Wilson, father of three, said.

by: Katherine Carney