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Y! MyWebYouth's death elevates safety concerns
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The accidental death of a teenager during a Christian youth conference at Cedarville University on Tuesday, July 15, has raised questions about the safety and security of young people attending faith-based summer conferences far away from home.
Fifteen-year-old Curtis Geesaman of Lebanon was participating in a Sumo wrestling event when he was fatally injured in what one law enforcement official described as a "once in a million" mishap.
The youth conference, sponsored by Kentucky-based LIFT Youth Ministries, was attended by more than 1,000 youths from around the country.
Twice that number have registered for CE National's Christian youth conference, Momentum, which begins Monday, July 21, on that same Cedarville campus. CE National's executive director, Ed Lewis, said the tragedy will have a negligible effect on his weeklong event.
"It won't affect the actual programming, but it's a reminder to always use caution and always be careful for anything we are doing," Lewis said. "We can never stop accidents from happening. We've had some near-fatal situations in past years, but that shouldn't stop us as long as we're careful and keeping the situation safe."
John Davis, Cedarville's assistant director of public relations, agrees that the LIFT incident shouldn't spill over into Momentum.
"It's totally different," Davis said. "It's a different group with different leaders and a different focus. As far as safety, we have our campus police force, which is responsible for campus safety. Plus the organizations we rent space to often have their own internal security staff. They're not storm troopers — more like extra counselors."
Lewis said all CE National conferences use volunteer "deans." These are adults who ensure rules are being followed to the letter.
"They make sure everyone is in their dorms at night and things like that," Lewis said. "What's unique about our conference is that everybody is with their own youth group, with their own youth pastor and youth workers. So, we don't have to do all the liability checking that you would normally have. We have nurses and a whole staff of people who are always available and watching."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2167 or kmoss@
DaytonDailyNews.com.
