wfn.org | Teen's fight against violent video games builds steam

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

March 5, 2001  News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-71BP{111}

NOTE:  A photograph is available with this report.

By United Methodist News Service*

A 13-year-old United Methodist from North Bend, Ore., is getting national
attention for her campaign to prevent children from being exposed to violent
video games.

Danielle Shimotakahara is surprised at the impact of her campaign, the
"Cool-No-Violence Peace Project."

"I never thought it would go this far," she says. "I was only trying to
educate and convince the businesses around here to voluntarily remove or
place their violent games in another area of their business away from little
kids."

Shimotakahara is featured in the March Reader's Digest as an "everyday hero"
and is in American Girl magazine's April edition. She also has been
spotlighted on local television newscasts as well as Nickelodeon, and in The
Oregonian newspaper in Portland. She is among a group of 10 teen activists
who will meet privately with the Dalai Lama when he visits Oregon in May for
the Youth Peace Summit.

The "Cool-No-Violence Peace Project" led to her appearance before a U.S.
Senate committee, presentations to civic and community groups, and
appearances at schools and churches. On Feb. 19, before the Oregon Senate
Committee on Business, Labor and Economic Development, she argued in favor
of state Senate Bill 59, sponsored by Sen. Ken Messerle, R-Coos Bay.

The bill would require public video-game owners to ensure that children
younger than 18 do not play games depicting people being shot, or blood,
gore, mutilation or the dismemberment of human bodies.

Shimotakahara, a member of North Bend United Methodist Church, launched her
campaign at the 1999 Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference gathering. Her idea was
a reaction to the shootings that year at Columbine High School in Littleton,
Colo., where two boys killed 13 people and wounded many others. 

Shimotakahara drafted an action request that easily won the approval of
annual conference members. Two resolutions were passed, including one that
went to the United Methodist Church's General Conference in 2000 and ended
up in the denomination's Book of Discipline.

She believes that games with yellow stickers should be for kids 13 and up,
and games with red stickers should be for people 17 and older. Often, the
rating stickers are not on the machines, she says. "The Parental Advisory
System poster is not displayed either so parents don't know what any of this
means and I think they need to know."

"I'm surprised at the number of people who never knew these types of
machines were out there, and I'm impressed by the number of people,
including lots of kids, who agree with me once they learn about these
machines," she says.

"My pastor, Pam Meese, told me that games are supposed to prepare kids for
real life situations," Shimotakahara says. "So what does a game that rips
bodies to pieces and explodes body parts and splatters blood on the screen
teach kids to prepare for in real life?"

Senate Bill 59 has been assigned to an informal Senate work group for
revision and refining. Another public hearing may be held after that
process. 

Though she has persuaded a number of arcade and restaurant owners in her
local area to eliminate violent video games, Shimotakahara is up against
other business owners, video players, her own classmates and the American
Civil Liberties Union, all of whom oppose the bill.

The Oregonian also is against it. In an editorial, the newspaper says the
connection between violent video games and real-life violence is unproven.
The newspaper notes that the bill would shift the burden of responsibility
for children's entertainment away from parents to small-business owners,
such as those who own pizza parlors and arcades. The business owners would
be hard pressed to enforce the restrictions unless they removed the games
altogether, the newspaper said. The Oregonian also cites its concern about
the bill infringing on First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.

However, Shimotakahara also is finding her cause affirmed in many ways. The
Oregon Medical Association, the Coos Bay City Council, the American
Pediatric Association and many other organizations as well as business
owners support her stand. She has won the Oregon State Prudential Spirit of
the Community Award as well as the national Prudential award for her work.
 
Says her mother, Eva Germaine-Shimotakahara: "It is so heartening that so,
so many people agree with her position."
# # #
*Linda Sullivan, the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference editor, contributed most
of the information for this story. Other details came from UMOI Today,
edited by Marvin D. Jones.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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