Police Lobby for Social Programs

The Deming (NM) Headlight reports that a small group of local and nearby police officials recently phone-conferenced with Vice President Amy Dawson of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) called "Fight Crime; Invest in Kids."  A Headlight reprter was also present.

The purpose of the tele-conference was to enlist police officials in Fight's lobbying efforts to broaden government-financed insurance coverage to include the "working poor."  Fight's proposal would amend the federal SCHIP program to include mental health coverage for eligible juveniles aged 11 through 17. 

According to the Headlight, the beneficiaries of the broadened coverage would be the drug-addicted and the mentally and physically abused. 

The Headlight reports that Miss Dawson claimed President Bush threatened a veto.  What the President would veto, Fight's amendment or the renewal of the SCHIP program, is not made clear.  There is no mention of a presential veto of either of these on Fight's website.

Fight Crime; Invest in Kids claims 3,000 members nationwide, mostly law enforcement leaders and victims of violence. 

The Headlight article may be seen for a limited time at http:\\www.demingheadlight.com/news/ci_6503508 or purchased from paper's archives at http://www.demingheadlight.com/search?sortBy=mngi&similarTo=&similarType=find&runSearch=true&type=any&query=archives

The Fight website is at http://www.fightcrime.org/.