Newtown Quakers to Discuss New State Report on Violence Prevention

Newtown Quakers
to Discuss New State Report on Violence Prevention

Attorney and mediator
Barbara Lyons and educators Steve Doerner and Dori Dugan will present a
discussion on Violence Prevention at the Newtown Friends Meeting adult class at
the Quaker Meetinghouse, 219 Court Street, Newtown (www.newtownfriendsmeeting.org)
on Sunday, March 16 at 9:45 a.m. The public is invited to attend.

The panel will discuss local and Bucks County issues as well as the
Pennsylvania State Joint Government Commission’s report released December 2013,
“Report of the Advisory Committee on Violence: Violence Prevention in
Pennsylvania.” 

Barbara N. Lyons is the
founder of the Bucks County Mediation and Arbitration Center (BCMAC) to provide
parties to disputes with alternatives to traditional litigation.  She is a court appointed arbitrator and
member of the Federal Arbitration Panel. 

As a member of the Pennsylvania
Senate Advisory Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution, Barbara works to
create systems of alternative dispute resolution throughout the Commonwealth.
She helped create the mediation program for the Bucks
County civil court system which
provides the alternative of mediation to litigation. Barbara also serves as Chairman
of the Board of Supervisors of Doylestown
Township. 

Steve Doerner has worked in
special education and as a Social Studies teacher at the high school level.
 He currently works as the Secondary Education Coordinator for NOVA
(Network of Victim Assistance) where he designs, schedules, and implements
prevention education programs throughout Bucks
County for audiences ranging from
middle school through adults.

Dori Dugan, a member of Newtown
Quaker Meeting, is a Prevention
Educator for NOVA. She said, “I talk to kids from preschool to high schools,
all over the county, every day about: personal safety, bullying and cyber
bullying, internet safety, healthy relationships, conflict resolution, and
victim empathy.”

The recent Pennsylvania State Joint Government Commission’s 295
page report on Violence Prevention describes itself as a “comprehensive
analysis of violent crime and mass shootings and other topics related to those
issues, including mental illness and treatment, firearms regulation, school
security, bullying, gang-related activities, educational issues, and cultural
influences, including violent video games.” 

 The report recommends dozens of specific changes to the
Mental Health Procedures Act, the Uniform Firearms Act, and statutes and
practices related to violent crime. It also recommends “measures to make
schools safer and ways to develop awareness, education, and other strategies to
reduce and prevent violent crime.”

 Newtown Friends Meeting co-founded by "Peaceable
Kingdom" painter and Quaker
minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, is open to all who wish to attend. Regular
First Day Education classes (Sunday School) for all ages begin at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship begins at 11 a.m. Childcare is provided.