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Stroger Fights Violence With A Trip To The Zoo

County Board President Sets Up Peace Fest To 'Expand Horizons'

BROOKFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ― Cook County Board President Todd Stroger wants Chicago area children to broaden their horizons and find activities that will keep them away from violence and gang activity.

So he took more than 200 kids to the zoo.

As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, they were rapping against violence at Brookfield Zoo, in the hopes of stopping violence at Chicago streets. That was one of many activities at Todd Stroger's Summer Peace Fest 2008, an inaugural event for children from the city and surrounding suburbs.

"I think part of our problem is that our children aren't exposed to a lot of things. They don't know that there's more than just the two blocks in their neighborhood," Stroger said, "and we want to expand their horizons."

So the group of kids was taken to the zoo free of charge. For some, it was their first time.

"I want to see the lions, and the dolphins, and the monkeys," said first-time zoo visitor Elijah Donald.

But before Elijah and the other kids could see the animals, they were briefed on financial literacy, and preached to by a minister who walked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"You're not a Vice Lord. You just need some advice from the Lord," the minister said to thunderous applause.

Lunch was provided, and children were given free health screenings, before they took in a dolphin show and toured the zoo.

One of those in attendance today, high school senior Cordero Brown, lost his good friend Marlow Jones in a deadly shooting just this week. Brown is hopeful that day trips like this one will decrease the level of violence.

"Right now, we've got a lot of people out here. They like it here. They listen," Brown said. "They might go ahead and stop all this violence; throw away the guns."

"I think it's very important," added high school junior Tracy Henderson, "because it gives them someplace to go that's positive instead of negative.

Stroger says summer peace fest will continue with regularly scheduled trips throughout the summer and into the school year. The next one comes next weekend, when school buses will once again be loaded up, and the kids will be taken to Yankee Woods, a south suburban Cook County Forest Preserve.

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