Crandall steps up to the plate to promote character-building

Torus Tammer

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- Mayor Larry Crandall said he will dedicate his year

in office to building character within the community. His plan is to

introduce a concept program that promotes character-building already in

place in many cities across the nation.

Crandall, who said his knowledge of the program came from being at a

few of the program’s presentations, also said he had heard positive

things from his wife, Sandra, a school teacher who is familiar with the

program. He was sworn in as mayor last week.

“We have a great community of families, and what better place do we

have than Fountain Valley to bring this concept together?” Crandall

asked.

The program -- called Character Counts! -- focuses on introducing

specific language into the lives of children, as well as adults, said

Leslie Mowers, a crime prevention specialist at the Orange County

Sheriff’s Department and the person responsible for introducing the

program to the city of San Clemente three years ago. Mowers said

Character Counts! is unlike other programs, such as Drug and Alcohol

Resistance Education.

“It’s about introducing a language to instill some very common

American values,” Mowers said. “Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility,

fairness, caring and citizenship are the words we encourage to be part of

their vocabulary. Not just by using the words, but by having parents and

teachers be accountable enough to acknowledge the child for positive

actions, and then identifying which of the six character words the child

used.”

Mowers added that the Josephson Institute of Ethics formed the

nonpartisan, nonreligious program in 1992 as a way to help teach children

to make the right decisions, using solid fundamental character traits as

the backbone of the decision-making process.

The idea, she said, is simple, and the implementation is

uncomplicated.

City Manager Ray Kromer has been in the preliminary stages of

acclimating himself to the concept and its logistics.

Kromer, who spoke to Mowers about the program in San Clemente, said he

is impressed.

“From the research I found so far in San Clemente, the concept is

simple and easy to understand,” Kromer said. “The idea is to unite the

community in a very obtainable way with very little cost.”

Crandall has a vision of which participants from the community should

be involved.

“A project like this requires a committee that represents a

cross-section of the community,” Crandall said. “It will require

representatives from schools, faith-based organizations, the business

community, civic organizations, as well as youth and sports

organizations. That is the next step.”