Valleywide : Kids Run Toward a Common Goal

With many reasons but only one common goal, they clamber into the burgundy and gray van as LAPD Devonshire Division Officer Tonya Johnson reaches each of their homes in the pre-dawn hours every weekday.

“When they hear my horn that early in the morning,” Johnson said, “it’s too hard to ignore. And I don’t leave. They may come out looking like they are sleepwalking, but they come out.”

For the members of the Jeopardy cross-country team--ages 10 to 18--training begins just after 5 a.m.

Johnson, who has been running the program since August, plays the radio loud and sings along, trying to help her charges wake up and get psyched for the run.

For the youths, these are days of much anticipation. Eight of the 23 Jeopardy runners are entered in the 26.2-mile San Francisco Marathon on July 9. It will be the first year that children are allowed to participate in the event.

The Jeopardy program was created by the Devonshire Division of the Los Angeles Police Department to offer sports and other activities as alternatives to youngsters considered at risk of falling in with gangs, drug users or onto other paths toward violence. Some joined the program at the urging of parents, others were encouraged by friends, and a few landed there after scrapes with the law. For whatever the reason, they agree they now find running a surprisingly healthy addiction.

“It’s like you think you don’t want to do it,” said a 15-year-old Panorama City girl who was referred to the Jeopardy program after she was arrested for assault and battery on another girl. “But once you’re there, you can’t stop running.”

Members of the program also participated in the Los Angeles Marathon in March--a rain-swept, cold and painful event for the youngsters. But as they continue their training for the San Francisco event, they say the running has helped them drop barriers and overcome problems in their lives.

“They laugh and they giggle,” said Johnson, describing the transformation. The Panorama City girl said she has been able to handle life better now. “When I have problems now I have someone to talk to,” she said.

The work and training has been fun, admitted Jason Espino, 13, of Mission Hills, who said he was encouraged by his mother to join the program. “I thought it was going to be the biggest drag,” he said.

Others in the group nodded in agreement, noting that when they joined, each was first given strict rules to follow. “Then, they met me,” Johnson said.

Youngsters said Johnson occasionally gets angry when they misbehave, ordering extra miles as punishment. But, for the most part, they said, the officer treats them like a family.

“She understands us,” one youth commented. “She’s like a teen-ager stuck in a grown-up’s body.”

On the other hand, Johnson’s teen-age daughter has mixed feelings about her mother’s work. “She used to have mom all to herself,” Johnson said, “now she has 23 brothers and sisters.”