By David F. Dawes

ONE is a respected author; the other is a burly, tattooed former career criminal. Together, they hope to make a difference in the lives of teenagers who may be starting down the wrong road.

The author is Michael Chettleburgh, who has written Young Thugs: Inside the Dangerous World of Canadian Street Gangs. The one-time thug is Rick Osborne, founder of Truth for Teens. He has also written an autobiography, entitled White Noise: A Journey Through Addiction, Crime and Prison.

The pair will be offering 'Community-Based Solutions to Youth Crime' at Evangel Church in Kelowna June 2.

The event is sponsored by Reach Out, a youth ministry, and organizer Sharon Marshall said she thinks highly of both men.

Chettleburgh, said Marshall, "doesn't believe the problem of street gangs has just developed." but is more a 30 to 40 year problem that, with the right supports in place within our society, could have been averted.

"His approach is prevention/intervention. He believes it's our systems in society, and a lack of support for young people, that have greatly contributed to the problem."

Osborne's life, she said, "is a story of rehabilitation and hope. He was a street gangster, a drug addict, and ended up incarcerated" and was the first inmate to ever receive his bachelor's degree in prison in Canada. "He is a very strong Christian."

Osborne himself, speaking to CC.com from his home in Ontario, said what he most regretted about his years as a criminal was "the damage you do to people. The people you are closest to are the ones you hurt the most."

His downward spiral began soon after puberty. In his early teens, he noted, he was quite naive: "When I heard a guy was a junkie, I thought he collected junk." However, at age 15, he lost this innocence.

"I went for a ride with a guy I thought was really cool. He wound up attacking me while another guy held me down. I was forcibly injected with a speedball -- a mixture of methamphetamine and heroin." The culprits, he said, did it just for the thrill of having power over someone.

The next crucial incident occurred when he was 16. "I was hitchhiking in Florida. A pedophile picked me up -- then raped and stabbed me." Aside from the pain and humiliation, he was also traumatized by the aftermath, he said.

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"I had bought into the myth that 'you don't snitch.'" This streetwise "code of silence" caused Osborne to keep the attacker's identity a secret. To his dismay, he later learned he had made a dreadful mistake. "There was at least one other young man who was attacked because of that."

This was one of the main reasons he took up self-mutilation, he said. "Right into my 30s, I cut myself."

Asked why he went to such an extreme, he said: "When you can't deal with the emotional pain, you hide it with physical pain." He retained one other habit from his teen years: "I was speedballing into my 30s."

Osborne served prison terms totalling more than 24 years. At Millhaven Institution in Ontario, he became a Christian in 1993.

Soon after, he prayed: "Let me die like a man, in the prison yard and let me go to heaven on grace, like the guy on the cross next to Jesus." Asked how his faith has helped him most, he replied: "Being able to forgive myself."

Asked what he now hopes to accomplish, he said: "When I came out of prison, I wanted to help kids become resilient. The best advice I can give them is to remember the value of one individual" and that they "are a child of God."

He said he is mainly concerned with the temptations of narcotics, and the ignorance of many Canadians. "We're putting our heads in the sand. The appetite for drugs is insatiable."

Osborne's self-mutilation was one of the key reasons why he got most of his body tattooed. Ironically, it ultimately helped him make a more powerful impression on teens.

"When I came out of prison, I didn't like the tattoos. I had mainly used them to intimidate people. But now, they are what makes kids listen to me."

People notice one other thing about him, he said. "One time, the look in my eye caused a guy to jump out a window and break his legs. God has given me a new set of eyes. People can now look in my eyes, and see I'm not dangerous. When I asked my mother for forgiveness years ago, that was the first thing she noticed."

Osborne and Chettleburgh are collaborating on an updated version of White Noise, to be released in October. "We want to write the redemption part," said Osborne.

April 30/2009