Dignitaries including Faux Paw, Scruff, and McGruff also find the Mrs. Ehrlich’s story interesting.

So many hands in the air seemed startling, but maybe it shouldn’t have been. When attorney Parry Aftab asked the sixth graders at Dumbarton Middle School if they had experienced an unpleasant online contact on their computers, more than half the students acknowledged an unfortunate reality of life in the Internet age.

For all its wonders and uses, the Internet can be a dangerous place sometimes.
Ms. Aftab was at Dumbarton on June 13, 2005, to talk to students about the dangers of cyber-bullying, part of a day of activities at Dumbarton and Rodgers Forge Elementary School next door designed to alert children to the importance of being safe on the Internet during the summer months.

At Dumbarton Middle School, attorney and cyber safety advocate Parry Aftab discusses how to stop “cyber bullying” on the Internet.

At Rodgers Forge, Maryland First Lady Kendel Ehrlich helped to kick off a new statewide Internet safety campaign sponsored by the national Internet Keep Safe Coalition. Speaking to an attentive group of second-graders, she introduced the mascot for the new campaign, Faux Paw the Techno Cat, and discussed the need for vigilance against online dangers.

In a story read to students by Mrs. Ehrlich, Faux Paw is tricked online into meeting a new cyberspace “friend” in person. When Faux Paw meets her new acquaintance, the “friend” turns out to be a snarling, threatening dog – underscoring the need for safety when communicating on the web.

Mrs. Ehrlich was joined by Ms. Aftab, who is also executive director of the WiredSafety.org web site, Jackie Leavitt, chair of the Internet Keep Safe Coalition and a former first lady of Utah, Steve Bailey of the Deputy State’s Attorney’s office, and Della Curtis, coordinator of the Office of Library Information Services for Baltimore County Public Schools. Rodgers Forge Principal Sue Deise served as host and the event’s emcee.

Faux Paw (left) is joined by friends Scruff and McGruff, the Crime Dog, at the Rodgers Forge Elementary School media center.

Through the use of Faux Paw and information available through schools and libraries across the county, the project warns children about what to watch out for on the Internet and what to do to avoid dangerous situations or individuals. Studies show that as many as one in five youngsters using the Internet have experienced unwanted advances and that nearly a third of children will provide their addresses on the web.

In addition, Ms. Curtis talked with children about the county’s “Wild About Reading” program, part of a statewide summer reading program that encourages children to read as many as 25 books over the summer.

Story and photos by Charles Herndon, Director of Communications