By AARON MUELLER
Niles Daily Star

A patch of hundreds of spinning, shiny blue pinwheels in downtown Niles will certainly catch the attention of passersby and hopefully alert them of a terrible problem in the county and across the nation.

Each of one of the pinwheels at the old Majerek’s lot on East Main Street represents a child abuse victim in the past year in Berrien County.

The Berrien County Council for Children and a group of Lake Michigan Catholic High School students assembled the garden of 847 pinwheels Tuesday as a part of the National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

According to the most recent report from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, about 772,000 children were victims of child abuse or neglect in fiscal year 2008 in the United States.

“The pinwheel has become a symbol for child abuse prevention,” said Jamie Rossow, executive director of the Berrien County Council for Children. “These pinwheel gardens are going on statewide, and we’ve seen it in other states also.”

There have been 483 confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect reported to the Department of Human Services in Berrien County, while the Council for Children provided therapy for 364 this year.

More than anything, Rossow hopes the tiny ocean of blue in downtown Niles will serve as a reminder to people.

“We’re just trying to get the word out, and we’re hoping that this brings some recognition to child abuse prevention and our organization and what we’re trying to do to help these kids,” she said.
The pinwheels were on display in St. Joseph April 1-12, and they will be up in Niles for at least a week.