Delaware County Daily Times from Chester, Pennsylvania • Page 43

SOMEPLACE FOR YOUNG TO RELAX 1 Church Youth Centers Leave Programs Up to Young By KATHY BEGLEY Daily Times Staff Writer They're called "The Spot" and "The Place" and they're designed specifically to give, young people somewhere to go and relax. Although each non-profit center is aided by a Delaware County Church one Roman "Catholic, the other Lutheran both are completely and open to Residents of neighboring munities. "The Spot," located in a former photography shop at 9th and Crosby Chester, is designed for persons 18 and older and offers a unique, coffee-house atmosphere. "The Place," is aimed at the younger set of high school age and is located in the parish house of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 927 S. Providence Road, Nether Providence.

Each center is guided by a Clergyman who believes the youths themselves should be free to plan any programs they wish. Rev. James C. McCusker, assistant pastor at St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church, Chester, said he and a number of young people got the idea for the meeting place "mutually." He said the plan took spark because it was evident the people in the 18 to 21 age group "didn't have any place to go." "The Spot" is open from 9 p.m.

to midnight each Friday and Saturday for a nominal membership and admission fee, which includes refreshments. Father McCusker said the response has been good so far although they "were frozen out" during recent winter weekends. He said members are renting the building "and we're trying to organize a 240 Boosters' Club to keep it going." The idea of the Boosters' Club, he said, would be to obtain financial support for the center from community and business leaders. So far, "The Spot" has featured various folk groups, including student groups from Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, Darby, and Villanova University, Radnor. The programs are designed By a 12 member planning committee, headed by Barbara Harron of Chester and Joseph Matlock of Brookhaven.

Holy Trinity Pastor Rev. John M. Scherch said "The Place" represents "an attempt to give teen-agers a place of their own." Open from 8 to 11 p.m. each Saturday, the center has facilities for "just sitting and or dancing, playing ping-pong and cards. "We gave them a time and a place and some adults in case they need them, then said 'other than that, it's yours'," Mr.

Scherch said. He gave the same reason as Father McCusker for helping to organize the center. "There was no place where they could just go." At "The Place," Mr. Scherch said, a teen-ager can say, 'If 1 just want to come in, I'll come in. Or if I just want to look at girls, I'll look at the girls.

Or if I want to study, I'll Mr. Scherch said he thought of Starting such a center when he noticed many young people are reluctant to become involved in church related youth programs. "Many of them thought, 'well, if I come to church, I'll have to do something religious'," he said. Mr. Scherch said he approached his church board with plans for "The Place'' and the members agreed it seemed like a worthwhile venture.

"My congregation is being so open to them their insides are almost showing," he said. Mr. Scherch said at present, there is no admission charge or membership fee to attertd "The Place." He said youths have to pay regular prices if they wish a soda from a machine and participants may decide later to charge a nominal admission fee. "But it would only be about 10 cents, or at the very most, 25 cents," he said. Mr.

Scherch said the only restriction set up "is that the kids be in ninth, 10th, 11th or 12th grades. After that, their interests change and we really accommodate these interests." He said the youths are planning with "ad committees at present. Father McCusker is direttbf of St. Michael's Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) and serves as chaplain to students at Notre Dame High School, Upper Providence. Fluent in Spanish, he also was appointed chaplain to the Puerto Rican residents of Chester and area by the Philadelphia Roman Catholic Archdiocese.

Mr. Scherch, who assumed duties as Trinity Lutheran pastor in 1964, is a former YMCA aide and is married and has several children. But clergymen indicated there is a possibility "The Spot" and "The Place" can be open more often and offer additional programs if the is good. The Times SLANT on Youth DELAWARE COUNTY (PA.) DAILY TIMES, FRIDAY, JAN. 26, 1968 PAGE 12 NUMBERS PROVIDE KEYS Computers Match Dates for Dances JOSEPH DOUGHERTY (left) and Michael Howanski, both of Ridley Township, compare computer cards for upcoming St.

James dance. 25 Chester Teen-Agers Picket Luncheonette to Gain Entrance FRANK GALEY Daily Times Staff Writer CHESTER Several men sat in the Luncheonette Thursday night, mostly talking. Once in a while, somebody would order a cup of coffee. Outside on the sidewalk, about 25 teen-agers marched around carrying signs: "Let Us In." "Our Money is as Good as Anybody Else's." "If they act like gentlemen, more than welcome," --said-Joseph Ebright, the store owner. "He doesn't like kids," said one pf the youths outside.

"He's always been a grouchy boy from bis childhood." The youths said Ebright, 1632 "Oraham Upper Chichester, Ibid them they couldn't come into the luncheonette after Ip Terence Harbison, 17, of 1405 TCulhahe spokesman for the -pickets, said Ebright told the ioys they would have to find jpmewhere else to hang out dinner. luncheonette, with a pool "table and pinball machines, has a favorite spot for nelgh- -borhood youth to spend their "Ebright said the boys descend on his place in the evenings walk in the door, and Home in 10 will have some money rest just want to sit there and smoke cigarettes." "They're hot going to hang in here. I told them, if you 't spend money, you 'll have -to leave." Ebright's brother, Joseph 'fluckalew, said the teen-agers account for about 60 per cent the store 's business and he insists Ebright is committing -financial suicide by keeping the boys out. "These kids don't have any- jfchere to go at night," said JJuckalew, 317A Bethel Road, Bethel. "These kids are his only means of business." The youths said they have "put a lot Qt money into the store" especially during the summer months when they have money to spend from summer jobs.

But during the winter, "you can't stay in the house all night," Terence said. "We won't have anywhere to go." He said the youths would continue picketing the store every night "until he lets us in." Ebright said he doesn't need the boys' money. He said Wednesday night the first night of the shutout he took in only $8 less than usual. A few hpurs before closing time Thursday night, he said, he was only about $3 behind. He said the boys are in his store "from 6 a.m.

to 5 p.m. and I want the last four hours of the day for grownups." Even if you speak Russian, have no sense of humor and are fat, you still may have a chance to meet your ideal mate in February. That is, of course, if you already have completed personality preference forms for the computer dances scheduled next month at St. James High School, Chester, and Cardinal O'Hara High School, Marple. Both schools already have distributed forms to their own students and others at Notre Dame High School, Upper Providence, School of the Holy Child, Sharon Hill, and Notre Dame Academy, Radnor, asking interested persons to designate their likes and dislikes.

Prior to the Feb. 3 dance at St. James and the Feb. 21 event at Cardinal- O'Hara, the forms will be run through computers and students with similiar or comptaible tastes will be matched. When they arrive at the dance, students will be given cards with the number of one or two ideal matches to be worn throughout the evening.

A St. James spokesman said the school held a similar dance two years ago, which "ran into a few kinks" at that time. He said the major problems were that some students didn't wish to display their numbers and others didn't like their "ideal" matches. The St. James form asks the student 50 preference questions and promises the computer will find "all the people who fit your description." Each of the questions has several alternatives, including the first item: I am 1.

boy 2. girl Other numbers query the student about his preference in his date's hair color, height, weight and school grades. Other questions seek informa tion on how much television the student watches, whether he likes school and what kind of music he prefers the school expects about 900 persons to attend the dance, scheduled from 8 to 11:30 p.m. in the auditorium. A Cardinal O'Hara spokesman said the student council, headed by Seniors Thomas Murphy and Paula McFadden, is sponsoring the dance.

Some 2,000 Cardinal O'Hara students who filled out forms before Christmas vacation are expected to attend. The Cardinal O'Hara form differs from the St. James version in that it breaks its questions down to personal data and five other major categories. Students are asked to cricle their favorite subject out of a list of nine and the extracurricular activities in which they participate. They also are asked to reveal their favorite dating activity and radio station.

At the end of the form, the students are asked to indicate which item he or she considers most important in choosing the ideal partner. The Cardinal O'Hara dance is scheduled from 8 to 11 p.m. Feb. 21, the day preceding Washington's birthday, a school holiday. Students planning to attend either dance were charged $1 to cover both processing of the forms 'and admission.

Although the Cardinal O'Hara form is less detailed, it seems that the St. James form offers more opportunities for exaggeration and error. One student said it seemed unlikley that anyone would describe herself or himself as "less than average in looks," "never neat" and "rarely enthusiastic" the application suggests. But the candidate most likely to have the worst time at the dance would seem to be a student who answers St. James form number 26 with the candor needed to circle number 4.

I like to dance: 1. slow 2. The St. James spokesman said fast 3. both 4.

neither. "THE PLACE," in Nether Providence, gets decorated with huge poster of W. C. Fields by (from left) Debbie Osborne, 15, Cindy Crystal, 15, Linda Dunn; 16, and crutch. English Girls Pick Velvet Gilbert Youth Service Romantic fashions in velvet, for special evenings out and for at-home wear, are having particular appeal for English girls from 15 years of- age on up.

Even the buyes at top name stores are amazed at the way the velvet craze has caught on. One said that brown velvet was almost unobtainable, and black is also very popular. She felt that even those teen girls who didn't look well or dinarily in black can wear black velvet because the fabric itself is so flattering. Many of the dresses and suits are to be found in cotton velvet which has a subtle sheen. Many also are etched in lace, black net, or are worn with a lace blouse.

Even the trouser suits are feminine, subtly cut, and lavish with lace trimmings. Some party dresses have an Empire silhouette, accented with a satin ribbon. ARROW on letter "Spot' points to bull's eye for young in Chester. that Services Bureau The tattooed lady is back teens in the know are "painting" their arms and legs with wildly colored decals. The choices can be from the animal, mineral or vegetable kingdom.

Some sparklers gleam Despite rapidly mounting sta- like jewels. Others are in butter- tistics on youth delinquency (one fly or flower shapes. out of every six boys will have Aids Troubled Boys Coed: PROOF OF BIRTH EXPOSED LIE Mother Exploded Myth of Adoption By KATHY BEGLEY Daily Times Staff Writer NO MATTER WHAT MY mother told me, I wouldn't believe it. The evidence was overwhelming. I was certain, positive, sure and nothing ever would change my mind.

No one but no one could convince me I wasn't an adopted child. The first clue to my secret past came when I discovered I looked nothing like the girl who was supposed to be my older sister. She was a tall and glamourous 11-year-old. I was a dumpy 8. In all my friends' families, everyone would have the same buck teeth or red hair or skinny legs.

My sister and I looked like Laurel and Hardy. I got another indication that I was adopted when I examined our baby books. These were in great style back then and proud mothers would write all about baby's first temper tantrum and baby's first hair follicle and baby's first fingernail. MY SISTER'S BOOK told of a glorious and glamourous past. According to my mother, who is exceptionally proud, my sister said about a million prayers and read "Little Black Sambo" and had 67 teeth when she was six months old.

My book was empty. Another piece of evidence that I really didn't belong in the family was the fact that my mother and father and sister all liked chocolate ice cream and the color blue and pork chops. I liked vanilla and red and hamburgers. The fact of my adoption was indisputable. I began to wonder where my parents had hidden the basket I came in.

With all these facts before me, I was convinced I had to plot a course of action. I would go out into the world and get a job to repay the two people who were pretending to have been stuck with me at birth. And I had to find my real parents, mostly because they might be a king and a queen and then I really could boss all the other kids around. WHEN I TOLD my adopted mother I would get a job to show her my gratitude, she cleverly laughed and pretended she knew nothing about my adoption. She said there was no rush about paying her back for anything because I hadn't finished grade school yet and I might not be able to get a good job anyway.

So, I decided not to drop out and just limit my activity to finding my true parents. The first thing I did was go around knocking on doors and asking the neighbors if anyone in their homes looked like me. One time I was successful. One mean, rotten lady brought out her cocker spaniel and said she could see some resemblance. I cried and decided I didn't care if my parents were kings and queens, as long as they were human.

BUT THE SURVEY didn't work out at all so I began searching the house for my birth certificate. It was nowhere to be found. Every time my mother went out, I would ransack all the desk drawers trying to find out the truth of my identity. I secretly hoped my real name would turn out to be Nada Natara Natorelli, because I saw her in an Egyptian movie one time. But nothing worked and the only thing that came up was my father's hand when he lifted it to spank me for wrecking the drawers so many times.

Finally, one day, my proud but exasperated mother got my birth certificate out of the bank safety deposit box and proved I was Kathy Begley. It was a bitter disappointment. For months now, I had been telling all the neighborhood kids my great grandmother probably was Cleopatra and I was dropped from Mars in a specially made baby basket. I HAD BEEN telling everyone my freckles really were battle scars from an Outer Space war and I was fat because I had a time bomb secretly stored in my liver. But now I was just regular again.

To ease my embarrassment, I began telling the story of the tall and glamourous 11-year-old who lived with me but wasn't my real sister at all. Since I was the authentic member of the family, I figured, she had to be adopted. Even Laurel and Hardy weren't real brothers. So I felt better when I started telling everyone my sister got mixed up in the hospital and actually was the daughter of a famous gangster who would come into the neighborhood with a machine gun and kill them all if they ever told her or my parents that had let out the secret. I was a bigmouth, I said, but I couldn't help myself.

Hers was a glorious and glamourous past. an arrest or be in court by the time he is 18), members of President Johnson's Crime Commission see evidence of real hope in helping those who have gone wrong. James Vorenberg, untl recently the executive director of the commission, now a Harvard Law professor, describes the proposed Youth Services Bureau, which will serve in some cities as an alternative to the traditional juvenile court. Instead of the juvenile court's all-or-nothing approach, which he says can actually be harmful to the young offender, the new agency will have representatives from social groups which take a deeper look at the underlying problems wWca precipitated the offense. This agency, Vorenberg commented, can also go to what he termed the margin of trouble, who now are pushed down to the bottom of the barrel." To Improve the attitude of' the police in the minds of youngsters, the commission recommends there be three kinds of police officers: police agents who are college graduates with special training in youthful the routine police "and a community service officer, operating in a storefront office in a slum area, Vorenberg said.

Rewards in pay. he also ne )s, should be given to superior ojtti' cers. The delinquency problenVcalls for dynamic and imaginative approaches, he says, in the -face of chilling figures like these: 15-year-olds commit mjjre crimes than any other age group; half of the burglaries, auto thefts, and property crimes are committed by young people from 11 to 17 years of age..