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T JB J W ISjj Bj f. " Harold Arledge with boys at club site Boys’ Club lends hand Harold Arledge is a man with his hand out. He'll take a donation of money or time from anyone willing to give. Last year he took close to $30,000 from Griffin and Spalding County residents, businesses and industries. He’s the executive director of the Boys’ Club of Griffin and Spalding County. The money he takes is used to help develop the lives of 200 boys each year. The Boys’ Club of Griffin is one of more than 1,500 in the United States, all members of the Boys’ Club of America. Each is run by an “active” board of directors and is financed on a local basis. The local club is not only independent of the national organization financially, but it also determines its own ob jectives and the means to obtain them. “Each club deals with its own local problems,” said Arledge. “A club in New York City faces different problems from ours, but we share the same goal —a more productive environment for our youth." The Boys’ Club of Griffin is located at 2 sites, one on the grounds of East Griffin Elementary School and the other off East Solomon street at 121 Leo street. Their objectives are to provide experiences for boys who would not have the opportunity under normal circumstances. “We try to offer the boys a complete program,” said Arledge, “including social experiences, vocational training, educational activities, crafts and hobby work and physical education or recreation activities. “A well balanced variety including activities from each of these categories goes into the program schedules. For example, in the first phase of our fall schedule we are holding tutoring classes and offer reading help. Football and bowling are programmed and others include: karate, arts and crafts, woodshop, movies, Junior Staff, social club, camping club and Christmas Weather FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA - Partly cloudy and mild through Friday with low tonight in the low 50s and high Friday in the mid 70s. LOCAL WEATHER — Low this morning at the Spalding Forestry Unit 47, high Wednesday 70. projects. “These are just a few of the activities we offer. The programs differ from season to season and as the boys’ in terests change, so do our programs.” The local program also includes counseling. “We become involved with the families,” said Arledge. “If there are problems, we try to help solve them.” Arledge and his staff of one unit director, 2 counselors and a secretary work closely with school personnel. “Working with the boys’ teachers and getting to know the members of their families gives us a good picture of what is going on if there is a problem,” said Arledge. “We are planning more activities which will involve the parents to a greater extent,” he added. “I haven’t been in the organization long enough to see any tremendous results of our efforts,” said Arledge. “I guess if I’m around another 5 or 6 years I’ll see a few of our kids mature and then the results will show. “I have seen some great changes in attitudes though. Some kid will come to us with a really lousy attitude and if things go well, before you know it, he’s helping out, and getting involved.” Arledge operates his Boys’ Club sites 25 hours each week during the school year and longer during the summer, with special hours on holidays. He spends a lot of time soliciting public interest and funds, too. He runs the club with an annual budget of $30,000 which pays for his salary and one staff member, plus utility bills and other operating costs. He receives about one-third of this from the United Fund. The rest must be raised as donations. Arledge deals with numerous childhood problems and a multitude of inconveniences on a daily basis. He was born in Shelby, N. C. and attended Gardner Webb College, a small Baptist college in Boiling Springs, N. C. There, he received a degree in social science. During his final year in college, he worked for 3 months as a field sports director in a Boy Scout camp, when he discovered that he enjoyed working with youngsters. In March, 1972 he took a job as program director of a Boys’ Club in Shelby. While working there, he met his wife, Sherry, who was studying physical education at Gardner Webb. (Continued on page 30.) GRIFFIN DAI Daily Since 1872 Grand jury notes crowding in schools A Spalding County Grand Jury committee observed overcrowding in Griffin High buildings and in all but 3 elementary schools during an in spection of the school system here this week. Their findings were included in presentments Wednesday. The 3 elementary schools not crowded, the committee said, were Third Ward, West Griffin and East Griffin. “On the high school campus we noted that in all cases there was an extremely overcrowded condition. The field house was extremely dirty and we noted that in the boys and girls shower areas there was no privacy and the facilities totally inadequate,” the committee wrote. The committee found Spalding Junior High Units I, II and 111 well maintained. It inspected the old Hawkes Library building and found it in good condition. The building has been converted for administrative use. The committee said lunchrooms in schools were clear and efficiently run. Griffin High Principal Tascar Williams told the committee “the drug problem is still with us and is con stantly being watched.” The grand jury urged citizens to vote in the November school bond election but made no recommendation on yes or no voting. The entire grand jury inspected the Spalding County jail with Sheriff Dwayne Gilbert taking members on a tour. He told them of plans to renovate the building. The jurors commended the sheriff and the Spalding County Commissioners on their long range planning and funding of the im provements. In other business, the jurors ap pointed Mrs. Emily Claxton, Wayne H. Brown and Mrs. W. Z. Martin to the Spalding County Equalization Board. Alternates named were Arthur Hammond, Jr., Mrs. Sue Ogletree and W. C. Futral, Jr. The jurors recommended to Judge Andrew Whalen, Jr., the following appointments: Jerome Huckaby for notary public and ex-officio Justice of the Peace for Line Creek District. Julian Jones for notary public and ex officio Justice of the Peace for Akin District. Judge John O. Clements was ap pointed judge of the Small Claims Court. $5,000 suit for paddling dismissed AMERICUS, Ga. (AP) - Teacher Karen Griffin does not have to pay civil damages for spanking an 11-year-old pupil who chose five licks of the paddle rather than writing a sentence 100 times as punish ment for a classroom disturb ance. That was the verdict of a Sumter County jury which Wednesday dismissed a civil suit seeking $5,000 from Miss Griffin for paddling Joseph Emory Duke. The suit was brought by the boy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Wesley Duke, who claimed the paddling was ex cessive. Miss Griffin, a music teacher in the Americus public schools, tesified that she warned the pu pils in the class three times to stop their disturbances. When they persisted, she said, she gave them a choice of five licks of the paddle or writing a sentence 100 times. Joseph Emory and 11 of the 30 pupils chose the paddle. Two members of the city school system testified that the spanking was not excessive. Griffin, Ga., 30223, Thursday Afternoon, October 6, 1977 < HI Nx - : ‘ ■':aW ' • V' v 'A*© fl MBf St 'Skbß^B^SF 1 a ißhfia ar >BI JI ,\W X, HI liill J^B^'' fef 111 JI il liHI ■BBBBBB%%J^^^^ z,// 4 MMiw J ll|H|l z 'SK'iMßiei r r 111 I Ilf II f I V,' 11 j|i |ll f 1111111 ||||||l|H|||l h||||l||||||Hw yl Supt. D. B. Christie congratulates Mrs. Stein on honor. Mrs. Stein Teacher of Year An eighth grade English teacher who thinks young people should be allowed more and more responsibility today was named Teacher of the Year in the Griffin-Spalding School System. - She is Mrs. Virginia Stein and was awarded the honor by Supt. D. B. Christie this morning. She will represent the system in Georgia Teacher of the Year com petition this week in Atlanta. PTA shedding little old ladies image President opposes violence on tv SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - The Parent-Teacher Association is shed ding its “little old ladies in tennis shoes” image and attacking television because it feels TV sex and violence is dangerous to children, says the president of the Georgia PTA. Iris Mosley said the national PTA declared war on TV violence in 1975. “Television violence has been X reduced,” said Mrs. Mosley, but in many instances it has been replaced by sex, such as in the controversial new program “SOAP.” “The average youngster has watched 4,000 hours of TV by the time he or she starts first grade,” she said. “By high school graduation, a typical student will have spent about 15,000 hours watching television as opposed to about 11,000 hours in the classroom. “It’s frightening to think about what it is teaching our children,” she con tinued. “Never in our history has there been a medium as penetrating and persuasive as television.” Mrs. Mosley said the 208,000-member Georgia PTA also is concerned that 75 Mrs. Stein said there are many positive aspects in public education today. She said she feels teachers remaining in public education are truly dedicated to the best interests of their children. She said she had unlimited con fidence in young people. Mrs. Stein earned a BA degree with a major in English and minors in French, per cent of high school graduates in the state can’t read above a fourth-grade level. She attributes the situation in part to television replacing reading as the primary source of entertainment in many homes. The national PTA has placed television “on probation” for its allegedly adverse affects on children. The probationary period ends Jan. 1 and, unless the networks clean up their programing by then, the PTA is ready to take stronger action, Mrs. Mosley said. The action could include lawsuits and boycotts of advertisers, programs and local stations. “We hope that it doesn’t come down to having to boycott,” she said. “But that’s what we’ll do if that’s what it takes.” Since July, the PTA has been holding public hearings across the nation to discuss television violence. As proof of the strong interest, Mrs. Mosley said, 500 persons asked to testify at the Atlanta hearing. Vol. 105 No. 237 psychology and social studies at Jacksonville University in 1968. She earned a master of education degree in secondary English at Georgia State in 1976. She taught eighth and ninth grade English for 9 years in Florida and in Griffin. She has been chairman of the English Department for 4 years at Spalding Junior High 11. People ••• and things Birds scattering in all directions from backyard feeder when squirrel invites himself to lunch. Elementary student, school books under arm, looking wistfully at lake on cool morning. Minister humming “Whistle While You Work” while walking briskly downtown. The Country Parson by Frank Clark “I wonder why parents wno don’t read anything Insist that their children learn how.”