Newspaper Page Text
I
The Mercer Cluster
“Part Of The New* Thai’* Fit To Print"
Volume LV Merr.tr University, Macon, Georgia May7> 1973
Studral at MARC Train Hi* Crater fevttoftag reading tkllh RUete
by Aah William*
Dogs Under Fire,
New Rules Announced
Mental Retardation:
MARC Training Center Examined
A sore spot with many people
on campus is the number of dogs
continually lounging here. Some
opinion is held that the animals
are a hazard to campus Hfe and
contend that man’s brat friends
are only in the way, tnat they
smell bad. and at best tend to
Notice:
On Tuesday, May 1st,
1973, a house was being
moved down College
Street in front of the
Student Center. In order to
mov^ the house, comeone
broke into a blue Toyota
which was parked on
College Street in front of
the girls’ dorm. The car
was damaged in this
breakin and those persons
responsible have not made
any efforts to contact the
owner of the vehicle
regarding its repair.
The Macon police officer
who watched this happan
assured the owner that if
any damage was done, it
would be paid for by the
house mover, but to this
date, all the owner of the
Toyota has gotten is THE
RUNAROUND.
There were a lot of
people there that day
watching what was hap
pening. If any of you know
who they are, or if you were
one of those who saw what
happened that day, would
you please have them (or
yourself) contact the owner
of the car at P.O. Box 927,
Mercer University, or call
in the evenings at home
788-8345. Any information
will be kept confidential
and will be greatly ap-
Thanks!
detract from the natural beauty
of Mercers impeccably
manicured pastoral greens
It is in violation of a Macon city
ordinance to allow a pet to go
unrestrained away from the
owners property. It is also a
violation of a state ordinance to
tie or chain an animal to a
stationary object, (such as a
tree), without a sufficient amount
of food and water. Both of these
ordinances are enforced in the
city of Macon by officials of the
city dog pound.
In addition to these ordinances,
Mercer University has a similar
policy, as to the restraining of
pets on campus. The Mercer
policy, as stated on page 44 of the
1972-1973 Student Handbook
reads thusly:
IN ACCORDANCE WITH
ORDINANCE NUMBERVl* OF
THE CITY OF MACON, DOGS
ON CAMPUS MUST BE
LEASHED AT ALL TIMES, NO
PETS WILL BE PERMITTED
IN UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS,
AND THEIR OWNERS WILL BE
HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR
ANY VIOLATIONS OF THESE
RESTRICTIONS.
In the past pet owners at
Mercer have erroneously in-
terpreted this restriction to mean
that pets are allowable on
campus if they are chained or
raotmng about on campus as the
owner attends class. However as
is plainly written in the handbook
an animal must be leashed or at
least within the owners control.
Enforcement of the Mercer
policy by campus officials has not
been strict in the past due to a
lackadaisical attitude en
countered at the city dog pound.
Often when the pound is called
• handle” a stray animal won
dering about the campus the dog
catcher is unable to attend to the
matter within the length of the
dogs ’‘visit”. At times a com-
Dlaint would be registered in the
• Continued On Page 8
Twenty years ago mental
retardation was a condition
thought by many to be unat-
tendable for those unfortunately
stricken individuals A retarded
person, due to to lack of facilities
in the community and lack of
education on the part of the
average citizen was treated as a
useless piece of human driftwood
and relegated to a nonhumar.
classification, subject to public
abuse because he or she could not
be dealt with in the conventional
system of education, occupation ,
and community activity.
A retarded child was placed in
a public school by a parent who
had no other recourse but to try to
help the child develope in the only
institutions available. More often
than not the retarded individuals
condition was worsened here for
he or she would only be further
pushed away from the main
stream of human life by
Waverly,
On May 19, Mercer will hod its
second Penfield conference
Important issues will be
discusicd by a group of Mercer’s
student leaders and anyone else
wishing to attend. Everyone in
attendance will be entitled to a
vote and a general consensus will
be drawn on the matters
discussed
On June 4, 5. and 6 the annual
Waverly Conference will be held
Students, faculty, and ad
ministrators will be voting on the
matters of student welfare that
are brough up at Penfield.
A group of six pre-waverly
committees have met twice and
have tentative plans of another
meeting before Waverly is held
•The Committees have been
discussing changes which need to
be made for student's benefit.
One committee is studying
housing. They would like to see
dorm hours extended and have
set up plans whereby the student
would be able to paint his own
dorm room.
by Frank Spooner
sometimes unintended insults by
teachers and incessant
harrassment by classmates
Consequently a mentally
retarded person vas kept at
home in the care of parents who
knew not the nature of the state in
a persons condition, eventually
to wind up as a ward of the state
in a public mental hospital, or if
born into a wealthier home the
person was tidily sent away to a
private institution for available
care and a long fruitless,
sheltered existence
In 1963 a group of concerned
citizen-parents, no more than a
half dozen in number, set about to
see what could be done to remedy
this situation. Realiring a need to
learn themselves before at
tempting to teach, this ad hoc
committee went to the Bibb
County Health Department to
A second committee is
researching the student s life at
Mercer. This committee is
dealing with the student power at
the university especially where
voting is concerned The com
mittee would also like to have
movies shown in the Chapel in
stead of the Student Center
Another committee (Fiscal
Review) is going over Mercer s
budget to check on what Mercer’s
priorities are.
The Academic Committee is
primarily concerned with
discussing the worth of senior
comprehensive examination}.
Much discussion has already
occured on this subject and more
student input is expected at
Penfield
The Student Awareness
Committee will be trying to find
methods for improving com
munication on campus. The
scheduling of movies in par
ticular will be discussed,. Also,
plans tb more fully utilize
Wonderful Wednesday will be
find out just what should be done.
The information gained at the
health department was then
supplemented with a series of
classes voluntarily taught at
Mercer University by Dr. Helen
G. Thornton, then of the Speech
Department.
From this group of concerned
parents meeting informally on
the quadrangle greens of M.U.
has evolved the organization
known as the Macon Association
for Retarded Children, (MARC).
Serving all ages of mentally
retarded individuals of Bibb
County from four training cen
ters in the city, MARC is making
a tremendous effort towards
reversing the long maintained
concept of isolation and of just
merely dealing with mentally
handicapped individuals because
there is no other method, to a
program of training, developing
skills, and building self sufficient
and socially acceptable, useful
individuals for the community.
The four MARC training
centers now being used by 156
mentally retarded persons from
age seven months to sixty-five
years, depend largly on public
support, donations and the selling
of memberships in the
association, backed up by the
matching funds provided through
the Department of Health
Education and Welfare.
All funds received go toward
day care centers in the existing
centers, research into the causes
of birth defects, support of
legislation for services for all
mentally handicapped people,
and to the ever present job of
improving the services of the
Continued On Page 8
considered
Committee chairmen who have
been working on the conference
are Joe Davis, Beanie McIntosh,
Robert Alexander. Charlie
Roberts. Linda Pitts. Ken
Bryant. Sam Heaton, and Katie
Cantwell.
Announcements
The annual SGA Awards Day is
planned for tomorrow, May 15.
The festivities will begin at 10
a m in the Ware Music Hall.
Awards will be given by the
Mercer Debate Team. Blue Key.
the Plucked Dulcimer and other
campus organizations Everyone
is invited
***
Monday May 14. there will be a
multi media presentation of the
architecture of the 1890's. The
slides will be shown in room 314 of
the Connell Student Center All of
the slides were taken within the
62.1 Uroan Renewal area ad
jacent to the Mercer campus.
OmWInt parts of MARC, the Adah Train big Center here, la on
College Drive. Photo by Ash Williams.
Penfield Scheduled
by George Howell