The Vance County Coalition Against Violence will appeal to local ministers to take turns as chaperones at the Aycock Recreation Complex to ensure access for youths during certain hours this summer.
Bill Edwards, the president of the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce, reported to the coalition on a meeting he had with Recreation Director Alan Gill regarding the coalition’s efforts to help youths spend time at Aycock and off the streets during summer vacation.
Edwards has gotten KARTS to agree to run its Around Town Shuttle to the recreation center, but the coalition is delaying the launch of that transportation service until it is sure the center can accommodate bigger crowds.
Among the issues are ensuring that kids know they must have swimsuits to use the pool, must be at least 14 to use the center without an adult, must pay $2 for a day pass if they’re not members, and may use the pool for open swim only during certain hours.
“We could create a worse problem for ourselves if we open this thing up and get KARTS to go out there and people are not informed,” Edwards said, “and we have kids that require chaperones that show up or we have kids that don’t have proper attire show up or they get there at the wrong time and there’s nothing to do.”
Edwards plans to observe the Aycock crowd Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week. He said open swim is 2 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 3 Friday and Saturday. The center has limits on the number of people who may use the pool and the gym at one time, so Edwards needs to make sure that there’s room for more kids under the Coalition Against Violence initiative.
If the coalition and KARTS go ahead with the Aycock route, Edwards said, they should limit it to certain days and certain hours. He suggested 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, and no one disagreed.
Marolyn Rasheed said the age limit of 14 to use the center without a chaperone seems too strict. She said many kids 12 and 13 could be trusted alone.
She had hoped to push for the creation of sidewalks or trails from the city to Aycock to make it easier for youths to get there by bicycle, but Rasheed said there isn’t much point if those kids wouldn’t be allowed inside.
That’s where the coalition’s plans for chaperones come in. The idea is for adult volunteers to be stationed at Aycock during certain hours to welcome and oversee unaccompanied youths who want to use the recreation center. The chaperones could meet the KARTS shuttles, then stay with groups as they swim or use the gym.
Cornell Manning asked how many kids one chaperone could be responsible for. Edwards said he thought one adult could handle five or six who stay together, but the coalition will have to work out the exact responsibilities for chaperones.
The coalition will send a letter to local ministers to ask them to volunteer for chaperone shifts and to seek laypeople to help. The Rev. Todd Hester of Cotton Memorial Presbyterian Church will write the letter with Edwards’ help.
Just the presence of clergy could have a calming effect on youths, based on studies from schools, Hester said.
More than a week into summer vacation from Vance County Schools, time is short to get such a program running this year.
“I don’t think we could send a stronger message than for our clergy to step up and say, ‘If we are allowed to bring some kids out there for the summer, the ministers or the clergy in Vance County will show up and help supervise,’ ” Edwards said. “That’s a very strong message to send.”
In other business discussed Thursday night during the meeting at the Gateway Center:
* The organizing committee for the planned Boys and Girls Club of Vance County welcomed a regional director from Atlanta to the group’s meeting Tuesday night. Hester said the group peppered the visitor with questions for about an hour, and he spent about as much time providing guidance.
Hester said the group is looking for a suitable space for the club. “We have no clue what we might mean by ‘suitable.’ ”
At the suggestion of the regional director, Hester said, the committee is looking to expand beyond the seven to 10 regulars who attend the Tuesday night meetings at the Gateway Center. Hester said the committee is particularly interested in two types of people: those who have some expertise in youth development and those who have “an ungodly sum of money” they’re willing to part with.
“We want to make them our new best friend,” Hester joked.
He said the regional director recognized the incredible need for a Boys and Girls Club in Vance and was impressed by the local group’s rapid progress, energy and passion.
* Plans are moving ahead for a motorcade of up to 25 vehicles to drive through all four Henderson wards to raise awareness of the coalition July 9. The motorcade will start at 3 p.m. at the old armory on Dabney Drive. Evelyn Mitchell said motorcade organizers are seeking church involvement.
* Margaret Ellis said she was pleased by the coalition’s turnout at last week’s Speak Up Henderson forum with Mayor Clem Seifert, although she noted that Cliff Rogers, who had vowed to be there and urged a mass turnout, did not appear.
“They heard what we were saying,” Ellis said of city officials. “Hopefully some things will change.”
* Hester reported on the Weed and Seed discussion at Wednesday’s meeting of the Vance Organization to Implement Community Excellence. As a starting point, VOICE examined a North Henderson area as the possible Weed and Seed zone.
Rasheed questioned the proposed boundaries, which exclude Flint Hill, but the lines are far from final.
“It will make a tremendous difference if we get that designation,” Ellis said of Weed and Seed, a federal program that attacks drugs and violence and addresses the social causes in a community-based, grass-roots way.itemid december inurl viagra pharmacy 2005mixing 786 herbal viagra 1132 heartambien viagra9 link cheap viagraambien viagra9 link viagra buy onlinelink viagra9 adipex cheap viagralink viagra viagra9 ambien genericviagra sales 2cialis levitralevitra 2cialis compare viagra Map