EDITORIAL
Under Siege
Waverly shootout stresses
need to help at-risk youths
PfffPTTl'^l ry,he flickering light from
Ill jll Aa aim streeuigui
II shadows on the brick hous1
es" humid air hushed
the silence of the car as it
\ \ drove down the street, stopping
in front of the target.
As the window rolled down, a faint click of a
trigger being pulled could be heard.
Under the still cover of darkness, a hail of bullets
tore through the war-torn neighborhood. As
the bodies lie in pools of blood, children shriek
and run toward the comforting arms of their parents.
In the wake of the violence, two died, and
five were injured.
The motive for this senseless violence:
revenge for a drug-related killing.
One might surmise this is something that
might occur in South Central L.A., or downtown
Detroit. But it didn't. It happened right here in
Columbia, just a few blocks from USC on
Waverly Street.
Drugs have turned downtown Columbia and
almost every other metropolitan area into a
miniature warzone. A report issued last week by
the National Research Council said America's
youth are "under siege" due to the breakdown of
the family, schools, and neighborhoods, and it
makes it hard for them to become responsible
adults.
The study identified four problem areas:
school-tracking that works against low-achieving
students, a health care system that excludes teens
with serious problems, an absence of any help for
students moving from school to jobs, and a poor
criminal justice system that fails to rehabilitate
adolescent offenders.
While reform in education, health care and
jobs are all on President Clinton's agenda, not
much can be done at the local level. However,
steps are being taken to rehabilitate the adolescent
program. In addition to shock incarceration
and military-style boot camps, Lexington and
Richland counties have developed programs to
aid at-risk youths.
The Lexington County Community Juvenile
Arbitration Program tries to help first-time nonviolent
offenders, such as shoplifters and marijuana
users, and arbitrates their cases. Trained
arbitrators deal with the victim, offender, and law
enforcement and recommend options other than
imprisonment. The program has been highly successful.
Over the past 10 years, only 8.2 percent
of the youths treated have offended again; whereas
56 percent of 12- and 13-year-olds are likely
tn rptiirn to nricnn
The federal government is slow to aid children,
and waits for them to kill each other before
taking notice. Local officials seem ready to deal
with the problem, but before any change can be
made, real leadership is needed at home and
school.
Until urban reform takes place, drugs and bullets
will continue to waver on Waverly Street
Working at
A few months ago a friend of mine
called me up and offered me a summer
job.
You see, my friend is the program
director for the Boy Scout summer camp
in my little corner of South Carolina, and
he needed a first aid director. He called
me because he thought I was the responsible
type who wouldn't mind calling parents
at 2 a.m. to ask them if I could drive
their kid to the hospital to have an axe
surgically removed from one of his
extremities. He promised pretty good pay
(I figured it out to be about 92 cents and
hour with room, board and all the mosqui
to bites I could possibly desire) and a
brand-spankin' new health lodge, complete
with air conditioning and a tub.
After a week of staff training and
preparation, I've discovered a few of the
good points and bad points of working at a
camp.
Good point number one: When you're
working on a camp with several hundred
acres of land, it's very easy to "mysteriously"
disappear when a particularly
tough work project comes up. It's possible
lO DTUSI1 up uu yuux a? cajjsh
woodsman and master of stealth when
you're constantly wandering off into the
forest "in search of wood for a project."
Experienced staff members were able to
remain completely invisible for all of staff
week, except for assemblies and meals.
Good point number two: There's no
reason to blow any money on fashionable
clothes when you're going to be in
the woods with a bunch of guys for
Radio station p
"Welcome to Hell."
I heard this encouraging phrase as I
walked through the door to my summer
workplace.
Well...as I walked through what was
left of it anyway.
WMYI, the radio station I have known
onH IrtvpH u/qc thp crenp nf a massivp
demolition derby. The station had come
under the ownership of Capstar
Communications, also the owner of
WSSL-AM and FM, Greenville's top stations,
so renovations were being made to
accommodate both stations.
Meanwhile, most of the stations' staffs
were packed together in one suite.
Tensions were running high because of the
stress of working in a cramped office
space and changing operating procedures.
I had come in on the transition stage, so I
got a lot of those "Why are you here?"
looks and "What do you want to do with
your life?" questions. In one week, I finally
understood the weary looks on my parents'
faces every Friday.
"Hell" was an understatement. At least
for a week.
This was the first week of my second
summer in the wild, wacky world of radio.
Working in the news department last summer
covering the latest stories and press
conferences was phenomenal. While
working with the on-air staff and meeting
some interesting people I heard my voice
broadcast for the first time. That was when
camp offers
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1 in the !
I'90s :
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eight weeks. t
Good point number three: On t
Wednesday nights, parents from the Scout j
troops come to visitor's day bearing gold, t
frankincense, and fried chicken.
Good point number four: Walking all
over the camp continues the leg muscle
development program I began when I
decided to take journalism at USC; Camp
WIU muiau d anu ^aiiip v^aiuima
Coliseum's hills are almost identical.
Bad point number one: Scout uniforms '
take the famed "farmer's tan" to new
heights. Because staff members are
required to wear the uniform knee socks,
we get a tan from just below the knee to :
just above the knee. 1
Bad point number two: Scouts are, by
nature, accident prone. One of our staff
members cut himself every day of staff 1
weeK, sianing wim one cui on monuay,
and working up to three stitches on Friday.
Another group of Scouts who weren't 1
even at Old Indian brought one of their
kids to see me because he fell out of a tree
and landed on his rear. I have a huge box
full of Band-Aids, but I'm scared it's not
going to be enough. 1
roving to be 'hell
I knew that my career choice was settled.
I was hooked on radio.
This summer I was ready to learn more,
so I decided to tackle the promotions
department. I walked through the shattered
door into a glamorous world of paperwork,
prizes and public relations. I was
responsible for the paperwork ? the massive
back-up of transition paperwork ?
and had to play catch-up for promotions in
order to get WMYI ready for its summer
giveaway, his and hers BMWs and a trip
to Germany.
I had to log in prize winners and contestants
into a mammoth database of over
100,000 listeners! In my first week, I managed
to screw up in every way imaginable.
Because I was still a novice, and extreme
ly slow at data entry, I messed up more
entries than I could count. And computers
are supposed to make life easier?
I found myself doing some of the
strangest things, like winding rope around
spools found while cleaning out the dusty
pay-back
Bad point number three: There are no
ittractive women my age at camp, except
for two of the cooks (and they're Clemson
jhiHontc\ onH on rv/v^oeionol cmnt'c cictPf
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jn Wednesday night Of course, with my
luck dating recently, I could be working at
i Girl Scout camp and not get any girls to
talk to me.
Bad point number four: My air-conditioned
health lodge isn't finished yet. I've
seen the construction workers several
imes, and they seem to have a real affiniy
for picnics on the porch of the half-finshed
building. The times I've spotted
hem list like this: man carries Pepsi bottle
o another group of workers, men and one
voman have picnic, man and dumpster
ruck driver have cigarettes on porch, man
eturns Pepsi bottle to health lodge, picnic
jnder Southcraft shelter. I'm convinced
;he workmen actually hang around the
instruction site all day ana actually worie
late at night after we've all gone to bed.
The good and bad at Old Indian certainly
battle each other, but the camp has done
a lot for me. I've always considered giving
a little something back to the place where
[ conquered my own homesickness, where
L lost my tear ot snaices, wnere i learnea
about leadership and where I did a lot of
growing up.
My first week at Old Indian has showed
me pay-back can be a lot of fun, as long as
you have some bug spray and a couple of
Band-Aids.
Chris Muldrow is a columnist for The
Gamecock
ish' experience
prize closet, getting lost in parking
garages, moving heavy boxes (while
wearing a dress and high heels, no less),
and listening to taped broadcasts on the
lowest speed possible. When I finished
those tapes, I really needed to recalibrate
mv hearing because everyone sounded
like Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Since that first week, I have become an
expert at stapling, hole-punching, photocopying
? you know, those excellent
resume skills. For those of you without
your Webster's handy, resume skills are
"the traditional tasks no one wants to do
so they give it to the hired college student."
But I must say the job has only gotten
better. Hey, after that first week, it
couldn't get worse.
I have gradually been given more
responsibility and more variety. I help
write promotional ideas, and I represent
the station at remote broadcasts. Remotes
give me the chance to work with the listeners
themselves, which is where I have
found the most enjoyment. I still get to
sneak to the control room and listen in on
the live broadcasts.
If this is "Hell," then it's looking better
and better.
Now, if I could only remember where I
parked my car...
Tnnvn Strnmnn it n rnlumnixt for The
Gamecock