The Groom News (Groom, Tex.), Vol. 58, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 16, 1987 Page: 5 of 12
twelve pages : ill. ; page 17 x 12 in. Scanned from physical pages.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE GROOM NEWS—Page 5
Thursday, April 16,1987
Don’t Forget
ean /lewd
City offices will be closed
tomorrow for the Easter hol-
iday.
Commerce Bank Building, No. 5
779-2141
School will dismiss today
at 1:40 p.m. for the Easter
holiday. Gasses will resume
on Tuesday.
Drug And Alcohol Seminar Unidentified Man Injured
Bring McLean Parents Out
The Junior/Senior Ban-
quet and Prom will be held
next Friday night at the
McLean Country Club.
McLean residents turned
out in force Monday night to
take the first step toward
dealing with the growing
drug and alcohol problem in
the town. A group of about
60 parents, friends and rel-
atives met at the Lions Club
building to hear from Diann
Bosch, Program Director of
the Adolescent Care Unit at
St. Anthony’s Hospital in
Amarillo and Kim Barlow,
Coordinator of Tough Love,
a self-help program for par-
ents with problem children.
The program was set up due
to a recognition by parents
that more and more young
people in McLean are turn-
ing to drugs and alcohol for a
“solution” to their prob-
lems.
The meeting began with a
talk from Mrs. Bosch who
said, “Our kids turn to
drugs because the United
States is a drug-oriented
culture. Our country con-
tains 5 percent of the world’s
population but we consume
60 percent of the world’s
illicit drugs. This doesn’t
include alcohol and prescrip-
tion drugs.”
She said that the average
age for kids to start exper-
imenting with drugs and
alcohol is 10-12 although,
she added, “I have known of
five year old alcoholics.”
Talking about how kids
learn of drugs and alcohol,
Mrs. Bosch said, “Telev-
ision is a great babysitter,
but it is also the primary
means through which our
children learn about sub-
stance abuse. We see com-
mercials with young, macho
men drinking beer and gor-
geous women drinking wine
coolers. The implication is
that if you want to be one of
the “beautiful people” and
have a good time, you have
to drink.”
“Also,” she added,
“There are ads on all the
time for pain killers. Accord-
ing to the TV, there is pain
relief for everything and
every part of the body.”
A second way to learn
about drugs and alcohol is
through parents. Says Mrs.
2 0227
Bosch: “The kids see their
parents drinking socially
while they entertain friends.
They seem to be having a
good time. So when the
parents are away, the kids
try it too so they can have a
good time. Or they see par-
ents take a tranquilizer to
calm down so they get the
idea that if they take one
maybe they will feel good
too.”
The final means of ex-
posure is through siblings
and peers. Mrs. Bosch- said,
“This is an especially strong
source. Adolesence is an ex-
tremely painful time and
kids just want to be accep-
ted by those in their own age
group. They are trying to fit
in and establish themselves
as somebody. They are also
going through the exper-
ience of dating and some-
times face rejection. Drugs
and alcohol, they think, take
away some of the pain of
growing up. When they try it
once, and see that lightning
isn’t going to strike them,
they turn to it again and
again.”
Citing some very dis-
turbing statistics, Mrs.
Bosch said that at least 1 out
of every 5 kids is usually
deeply involved with sub-
stance abuse and 39 percent
of all graduating seniors are
problem drinkers. Once the
abuse starts, it can lead to
other problems such as
change in friends, withdraw-
al from the family and
irresponsible behavior.
“Also,” she said, “I have
seen kids with a $350 a day
habit. In order to support it,
they either have to deal,
steal or prostitute themsel-
ves. The prostitution and the
use of drugs that are injec-
ted can lead to all kinds of
other problems such as
“Usually, the only way is to
get somebody killed. We
have to realize that if we
don’t take the problem ser-
iously now, then we don’t
have a future. We have a
generation coming up that
could be illiterate because of
its drug and alcohol abuse.
With no literacy, we can’t
have democracy. We can
either ignore the problem or
we can do something and try
to make a difference. We
can’t pass the buck and say
it’s the school’s respon-
sibility. Everyone, parents,
teachers, city represent-
atives, the churches and the
kids themselves have to get
involved. We all have to be
educated about the problem
and we all have to take our
share of the responsibility.
That’s the only way anything
can be done.”
Also speaking during the
program was Kim Barlow,
the Coordinator of Tough
Love in Amarillo. Himself
the parent of a problem
teenager, Mr. Barlow said,
“The only way to solve the
problem is to get out and
work. Only three percent of
the parents at this meeting
tonight will actually do
some-thing about it. One of
the things they can do is
form a Tough Love group.
This program is a self-help
group for parents, not kids,
and it helps them to work
together to deal with a
common problem.”
“Tough Love,” Barlow
continued, “works on the
principle that parents have
responsibilities but they also
have rights. They don’t have
to take all the blame for a ‘
child’s problems. The kid
has a choice also. Parents
often feel guilty for punish-
ing a child but we try to
teach them that they have a
right to expect certain
Last week was a busy one
for McLean DPS officer John
Holland and the McLean
Ambulance Service as the
area was plagued with a
series of accidents.
The most serious occured
very early Friday morning.
At 2:05 a.m., Officer Hol-
land received a call that a
hitchhiker had been the
victim of a hit and run
accident about four miles
east of McLean. He had
been found lying alongside
of the highway. His right
arm had been severed below
the elbow, both legs were
broken and there were some
minor internal injuries. He
was taken to Northwest
Texas Hospital where he is
still unconscious and in very
serious condition.
When found, he had no
identification. The only item
found on him was a letter
that was assumed to belong
to him. Its writer said that
they did not know where he
was but were glad that they
had received a postcard from
him postmarked in Los Ang-
eles.
The victim is a male of
American Indian or Spanish
descent, approximately 5’
10” tall and weighing about
180 lbs. He has a medium to
heavy build. He was wearing
a bright blue vest, gray
sweater, gray pants, gray
Nike shoes and had a pair of
folding sunglasses.
According to Officer Hol-
land, the vehicle which hit
the man left the scene of the
accident. There was no evi-
dence to suggest what kind
of vehicle was involved.
Holland said that an anon-
ymous call has been rec-
eived from someone claim-
ing to have witnessed the
accident. He is still inves-
tigating the incident.
Of the other accidents, the
See “Accident” p.7
COW POKES
NNIIE
McLean School Annuals
are selling for $17.50 until
April 21st. After that time,
the cost will be $20. If you
would like to purchase one,
see Sammy Don Haynes,
Jem Ann Rice, Melody Col-
lins or Dedra Watson.
Residents Warned
About Phony Sales
Officer John Holland
warns residents to be on the
lookout for a group of out-of-
town young people who are
taking phony subscriptions
for magazines and other
items. He says these kids
have been traveling in
groups of five or more and
have been in the McLean
area recently.
Holland warns people not
to purchase anything from
them and be on the alert.
By Ace Reid
trans-
mission of AIDS and other
diseases, some of which can
affect a family for several
generations through chrom-
osome damage.”
When asked how to get a
community involved in fac-
ing the problem of drugs and
alcohol, Mrs. Bosch says,
222222227222,
Claude High School Rodeo
Friday, April 17—6:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 18-4:00 p.m.
Dance- to a live band at 9:00 p.m.
on Saturday, April 18, in the
Armstrong County Activity Center J
2222222222222222--
things. We teach them to
think in terms of privileges
rather than punishment. In
other words, the use of the
car, phone, etc. are privi-
leges. If a child carries out
his responsibilities, he can
have these privileges, If he
doesn’t, he is not being
punished, his privileges are
simply being taken away.”
, Barlow added, “We also
a teach parents to form con-
3 tracts with their children. If
- they don’t meet the con-
1 ditions of the contract they
have to accept the con-
3 sequences. We also explain
Y to parents that they have to
3 back up what they say. They
I can’t talk to a child about
3 punishment and then not
i back up their words with
actions.”
J Mr. Barlow agreed with
• Mrs. Bosch that it is not the
‘ responsibility of a single
r group to deal with drug and
See “Seminar" p.7
PAPER
© AcE REip
done 3/227
“Paw, I don’t think I’ll ever finish this novel
about my life as a ranch wife. My tears keep
rustin’ up the typewriter!”
BANK OF
COMMERCE
A Subsidiary of GrayCo BancShares, Inc.
FDIG
779-2461
McLean, Texas
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Groom News (Groom, Tex.), Vol. 58, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 16, 1987, newspaper, April 16, 1987; Groom, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1706465/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Carson County Library.