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a Keswick Wed June KIDS ARE CONVERTING NEWMARKET MOTORS BUILDING TO DROPIN CENTRE By JOHN Era Staff Reporter NEWMARKET After sev eral years of stagnation there is vib rant new life in the old Newmarket Motors building on Botsford Street There is Alice a little gray cat that sometimes suns herself on the window ledge There are rock musi cians in various emotional states peer ing from an assortment of huge post ers taped inside the window panes But the life that suddenly emanates from the old building has moro dimensions than a contented kitten and pictures of frizzyhaired guitarists There are kids some frizzy- haired some not working in that building Working to make it a home away from home for Newmar kets teenagers Working to destroy a stereotype and working to mobilize the towns kids into a constructive movement Some townspeople walking by the building recently have received a gentle shqek They could see kids cleaning up a hulking edifice that the building Some stopped and inquired learned that the build ing is being converted by the kids into a dropin centre for the kids and went away nodding their approv al There never has been much for kids to do in this town says Nilsen a member of the drop in centre execute commit tee In the past there have been a lot or kids with glazcdup eyes standing on the street corners It has been a seg regated town from the kids point of view In some ways it has been a violent town with young people gett ing into fights on the streets We want to get all these kids together give them a place to have peaceful gather ings Frode Nilsen and Marshall are both on the execu tive committee They visited The Eras office last week to discuss their plans and their dreams for the drop- in centre The plans have started to- lot of ideas says Erode We just hope we can put them all into effect The kids main job right now is to make the building habitable That means removing piles of gar bage scrubbing floors and the few pieces of remaining furniture and topping it off with a fresh coat of Its a tough job But every night last week and all weekend groups of teenagers worked at it They hope to have it open within two Its amazing to me the amount of effort these kids are put ting into this project says Mayor Tom Surgeoner Ive never seen the building that clean Theyre carting away garbage planting flowers paint ing the floors I think theyre doing an excellent job Its just amazing what can happen it the adults stay away and let the kids do their own thing the mayor said The town has given the kids committee the building rent- free for least three months The kids must pay their own water Hydro and maintenance bills And theyre allowed to embellish the in terior in any manner they choose There have been previous attempts at establishing a going dropin centre in Newmarket but one gets the feeling that this is no fly-by- night affair If it is the kids realize theyll have no one to blame but themselves Newmarkets Dropin Centre Committee sprung from a county- wide drive for youth centre facilities headed up by Dr John of to contribute to the salaries of a full- time adult director and two student assistants for the dropin centre The director lias already been named in effect he has been hired by the Hes Roy pronounced Frode and Wayne Ruddock fresh of paint to dropin centre walls and to themselves White Photo a 26yearold veteran of two years of community social work In Chicago where ho also studied in a Masters program at Theo logical Seminary And ho passed the unenviable test of being acceptable to both the kids and the adults on the executive committee Roy sees his job primarily as one of training kids to take leader ship responsibility to run their own program to keep the dropin centre alive and attractive to the town youth Ideally he says he will work himself out of a job Im the expendable one in this whole scheme he says Roy has the qualifica tions says Nilsen But more important to us hes got a tremendous personality I think hes the type of person wholl take the responsibility to both the kids and adults and hes acceptable to both elements as a responsible human being and N pointed out the dropin centre will probably have no set programs as such but will embody an atmosphere of infor mality Therell be facilities for listen ing to records playing cards buying refreshments playing floor hockey or just plain rapping Furniture and other such accoutrements arc scarce at the mom ent The kids have a couple of beatup chesterfields and theyre seeking pub lic help to provide tables chairs ash trays possibly even a stereo set They have pledges of donations from some kids to let the centre use their own personal equipment The kids also plan to build a stage for musical groups to use for dances The Optimists donated a tram poline They have a pingpong table And theyll be happy to accept any donations of furniture or paint or volunteer help from teenagers They dont plan any wild psychedelic paint job for he in- We want the place to look young says Frode But we dont want it to look like the adults view of young chimes In So in a sense the kids are working to destroy a stereotype Some of them wear the long hair and fash ion styles that sometimes alienate them from the adult world But they say that they want to prove theyre responsible and theyve attracted a crosssection of the towns teenagers to get the project off the ground If theres any connection between this dropin centre and the drug problem its only that such a be lured into the drug s Were trying to provide something to take the place of drugs for kids says But the dropin centre is not a cure for drugs its a cure for boredom Parents have shown con cern for kids on drugs especially if their own kids are on drugs says But they dont seem to want to do much about it themselves I Hunk the kids have a better under standing of the situation Were trying to help Instead of letting it up to the problems and adults thats It should be GO experts to address Eagle Hills NEWMARKET William Howard director of Ontarios GO Transit system and Deputy High ways Minister ATC Mc- Nab will be the guest speakers at the Eagle Hills Community Association meeting on June The meeting will begin at pm at the NNNNNNNNNNNNN TOWN OF NEWMARKET z NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS DESTROY I WEEDS ARE YOU REALLY WORRIED ABOUT HIGH PRICES ON PRESCRIPTIONS TELEPHONE OR CALL IN AT VANGUARD DISCOUNT PHARMACY 761 DAVIS DR NEWMARKET HURON HEIGHTS PLAZA 8955 IF YOU CHECK OUR PRICES WE WILL GAIN A CUSTOMER DELIVERY IN NEWMARKET AND BRADFORD AT A SLIGHT CHARGE FLOGLAZE OUTSIDE LATEX PAINT White or colours For priming and undercutting Inside or outside DUOPRIMER 69 Main Newmarket 8954131 Even if something wears out you save money a Volkswagen them take together and lake And again since Volkswagf much our mechanics get plenty of and plenty good servicing thi Which keeps labour charges down And if you need a brand part theyll fix you up with a brand old part exchange parts work before it jtffc oesnl happen H J Pfaff Motors Ltd 315 STREETNEWMARKET