Thursday, November 21, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3
VISTA meeting in Kansas City
Workers tame teen gangs
By TIM RICHARDSON Kansan Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY - VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) volunteers in St. Louis undertook what most people would have considered a dangerous assignment . . . taking three teenage gangs and turning them into constructive neighborhood clubs.
The volunteers even accomplished what most police juvenile officers have been trying to do with little results for years . . . they have the parents interested and playing a part.
J. Peter Bunce, 23, a Boston University graduate in political science, said the job was not easy and it took the volunteers a great amount of time to win the kids confidence.
Bunce is attending a 4-day conference in Kansas City, Kan., for in-service VISTA volunteers. About 105 persons are attending the conference at the Town House.
Bunce credits his blond hair and red beard with helping him make the contacts necessary to meet the gangs he calls the Montgomery Hoodlums, the Black Diamonds and the Corals.
The first important contact was in the all-Negro neighborhood where he rented an apartment. There he met eight boys from 15 to 20 years of age with police records-all were high school dropouts.
"Winning their confidence was important. I had to become one of them, yet stay away from using knives or guns as a means of strength or leadership." Bunce said.
Next was the problem of finding a leader. One VISTA regulation says volunteers can only organize and urge others to lead, but cannot lead themselves.
The leader he found was a 43-year-old ex-convict named Douglas. "Doug" had spent 22 years in prison, but possessed the leadership qualities needed.
"I never did get 'uptight' with Doug," Bunce said, "but he got so he could tolerate me and took me around with him.
"My beard became somewhat of trademark. Apparently the kids I met told their friends about me because I could be walking down the street and one of them I had never seen before would say 'Hey Pete, what's happening?' "
Bunce revealed his identity as a VISTA worker to Doug after four months but waited another two months before telling the gang. Doug was instrumental in organizing the "Hoodlums,"
which had a membership of 35 boys and girls. With the help of other VISTA volunteers in the area who organized gangs into the Corals and the Black Diamonds, the ball started rolling.
When Bunce first came to St. Louis, he and the other VISTA volunteers had agreed to form a team working toward community development. Ironically, they were a year ahead of the regional headquarters decision to implement the team concept as a major part of its program.
An article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch helped the groups gain community help. The community responded with a pledge of $25,000 to help the group set up a shop to manufacture the "dashiki," an Afro-American shirt.
The group also set up a wholesale meat-buying club in the community with the cooperation of one of the St. Louis meat packing plants. The group plans to develop this into a store complete with canned goods and other commodities to compete with the large chain stores. The store will be owned and operated by the community.
One of the projects with the most impact has been the radio show sponsored by the Montgomery-Hyde Park Neighborhood Corporation. The show is manned by people from the community who attempt to tell the white community what black people are doing to solve their own problems, Bunce said
When asked how the black militants responded to this approach to the problem, Bunce said:
"The militants realize their appeal is to the youth and if this is what the kids want to do, then they have to go along with it. Besides, the militants are not concerned with violence as much as they are establishing black businesses and creating jobs.
"The militant group here is so sophisticated that it has even gone as far as to join a young white militant group in working towards solutions."
Although the emphasis has been placed on the youth, Bunce said the group had not forgotten about the elderly people or the importance of education.
It is in this area that parents have played a major role by participating in the tutoring sessions and organizing themselves to deal with the problems of their community.
Bunce has completed one year in VISTA and will return to St. Louis for another year to work on another problem.
LBJ reports on water shortage
WASHINGTON (UPI)—President Johnson, submitting a "sobering report" on the nation's water resources, urged Congress yesterday to give top priority to solving the problems of drought, floods and water pollution.
"A nation that fails to plan intelligently for the development and protection of its precious waters will be condemned to wither because of its shortsightedness."
The President's warning was expressed in a letter forwarding to Congress a 472-page report on water problems facing the country in the next 50 years. It was prepared by the Water Resources Council, created by Congress in 1965 and headed by Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall.
Johnson said ample supplies of water to support a growing population and an expanding economy could not be taken for granted. He saw "stark warnings" in pollution destroying the nation's rivers, the recent drought in the northeast and the "nightmare of ravaging floods still hovering over too many American communities."
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Summer study open in Copenhagen, Rome
The Office of International Programs this week announced the opening of summer study programs in Copenhagen and Rome for KU students.
Unlike KU's language institutes, the new programs require no knowledge of foreign language.
Mrs. Sandra Traversa, foreign study adviser, said the two programs will feature liberal arts courses taught in English. Students will carry two courses for six hours credit.
KU joins Washburn University of Topeka in arranging the Coppenhagen tour. Washburn is serving as program coordinator with the Danish International Student Committee.
In Copenhagen, students must choose one course from each of two groups. The first series includes courses in government, politics and post-war economic development in Scandinavia. Scandinavian art and architecture and design are among choices in the second group.
In its first year, the Copenhagen tour will cost $580 for tuition, room and board. Optional round-trip transportation from New York is available for an additional $305.
KU is one of five universities participating in the Rome study tour, Mrs. Traversa said. It was organized by the American Universities Field Staff, which outlines foreign study programs all over the world.
Students from the University of Alabama, Louisiana State University, Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin will join KU students in Rome.
No language prerequisite is required for these programs. The Copenhagen program is open to students who have completed at least 60 hours of university-level courses.
Mrs. Traversa said the curriculum in Rome will include courses in architecture, art and political science. There are openings for about 60 KU students, she said.
Either graduate students or undergraduates are eligible for study in Rome, Mrs. Traversa said.
Riot news faulty researcher writes
Applications for both programs are available at the Office of International Programs. 224 Strong Hall.
Large segments of the American press were guilty of inaccuracy and sensationalism in their coverage of the recent urban civil disorders, a research assistant with KU's Governmental Research Center has charged.
Thomas McMillan, a graduate student in political science, published his views in the Nov. 15 issue of Your Government, the center's monthly bulletin. His findings were based on a study of newspaper accounts of the 1967 disturbances in Detroit and Newark.
Inaccuracy arose most notably in reports of property damage, McMillan said, with the initial press reports differing considerably from the final government figures. He suggested that reporters at future disturbances make it clear that they are only giving estimates, when that is the case, and not verified figures.
In his survey of sensationalism, McMillan compared the wire service coverage with that of the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor.
Wire service releases during the disorders tended to emphasize sensationalism, he said, while the major newspapers stressed mild commentary. This gap closed after the disturbances were put down and the wire services also concentrated on providing interpretative commentary.
Another defect in the riot coverage, McMillan said, was the tendency to overemphasize the black-white racial confrontation,
Limited room for men in scholarship halls
A limited number of openings in men's scholarship halls are available for next semester. Applications may be obtained in 26 Strong Hall and are due by Dec. 11.
The five men's scholarship halls at KU are set up to save students about $300, as compared to living in a University residence hall, according to the Office of Student Financial Aid.
while overlooking the socioeconomic causes.
During the week of the disorders, he stated, 82 per cent of the wire service releases stressed the racial angle, while only 18 per cent portrayed the disorders as a reaction to ghetto conditions. The newspapers presented a more balanced coverage, he found, with a rough 50-50 split in emphasis.
Because some family financial information is required in the application, it is recommended that students pick up their applications before going home for Thanksgiving vacation.
Patronize Kansan Advertisers
Misleading headlines also contributed to sensationalism, McMillan said. He urged that headline writers pay more attention to the facts within a story.
McMillan cited three factors as being responsible for the lack of accuracy and other failings during the riots. These were, first, a misunderstanding by reporters of the effects which the initial press reports would have on the public; second, an unwillingness by reporters to make decisions on their own about treatment of news; and third, a subtle racism within the white press, a racism which is imbedded in our society.
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