Page 33 - 1986 VES Meteor

VOL. LXVIII NO.2
eteor
VIRGINIA EPISCOPAL SCHOOL, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
uS POSTaL£ PAID
PNmtl No 6M lynchbura. Va
Non -Proftl Ora
DECEMBER 5, 1986
not seem to be upset and gave me the number of an agency in Baltimore, Md. - the closest to
by Tracey Bostwick and DJ Patrick
The following is the first in a series of articles dealing with
every time I called there was on- ly a busy signal; it took me about one week to finally get through. When I finally did get a ring, the
•
delay, I hung up.
Then I called a law enforce-
een
dred number that does counsel- ing for unwed mothers and is an
problems facing . ~oung operator said they could only
adoption agency, pretending I
dent and asked the officer what thought I might be pregnant. I Lynchburg she could find - and
Americans today. In th1s mstall- ment, DJ Patrick pretended to have a drug dependency problem and called the national cocaine hotline for advice and assistance; Tracey Bostwick called another national hotline 'under cover,• pretending to be worried about being pregnant. These stories aren't meant to be exposes; they merely point out how a young person might turn to help in time of need and what sort of help is available to them. - ED
DJ
My assignment was to identify
myself as having a possible co-
caine addiction problem and to seek ways to get help for it. First. I called the national cocaine
hotline (the one advertised by Reggie Jackson and others dur- ing the baseball playoffs and World Series). Unfortunately,
help me by referring me to an agency near where I lived. I told them I lived in Lynchburg, VA and a lady came on and gave me
the phone number of a drug counseling organization here in town.
I called the number, only to find out from C@P Telephone that it had been changed. I called the new number and a secretary told me that no one was available at the moment to take my call.
Another try yielded the same results, so I called an area hospital that had advertised a drug treatment and counseling program in the Yellow Pages. After explaining my problem,
the person on the other end did not really ask any questions about cocaine, asked me how much I drank several times and then put me on hold. After a long
his group ~as doing to stop the flow of illegal drugs through Virginia. He replied, "We are do- ing the best we can to stop the flow of drugs through Virginia"
and clearly was not going to say anything more.
I then called Mike Vogel, a counselor at E. C. Glass High School, who gave me (again, I said I was a VES student work- ing on an article) some very helpful information·how his of- fice handles drug-related pro- blems and told me to call him
anytime if I needed additional in- formation. After hanging up, I called the local drug counseling center back and was told again by the secretary that all the counseling staff was out to lunch
and couldn't take my call. Tracey
I called a national eight hun-
got through right away, and was put on hold until a counselor was available. After a few minutes, a woman got on the phone and
calmly asked me my first name and whether I had gone to a doc- tor to confirm my fears. I replied that I had IIDt because I was too afraid. She said I should go as
soon as possible.
The counselor then asked if
my parents knew and if I stillliv· ed at home. I answered, "No, they don't know and yes, I live at home." She asked me how old I was; when I answered 17 she ask-
ed for my birthday. She then ask- ed for my telephone number to give to another counselor who lived closer to Lynchburg. I said no, because I was afraid my parents might answer the phone.
She asked if there was a time that both my parents would be out; again I said no, because my mother didn't have a job. She did
told me to call them collect.
I later called another local adoption agency. This time I identified myself as a high school
student writing an article for the school paper. This service gets
background information on preg- nant women, and social workers deal with both the mother and
the prospective adoptive
parents. The service does not en-
courage abortions, but if a
woman calling them was deter- mined to have one, they would
refer her to an appropriate clinic. She stressed that her organiza- tion made suggestions in the best interest of the individual - be it abortion, adoption or having someone else in the woman's own family raise the child. I found both services to be knowledgeable, caring and well-
informed in dealing with the tough problem of unwanted teenage pregnancies.
•
By Stuart Mercer
Pieces of Peace (POP) is an
organization at VES led by facul- ty member Malcolm Douglas.
The overall purpose of POP is for all individuals and nations around the world to come together in peace rather than liv- ing solely for themselves. Its
primary goall include sending out information to increase the knowledge of human suffering around the world, and getting in·
volved in proteatl against Apar- theid in South Africa and America'• involvement with the contra• in Nir.ragua. POP haa alao attended a march in Waahington, D.C. in aupport of th anctuary Movement (8 Meteor inue Ill and par- tJripated in a letter writing cam
paign to Soviet General eeretary Gorbachev and
Reagan, urcfnl both mea to :ontmu th armar..ontrol
u nt rnpooM tot baa been ,._ tive thut
far. with over thirty atud au ,art e patiar Ia weekly
••
tion support, the faculty response has been weaker. Mr. Douglaa eimply atat d. "We would like to ae more faculty getting involved."
When asked If POP took too on -aided a view of the world aituatlon, Mr. Douglaa re1pond
by Jim Blouat
Wh n VES made the del'ialon
to coedurat11 In the aprlnr of 1~85,th eampua waa deetlned to underro a eerlea of ehan,.. In th enaulnrf w1 are.Oaeofthe
major projeeta, a aew ,_ thelfrla, wu
fietallr tt, Kr. .........
n w dorm, aa y t be located on t ner of the eehool'a pue dlr eU
aa4 will
lhnhi
d that h doean't
right aid on th peae hewantontoaay,"Itilr allyun fortuaot that people identify endinr hunger or arhieviDf
aa a radical vlew." Futur plane for POP ude a elothlnr driv for II Ideo'1 hoaaelela and
a forl:l •
a left or i11ue and
ment agency, identified myself as a high school journalism stu-
•