Crowd Greets Santa At Plaza THE Page Six
SYCAMORE
..,.,.
MESSENGE~
',
..
Thursday, November 26, 1964
EditorialsLimit For Drivers It now seems cert·ain that ·in the next session· of the Ohio State Legi·s·l·a•ture some big changes wil.l be made in the pre~en·t re;quire.ments for teenage drivers. Many people are urging strongly that the age li·n:·it be r·a.ised ·to 18, bcaus·e they feel sure that this is the only way to lower the high accident rate among teenage dTivers. Evidently some of the leg·islators are J.i.;ter.ing to th·:se people, and th•zre is a ch·ance that a higher a")e limit may beco·me a real·ity. Is this the way to lower the ·a·x·ident rate? It ·is very doubtful; in fi3ct it is ju·s•t about the poorest and most irresponsible solut.icn t·hat coU'Id possibly be offered. Le·t us see why this is so. First of all, s·uch a law wou•:d puni·sh an entir·e g·roup severely for crimes which are c.ommi1ted by a small minority of its members. Anyone who has any real know:edge of flhe situation knows t·hat the major·ity of teanagers are excellent drivers, and many are tar superior to some adults. Suoh a law is merely the easy way ou1, and l.ittle or no conside·rat·ion of personal r·igh.ts ·is being empl·oyed by its advocates. · Secondly, it Is i·l·logical to .think that a change i·n the age requirements will d;) a'ny•rning to stop reck·less drivers; bu~ it will merely keep them otr •the roads ·vnti.l they 'reach eighteen. If a person is so poorly disciplined at ag•e sixteen tha.f he does not use an au~omobile i·n .a· sate manner, 1'he·n there is little chance t·ha·t he will drive e·ny better whe·n he becomss o;der. A diose observation wou·ld, no dou•qt, show that a large ·percentage of the reckless teenage drivers have already passed the age of seventeen. Of covr·se one off the reasons why so many adu·lt·s favor such a c:Jhange in the law is tha·t they have formed their opinions o·f tee•n driveor·s hom the loca·l newspaper' reports. Most newspaper5, however, distort the picture tremendously. A few weeks ago, for. instance, an accident occu.rred in which a number of ~eenager·s were k.itled due to ·speeding, a•nd the story was plastered on the front pages for days. But during tha;t s•ame week the se.mifinal•ists in the National Merit Scholarship Te•SIIs were announced, a•nd this news was given no more ~han the bottom cor·ner of one of the back pages of the news.paper, This .is just one exemple, but many more Hke i·t occur almos.t dei·ly. Wh<ift then i·s the solution to the teenage driving problem? In t-he t·iofst place, there must be a much stricter entorcement of the present tr·at.fic laws. Thi·s must be accompanied by· a severe police crackdovJh on speeders. In most oommuni.ties the polke are doing next to nothi·ng to apprehend the speeders, and, as a resu-lt, are indirectly encouraging more vi·o·la·tions. Next, the.re mus·t be something donee about .the estab:ishments whiGh seJI .tiqvor to minors. Many of the accidents occur after a group or 1·.;;-cnagers have been drin~ing .iliegally ·purchased ~1quor.
1
Last,- but nut l·east, teenage inj·uries sh9J..dd be used'for cases in. VOIVing ·traN-ic V•iOiations ·by teenagers. This meth·od h·a·s al-re·ady be~n us-ed m s·ome communities, and it has been tound out that f;eenag~ JUries usua11y inri1ct more severe pu-nishme·nts on t-he oo~-~e:naers th•a·n 1he 1udgzs normally woudd have i·n a simi·lar c.ase. I he onenoel's themselves are much more hesitant about commg berore a tury or tha·ir equa-ls than merely appearing betore a smg·le judge. vvhatever smut1on.s to t-he problem are made, the rights of teenagers should b~ conside-red. A weed is not killed by curting off the top, bu.t by pulling ou.t the roots. It th~. age limit .tor teenage unvers i•s ra·,se·d the "top" ot the problem wi.l have oeen removed, but the "roots" wh1ch cause it will sti·ll remain. James Crone, Moeller High senior and editor of the school's CrusadEr was the author of !he foregoing editorial. The editor felt it was well worth publishing as it is written from a teenager's point of view.
· t..
Santa all hut lost in the photo above,
arrivecl:h~1 sc'·~~dnle
.• · at Kenwood Plaza the day after Tha.nksgiving. The :;\1:oeller ~-~gh Ba~1d led the pai·ade playing happy Christmas ~~es.
90 Studerits Earn Firs~ ·. ·. j ! .
Honors At Moeller H1gh .
Ninety students obtained first Niehaus, James ·D~vis, Robert honors at Moeller high school as Morand, Michael Ka.rnp, Kenneth a result of their first quarter's · Luhan, Frank Terzo, Timothy work. Flood, Frank Haid!e, Donald CauJoseph Gallenstein led the sen- dill, James Gutzwillel, Timothy ~ ior division with 95.3 per cent Bichett, James Koegel. Steven average. He Jives with his par- Wenstrup, Gary Bohart, arid Donents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph. Gallen- aid :Busemey~r. stein at 7780 Pfeiffer rd .. Glenn Sophomores, David .DiTommaGriffiths, son of Mr. and Mrs. so, Brian Horais, William Dill-. George Griffiths, 10080 Z,ig Zag hoff, Herbert Pleiman, Stephen ' rd., led the junior division with Broermann, Lawrent\l Wlmmers, 1 a 95:5 per ·ceut average. John DaVid Schlueter, PJ1ilip Federle, Malarkey led the sophomore div- Michael Marois, John Wagner,' ' ision with a 94.8 per cent aver- William Busemeyer, 'Thomas Wei- 1 age. He is the son of Mr. and lingboff, ·Mit:h?el Zimmer, Tim- I Mrs. Robert 'Malarkey at 919 othy Rost, Thomas Zitt, Francis .· ·Walnut .st. Eric Schlueter was . Carraher, Donald Rake!, Joseph tops in the freshman division Schweitzer, Daniei Peade, Rich- . .with a 97.0 per cent average. Eric ard Seibel, Thbmas Brisken, Jo~ · is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Elmer seph Schehr, D.<>.vidi Martin, and ' Schlueter at 7421 Sagamore dr. John Harping; Freshmen Donald Others who obtained first hon- DiTommaso, Gregory Buetting, ors in their respective divisions Joseph Eichel, James Tapr·orn, were: Seniors, John Luhan, John Quallen, William Lierl, Thomas Payne, John Hemmerle, · Michael Phillips, Michael Wath-: Don 'Dalponte, David Hirsch, en,: William Toft, Timothy Gil· Thomas Des Marais, Lawrence day. Thomas Donnellan, gobKrantz, James Crone, Gary Hoff- ert Coad, Richard Collins, ;John mann, Galbert Wergowske, AI- Brcedy, Donald Engel, Vircent fred Tuchfarber; Roger Kunkel, Ernst, and Robert Fo}zenlogen. ·-~·_. _ _ Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Schoeriy, .....-------~ Roger Buening, Thomas Wack,, 1 Michael Uecker, Joseph Meale, 1 and Kenneth Ulland. . Juni01·s, Bernard Ploeger, Jay Wormus, Michael Haverkamp, Donald Salzano, ·Dennis Connor, John Ernst, James Mayer, David , ~uc~~ Danie~Hummer_. Berna:cl_j
:
.__.______J
1doeller· Youths :Participate In .Safety Institute I·
On November 14 a safety insti-
l tute was held at Woodward High
. ; School from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Moeller High School represented by Roger Buening, Tom O'Malley, Charles Linser. Fred Collopy, Gary H of f ·m a n, Don Schmidt, and Paul Chendel'lin. After the first general session the students were dismissed into the four different groups which represented the four aspects of safety. These were fire, traffic, recreation, and home safety.
Eac1rsruaem: was g1ve11e1gnr questions to discus& and debate in his group. Demonstrations and movies were used to bring out important points. After 2 ~2 hours of debate and discussion the students and faculty members went to lunch. After lunch a second generalj session was called. After a per- · formance bY the Woodward Glee Club, each discussicm gtoup gave its idea and conclusions of the topics discussed. · The general concensus of the student representatives was that the institute was ver~1 helpful in pointing out safP.ty factors in the home, fire, tra(fi£, and rec.._.. !_t;\.Of.ion!l]_!l_1.,~.ac--~-