Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 18, 1990 TAG: 9003162196
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SCOT HOFFMAN CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
And they're happy to do it.
"It wasn't even like we had to talk them [the mall managers] into it," said Angie Knowles, the president of the Christiansburg Parent-Teacher-Student Association. "They were very excited."
"It's a very worthy cause," said Lori Clark, the mall's marketing director. "We feel really good about it."
May 5 is what Clark calls "a very typical night for high school kids to have accidents . . . . with drugs and alcohol and everything."
May 5 is prom night.
Statistics from 1988 show that during May, when most proms take place, 13,329 car crashes occurred in Virginia, the highest monthly figure that year.
Although the large number of accidents can't be directly attributed to prom nights, police don't rule out student drinking and drug use on prom nights as a contributor.
"It's hard to attribute it to any particular thing," said Sgt. John Wingold of Virginia State Police headquarters in Salem. "But there's always a lot of tragedies that happen at prom time."
Clark and Knowles, along with dozens of parents, the Christiansburg student council and PTA members from localities around the state, have been working since early February to help keep the town's high school students off the sauce and off the roads on prom night.
"This is just good, clean fun," Clark said.
And if things go as planned, there should be no shortage of attractions at the mall that night. For starters, one student will drive away (sober) in a new Oldsmobile, donated by Heritage Olds of Pulaski.
Another perk will be free food all night - the party will last from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Knowles is working with the manager of the theater to decide on movies - "none will be rated `R'" - to be shown free all night.
"You can't dance for six hours straight, and even the games will get old," she said. "People can go in and watch the movies or even sleep in there."
There'll be dancing and a DJ, a lip sync contest, and Clark mentioned the possibility of leaving the video game room open for the event.
"We [the mall] want to position ourselves as a community center," she said. "We've given all the stores in the mall the option of participating."
No one will be admitted after 1 a.m., Knowles said.
"We're trying to get people to come here and stay here all night," she said. "If we let someone in at 4, where has he been? He's probably intoxicated."
This will be the first year for Christiansburg to do this, but if all goes well, it likely won't be the last.
"If we get a good response this year," Knowles said, "there's no reason we couldn't do it again next year."
Knowles said he had talked with the president of the Christiansburg student council and several student body members. "They're all very excited about it," he said.
All told, the bill for the event should come to about $2,000 - for movies and the theater, the security guards and the door prizes (excluding the car), Knowles said. This doesn't include food donations from restaurants and a $500 grant from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
"We sent letters to all the juniors' and seniors' parents and asked for donations," she said. "We also contacted a lot of community clubs, like Kiwanis. We expect a good response from them."
As of now, admission to the party will be free. The mall doesn't want to charge a fee, but that is contingent upon donations, Knowles said.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 25, 1990 in Current\ Correction
Because of a reporter's errors and incorrect information provided to the newspaper, portions of a story in the March 18 New River Current about a post-prom party for Christiansburg High were incorrect.
The event at the New River Valley Mall May 5 will be sponsored by the school's Parent-Teacher-Student Association, the Demon Booster Club and the student council. Students will be admitted until 1:30 a.m. A car to be given away will be a used Oldsmobile, Pontiac or Buick. The mall's video game room will not be open, but other video games will be available for students to play.
Memo: correction