Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 29, 1990 TAG: 9007290210
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WILLIAMSON, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
Whether riding in T-top sports cars, sitting on the tailgates of parked pickups or just standing on the street corner sipping free soft drinks, the teen-agers made the scene Friday night.
"You drive around and holler at some girls and park, and they come by and see you and pull in and talk to you," said 16-year-old Freddie Anderson of Belfry, Ky., as he sat on the roof of his Camaro.
Officials and merchants in this town on the Kentucky-West Virginia border thought up Cruisin' Night after officials in several other cities cracked down on cruisers by enforcing traffic and loitering laws.
Prizes were awarded in four categories: "Best Looking Cruiser Car," "Best Looking Cruiser Truck," "Loudest Cruiser" and "Best Vanity Plate." Other prizes were awarded based on random drawings from registrations at the end of the three-hour event.
The teen-age traffic jam resembled scenes from the movie "American Graffiti," which depicted cruisers in a California town in the early 1960s.
Downtown Williamson was packed Friday night with teen-agers, and occasionally with older drivers who found themselves caught in the bumper-to-bumper traffic, sometimes with panicked expressions.
As the sun went down, the T-tops came off and the car stereos came on. The rap song "Pump Up the Jam" filled the air.
Some drivers parked their cars and trucks and watched the others drive up two blocks on Second Avenue, left one block on Pike Street, down two blocks on Third Avenue and left one block on Harvey Street, ready to begin the circuit again.
A line of cars stretching across two bridges into Kentucky waited to join the parade in this town of 5,000-plus people.
"It gets pretty boring after a while, but there's nothing else to do here," said Heather Gannon, 15, as she sat on the tailgate of a pickup truck. "This is it."
Richard Foster, 20, said he and the half-dozen young men with him would have come downtown even without the Cruisin' Night promotion.
"We're always here," said Foster, a weekend cruiser for five years.
City police Sgt. R.E. Pyrtle, walking his beat, said the promotion appeared to bring the teen-agers downtown a little earlier than usual but said there was no trouble.
"Friday and Saturday nights, the kids mainly come here about 10 o'clock and cruise, but not to the extent it is tonight," he said.
As the cruisers cruised Friday night, several adults watched from park benches outside the Mingo County Courthouse.
"I think it's just fine if it works out right," said Inice Ball, 79. "I think it's fine for our young people, because there's nothing for them to do here."
Williamson's invitation to the teen-age cruisers contrasts with what other area cities are doing.
In Charleston, nearly 60 miles to the northeast, police reacted to merchant complaints about noisy, littering teens this summer by strictly enforcing traffic regulations.
Across the Tug River from Williamson in South Williamson, Ky., police have taken steps to block cruisers from congregating in a mall parking lot.
But Colin Berry, president of the Williamson merchants' association and an organizer of Cruisin' Night, declined to criticize officials who want to put the brakes to cruising.
"It's not up to me to judge what someone else should do," he said. "Different towns have different problems."
by CNB