Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 24, 1993 TAG: 9302240250
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
TEEN CENTER PROPOSED FOR OLD PULASKI THEATRE
Pulaski County officials will meet with representatives of a group trying to turn the former Pulaski Theatre into a teen center.Jack Leahy, chief executive officer of the Hensel Eckman YMCA of Pulaski, asked the county Board of Supervisors to consider leasing the theater at a nominal fee to the recently formed Pulaski County Straight Street Teen Center Committee.
The building was donated to the county after it closed as a movie house at the start of 1992. At one time, it was considered as a location for temporary county offices while courthouse facilities were being revamped but was not used and remains vacant.
It had opened as a movie house in 1938.
Teresa Cox, one of those appearing in support of the teen center proposal, told the board that her daughters have no place to go with other young people except to church.
"You have an opportunity before you now to give them that place. The theater was a place for them at one point," she said. "We ask you to give it back to them."
Leahy said the first Straight Street teen center was started at Lynchburg in mid-1989 by Rick and Mimi Quimet to provide a safe fun-filled environment for young people.
Now the concept is spreading to other places, including Christiansburg and now Pulaski, he said. Such centers are staffed by paid supervisors and require rules of behavior such as no alcohol or drugs.
It would be open after school from 3 to 9 p.m. for young people between the ages of 13 and 19. Plans are to equip the center with computers that can be used for tutoring.
Leahy said volunteers would take care of the painting and upkeep inside, and renovations such as leveling the sloping floor or putting it in tiers. He said the theater stage seems suitable for concerts and other productions.
He noted that a 1990 survey of 134 citizens produced 117 responses that lack of recreational opportunities for county youth was a problem. The survey also showed that 82 percent of the respondents felt there was a need for a central spot for youth activities.
Supervisor Bruce Fariss raised concerns about parking. Leahy said teens do not mind walking and said the center in Christiansburg, which also lacks parking, draws plenty of them.
"We agree that there is a lack of facilities and things for teen-agers to do," Fariss said, noting that the county's budget for recreation activities has gone from $40,000 to $144,000 in recent years. "We don't want to start something that will fail. . . . If we do agree with this, we want to make sure that it works."
Fariss made the motion for the county staff to meet with the Straight Street committee and evaluate the possibility of the theater's serving as the center. The motion passed unanimously.