THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509090001
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
There's a nice little city out in western Tidewater that feels downright ill-treated.
These words greeted its residents on a Friday morning: ``Two people stuck in a small town. Nothing to do, nowhere to go. Gnawed by fear and frustration. A signpost ahead: `You've just entered Franklin.' ''
An episode from ``Twilight Zone''? A panel from ``The Far Side''?
No, just the subhead for a Sept. 1 Daily Break story headlined, ``Watching the corn grow'' - one day in the life of a high school correspondent who decided to test the limits of teen ennui by visiting what she called the ``mecca of boredom that is Franklin.''
What followed was a two-person diary by the visitor and a young Franklin resident, who yawned their way through the afternoon and posed languidly for the lead photo in a parched cornfield.
It was a funny, in-your-face repartee - the bizarre maelstrom of young minds. But, to the citizenry of Franklin, it was a terrible insult.
City officials, not to mention business people, homemakers and retirees, have kept our phones ringing since that Friday.
``I just can't tell you how bad it hurt,'' said Mayor C. Franklin Jester Jr.
He didn't have to. By the time the mayor had called, I'd already spoken to the first dozen Franklin residents, who had plenty to say in defense of their city.
``I raised four children here, and one moved back because of the things that Franklin has to offer,'' said Dr. Barham Dodson, a retired dentist. He went on to itemize all of Franklin's assets, from fast-food restaurants and three-screen movie theater to its top-notch YMCA and athletic fields, its bowling alley and shopping centers.
``If you can tell me anything that Norfolk has in more abundance for kids, I'd like to know what it is,'' said Dodson. ``I think I know what these two kids are looking for and I hope we don't have it.''
Former residents also came to its defense. Mary Lee Harris, who now lives in Virginia Beach, thought the Daily Break story was ``horrible, horrible.''
``Franklin is one of the most wonderful communities,'' she said. ``I moved there as a bride in '52. In Franklin, I'd have had homemade soup for two weeks if I had a hangnail, they're so friendly.''
Others complained about the story's ``childish, petulant'' tone; about referring to ``rednecks'' at McDonald's; and about the photo, which reminded one caller of ``Children of the Corn'' and rankled another because, he said, there aren't even any cornfields within Franklin city limits.
Taylor Williams, a Franklin father of two, suggested a real tour of the city for the story's 16-year-old author.
``My children run me from pillar to post in activities in Franklin,'' said Williams. ``. . . and I think its a shame that you had to allow such an article to be published in the newspaper to give us a black eye.''
But did all this really give Franklin a black eye? Was it really, as several city officials said, a public-relations disaster for the city - a blow to future economic development?
I have more faith in our readers than that - I think they recognize teen humor when they see it. In fact, I thought the story said a whole lot more about the adolescent state of mind than about the city of Franklin. This story was, after all, in the Friday Teenology section.
And, let's face it. You can have all the fast-food outlets, bowling alleys and movie screens in the world, and teens will still complain about that dreaded condition known as BORRRRRRRRRRRING.
``These are the rebels we once were,'' said Michael Kestner, a photographer in the newspaper's Suffolk office, ``the hormonally-charged children without a cause who don't share their parents' values, don't understand their parents' desire to live in the quiet, crime-free towns that insure a safe, drug-free environment for proper family nurturing.
``These `children' thrive on adrenalin, hormones and the intellectual throb of the big city, which Norfolk is not.''
But if some Pilot staffers stood up for the story, others did not.
``I'm thankful Franklin doesn't look like Norfolk. That's part of its charm,'' said Susie Stoughton, a Suffolk reporter.
``And I much prefer the rednecks at the McDonald's in Franklin to the drug-dealing teens hanging on the pay phone at the 7-Eleven a block from where I lived in Virginia Beach. Thank goodness I escaped the `big city' life.''
It disturbed me that we put a whole city on the defensive, that we provoked so many of its adult citizens into calling (I didn't hear from any teens) and enumerating its virtues. They were so convincing that I drove down to Franklin last weekend to see for myself.
My daughter had lived in Suffolk but, somehow, I had never visited neighboring Franklin. It was a wonderful surprise - a pristine small-town city with lovely, hilly streets, lots of open space around it and the comforting security of a viable industry, the Union Camp paper mill.
And there were all those places that my callers had touted, including an old-timey sandwich counter at the nearby pharmacy and the homey downtown eatery, Fred's, where we had lunch.
But I'm decades away from being a teenager. And youth editor Lorraine Eaton says it was calls from bored Franklin students that inspired the story.
Movie theaters and tennis courts ``are the things that older people would like for younger people to like,'' she said. ``But teenagers like concerts. They like to hang out in coffee houses. They like to be cool, to see and be seen.
``While the Franklin YMCA is a fine facility, there is no denying the allure that city life holds for the young.
``And,'' added Eaton, ``the whole point of the story was, I think, good advice for people of any age: `It's not what you do but who you're with and what you make of the situation you find yourself in that makes fun fun.' ''
Maybe, but I think we could have gotten the point across, humor and all, without offending a city. In fact, we did it back in March with the Real Life section story ``Lonely days, Onley nights,'' about the plight of small-town singles.
Eastern Shore residents are usually the first to call when they feel misportrayed or left out, but not a single Onley resident complained to me about that story. But while we portrayed Onley as Lonely, we didn't call it a ``mecca of boredom.''
Franklin, Va., USA, deserved better than that.
MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net
by CNB