THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604060102
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The metal detector in Portsmouth's Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court beeped loudly Wednesday afternoon as dozens of children's books passed through its frame.
Certainly there were no concealed weapons within the pages of ``The Sesame Street Collection'' or ``The Love of Cats.''
Not at all. The alarm was triggered by metal strips placed inside 35 books donated by The King Nut Foundation, a Churchland-based club for kids in kindergarten through high school.
The club was formed last November by Tony McNair, 33, a church custodian who wanted to teach neighborhood children how to be good citizens through participation in community service projects.
For several weeks, club members collected children's books for the courthouse waiting area and placed metal strips on the back covers to keep the reading material from being inadvertently taken by young visitors.
``Juvenile court is really not a very comfortable atmosphere for children,'' said Susan Morris, a mediator who assists in disputed-custody cases.
``If you've ever been there, you can see that it's just kind of this dark hallway that's lined with chairs on each side. Their feet don't touch the ground, and it's chaos up there. There's nothing for the children to do.''
Until now.
Five club members, ages 10 to 15, delivered the books to the courthouse. Helping them were two adult leaders.
``I know it's going to be a great benefit to young people because we schedule everything for 10 o'clock, and sometimes it's 2 o'clock before we get to their case,'' Juvenile Court Judge Robert Babb told the group.
After the books passed through the metal detector, club members Millie Hill, 13; Carla Hill, 10; and LaTonya Robertson, 15, placed labels on the front of each one: ``Do not remove book from building. BELL WILL SOUND! Donated by King Nut Club.''
As the girls worked at one end of the hall, two other club members - Thomas Robertson, 12, and Chris Hill, 15 - helped McNair assemble a diaper-changing table for the women's restroom.
``One day, the corridor was completely full, and there were probably in the realm of 20 children who I either knew or suspected were in diapers - and there was no changing table in the ladies room,'' Morris said.
``Sometimes people will come and tap on the door of the room where I'm mediating and ask if they can come in there and change a baby.''
Morris met McNair outside Green Acres Presbyterian Church, where he works, about three months ago as she was walking her dog. The two chatted about McNair's newly formed children's club and the goals he had in mind for the group.
``Basically, I told her that what we're trying to do with these kids is teach them about morals and how to go out and do good deeds,'' McNair recalled.
Morris immediately thought of the unmet needs at the juvenile courthouse and solicited McNair's help.
``In my opinion, it was just a complete blessing,'' Morris said.
``I came home that night so elated because it was really a very accidental kind of a thing.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Tony McNair, left, and Judge Robert Babb look over some of the books
McNair and his kids club have collected for courthouse waiting
areas.
by CNB