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BY JOANNE YOUNG
It's a typical summer day for kids.
One young man stretches lazily on big,
overstuffed pillows watching an old rerun on
TV. A tow-headed teen across the room sits
with his ear glued to the phone. A young
woman, six yards away, plays Break-out on
the video game console.
Typical activities for most teens but
there is a difference.
These young people can't run to the park
for a Softball game with friends, or cruise O
Street in hot cars.
They are residents of the Jennie B. Har
rell Attention Center for Youth, charged
with violating the rules of society and laws
of Nebraska. They're awaiting trial, or
placement in a group or foster home, or cor
rectional facility.
There are no bars on the windows, and
the kids don't view the staff as guards, said
Candy Thomas, the center's volunteer coor
dinator. And there are no cells. They're
called single rooms.
Still, each room is always locked. Only a
staff member can let the kids in and out of
their rooms.
They are subjected to a "strip search"
upon admission to the center, and are
closely supervised.
"One of the common problems these kids
have is running away," Ms. Thomas said.
That's one of the reasons for tight security.
Girls and boys at the center were
charged with a variety of offenses from tru
ancy and running away to a variety of law
violations, like auto theft, armed robbery
and rape.
Residents at the center may stay from a
day to several months, said Ms. Thomas,
with the average stay being five to seven
days.
"There is one famous case," she said,
"that the kid stayed 500 days. But that is ex
tremely rare."
The number of youths at the attention
center varies from day to day, she said. On
Monday, for example, there were five teens.
One girl, a perky brunette who looked like
Joanie Cunningham from Happy Days, was
being discharged from the center that after
noon, on her way to a halfway house to
await placement in a group or foster home.
The girl seemed hopeful about a foster
home placement, but was cautioned by a
staff member not to get her hopes too high.
The center relies on volunteers to fill the
gaps in the attention given youths at the
center, Ms. Thomas said.
Officials said the center is located in a
residential area of Lincoln to trigger com
munity involvement and support.
And, Ms. Thomas said, the interior struc
ture of the building is designed to make the
environment as homelike as possible for the
kids. There are bright colors, carpeting and
windows-not a typical lockup. The recrea
tion area has many games and equipment,
and the entertainment center would please
most teens. . .
Bui the center is not without criticism
from the community.
"Some people believe we should have
bars on the windows and chains on the
walls," Ms. Thomas said.
Officials at the center obviously don't
feel that way.
"We expect a certain type of behavior
from these kids," Ms. Thomas said, "and we
usually get it."
She said residents aren't punished at the
center. There are two isolation rooms which
are "hardly ever used," and used only to
calm the kids, protecting them from them
selves and other kids.
"The staff never uses physical or verbal
abuse," she said.
"This is a good atmosphere to wait in,"
Ms. Thomas said, "It's safe and fun."
The attention center is looking for volun
teers this summer to serve as role models
for the kids.
"Because they are role models, volun
teers have to fill out an application and list
three references," Ms. Thomas said. "And
they must be at least 19-years-old."
Workers at the center said volunteers
are vital to the center's growth and prog
ress, and at the same time, volunteers bene
fit by improving their human relations skills,
get practical experience and a job refer
ence. Ms. Thomas said volunteers have nothing
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476-6119
SUMMER
NEBRASKAN
The Summer Nebraskan is a student
newspaper published each Thursday as a
laboratory project by School of Journal
ism classes in Advertising, Editing,
Photography and Reporting.
REPORTERS
Bill Conradt
Meiling Liu
Joan Morrison
Larry Sparks
Robin Stanosheck
David Trouba
JoAnne Young
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Mark Bastin
Chris Dooley
Gene Gentrup
Nancy Johnson
Mica Kubicek
Amy Kunce
David Lavender
Sheryl Neyens
Mark Nisley
F.C. Palm
Larry Toof
Chris Welsch
Dave Wesely
COPY EDITORS
Melissa Dunlevy
Russ Powell
Fred Spearman
Jim Wegman
ACCOUNT REPS
Susan Hill
Jerry Scott
Instructors are Jack Botts, Julie Dean,
Al Pagel and Don Glover. Schocl of Jour
nalism Dean is R. Neale Copple.
to fear by working with the residents.
"We have never had a volunteer assault
ed," she said. "Some (volunteers) are afraid
of getting hurt, but these kids are like the
kids down the street."
Volunteers are given guidelines on what
to expect from the residents and what the
residents expect from them.
Anyone interested in volunteering can
contact Ms. Candy Thomas or the director
Jon Hill at 471-7CC0. The center is located at
2220 S. 10th St., in Lincoln.
New ETV program
will premier on Monday
"Reading Rainbow," a new 15-program
public television series, premiers Monday on
the Nebraska Educational Television Network.
The program, which is an attempt to
motivate children to read during the sum
mer months, is co-produced by Nebraska's
Great Plains National Instruction Library
and public television station WN ED-TV of
Buffalo, N.Y.
"Reading Rainbow" will be shown Mon
day through Friday at 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
