Tuesday, March 28, 2006

What’s There to Do Around Here?
New Club Offers Teens a Fun, Safe Place to Hang Out

By Maggie Wolff Peterson
Special to The Winchester Star

---

Ask any teenager, and they’ll likely tell you, there’s nothing to do around here.

Boring, boring, boring, they’ll say.

This is one dead town.

It’s been this way from the beginning of time, or at least ever since kids could get off the farm long enough to seek entertainment, and had the mobility to do it. And with that has come the parental concern that whatever the kids get into be at least nominally wholesome.

A group of girls dance on a recent Saturday night at Club One at Mac’s Roller Rink in Warren County. The venture, launched by J.B. Wilde, morning announcer on radio station WKSI, Kiss 98.3 FM, aims to meet the approval of teens and their parents. No smoking or alcohol is allowed, and security guards are on the grounds.
(Photo by Scott Mason)

Satisfying both groups is the mission of J.B. Wilde, proprietor of Wilde Party Productions Inc., who is staging Saturday night teen dances at Mac’s Roller Rink in Warren County. Calling the place Club One, Wilde is offering deejay music, a light show, giveaways and contests, and pizza delivered by PapaJohn’s.

Identification is required, there is no smoking or alcohol allowed, and Wilde has engaged the services of a RAC Security Systems of Front Royal, a state-certified security company that provides uniformed guards. Two guards work both inside and outside of the building while the dance is on, then both move outside to supervise pick-ups as the dance lets out, Wilde said.

Wilde said Club One is “for even the kids who don’t like to dance.” The facility has video games and pool tables, and the sound system is canted toward the dance floor to allow people to converse easily.

Wilde, 27, isn’t too far removed from the teen audience to respond to its tastes. And he is uniquely situated to keep track of trends: Wilde is the morning announcer on radio station WKSI, Kiss 98.3 FM.

“It’s the station all the kids are listening to,” said Jedd Markwood, program director at the Youth Development Center in Winchester, which also runs teen events. After-school afternoons and Friday nights are devoted to middle school kids exclusively, but Saturday nights are for the high school crowd, Markwood said.

But the YDC has an image problem with the older kids, Markwood conceded. After attending events there as middle schoolers, kids feel they’ve outgrown the place by high school, he said.

“If a kid comes here every Friday night for three years in middle school, they’ve done it,” Markwood said.

Additionally, the YDC maintains standards that are stricter than what appeals to a high school crowd. On movie nights, it won’t show anything riskier than PG13, and at dances, it won’t allow much of the music kids listen to everyday.

Jeremiah Dellinger (right) watches as Richiey Taylor (left) and Stephen Jefferson shoot a game of pool at Club One.
(Photo by Scott Mason)

“The movies they want to watch, we won’t show. The music they want to listen to, we won’t play,” Markwood said.

In fact, Markwood said, Wilde approached the YDC with his idea before landing at Mac’s, but was turned away.

“We said we’re not in the business of making money for other people,” Markwood explained.

Linda Jones, program manager for CLEAN, said the most important thing for Wilde to consider are his policies regarding kids who don’t follow the rules. What if a patron sneaks alcohol, she asked. What if one turns up drunk?

“I would hope it would be a protective reaction, call the parents,” she said.

CLEAN, the Winchester non-profit devoted to preventing substance abuse in kids, is hosting a meeting on March 28 at the Shenandoah University School of Pharmacy, on the subject of preventing underage drinking. Calling it a “Town Hall Meeting,” CLEAN invited representatives of public and private schools, law enforcement, boys and girls clubs and parent groups to plan the event, one of many such meetings taking place nationwide on that day.

A panel of experts, including a juvenile judge, an adolescent psychologist, mental health workers, a Handley High School teacher and a parent, will lead the meeting. Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the program is also to include subsequent classroom discussion in middle schools, called “teach-ins.”

Jones said that having Club One available to teens could be a positive thing. It could be a safe alternative for kids who won’t go to the YDC or other supervised locations they perceive as uncool.

“It might be a really good place to reach at-risk children,” she said. “Young people need places.”

Wilde said Club One makes sure that kids at the dances are at least 14 years old and no older than 18. They have to show some kind of proof, “even a report card,” he said.

And Wilde said that his club is a low-cost way for kids to have safe fun. Admission for the evening is $10, but discounts are available online, at the Kiss Web site.

Kids spend more at the mall, at the movies, in the food court and at the arcade, Wilde said.

“We used to hang out in friends’ basements, hang out with nothing to do,” Wilde said. “I feel the pain of kids around here. Eventually, if this is successful, I‘m going to try to do one in Martinsburg and Charles Town.”

So far, after fronting his own money to begin Club One, Wilde hasn’t turned a profit. His expenses have included the 5,000 postcard advertisements he had printed, which were distributed at the recent home show in Apple Blossom Mall. And he has purchased broadcast commercials on his own station, and on Q102.

Teens dance and talk at Club One. ““I feel the pain of kids around here,” says Club One owner J.B. Wilde.
(Photo by Scott Mason)

“Kiss is the number-one station and Q102 is the number-two teen station,” Wilde said.

But Wilde said the best advertising is something he can’t buy.

“The best advertising is word of mouth,” he said.