Saturday Night And No Place To Go?
" Another Saturday night and no place to go."
That's the wail of many teenagers, but it isn't so. There's a good place for
teens. the city of Gulfport Sponsors a dance every Saturday night at the city
owned Gulf port Casino. Dancing is from 8 to 11:30pm with three local bands
providing the music.
The dance is for young people 13 and older and usually about
800 of them take advantage of the gulf port teen program each Saturday night.
Admission is 75 cents a person. Jay Angello, director of the dances, says,
"In the six months the dances have been taking place, there has been no
trouble. There are always four Gulfport special officers on du
ty."
But the presents of the officers and the rules that have been set up for the
dances are preventive measures to make sure order is always maintained. One of
the rules, which teens objected to at first but have now accepted, is that once
a teen enters the dance, he cannot leave unless he is departing for home. there
are no passes to enter and leave the dances. Teens must stay under supervision.
The biggest drawing card for the dances is the popular local
band, the Impacs, which plays frequently for the dancers. "Most of the
teens at the dances seem to be having a good time," as Shelia Williams, a
student at Disston Junior High, explains, she likes to go because most of her
friends go the dances and because she likes the Impacs. Like many of the teens
there, she has gone almost every Saturday night since the dances began.
Although the dance floor is very spacious, it seems small
because of the large crowd. However, most teens are not dancing all of the time.
They gather around the edge of the floor to watch the dancers and listen to the
bands.