The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-07-07
BY STAN REDDINc
Houston Chronicle Reporter

HOUSTON, Tex. R-Should you
decide to check, your eyes might
be opened a bit at the activities
of Houston's teen-agerS.
You might find your teen-age
son-as / found somebody's teen
age son dancing drunkenly
around the floor of a tavern, a
half-empty bottle Of gin clutched
tightly in his arms in lieu of a
girl.
You might find your junior high
Sabotage daughter as l did
Someone'S-slumped in the arms
of known teen-age law breaker,
her eyes dazed by drink.
You might find them Summing"
in any one of hundreds of Houston
and Harris County taverns, as
did, perhaps laughing shrily at
burly, drunken mans attempts 20
sell date with his young wife for
the price of a beer!
Or maybe you'll just find him,
her or them packed tightly in an
automobile-its trunk full of iced
beer-speeding madly down a high
way. Or parked on a lonely lane,
perhaps, an ideal place for drink
ing and necking."
These children represent a very
small minority of the teen-agers in
Houston and Harris County. For
each child l saw there are dozens
of others who are content to follow
the accepted behavior standard
society demands of the teen-ager.
But this minority" is becoming
an increasing problem across the
land. For want of a better word
they call it the problem of our
Juvenile delinquents."
And your child is eligible to join
this minority" l know, l have
seen them.
There are some 5000 retail out
lets for beer in Harris County.
There are 700 retail liquor stores
in the same area. To police these
places and similar establishments
in Is other counties, to enforce
the law, the state furnishes a grand
total of IL liquor agents.
Sure, we investigate a lot of
complaints concerning juveniles
frequenting these taverns and buy
ing beer" says Tom McPhaul,
agent in charge of the Houston
district liquor control board. "But
it is virtually impossible to make
a case concerning a juvenile.
Il don't know where this juve.
nile situation will end up" Nc
Phaul says tiredly, unless the
parents take hand in it with
u.s."
A study of Houston police rec
ords shows that juvenile cases han
died by the crime prevention divi-
sion are on the increase. Of these,
2,428 were handled last year as
juveniles who committed an Of
tense punishable by Jail or prison
terms on the adult level.
Thus the Juvenile delinquents"
compose less than two per cent of
all the children in Houston. AS
sumo that an equal number 60
astray but are not caught or are
Strengthened out by other than po-
lice agencies. Officials agree that
is a more than fair assumption"
That means that less than four
per cent of Houston's children are
delinquent. But before you begin
thinking the situation isn't so bad
after all, listen to 1t. Leo Horton
of the crime prevention division:
Those 2,42S kids are a serious
problem on any scale. They are
worthy of all the attention We can
give them. They are not the prob
lens alone of the police, the social
agencies, the courts or the pro-
baton department.
They are the problems of the
community. They deserve the full
attention of the community"
What can be done in this city
about juvenile delinquency?
There is no one solution, no more
than there is one cause. But there