WHAT'S • HAPPENING
Free Copy OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE HIGH POINT MODEL CITY COMMISSION November 24,1972
Employment Service Changes Name,
Expands Facilities, And Adds Clients
DR. ROBERT ELLER
(This is the second in a series about
drug abuse.)
Sedatives are a legal —and illegal
form of drugs. Taken in small doses,
as prescribed by a doctor, they are safe
and reduce daytime tension so a person
can relax and sleep.
Sedatives, and their related drug,
tranquilizers, can be abused. One com
mon type of sedative that is used fool
ishly is called a barbiturate, or “down
er.” Some users may react to the drug
more strongly at one time than at an
other. It is not unusual for persons
taking barbiturates in large dosages to
die from accidental poisoning. Taken
while drinking, they become all the
more dangerous.
Taken in normal, medically super
vised doses, barbiturates mildly de
press the action of the nerves, and
muscles, especially the heart muscles.
They slow down the heart rate and
breathing, and lower the blood pres
sure.
For these reasons, doctors give these
drugs to treat high blood pressure,
epilepsy, and insomnia; to diagnose
Comprehensive Manpower Services
is now Interagency Employment
Counseling (lEC).
Located at 329 N. Main Street, the
Arcade Building, the free employment
counseling, training, and job place
ment service will continue to help
those from the Model Neighborhood
and from the greater High Point com
munity to upgrade their skills in order
to get a better job.
Not only does the agency work
closely with Guilford Technical In
stitute, of which it is a division, but
it draws on the resources of all other
Model Cities projects to improve a
person’s lifestyle.
As of December 1 the lEC will
and treat mental illness; and to relax
patients before and during surgery.
Sedatives and tranquilizers can lead
to physical addiction. Some experts
consider barbiturate addiction more
difficult to cure than a narcotic de
pendency. The body needs increasing
ly high doses to feel the effects.
A strong desire to continue taking
the drug is present after a few weeks
on large amounts. Addiction to 50 or
more sleeping pills a day has been re
ported.
STRESS, ANXIETY
People under excessive stress and
anxiety are the ones most likely to be
come addicted to these pills if they
have them available. Addicts hooked
on other drugs, too, may use them to
substitute or supplement heroin, for
example.
If barbiturate dependence is severe,
a sudden withdrawal from the drug
can be very dangerous. The with
drawal state resembles delirium trem
ens, such as a seasoned alcoholic ex
periences when he is deprived of a
drink for a long time.
house not only offices for counseling,
but two classrooms and Guilford
Technical Institute’s Learning Lab,
now located at William Penn School.
These facilities will enable a client
to be screened and tested, counseled,
trained, and placed on a job, all under
the same roof.
All courses offered to lEC clients
are taught by instructors of Guilford
Technical Institute, either at the Ar
cade Building center or on the James
town campus. In each case, the lEC
program pays for tuition, fees, books,
and transportation when needed.
UNIQUE FEATURE
This feature makes lEC unique
among employment services. Through
its parent organization, GTI, the lEC
program can provide any course of
study or training which is demanded.
Assistant director Harold Chilton
says the agency would not be recep
tive to paying for such courses as
sky diving or cake decorating. “But
anything that’s applicable to voca
tional mobility, we can see they have
it,” he says, “even if it means adding
a new course to the GTI curriculum.”
When lEC’s new contract goes into
effect next month. Model Cities will
no longer be footing the project’s en
tire bill. As of then, the state De
partment of Social Services will be
picking up 75 percent of the tab, leav
ing the Model City Commission only
one-fourth of the budget to supple
ment.
Dr. Robert W. Eller, the program’s
director since August 1, is proud that
the agency has found a permanent
The addict also becomes sweaty,
fearful, sleepless, and trembly. He is
restless, agitated, and may suffer con
vulsions. In addition, he may see things
that aren’t there and have confused
thoughts. He needs medical attention
at once.
Look for these symptoms if you
(Continued on page 3)
CC cc
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Sedatives . . . they look like com
mon medicine-cabinet pills.
funding source.
“It’s upmanship on our part that
we’re already going the route all good
Model Cities projects should go, of
this absorption into an established
agency,” he says.
He and his staff of six are constantly
looking not only for more clients —
whose number continues to grow —
but for new, exciting job openings for
their newly-marketable workers. A
Careers Day has been established on
a monthly basis to put employers in
touch with these persons.
Eller is interested not only of im
proving unskilled laborers’ attitudes
about themselves, but of changing in
dustry’s attitude about the working
population.
“We can’t leave them thinking they
can get by with slave labor,” he says.
“We’ve found they are wilHng to ne
gotiate their wages up if they can get
qualified people to fill their slots.
“On the other hand, we have to
instill pride in people and show them
they don’t have to work for minimum
wage. We have to win both sides
over. . . .”
Fix-Up Materials
Now Available For
Minor Repairs
Concentrated Social Services’ fix-up
fund is now available for people
whose homes need minor repairs.
Aimed primarily at Model neighbor
hood residents, the fix-up fund will
provide materials worth up to about
$25 to families or individuals who
need to insulate windows, repair brok
en glass panes, stop leaks in a roof,
or cover holes in floors, for example.
The fund is designed to make build
ings more air-tight now that winter
is coming, and thereby to reduce fuel
bills. In the spring, on the other hand,
families can use the money for such
things as repairing screen doors.
Although the fund is being handled
by the Model Cities Social Services
agency, persons requesting the repairs
do not have to be Social Services
clients.
To apply for the fix-up, persons
may come to either of the three
branches of Concentrated Social Serv
ices: 208 Vail Street, 600 Wise Street,
or Daniel Brooks Center.
After an application is approved.
Social Services will then buy the ma
terials needed to repair that particular
house, and give these to the resident.
Only in cases where there is no one in
the household able to make the re
pairs will this assistance be provided.
Wise Street director David Adkisson
pointed out that this was a “self-help”
project, and involved no cash. Also,
it is not open to those in public hous
ing, or those who need major house
hold repairs, such as a new roof.
TOWN MEETING!
Tuesday, December 5
7 p. m. City-County Building
Join hands with people from all over High Point in decid
ing the direction of Model Cities’ Fourth Year Action Plan.
Bring your complaints, your suggestions,
and your neighbors.
For transportation, call Model Cities Citizen Participation oflBce, 885-0817.
Getting The Dope On Drugs
Stress Can Lead To Sedative Addiction