WHAT'S
HAPPENING
Free Copy
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE HIGH POINT MODEL CITY COMMISSION
December 17,1971
Attitude Plays Big Part In Feeling ^Old’
Elderly A Neglected Segment
Of Population—Sheppard
Photography By Art Richardson
Being old . . . lohen friends and loved ones matter most.
Drug Action Council
Fits Pieces Together
“No one agency has the answer to
drug abuse in High Point,” says Ralph
Nunez of the recently-organized Drug
Action Council. “It has to be a joint,
or concerted, effort.”
The High Point Drug Action Coun
cil, which formally came into being
in October, is a big step toward find
ing that answer. “The problem of
drug abuse is bigger than any of us
individually,” says Nunez. “It’s a major
problem in this community — and its
status changes from month to month.”
Until the inception of the Drug Ac
tion Council, there were no organized
programs to deal with the drug situ
ation in the greater High Point com
munity.
“That’s not to say that no one was
doing anything,” said Nunez, who is
currently acting as director of the
council. “It’s just that the community
has to come together to combat it.”
The Dmg Action Council has 23
members on its board. It is made up
of interested citizens from all sectors
of the population. President is John
Thomas; vice president, Mrs. Thomas
E. Smothers; and treasurer, Dan Herr
ing. Nunez is acting as secretary.
The council was organized after the
Community Planning Council of which
Nunez is director, made a survey in
early summer to determine the scope
of drug abuse in High Point.
Approximate figures showed that
2,000 are dependent upon drugs in
High Point, be it physically or psychol
ogically. Heroin, it was found, is the
most prevalent drug, with LSD (acid),
marijuana (pot), amphetamines and
barbituates also existent.
STATISTICS IMPOSSIBLE
Nunez, who has been involved in
the drug problem from the start, says
it is almost impossible to pin down
numbers and statistics concerning drug
usage.
“Drugs are being used in different
ways in different sections of the city,”
he says. “Drug abuse is serious in the
Model Cities Model Neighborhood
area, but it’s also serious in other areas,
too.”
When the office of the Drug Action
Council is set up, hopefully by the
first of the year, it will act as an ad
ministrative umbrella over drug pro
grams in the city.
The council is now in the organ
izational stage. Until its director is
hired, United Community Services, the
parent organization, is allowing Nunez
to act in that function.
Eventually, Nunez hopes the Drug
Action Council will apply for mem
bership in United Community Services.
Until then the United Fund admini
strative arm is acting as its sponsor.
Other organizations in the commun
ity are working with planning and
funding the council’s activities. Among
them are the Model Cities Commission,
Youth Unlimited, Urban Ministry, De
partment of Mental Health and Voca-
(Continued on Page 2)
Being old is a state of mind.
It isn’t counted by years, or Social
Security checks, or periodic visits by
dutiful relatives.
It’s when life seems to have passed
you by, in that blink of time when you
didn’t notice.
It’s when friends seem to be getting
fewer and fewer, and you find you’re
no longer useful to your family, or
anybody. . ..
Being old is when you must be tak
en care of for the first time in vour
life; and you like it even less than your
family does.
Except, your family doesn’t realize
it.
Being old is when you finally have
that leisure time you’ve been looking
for all these years, and suddenly there’s
nothing to do to fill it.
Being old is feeling alone, witli no
place to go.
Some elderly people — whose years
are long —are old.
And then, some elderly people —
whom society likes to call “senior citi
zens”—are not old.
Tlieir years are the same. But they
have not allowed themselves to be
tossed aside, used up.
Their “retirement” has been from
long years’ hard work, not from life.
Friends, family, and society as a
whole play a vital role in the attitude
of elderly persons toward themselves.
Society makes a person feel either
old — neglected, no longer useful — or
simply elderly, with many comfort
able, active years ahead of him.
How the aged are dealt with is a
matter of concern for all segments of
society, in High Point as well as else
where, according to local social agency
directors.
“Society has not wakened up to the
necessity of providing services for the
elderly,” says Ralph Sheppard, pro
gram director of Guilford County De
partment of Social Services in High
Point. “We’re not facing up to the
necessity of these services.
“Some things are being done, sure,
but I hope no one is satisfied with
what we think we’re doing,” Shep
pard went on. “We have to work to
gether on a county-wide basis.”
Sheppard, whose department offers
services, surplus food and money to
1,000 in the 65-and-older group in
High Point, calls the elderly a “neg
lected segment of the ixjpulation.”
“Society in general pushes them
aside, tells them they are not useful
anymore,” he said.
Also, society determines what agen
cies such as Social Service can do for
older folk. “We wrongfully get this
notion that simply because one is in
retirement he can live on less, that he
needs less,” Sheppard continued.
Furthermore, the programs designed
to ease an elderly person’s financial
situation don’t combat the real prob
lem, in many cases: loneliness.
“Some approaches, such as suggest
ing placing a person in a nursing home,
sometimes forget the human element,”
said Sheppard. “And if we get to the
place we don’t keep that in mind, we
might as well close up shop.”
More staff and more money are
needed to help cope with the prob
lems of the elderly in this community,
said die social services director. “We
could use all available staff 24 hours a
day and still not do what needs to be
done. We just don’t have the proper
resources,” he said.
In High Point, eight percent of all
residents are over age 65. Based on the
1970 census figure of 61,399 for High
Point at large, there are 5,420 persons
over age 65, or are “elderly.”
Twenty percent of all elderly in
High Point live within the Model
Neighborhood area, according to fig
ures provided by R. L. Polk and Com
pany Survey reports. Elderly persons
make up 9.8 percent of the Model
Neighborhood ixjpulation, while the
same age group makes up 8.6 percent
of the population outside the Model
Neighborhood.
Because the economic and social
problems are more pronounced within
the Model Neighborhood, the problems
of its elderly are considered more se
vere, as well.
To help cope with these problems,
the Model Cities’ Concentrated Social
Services, along with the Department of
Social Services, has set up a number of
special programs just for the elderly.
Other organizations, such as Council
(Continued on Page 3)
txxn
The Model Cities
Commission and staff
ivish everyone a
happy holiday
season
f