When I was young, growing up in the days of Beaver and Wally Cleaver through the good times of Eisenhower and the Camelot of the Kennedy administration, there seemed to always be something to do. Bicycles could share the road with cars without much fear of getting squished by an inattentive driver. Neighbors kept their eye out for all the neighborhood kids to make sure everyone stayed safe. Backyards were playgrounds and any tree was fair game for a tree-house. When the teenage years arrived, the high school had a dance after each home football game and the Catholic church was good for a dance or two during the course of the year. There were places to hang out like "Arnold’s" of "Happy Days" fame and any movie worth seeing was at the local Drive-in. There was no such thing as a shopping mall, the local stores closed at nine o’clock and maybe the drug store opened up for a while on Sunday. McDonalds was just getting started and its menu consisted of $.19 hamburgers, $.12 french fries and sodas for $.10, $.15 and $.25. $2.00 worth of gas kept you going for most of the week and you didn’t even have to pump the fuel yourself.

Many moons ago when we moved to Middleburg, the only place for the kids to hang out was at the Jiffy store at C.R. 218 and Hwy 21. My kids are grown now but it seems to me that the kids still don’t have many places to gather and socialize. Maybe I’m wrong because I certainly don’t travel in the same circles as the younger generation. I had always said that if I won the lottery I would build a roller rink and bowling alley somewhere on Hwy 21 in Middleburg so the kids would have a place to kick up their heels. A roller rink is a multipurpose building and can be used for many different activities.

My question is: do you agree that the young people need places to hang out other than the mall and what type places would you like to see made available for them?