DYS residents honor their father figures

Father's Day came early at the Girardot Center for Youth and Family. More than 120 people gathered under a tent behind the center at 609 N. Middle St. Wednesday afternoon to hold an early Father's Day celebration and welcome members of the Division of Youth Services Advisory Board to town.

The residents of the center sang and honored their father or a father figure in their life. A teen-ager named Tommy said he didn't start getting into trouble until after his father died. "He taught me how to treat a person," Tommy said. "... I'd give my life just to have one more minute with my father."

The 15-member board toured the facility's classrooms and two cottages, which house 24 boys who have been committed to the program by a judge. Most are there for getting involved in drugs, problems in school or crimes against property. The average stay is 6 to 8 months.

The teens leading one tour, 16-year-old Chris and 15-year-old Doug, impressed Cindy Stein, a board member from Springfield, Mo., "The eye contact, the verbal skills, it's amazing," she said.

Visits such as this one enable board members to make informed recommendations to DYS, she says. "It does help to see it first hand."

Circuit Judge Jack E. Gant of Independence, Mo., who has been on the board since the 1980s, said the center is a remarkable improvement over the facilities DYS used to operate here. "They used to live in a rented house," he said.

Sculpting their futures

The tour leaders showed the board members the fountain they built behind the center. There are sculpted faces in the fountain, a recurring theme at the center. Every youth who goes through the program makes a mask of his face that represents the passage from life at the center into the next phase back in society.

Carolyn and William Rainey of Cape Girardeau were there for their 17-year-old son, who co-hosted the event along with Ed Pearson, the facility manager. The Raineys said they have seen changes in their son in the five months he has been at the center. He is about halfway through the program.

He was sent to the center for property damage crimes.

"He is learning new life skills and how to deal with people," William Rainey said.

They wanted to find such a program for him before a judge did it for them but could not. "We knew he needed a structured environment," Carolyn Rainey said.

Their son, whose name could not be used, said he was concerned about living at the center until he learned the rules. He has noted changes in himself.

"I used to lie and lie more to cover up that lie," he said. "Now I know how to be straight with people."

Jim Davis, assistant regional director for DYS, said the most remarkable part of the celebration occurred during the three days of preparation, which largely was done by the teen-agers themselves. "I don't think adults would have worked together as well," he said.

Masks the youths had made were awarded to board member John K. Rust, co-president of Rust Communications, DYS director Mark Steward and Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen N. Limbaugh. A former member of the advisory board, Limbaugh was unable to attend Wednesday's celebration due to illness.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182