Juvenile delinquency (1955)

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 43 At lunch time, the graduating boys are seated at a special table. When lunch is over and the tables cleared, the boys' best friends present them with a traditional graduation gift, a wallet. The superintendent then presents the check covering their savings. Guests are called upon to say a few words, and after that the graduates are given an opportunity to say what is in their minds. The next person called upon to say something to the graduates is a boy selected at random (usually a fairly recent arrival), to say a few words in behalf of those who are staying at the ranch. This particular session at an end, the staff members and ranch hands gather in the corral and form a human wagon wheel around the snubbing post. The superintendent, driving in the surrey, and the graduates riding alongside astride their favorite horses, go into the corral, join the wagon wheel, whicli rolls around as the bov.s sing Wagon Wheels. The wagon wheel brealvs, and as it is re- formed, spoke by spoke, with new hands joining in, the graduates standing near- by are admonished by the last boy in each spoke—"T" stands for truth, always be truthful; "W" stands for winner, always be a winner, and so on until all the letters of Twin Pines Ranch have been used as admonitions to the graduates. Twin Pines Ranch is spelled by the spokes in sequence, then the entire group pronounces the words and the wheel again rolls on. The boys form a gauntlet to the corral gate through which the graduates walk to their horses. They unsaddle and unbridle the horses and hang tlie gear in the tack room for the last time, turn their liorses into the corral and as they walk out through the gauntlet, thev receive that friendly slap on the back or a farewell handshake. The superintendent meets them at the corral gate and walks with them to the surrey and as they walk, the entire group, leaning on the corral fence, sing these'words: "We sure do hate to see you go, to us you've been a pal you know, but go if you must and we'll watch tlie dust as you ride down the road. It s been swell to have you here, so smile and be of good cheer, for as you ride away, you'll hear us all say * * * " (and as the boys step up in the surrey), the boys at the fence about, "So long, pahdner!" ^ ■,-, ^. u The superintendent drives the boys in the surrey past the old rustic ranch house by the lake with the ducks swimming gracefully about, up the tree-lined road to the ranch gate where upon its huge beam is carved these words: bo long, pahdner." Beneath this gate, the superintendent bids so long to those young men who spent a while where surely God must have spent a little more time than elsewhere. Mr. Johnson. That is what I am here for. Chairman Kefauver. If it is done here and there it amounts to a whole lot. Mr. Johnson. I would like to see these all over the country. Cliairman Kefauaer. How long would a boy stay ? Mr. Johnson. That is up to him. When he comes to the ranch we say it is up to him, and when we feel that he is ready we will send him out. The average length of stay is about 11 months. There are some who have left at 614 months. Chairman Kefauver. And where do the boys come from ? Mr. Johnson. From Riverside, Orange, and San Bernardino Counties. Chairman Kefaun'er. How do you get them? ]\Ir. Johnson. They come fi'om the juvenile courts, from the pro- bation departments and they are placed there by the juvenile judges of the courts. Chairman Kefauver. And it is financed by the county with some assistance from the youth division of the State ? Mr. Johnson. That's right, sir. And a lot of our money—that is what makes the ranch very appealing and a success—is the helj) that we are getting from the comnmnities. Chairman KEFAu^^•:K. This is a great record that you are making, but I wish we had more Twin Pines Ranches. Mr. Johnson. I hope so too, sir.