By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
3-10-2009

The Owens Valley may be a great place to live and a vacation paradise, but there’s not much to do if you’re a kid. 

This is especially true for the southern end of the county where there isn’t a movie theater, skate park or bowling alley to keep children and young adults busy.
Healthy Communities of Southern Inyo County is working to remedy that situation by opening youth clubs in Independence, Lone Pine and Olancha.
Charles James, Healthy Communities program coordinator, said that there is a wish list of items for the clubs like furniture and games that Healthy Communities needs and wants to have in place before opening the clubs.
“We don’t want to open the clubs with nothing for the kids to do,” James explained. “We want them to come in and keep them engaged so they’ll keep coming back. We want them (the clubs) to be the center of the universe for the kids,” and, hopefully, the whole community.

The idea of a place for kids to go in the small communities of Inyo County is not a new one, James said, but there has always been a funding problem.
Last August James met with Inyo County Superintendent of Schools Terry McAteer who was very interested in what Healthy Communities had to offer and wondered what, if any, support the schools had ever given the organization.
James replied that the school districts, Owens Valley and Lone Pine, had never given any financial support because they were always strapped for cash. McAteer explained that even in these tough economic times, he knew these schools had money as they rely on property tax revenue and not on state or federal money.
McAteer said he was willing to give $7,000 from his office to start the clubs, if James could entice the two school districts to match that funding.
The schools agreed and according to James, he acquired the $21,000 last week that will be used for staffing and is just waiting on the equipment to open the doors.
The tentative schedule for those open doors will be approximately 12 hours a week in both school districts with additional hours being added in the summer if the clubs prove to be successful.
The club in Lone Pine will be at spacious Statham Hall, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 3-6 p.m. The location and hours of the Olancha club has yet to be secured, but James said a club will be open there on Thursdays.
In Independence the club will be at the American Legion Hall, open Wednesdays and Fridays from 3-7 p.m. and Saturdays from 1-5 p.m.
The clubs will be supervised by adults who have cleared background and fingerprint tests. James explained that these are paid positions, but volunteer help is always appreciated and would help keep costs down that could help extend the club’s hours.
James said he’s already been approached by several people willing to volunteer and some donations of equipment have started coming in.
Coso Operating Company has donated three ping-pong tables, Boulder Creek Resort has pitched in a pool table and Subway in Lone Pine is donating several televisions and other assistance, according to James.
James said he approached the kids in those communities what they wanted in a club. He asked the kids, “What’ll keep you coming back?”  
There is a link to this wish list at the Healthy Communities Web site www.healthycommunitiesofsic.org.  The items are: upholstered chairs, large coffee tables and couches, flat screen TVs, two X-Box 360s, two Play Stations, a mini HiFi shelf stereo, a PA system for dances, two Karaoke systems, table top games, air hockey, shuffle board and foosball tables, three badminton sets with posts and nets, two mini-golf games, four portable basketball hoop systems, three bean bag toss sets, three Carrom board sets, assorted board and card games, gym mats, rubber mats and all the accessories, like cables, balls and shuttlecocks that will complete the games and gear.
James said he hopes that the youth clubs will someday be community clubs where people of all ages go to gather and talk and play.
For more information, call James at 876-1011.