SOUTHWORDS
January 1974

Drivers under 18 get no gas
no author

   ....Driving to school by the light of the moon has caused many complaints recently. Students waiting for buses express the fear of being attacked in the dark. We on staff don't think that many muggers are industrious enough to get up at 7:30 AM.
   We resent the gas conservation plan in which no licensed driver under eighteen gets a gas allotment. Teenagers depend on cars just as much as adults do. Maybe a teen allotment shouldn't be as much as an adult's, but teens deserve some gas. Government officials have decided that all our activities are trivial. Let them give up their electric blankets.
   Many students have part-time jobs after school. Around the country, big percentages of kids work full time after high school. Depriving employers of part-time help and students of extra cash is a bad idea.
   But it's easy to deprive people under seventeen of gas. We can't vote. We can be ignored.
   Most upsetting is the implication that youth would settle down if kept off the streets. Kids won't get into any trouble if they can't drive. Rowdies are still going to be rowdies. Instead of doing mischief elsewhere they'll start vandalizing their own neighborhoods.
   We don't want to deprive some father of five gallons of gas to go to work, but we think the gas could be saved elsewhere.
   Young people seem to be much more cooperative in shutting off lights, slowing down, and staying energy conscious than their elders, who often expect everybody else but themselves to sacrifice. We don't expect to be ignored and exploited in turn.