Midlothian High School - Trojan Yearbook (Midlothian, VA)

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22 Government teacher Jack Olsen expressed the hopeless- ness of the situation when he said, ‘We can argue about it all day long, but it’s done and there’s nothing we can do about it now.’ Mr. Olsen was referring to Midlothian’s most controversial issue of 1984-85, a subject which had normally mellow students hopping up and down in rage: the parking lot. Because the new school had only one accessway, 537 ju- niors and seniors who rode to school were all trying to get in and out on the same road. This created traffic jams which stretched like automotive snakes from Midlothian Turn- pike all the way back to the school bus loop. Most students attributed the mess to poor Life Parking Lot planning. The problem stemmed trom the fact that the Charter Colony developers plan eventually to open a road onto Coalfield Road, which will ease the traffic problems. How- ever, these long-range plans did not help the students in 1984-85. To add insult to in- jury, midway through the year, students were forbidden to leave the parking lot before the buses, since the school buses were often late for their junior high schoo! runs. The discontent of the stu- dents became more obvious as the year went on. Every atter- noon the parking lot was the scene of a paintully disharmon- ous horn-blowing contest. Frustrated student drivers made frequent use of their car horns, turning the afternoon IF PUBLICITY WAS WHAT THE STUDENT BODY WANTED, they got it when TV8 newsmen ap- peared outside the school. Midlo't trattic jams had frustrated students undecided about whether to BEEP or WEEP traific jam into a symphony of bleeps and blares that left ear- drums ringing. Students talked of engineering a sitdown strike in front of the buses. Local tele- vision news cameras appeared several times to capture the peaceful protest on film, but it never happened. Students preferred to try and dodge buses and police cars that blocked the parking lot exits, speeding down the tiny road sometimes 60 mph in order to outrun possible pursuers. Mr. Olsen told of other prob- lems: “I’ve seen things I would never thought would happen,” he said, and went on to tell of a “crazy fool’’ who bypassed the long line of cars on Charter Colony Parkway by riding up the wrong side of the road, reaching the highway very TRYING TO MAKE A QUICK EXIT, Cars line up as school buses block each exit from the student | parking lot. quickly indeed. ‘It doesn’ seem fair,” howled one stu dent. ‘I have to be at work at 2:00 pm. and with this mess | won't even be out of the park- ing lot by 2:10 unless som nice person lets me out.” The- traffic jam also produced tar- dies in the morning, since po- lice stationed out on Midloth ian Turnpike held up long lines” of traffic to let the buses get. through. Despite the publicity given. to Midlo’s driving problems, and dozens of calls to the Mid- lothian Supervisor Joan Gir- one, no end to the problem seemed in sight. Students had two options for dealing with the aggravating situation: ‘You can either beep or weep,” ex- plained one junior resignedly, ‘and sometimes you do both.”

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- Pa ONT OOS sae eae ee . Scott Miles Robbie O'Brien Blair Pierce Renee Saunders India Galloway Cathy Mason Shannon Viveiros Kazaan Viveiros Wendy Pember Kristine Gutleber Scott Miles Mr. Terrell Elizabeth Colucci Melissa Lowe . Susan Dailey . Brian Purcell . Lynne Schutze David Girardeau J.T. Moore . Chris Farabaugh . Richard Turner . Kim Tracy . Kim Rapp . Rony Johnson . David Kaulters . Debbi Marks . Kenny Robinson . Karen Dailey 29: eo) ole cee Shey 34. Si 36. owe 38. 3: AO. Pam Stanley Tony Moore Rebecca Rice Susan Cope Tom O'Donnell Andrew Rose Karen Petrasy Jon DeNunzio Lynn Hayward Mary Beth Staton Jessica Maxwell Michael Farabaugh ) LAI ; =| SESAME STREET €¢ CHESTERFIELD COUNTY LIBRARY VIRGINIA

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Aine wt Sey IMPATIENTLY SITTING IN HIS CAR, Tom O’Donnell looks quite perturbed about the aggravating traffic line-up. Parking Lot Life 23