Ilion High School - Class of 1965

Utica Daily Press - March 30, 1965

Valley Mayors to Probe Suicide-Thrill Club Reports

By Mary Edwards

Article 10a

Valley Mayors to Probe Suicide-Thrill Club Reports

Reports of teen-age suicide and thrill clubs will be investigated at a special meeting of Mohawk Valley mayors and police officials, Herkimer Mayor John E. Pryor announced last night.

He said he would call the meeting as president of the Mohawk Valley Mayor's Conference, which includes representatives from Ilion, Frankfort, Mohawk, Herkimer, Dolgeville, Little Falls, Middleville, Newport and Poland. No date was set.

Reports of the teen thrill clubs, currently circulating through the Valley, include one of an Ilion youth found hanging nude and nearly dead. Another report, that of a planned rumble (teen gang fight) was prompted by police cancellations of dances last Saturday night in both Ilion and Herkimer.

"THESE RUMORS HAVE BEEN BLOWN UP out of proportion," Mayor Pryor said. He and Ilion Mayor John B. Morris said there were no facts concerning reports of any such area clubs.

Ilion Police Chief Maurice U. Goldin agreed, saying "people are letting rumors take over without getting the facts."

COMMENTING ON THE STORY of the hanging Ilion youth, Goldin described it as "a prank by four or five boys." The case has been referred to Herkimer County Family Court.

Passersby found the youth last Wednesday hanging from a ceiling brace of a concession trailer. The vehicle was in an Ilion parking area off West Street.

Chief Goldin said several youths had tied the boy's hands with rope, removed his left shoe and sock, and hung his hands over the brace. He was found shortly after.

The Herkimer dance, sponsored by the RE Sorority and scheduled in the VFW Home, was canceled by Police Chief Karl Gunther. The Ilion dance, to have been conducted by Herkimer radio disc jockey Billy Williams, was scheduled in the YMCA.

CHIEF GOLDIN DISCOUNTED REPORTS of a suicide club and that members wore wooden crucifixes.

Wooden crosses, worn by many teen-agers, are a fad and are being sold by a local church youth group to raise money for an annual Easter trip, he said.

"We have investigated every possible reported rumor," the chief said, "but they are still just rumors."

"I think the teen-age problems should be explored more deeply by the law forces," Mayor Morris said. "I hate to see the majority of the kids hurt because of the actions of a minority group.

"I would not like to see a curfew until we try more ideas of law enforcement." Morris replied to an inquiry on the possibility of a curfew.

ILION POLICE ADMIT THEY HAVE HAD problems with fights during teen-age dances. A West Winfield youth was badly beaten Saturday night at a dance in Ilion High School. It was sponsored by the Ilion Teachers' Association as part of the group's annual scholarship fund raising campaign.

The youth, police said, was prompted to fight by an Ilion teen-ager, who was backed by several friends.

A HERKIMER TEEN-AGE GIRL said "The whole thing is ridiculous. We didn't know, we had a problem in Herkimer until the police called off the dance."

"Our kids are not hoodlums," she added. "We have had no trouble at all and then all of a sudden you hear these things."

CAPT. SAMUEL MAYTAN of the Herkimer Police Department claimed the police there never had any trouble at dances.

"We heard the kids from Ilion wanted to fight and we thought it best to call off the dance than have trouble with about 300 kids as the audience," he said.

"The kids in my estimation are good kids," Maytan said. "There might be two or three that cause trouble but you can't say they are all bad."

An Ilion man claimed that "everyone concerned is getting a lot more publicity than they should get. They are wallowing in the glory."

Still another Ilion businessman said "the kids aren't any worse now than they ever were. They will grow out of it eventually."

TROUBLE WITH TEEN-AGERS began throughout the Valley last summer when there was vandalism and destruction of public and personal property including the Ilion and Frankfort High Schools and Armory Hill Cemetery.

At that time, former Ilion Mayor Donald E. Hall proposed a curfew throughout the Valley villages. His proposal failed to receive support from the mayors.