Nancy Goodman Watson is a judge. One day during a criminal prosecution she held up her hand, announced a recess and said she wanted to see the officers involved in the case in her chambers immediately. Once the door was closed, Watson told the two investigators, both middle-age career cops, what her trouble was.
It had nothing to do with the case. She was worried about her sons. Not only did Dave, 17, and Steve, 18, have no interest in the family business, which had been law for four generations, but all they ever seemed to think about was pickup trucks and surfboards. They had been talking about quitting school and didn`t know what they wanted out of life.
The two detectives looked at each other. The following Saturday night the judge`s sons accompanied patrol deputies on a sheriff`s department Ride-Along Program. Halfway through the shift the officers pursued four suspects in a stolen car. In the course of the arrest the thieves became combative. Against orders Dave and Steve piled out of the patrol car and ran to help the deputies.
According to the lawmen, the boys helped a lot. Though both acted as if it were no big deal, later unsolicited comments they made to their mother contained expression like ”Holy cow” and ”Man oh, man.”
Watson later told the two detectives that Steve had switched his major to pre-law and Dave, though still in high school, had enrolled in a police science class at a local junior college. He wanted to be a cop.
”What happened?” she asked.
”They got knocked off the fence,” one detective answered. ”They made a commitment,” said the other. The judge thought a minute, then shook her head. ”I had hoped,” she said, ”at least one of them would have decided to go straight.” But she was smiling when she said it.
Sometimes making a commitment needs a nudge.
Here are some nudges
Taking a ride in a police car isn`t the answer for everyone but sometimes just changing your environment, maybe clearing your head of your own particular ”pickup trucks and surfboards,” can make those answers easier to find.
So, assuming a few other people have problems like the judge`s, here are a few suggestions.
There`s a school in the West. It`s a little hard to say quite where, because it`s generally all over the 160,000 square miles of the Colorado Plateau.
When you look up in your ”classroom,” in the daytime you`ll see about a million miles into a cobalt sky. At night you`ll see so many stars it doesn`t look like there`s any black space between them.
Four Corners School of Outdoor Education offers courses and hands-on experience in natural history, archeology, zoology, geology, photography and writing, wilderness and a few other subjects.
It`s run by a non-profit organization that cooperates with Denver, Rice, Mankato State and many other universities. As a consequence it`s good for college credits.
Courses receive difficulty ratings: Level 1 courses require no camping or hiking; levels 3 to 6 have some backpacking, a few miles of hiking, some river rafting. Levels 7 through 9 feature greater distances, some cold weather and some pretty busy white water.
Our friend Janet Ross, who knows and loves the school, says level 10 is known as ”You must be crazy.” She also says, ”You may never want to leave the Colorado Plateau.” The average costs (for 7-day excursions) usually are less than $100 a day.
The minimum age for those without adult supervision is 14. There`s no maximum age. For more information: Four Corners School, East Route, Monticello, Utah 84535; 801-587-2859 or 800-525-4456.
Language lessons
When our son John, who teaches English as a Second Language at Miami High School, was perfecting his Spanish he spent a semester in Mexico with a Mexican family. John remembers it as one of the best times of his life.
The Center for Bilingual Studies at Cuernavaca, Mexico, is offering a summer Spanish language course that amounts to about the same experience. The course, Fun, Sun and Spanish in Mexico, will run June 7 through July 10 for students 13 through 17.
Students live with Mexican families who provide meals, family atmosphere and probably roommates. Besides the class work, there are sports, fiestas, discotheques and archeological field trips. Everything has adult supervision. Tuition for the high school program is $215 a week and meals and accommodations are $20 a night.
Contact the U.S. Office of the Center for Bilingual Studies, 3133 Lake Hollywood Drive, Box 1860, Los Angeles, Calif. 90078; 213-851-3403 or 800-426-4660.
`City Slicker` vacation
The City Slicker vacation, about the same as it was in the movie of the same name (but probably without the shooting) really exists, if you call it a vacation to be a ”drover” working cattle on a real cattle trail. You supply a working body and an adventurous spirit and the outfitters supply everything else, including food (usually hot and brown), plenty of instruction, the horses and the cattle. You get up-close and personal with places like the Wasatch Plateau, Missouri Breaks, Powder River and the open range. The West is still there. But you`d better not wait too long.
On average an eight-day trip costs just under $125 per person per day;
the same trip for family members 12 to 15 costs about $87 a day.
Or try a little variety. You can travel by covered wagon. The Bozeman Trail Trip, a wagon train that you can share with children down to 3 years old, takes four days. Adults: $480, Children 8 to 14: $380 and children 3 to 7: $45.
Dude ranch adventure
The dude ranch adventure in North America never has been better. My wife and I like White Stallion Ranch just outside of Tucson. That we have a daughter and two grandchildren living in Tucson has nothing to do with it. That Mrs. True, besides being the ranch`s matriarch, is a great cook has nothing to do with it, either.
In all fairness, though, most of the dude ranches that have been around awhile are good. And just about all of them are better than spending your time in some resort-hotel, which will most likely cost you more without providing the adventure.
Check your travel agent or contact: American Wildlife Experience, Box 1486, Boulder, Colo. 80306, or call 800-444-0099, 800-444-3833 or
303-444-2622.
Lastly, Space Camp
I`ve got an old friend, Ed Stone, who used to be pretty big in country music, which I thought was about the ultimate thing to be, but when I ask him, Stone just shakes his head. ”If Space Camp had been around when I was growing up, I`d have been an astronaut. Some of the best, most exciting times of my life have been there in NASA`s back yard.” Ed works for the outfit now.
A lot has been written about Space Camp, but it`s worth mentioning again. Whether you`re a 4th grade student or grandparent, a teenager or a teacher, you can attend this non-profit camp and participate on the level that suits you best.
You`ll find yourself in a space suit, using equipment the astronauts used. You`ll be part of simulated Mission Control one day and at the controls of the shuttle Discovery the next.
Does it affect people`s lives? Dan Ladwig of Topeka said, ”I cut grass all summer to get to go. It was worth it. My parents are matching what I save so I can go back next year.”
Stone showed me dozens of letters from former participants in the weeklong program. All of them marked that week as one of the most important they had ever spent.
There were two Stone particularly liked. A boy named Lyle Coleman of Indiana, wrote, ”It`s the first place I`ve ever been where it was cool to be smart.” But a Sherri Eschete said it best: ”Space Camp taught me how to reach for a goal-because of Space Camp, I`m still reaching and I won`t ever stop.”
Because the camp is non-profit, prices average less than $100 a day;
adult classes are slightly higher. Lodging and meals (space food at least once) are included and Delta Airlines will arrange discount fares to get you there.
Of the 100,000 who attended Space Camp`s first nine years, 31,000 have come back for more.
Write: U.S. Space Camp, Reservations, Box 1680A, Huntsville, Ala. 35807;
205-837-3400 or 800-63-SPACE.
