Get a Grip - glad to see that Norco is maintaining its high standards

If you have a city, then it's very important that you enforce certain standards within the city to ensure that it isn't taken over by the riffraff.

This is the background for this story about the exclusive city of Norco, California:

The opposition to allowing at-risk kids to play golf at Hidden Valley Golf Club through a nonprofit foundation has now spread to the city's Planning Commission.

The commission ruled this week that if the Get A Grip Foundation was going to operate on the course in the future, it could not allow any at-risk youth to participate.

I'm proud of the city of Norco. You can't allow at-risk youth to play golf, of all things. Instead, you should find fine, outstanding men and women, pillars of the community, and let them play golf. None of these (if I may quote from "Music Man") "wild kids."

Oh, wait a minute. Was this the Hidden Valley Golf Club? I've discussed this club before in an April 21, 2006 post in the Ontario Empoblog:

Monday, June 17, 2002
The action was "in tents"
Police in California who raided a private golf tournament say they found prostitutes' tents dotted around the course. They detained over 100 golfers and arrested six others during the raid on the Hidden Valley Golf Club in Norco.

The Times says an LA restaurant booked the course under the name Golf Ventures, thought to be an alias for its real name. As the 100 competitors and 19 women were taken off for questioning, six people were led from the course in handcuffs. The club says it is as shocked as police.

Lisa McConnell of the sheriff's department in Riverside County, east of LA, said: "As part of a golf tournament, sex acts were offered to participants for a fee. There were tents set up around the course where people could pay for sex."

Club manager Eric Roush said: "The restaurant had a few tournaments here - three or four I would say. We knew nothing about any of this activity."

And the citizens of Norco are getting all uppity about at-risk youth? What about the people that they DO let play golf there?

Meanwhile, here's some more information about the Get a Grip Foundation:

Mission Statement

To create an accessible golf-course and practice facility with an emphasis on a no-cost program for children that gives them exposure to the fundamentals of the game of golf through free practice balls, play, equipment, lessons, tournaments, etc.

To provide a motivating educational environment where children of all social levels develop self-esteem, personal and civic responsibility, dedication, sound values, and advanced education for lifelong confidence.


Key Objectives

To introduce, teach, and encourage children in the fundamentals of golf, life skills, and civic education.

To serve the community's youth, specifically targeting those at-risk by offering golf clinics and an after-school homework tutoring program and a summer golf/education camp.

To create employment opportunities for youth in an encouraging, drug and tobacco-free environment.

To build a family-friendly recreation spot where social, racial, and monetary backgrounds are not an issue.

Jay Miller has also written the following:

So we may straighten out all the lawyer want a bee’s and those who think & say numbers about our foundation with no idea what they are speaking of, here are the facts:

* In six years of existence we have had 1350 local children participate in our program cumulatively.

* Currently there are 375 – 450 regular kids – ages 7-18 years old participating in our golf / home work tutoring / life skills program depending on the time of the year. Over 50% of our family’s car pools their children.

* Our program is made up of six - 7 week sessions, open every weekday except Wednesdays, in which our outreach program occupies.

* Our outreach program on Wednesday’s has 34 participants – 24 from youth detention centers, less than 8% of our population.

* Three years our outreach program has existed without one incident.

* The Get a Grip Foundation will not cancel the outreach portion of our program.

* The Foundation has 5x the adult supervision than any public school in America and a 1 adult to 3 participants from the youth detention center ratio.

* 28 local high school scholars’ in our program are on high school golf teams.

* Our average “grippers” grades increase 20% annually.

* This is a complete no-cost program to the children and their families.

* We raise the foundation’s funding through private donations and have never asked or received one penny from any local, state, or federal government.

If Norco wants to adopt a NIMBY attitude, perhaps we could invite the Get a Grip Foundation to come to Ontario. We have good stop signs here.

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