In the 1976 Aklan…
we do not find an entry for the 1975-1976 Acalanes Radio Club.
While we don’t find an entry in the yearbook, we do find the Acalanes Radio Club in the Winter 1975-1976 amateur radio call book.
The entry states the following:
B Acalanes Radio Club, 1200 Pleasant Hill Rd, Lafayette 94549
The B indicates a club license.
We mentioned in the post on the 1974-1975 Acalanes Radio Club that interest in clubs would return, but not in the way the school was thinking.
Enter the Julie Holbrook, Let’s Just Be Friends club:
Ripping off the weather rock seems to be a favorite pastime for some. The prohibitive expense of round rocks explains why the stolen rock is rarely replaced.
Although apathy prevailed in other parts of school, one group of students was determined to fight the malignant disease. A new club was founded by Phil Harrington and christened JHLBF-Julie Holbrook Let’s Just Be Friends–the second “J” is silent.
JHLBF originated with 3 members and within the first few months had grown to include over 50 students.
Activities were the most important part of the club. “Shifting Gears”, a monthly newspaper, was published, satirizing the present day news situation. The JHLBF Memorial Weather Rock was erected in Fairy Square to warn members of impending storms. The club formed a kazoo band and participated in Lafayette’s annual Horse and Buggy Day Parade, capturing 3rd place.
In Phil Harrington’s words, “We just goof around and have a good time.”
JHLBF debuted formally on Tuesday, October 14th. The JHLBF 21st regiment and kazoo marching band paraded out onto the football field at lunch during homecoming festivities. They marched out, stopped, turned, yelled once, and left.
The club was so popular on campus that competing rocks were erected.
Due to the popularity of JHLBF, a few students tried to grab attention by creating a memorial patterned after the renowned weather rock. JHLBF members became outraged and the grave of Autoharp Tuner was removed soon after it was erected.
This all leads one to wonder whether Julie Holbrook was a real person or not. She was a real person and a sophomore during the 1975-1976 school year.
It was probably not the first, but from now on wacky clubs like this start to show up in high schools across the Acalanes Union High School District.
Along more official lines, the student government had undergone a change, but it seems to have had some trouble getting traction: “The new student government is open to anyone but most people don’t know anything about it.” –Lisa Larsen
The new student government created in 1975 was put to the test in 1976. Theories and predictions had to be set aside. The students body had to work within the new system and prove it a failure or a success.
The new government had been accepted by many solely on the basis that it was unusual and exciting. Although it broke the students’ apathy, many wondered if it would actually be a worthwhile improvement. As the ’74-’75 school year came to a close it became apparent that the ’75-’76 students would be the ones to see the first results.
A week before the 1976 elections were to be held, signs began to appear around the school warning students that February 13th was the deadline for candidate sign-ups. Friday arrived, and it was announced that elections would be postponed because not enough people were running for office. It seemed that student involvement had slid back to its previous pattern of decline. One of the major purposes of the new constitution was to promote student interest; in this area it had failed so far.
The outcome of the new government was not totally disappointing. When several board members and some interested students and teachers were asked, they generally agreed that the new system did show major advantages over the old one. The new process was more efficient and decisions could be made more quickly. The arrangement also provided more opportunities for students to get involved if they wished to, and anyone could voice an opinion.
The board set out to work on the problem of low election sign-ups. Each board member went to several classrooms to explain the government and the candidate list began to lengthen.
The delay had extended from 1 week to 3 and the elections were finally reset for February 27. By this time the field of competitors had increased to normal size in all classes except the Freshman class. No Freshman ever signed up, and consequently they were not represented on the board. Other than that the usual campaign atmosphere had enveloped the school and the controversial speeches were held. Scandal struck the day before the election when the BLUEPRINT published a damaging editorial aimed at specific candidates. There was not time left before the election for a public rebuttal to represent an opposing opinion. No one could actually prove that the article had changed a winning candidate to a losing one, but irate reactions appeared in the BLUEPRINT and JHLBF’s Shifting Gears for several weeks.
That’s all the information on this part that we have at the moment. As with all these posts, please feel free to share any information you might have.
For more on the Acalanes Radio Station KCEQ rabbit hole and other Lafayette History Rabbit Holes.
Leave a Reply