Y.F.C. drinking too much for leader

Press, 27 May 1978, Page 2

Y.F.C. drinking too much for leader

Ms Sue Johns, vice-chair-man of the North Canterbury district committee of Young Farmers’ Clubs, has .resigned — in protest 'against the amount of drinkling within the organisation. Her letter of resignation I was read in committee at! jthe Y.F.C. district committee ; meeting on Tuesday evening. Ms Johns said later that I the increasing consumption ■ of alcohol within the Young : Farmers’ movement was i something she was not prepared to support. ! “I could not be a hypo-! Icrite and stay in the organ ! lisation; I do not want to be; ' a part of something that I do not believe in,” she said. , The drinking was socially: !and morally wrong; it was' !not only associated with: 'road fatalities but was a disease. Ms Johns said that if thei Y.F.C. movement was a! social one, such as a darts l [club, drinking would not be

an issue. However, Y.F.C was a youth organisation, and she did not like to see . the encouragement within it .to consume alcohol. In spite of her resignation, Ms Johns said she had i| enjoyed her association with :! the Young Farmers* Club ■| movement. She first joined the ; Hawarden-Waikari Country i Girls’ Club six years ago. ; She then moved to the ; Amuri Country Girls’ Club and then the Young Farm- ■ ers’ Club when the C.G.C. J and Y.F.C. amalgamated. •I She has been secretary : and chairman of the Amuri 11 branch, and secretary of the ; North Canterbury district ■: committee for two years. ;[She was elected vice-chair-i man this year. Replying to Ms Johns’s ■ accusations, Mr R. W. Meh- ; rtens, also a vice-chairman I of the North Canterbury | Y.F.C. district committee, denied that there was any

encouragement within the /movement to drink. ; » ‘‘l believe the consumption tjof alcohol has, in fact, decreased during the last few , years,” he said. The amalga--11 mation of the Country Girls’ i Club and the Young Farm-; > ers’ Club four or five years: ago gave the young men an ! 5 incentive not to drink as; much as they did when thei '.[organisations were separate.” > In any case, he said, most ■ of the members in the North I . Canterbury Y.F.C. district | were over the legal drinking: ? age and did not want to be> i prevented from drinking al-! * cohol at the organisation’s; t social functions. ‘‘For those who are under j ■ age, there is always an alternative, non-alcoholic i drink provided at functions,”’ ■ said Mr Mehrtens. “Although! i we do not police them in! ' this matter, we expect them ,to use their better judg-: ’ ment.” '