2 Hippie Church Coeds Sent Home From School
By James McNabb, Jr., Daily Pilot Staff, The Daily Pilot, California
December 19, 1968, North America
Two pretty girls affiliated with the church-hopping Teens for Christ Thursday were sent home from a Huntington Beach High School, one with a five-day suspension slip and the other with orders to slip out of her Biblical gown into something less comfortable but more modern.
Assistant Principal Owen Miller said one girl, a junior, appeared on the campus at 15871 Springdale St. robed in illegal Biblical dress.
She was reportedly discovered talking about Jesus to another student and was handed the five-day suspension when she refused to obey orders to halt her preaching.
Miller said the other girl’s suspension came in conjunction with truancy charges, but the petite, brown-eyed senior denied the suspension Thursday was connected with alleged skipping of classes.
She stated it was her fourth suspension since the term began but insisted only the first two were for truancy. The third was three days for passing out gospel tracts on campus, she said.
Principal Glen Dysinger said the girl member of the militant sect had a two-month record of disregarding the anti-religion statutes.
“She has persisted to violate the Education Code which restricts the distribution of religious and political propaganda. We’re approaching the point of referring her to Wintersburg,” he said.
(Wintersburg High School is the continuation high school in the Huntington Beach Union High School District.)
Both girls were taken home by the campus security chief Obie Moore. The junior later returned to classes after changing from her robe.
“I had to do what my mother wanted me to do, so I put on the same kind of dress that all the school robots wear,” she said.
The girls said Thursday afternoon they would continue “to spread the saving grace of Jesus Christ on campus.”
According to the senior girl, the two organized a noon prayer circle and Bible study class which in two months has grown from three to 14 students.
She accused the administration of persecuting students who “proclaim their love of Jesus.”
“I don’t understand why they do this to us. Six months ago my life was one big booze party. I was never happy. And then I was led to the Lord and, Praise God, happiness and joy have constantly filled my heart. I want to share my own peace of mind with others,” she said.
SECOND BRUSH
The oustings Thursday were the Teens for Christ second brush with campus law within a week.
Last Friday six members of the group, headquartered in the “Light Club” at 116 Main St., Huntington Beach, were arrested on trespassing charges at Golden West College.
charges stemmed from their alleged refusal to get off the campus when they were found handing out tracts.
Five of the six were arraigned Monday in municipal court. A sixth person, Marian Tortorella, 18, is scheduled to be arraigned this coming Monday.