state
THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1980
Page 1
jjMontrose Patrol works with cops
br revets.
United Press International
HOUSTON — The members of
the Montrose Patrol are policing
I ni ' 1 ; 1 - their own neighborhood to make up
II for what they see as inadequate
l ' l! police protection in growth-strained
n ceO IJ " Houston.
sterility
Police officials, who have 3,000
officers and say they need 2,000
more to patrol a 600-square-mile city
of 1.7 million, said they will tolerate
the patrol if members keep in mind
that they are not police and stay
within the law.
Its of t
U.S, seri.
to cleai
said in
ley were
mbs drop
ast 1945,
United Press International
MLAJFKIN — A fire in a low-income
apartment building killed six family
members, including four children,
early Thursday and fire officials cre-
nesday dit a car burglar alarm for waking
U.S. Cfother residents.
isuscofi!
The blaze, which apparently
irted in the apartment where six
mfembers of the Ray Charles Bryant
^ ureau ' family were found dead of smoke in-
tnc inhalation, spread quickly through the
icossa: building’s common attic, destroying
prctatc the Bryants’ unit and severely
damaging three others.
al/pl Several other apartments at the
✓IIClLufkin Courts were occupied but all
other occupants were evacuated
safely, Fire Marshal Roscoe Gibson
said. Cause of the blaze had not been
( , determined.
estCoai! car parked right next to the
ms to use
irk, sam.p
: clippini
on impr
meratioi
room (where the fire started) had a
burglar alarm and it was going off and
I think that probably woke up most of
the people,” Gibson said. “Appa
rently it was set off by the heat and
woke up someone and he started
knocking on doors.”
The bodies of Bryant, 26, his wife,
Mary, 26, and their four children —
Melinda, 8, Tyrone, 7, Mitchell Lee,
6, and Ray Charles Jr., 5, — were
found scattered around the apart
ment.
“Apparently the parents tried to
get out,” Fire Department Lt.
Charles Selman said. “The father
was found in the kitchen door and
the mother was found between the
bathroom and the hallway to the
door. One of the kids was found by a
window, another one on the floor,
another in bed and one beneath a
bed.”
Texas reports high
‘^incidence of rabies
t in Mai
k In nra United Press International
of elect JUSTIN — One hundred and six-
j n teen new cases of rabies were re-
■aletr PVtcd in March, the chief of the
' veterinary public health bureau of
1 the Texas Department of Health
^^announced Thursday.
BDr. Foy V. McCasland said statis
tics for the first three months of 1980
are ahead of last year when 1,195
confirmed cases of rabies were re
ported.
McCasland said that of the 116
ses reported in March, 82 involved
unks. He said rabies also yvere in-
dentified in 22 dogs, 18 cats, nine
horses and six cats.
On a good note, TDH announced
that in 1979 no cases of polio or diph
theria had been reported.
Dr. Jerome H. Greenberg, depu
ty commissioner for preventable dis
eases, said the statistics reflect a
nationwide trend with the decline of
childhood diseases.
“We’ve got as good an immuniza
tion program as any in the nation,”
he said.
Greenberg said no cases of polio or
diphtheria have been reported in the
state in two years.
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Leaders of the 11-month-old orga
nization, founded by homosexuals
who live in the Montrose area just
west of downtown, said it has im
proved relations between the gay
community and the police.
Six persons dead
in Lufkin blaze
They also said the 20-member
weekend patrol is no longer exclu
sively homosexual but has attracted
participation by straights who be
lieve their community needs more
patroling.
“Now about 20 percent of our
members are straight,” said Tom
Plemmons, one of the patrol’s seven
supervisors. “People don’t check on
your sexual preference before they
bash your head in.”
Steve Coats, patrol leader, said
they work mostly Friday and Satur
day nights, as well as other nights
when large crowds are expected in
Montrose. He said the members use
their own cars, for which they are
paid 18 cents a mile.
“We not only feel we have made a
significant impact on street vio
lence,” Coats said, “but have also
managed to change the attitudes be
tween segments of the gay commun
ity and the Houston Police Depart
ment.
Deputy Police Chief R.G.
McKeehan was guarded in his com
ments about the group.
“Any community involvement
which assists us in fighting crime is
welcome as long as they follow the
rules themselves,” McKeehan said.
“We haven’t heard anything adverse
about this particular group.
Coats, a teacher at Houston Com
munity College, said rules are strict.
Patrol members are constantly re
minded they are not policemen and
are forbidden to carry weapons or
use guard dogs, Coats said. Mem
bers are told to radio a dispatcher
who will call police about any
trouble.
“If we see a crime in progress, we
will intervene and we realize the
risks we take when we do that,”
Coats said. “But our principal pur
pose is prevention.”
One member of the patrol has re
ceived minor injuries in breaking up
a fight.
McKeehan said the patrol has pro
vided useful information to police.
“They’re probably the most cohe
sive group in the city trying to do
something in their own community.
They’re spending quite a bit of time
and money,” McKeehan said.
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Low census return rate
unexplained in Houston
United Press International
HOUSTON — A disappointing
55 percent of mailed-out census
forms have been returned in the
nation’s fastest growing big city, and
the Census Bureau has too few
workers to pursue delinquents, offi
cials said Thursday.
Census officials said they were un
able fully to explain the low return
rate on the 1.3 million forms mailed
in Houston. Other cities have ex
perienced much higher return rates.
But officials said the difficulty re
cruiting census workers could be
attributed to low unemployment (ab
out 4 percent), low pay ($3.50 an
hour) and the unpleasantness and
temporariness of the work.
Officials said some of the mailback
problem could be attributed to the
transient nature of much of Hous
ton’s population, and its rapid
growth. They said many residents
had called in to say they never re
ceived their forms.
“In areas of high growth, we’ve
missed whole condominiums,” west
Houston census manager Urban
O’Brien said. “Sometimes we’ve
missed whole apartment projects.”
O’Brien said anyone with the time
to work a few hours will be wel-
the bureau might be forced to bring
in workers from other regions to
complete the census.
cornea.
“We have teachers working from 9
to 10 o’clock at night,” he said. “We
can’t physically get the numbers to
come in and take the (qualifying)
test.”
Noe Balli, regional census coordi
nator, said the bureau has 3,700
workers and needs 14,000. He said
Palmer Bowser, assistant to Mayor
Jim McConn, said the city has been
baffled by the census takers’ failure
to take advantage of the Manpower
federal job-training program.
“We have a lot of problems work
ing with the U.S. Labor and Com
merce departments as to what the
Manpower employees can do,”
answered Lionel Rawlins, central
Houston census manager.
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