Wednesday, July 20, 1983/The Battalion/Paae 7 \ggie project to help Warped by Scott McCullar landicapped girl speak K; United Press International Three Texas A&M University igiileering students are de- jloping a device that may allow 15-year-old cerebral palsy vic- m to speak. Jearching for a worthwhile deal engineering design project, the students ed of Rachael Raatz, the aughter of an art designer on unpus. Born with cerebral pal- icomplicated by brain damage, ^Hael cannot walk, feed her- jlf or perform many of the Isks most people take for raated. ^■She’s dependent on her for everything,” her ithtr, Jim Raatz of the Texas ngineering Experiment Sta- onlsaid. “That wouldn’t be so hard to bear if only she could talk. “Sometimes when she’s trying to tell me what she wants, I can’t figure it out fast enough. She gets frustrated, I get frus trated and the whole situation falls apart,” he said. Students Spencer Shawhan, Scott Rich and Lee Ziegenhals have developed a voice- synthesizing machine that util izes a hand-held keyboard and a microprocessor. A speech synth esizer chip generates appropri ate sounds. The basic machine design and programming have been com pleted, and the students are working on the keyboard. Simi lar machines are on the market, they said, but the compact size and low price tag — about $ 130 so far — make the students’ de sign unique and well suited for the handicapped. Computers like the one the students have developed will play a major role in helping handicapped persons overcome barriers in the everyday world, Raatz said. “One of the first things pa rents of handicapped children discover is that the medical pro fession can do little beyond diag nosis of the problem,” Raatz said. "Parents finally end up hav ing to go to adaptive people who can provide the appliances to help their children function in the everyday world. Those peo ple are engineers,” he said. Texan ending 1,650 mile run fant death investigated United Press International ALSTIN — Officials from ncEialMr anc i Kerr counties re- :ived $25,000 in state funds to mtinue their investigations of pa liiild and infant deaths, n frJjhe $25,000, donated by the secutive funding committee of overnor’s Criminal Justice Division, was released to the Ala mo Area Council of Govern ments at its meeting in Austin Monday. A nine-month grand jury in vestigation resulted in a murder Limit 1 coupon for any particular Itom. Limit 1 coffoa and claaratta n. Offor r - * ‘ 1 • Half of the money will go to Kerr County, and the other half will be released to Bexar County. indictment against nurse Genene Jones for the death of 15-month-old Chelsea Ann McClellan of Kerrville. United Press International ELMSFORD, N.Y. — A 1,650-mile benefit marathon run from Dallas was turned down for sponsorship by the Muscular Dystrophy organiza tion, but the family of the run ner has been happy to help. Thomas Holodak, 29, was due to complete his run Tuesday. the story of Terry Fox, a one- legged marathon runner who ran across Canada to raise money for cancer research. Holodak left his Dallas home on June 10. His favorite charity, Muscular Dystrophy, refused to sponsor him, his mother said. He was last spotted Monday on Route 46 in New Jersey. The runner was inspired by “There was nobody in terested in backing him, but we’re going to give money to charity anyway,” Eleanor Holo dak said. “I decided to donate 5 cents NOW'S THE TIME TO TAKE products In slzoo cpoclfiad on tha coupon. Thl« offor appllaTonly to - . ! *. manufacture rV "Cant* Off" coupon* for I tarns w* carry and not to MANUFACTURES S CENTS OFF COUPONS o frwmrtna IfrfWIAr rtV rstr* 11 a • rvr-A craa a rmr-t JL •naoa. •>** I coupon. Offor limited to manuforturor's coupons of 5#* value or I Coupon* over M* will be redeemed at face valua. You must purchase "Free" coupons or Kroper or retail food store coupons. Amount of re fund cannot axcaad the cost of tha Item. ’»K. U.S. CHOICI BEEF BONELESS ROUND ’flip Roasts u.s. Choice beef boneless engi Roasts u.s. choice beef round bone hWNELISS family pak beef Cvbe Steaks 99 Shouldor Roasts. u . * 1 M LEAN BEEF Back Ribs SMALL SIZE (3 LBS. & DOWN) $ for every mile he ran in order not to have the trip be in vain,” she said. “Since I decided to do that, relatives, friends, even my daughter-in-law’s parents have decided to contribute,” Mrs. Holodak said. She said Thomas, a physical education teacher and track coach at a Dallas high school, will decide which charity should get the donations when he finishes the run in Elmsford, his home town. “The money will probably go to Muscular Dystrophy, who he asked to sponsor him in the first place,” Mrs. Holodak said. “They said the trip was too dangerous for them to be in volved. They said if he wanted to run somewhere locally (in Dal las), they would be glad to take part,” she said. Holodak has been averaging 40 miles a day and has lived on a daily meal and plenty of fluids, his mother said. Stockyard aiming for tourist center United Press International FORT WORTH — Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton is in vesting $16 million to develop the historic Fort Worth Stock- yards into an entertainment cen ter expected to draw 2.5 million tourists a year. Newton, one of five investors in the $45 million deal, owns half interest in the project announced Monday by Billy Bob Barrett, owner of the Billy Bob’s Texas night club in Fort Worth and one of the investor. Plans for the development in clude a turn-of-the-century county fair featuring carnival rides and an upgraded Cow- town Coliseum, which is owned by the city, said project spokes man David Lindsey. ment of Housing and Urban De velopment to provide them with a $12.5 million grant. HUD would make a decision on the grant by October, Lind sey said, and if it failed to approve the money, he said the project would be revised. “We’re not making this into a Disneyland or a Big D-type de velopment,” Lindsey said. “The charm of the Stockyards is that they’re real. “It’s a large-scale area that should be developed very sensi tively. It’s going to be a real au thentic western center,” Lindsey said. “I have fallen in love with the Stockyards and with Fort Worth,” Newton said. “I think we have a great opportunity to build a major tourist, entertain ment and commercial center in this historic setting.” Newton and the other inves tors have committed $32.3 mil lion to the project, and they are counting on the U.S. Depart- The other investors are all Fort Worth businessmen, in cluding William F. Beuck II, a developer; Holt Hickman, pres ident of Pacific Cruise Systems Inc., manufacturer of auto mobile cruise controls; and Steve “Cowboy” Murrin, a real estate investor. Lindsey said the development was expected to draw 2.5 million tourists a year and projected it would generate 1,600 perma nent jobs. Murder trial fund request dropped United Press International AUSTIN — A Walker County Judge says the county withdrew its request for $150,000 in state assistance for the capital murder trial of prison inmate Eroy BroWn because it knew the appropriation would not be approved. Judge Ralph Davis said Mon day he withdrew me request for the funds after being informed that both Comptroller Bob Bul lock and Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby planned to vote against award ing the aid. Hobby, Bullock and Gov. Mark White comprise the advis ory council that approves distri bution of funds from the Cri minal Justice Division of the governor’s office. Davis said the county, which contains a large part of the state’s prison system, had hoped to use the state assistance for a future trial of Brown, who faces a capital murder charge in the death of Ellis Unit farm mana ger Billy Max Moore. As yet, no date has been set for the trial. Brown has been tried twice for capital murder in the killing of Ellis Unit Warden Wallace Pack. The first trial resulted in a mistrial, and Brown was acquit ted in the second trial of charges stemming from Pack’s death. Nearly $500,000 was ex pended in Brown’s first two trials, and Walker County au thorities have said they cannot proceed with a third trial with out more money. “It’s up to him (the district attorney) to decide what he (Brown) will be charged with, but it’s up to the county to pay for it.” Davis said. White said if Brown eventual ly goes to trial for Moore’s death, he would try to provide legal assistance through the attorney general’s office. State Sen. Craig Washington, D-Houston, who served as Brown’s attorney in the first two cases, has opposed a third trial, saying there has been no new evidence. Brown admitted that he shot Moore and drowned Pack, but said he did so because he feared the two planned to kill him in an area of the prison grounds known as the bottoms. - Soviet officials barred from space center United Press International HOUSTON — Four high- ranking Soviet officials came to Houston as guests of a sister-city association, but one place they really wanted to visit is off limits to them, State Department offi cials said. The mayors of Baku, Minsk and Voronezh, plus the admi nistrator in charge of Moscow had asked for permission to see the Johnson Space Center but were turned down by the State Department Monday. U.S. reciprocates by limited Soviet travel to about 24 percent of this country, said Judy Jame son, with the State Department in Washington. “Actually the Soviets only let Americans see about 2 percent of their country, since what is available to American tourists is basically inhospitable territory,” Jameson said. Officials also said all military installations are off-limits to the Soviet visitors. Since the Soviet Union offi cially allows Americans to see only 20 percent of its nation, the The organization which brought the men to Texas is cal led the Houston — Baku Sister City Association. Baku, like Houston, is a city whose for tunes are tied to petroleum. The visitors also toured Ten- neco, department stores and River Oaks mansions. They will leave Houston Wednesday.