Page 10/The Battalion/Tuesday, March 3, 1987 V Handicapped (Continued from page 1) must have a friend with her or get a librarian to assist her because the racks are so close together on the top two floors that a wheel chair will not fit between them. And she doesn’t like sitting on the floor of G. Rollie White Col iseum during basketball games. It’s not only that you can’t see as well, she says, but that she would rather sit with all her friends and be part of the crowd. She hopes the new special-events center be ing planned for A&M will have enough room for wheelchairs in the bleachers. Working with computers doesn’t sit well with Marshall ei ther, because typing without full mobility of the hands is a chal lenge. The perfect solution for not only her, but all handicapped students on campus, Marshall says, is a voice-controlled com puter. Marshall is thinking about be coming a journalism major, and although the computer systems used are new and expensive, she says she can’t understand why a large university like A&M doesn’t have the capability to obtain equipment suitable for hand- ATLANTA (AP) — Some Atlanta officials were wondering if the first shot has been fired in a trade war following the Houston City Council’s refusal to award a $2.1 million con tract to an Atlanta company a few hours after Atlanta won the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Fulton County Commission Chairman Michael Lomax says he has no interest in getting into a trade war with Houston, but he said At lanta would win such a war. Indeed, several Houston firms asked the city’s council to reconsider icapped students. But Marshall says the challenge of typing won’t stop her from changing majors — it just won’t be easy. She can learn to finger- peck at a keyboard if she has to, she says. “I think society is just starting to realize and accept hand icapped people,” Marshall says. “I think it is just going to take time like anything else.” Marshall is just one example of about 20 wheelchair-bound stu dents on campus, and compared to many others, her handicaps are minor. She has partial mobil ity of her legs and arms, while some students are totally par alyzed. Besides being in a wheelchair, all these students — along with learning-disabled students, blind students and deaf students — have one thing in common: the Handicapped and Veterans Serv ices office in Hart Hall. The handicapped services staff provides assistance to students with learning or physical disabili ties. Dr. Charles Powell, coordina tor for handicapped services, says the staff works with the Univer sity community to resolve any its 14-0 vote not to award the con tract to an Atlanta firm, the Atlanta Constitution said in today’s editions. The vote took place about four hours after the Democratic Site Se lection Committee announced it pre ferred Atlanta. The paper said the timing of the contract vote seems to suggest that there were indeed multiple factors. Houston council member Jim Greenwood said, “We are giving the business to Atlanta, which appar ently is going to get lots of business over the next two years anyway.” problems encountered by hand icapped students so the students can better meet their educational and personal goals. The original goal of the office was to make sure the A&M cam pus was accessible by law to hand icapped students, Powell says. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 stated that no handicapped indi vidual can be excluded from any federally-funded program within reason. After the law passed, the Uni versity formed a committee to make recommendations to the president as to what handicapped facilities should be improved and designed. Basically, the commit tee decided where to put curb cuts, parking spots and ramps, he says. “That was a good start, but overall it was an inadequate pro gram for what had to come,” Powell says. Since then, Powell says, a bud get has been used to add addi tional curb cuts and parking, and new building and renovation plans are evaluated to ensure that everything from elevator buttons to bathrooms is accessible to handicapped students. Powell, the only professional staff member in handicapped services, is assisted by one full time secretary. The office also staffs two student workers, four student drivers for van service for handicapped students and four veterans paid by the federal gov ernment. The office also provides special services like mobility assistance, minor wheelchair repairs, hand icapped parking and an atten dant locator service. It also coor dinates many academic services: advising, special registration, tape recordings of lectures, selected tutoring, special arrangements for taking tests and any other need the office can handle. “This office is a focal point that they (handicapped students) come to and let us know what we need to get done,” Powell says. Atlanta leaders suspect Houston seeking ‘trade war’ Warped by Scott McCullc ONE-FOURTH OF THE PEOPLE IN THE LOCAL AREA CANT READ THIS sr SI&Nfr | i puh'fwl’/ Waldo by Kevin Thome wi Questions on what WE HAVE TO OFFEM Prisons (Continued from page 1) controlled by a private corporation. industry is very common, said Dr. Gary Halter, former College Station mayor. The government doesn’t have to come up with money for the building beforehand, but they own it from the beginning. “Another strategy would have the company build and own the prison,” Crouch said. “The state could lease it under a lease-purchase agreement, and down the road, the state would eventually own it. “The state would staff it, the state would man it, the state would run it, but the fiscal — and physical — as pects would have been initiated and Qy a private corpora mat I can gather, there are advantages in terms of giving the state more flexibility; the state doesn’t have to come up with this huge chunk of money to pay for the construction.” you medicate them, you proif them, you rehibilitate them. An forth. That is the extreme end is what is least frequently being; ne.” Crouch said the other extreme, a totally private prison, would be al most completely run by the private industry. “The next step would be you (the E rivate firm) build it and you run it,” e said. “We’ll (the state) provide the convicts and the money. “You maintain security, you make decisons, you keep them locked up, But Halter said there are st prison operations that could non listically Ik* contracted out. “1 don’t think you'd wanttoic Death Row over to an ‘Electrom Enterprises Inc.,’ ” he said. “Tlic are some things you just caniti over. 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