Monday, May 4, 1987/The Battalion/Page 5
lew project provides chance
or students to help minorities
By Tammy Hedgpeth
Reporter
Some minority children have the
potential to be successful, both in
jchool and in society, but often
ft given an opportunity, says Dr.
)onna Wiseman, a Texas A&M as-
ciate professor in educational cur
riculum and instruction.
Wiseman and Dr. Patricia Larke,
kn assistant professor in educational
purriculum and instruction, have de
igned a mentorship project that will
[>air area minority children with stu-
jents in order to help the children
ecome aware of availible opportu-
lities.
“We want to get the student who
jias many times been overlooked,”
Larke says. “That’s one of our top
priorities.”
Wiseman says she hopes to get
thildren who want to be academi-
pally successful if given the opportu-
lity.
“We’re going to look more at atti-
jude — a willingness of the student
jo be involved,” she says.
The participating A&M student
dll have a great responsibility, Wise-
Jnan says.
“Each kid will be matched up with
kn A&M student,” she says. “A&M
students will do things like tutor the
minority student, keep in touch with
the student by mail through the
summer and take the student to an
Aggie basketball game or a MSC Op
era and Performing Arts Society
production. Funding will be pro
vided for our students to do that.”
can make these children understand
this is something they can do. Pro
viding models is a very big goal.”
A&M students hope to help ac
complish this project, which is de
signed with the minority child in
“By working academically with the children, the A&M
students will provide role models the children can look
back on if they decide to become professionals. ”
— Dr. Donna Wiseman, associate professor
Wiseman adds that the project will
be funded for $300,000 through the
College of Education and the el
ementary education department.
“We would not only like to help
minority children with academic suc
cess, but we would also like to
change their environment to show
them the opportunities that are
available for them,” Wiseman said.
“By exposing minority children to
higher education,” she says, “the
child’s goal will hopefully change at
an early age. By working academi
cally with the children, the A&M stu
dents will provide role models the
children can look back on if they de
cide to become professionals.
“Getting to know a college student
mind, Larke says.
“We are looking for undergrad
uates who work well with minority
students,” Larke says.
“We think most of our people in
volved in this project will be educa
tion majors,” Wiseman says. “Ho
wever, some people who are not
education majors are interested, so
we’re going to have a screening
where we will do interviews. We will
select the ones who have the greatest
potential success with this kind of
project.”
To qualify, the undergraduates
will have to look at their degree
plans and be available for at least
three years. This part of the pro
gram lasts three years and will be an
<ert W'.Ria;
on the t
nets.
is
Is
tai
doesn't
dings, itk
es to iffi
stry mani
becoraitif
in the Hit'
American c
>d in mat
i) science
the first*
tates,
;red to k
i educatt®
FBI inspects
S&L dealings
for illegal acts
HOUSTON (AP) — Some sav
ings and loan associations in
Texas may have tried to disguise
their financial weakness by trad
ing non-performing loans or
foreclosed assets, the Houston
Post reported Sunday.
One of the Texas thrifts be
lieved to have been involved in
the practice was the former Main
land Savings of Houston, which
had $800 million in assets when it
was closed in March 1986, un
identified industry sources told
the newspaper.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in
Houston confirmed that it was
waiting for the results of a FBI re
in be met
j the ib
Eplingw
realize that! view of the matter, the newspaper
reported.
While selling loans and other
assets among savings and loans is
not illegal, the trouble starts when
loans or foreclosed assets are rep
resented as being worth more
than they actually are worth, ex
perts told the newspaper.
The practice of passing along
non-performing loans or fore
closed assets from one thrift to
another is known as a “daisy
chain,” the newspaper reported.
“The typical thrift is not a
daisy- chain operation,” said
_ Frank Anderson, hanking consul-
tie tension tant with Ferguson and Co. “I be
lieve the really bad stuff involved
no more than a dozen S&Ls.”
Mainland appeared to have
been active in moving non-per
forming loans around to escape
detection by regulators, said
W.W. McAllister III, chairman of
San Antonio Savings Association.
The company was hired by
regulators to manage Mainland’s
successor, AllenPark Federal Sav
ings & Loan.
“There was a daisy chain,”
McAllister said. “The feeling was
that Mainland was one of them.”
Mainland was among five sav
ings and loan associations men
tioned by name as possibly having
engaged in the purchase and sale
of bad loans and assets among
each other, the newspaper said.
ling
)ug
med to *
he staie/f
it the i
lyment $ I
xl and "t'
:ome
Penned
headt) 111 '
Problem with housing in C.S
intensifies during summer
By D. A. Jensen
Reporter
The abundance of off-campus
housing is a perpetual problem in
College Station, and the problem in
tensifies during the summer, an em
ployee at the Texas A&M Off-Cam
pus Housing Center says.
Apartment complexes suffer high
vacancy rates, and students struggle
to find roommates to combat the
costs of summer housing, says Cheri
Zdziarski, who works at the center.
She says the off-campus center
has more than 150 people searching
for roommates to share an apart
ment during the summer and less
N than 40 who are interested in mov
ing to another person’s apartment.
“Typically, we always have more
cards in our roommate service of
people who already have housing
because they have signed a lease and
are obligated for a particular length
of time,” Zdziarski says.
More than 1,322 people utilized
the center in March. Some success
fully found roommates, and others
did not.
Janice Riggs, a junior general
studies major, says, “During the first
week of April, I called over 32 peo
ple trying to find someone to move
into my apartment with me.
“All of those 32 people had either
found a place to live already or
didn’t want to make a decision about
their living arrangments until after
the beginning of May.
“I can understand their reluc
tance to sign a lease too early in the
month because it is worth the effort
of looking around to find the best
housing deal you can get.
“The people who already have
places are trying to entice people to
live with them, so they are offering
extraordinary deals. There just
aren’t enough roommates to go
around.”
Brian Ratzer, a freshman account
ing major, agrees.
“I wanted to stay in College Sta-
Church members stand behind
minister who attempted suicide
DALLAS (AP) — Church mem
bers offered tearful prayers Sunday
for a Methodist minister who police
say attempted suicide before they
could question him about discrepan
cies in his account of the attempted
strangling of his wife.
“In the midst of all the police and
media reports that attempt to dis
cern fact from fiction, and truth
from sensation, we must strive to
maintain the quality of mercy that
befits the followers of Jesus,” the
Rev. Gordon Casad said in a
statement read to the congregation
of First United Methodist Church.
Casad told the congregration that
the Rev. Walker Railey’s condition
has improved to satisfactory. But his
wife, Peggy Railey, remains in crit
ical condition.
“We must remember our pastor is
troubled in mind and spirit, the
depth of which only the future will
tell,” Casad said.
Friday, police guards discovered
Railey in his hospital suite where he
had been living since his wife was
hospitalized last month. Railey
found his wife lying unconscious on
the floor of their garage early on the
morning of April 22.
The Dallas Times Herald and
Dallas Morning News quoted un
identified sources Saturday as saying
a letter in Railey’s suite said he was
tired of pretending to be good, that
he had fought demons for years and
that suicide was the best way out.
The five-page handwritten letter
for
also contained instructions
burial, the newspapers said.
Police have declined to comment
on the contents of the note.
Authorities also say threatening
letters sent to Railey, known for his
strong stands on civil rights, ap
peared to have been typed on a
church typewriter. Police had exam
ined the letters for any link with the
attack.
Church members said after the
service that their congregation sticks
together and that their faith in Rai
ley remains.
Van Baggett, who has been a
member of the church since 1950,
said, “I believe everybody is sad
dened and confused, as I am. But
this is a strong congregation. We
have to carry on.”
Pentagon puts medical center plans on hold
>ngeri eril
ting'^
al level a"
iere " a M SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The Defense De-
in S’ ... partment has taken the unusual move of going
public with a counter offensive against critics of
its Brooke Army Medical Center replacement
plans.
£ “A handful of cantankerous and irresponsible
general officers could be robbing beneficiaries of
Igealth care in San Antonio,” David Newhall III,
principal deputy assistant secretary of defense,
told the San Antonio Light.
I “Unfortunately, the egos of a few retired gen
eral officers who didn’t get their way” have
placed plans to build a ; new BAMC in jeopardy,
Be said.
The Pentagon’s harsh language was aimed at a
group of retirees, but the new hard-line ap
proach was prompted by a proposal submitted
last month by the retirees’ champion on Capitol
Hill, U.S. Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez.
Gonzalez’ proposal, if passed into law, would
prohibit the spending of any money on the
planned 200-bed facility until the Pentagon
comes up with exact cost estimates.
The Pentagon responded to Gonzalez’ move
by canceling plans to break ground for the new
facility and said they will divert the $135 million
authorized for BAMC to other programs.
Some officials believe the events of last week
may prove to be a watershed in a battle that has
gone on for nearly a decade and has raised pas
sions more than any other local military issue.
A House-Senate conference committee meet
ing next month to resolve differences between
the two versions of the Defense Department bud
get bills likely will produce a showdown.
Pentagon officials say they are fed up with the
political uncertainty caused by Gonzalez.
Newhall said that if the “Gonzalez cloud” is not
cleared up by this summer, “the BAMC replace
ment is dead.”
9 OUT OF 10 PUPPIES
PREFER THE BATTALION
ssified* /
to ofl* 1
election
I. sellifS
ucts o'
them
ED BLOESE POOL TOURNAMENT
MAY 8-9
FRIDAY 7 pm-1 am
SATURDAY 9 am-
Men and Womens Division
Double Elimination
A&M Students Only
Entry Fee $3.00
Sign up at Bowling & Games Desk in MSC
or
For More Information Call 845-1054
ongoing program which would last
six years, Larke says.
“We will start with sixth graders
and hope this type of mentorship
program will be available for stu
dents when they are high school se
niors,” Larke says. The A&M stu
dent needs to make a commitment to
work with the same minority student
for the entire three-year period, she
added.
Wiseman says the long-term as
pect of the program makes it unique.
“That’s what’s different about it,”
she says. “Many mentorship pro
grams are set up for short-term ba
sis. But this is a long-term basis pro
gram.”
She adds that this project may de
crease the school dropout rate and
increase college admissions.
In Texas, the school dropout rate
is 33 percent overall, 45 percent for
Hispanics and 34 percent for blacks,
she says.
“One of our ultimate goals is to
pool the students to go into higher
education,” Larke says.
Parent involvement is essential —
both the child and the parents must
consent, she says.
Neither the A&M students nor
the minority students will be
drafted, she says — both must volun
teer and want to succeed.
A.vdo
Cash For Used Books
Chimney Hill
Bowlixig Center
"A Family
Recreation Center'
OPEN BOWL
Every night
*40 Lan?*—Automatic Scoring Pool Tables
League & Open Bowling Video Games
Bar„& Snack Bar Q^ Q/1
701 University Drive East /.oU-ylo^t
Cash For Used Books
AM/PM Clinics
Minor tmergencies
10% Student Discount with ID card
tion during the summer and go to
summer school because the apart
ment prices were reduced at my
complex, but I couldn’t find anyone
to move in with me,” Ratzer says.
“I have so much furniture that I
really didn’t feel that moving to an
other apartment was an option for
me,” he says.
“At one point my neighbor and I
were so concerned about finding
roommates that we considered living
together, even though her parents
wouldn’t approve of her living with a
guy, Ratzer says. “I finally decided to
go home to Dallas for the summer
and work.
“Staying here isn’t worth the
hassle.”
If more students take Ratzer’s atti
tude and leave town for the summer
despite lower apartment rental rates,
higher vacancy rates for apartment
complexes may result, making it
more difficulty for students under
taking the roommate hunt.
3820 Texas Ave.
Bryan, Texas
846-4756
401 S. Texas Ave.
Bryan, Texas
779-4756
8a.m„-11 p.m. 7 days a week
Wajk-sn Family Practice
Trouble Finding A Place To Park?
MUD LOT PARKING
• A
Guaranteed Parking With Permit
Summer Rates
$15. 00 -1 Session
$30. 00 -Both Sessions
If Bought Before
May 15,1987
$20. 00 a session if
purchased after May 15, 1987
Vr'
Fall Session:
$55,°°-If purchased before
Sept. 1,1987
$80. 00 -lf purchased after
/ Sept. 1, 1987
‘Daily Rates $1. 00
ALPHA KAPPA PSI
National Professional Business Fraternity
Proudly Presents Its New
Spring ’87 Members
Marianne Aalby
Jackie Marek
Paul Berger
Dana McLean
Michael Brennan
Katie McMahon
Ben Butchka
Jacquie Miller
Kerri Byrd
Christopher Murzin
Susie Cook
Michelle Perez
Julie Crawford
Michelle Rambo
Royce Dawkins
Carl Ramey
Michael Dolson
Laura Reynolds
Karen Duhon
David Rodriguez
Sandra Hugghins
Mindy Schmidt
Laurie Isaacs
Peter Vela
Lisa Jordy
Charles Viktorin
Jeanie Kovacs
Toni Webb
Jeff Large
Laura Wolken
CONGRATULATIONS ZETA