Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1993)
i )ber5,i H ives ■ Ariing. 2nd ra in Texai 0 Hege ot ?i Jr. Ej- in land 11 be giv- udentol a bade- in )m AMI scholar n memo- 'Hie ami ) encour- his put- •e. Ilh /ill com! /s "Cap- aign. 'A )ay s hostin; i ay to in ly can get irvice or is and in ns will be ? MSCon 3 from 5 a a Texas ent orga a variety a for the ty. tion con- n Melton iC Hospi- State & Local Tuesday, October 5,1993 The Battalion Page 3 Group to provide free vaccines to area imore ance S.T. ouses. By Jacqueline Mason The Battalion In order to improve the quali ty and access of health care in the Brazos Valley, a local group is providing free childhood and flu vaccines to thousands of area residents. The HealthSmart Coalition, a committee of concerned commu nity leaders, has organized Shots Across the Brazos Valley, part of the state-wide Shots Across Texas program scheduled for Spring 1994. Shots Across the Brazos Valley is the first major campaign of HealthSmart, but members have been meeting for a year to plan it, said Regina Ragan of Texas A&M University's department of opera tions analysis. The initial purpose of the group, which was created over a year ago by A&M administrators, was to decrease the cost of health care in the Brazos Valley, now it focuses attention of the quality of availability of this care. "We still have a lot to iron out," said Bruce Prevatt, director of Texas A&M's Employee Assis tance Program. "We are still brainstorming all the avenues available to us." This campaign is a unified ef fort, he said, unlike, in the past, when clinics, hospitals and indi vidual doctors gave the shots. Mary Miller, assistant vice president for finance and adminis tration at Texas A&M, said the vaccines will be administered from Nov. 5-12 at various sites around town. Miller said HealthSmart has about 50 members, including A&M administrators, community leaders and 1,000 volunteers. "What we are trying to do is make the people who live in Bryan/College Station healthier and more health conscious," she said. Dena Frieda, executive director of human resources for the Bryan Independent School District, said if the group can prevent flu and childhood diseases, problems with attendance at school will decrease. "Having not only the children immunized but the employees. we'll have better attendance," she said. Miller said nearly 50 percent of all preschoolers are not immu nized "For the childhood vaccine, we are estimating that somewhere be tween two to three thousand chil dren are not properly immu nized," she said. HealthSmart has already raised $37,000 for the events, but needs about $20,000 more, she said. Shots Across the Brazos Valley will be free to anyone living in the Brazos Valley. The shots will be administered at Post Oak Mall, Randall's in Col lege Station, schools in Bryan and College Station and the Texas A&M campus. State judge: trial will determine legality of Texas school funding The Associated Press AUSTIN — A state judge today narrowed the fo cus of a trial over the state's new school finance law. State District Judge F. Scott McCown said he would limit arguments of a trial that opened today to the legality of the way the state funds its schools. That would put off for a separate trial the ques tion of whether more money is needed for public schools and whether the state should be forced to pay for the programs it requires schools to provide. The current case involves a challenge by poor school districts' to the way about $7 billion in an nual state aid is distributed under the newest fi nance law. Local taxes contribute another $8 bil lion-plus to the system. The trial also includes arguments by wealthy school districts against the structure of the funding law and arguments that the state relies to heavily on local property taxes. McCown said he would decide at the conclusion of the first trial whether the second trial would begin quickly or "at a more distant time." The fact that property-rich and poor school dis tricts are challenging Texas lawmakers' latest effort to reform education funding may be a good sign, quipped Texas Assistant Attorney General Toni Hunter. "They say when you make everybody unhappy, you've got the right solution," Ms. Hunter said. The trial is the third round in the courthouse for officials trying to meet a 1989 Texas Supreme Court order to even out funding available to school dis tricts with differing property wealth. Schools rely primarily on state aid and local property tax money. Two other reform laws passed since the 1989 de cision have been ruled unconstitutional: one on a challenge led by poor districts, the other by prop erty-rich ones. This time, both have gone to court. "I think we're all tired," said Craig Foster, execu tive director of the Equity Center, a group of proper ty-poor schools involved in the long-running court fight for equity. But not tired enough to give up what's been called "a life and death struggle" by lawyer A1 Kauffman of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Compared to the funding system used last school year, about $165 million in state money is shifted from poorer to richer school districts, according to lawyers for the poor districts. The law decreases the state's basic per-student funding grant, and it changes and limits state match ing funds that are based on local tax rates. Districts with a poor property tax base say it's un fair to cut allotments across the board because they require much higher local tax rates to try to make up the difference. The law would leave at least a $600 gap per stu dent in funding between rich and poor school dis tricts, say poor districts, who add that it virtually ig nores classroom construction funding needs. Wealthy districts also are unhappy with the law, which is meant to ensure none of the state's 1,048 school districts has property wealth of more than $280,000 per student. Previously, values have ranged from more than $4 million to less than $10,000. The law gives school districts with more proper ty wealth choices for sharing some of it. Among other arguments, property-rich school districts say the law amounts to an unconstitutional statewide property tax. Wealthy school districts also have raised the ar gument that the state hasn't adequately funded public education. Masked bandit robs churchgoers life ediw r ts editor ports editor n, Ja n Miura. Slept* Cingand)<* w l5 , John ScrW jezaria and ?xam P e " A&M Uni'* 1 ' , ihe Divi»; Reed McDo"! j advertis in 8' ti Monday th™? year. focharff The Associated Press LUBBOCK — Police ques tioned a suspect Monday in the armed robbery of 17 churchgoers. The masked bandit behind Sunday morning's holdup at Cal vary Full Gospel Church got away with about $550, authorities said. "It happened so fast," said the Rev. Marvin James, who was preparing for liis sermon. "This guy just came in, told people to hush up and demanded money from everybody." The robber, holding what ap peared to be a sawed-off shotgun wrapped in a towel, forced the congregation to gather at the altar. He tossed the 66-year-old pastor a pillowcase and demanded that James collect purses and wallets, James said. The suspect was arrested about 7 a.m. Monday by officers called to check out a suspicious car, said Lt. Dean Summerlin. Witnesses described the robber as a white male, 6 feet tall and 25 to 30 years of age. He was wear ing a red and blue wind breaker, blue jeans and new high-top ten nis shoes. The car seen leaving the church matched the description of the get away car used during a grocery store robbery at Lubbock on Satur day, Officer Victor Quintana said. At the church, a Sunday school teacher with children in another room had started to come into the main hall, but the robber warned her to close the door and stay away. The robber also had asked for the churchgoers' watches and jew elry — but changed his mind, James said. The thief allowed some people to keep their drivers licenses and credit cards. "It seemed more like a dream than anything," said Ikey Green, who was robbed of his wallet. The man collected the money and told the victims to go into the pastor's office and not call police, James said. Court rejects Tilton's effort to halt inquiry into ministry The Associated Press WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday re jected an attempt by television evangelist Robert Tilton to block the investigation of Texas Attorney General Dan Morales into alleged fraud in his ministry. The Word of Faith World Outreach Center Church, founded by Tilton in Dallas in 1976, grew to an organization that grossed $65 million in 1991 and had a 500,000-person mailing list. In late 1991, ABC's "Prime Time Live" television pro gram reported that prayer re quests mailed to Tilton were trashed and that the church falsely claimed to run an or phanage in Haiti. Morales' office asked a state court to order the church to produce the records. The church countered by going to federal court with its contention that the attorney general's demand violated its freedom of religion guaran teed by the Constitution's First Amendment. A federal judge ruled that the demand for the church's membership and contributor lists was "clearly unconstitu tional." But last March, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals re versed that ruling, saying fed eral courts must let the state court act first. In the appeal acted on Monday, the church's lawyers argued that the federal judge was not required to defer to the state court because the judge ruled that Morales act ed in bad faith. Waiting for the state court to act would cause a "partic ularly serious (delay) due to the fundamental nature of First Amendment rights in volved," the church's lawyers said. GRE. Expert Teachers Permanent Centers Total Training Call today for a free diagnostic. 696-3196 707 Texas Ave. Ste. 106-E KAPLAN RULES Battalion Classifieds Call 845-0569 V/* MOOT to come in 7 It's here! Complete your education by studying abroad! Discover the opportunities at Representatives from various study abroad programs will be in the MSC from 10:00-2:00. Co-sponsored by Study Abroad Programs 161 Bizzell Hall West (845-0544) and the TAMU Student Government's International Programs Subcommittee Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God Hear about current scientific theories and how they can relate to GOD's existance Dr. Walter Bradley, Ph.D., Materials Science Former Chairman, Dept, of Mechanical Engineering Professor and Senior TEES Research Fellow at Texas ASM University This program has been presented at Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford, MIT, Cornell, Brown and other leading universities and t.u. TUESDAY! • Oct 5, 7:00 pm • Rudder Theater GO FAR IN THE AIR FORCE. Learn how far the Air Force can take you. If you’re a college graduate, you may qualify for Air Force Officer Training School. After completing Officer Training School, you can become a commissioned Air Force officer with: • great starting pay • medical and dental care • 30 days vacation with pay per year • management opportunities Go far in a career as an Air Force officer. Call AIR FORCE OPPORTUNITIES TOLL FREE 1-800-423-USAF _ = _ SPARTACUS THE RESTORED DIRECTOR'S CUT From Stanley Kubrick, the dircclor of '2()01: A Space ( klyssey.' ’A Clockwork Orange,' and 'Full Metal Jacket' Thursday @ 7:00 ' TNDOCHINE’ SPRAWLS AND ENTHRALLS* IN CATHERINE DENEUVE THE FILM HAS A STAR OF EPIC GLAMOUR AND GRAVITY.” m OF m YEAR’S BEST FILMS* - Rickard Corliss, TIME MAGAZINE MSC FILM SOCIETY OF TEXAS A&M Questions? Call... MSC Box Office 845-1234 MSC Student Programs Office 845-1515 A Memorial Student Center ir Student Programs Committee Friday @ 7:00 & 9:30 ADMISSION: $2.50 Advance tickets available for all shows at MSC Box Office Persons with disabilities please call us 3 working days prior to the film to enable us to assist you to the best of our ability. Professional Computing 505 Church Street College Station (409)846-5332 HP DeskJet 500 * Affordable 300-dpi laser-quality printing * Wide variety of built-in fonts * Supports leading software applications including Windows 3.1 * 3-year limited warranty Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8:00 a.m.-5:30p.m. Sat. 10:00 a.m.-3:00p.m. m HEWLETT PACKARD Authorized Dealer