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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1993)
State Monday, N Tubu Page 2 The Battalion [Jte-ro STuPit -rue ARTIST, T THIS PAPEPv LP foi?. the: two there, he^et i Monday, November29,11 Strt PiSour Illegal immigrants flood into Brownsville ISD Schools say immigrants strain budgets, crowd campuses The Associated Press BROWNSVILLE - Almost half of all students enrolled in Brownsville high schools are illegal immigrants, a statistic that school officials say is straining their bud get and crowding their campuses. Brownsville Independent School District figures show that 10,644 students entered the dis trict from 1989 to 1993. Forty-sev en percent were illegal immi grants from Mexico, The Brownsville Herald reported in Sunday editions. "These children are coming in without a mainstream U.S. educa tion and that creates a gap in our educational system," school board President Philip Cowen said. "We have to close that gap. That is the burden we have to face." From Aug. 16 to Sept. 15 of this year, 836 new students en tered school. Of those, 447 — or 53 percent — were illegal Mexi can immigrants. U.S. citizens, legal Mexican im migrants and legal immigrants from other countries comprise 17 percent; the remaining students, including the illegal Mexican im migrants, were listed as "impact ing the district," the newspaper reported. The school district has a total of 39,400 students. School board member Eddie Gonzalez said Mexican children have crossed the border to attend U.S. schools since the founding of the city along the Rio Grande. "This has become important lately because we can see that the city is feeling the stress from the number of students," Gonzalez said. "This is a poor community, which can't afford to deal with this alone." The U.S. Supreme Court up held a decision several years ago by U.S. District Court Judge File- mon Vela of Brownsville ordering BISD to educate all children in its jurisdiction regardless of immi gration status. "Nobody questions the right of these chil dren to an education, but I do question who should pay for it." -Eddie Gonzalez, school board member Gonzalez contends the federal government should provide the district, and all schools along the border, with emergency funds for that education. "Nobody questions the right of these children to an education," Gonzalez said. "But I do question who should pay for it." Cowen, who believes there are no more than 2,000 Mexican im Hair-Raising Justice Justice of the peace takes unusual tactics with teens The Associated Press HOUSTON — A Harris County justice of the peace is offering to snip some time off his sentences if juvenile offenders will snip something of their own — their hair. Tony Polumbo, who serves the county's third precinct, is buying pigtails and long locks from some teen-age offenders in exchange for reduced sentences. "The purpose is to give these kids a different mind-set or image, try to get them away from the subculture and into the mainstream again," Polumbo said. "About 80 percent accept my offer." In the case of a Baytown 13-year-old with a tail that hung from his otherwise close-cropped head, Polumbo fined the teen-ager $430 after he admitted assaulting a youth as part of a gang initiation rite. The youth agreed to convert the fine to 80 community service hours and then sold his whispy ponytail for 15 of those. "It was worth it," the unidentified teen-ager said after his haircut. However, two other teens opted to keep their locks. "It looks better long this way," explained one, a 16-year-old gang member sentenced to 144 community service hours for abusive lan guage and disorderly conduct at school. Polumbo left his 16-year-old state representative seat to be come a justice of the p>eace three years ago. He prides himself on being unconventional. "When you deal with youngsters, you can't deal with normal," he said. "Our goal is to connect. Most kids are used to being beat on and using their unfortunate situations to act ugly. I try some thing different." The haircuts are not his only answer to rising crime among youths. Other unusual sentences include: — As signing teens who spaced to attend five funerals. —Sending juvenile offenders to work in nursing homes or with the disabled. — Assigning offenders community service projects that have to be completed with each other, instead of an individual assignment. "We've seen some troubled kids make big changes," said court clerk Elvia Sanchez. "Sometimes the judge just brings those kids into his office to let them tell their problems. Many are just looking for attention." (f. DANCE ARTS SOCIETY TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY PRESENTS FALL SHOW ’93 WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 1, 1993 7:30 P.M. RUDDER THEATRE ADMISSION $3.00 TICKETS ON SALE AT MSC BOX OFFICE J migrants in the school system, said the figures can be misleading because not all of those students stay in Brownsville schools. "This is a very mobile popula tion," Cowen said. The enrollment figures do not allow for students who drop out, graduate or leave the district. Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas said the families of ille gal immigrants are paying their share of property taxes because they must prove that they live in the district to enroll their chil dren in school. Those students also bring addi tional state and federal funds that go toward bilingual programs, economic disadvantaged assis tance programs and academic tu torial programs that benefit all students, she said. But Zendejas concedes that immigrants crowd the district's 40 schools. "That is a borderwide problem from here to San Diego," she said. "The state and federal govern ments have not been able to fully provide the funds we need to build the facilities we need. The state and federal governments need take responsibility to pro vide that." Circuit Court Judge Linda Rey na Yanez, one of the attorneys who took BISD to court to get the district to admit illegal immi grants, said she was bothered that the district keeps such records. ptTERtfiNEP Tto L05IWG 5TXeW<; AjfiN IM 201; (JACK TO |H<V T/ie AssocaW, A young man helps an older woman illegally wade the shallow waters of the Rio Grande River crossing between Matamoros, Mexico and Brownsville the Gateway International Bridge earlier this monti "This doesn't further the educa tional objectives of the state," she said. "All it does is create negative emotional feelings from the public." Yanez said BISD should con centrate instead on making sure registered students actually live in the district rather than trying to "label" them. Gonzalez disagreed, saying the district must know those nurak to better handle the problem. "What you must considerislh we are being impacted," Gonalt said. "The number is awesome." Murder victim's mother sues parole board Suit claims agency failed to check on paroled rapist The Associated Press HOUSTON — Three-time convicted rapist Jerry "Animal" McFadden wanted a job. Tyler-based Smith Tank & Equipment Co. gave him one in 1985, upon his release from prison. Five months after McFadden was fired, he was wanted for three East Texas slayings. He was convicted in the murder of Suzanne Harri son, an 18-year-old high school cheerleader. Now, Harrison's mother is suing the Texas parole board. She claims the agency's failure to check in with McFadden's employer once he was fired resulted in her daughter's death. McFadden was hired as a welder in 1985 by Jim Blair of Smith Tank. Blair says he had no idea the new employee was a thrice-convicted rapist when he hired Mc Fadden. Now Blair wonders why state parole authorities never warned him he'd hired a man who once kidnapped a co-worker, raped her re peatedly and choked her into unconsciousness. Mary Ann Harrison Hester intends to prove — through her lawsuit — that the parole board was negligent and could have prevent ed her daughter's death. McFadden, 45, is now on death row await ing lethal injection for Harrison's death. The lawsuit claims the ex-con's parole offi cers were supposed to follow agency rules re quiring them to make visits to their charges' workplaces, says Ed Blizzard, a Houston lawyer representing Hester. "My position is, if they can't do it, then why have a rule saying they have to do it? They ei ther need to change the rule . . . and eliminate the rule from the parole manual, or they need to follow it," Blizzard said. Parole board legal counsel, William "Rusty" Hubbarth, refused to discuss specifics of the lawsuit. Prison authorities released McFadden in July 1985 to East Texas, where he found a job with Blair's company. One evening in late August 1985, McFadden drove to the trailer park where a co-worker lived and made a grab for her 13-year-old The next day, he was reprimanded by Blair. Eventually, Blair fired McFadden for mi: ing work and showing up drunk. Five months later, on the evening of May! McFadden drove to Lake Hawkins and pul a gun on a Tyler couple. He demanded raoiie but they had none. So he settled for a beer. About 7 p.m., Suzanp^ Harrison and heite friend, Gena Turner, 20, joined their friend,15- year-old Bryan Boone, for a drive aroundilif lake in his pickup truck. Authorities Boone's truck a few hours later at the lake Harrison's body, was found thenextafti noon at a roadside park about 20 milesfe the lake. She had been raped, beatenas! strangled. The day after her body was found, arrested McFadden near Mineola, accusit him of the gunpoint robbery of the con] Lake Hawkins. Ranj merr Ball cl ARL1NC as the Texa From bu Nolan Ryai two-day sa Fort Wo ture of Rya do with it,! Shaw sa the Fort Wc Four days later, authorities found the bo* ies of Turner and Boone in a ditch near On City. Both had been shot to death withal caliber pistol. McFadden, a suspect in ' slayings, has never been tried for them. "It won' one in the j The mos The prio Canseco an; "We we Guajardo c out for dim The jers< Canseco, sc for a jersey Harry B from Okla Bryant saic and trades. Many fa thousands seats, bats. Next dc named "TF Rangers at the auct Baseball Ft scholarship In addil games wit! board to m Chinese street signs spark war in Houston neighborhoods The Associated Press HOUSTON — Chinese street signs have become a point of con troversy in this city where 4 per cent of the city's 1.6 million popu lation is Asian. For some, the street signs are evidence of neighborhood pride. For others, the idea of placing Chinese street signs above the regular English signs is ridiculous and a waste of city money. Eight y^ears ago, Chinese lan guage street signs were posted in the old Chinatown section of downtown Houston. But now, miles away in south west Houston, there are new pockets of Chinese neighbor hoods. At the request of the Tai wanese and Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the city added the Chinese language signs to 22 in tersections in and around Bel- laire Boulevard at a cost of $1,350 to taxpayers. That area, referred to as "Lit tle Taipei," has become a bustling center where business signs are often in Chinese in stead of English. "A lot of my friends' parents or newcomers to that area don't speak any English," said Jackson Chang, a Houston businessman who has helped promote the street sign campaign. "It's very difficult for them to read English signs. By putting in the Chinese signs, it's a great plus to them," Chang said. But Jerry Weber, who livessf en houses from one of thene 1 signs, isn't so supportive. "Nobody ever asked me. Nf body came by with a petition. I' ; an insult to me," Weber said. "I didn't move here to liveij China or Vietnam. I'm an Antf ican. If I wanted to live tk way. I'd go to China or View But they came to my countr and they need to adopt oi ways," he said. Fish Camp ‘94 Counselor and Fish Crew Applications Available January 24, 1994 Requirements: Must have 2.0 GPR and must be in the B-CS area during Fall 1994. Fish Camp 90, 91, 92, 93 T-Shirts for sale in MSC Hallway this week. Challenge Yourself for the Class of ‘98!! The Battalion CHRIS WHITLEY, Editor in chief JULI PHILLIPS, Managing editor MARK EVANS, City editor DAVE THOMAS, Night News editor ANAS BEN-MUSA, Agg/e/i/eeditor BELINDA BLANCARTE, Night News editor MICHAEL PLUMER, Sports editor MACK HARRISON, Opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, Sports editor KYLE BURNETT, Photo editor Staff Members City desk - Jason Cox, James Bernsen, Michele Brinkmann, Lisa Elliott, Cheryl Heller, Kim Horton, Jan Higginbotham, Jennifer Kiley, Mary Kujawa, Kevin Lindslrom, Jackie Mason, Kim McGuire, Carrie Miura, Slef)to» ( Pattillo, Geneen Pipher, Jennifer Smith, Mark Smith and Andrea Taormina News desk - Rob Clark, Jennifer Petleway, Irish Reichle, Khristy Rouw and Heather Winch Photographers - Mary Macmanus, Marty Allen, Amy Browning, Lauren Donahue, Varnell Hopkins® Tommy Huynh, Kevin Ivy, Tim Moog, Gus Morgan and Holly Organ Aggielife - Dena Dizdar, Jacqueline Ayotte, Margaret Claughton, Lesa Ann King and toe Leih Sports writers - )ulie Chelkowski, Matt Rush and David Winder Opinion desk - Toni Garrard Clay, Lynn Booher, Tracey Jones, lenny Magee, Melissa Megliola, |av Ro* |lt John Scroggs, Frank Stanford, Jason Sweeny, Robed Vasquez and Eliot Williams Cartoonists - Jason Brown, Boomer Cardinale, Clifton Hashimoto, George Nasr, Gerardo Quezada ant Edward Zepeda Graphic Artist - Angel (Can Clerks- Grant Austgen, Eleanor Colvin, Wren Eversberg, Carey Fallin and Tomiko Miller The Battalion (USPS 045-360) is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring and Monday through Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam pe’ 10 " Texas A&M University-. 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