The Battalion
Monday • August 4,
Dallas diocese will not check volunteers’ background
DALLAS (AP) —The Catholic Diocese of
Dallas has no plans to begin requiring back
ground checks on volunteers despite the
case of a convicted child molester who un
til recently supervised altar boys in a Dallas
parish, The Dallas Morning News reported
in a copyright story in Sunday’s editions.
Convicted felon Dennis lost volun
teered with altar boys last year at St.
Bernard of Clairvaux parish, where offi
cials acknowledged they did not investi
gate his past.
lost was removed after a few months
because of what diocesan Vicar General
Glenn Gardner called a “miracle” — a
parishioner deemed some behavior sus
picious, found evidence of a federal con
viction and alerted the pastor.
Dallas diocese officials do not require
criminal background checks of all
prospective volunteers and have no
plans to do so, Gardner said.
“I don’t know if we can ever do it. It’s
very costly,” he said shortly before jurors
in the Rudolph “Rudy” Kos case hit the
diocese with the largest clergy-abuse
judgment in history.
Days after the $119.6 million verdict,
Gardner said he stood by his position. Bish
op Charles V Grahmann continued his
practice of not taking reporters’ questions.
Mike Daniel, the parent who helped
expose lost at St. Bernard, told the news
paper that one incident in particular
stuck in his mind: At a Friday fish fry in
early 1996, Jost “came up behind a boy
and put one arm on his shoulder and the
other around his stomach,” then pulled
him close in “a very inappropriate type
of hug.”
^ ^ I don’t know if we
can ever do it. It s very
COJ
Glenn Gardner
Dallas diocese vicar general
Daniel, a Dallas lawyer, investigated
and learned that a Los Angeles federal
judge had sentenced Jost in 1993 to six
months’ confinement and two years’
probation for transporting a teen-age
boy across state lines for sexual purpos
es. Jost had been allowed to serve his
probation in Dallas, under orders that he
not participate in youth programs.
The Rev. Gus Melito, pastor of St.
Bernard, said he acted immediately
when shown evidence of the conviction.
He removed Jost and notified police,
Child Protective Services and diocese of
ficials, he said.
“I was naive, perhaps,” said Melito,
adding that he’d not known Jost previ
ously. “It’s an embarrassment.”
His parish now investigates all prospec
tive volunteers and employees for possible
criminal records, he said. Church officials
said only one other parish in the Dallas dio
cese — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Plano —
does the same.
fhe diocese education office:
criminal-background checks
time employees and recommends
each Catholic school do thesamefi
volunteers. Many, but notall.havec
plied, said the Rev. Leonard Calle d
school superintendent.
Some other school systems, inclu
the I Dallas Independent School Distrir
they investigate all volunteers. So do s
youth organizations such assportsleaj s ' :
“More and more leagues are j
it, and they’re Finding out it works
commissioner of Garland Amateur:
ball, Billy Goodgame, toldlhel
Morning News in June. "We’veha
tential coaches drop out just becausi
do the searches.”
Ritz-Carlton cancels contract with Houston hotel
Company says owners failed to pay management fees, make capital improvements
HOUSTON (AP) —They checked into the
posh Ritz-Carlton. They checked out of a
nameless hotel.
Hotel guests found out Saturday morning
that Houston’s Ritz-Carlton no longer was a
Ritz-Carlton from notes slipped under their
doors overnight.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. terminated its
management contract with the owners of
four of its hotels in Houston, New York, Wash
ington, D.C., and Aspen, Colo., saying the
owners failed to pay $4 million in manage
ment fees for the four and refused to make
capital improvements.
Early Saturday morning, the Houston hotel
was stripped of ashtrays, stationery, flags and
other items with the Ritz-Carlton logo, said Judy
Rowcliffe, spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based
company. It also dismantled its software reser
vations systems.
The hotel is continuing to run widiout a name.
“We still have rooms and we still are operat
ing but we just do not have a name,” an em
ployee in reservations who did not want to give
her name said Sunday.
Rowcliffe said a transition staff would help
with the change.
The hotel is owned by Los Angeles-based
New Remington Partners, a partnership con
trolled by Saudi Sheik Abdul Aziz Bin Ibrahim A1
Ibrahim. The four hotels are owned by separate
partnerships, all represented by A1 Anwa USA. A
telephone call to Al Anwa seeking comment
Sunday was not immediately returned to The
Associated Press.
Rowcliffe said the sheik refused to pay for wa
ter damage repairs to 40 guest rooms in the
Houston hotel after a leak occurred last year.
The rooms have been closed since then.
“This action is intended to preserve the in
tegrity and reputation of Ritz-Carlton, as well as
the value of our image and name throughout
the world for our owners and investors,” said
Horst Schulze, Ritz-Carlton’s president and chief
operating officer.
The 12-story hotel has 232 rooms, two
restaurants, a fitness center and 11,000 square
feet of meeting space. Room prices range from
$125 to $800 per night.
The hotel has 321 employees, 42 of them in
management positions. Rowcliffe said man
agers have the option to be transferred to an
other Ritz-Carlton hotel.
Negotiations with the owners regarding the
transferal of hourly-wage employees and op
erations of the hotel will begin on Monday,
Rowcliffe said.
Firefighters work to contaii
blazes in Southern Califorr
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefight
ers began to gain the upper hand
on wildfires across Southern Cali
fornia on Sunday despite swelter
ing heat that topped 100 degrees.
Two San Diego County fires
should be fully contained by Mon
day, said Audrey Hagen, a Califor
nia Department of Forestry
spokeswoman.
Downed power lines on Friday
started the largest fire, a 720-acre
blaze in San Diego County. Arson
started another that burned 450
acres and caused $1.75 million in
damage. Eleven homes, 15 out
buildings and 30 vehicles were
destroyed.
Another fire north of Santa Bar
bara burned 100 acres.
Farther north in Los Padres Na-
tional Forest, 260 firefiglii
fought to surround a blaze
burned more than 100!
about 12 miles northwest of
ta Barbara.
Water-dropping helicopter
tankers helped stint the
progress overnight, while fires
ers contended with heavy bre
poison oak, rattlesnakes and
degree temperatures. The
should be under control by Tub!
officials said.
One firefighter suffered ai
eye injury Saturday and anoi
sprained an ankle, while twoci
men were recovering from injic
suffered on Friday when thein
ter-dropping plane crashed
attempting to scoop water!:
the San Vicente Reservoir,
Tax
Continued from Page 1
Health economists estimate that for
every 10 percent increase in price, the
number of teen smokers will drop by
about 7 percent, and teens who keep
smoking will smoke 6 percent less.
That means a 15-cent tax translates to
a barely perceptible 5 percent fewer teen
smokers.
“You would need a very sensitive seismo
graph to pick up any ripples from this,” said
Richard Daynard, a Northeastern University
School of Law professor who studies tobacco.
Teen smoking will not drop signifi
cantly unless price increases are paired
with tougher rules and other changes,
says Health and Human Services Secre
tary Donna Shalala.
Looking for models, many point to Cali
fornia and Massachusetts, where smoking
rates dropped after tax hikes combined with
big anti-smoking efforts. Both states saw
overall smoking rates drop, and teen rates
stayed even as they climbed nationally.
In California, a 35-cent-a-pack tax in
crease was combined with a media cam
paign, restrictions on vending machines and
CC 7
leen-agers are teen
agers. They’re going to do
what they’re going to do.”
Jupiter Dockery
19-year-old
laws prohibiting smoking in public places.
One TV ad shows a woman smoking through
a hole in her neck. Billboards parody the
Marlboro cowboy, with one rancher telling
the other: “Bob, I’ve got emphysema.”
Cigarette prices vary widely because
of differing state taxes, which range from
2.5 cents a pack in Virginia to $ 1 in Alas
ka come this fall.
Nationally, prices may soon spike up
by 50 cents to 75 cents if a proposed to
bacco settlement is approved by Con
gress. Backers hope the increased prices
— combined with restrictions on sales
and ads — would help cut teen smoking
by 60 percent in 10 years.
But teen-agers interviewed over the
last week said they smoke because older
friends and siblings do, and because it
makes them feel sophisticated.
“Teen-agers are teen-agers. The)
going to do what they’re going tod
said Jupiter Dockery, 19, whotucksaq
arette behind his ear as he tosses
hacky-sack ball around with friends.
Like most smokers, Jupiterbegansimt
ingyoung, when he was 12yearsold,
“Smoking’s a big bonding thing," assi]
teen-ager who didn't want hernmd
Munching pizza with friends on a resta®
patio, she mentions actress Julia Rote!
who smoked through the recentWMyBe
Friend’s Wedding.” The actress, shesii
looked “really good” with a cigarette.
Texas
Continued from Page 1
Unlike DFW, the metropolitan Houston area had
a net gain made up of mostly foreign migrants —
about 148,000 in the past six years, compared to
about 51,000 domestic migrants.
New Houstonians go there to find work in the
oil, health-care and construction industries, said
Bill Gilmer, senior economist with the Federal Re
serve Bank. «
The Austin and San Antonio metropolitan areas both
had mosdy domestic newcomers.
The Austin area had a net gain of about 112,000
domestic migrants, lured mainly by computer com
pany headquarters, state government and the Uni
versity of Texas. There was a net gain of about 16,000
foreign immigrants.
San Antonio attracted a net gain of 41,031 do
mestic migrants and 23,323 foreign immigrants in
the past six years.
Weinstein said the domestic migration can be at
tributed to senior citizens looking for refuge near
the Hill Country.
San Antonio also does not have much to offer for
eigners in terms of jobs, except in the tourism in
dustry, he said.
“Mexican or Central American migrants who are
looking for jobs are going to go to Houston,” he said.
“They may go through San Antonio, but there are a
lot more jobs available in Houston, Dallas, Austin
than San Antonio.”
Texas border towns are also growing due to in
creased manufacturing and trade with Mexico.
“You drive along the border and all you see
are retail stores and banks,” said Keith Phillips,
senior economist with the Federal Reserve in
San Antonio.
In the South Texas counties of Webb and Hidal
go, foreign migrants outnumber domestic migrants
two-to-one. Significant numbers of domestic mi
grants are also moving to the Lower Rio Grande Val
ley. A lot of them are manufacturing plant managers
and retirees, Phillips said.
In El Paso County, although residents have ben
efited from increased Mexican trade, it has not
stemmed the outflow of domestic migrants, said
Federal Reserve economist Lucinda Vargas. In the
past six years, El Paso lost 36,000 residents and
gained about 46,000 foreigners.
That’s typical since the city has always had rel
atively few white collar jobs to keep well-educated
workers, Vargas said. El Paso’s economy is depen
dent on the military, the maquiladora industry and
related transportation and construction jobs.
El Paso, however, does attract many skilled im
migrants from Juarez, which is just across the bor
der. After becoming affluent in Juarez, many go to
El Paso for new opportunities, Vargas said.
Weather Outlook
WEDNESDAY
■ THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Partly Cloudy
Partly Cloudy | Alt
Thunderstorms j
High: 94°
F x * I
High: 94°
High: 94°
Low: 74°
I Jm , Xl
Low: 71 °
Low: 68
Sksteh
By Quatrt
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we ADORE. TOUR UTTUE 60Y... so NAUGHTY
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HOW PARE YOU CALI
SON KNOTTY!
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http://bat-vieb.tam.eiu
WHAT’S IT LIKE AT THE PLASMA CENTER?
To the staff of the Plasma Center,
I would like to start by saying thank
you to each and every employee for making the
past three years enjoyable in a professional,
efficient and courteous environment. As a
donor since 1993, I have been more than satis
fied with every aspect of your operation, which
allows myself and others to contribute what we
can to community service, all the while being
serviced by diligent, but relaxed, workers.
Everyone at the Plasma Center, from those
behind the front counter to the phlebotomists
to the supervisors, have made great efforts to
insure that each donor feels hygienically safe,
as well as keeping the atmosphere light.
Like most, I started coming to the
Plasma Center for monetary reasons, but I
soon developed acquaintances that appealed to
me almost as much as the original need for
money, enabling me to look forward to each
donation, not only for my wallet’s sake but also
to see my friends. Like I commented to some
one recently, talking to people at the Plasma
Center was like getting mail from a far-off
friend that you don’t get to do much with, but
who you can talk to as often as you write. For
those acquaintances and for your continual
services. I would like to thank all of those I’ve
come to know and appreciate over the past
three years - Emily, and Tracy, Heath, and
Marty, Ada and Josie, etc... more I can’t
remember or those who have gone on to better
things.
So, as I graduate from this great
University, I bid you all a fond farewell and
strong commendations on such a successful
blend of quality medical practice and friendly
service. Thank you all and have a great sum
mer. Thanks, C.E
BiologicalS
THE PLASMA CENTER
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