Banner Graphic, Volume 14, Number 78, Greencastle, Putnam County, 6 December 1983 — Page 3

To kick off National Forum

Education secretary address set

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Education Secretary T.H. Bell will kick off his three-day National Forum on Excellence in Education tonight with an opening address in the Indiananpolis Convention Center. President Reagan will come to Indianapolis Thursday afternoon to address the conference, the White House confirmed Monday. A spokessman for Bell said more than 2,300 educators, civic leaders and politicians are expected to attend the meeting to swap ideas on how to implement recommendations for raising standards in American schools.

Hoosier humorist scores with film 'A Christmas Story' c. 1983 N.Y. Times News Service NEW YORK For a humorist who wrote the gently nostalgic reminiscence that “A Christmas Story” is based on, Jean Shepherd likes to come on as Macho Man. “The place I grew up in was Hammond, Ind., a steel town and refinery that makes Newark look like Palm Beach,” he says. “There never has been a bourgeois steel town. It took guts to be a kid in my town, or you got out. And the kid’s name is Ralph not Ralphie, like in the movie. He grows up to be a real mean kid. With a name like Ralphie, he wouldn’t have made it at all.” The movie has been much sentimentalized by its director, old friend Bob Clark, according to Shepherd. In fact, the author tends to equate the man who earlier directed “Porky’s” with Whistler’s Mother. “First of all, the title doesn’t mean anything, unless you think of it as ‘A Christmas Carol’ as rewritten by Scrooge. What first turned me on to Bob as a director was a movie he made called ‘Black Christmas’ it was Margot Kidder’s debut about a sorority house during the holiday season. It was really evil. “I wanted to call this movie ‘Santa’s Revenge,’ but that was considered too funny. And the Writers’ Guild of which I’m a member wouldn’t let us use ‘Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story.’ They were probably jealous.” Actually, “A Christmas Story” comes from Shepherd’s 1967 collection of stories unsentimentatly titled “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.” It’s about 9-year-old Ralphie’s burning desire for a BB gun, which neither a departmentstore Santa nor his parents are willing to get him because they’re afraid he’ll put his eyes out with it. The film is a real charmer, though Shepherd who also plays the voiceover part of Ralphie as an adult claims nostalgia for the ’4os, when it takes place, is purely in the eyes of the beholder. “The great American myth is that things used to be wonderful, and thf. future will be wonderful, too. It’s just the present that happens to stink. “But really, life in the ‘good old days’ was a lot worse than we like to think. Do you know more Americans were killed in one day at Antietam in the Civil War than during the entire Vietnam War? “No crime then? My bike was stolen twice when I was a kid. My uncle was killed at the age of 32 while he was driving a cleaner’s truck during a Chicago robbery. And John Dillinger came from a farm only 60 miles from Hammond. Shepherd’s father was a political cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune, “an elegant, sardonic man like Clifton Webb,” who decided one day that “cartoonists are paid peanuts,” and moved the family to Indiana where he became a branch manager for Borden’s Dairy. Attending Indiana University on the G.I. Bill of Rights, the humorist early showed his lack of nostalgia by leaving his birthplace at the age of 17 and never returning. He’s now 48. To connoisseurs of television, he’s perhaps best known for his award-winning PBS series, “Jean Shepherd’s America,” and for the adaptation of three of his six novels on “American Playhouse.” To readers, he’s the author of such idiosyncratically titled delights as “Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters” and “A Fistful of Fig Newtons.” Forthcoming is “Banjo Butt Meets Julia Child.” Clearly, he’s not the kind of writer to call his work “A Christmas Story.” “I write about American rituals,” he says. “Things you’ll find nowhere else in the world. The Senior Prom. The Christmas Present. The Fourth of July. Our holidays have nothing to do with the event they’re allegedly celebrating they’re pure rituals. The Summer Vacation, with dad renting a cottage on the lake, and then hogging the inner tube to float in. “And speaking of dear old dad, he’s the leading character in ‘A Christmas Story,’ not little Ralphie. When Darren McGavin took the role, I told him he’s not your average TV sitcom daddy. “He’s a flesh-and-blood father who hates his kids intensely because they have tied him down. And he’s got a girl on the side. When Ralphie’s a senior in high school, the father just takes off. “I’m not fixated in the past. In fact, I told the set decorator on ‘A Christmas Story’ that if you can’t buy everything in that house at Sears today, it’s wrong. “You think kids have given up on BB guns for video games? Bah, humbug! Why Peter Billingsley, who plays Ralphie, had two air rifles before I even met him. The first thing a kid buys is a cap pistol. Then he graduates to BB guns, and then the real thing, like a .22. “I’m not pro-gun, but isn’t that a commentary on the fact that you’ll never stamp out guns? We’ve evolved lots of ideas about what man should be like, but in the process we’ve misunderstood what we’re really like. War is more normal than peace.” The film focuses on a few of Ralphie’s fantasies, but Shepherd disapproves of them, too. “Most Americans are Utopians living in a world of day-by-day trivia. Non-Utopians are people who have to pay the rent.”

The forum was organized after a critical report was issued on U.S. schools by Bell’s National Commission on Excellence in Education. Speakers and panelists include members of the commission, governors of eight states, three U.S. senators and several members of the House. Bell’s department earlier staged regional forums in 12 cities to discuss commission recommendations for longer school days and years, more homework, more math and science courses and merit pay for teachers. Bell takes part today in a pep rally for education at an award-

winning local high school. North Central High School, one of 152 public schools honored this fall by Bell’s department as models for the nation, is celebrating its own achievement with a program at which Bell will be featured speaker. Wednesday’s session will focus on plans used by various states to improve teaching, on national teacher examinations and teacher certification requirements. Thursday’s program includes discussion of standardized tests, college admission requirements, education for gifted students and governance of private schools by the state.

Agenda for National Forum

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Here’s the agenda for the National Forum on Excellence in Education meeting in the Indiana Convention Center: TUESDAY, Dec. < Noon to 9 p.m.-Registration 7 p.m.-Banquet. 8 p.m.-Forum convenes. Gary L. Jones, undersecretary of the U S. Department of Education, will preside. Gov. Robert D. Orr and Indianapolis Mayor William H. Hudnut 111 will give welcoming remarks. Sen. Dan Quayle, R-Ind, will give remarks. U.S. Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell will give keynote speech. WEDNESDAY. Dec. 7 Session on the Teaching Profession. 8 a m.-U.S. Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell presides over the assembly. Florida Gov. D. Robert Graham speaks New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean and Fred C. Davison, president of the University of Georgia, make comments. 9:40 am.-Discussion groups on the teaching profession will focus on plans used by various states to improve teaching, including those used in Tennessee. Florida, California, New Jersey,

Court reawakens sleeping worker's unemployment bid

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An Indianapolis hotel worker who was fired for sleeping on the job has won another hearing on his claim for jobless benefits. In a ruling Monday, the Indiana Court of Appeals revived the claim of Lewis E. Bonner, a shampoo man on the housekeeping staff of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, who was fired March 3,1983. According to court records, supervisors found Bonner lying on the floor in the employees’ locker room and attempted to rouse him but were unable to do so. When Bonner awakened, he was sent home and later fired. At his unemployment hearing, Bonner claimed he wasn’t sleeping but rather was unconscious due to a seizure. However, the hearing referee ruled against Bonner because he had not received Bonner’s medical records from the Veterans Administration Hospital to substantiate the claim of having a history of seizures. The Review Board of the Employment Security Division refused to reopen the case to take the medical records as additional evidence. The appeals court said the refusal was an abuse of discretion. “When a claimant is not represented by counsel, as was the case here, a special duty is placed on the Employment Security Division to insure that the unrepresented party’s in-

Six cities chosen as enterprise zones

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Parts of six Indiana cities have been selected as “enterprise zones,” areas which offer tax breaks and regulatory relief to companies which locate there. On Monday, the Indiana Enterprise Zone Board approved applications submitted by Anderson, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Michigan City, Richmond and South Bend. In general, the areas chosen for enterprise zones have high unemployment and little business or industrial activity.

'Mommie Dearest' author speaks

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Christina Crawford, daughter of actress Joan Crawford and author of “Mommie Dearest,” will be featured speaker Thursday night at the Governor’s Conference on Mental Health.

North Central Principal M. Eugene Clones said Monday, “This whole year is going to be a pep rally for education. We’re getting the recognition that education deserves, and we’re happy to accept the challenge the nation needs. Every time we have a crisis, they ask education to bail them out, and I think that’s a positive thing.” Indiana education officials said Monday they did not know how many Hoosiers would attend the three-day forum, which formally begins at 8 p.m. today with Bell’s keynote speech. The time of the president’s speech is to be announced after noon today.

Illinois, Houston, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., school district; Ladue, Mo.; and Jackson, Miss. Also views will be given by the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and about Louisiana's use of the national teacher examination to qualify teachers and about teacher certification requirements. Session on Standards and Expectations. 1:30 p.m.-Bell presides over the assembly. David P. Gardner, president of the University of California and chairman of the National Commission on Excellence in education, speaks. Kansas Gov. John Carlin and Arthur Jefferson, general superintendent of Detroit Public Schools will make comments. 2:30 p.m.-Group discussions on standards and expectations will focus on laws passed by Florida, Indiana, California and New York on educational standards. Other groups will discuss standardized tests, college admission requirements, economic issues related to admitting too many college students, vocational and fine arts education, governance of private schools by the state, a student-teacher motivation program in Duval County, Fla.; family

terests are protected and that the case is fully presented,” Judge George B. Hoffman wrote. In another case, the appeals court upheld a decision setting aside a $4,500 default judgment against a part-time Beverly Shores police officer. The officer, Michael P. Osborne of Michigan City, was sued by Jere Zaps of Beverly Shores for false arrest, false imprisonment, assault and battery. Osborne had arrested Zaps in June 1980 for speeding, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, but the charges were dismissed. Osborne failed to respond to Zapf’s suit or appear at a hearing on the matter. Porter Superior Court Judge Bruce W. Douglas entered a $4,500 judgment against Osborne by default. After the judgment was entered, Osborne attempted to have it set aside on the grounds that town officials had assured him that they would take care of the matter. In December 1982, the judge set aside his original judgment against Osborne. On appeal, Zaps argued that it was improper to set aside the judgment because there was no evidence was submitted to justify it. The appeals court disagreed, noting that the very petition to set aside the judgment would qualify as evidence.

The promise of tax breaks and relaxed regulations provided the rules don’t affect health, safety or civil rights is designed to lure businesses and jobs into the area. The 1983 enterprise zone law permitted the designation of six zones which would have that status for 10 years. Thirteen cities applied for enterprise zone status. Those that weren’t chosen are: Hammond, Cedar Lake, Lake Station, LaPorte, Muncie, Jeffersonville and Terre Haute.

Ms. Crawford will speak on the relationship between child abuse and mental problems. She is scheduled to address the conference after the 7 p.m. banquet at the Adam’s Mark Hotel.

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TERREL BELL To speak at Indy

responsibility for educational excellence, gifted students, textbook selection, innovation in special education, using educational technology to assure excellence. THURSDAY, Dec. 8 Session on roles and responsibilities. 8:30 a m.-US. Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell presides over assembly. Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind , speaks Virginia Gov. Charles S. Robb and M. Joan Parent, president of the National School Boards Association and member of the Foley, Minn., school board, will make comments. 10:30 a.m.-A governor, congressman or White House official will lead group discussions on roles and responsibilities. 1:45 p.m.-National reports on education in a roundtable discussion. 3:15 p.m.-David P. Gardner, president of the University of California and chairman of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, presides over the assembly U.S. Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell makes remarks. President Ronald Reagan is scheduled to speak.

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Accused Crawfordsville assailant is hospitalized

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. (AP) A Crawfordsville High School student accused of shooting a fellow student became ill in his jail cell and was taken to an Indianapolis hospital, officials said. Wishard Memorial Hospital said today Grant Carey, 17, was in stable condition. Montgomery County Sheriff Dennis Rice said the youth was sent to Wishard “to give him testing that couldn’t be performed at Culver” Union Hospital in Crawfordsville. “When he was apprehended, he was extremely cold and suffering from exposure,” Rice said Monday. “We thought it might be a relapse into that. He was shaking real bad and wasn’t really in convulsions, but he was having something happening.” Wishard officials would not discuss Carey’s medical problem. Carey was accused of shooting Calvin Dowell, 18,

December 6,1983, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic

state

three times as Dowell took an economics test in the school cafeteria Friday. Witnesses told police the youths had been good friends but recently began arguing over a girl Dowell broke up with after three years of dating. Dowell was reported in fair condition at Culver Hospital. When police captured Carey late Friday at a golf course, they confiscated a .44-caliber Magnum pistol from him. Carey was being held without bond on a preliminary charge of delinquency by reason of attempted murder. Prosecutor William Steele said Monday he was awaiting a decision by a juvenile court judge regarding authority to file a delinquency petition against Carey. If that is granted, Steele said, he would file a formal charge of delinquency by reason of attempted murder

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against Carey as well as a petition to waive the youth into adult court on the same charge Steele said he filed a petition to detain Carey because there is no bond in Indiana for juveniles. The detention hearing was scheduled at 1 p.m. today. A date for a waiver hearing could beset then, he said. Principal Don Golliher told students at a convocation Monday, “Violence is an ugly, distinctive, senseless, sad, im moral, stupid thing. It is important to consider ourselves as survivors. What we need to do now is admit to ourselves what happened and put it behind us. “We must allow each of you to learn a valuable lesson that maybe will save a life in the future. Now is a good time to commit yourself to a completely non-violent life, pledging that violence is something you won’t use.”

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