The Independent-News, Volume 120, Number 37, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 26 January 1995 — Page 4

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- THE INDEPENDENT-NEWS - JANUARY 26, 1995

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

“Mediocrity The Goal” After attending the lease hearing on the Urey Middle School project I realized that our school board is willing to accept mediocrity in our school system. They are willing to do half a job concerning our middle school. While every task force estabished to study our grade organization and every feasibility study by different professionals since 1985 and a position statement by our board in 1987 all have shown that our middle school should house 6th, 7th and Bth grades, they choose to ignore all these studies and do what is cheapest in the short term. The response from the Board seems to be that they will provide modem facilities for the 7th and Bth grades but totally ignore the other grades. One thing I should say at this point is that this proposal, if you are thinking of 7th and Bth grades, is a sound facility educationally. It has some bad points such as: We are landlocked — if we need to expand in the future we will have to go to court to condemn more houses so we can take their property; the gym is undersized, it has been for 52 years and will be for the next 52, it is virtually unsafe for basketball players; we will be improving property that we don’t even own (Place Park). Board members have stated that this proposal will provide all the educational needs of the previous proposal but at one half the cost. That is total fallacy. The former provided for the sixth graders to get many of the educational opportunities not provided in the elementary schools. It provided for the elimination of overcrowding at Walkerton Elementary School. It provided for future expansion without the need to steal property from homeowners. The cost is fairly dose if you compare apples to apples, but educationally, for the overall corporation, it isn’s even dose. One board member stated that the superintendent, principals, and teachers were all in favor of this project. Well of course they are. They know who their boss is and who has the power to hire and fire. When our proposal was presented a few years ago they were in favor of it also. Poll the teachers and ask which proposal they like the best, without any names being involved and without any chance of them being dismissed, and I guarantee they will be in favor of the previous one. It is sad when the opinions of our professionals are ignored or suppressed. I’m not saying this board would dismiss someone for not agreeing with them, I’m saying that is what is perceived by our employees. Another board member said we are not strapped by this project, it allows us to do other things, if that is the case then why aren’t we doing this one right? In other words, we can do more projects "half way” but can’t afford to do any of them * ‘right’ ’. Coach Mosson doesn’t tell the basketball team before a game, "It’s okay if you don’t play at 100% of your ability because we’re not expected to win anyway”. Coach Drotar doesn’t tell the football players, “We are just a poor communtiy so we don’t expect you to do your best”. Dan Fortlander doesn’t tell the band members, "It’s okay if you miss a few notes as long as we finish at the same time”. None of these professionals will accept anything less than 100% performance. Our teachers are the same way. Is there any reason that we should expect any less from our school board? They are saying by their action, that we are shooting for mediocre. C’s are akay. They were okay for us when we were kids so why shoot for A’s? All of you parents who have kids

in the elementary or middle school, are you interested in the education your kids will receive? Do you care what facilities your tax dollars are furnishing? Mediocrity is not accepted in the John Glenn School System, at least not by the people who really care. Nilas L. Miller A parent for quality edcation “What You Should Know About Urey Part One” At the January 16, 1995 John Glenn Board of Trustees meeting, time was given for public input concerning the Urey Building proposal. Two people, including myself, stood up and spoke against the proposal, and two people stood up and spoke in favor of the proposal. After all people were given the chance to speak, board members were asked for the record, to give their opinions concerning this proposal. Among the things they said was that this project does provide for future expansion of Urey for the 6th grade by simply adding a wing of core classrooms to the south of the proposed building. I agree with this three grade configuration as do all five of our top administrators and two prior task force committees. So what is the problem Jeff? The problem is the support areas of the Urey proposal were sized for the support of two grade levels only. These support areas include adminsitration, industrial technology, home economics, media center, art, kitchen, cafeteria, band, music, nurse, health, guidance and storage spaces. To support this statement I need only to go back to the September 6,1994 School Board meeting held at Urey Middle School and quote our architect Mr. Kari Vilamaa. Prior to Mr. Vilamaa’s statements that same night during patron response I spoke to the Board about the lack of planning for the 6th grade’s future in this proposal, that it only was planning for two grade levels to be maintained at Urey. During questioning by the Board about any possible trouble this would have in trying to gain needed approval from School Facility Planning Director Dennie C. Skeems, Mr. Vilamaa made this statement: "We also kind of keep hearing the thought that what happens if we add 6th grade or what happens if you add more students do you really want to design the art room, home ec., and all those, cafeteria, all those things at a minimum size and then regret that five years from now. Those are the areas that would be very difficult to come back or infeasible to add onto. If we don’t do it now when it is real easy, to make changes no whether it is up or down, but if we don’t talk about this thing now then we may come back in five years and say well that stupid architect never mentioned that. Board member Janice Ryan then said, “I agree with you. We have to look at the growth and we won’t be smart if we don’t.” Board member Bob Schaeffer then took the conversation elsewhere and to the public’s knowledge has never been discussed since. Sounds to me that we are being led to believe something that is not true. To further support this claim I dug into my files to find the floor plans of the proposed Urey Middle School Building. I did this because I was told that in an indirect way, the current proposal has changed from the September ’94 plan making those areas adequate in size to handle a possible 6th grade wing. What I found was in comparison those areas our current proposal has not added but lost over 1500 square feet! At the last minute before the Board voted for or against this

proposal last Monday the 16th, as an attempt to resolve this problem, Board president Rob Keck asked Mr. Vilamaa if this proposal was adequate in size to handle a future 6th graqe wing. To my knowledge this was the first time since September 1994 that this issue has been addressed. Among the words used by Mr. Vilimaa in his response were: we haven’t studied this and all of the projects support areas were designed to handle a larger number of students. This sounds like a non answer to me. We still do not know the answer to Mr. Keck’s question. Patron for a quality education Jeffrey L. Johnson

To Your Good Health by Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

DEAR DOCTOR DONOHUE: Please inform me as to Barrett’s esophagus. Is there a cure for it? My doctor says I have a mild case of it. The esophagus lining tissue is eroded, he says. Can this be cancerous? My doctor tells me that has not happened in my case. What can be done? How does it begin? I also have terrible heartburn, which seems to be part of the problem. What will the future hold for me? DEAR READER: Barrett’s metaplasia involves the lining of the lower section of the esophagus. Indeed, it can occur in people who have abnormal stomach acid excess, resulting in heartburn. The esophagus lining is not accustomed to such acid exposure, so it becomes altered in time. A normal esophagus lining has what might be described as a woollike consistency. Chronic acid reflux exposure causes gradual erosion, which in time makes the lining silky smooth. The dangers are twofold for Barrett’s patients. The affected area can become prone to ulceration. And yes, in some instances, cancerous changes can occur in such tissue. You treat the esophagus problem by eliminating the stomach disturbance — the excess acid production and reflux. That calls for neutralizing antacids or medicines to lower acid production. The therapy does not necessarily reverse the problem, but it does keep it from worsening. So your future probably will include continued antacid therapies, as well as frequent office visits to follow the course of this somewhat common disorder. For more on the reflux aspects, see the “Heartbum and Hiatal Hernia” report I’m sending you. Others who want this report can order it by writing: Dr. Donohue — No. 18-WS, Box 5539, Riverton, NJ. 08077-5539. Enclose $3 and a self-ad-dressed, double-stamped No. 10 envelope. ©1995 by King Features Synd. Only he deserves power who every day justifies it. —Dag Hammerskjold The art of pleasing consists in being pleased. —William Hazlitt C-A-L-L YOUR INDIANA LEGISLATORS HOUSE 1-800-382-9842 SENATE 1-800-382-9467

| VIEWPOINT

INDIANA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Subject: The State Budget BACKGROUND: The single subject that dominates a long session of the Indiana General Assembly is passage of a biennial state budget. The one bill that must be passed during the session contains a spending plan for state government for the next two fiscal years. Although the state’s financial condition has improved to the point that legislators on both sides of the aisle and Gov. Evan Bayh agree there is no need for tax increases, recent austere budgets have built up demands for increased funding for many services. Among the priorities under consideration are education, cutting automobile excise taxes, unfunded liabilities in the state Teachers Retirement Fund and continued monitoring of the state’s share of costs for Medicaid, which provides health care for poor and disabled people. Examining some of the issues surrounding the budget debate are Indiana House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sam Turpin (R-Brownsburg) and state rep. B. Patrick Bauer (D-South Bend), minority leader on that committee. Turpin was first elected to the House in 1984, while Bauer, a former Ways and Means chairman, has been a member of the House since 1970. State Rep. Sam Turpin: The budget is probably the single most important document tht the General Assembly will pass in the next two years. If you have children in school, if you drive on Hoosier roads or if you own your home, then what happens with Indiana’s 1995-97 budget affects you. Education funding is a major portion of the budget. We are going to make sure that there are more state dollars involved in education funding, rather than relying so heavily on local property taxes. One of the first items on my agenda as Ways and Means chairman is to open up the process of dealing with the budget. In the last few years, public comment has been limited. The hearings we had on the budget were limited to the Statehouse. I think that’s wrong. The public needs to have more involvement. Opening up the budget process and having individuals and communities involved in the process means legislators can make better, more informed decisions. The bottom line is more people should have an opportunity to make comments concerning how their tax dollars are spent. Using cutting edge technology, we plan on using an interactive system to allow communities across Indiana to conduct business with the members of Ways and Means. This will allow the public to play an active role in creating the state’s budget. State Rep. B. Patrick Bauer: Democrat legislators in the House have turned over a $1 billion surplus to the Republicans, and we hope they spent the money as wisely as we did. We are going to continue to have fiscal integrity, but we are also going to offer some proposals that we feel will help this state run smoothly. Certainly we are for the automatic reinstatement of excise tax relief that will occur in January of 1996. This was a Democratic initiative in 1989. Due to the recession, it had to be suspended, but now that the economic picture has improved, we are for a 30 percent reduction of excixe taxes that has been proposed.

Certainly we will continue tc pursue property tax reform along the lines of legislation that ut fortunately died in the final hour of the 1994 session. If enacted, tl bill could provide anywhere fror SBOO million to $1 billion in relief. We want to see the stat Teachers Retirement Fund becom solvent. We support the gove: nor’s initiative to put S3O million i lottery funds and $25 million i general fund revenue in an accour to begin to grow to take care of th billions and billions of dollars th: we owe to that fund. We support state employee sal ary increases. It is unconscionable to me that many of these people are forced to live on food stamps. We feel an increase is necessary so these people who work so hard so our state. We support the governor’ program to fund the new assess ment system for public schoc students, known as IPASS. Fo years, people have talked abou accountability in education. Thi IPASS test program is a good om that is recognized by people throu ghout the country as being a tru test of the skills of students. For more information: Kati Healey (317) 232-9885 or Johi Schorg <317) 232-9621. On January 25,1787, debt-ridden farmers in Massachusetts, staging Shays’ Rebellion, were defeated ... January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in California, initiating the “Gold Rush” ... January 28, 1878, the first commercial telephone exchange opened in New Haven, Conn. ... January 25, 1915, the first telephone talk between New York and San Francisco was made by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson... January 23,1968, the U.S.S. Pueblo and its crew of 83 men was seized in the Sea of Japan by the North Koreans... January 26,1971, Charles Manson and three of his followers were found guilty of first-de-gree murder in the 1969 slaying of actress Sharon Tate and six other people ... January 27, 1973, fourparty Vietnam peace pacts were signed in Paris... January 27,1973, the end of the military draft in the U.S. was announced ... January 25, 1984, President Ronald Reagan, in his State of the Union address, called for budget cuts of SIOO billion over three years, but opposed increased taxes... January 28,1986, moments after liftoff, the space shuttle “Challenger" exploded, killing six astronauts and Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire school teacher ... January 27, 1992, R.H. Macy & Co., owner of 251 retail stores in the U.S., including in New York City “The world’s largest department store,” filed for bankruptcy ... January 28,1992, in his State of the Union address, President George Bush announced proposals to reduce nuclear arsenals and to deal with the U.S. economic recession; calling for a SSO billion reduction in the defense budget over the next five years, he endorsed the cancellation of the Midgetman ICBM program and proposed to cap the number of MX intercontinental ballistic missiles and B-2 stealth bombers... January 29,1992, President Bush submitted to Congress a budget for the 1993 fiscal year, with a projected deficit of $351.9 billion ... January 25,1993, McDonnell Douglas, the largest U.S. defense contractor, announced that it would cut 8,700 jobs... January 25, 1993, Sears, Roebuck & Co., the nation’s third largest retailer, said that it would eliminate 50,000 jobs, close 113 of 859 stores, and cease publication of its catalog, a marketing tool since 1896 ... January 26, 1993, Boeing, the world’s largest airplane manufacturer, announced production cutbacks that appeared likely to trigger 20,000 dismissals.