The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 226, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 21, 1992 Page: 1 of 20
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Volume 70, No. 226
Telephone Number: 422-8302
Tuesday, July 21, 1992
Baytown, Texas 77520
50 Cents Per Copy
- : 1 West Town Annex
Ashbel Smith site
k v ■
I
Photo by Carrie Pryor
By Josh Daniel
of The Baytown Sun
All Ashbel Smith Elementary students will at-
tend classes in the West Town Annex on Decker
Drive when school starts Aug. 24, Goose Creek
trustees decided Monday.
The 3-2 vote ends months of debate over the
school’s immediate fate, sparked by parent and fa-
culty concerns about poor air quality, pest prob-
lems and structural failure.
The $350,000 plan calls for students from Ash-
■ bel Smith to share the West Town Annex, located
I at Baker and Decker, with students from nearby
I Pumphrey Elementary. Some Pumphrey classes
I had already been moved to rooms in West Town
to relieve overcrowding at the school.
“We’re not mixing the schools,” said Pumphrey
Principal Joy Rutledge. “There will still be two
distinct schools, with separate students and staff.
But each will be using some common areas at dif-
ferent times.’’
Those common areas might include seven port-
able buildings and Pumphrey’s gymnasium,
cafeteria and library, said Dtck Hallum, executive
director of campus planning and evaluation.
“But we will let the principals (of Pumphrey
and Ashbel Smith) work out which students, for
instance, will use the portables,” Hallum added.
The plan’s $350,000 price tag includes transpor-
tation costs for students and parents from Ashbel
Smith.
“We are committed to providing transportation
to all students who need it,” Trustee Jackie
Houlette said.
“If a sick child needs to go home and his or her
parent can’t come get him, we’ll take that child
home,” pledged Dr. Lani Randall, Ashbel Smith
principal.
Hallum described the plan as the best way to
minimize disruption of classes, lower costs and en-
sure classrooms for all students on Aug. 24.
“These were the factors we had to try to ba-
lance, and this is the plan we came up with that
best does that,” he said.
Many Ashbel Smith parents pressed for another
plan altogether.
“Why isn’t there a plan to move Ashbel Smith
to De Zavala?” asked parent Artie Ripkowski. He
said De Zavala students could be relocated to other
campuses in the district
“It would just be a temporary move (to De Za-
vala),” said Julia Brown, another Ashbel Smith pa-
rent. “We want our school. We don’t want to take
over another school.”
But administration officials rejected the plan.
“What people are thinking is simple is really not
very simple. We can’t move 530 Ashbel Smith
kids to De Zavala without doing something with
the De Zavala kids,” Hallum said.
Superintendent Harry Griffith said that relocat-
ing De Zavala students would cause problems with
scheduling, delivery of supplies and faculty
relocation.
Trustees Edward Lowell Hildebrand and Ken-
neth McRay voted against the measure to send
Ashbel Smith students to West Town. Hildebrand
said after the meeting that he was not convinced
the problem warranted the solution adopted.
“I want to wait to find out if (the contamination
at the school) is really bad or not. Once we shut
this building down, it’s gone. If we waited two
years to worry about Ashbel Smith, we could have
waited another five days.”
He warned that relocating the Ashbel Smith stu-
dents could force the school district into building
another new school unnecessarily.
“We all want to do what’s best for the kids,” he
said.
McRay said he also wants what is best for
Goose Creek students. “I think Highlands has
more room, better facilities and it costs less. The
kids could get a better education up north (in
Highlands), despite the inconvenience (of busing
students there).
“But I understand why people voted ‘yes,’ ” he
added.
Superintendent Harry Griffith supported the
measure, as did Board President Martha Mayo and
Trustees Jackie Houlette and Manuel Escontrias.
“I voted ‘yes’ because we can’t wait any lon-
ger,” explained Mrs. Mayo.
Trustees Dave Robins and Sam Mowrey did not
attend the meeting. Neither could be reached for
comment Tuesday morning, but Robins’ secretary
said he was out of town Monday. Employees at
Mowrey’s office did not know why he was unable
to attend the meeting.
-——-------- ----r ... — auenu uie meeting.
Some citizens claim discrimination in board action
By Josh Daniel
of The Baytown Sun
In the wake of the Goose Creek trustees’ decision to relocate
Ashbel Smith Elementary students and faculty to the West Town
Annex, some community members have levelled charges of race
discrimination against the board.
At issue is the board’s decision in 1990 to postpone renovations at
Ashbel Smith and Lamar elementaries. The renovations were part of
a bond issue that would eventually fund the rebuilding of Horace
Mann and Highlands schools and the addition of De Zavala
Elementary.
The Ashbel Smith and Lamar renovations were removed from the
bond package to reduce the package’s price tag from $64 million to
$38.5 million, considered more palatable to district voters and there-
fore more likely to be approved.
Some Ashbel Smith parents contend that the renovations could
have prevented the air quality problems the school now faces, and
that the board’s reluctance to act is racially motivated.
“The bottom line is that lower-income, lower-priority Hispanic
families are concerned,” one parent told trustees.
Anita Meismer said after the meeting that “too many parents were
Jeft in the dark because they don’t speak English.” Meismer esti-
mated that half of the parents at the meeting did not understand
English.
Martha Moreno, a teacher at Ashbel Smith, translated parts of the
meeting into Spanish, as did Ms. Meismer and Ashbel Smith Princi-
pal Dr. Lani Randall.
Congressional candidate Ben Reyes, perhaps the most prominent
of those making the charges, said before the meeting, “Hispanics
nave long been short-changed on government, on education.” Asked
whether he meant that the school district was intentionally “short-
changing Hispanics, Reyes replied, “I don’t know a lot about the
situation (at Ashbel Smith). I ve come here to listen and leam.”
Reyes could not be reached for comment after the meeting.
Night of violence in Pelly area; gang suspected
Trustee Manuel Escontrias denied the charges, often addressing
the crowd in Spanish. “Some people feel that there’s been discrimi-
nation, but that’s just not the case,” he said. “Maybe, in retrospect,
we should have done it differently,” referring to the board’s decision
to postpone Ashbel Smith renovations. “But hindsight is always bet-
ter than foresight
“But the decision was never racially motivated,” he said.
Board President Martha Mayo also defended the board. “We put
the new schools in minority, non-affluent areas. We put them where
they were needed.”
Public Information Director Kathy Clausen said, “This is the same
board that voted for stipends for bilingual teachers, because the dis-
uict needs more Spanish-speaking teachers. Race was never the
issue, she said.
But some in the audience were not convinced. “I know some
parents who plan to contact their attorneys in the morning,” Ms.
Meismer said after the meeting.
By Jane Howard
of The Baytown Sun
Several violent incidents were reported
in Pelly late Monday, ending with 16 al-
leged gang members in custody, one man
wounded by gunfire and four more in-
jured in separate assault, Baytown police
said.
It began in the area of Nazro Street,
where someone apparently fired a few
round at the home of an alleged gang
member, police said. No one was injured
in that incident though a vehicle was
struck by bullets.
At 10:48 p.m., a resident in that area
went outside of his house to investigate
gunfire. He told police later he was
jumped by about eight suspects. Several
witnesses said they heard noises and
looked outside to see the 43-year-old vic-
tim lying in the middle of Edna Street
while several young men hit and kicked
him.
The victim’s teen-age son heard the al-
tercation and ran to his father’s rescue.
He pulled two or three of the assailants
away from his father, then dragged the
older man out of the street. Most of the
suspects fled but one pulled a gun, firing
one shot which struck the older man in
the leg, police said.
Witnesses saw several of the subjects
run into a nearby house on Bayless Street
and were able to identify several of the
suspects. Police found a 16-year-old,
identified as the one who fired the gun, at
that address and took him into custody.
He will be referred to juvenile authorities.
The incident is still under investigation,
police said.
Transported to a Baytown hospital, the
victim was treated for a gunshot wound
to the leg and facial lacerations.
Two hours after the shooting and only
a few blocks away at 220 W. Main, four
young men who were using a payphone.
They were assaulted by a group of 13 or
more Hispanic youths, witnesses told
police.
‘ They were just using the phone and
got attacked by an army,” said Officer
Gary Slot.
Apparently, one of the assailants
pulled out a 22-caliber pistol and fired it
at the victims until he ran out of bullets,
missing with every shot. He then joined
with the other suspects in beating the vic-
tims. The gun was used as a bludgeon,
police said.
Again, the suspects were seen running
into a nearby house. Witnesses flagged
down a passing police sergeant who
called for backup. After an ambulance ar-
rived to treat the victims, Slot and fellow
officers Daniel Danek, Russell White and
Bret Braud surrounded the house that the
suspects had been seen entering.
Two suspects were taken into custody
when they came to the door. Three more
came outside moments later but all five
said there were no more people inside the
house. But when police entered the
house, they found a closed bedroom door
and they heard shuffling noises coming
from behind it. They entered the room
and found eight more youths in the room,
some hiding behind or under furniture.
All the 13 suspects, alleged members
of the Pelly Rats whose ages ranged from
14 to 21 years, were taken into custody.
Though they all claimed to be “sleeping”
at the time of the assault, several witnes-
ses identified them as being at the scene,
officers said. Police also found a .22-cali-
ber pistol hidden under a sofa and a
9-mm pistol concealed beneath a load of
dirty clothing in a washing machine.
Not only do police plan to file aggra-
vated assault charges against four of the
suspects, but an additional charge is
pending against all of them for conspi-
racy to commit gang-related crime, ac-
cording to the arresting officers.
Two of the victims were taken by am-
bulance to a Baytown hospital for treat-
ment while two more followed in a pri-
vate vehicle. None of their injuries was
critical, police said.
Good
Afternoon
SUN DIAL |
Around Town........ 5-A
Classified........ 10-12-A
Comics.............. 8-A
Dimensions.......... 5-A
Editorial............. 4-A
Movies.............. 2-A
Obituaries........... 3-A
Police beat.......... 2-A
Sports............... 9-A
Television............ 6-A
Weather............. 2-A
MINI-THOUGHTS
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Dobbs, Gary. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 226, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 21, 1992, newspaper, July 21, 1992; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1020890/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.