The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 123, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 24, 1983 Page: 1 of 28
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OVER 70,000 READERS EVERY DAY
Volume 61, No. 123
Telephone Number: 422-8302
Thursday, March 24, 1983
Baytown, Texas 77520
20 Cents Per Copy
Polumbo Introduces Measure
House Debates Bill
To Ban Tent Cities
AUSTIN (Sp) - A ban on
camps in Texas’ roadside parks
was debated by lawmakers who
were told that last year’s “Tent
City” near Crosby was inhabited
not by needy homeless, but by
vagrants and criminals.
Rep. Tony Polumbo, who
represents the portion of Baytown
in District 128, presented to the
House Transportation Committee
on Wednesday a measure that
would outlaw camping in road-
side rest stops operated by the
state.
“Tent City,” which was located
off Highway 90 at the San Jacinto
Bridge, was closed down last
month by health officials. At one
time during its nine-month ex-
istence, about 300 people lived in
the park, which measures less
than two acres.
“Tent City” gained national
media exposure when its
residents claimed they were
displaced victims of
"Reaganomics.”
Polumbo said news reports
about the camp were meant to
“kick Texas” because of its good
economic condition compared to
other areas of the country. The in-
ternational reports, he said, were
used as propaganda that
democracy does not work.
“Were these people truly down
and out and needy?” Polumbo
asked his colleagues. “Should we
allow our roadside parks to be us-
ed for this purpose?"
Polumbo’s proposal was refer-
red to a subcommittee.
Harris County Sheriff’s Captain
Kenneth Berry testified that by
the time “Tent City” was closed
on Feb. 7, four people had died —
two drowned in the nearby river,
one burned to death in his tent,
and one died of pneumonia.
“I feel like these people needed
a place to stay and were looking
for help” at first, said Berry, but
he added, ‘In my opinion, the
criminal element moved in and
obviously the good people moved
out.”
Betty Cook, who told the
legislators she represented “the
do-gooders,” operates Sheltering
Arms, a volunteer-run home for
the needy five miles away from
“tent city.” She said only three of
the “Tent City” residents applied
for space in her facility.
Two, she said, a father and son,
were kicked out for breaking a
house rule against drinking
alcohol on the premises. She said
the third was turned away
because he said he had no inten-
tion of looking for work.
“We are kind to people,” she
said, “but we tell them up front
what the rules are.”
Sheldon school Superintendent
Lloyd Dickens said at one point
his small district was faced with
100 extra pupils from “tent city,”
which would have required the
hiring of four more
schoolteachers.
TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY
Because of the transience of the
“Tent City” residents, he said,
“you might have 100 students one
week and only 25 the next.”
CLAIRE BURT, 3%-year-old daughter of Mr. and flash flooding in some areas but no major damages.
Mrs. Leonard Burt of Baytown looks for the silver The outlook for Friday is partly cloudy, according to
lining after Wednesday’s torrential rains. Baytown the National Weather Service,
was pelted with 2.38 inches of rain which caused (Sun staff photo by Angie Bracey)
Barney Clark Dies 112 Days After Artificial Heart Transplant
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -
Barney Clark, “a very stoic, very
strong man” who traded a
peaceful death from heart disease
for a painful, uncharted medical
odyssey, died 112 days after
becoming the first human to
receive a permanent artificial
heart.
The end Wednesday night for
the courageous retired dentist
came "in peace and with digni-
ty,” said University of Utah
Medical Center spokesman John
Dwan, shortly after the 62-year-
old Clark died of “circulatory col-
lapse due to multi-organ system
failure.”
His death at 10:02 p.m. MST
followed a day of medical set-
backs in which Clark was return-
ed to intensive Care and fell from
fair to critical condition.
It was a quick, quiet, painless
death, Dwan said.
Clark was “a very stoic, very
strong man,” said Helen Kee,
hospital director of nursing. “A
man who chose to do what he did
knowing this could be the result.”
His death came almost 16
weeks to the minute after he was
rushed into surgery late Dec. 1,
life rapidly draining from his
tissue-thin natural heart.
Without the experimental
device, he would have become
one o. 8,000 to 10,000 Americans
who die each year from car-
diomyopathy, a degenerative, in-
operable disease of the heart
muscle.
He had been suffering since
Saturday from a fever and in-
creasingly severe kidney failure,
problems that doctors said were
probably caused by a common
virus. By Wednesday, he had col-
itis in his bowel and evidence of
plilmonary hypertension in his
lungs.
Dr. Chase Peterson, university
vice president for health sciences,
said doctors also worried that
Clark might have suffered an in-
fraction — or death of tissue — in
his bowel, which would have kill-
ed him in two or three days.
The air-driven, polyurethane
heart began pumping in Clark’s
chest early on the morning of
Dec. 2. He went on to celebrate
Christmas and a Jan. 21 birthday
that his family thought he would
never live to see.
Clark, from the Seattle suburb
of Des Moines, spoke publicly just
once about the mechanical heart,
in a taped interview made March
1 and released a day later.
He acknowledged life with the
device had been hard. “But all in
all it has been a pleasure to be
able to help^people,” he said.
Dwan said Clark was expected
to be buried in Seattle, but had no
other details on the funeral ar-
rangements.
No mechanical problems were
found, and “it’s my understan-
ding that the heart was working
perfectly” until Clark died, Dwan
said. He would not say when the
artificial heart was disconnected.
Information Requested On
Children Entering School
Parents of children entering
school for the first time next year
should contact principals at
elementary schools in their vicini-
ty, said Jenarie Alexander,
elementary director in the
district here.
School officials are asking
parents of children eligible for
kindergarten or first grade to fur-
nish the following information:
The child’s legal name and bir-
thdate; the parent or guardian’s
name, mailing and residence ad-
dresses and business and
residence phone numbers; and
the name of the school the child
might have attended during the
1982-83 school year, if the school is
outside the Goose Creek district.
Parents should send informa-
tion to principals of elementary
schools which their children
would attend. If they do not know
which school is in their area, they
should send information to
Elementary Director Jenarie
Alexander, Box 30, Baytown,
77520.
A child entering kindergarten
must be 5 on or before Sept. 1,
1983. To enter first grade, he must
be 6 on or before Sept. 1,1983.
Information is not needed if the
child has attended public school
kindergarten in Goose Creek.
!
Pearce Street Journal -
Siege Is Over
Since late Wednesday we have
been doing business at 1607
Southwood, our heavily-
mortgaged home.
In a few days, we will venture
out and forget what happened
during a month’s siege in
Houston.
-FH
AROUND
TOWN
CINDY BURNS and Pam Dunlap
coach a mean softball game . . .
Jerry and Lanay Simmons enjoy-
ing a new car.
. . . Former Baytonian Jimmy
SheppiVd sends greetings to
Baytown friends from Dallas
Marjorie Morse picks up her
newspaper and mail.
Joe Ickes and Georgia Texada
beat a friend to the punch . .
Lucy O’Brien says the key to
modeling in fashion shows is to
“have a good time.”
Herschel Badgett joins early
risers at breakfast . Earl
Porter looks forward to a reunion
of old friends.
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Business..........
.....ID
Classified.........
...3-6D
Comics............
.....7C
Crossword Puzzle..
.....7C
Dimension........
.....IB
Editorial..........
.....4A
Fire News.........
.....2A
Markets...........
.....8A
Movie Theaters....
.....SC
Obituaries.........
.....2B
Police Beat........
.....2A
School Lunches....
.....4B
Sports.............
____1-4C
Teen Times........
.. 5B, 5C
Television Log.....
.. 6C, 6D
Weather...........
.....2A
WEATHER
CLOUDY AND COOL is the
forecast for the Baytown
area Thursday night with
temperatures in the upper
40s. Friday will be partly
cloudy with the mercury
near 70. From 7 a.m.
Wednesday to 7 a.m. Thurs-
day, a low of 45 degrees and
a high of 60 degrees were
recorded.
Participants Sought
HUMS* ‘ • “jr ’ * .
March Of Dimes Walk
MBnSRAfljMB
Planned Here April 24
MARCH OF DIMES National Poster Child Ben Hill, from Paso Robles,
Calif., is welcomed to Baytown by Kenny Harwell and Kenny’s
parents, Marilyn and Royce Harwell. Ben is typical of the more than
250,000 children who are born each year in the United States with birth
defects. The Harwells are chairmen of the Baytown Walk America
event, scheduled for April 24, which will raise money to help the March
of Dimes’ fight against birth defects.
The city of Baytown will host
one of 1,100 March of Dimes
WalkAmerica events on Sunday,
April 24. Royce Harwell, presi-
dent of InterFirst Bank Baytown,
and his wife, Marilyn, are
chairmen of the event here.
“Our goal is to better last
year’s figures,” Harwell said.
“That means 250 walkers raising
$15,500.”
The walk will begin at the
Baytown Community Building
(off Market Street) and will ex-
tend for 35 kilometers through the
community. Participants seek
pledges before the event for each
kilometer they plan to complete.
“There will be rest stops along
the way,” said Harwell, “so if you
don’t think you can go any far-
ther, you can quit. But, the far-
ther you walk, the more money
you raise for the March of
Dimes.”
The March of Dimes was found-
ed in 1938 by President Franklin
D. Roosevelt to conquer polio.
After the Salk and Sabin vaccines
that virtually eliminated the
disease in the 1950s, the organiza-
tion turned its efforts toward
fighting birth defects.
“Our son Kenny was born
healthy, and that’s one reason
we’re involved,” they said.
“Birth defects are the nation’s
number one child health pro-
blem.”
According to March of Dimes
statistics, more than 250,000
children are born each year with
mental or physical birth defects.
The March of Dimes is working to
prevent them through programs
of research, education, and com-
munity service.
To join WalkAmerica, call the
March of Dimes at 780-8488 and
ask for a sponsor form.
More Citizens Protest Licenses
Interest In Liquor Laws Rising In County
ByLISAOCKER
Citizens, at least in Harris
County, are showing a “renewed
interest” in upholding liquor
laws, says Gene Thomas, assis-
tant district supervisor for the
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Com-
mission.
In the past few years, he says
he has seen an increase in pro-
tests over the issuance of liquor
licenses. Citizen’s groups are
more active, also protesting
things like bars offering
“topless” entertainment, and
parents are more concerned
about their underage children
drinking, he says.
“A few years ago, when we’d
call a parent to tell them their
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AUTO RENTALS
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child had been caught drinking,
they would just be relieved they
hadn’t been caught with nar-
cotics,” Thomas says, “but now,
alcohol is bad too.”
Thomas attributes the renewed
interest to “changing times.”
In 1973, he started in the
Baytown office as the only agent
working in this district, which
consists of the eastern third of
Harris County. Now? there are
eight agents, including himself,
plus clerical help. Two agents
wete added last year.
The Alcoholic Beverage Com-
mission, wliose agents are state
police officers, regulates the
alcoholic beverage industry at all
levels, issues permits and keeps
m
watch over licenses. Agents do
limited undercover work, but do
make routine inspections of
licensed establishments, Thomas
says, where they identify
themselves as agents.
A “large percentage” of the
complaints his office receives,
concerns juveniles, Thomas says.
Major problems are the sale of
alcohol to minors and private par-
ties at which alcohol is available
to minors, he says.
Since September, 1981, when
the legal drinking age was raised
to 19 years of age, the workload of
alcoholic beverage agents has in-
creased “tremendously,”
Thomas says.
Minors going into bars is not a
problem, Thomas says.
Other problems include the sale
of alcohol to persons who are
already intoxicated, he says.
The TABC works closely with
area police departments. When
an offense, such as prostitution,
controlled substances or someone
with a gun on licensed premises,
occurs, agents are called out to
the scene to investigate.
Offenses occurring on licensed
premises for which licenses could
be suspended occur almost night-
ly in this district, Thomas says.
He estimates about 218 licenses
were suspended for all types of of-
fenses last year in this district.
Lone Star
Bank
0m Steel Neat af Mill
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Straight Talk
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fp InterFirst
InterFirst Bank
Baytown
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Brown, Leon. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 123, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 24, 1983, newspaper, March 24, 1983; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1063585/m1/1/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.