The Penny Record (Bridge City, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 27, Ed. 1 Tuesday, November 14, 1989 Page: 2 of 10
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Page 2, PENNY RECORD NEWSPAPER. Tuesday November 14, 1989
Lease signed for library; Beautifica-
tion workers honored
by Barbara Fix
Mayor John Banken announced
that a lease had been signed for a
building to house an interim library
and presented certificates of ap-
preciation to D. E. Simon and his
granddaughter, Jessica, for their
work in the Beautification Commit-
tee at the Bridge City City Council
meeting last Thursday.
Sarah West, chairman of the
Beautification Committee,
thanked Simon and Jessica for their
work in the last five months and the
work they did on the Memorial
Park at E. Roundbunch and Texas
Avenue. Banken presented the cer-
tificates.
Under communications, Banken
told council members that on
Thursday the city signed a two-year
lease with Fred Lea for a building
at 2162 Texas Avenue. The building
would be the temporary home for a
public library.
The council also increased the
LEWIS-cont'd
fron p.1
In discussing workers’ compensa-
tion, he said that members of labor,
blue color and business groups
need to sit down with the State-
House Conference Committee.
“Those two groups (workers and
employers) need to sit down and
write the bill because they are the
ones affected by workers’ comp,”
Lewis said.
“I think the final thing...is to quit
blaming everyone else.” Lewis said
that lawyers blame insurance com-
panies, insurance companies
blame doctors, and doctors blame
someone else. “In my opinion, we
are all guilty. 1 think when we all
take some of the blame, we’ll
negotiate in good faith.”
Lewis said that he would vote for
a bill that either freezes or reduces
premiums and raises benefits for
the injured worker. An ideal bill
has to have safety measures in it for
obvious reasons, he said; for ex-
ample, explosions at Phillips and
Mobil.
But Lewis said that he would not
vote for a bill just to say that he had
done something. “We’ve got a
problem; let’s pass a bill that will
solve the problem.”
According to an Associated
Press report last week, Gov. Bill
Clements planned to limit the
November session to workers'
compensation and called for a ses-
sion in March to deal with school
finance.
Lewis said that public school
finance will "probably be as bitter
and as intense a battle as we’ve had
in the legislature since we've been
serving. The problem that we have
with public school finance is that
under the current financial struc-
ture, it’s going to be extremely hard
to equalize state spending to school
districts.”
There’ll have to be additonal
funds, according to Lewis, but he
said that he was contrary to those
who thought that throwing money
at the problem was the way to solve
it.
"The important thing,” he said,
“is to come up with a new revenue
structure in Texas to relieve the aw-
some burden that local districts
have in funding schools. I personal-
ly feel that’s the state’s respon-
sibility and not the local district’s
responsibility.”
When asked what the solution
was, he said that nobody really
knows yet. “You’re going to have
181 proposals,” he said. “Everyone
will have their version of how to
solve the problem.”
The legislature should take a lit-
tle from most of those proposals,
Lewis said. No one school district
should write the bill; everyone has
to have a part in the system.
Both special sessions could prove
to be long ones, according to Lewis.
“We may have a merry Christmas
at the capitol.”
On the average, a person takes in
about 16,000 gallons of water dur-
ing his or her life.
mayor’s monthly allowance while
acting in place of the city manger by
$1,000 retroactive to Sept. 1,1989.
In other business. City Council
members approved:
*A $100 a month raise effective
Jan. 1,1990 for City SecretarvTerrv
White;
‘The appointment of Paul Four-
nier to the Planning and Zoning
Commission;
‘The appointment of Johnny
Scales as an alternate to the Board
of Adjustments;
*A $102,490 bid from Highway
Equipment Company of Houston
for a grade-all;
*A recommendation from
Banken that bids be put out again
for a dump truck;
‘The purchase of a half ton
pucikup truck from J.K. Chevrolet
for $10,487.98;
‘The purchase of a one ton truck
from Wickersham Ford for
$15,486.
LU-PA final
installment
payment due
PORT ARTHUR-Students at
Lamar University-Port Artur who
are on the four-installment pay-
ment plan have their final install-
ment due Wednesday, Nov. 8,
according to Comptroller/Business
Manager Gwen Erwin.
“It is important that the student
make his payment on time so that
he can avoid difficulties with course
credits, records, and possibly,
graduation,” Ms. Erwin added.
Payments may be made in person
with cash, money order, check,
MasterCard or VISA or by mail
with money order or check. The
cashier’s office in the Madison
Monroe Building, 1500 Procter, is
open Monday through Thursday
from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on
Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
When paying by mail, the student
should include his Social Security
number with his payment. All pay-
ments by mail should be sent to
Lamar University-Port Arthur;
Finance Office; P.O. Box 310; Port
Arthur, TX 77641-0310.
To make any inquiries about pay-
ment, call 983-4921 or 727-0886,
ext. 305, Monday through Friday
between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
This is the last semester for the
two and four installment plans. The
Texas Legislature initiated a new
policy that students can either pay
their complete fees at registration
or participate in a three-payment
plan. In Spring ’90, only the three-
installment plan will be available.
Engagement,
Wedding, Birth
Announcements
The Penny Record Newspaper
provides forms for all engage-
ments and weddings to assure
accurate information. Please
use the form when submitting
information.
Birth announcements may be
mailed in with the information
to be published or brought by
the office.
Engagement and wedding
forms are available at the office,
2070 Texas Avenue, from 8:30
a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday
through Friday.
The deadline is noon Friday
for publication the next Tues-
day. Engagement and wedding
pictures may be picked up after
publication.
On average. Salt Lake City, Utah
gets 17 inches more snow a year
than Fairbanks, Alaska.
The term drauing room is a shorten-
ing of the wordu ithdrawmg, for the
room to which guests withdrew.
RALLY-cont’d fromp.l
Jim Winner, assosicated with Dale
Carnegie Systems. Winner
received his formal education at
the University of New Mexico in
Alburquerque and the University
of California Extension School in
Los Alamos, then joined the
private business sector for eight
years.
Winner joined Dale Carnegie in
1968 in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
and became certified to teach
seven different Dale Carnegie
programs. He has listened to and
commented on over 100,000 talks
and counseled with over 25,000
people on how to increase their
personal impact in whatever career
they choose. He has been invited to
speak to groups in 12 different
states in the country.
From 1968 to 1977, he was in the
top 10 percent of sales, nationally.
In 1977, Winner moved to Baton
Rouge, Louisiana, and bought the
license agreement to promote Dale
Carnegie Training Systems
throughout 22 parishes in middle
Louisiana and two counties in East
Texas. His organization has won
the President Cup three times, had
the highest percentage of raduates
nationally, twice, and in 1985 was
awarded both the President’s Cup
and chairman of the board status,
showing aggressiveness in market-
ing and quality of instruction
throughout the entire territory. In
1988, he was presented the
“Marketer of the Year” award by
SMEI of Baton Rouge.
Jim and his wife, Margaret, are
active in Christian Life Fellowship.
Winner was selected as one of the
top ten speakers in Baton Rouge by
Gris Gris Magazine, has worked
with Community Fund for the Arts,
is a charter member of Champac
Political Action Committee of the
Greater Baton Rouge Chamber of
Commerce, a director of the Ex-
calibur Club for Business Leaders,
a member of the Board for LSU In-
ternational Association of Foreign
Exchange Students in economics
and business managements and a
member opf TASC, a group
formed to look for treatment alter-
natives to street crime.
ODOM-cont'd from
p. 1
responsibility, authority and fund-
ing to local DROs.
Second, he proposed tougher
penalities for parents who do not
make a good faith effort to make
payments.
Third, he would pursue collec-
tion by private attorneys.
Fourth, he proposed a statewide
program to provide for the ap-
pointment of attorneys to represent
the children.
Fifth, he would establish a “Blue
Ribbon Committee on Child Sup-
port Enforcement” to study enfor-
cement and make
recommendations.
Area groups
sponsor program
on health care for
women & infants
BEAUMONT —The Southeast
Texas Nurses Association of the
American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists Chapter and the
March of Dimes will present
“Maintaining Ouality and Contain-
ing Costs in the Health Care of
Women and Infants: Programs for
Pre-Term Delivery Prevention,
Early Hospital Discharge and
Home Follow-Up.”
The program will be held Friday,
November 17, at the Holiday Inn-
Beaumont Plaza from 8:15 a.m. lo
2:30 p.m. Program faculty include
Dr. Linda Brown, assistant profes-
sor of nursing at the University of
Pennsylvania School of Nursing,
and Dr. Robert Creasy, professor
and chairman of the Department of
Obstetrics, Gynecology and
Reproductive Sciences at the
University of Texas Health Science
Center in Houston.
For registration and more infor-
mation, call 833-2511.
When swallows fly high it is an
indication of good weather The
birds feed on gnats and flies, which
are found farther from the ground
when warm air rises The rising air
is generally a sign of good weather
Keep a whole batch of pancakes
warm while you make more by plac-
ing them between two o' three
folds of a heavy towel in a warm
oven
Published Every Tuesday By
BRIDGE CITY PRINTING COMPANY
at
2070 TEXAS AVENUE
Mailing Address: P. O. BOX 1008
BRIDGE CITY, TEXAS 77611
735-5305
Thelma Taft..............................................................Managing Editor
Carol Puckett..............................................................Office Manager
Audrey Gaston...........................................................................Layout
Marilyn Elitcraft........................................................................Layout
If You Do Not Receive Your PENNY RECORD Each Week,
Or If You Have A Complaint, Please Feel Free To Call Us At
735-5305.
Social
Senators target workers’
comp, and safety on the job
cient resolution of disputed claims
It eliminates trial de novo, but it
retains the fundamental right oil
trial by jury. »
“The mvth that we must scrap 50
AL1STIS — State Senators Kent
Caperton (D-Brvan/College Sta-
tion) and Carl Parker (D-
Beaumont) jointly filed legislation
last week targeting comprehensive
reform of the stale’s workers’ com-
pensation system that cuts rates,
not rights.
The package of remedies offered
will reduce insurance rates lo busi-
nesses and consumers by attacking
unsafe workplaces, rising medical
costs, faulty insurance regulations
and an ineffectual administrative
process.
The Senators set forth their
proposal by declaring war on
dangerous conditions in the
workplace. They emphasized a
critical need for stronger safety
controls and enforcement in the
state, citing a recent study by a
statewide consumer organization
which showed improved safety
would save the system more than
half a billion dollars.
“The genesis of workers’ com-
pensation begins with safety or the
lack thereof,” said Caperton.
“Without deaths or injuries, the
system never kicks in.”
Another key measure of reform
addressed in the bill is the control
of escalating workers’ compensa-
tion rates suffered by Texas’ busi-
nesses. Both Senators said their bill
would cut rates with a series of
beneficial and cost-cutting
measures, /smong these are: medi-
cal cost containment features,
reduction of attorney involvement
in the system, incentives for
employees to return to work, and
rate relief for small businesses.
In the 19th century Karl Waetzel,
an Austrian, invented a machine
with which one man could play 378
instruments The panominico. as he
named it. numbered 150 flageolets,
150 flutes. 50 oboes, 18 trumpets,
5 fanfares, 3 drums and 2 kettle-
drums.
A small flat sponge or paper
towel kept in your refrigerator veg-
etable bin can absorb much of the
excess moisture collecting there.
Specificially addressed are major
provisions aimed at insurance
regulation and reform.
“This bill, for the first time, ag-
gressively attacks the real culprits
within the workers’ compensation
system —a profity-hungry in-
surance industry that is putting
pressure on the system for huge
rate increases. Poor regulation of
this industry is a major contributor
to the crisis,” said Parker.
The bill provides for a mandatory
5 percent rate rollback the first year
(Sept. 1, 1990) and an additional 10
percent rate rollback the second
year (Sept. 1, 1991). In addition,
mandatory compensation coverage
will be phased in over five years
with exemptions for small busi-
nesses of four or less employees.
Additionally, the bills mandate
tough provisions to prevent col-
lusion by insurance carriers and to
require better data reporting and
accuracy for rate-making pur-
poses.
Additionally, the bill will over-
haul the Assigned Risk Pool, which
has become a dumping ground for
small businesses while providing a
profit-making haven for the in-
surance industry.
“Subjecting the ARP to the Open
Meetings Act and Open Records
Act will expose its actions and
decisions to public scrutiny,” said
Caperton.
A competitive State Fund is
created to write workers’ compen-
sation insurance. The Fund will
compete against private carriers
and will offer rates between 80 and
95 percent of the State Board of In-
surance promulgated rates for car-
riers. Before an employer can be
relagated to the Assigned Risk
Pool, they must be rejected by two
voluntary carriers and the State
Fund.
The Caperton/Parker bill also of-
fers a new approach for determin-
ing benefits. The concept, known as
“spendable earnings”, calculates
the injured worker's benefits as a
percentage of his or her weekly
take-home pay.
Finally, the bill contains
provisions for the fast, fair and effi-
years of jurisprudence to fix
workers' compensation is
propagated by people with a politi-
cal agenda and no real concern for
the business community, for in-
jured workers, or for the people of
Texas,” Parker said.
Disputes are expedited by
providing an initial informal review
followed by the highly successful
mediation process. If at the end of
mandatory mediation, the matter is
not fully resolved, the parties may
proceed to arbitration or a jur^^
trial. Furthermore, an injure^^
worker can go through the entire
Commission process without the
assistance of a lawyer.
A critical element in this process
is a new concept called the “80 per-
cent rule” wihch forces the parties
to realistically evaluate the merits
of proceeding to a jury trial. The
operation of the “80 percent rule”
will enhance the significance of the
Commission’s award recommen-
dation. Nonetheless, this dispute
resolution system recognizes the
jury as a check and balance on a
powerful and potentially unrespon-
sive bureaucracy.
Caperton, a strong supperter of
jury trials, said, “There are some
who believe that trial by jury is a
‘threat to reform’. I suggest that it
is just the opposite. If we set up a
tough but fair agency review, then
trial by jury is the check and
balance needed to insure that the
‘bureaucrats’ do not run roughshod
over an injured worker’s rights.
Frankly, I am appalled that some
folks hold the right to trial by jury
in such contempt.’
BIRTHDAY PICTURES: As of Nov. 1, there will
be $10 charge to publish birthday pictures.
The deadline is Noon Friday for the following
Tuesday’s publication. The picture and infor-
mation must be brought in to the office, 2070
Texas Avenue, or mailed in with payment.
Happy Birthday, Samantha!
8 Years Old ‘ 'V
To our little angel who makes
the world a brighter place for all
of us We love you, honey.
Love, Mom, Lonnie, Austin,
STAR snip
Travis, Shae & Tiffany
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Taft, Thelma. The Penny Record (Bridge City, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 27, Ed. 1 Tuesday, November 14, 1989, newspaper, November 14, 1989; Bridge City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1170728/m1/2/: accessed July 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .