The Allen American (Allen, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 185, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 13, 1993 Page: 1 of 68
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HARTE
IIANKS
Allen American
Note-Worthy
Wednesday
October 13,1993
50 cents
as professional
musician
====================
0050526 930930 05
HOAG & SONS
BOOK BINDERY
SPRINGPORT MI 49284
Group working to develop
district AIDS curriculum
truth or consequence
VALERIE BARNA church and the home.”
writer Olson added the school district’s
In Allen, teachers rely heavily on 18-member HIV/AIDS Curriculum
textbooks and their own resources Council is trying to find an integrated
to educate students about AIDS and curriculum that would “meet the
the Human Immunodeficiency Virus charge the ESR III had.”
that causesit. ESR III (Education for Self-
“We don’t have a formal AIDS Responsibility) is an optional and
curriculum, ” said David Olson, supplementary curriculum for AIDS/
Allen’s curriculum director. HIV education devised by the Texas
“We’re looking for an age- Education Agency. Although the
appropriate K-12 curriculum in curriculum for prekindergarten
which we could involve the parents through sixth grade was mailed to all
end the churches. We feel this (crea- Texas school districts last fall, furth-
tion of an AIDS curriculum) is not a er mailings for the later grades have
Educators struggle to present AIDS curriculum
without impinging on values of district parents
Education
responsibility that can be met solely been delayed. at the board’s Nov. 12 meeting in
by the school and we’re not trying to ESR III was at the center of a Austin.
take that responsibility. stormy debate last month at the "We would welcome the oppor-
“We sense a need to work on a state Board of Education. The curri- tunity to participate in a revision of
cooperative basis: the school, the culum’s ultimate fate will be decided:
- L - old ue acoaea Turn to CURRICULUM, Page 8A
By VALERIE BARNA letter last fall from the Texas Educa- value, say the educators, who are
Staff writer tion Agency and the Texas Depart- caught in the middle. But the two
When it comes to AIDS instruc- ment of Health. “In Texas, heter- “goods” appear to be in conflict. The
tion, educators are being gored by osexual transmission of HIV right tusk will get you, if the left one
the horns of a dilemma. accounts for the highest percentage doesn’t, the educators say.
The first tusk is the students’ cri- ————-—• Among those learning that lesson
tical need to learn how to protect ■ Pros, cons of AIDS education.............6A are staff members at the Texas
themselves from a disease that is - ---Education Agency (TEA.)
promising to decimate their num- of increase for all modes of expo- With grant monev from the Cen-
bers. sure." ters for Disease Control, the agency
“The need for HIV/AIDS educa- The other horn of the dilemma is recently developed a supplemental
tion programs is underscored by re- parental: Moms and dads have a curriculum on HIV/AIDS and other
cent research that indicates teen- deep need to promote their religious sexually transmitted diseases It’s
agers are greatly at risk of being values among youths they see as the third in a series of “Education for
infected because of their high rate of potentially lost in a sea of sex.
sexual activity,” according to a joint Each horn has a good, positive
Turn to EDUCATORS, Page 8A
^BOWLING FOR
THE GOLD
Special Olympians practice
for upcoming competition
By WENDY WEGREN
Staff writer
Annie Blakely walks to the edge of the bowling lane,
her bowling ball held firmly in front of her.
She stares at the pins with intense concentration.
After a moment, Annie takes a few steps and releases
her ball with the proper form of a league bowler.
The ball speeds down the lane and quickly knocks
down all of the pins. She turns-around, a bright smile
spreading across her face. Her teammates cheer her
strike, as does her coach, Debbie Toon. After high
fives are exchanged, the bowler takes her seat and the
next bowler steps to the lane.
Toon begins walking up and down the alley as she
usually does. She eyes her 40 bowlers closely, shout-
ing words of encouragement and tips on how to im-
prove their bowling techniques.
The practice is taken seriously at the Allen Bowl on
this Friday afternoon. After all, the area competition is
coming up at the end of this month. But for these Allen
bowlers, today’s practice is more than preparing for
competition.
Bowling is providing them with the opportunity to
I build their confidence and to improve their social
skills, and the golden opportunity to be just like every-
body else — an opportunity that is precious to these
competitors.
That is because these bowlers are Special Olym-
pians. The athletes range in age from 8 to post-
graduate. And mental retardation or physical hand-
icaps are not seen as limitations for participating in
sports competition.
Jeannette Williamson, the administrative secretary
for Allen Independent School District special educa-
Ntion, smiles as she watches the bowlers practice.
“Every athlete is a winner in Special Olympics,” she
said.
Looking up and down the alley, one can see children
in wheelchairs. Some children have Down’s syn-
drome. But the smiles and excited yells from the
children serve as positive proof all of the children are
gaining something special from bowling.
Williamson said in addition to helping the children’s
fine and gross motor coordination, bowling has en-
hanced many of the children’s social skills.
Judy Blakely is also helping out at today’s bowling
I practice. She watches her daughter Annie, who is now
20 years old. Annie’s bowling is so good that she even
bowls in a league.
“She loves it,” Blakely said, speaking of Annie’s
participation in Special Olympics. “She has grown so
much in the past four years.”
Blakely said Annie’s participation in Special Olym-
pics has made her much more talkative and outgoing
than she ever was before. And because there is no age
limit to competing in the Special Olympics, Annie can
stay mvolved even though she is finished with school.
Williamson said a child’s self-esteem will often rise
because of the good feeling that comes from playing
sports.
“We see great growth in their social/personal skills,
their peer relations strengthen,” Williamson said.
The strong peer relations is obvious in the way the
children cheer for each other. Whether a bowler
throws a gutter ball or a strike, these Special Olym-
pians have a built-in cheering section from their peers.
Toon whizzes by again, keeping the bowlers in line
and applauding their efforts.
“She has really brought a lot of enthusiasm to the
, team,” Willamson said, following Toon with her eyes.
“She has a no-nonsense approach with them.”
Toon stops by a lane and comments on how a child
can improve his bowling technique. As another child
knocks down some pins, Toon yells out encourage-
ment.
For Toon, the best thing about coaching these Spe-
cial Olympians is the satisfaction these children give
her. Toon continues her march up and down the lanes
Turn to SPECIAL, Page 8A
Sarah Taylor, with help from peer tutor Amanda Ryan, bowls for a strike at Allen
Bowl Friday during a practice for an upcoming Special Olympics competition.
Tim Klapter
is praised
by Jeannet-
te William-
son after
bowling a
strike. Wil-
liamson is
special
education
administra-
tive secret-
ary for the
Allen Inde-
pendent
School Dis-
trict.
Richard Bennett
Staff photos
Sheriff pushes
jail ratio issue
Commissioners support expansion plan
By STEPHEN HADELER to meet a Dec. 29 deadline to have
Staff writer the new $34 million jail “substantially
Collin County Sheriff Terry Box completed” to allow accepting pris-
wants to push state limits on the oners in March.
capacity of the new Collin County The jail’s housing facilities would
Justice Center Jail even further. consist of two wings, called clusters,
Following a request last week to each with four pods where 48 prison-
increase the guard-to-inmate ratio in ers would be overseen by a single
the new jail from l-to-48 to l-to-60 guard under a prisoner management
or -65, Box asked Collin County program called “direct supervision.”
commissioners Monday to increase The jail is designed to accommo
the ratio to l-to-72. date as many as 1,180 inmates if it is
The measure, which received later expanded to include additional
commissioner approval, would in- clusters.
crease the jail’s capacity from 376 to With Monday’s Commissioners
530 inmates and could save county Court vote to approve the increased
taxpayers money by reducing out- ratio, the capacity of most of the new
of-county inmate housing costs, Box jail’s pods would increase from 48 to
said. 72.
“We figure we’ll save county tax- According to Box, the proposal
payers about $410,000,” he said. would save money on its out-of-
The proposal still has to be county housing costs.
approved by the Texas Commission During the current year, commis-
on Jail Standards before it could be sioners have budgeted about $2.4
instituted, Box said.
Construction workers are trying
Turn to SHERIFF, Page 8A
lax proposals expected
to draw little response
Voter turnout predicted to be light
By JEFF CLAASSEN ters are likely to cast ballots, said
Harte-Hanks Austin Bureau Mark Bell, spokesman for the
AUSTIN — Texas voters can Secretary of State’s office.
start deciding Wednesday whether "It's hard to tell whether this will
income tax proposals must clear the he an emotional issue, like the lot-
hurdle of a public vote. tery and horse racing,” Bell said.
Early voting for that proposed "We didn't expect those big turn-
constitutional amendment and 15 outs."
others — involving jail construction, Passionate debates about horse
small-business loans and other race gambling lured 30.6 percent of
issues — starts today and ends on registered voters to the polls in
Oct. 29. The election is Nov. 2. 1987, and lottery arguments helped
Turnout is expected to be light, bring out 26.2 percent of voters in
even though many Texans ardently 1991, Bell said. Both issues won
oppose income taxes, the issue that approval.
has gained the most attention. But this year, income tax issues
About 15 percent to 20 percent of
the state’s 8.5 million registered vo-
Early voting
under way in
state election
By STEPHEN HADELER
Staff writer
Early voters need no excuses.
In Texas — the only state where
voters don’t need to make excuses
to vote prior to election day — early
voting, formerly called absentee
voting, begins today and will con-
tinue through Oct. 29 for the Nov. 2
statewide constitutional amendment
referendum, said Collin County
Elections Administrator Donna
Strub.
In addition, the elections office is
Turn to ELECTION, Page 8A
have stirred few emotions.
Turn to PROPOSALS, Page 8A
On the Inside
Briefs..............................7A
Classifieds..................3-12B
Education........................3 A
Obituaries.......................7A
Opinion...........................9A
Police News.....................2A
Second Front...................1B
Sports......................11-12A
Weddings & Engagements 6A
■ If what Allen head football coach
Ken Purcell said is true, that people
grow through adversity and tough
times, then this season should make
the Eagles the most mature team on
the field each week — Page 12A.
■ Like someone fed up with the daily
grind of work, the Allen cross coun-
try team left the Metroplex area this
past weekend in search of new com-
petition and better results — Page
12A.
Harte-Hanks Sell Glassiffieds.-9^f^marl<ets...l easy number... 727-SELL
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Epperson, Wayne. The Allen American (Allen, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 185, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 13, 1993, newspaper, October 13, 1993; Allen, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1694953/m1/1/: accessed July 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Allen Public Library.