Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 53, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 30, 1987 Page: 1 of 10
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VAIIA
box 1050
Palacios, Tx 7 7^65
To assume management from Memorial Care Systems
MCHD reaches agreement with Methodist
The Methodist Health Care
Network Inc., which manages 10
hospitals in the Houston area,
will take over management re-
sponsibility for Wagner and
Matagorda General Hospitals
and Matagorda House effective
Jan. 1.
The unanimous decision to
sign a management contract with
Methodist came at a special
meeting of the Matagorda Coun-
ty Hospital District board of
managers iasi Thursday (Dec.
24). Memorial Care Systems of
Houston, which has managed the
county's hospitals since 1983,
rejected contract terms put for-
ward by the board and offered
revisions which the board chose
not to accept. The management
agreement with Memorial ex-
pires Dec. 31.
Board Vice Chairman John
Toellner of Palacios, who pre-
sided in Chairman Harry Sha-
nnon’s absence, signed a 90-day
agreement with Methodist at
Thursday’s meeting. The board
and Methodist are expected to
negotiate details of a longer-term
contract in the near future.
The agreement will bring to 12
the number of hospitals managed
or owned by The Methodist
Health Care Network. Best
known of the facilities in the
network is The Methodist Hos-
pital at the Texas Medical
Center, primary adult teaching
hospital for Baylor College of
Medicine. That hospital owns
two other facilities in the system,
one in Baytown and one in
Jacksonville, Texas. The system
has management contracts at
eight other small- to medium-size
hospital in Texas and Louisiana,
including Citizens Medical Cen-
ter in Victoria.
Mark Meier, executive vice
president of the network, in-
dicated at Thursday’s meeting
that any changes to be made
would occur slowly. Under the
agreement, the board of mana-
gers will retain control of and
responsibility for the hospital
district, and only the district’s
chief executive officer will be a
Methodist employee.
%- ■ :
Blood donor month proclaimed
PALACIOS Mayor Leonard in Parados. Looking on daring
Lamar [center] signs a pro- the signing are Marianne
ctaunation declaring January as Timm [right] director of Donor
Volunteer Blood Donor Month Recruitment at the Gulf Coast
Regional Blood Center in Hous-
ton and Richard Gamertafelder
[left], city treasurer.
Public encouraged to donate
blood to keep supply adequate
U.S. President Ronald Rea-
gan has proclaimed January
1988 National Volunteer Blood
Donor Month. Mayor Leonard
Lamar has joined with the
President in declaring January
a time to celebrate the contri-
butions of blood donors in
Palacios.
January is an important time
for blood donations. After the
Chrlstmas/New Years season,
when donations have fallen
because donors are busy with
holiday plans, and usage has
remained constant or even
increased due to holiday acci-
dents, the blood supply is often
a] an inadequate level. In addi-
tjpn, January tends to be the
height of the cold and ‘flu
season, which temporarily de-
fers otherwise faithful donors.
Every year, blood centers and
communities across the country
set aside January to recognize
the millions of unselfish indi-
viduals who provide voluntarily
donated blood for patients in
need of transfusions. Volunteer
Blood Donor Month is also
designated to encourage the
public to become blood donors
and assist in providing an ade-
quate blood supply for their
communities.
As President Reagan said in
his Volunteer Blood Donor
Month proclamation, "I encour-
age all who are eligible-most
adults are-to participate in this
simple act with such huge
personal rewards. Anyone who
has given blood knows the great
satisfaction that comes with
having contributed to protecting
or preserving another’s life.
Voluntary blood donations are a
precious resource, for which
there is no artificial substitute.”
“During National Volunteer
Blood Donor Month, our nation
offers its gratitude to those who
share this resource-the true
gift of life.”
The Blood Center will be
happy to answer any questions
you may have. Call (713)
791-6230 for more information.
Council hirers plumbing permit fee
‘Cart’ trash containers
get approval from city
BY RHETT CUTSHAVEX
_Beacon Reporter_
After months of trial usage,
meetings and citizen input, the
Palacios City Council has ren-
dered its verdict on implement-
ing the use of wheeled, heavy
duty cart trash containers by
citizens.
The council meeting in its
regular session last week, also
resolved some of the problems
with its plumbing permit pro-
cedure and fees.
With practically no discussion
on the matter, the council voted
unanimously to proceed with the
necessary steps to use the
cart-type of container. The first
of those steps will be for the city
to advertise for bids from firms to
furnish the carts. (Although
during the meeting the council
had voted to enter into an
agreement with a specific firm
for the containers, the council
later realized it must first follow
legally required bidding pro-
cedures).
in addition to advertising for
bids, Lamar said the council will
also need to hold more work
sessions to determine the speci-
fics in terms of cost to each
homeowner.
The carts are large and sturdy
heavy-duty containers that would
be used to replace conventional
trash cans. The containers’ vol-
ume is considered sufficient
enough to allow the city to make
pickups only once a week in most
cases, thus saving not only the
city time and money, but the
resident the hassle of setting out
several cans or bags on the curb.
The containers are also ex-
pected to decrease the amount of
time taken to make pickup
rounds.
For the past several months,
the city has used sections of the
city as test areas for the use of
the containers. Fo{ the most part,
according to city officials, the
carts received favorable response
from the test area residents.
Councilman Donald Kupecky
voiced the comment that reflect-
ed the council’s concensus by
noting that “a lot of people have
liked the idea so I’m all for it.’
PLUMBING PERMITS
The issue of the cost of
plumbing permits, raised at the
previous council meeting, was a
much discussed item before the
decision was finally made to drop
the cost from $10 to $5.
Several weeks ago, Council-
man Neil Hartsfield raised the
question about the cost, and
stated that he would like to see
the price cut in half, thus
encouraging more people to
obtain the permits, leading to
safer home repairs.
Joanna Hendricks opposed the
cut for fear that it would not only
set a precedent, but also cost the
city money.
“Are we going to change a fee
everytime somebody com-
plains?” Hendricks asl^ed. “I
would like to not pay any garbage
tax, but it costs the city to have to
pick it up.”
Kopecky also wondered about
the decrease hurting the budget.
“Is it going to cost us any money
and can we afford it?” he asked
the council.
While the cost to the city was a
concern, Margaret McElrath sid-
ed with Hartsfield on the point
that the lower fee would encour-
age more people to obtain
permits. This in turn would
enable the city to inspect the
repairs and ensure that all safety
measures had been followed.
[See COUNCIL, Page 4]
STP schedules
first reaction
for next week
The South Texas Nuclear Pro-
ject has completed repairs to the
auxiliary feedwater piping sys-
tem which had caused a delay in
the progress of Unit 1 start up.
The initial nuclear reaction is
now scheduled for Jan. 6. After,
the reaction begins, the plant will
operate at 5 percent power.
A full-power license hearing is
tentatively set for the week of
Jan. 14 in Washington, D.C.
After the teceipi of the full-
power license, Unit 1 will operate
at 30 percent power, sending
electricity to the customers of all
four of the STP owners. Full
commercial operation of Unit 1 is
still scheduled to commence in
April.
“1988 promises to be a very
exciting year with the operation
of Unit 1 and the completion of
Unit 2 construction,” STP infor-
mation coordinator David Hooper
said.
In percentage passing 2-gection tests
PHS juniors surpass statewide TEAMS averages
Palacios High School eleventh
graders far exceeded the averag-
es for both the Region II Edu-
cation Center service area and
the entire state in the percent of
students passing the TEAMS
exit level test administered in
October.
According to the recently re-
leased statewide results of the
Texas Educational Assessment of
Minimum Skills (TEAMS) exit-
level test, scores statewide im-
proved slightly from 1986 to
1987, however the passing rates
declined on the average across
the state.
j ifcr howc cpr**
*» : ft Setter «#».» the Texas
average.
The Texas Education Agency
reported that statewide only 75
percent of the eleventh graders
taking the test passed the math
section while 89 percent passed
the English language arts sec-
tion.
In the Region III area, of which
the Palacios ISD is a part, the
passing rate for math was 78
percent and 91 percent for
language arts.
Those figures were far below
those registered by PHS juniors.
The passing rate at Palacios High
School was 11 points ahead of the
statewide average in math with
86 percent mastering the subject.
In the language arts area, local
juniors were eight points above
.he ’■♦?.. t-.viaigt .Vi, a
impressive 97 percent passing
rate.
While the statewide average
showed only 72 percent of the
students passing both portions of
PiSD/STATEWIDE
TEAMS Comparisons
ENGLISH L/A MATH
the TEAMS test, Palacios record-
ed an 86.8 percent passing rate
for both. This marked the second
year that the Palacios results
were above the statewide aver-
ages.
Although the statewide pass-
ing average increased in the
English language arts area from
87 percent in 1986 to 89 percent
in 1987, the math passing per-
centage dropped from 89 percent
a year ago to 75 percent in 1987.
The percent passing both sub-
jects also decreased from 83
percent to 72 percent.
While the passing rate state-
wide on the math test fell by 14
points and prompted an 11 points
decline in the overall passing
rate, scaled scores (a statistical
procedure that allows test results
to be compared from year to
year) on the math portion rose
from 760 to 769. 5cores remained
at 785 on the English language
arts section.
The State Board of Education
in July 1987 raised the number of
math questions which must be
answered correctly in order to
pass from 39 to 50 on the 72-item
test. The passing standard was
set at 50 of 72 questions on the
English language arts section in
1987 and was unchanged for
1987.
While the overall passing rate
statewide for both sections of the
TEAMS exam declined from 83
percent in 1986 to 72 percent this
year, the improvements in scaled
scores show that students an-
swered more test items correctly.
The decline in the passing
rate, which was anticipated be-
cause of the increased standards,
emphasizes the importance of
providing remediation to those
who failed. Approximately
53,000 students need remedia-
tion in the basic skill areas
measured by the TEAMS exam
in order to be eligible to receive a
high school diploma.
Sixty-three percent of Texas
high school seniors who also took
the test in October passed both
sections, compared to 65 percent
in 1986. Twenty-nine percent
failed one section of the test and
seven percent failed both sec-
tions.
Most of these seniors had
failed one or both sections of the
TEAMS exam on at least one
previous attempt. Their math
exams were graded under the
standards in place when the
students first took the test.
Predictions of how TEAMS
scores will compare with national
[See TESTS. Page 4]
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West, Nicholas M. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 80, No. 53, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 30, 1987, newspaper, December 30, 1987; Palacios, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth726019/m1/1/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.