South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 4

I n(- Tr' iliin i. mi n. 9 w' 1 OUTH BROWARD Sun-Sentinel, Sunday, June 30, 1996 Section yn GARY STEIN Commentary Hollywood seeks self -improvement Voters to be asked for $36.6 million for parks, buildings, landscaping 1 "We do a pretty decent job of maintaining our facilities; the problem is that they're old facilities," said Ken Fields, director of management and budget. "Eventually they're just going to wear out." How voters answer the second question will depend on whether city officials can convince them of the plan's merits during the next few months. "It's a crap shoot," said Nicki Gross- PLEASE SEE SPEND 8B years on parks and beach improvements, police and fire needs, landscaping, new sidewalks and drainage improvements.

For many voters, whether to vote for the bond issue may depend on how these questions are answered: Does Hollywood need to spend the money, and if so, is a bond issue that will add $33 to the average property tax bill by 2002 the answer? To city officials, the answer to the first question is an unqualified "yes." er doors to accommodate wheelchairs. To take care of those and other needs, city officials have proposed spending $86.6 million to bring city facilities up to par. Many of the projects will be paid for with $50 million in revenues from gas taxes and fees for storm water, sewer, sanitation and parking. Voters will be asked in September to approve a $36.6 million bond issue to pay for the rest. The money would be spent over five By DAVID CAZARES Staff Writer HOLLYWOOD If this city were a house for sale, it would be a fixer-upper, perfect for someone looking for a good solid home who doesn't mind making repairs.

In Hollywood, many of the parks are adequate, but they need new fields. City buildings are in good shape, but they need new roofs and wiring for computers. Public facilities need wid Readers: Views not always write stuff 11 he customers always write (or 1 nnl Mr. Stein, I read vour article on thp Rrian -Li. Blades trial.

I couldn't agree with OOMING BUSINESS 14 schools may leave 'failure' list you more. It's a crock. But I wish I would have received Judge Lebow as my judge four years ago, and I wouldn't be writing this. Patrick Main Jail, Fort Lauderdale Yeah, the luck of the draw can really be a bummer. Gary Stein: Read your article criticizing the state's new restrictions on teen drivers.

What a bunch of bleep. No 15- or 16-year-old should be driving, period. Especially today's irresponsible brats. I'd rather take my chances with seniors than the young wild ones creating the carnage on our highways. During the Depression you got a license at 18.

Too bad it's not in effect today. These inconsiderate brats should be fined when going over a certain decibel on their car radio. They re like you, a bunch of spoiled whiners. We didn't even have bikes By BERENICE D. CHAUVET Education Writer Education Commissioner Frank Brogan angered teachers when he branded 158 Florida schools as failures and threatened to shut them down.

Now, less than a year later, Brogan said as many as 70 percent of those schools are doing well enough to be removed from his list. He called the list a wake-up call that forced schools to do a better job. School district officials said they expect as many as 14 of the 25 Broward schools and seven of the 13 Palm Beach County schools on Brogan's list to be removed from the list this fall. But a look at the overall performance of these so-called "critically low-performing" schools shows that many will escape the state's glare even though their students' overall performance remains dismal. Improved math scores are propelling most of these schools off the list.

But at many of these schools, reading and writing scores still fall far below the state's minimum requirements. While Broward County officials are still crunching numbers, Palm Beach County officials are fairly certain that only one of the PLEASE SEE SCHOOLS 7B Out of the blue comes a loony, moony myth ryzCy vr 7 Lf yV 'v (I ih during the Great Depression. Andrew Hillsboro Beach Somehow, I got a Great Depression reading that letter. Hey Bonehead, Re: the column about the NRA being outraged because Blockbuster wanted to ban concealed weapons from its video stores: Apparently, you do not read your own newspaper. If you had you would have seen on page 3B on Sunday, June 9, the article "Video store robbed." If there had been a patron with a concealed weapon, this robber might be in jail today, instead of sticking his illegal weapon in someone else's face.

We should thank the NRA for the opportunity to protect ourselves and our loved ones from people of this kind. J. Crincoli Lighthouse Point Perhaps we should all thank the NRA for the opportunity to have 12,000 or so handgun homicides in the United States each year. By the way, I prefer to be called Mr. Bone-head.

Dear Mr, Stein, The mentality of your Blockbustergun column did not surprise us. What did surprise us was the enclosed article about the video store robbery found one page after your commentary in the same paper. "DUH." Try reading your own paper. Jock W. Sunrise read the paper thoroughly.

And every time, am sickened by the stories of handgun-related deaths. To the Panthers: Re: the column about the Panthers being so classy and accessible to their fans. Please forward to the Panthers: Now we know why we love you. Your mothers did a fine job in bringing you up. Gladys Deerfield Beach Yeah.

The gun lusters say the same sweet things about me, Gladys. Mr. Stein, I sent you a letter about the Broward County court system. I don't know if the people here at the jail are letting the mail come to you and everyone else. Kevin Broward County Jail Personally, I am flattered that so many people behind bars read my column.

By KIRK SAVILLE Staff Writer Once every 2.73 years. It just doesn't have the same ring. "Once in a blue moon sounds better," said Geoff Chester, an astronomer at the National Air and Space Museum's Albert Einstein Planetarium in Washington, D.C. Tonight is a blue moon, the second full moon in a month. The phrase "once in a blue moon" probably refers to how seldom blue moons occur, on an average of once every 2.73 years.

But why "blue?" "Frankly, we don't know know where the the term comes from," Chester said. It's certainly not an issue of hue. "The moon doesn't turn blue," said Arnold Pearlstein of the Space Place Planetarium in Miami. "You're going to see more of a gold moon." Dust and pollution in the atmosphere give the moon an orangish or gold tint. There have been times when the moon PLEASE SEE MOON 7B PhotoANDREW ITKOFF Bennie Johnson and his son, Kadeem, fill a agricultural purposes or ceremonial events, and shopping cart with $350 worth of fireworks at thousands of people flock to dealers each year to Neptune Fireworks Co.

in Dania. By signing a buy fireworks that are technically illegal. Please waiver, anyone can use fireworks for quarrying, see story, 3B. TT -j I Attacks alumni celebrate past, look to the future i V1' yht Local columnist Gary Stein is published on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. INSIDE i -ft Kids from around South Florida fall in-line at street skating tourney in Hollywood.

3B Smoke from an overheated fan spooks passengers into switching flights. 3B 5 and Blanche Ely High in Pompano Beach. Although Attucks was designated a high school, for years it offered first through twelfth grades. Because of limited space, several grades often were taught in the same room. But instead of poverty and pain, Drummonds remembers the school as one where teachers cared, parents got involved and students learned.

"We had a real togetherness and closeness. Everybody on the campus, including teachers, were like family," said Drummonds, who graduated in 1952. "That's really how we got through it." Learning from the past will be a focus this week as the school's alumni PLEASE SEE ATTUCKS 8B By JODY BENJAMIN Staff Writer The classrooms were crowded, the history books were hand-me-downs and the gymnasium was just an outdoor patch of hardened sand. Still, Alva Drummonds wouldn't have traded her high school for the world. After 44 years, she still occasionally wears the gold class ring that she bought in 1952 for $19.35.

Drummonds attended Crispus Attacks High School, which for 58 years served south Broward's black residents at a time of strict racial segregation. During segregation, Attucks was one of three high schools that blacks could attend in Broward. The others were Dillard High in Fort Lauderdale Source Line BROWARD- BOCA RATON- BOYNTON COUNTY DELRAY BEACH BEACH 523-5463 496-5463 625-5463 CALL AND ENTER A CATEGORY NUMBER Staff photoTAIMY ALVAREZ 2780 4212 2801 Consumer Tips Air Quality School Lunch 4140 4141 4142 2688 Traffic Watch Commuter Tips Turnpike News Child Care News Alva Drummonds, left, class of 1952, shows Attucks high school pictures to Robbie Hutchins, class of 1963; Raymond Thomas, class of 1966; and his wife, Lucy, on Saturday. Pes.