The Journal Times from Racine, Wisconsin • 15

2C. 3C. Obituaries First county fair results NTTY the Journal Tlme9 WEDNESDAY July 26, 1995 SECTION AND CLASSIFIED pagt tdilor: David Steinkraut OTYCOU mow JILL TATGE Burlincjton Bureau esidcnts in all districts which feed Waterford Union High School will vote on consolidation of the school with its four K-8 districts in November. lumped in southeastern Wisconsin and include Union Grove, Wilmot, Westosha Central and Lake Geneva. The two school boards will now determine how an interim board will be selected, how many people it will have, and where those people will be from.

That board would serve until April should the consolidation referendum pass. An order to consolidate was needed from both schools for the process to continue. They did not have to call for a referendum. But both boards unanimously passed separate motions to do so. "This decision isn't one to be made by any school board," said high school administrator Dave Richmond.

"It should come from everyone." Had the referendum decision not been made, the other feeder districts North Cape, Drought and the resolution last week (Marta pushed for a vote), but the board wanted more support from residents. This week they got it. Richmond said that it has been so long since any group of union high school feeder districts has tried to consolidate that there are no records on how to continue. State statutes define the process but not the exact referendum wording. Waterford has one of 10 union high school districts left in the state.

Oddly, these districts are Washington-Caldwell would have had until the second Tuesday in September to request a referendum. If no request was made, the districts would automatically be consolidated. "There was no chance that would have happened," said Dale Marta, administrator for Waterford Graded. "I don't think the strong opposition is in our district, it is in the outlying districts. There are some strong feelings out there." The board had the chance to pass and unanimously passed an order to consolidate last night.

The Waterford Graded School Board, which accounts for 55 percent of the high school district, made the same resolution Monday night, also by a unanimous vote. In order for the referendum to pass, it must be approved by a majority of voters throughout the Union High district and a majority of voters in three out of four of the feeder school districts. The high school board quickly 1 11 1 1 fir. .1 (: 1 If 7- Wmmmm proseDutoirs RIK HAYMAN Journal Times For the second time in less than a year, Naseer Ghani a black man found himself accused of a racially motivated attack on a white man. And, for the second time, the charges failed to stick.

I 1-1 I Hf i.1ull.lln.- PAUL ROBERTS Journal Times Ghani out of frustration with their inability to link Ghani to the Rowan homicide. Racine County Assistant District Attorney Brian Pawlak discounted those accusations. The battery charge against Ghani was dismissed because the victim was uncooperative, he said. In the Rowan case, prosecutors declined to issue charges against Ghani after his arrest. They said the evidence, including alleged eyewitness reports, wasn't strong enough; At the time, defense attorney Richards charged the skinhead witnesses with accusing the first black man they saw after the shooting.

Rowan, 22, of Tom's River, N.J., was shot to death during a confrontation with black customers at Starvin' Marvin's Speedway gas station, 4620 Washington Ave. after going to a white supremacist concert at Memorial Hall. Though Ghani never was charged in the Rowan slaying, police and prosecutors have consistently refused to eliminate him as a suspect. No one has yet been charged with Rowan's slaying. The Racine County District Attorney's office Tuesday dismissed the charges against him.

Both times, prosecutors said, problems with witnesses prompted them to decline to proceed with the case. Ghani was arrested last fall but never charged in the Oct. 1 slaying of white supremacist musician Joe Rowan, after skinhead companions of the victim identified him as the shooter. The 19-year-old defendant was in court again Tuesday on an unrelated charge of battery as a hate crime. The charge stemmed from his arrest July 9 by Racine police, who said Ghani was part of a group involved in the beating of a 31-year-old white man near Eighth Street and Grand Avenue.

The victim's attackers called the man "white boy" as they beat him. The victim told police he believed the only reason for the attack was that he was a white man. Of the most recent allegation against his client, defense attorney Mark Richards said authorities may be persecuting A On HlCnlflM Tuesday, Matt Huenemann, of MHRE Perfection Detail, treats the tires of a Case disk with a silicone Vll Ulwpiay Spr3y t0 make them look nice. His company is responsible for setting up the Case display at the Racine County Fair. Agricultural machines are just part of what there is to see at the fair.

THE COUNTY Unified fills niina leadership jobs Woman injured by driver Journal Times staff A 21-year-old Racine woman was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident on 24th Street near Center Street on Tuesday night. The woman was riding her bicycle on 24th Street when she was hit by a vehicle and thrown off her bike into a chain-link fence, according to Racine police. The badly crumpled mountain-style bike came to rest in a grassy area just outside the fence surrounding the J.I. Case Co. A passing motorist found the injured woman and flagged down Mount Pleasant squad cars about 10:30 p.m.

They notified Racine police and assisted in the accident investigation. Police said they're not sure what caused the accident, but the hit-and-run driver may have lost control of the vehicle or was driving too fast. Police weren't sure what type of vehicle to look for because the driver left the scene, and they hadn't found any witnesses. The woman was taken by a Racine Fire Department rescue squad to St. Mary's Medical Center, where she was in serious but stable condition early today, police said.

women in the apartment begged him not to shoot. Eventually, the gunman pulled the man out of the apartment, put him against a wall, and fired. The bullet hit the wall, and the man fell to the ground, police reports said. After the shooter ran back into the apartment, the man ran away. He told police that as he ran upstairs, he heard more gunshots coming from the first floor.

He was released from Saint Mary's Medical Center after treatment for a cut and hearing loss in his left ear. The suspected gunman, Willie Ambrose, 39, of Chicago, was arrested on charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, being armed while intoxicated, false imprisonment, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and recklessly endangering safety. County staging chemical spill practice on Thursday The Racine County Local Emergency Planning Committee will conduct its annual hazardous materials exercise on Thursday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The exercise will be held at the Canadian Pacific switchyard near Highway 11 in Sturtevant. The scenario will involve a hazardous materials release from a rail car.

Agencies expected to participate include the Sturtevant, Mount Pleasant and Caledonia fire departments. Board agrees to settle lawsuit against attorney The Racine County Board agreed Tuesday to a settlement with Racine attorney Geoffrey Van Remmen and his insurance carrier in which the county will receive $375,000. After paying attorney's fees, the county will receive $225,000. The county had sued Van Remmen, claiming the attorney performed inadequately when defending the county against Edgewater Marina Associates. Edgewater won a suit in 1989 claiming the county used its ideas to build Reefpoint Marina, and eventually costing the county $754,000.

Waterford Graded passes tax levy for school district Thirty residents of the Waterford Graded School district unanimously approved a 3.6 percent increase in the tax levy, from $3.3 million to $3.5 million. The tax rate is estimated at 8.7 cents per $1,000 of equalized value. Residents can expect to see a 21-cent increase in their tax bills. The operating budget will jump 10.7 percent, from $4.8 million to $5.4 million, in order for the district to settle negotiations with its support staff, an agreement two years behind schedule, said district administrator Dale Marta. The staff will get back pay for that term.

Voters in Union Grove pass new school budget Thirteen taxpayers in the Union Grove Grade School and Middle School districts approved a 1.2 percent increase in the tax levy by a unanimous vote. The levy is up $15,260 to $1.2 million. State aid is expected to increase $127,079, to $1.6 million. The total operating budget is figured at just over $3 million, up $70,895. Administrator Giles Williams said that the school will not determine the tax rate until after the school year begins.

Bullet just misses man inside Racine apartments Gunfire narrowly missed a 49-year-old Racine man Monday evening in the 1900 block of Washington Avenue. The man told Racine police he was walking out the front door of his apartment building when a younger man accused him of being a snitch. He said the man put a handgun to his head and dragged him into a first-floor apartment. The man cocked the gun several times while two MICHAEL BURKE Journal Times The Racine Unified School District's Human Resources Department, which has been bustling this summer to fill administrative vacancies, has plugged nine more holes. Superintendent Major Armstead Jr.

announced the new round of administrative appointments on The most sweeping changes will be at Starbuck Middle School, where the principal and both assistant principals are new. Jeff Rasmussen takes over as Starbuck's principal, effective immediately. He moves from his former post as assistant principal at Gilmore Middle School. He has been an assistant principal with the district since 1990. Prior to that, he taught English at Gilford Elementary School and then Gilmore Middle School.

Rasmussen replaces Judy Mor-tell, who took the post of coordinator of curriculum and instruction for the Whitnall School District. Rasmussen's right and left hands, his two assistant principals, will be Bernice Jefferson and Janet Barnes. Jefferson is now media coordinator and a library resource teacher for grades K-8 with Milwaukee Public Schools. Barnes, an English teacher at Horlick High School, has taught in the district since 1975. Jefferson and Barnes replace Mark Lichte, who joins the Madison Public School District, and Elizabeth Motley, the new principal at Johnson Elementary School.t Other new appointments, by school: Horlick High School Larry Jones was named a sub-school principal effective Monday.

Jones was a Unified history and English teacher from 1969-73. He is a former principal for the Kenosha Unified School District and most re- cently director of human resourcessecondary school with the Manitowoc Public School District. The position opened when Dean Hugdahl retired. Jay Hammes is Horlick's new activities director, replacing Donald Ford. Hammes was a Unified physical education and health teacher from 1972-80.

Park High School Mike Rupnow becomes a sub-school principal, effective Aug. 4. Rupnow was activities director at Park from 1983-91 and assistant principal at Starbuck from 1991-93. Since then, he has been an assistant principal at Bradford High School in Kenosha. He replaces John Nickelsen, the new principal at Mitchell Middle School.

Gilmore Middle School Geraldine Cibrario will become an assistant principal, effective Monday. Cibrario, a foreign language teacher at Horlick, has taught in the district since 1970. Mitchell School Enrico Perkins, a physical education teacher at Mitchell, becomes an assistant principal, effective Aug. 7. He has taught in the district since 1980.

Central office Ann Laing was named director of school operations, effective immediately. Laing was principal at North Park Elementary School since 1988. Before that, she was an assistant professor and principal at Northwest Missouri State University, a principal at Logansport Catholic School in Logansport, and learning disabilities coordinator and grade two LD teacher. She replaces Frank Osimitz, who recently moved up to district assistant superintendent for student services. uod 'ttonionrig a i jj i black students working toward teaching degrees.

Blacks make up only 5 percent of the U.S. teaching force and 6 percent locally, say fund organizers. The reception will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 1 at Meadowbrook Country Club.

Anyone interested in being a part of the scholarship fund is welcome to attend. Please call Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce at 634-1931 to make a reservation. Contributions should be made payable to the University of wisconsin-Parkside Foundation and sent to the Office of University Relations, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, P.O. Box 2000, Kenosha, 53141-2000. larger endowment fund would allow the scholarship amount to be greater.

Owens, 82, was bom in Houlka, and began her teaching career in Houston, Miss. However, when she moved to Racine in 1946 and applied for a teaching position, she was told the system did not hire black teachers. Owens obtained a job as a janitor at Racine Technical Institute; some 30 years later she was on RTI's board of directors. Owens has worked locally for the rights of African-Americans in housing, education and employment and remains a community volunteer. The scholarship is reserved for MICHAEL BURKE Journal Times A permanent scholarship to benefit African-American education students has been established in the name of longtime Racine teacher and activist Corinne R.

Owens. The Corinne R. Owens Endowed Scholarship Fund is being created to help African-American students at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside who aspire to become educators. Organizers, who will launch the scholarship with an Aug. 1 reception, hope to raise a $50,000 endowment.

The interest would be used to award an annual scholarship of at least $2,000. A Corinns Owens scholarship namesake.