Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 39

NS Howdy, Crawford Gov. George W. Bush's commencement speech Friday at Crawford High School was a chance to 2) j3 Saturday, May 27, 2000 say hello to his new neighbors. B2 Topfers dedicate health clinic Poor need city's help with housing uth isn't the only Austin-ite whose dream of home ownership is crumbling So Degollado kept quiet, and soon after he entered the hospital, he died of cirrhosis on July 7, 1996. But his story doesn't end there.

Degollado inspired a gift that was celebrated at a dedication ceremony Friday and will help thousands of people who struggle as he did: a new clinic for the uninsured. In a state that has the second-highest percentage of uninsured people in the nation more than one in four Texans health care for the working poor is a desperate need. Austin philanthropists Mort and Angela Topfer, for whom Degollado worked for about two years as a handyman, saw the need after Degollado died. They donated $1 million to create a clinic for the See Health, B7 Center, in memory of handyman, will serve the uninsured in North Austin By Mary Ann Roser American-Statesman Staff Joe Degollado's family members didn't know how sick their little brother was until he went into the hospital a few summers back and never came out. Degollado, who lived in Austin's Montop-olis neighborhood, had a job as a laborer but didn't have health insurance.

"He didn't have the money to see the doctor, and he didn't want to bother nobody," recalled his sister, Delores Almaguer. Angela Topfer, right, speaks with Judy and Trini Degollado at the clinic's dedication ceremony Friday. It was the death of Trini Degolla-do's brother that inspired the Topfers' donation. Deborah Cannon M-S as rapidly as the foundation of her house. Her story, which I told in Wednesday's column, illustrates the housing crisis for hundreds of poor, disabled and elderly homeowners on fixed incomes.

There's no quick fix for the age-old problem of poverty, which in Austin is concentrated in communities east of In Jr iXfp jL'htf 2 --------t--M--' terstate 35, where Ruth lives. But where the market has abandoned or exploited the poor, should Susan Smith Wrlddeyrship Jo Beckham, 95, runs an e-mail ministry from her Austin retirement home AJ turn flu if Y'-- 1 I yt fir- I'q Viewers can soon find new TV station Fredericksburg channel may be part of Austin cable lineup By Diane Hollow ay American-Statesman Television Writer A new television station is about to blink on in Central Texas, the first new broadcast station since KNVA Channel 54 arrived in Austin in 1994. KBEJ Channel 2, near Fredericksburg, is a full-power station that has been running test patterns for weeks. The goal is to have it up and running by July, but the programming is still uncertain, as is whether it will be designated an Austin or San Antonio station by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC will make its decision soon.

If KBEJ is designated an Austin station, Time-Warner Cable will have to add it to the channel lineup. If it is ruled a San Antonio station, Central Texans won't see it on cable but probably will be able to receive it on TV sets not connected to cable; the signal can be received with an antenna. Dallas-based A.H. Belo which owns KVUE Channel 24 in Austin, will operate the new station under a lease management agreement with the owners. Sal-eem and Carmen Tawil, of Austin's Global Information Technology are co-owners, along with Corridor Partners Ltd.

a company owned by auto dealer Red McCombs and his family. A smaller share is owned by the estate of longtime San Antonio broadcaster Bob Roth who died in a car wreck near KBEJ's transmitter site five years ago. "We will be making an announcement about the station and the programming in a few weeks," said Carmen Tawil. "It might be Spanish-language programming or a mix of things. At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if it were to be home shopping." Belo has been trying for months to break into the Austin television market with its Texas Cable News channel, currently seen only on Dallas' ATT Cable.

TXCN went on the air in January 1999 using repackaged news stories from Belo-owned stations WFAA in Dallas, See FCC, B7 a step in with programs that help them help themselves. Ruth, 73, may soon get help from private and public sources, but the consensus at recent public hearings on how to spend millions of housing dollars Austin receives annually from the federal government is that local housing services need to be overhauled. That could happen in the coming year. Ruth's foundation has shifted so severely that her bathroom pipes have burst, depositing sewage underneath her house. Her home is now a public health hazard, but she doesn't want to move because she is repaying a home improvement loan at an exorbitant 13 percent interest rate.

Yet her home, valued at a meager $33,000, may not be salvageable. The majority of houses in East Austin that are southtrf Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and north of Town Lake are old and don't meet city housing codes a public health and safety crisis that received little attention until citywide housing costs went through the roof. Almost a year after her bathroom pipes burst, Ruth, with an income of $530 a month, was on her own, except for support from nonprofit groups such as the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service. Although there are city and county programs for emergency repairs, there's no program that addresses foundation and other repairs that can easily cost more than $13,000.

An emergency housing repair program run by the Austin Area Urban League on behalf of the city housing office can spend up to $6,000 on a home repair. More than 600 households were served last year. But after the Urban League program, the next city housing program provided mosey to replace existing homes; That could cost up to $85,000 per house, and the program served only a few families a year an inefficient use of federal housing dollars. The program was canceled this year. In its place, city officials are proposing several positive changes for the coming year, including guaranteeing private home rehabilitation loans through banks to low-income homeowners and offering city-sponsored low-interest home improvement loans or grants to people who can't get bank financing for repairs that cost up to $25,000.

Those changes would help fill a crack in the local housing system that is deeper than the cracks in Ruth's foundation. As housing prices rise because of competition for limited housing stock and the rising cost of living, the city's best bet is to help struggling homeowners maintain their houses and bring them up to decent and livable standards. Homeowners on fixed incomes such as Ruth should have more options than walking away from a dream or living with a nightmare. By Kim Sue La Perkes American-Statesman Staff Cambodia, Romania, Hungary, India and Singapore. And she joins thousands of Christians many of them senior citizens who are using the Internet as a mission tool.

The Rev. James A. Andrews, 75, of Beckham's frail, age-spotted hands work nimbly on the keyboard. At 95, the woman once Burnet recently launched the inter- crowned the Pioneer Queen denominational First Internet Out Jo Beckham's room at the Buckner Villas retirement home doubles as her office, above. She keeps it organized because 'when you get to be my age you get a little She currently shares the gospel with about 80 people on her global e-mail address list.

Photography by Tom Lankes American-Statesman Staff reach Church site to reach shut-ms, seniors and youths who feel disenfranchised from traditional churches. Andrews said he does not want to replace anyone's home church, but rather augment people's spiritual lives and reach out to those who of Lamesa is running an e-mail ministry from the Buckner Villas retirement home in Northeast Austin. Beckham uses her ministry to encourage others more than half her age that faith can be fun as well as inspirational. Her computer savvy gives her a worldwide window and the opportunity to share the gospel as far away as See Using, B6 Watch out for changes to Town Lake trail the lake June 5. A third barge might be added, to shuttle materials back and forth.

The 40-foot-by-60-foot barges will be positioned at the corners, keeping the lake clear. When completely finished, the pedestrian bridge will start at the south end of the Lamar Boulevard bridge, bow out to the middle of the lake, draw in again and connect back to Lamar Boulevard, with helix-shaped ramps leading to the trail. The bridge will be 24 feet wide at its narrowest point, instead of the 3V4-foot-wide Lamar Boulevard bridge sidewalks. You may contact Kelly Daniel at kdanielstatesman.com or 445-3618. Staff writer Andy Alford contributed to this report.

the muggy heat of Friday afternoon, it evoked thoughts of an ice cream sandwich. Patty Praytor was momentarily perplexed by another new sight Friday after walking through a plywood pathway put up to shepherd people past the work "I was anxious about where it was going," Praytor said after emerging back into the sunshine. There will be more moments of curiosity in the coming months, as: Other portions of the trail will be closed periodically while construction materials are brought in. The small parking lot next to Riverside Drive and Lamar Boulevard will be closed. Construction barges arrive on By Kelly Daniel American-Statesman Staff The orange plague of downtown Austin construction cones and safety fencing has spread to Town Lake, as work on the Lamar Boulevard pedestrian bridge is changing the hike-and-bike trail.

Crews rerouted the trail about 500 feet east of the existing Lamar Boulevard bridge, so it skims Cesar Chavez Street instead of hugging the lake, as they begin construction on the $6.6 million pedestrian bridge. Work should end inMay2001. The temporary trail has a chocolate hue and is met atone point by blazingly white rocks so construction trucks can cross to the cocoa color of the original trail. In V'-C. Deborah CannonAA-S On Friday, Jesus Morales, foreground, Anselmo Jantas, center, and Ruiz Gonzales try to dress up the temporary pedestrian walkway on the hike-and-bike trail near Lamar Boulevard in downtown Austin.

J. Susan Smith's column appears Wednesdays and Saturdays. You may contact her at 445-3871 or ssmithstatesman.com..