Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 11

City State Section Austin American-Statesman Wednesday, May 14, 1986 In the state, B2 Obituaries, B7 City fires up for smoking limits starting Thursday Mike Kelley By Bob Banta American-Statesman Staff i A Schulze, is to read smoking-related signs in stores, offices, and restaurants and to smoke only in areas where a sign says smoking is allowed. Schulze, an Austin-Travis County Health Department employee responsible for enforcing the ordinance, said persons in charge of public places must post by Thursday signs indicating the degree of smoking allowed. "The signs will be at the entrance to every public place," Schulze said. considered to be a non-smoking area. What we're doing now is setting aside smoking areas." The new law also gives employees the right to complain about smoking in the workplace.

"If a non-smoking employee objects to a smoker in his or her work area, then the employer mediates between the two and tries to reach an accommodation," Schulze said. "If an accommodation can't be reached, the desires of the non-See Smoking, B4 "They indicate whether the place allows no smoking at all, allows smoking only in designated areas or allows smoking throughout the entire area." Dan Minjarez, manager of the six Jim's restaurants in Austin, said his company was putting up the required signs Tuesday in preparation for the policy. "What this law does is to reverse the past practice of just setting aside non-smoking areas," Minjarez said. "Now, every area in a place is Starting Thursday, smokers who want to light up in a store, office, or restaurant had better make sure they're in the right spot. The city's new clean air ordinance goes into effect Thursday.

The ordinance bans smoking in public places except for designated smoking areas. The key to obeying the law, according to city sanitarian Laurel City sanitarian Laurel Schulze: The key to obeying the law is reading smoking signs. 4 "n-. Travis made official owner Ethics plan remains in dispute By John Harris American-Statesman Staff of county jail 'First-class facility' handed over after 3 -year, problematic delay Sheriff Doyne Bailey: 'It could be weeks' before the jail is CI Business representatives and authors of Austin's proposed ethics ordinance remain sharply divided on the power of a new ethics panel and on the extent of financial disclosure that should be required for city commission members. As a public hearing on the proposal nears, negotiators have reached accords on minor points but continue to disagree on how the ethics commission should be appointed and whether it should have authority to remove city officials and begin investigations of possible ethics violations.

The City Council has scheduled the proposed ordinance for a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday. Council members had asked Austin Chamber of Commerce representatives to meet with John Hildreth, director of Common Cause of Texas and a member of the Ethics Review Committee, which drafted the ordinance. The blue-ribbon committee put together the proposed ordinance after a year of study and hearings, and presented it to the council in January. The committee recommended plugging loopholes in the current ethics ordinance because of enforcement problems that stemmed primarily from ethics cases involving former Mayor Ron Mullen.

"We stand firmly behind the body of work and feel it will pro-See Ethics, B4 Staff Photo by David Kennedy Heads first John Swope, above, and David Luce show appreciation for the Friday night rains that allowed a little more headroom for divers at Campbell's Hole on Barton Creek, upstream from Barton Springs. Cadillac owner sought in biker death on 1-35 Runaway trailer tire trips motorcyclist Chequing out life in the U.S. This is a charmer. It's titled Coping With America: A Beginner's Guide to the USA. The author is an Englishman.

As much as the book is a guide for the visiting Briton, it's a mirror to let us see ourselves as others see us. The book's 143 pages are full of little things that Americans know but just don't stop to think about. For example, money. "Paying for things by cheque (U.S.xheck) is much more difficult in the USA than it is in Europe. Many businesses, especially petrol stations, and some restaurants simply will not take cheques at all.

You will see notices proclaiming 'No It is also quite difficult to use cheques in states other than the one in which your bank account is located. And even in your own town, producing a cheque is often regarded, to quote a British journalist, as 'a deeply subversive act." From the chapter Geography, Climate and other Natural Hazards: "A number of states have A 'panhandle' is a narrow strip of land protruding from one corner of a state which, on a map, looks like the handle of a pan. The states in question are Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Idaho." Now, this is something I would not have thought to mention. But a couple of days ago I was trying to explain to a friend, a recent arrival to Texas, where Lubbock is. "What is all this business about a Panhandle?" he asked.

You never know. "Television stations give detailed and helpful weather reports and forecasts, although some forecasters try to be perhaps a little too entertaining rather than informative." My only complaint with that is the word "helpful." Television stations certainly give detailed weather reports and forecasts. It takes a lot of detail to spend three whole minutes talking about an occluded front somewhere over Wyoming. But helpful? Only for insomniacs. Imagine that you are a Brit, studying this manual by fireside in your little cottage at Wedgewood-on-Slyme and you come across this: "And there are grizzly bears, which you will not meet unless you venture into the mountains, and black and brown bears, which are more common (you can come across them in some of the remoter forests) but less aggressive.

If you want to make sure that you don't meet a bear, make a lot of noise as you walk." Don't you imagine you'd make a mental note to invite your mother-in-law along for this trip to the States? If not for a noise-maker, at least for a decoy. From the chapter on eating: "Americans eat funny. Alone in the world, Americans eat everything they possibly can with a fork, and appear to work on the assumption that holding a knife in your right hand for longer than a few seconds is a gross breach of good table manners." The author describes our way of cutting meat with the fork in the left hand, knife in the right, and then transferring the fork to the right hand. "This is clearly ludicrous, but it is considered good manners." "American bacon is not at all like British bacon. It comes in small strips, can be rather fat, and is served crispy.

It is usually very tasty, and you can sort of eat it with your fingers." I have no idea what "sort of eat it" means. Some random observations: "Some American men's shirts come in different sleeve as well as collar sizes, which can be highly convenient." Does this mean that all British men wear the same shirt size? I don't know. "Electrical current in the USA is only 110 volts, so it is more difficult to electrocute yourself." "American television has the reputation of being terrible. It is." "In the USA you may encounter people with strange names like Mrs. Frederick Smith.

This does not mean that American women are called Frederick, merely that in some social circles it is considered the done thing for women to adopt not only their husband's surname but his first name as well." And I love this. "Americans are. totally incapable of distinguishing between English, Australian, New Zealand and South African accents. And they are quite likely to think that Scots are 1 from Mexico." By Peggy Vlerebome American-Statesman Staff Taxpayers became the official owners of the long-delayed Travis County Jail Tuesday when the controversial project was turned over to the county. The facility at 10th and San Antonio streets, next to the courthouse annex, was completed three years behind schedule and several million dollars over budget.

"I'm here to tell the (Commissioners) Court it is a irst-class facility now, and the county will be well-pleased," Kenneth R. King told county commissioners. The county hired King to observe work at the jail every day for the last 19 months to ensure that schedules were being met and that work was being done properly. The problem-plagued jail has been the source of jokes and scorn that peaked in 1983 when inspectors broke out of the jail in 12 minutes using magnets attached to Popsicle sticks. That was a week before the jail was to open, and it began a series of events leading to the hiring of additional firms to fix the jail and the filing of a lawsuit by the county against the original builders and architects.

Although the building is finished, it will be awhile before the cell doors shut on prisoners. They will not be moved from the old jail until furniture and supplies are in place, jailers undergo more training, and dozens of minor details like hooking up the telephone system are taken care of, Sheriff Doyne Bailey said. "It could be weeks" before the county starts using the jail, he said. "I'm not in any hurry. I've waited this long." The county took possession of the facility by accepting a "certificate of substantial completion" from Gary LaRose.

He is a principal in the Dean Dale Dean architectual firm, which was hired to do the repairs. Bailey said he expects to get the keys to the new building from the architects today or Thursday after they move their files and records out of the building. Some of the training for the jail staff could not be done until the county had full possession of the building, Bailey said. The city Building Inspections Department issued a certificate of occupancy for the jail Monday. The Texas Jail Standards Commission Coming Saturday also has approved the jail for occupancy, commissioners were told.

Bailey gave the jail cautious approval. "From our perspective, we're satisfied from what we're able to tell," he told commissioners. The jail holds 251 single cells. The old jail, located above the courthouse, had 232 prisoners Tuesday, and 11 county prisoners were being held at the City Jail. The old jail's capacity is 230, but Bailey said that number sometimes is exceeded for short periods.

He said he expects the new jail to be filled when it opens. The old jail was ruled unconstitutional in 1974 by U.S. District Judge Jack Roberts. In 1977, commissioners went to the voters seeking money to build a new facility but were turned down. In 1978, voters narrowly approved $8.5 million in bonds to build a new jail.

Problems have plagued the jail since construction started in 1981. Its opening has been delayed repeatedly. When the locks failed to work in 1983, consultants were hired to evaluate the jail's security system. After issuing a highly critical report in August 1983, commissioners voted to sue the architects and contractors. The county lawsuit against the original contractor, J.C.

Evans Construction is scheduled for trial Sept. 2. The county also sued the original architectural firms, but they settled out of court for $2 million. The jail has cost more than $21 million, including nearly $1 million in legal fees paid by the county in its suit. The long controversy over the jail was an issue in the May primary elections.

County Judge Mike Ren-fro blamed the situation for his defeat in his bid for renomination. After voting Tuesday to accept the new jail. Commissioner Richard Moya asked, "This won't be on the agenda again, will it?" Renfro replied, "I hope it never comes back." i red Cadillac Eldorado. The wheel rolled southbound and came to a stop in the left-hand lane, where Dennison, also southbound, drove into it and was thrown off, Toungate said. Seconds later, a car driven by William Travis Watson, 26, of San Antonio hit the motorcycle, Toungate said.

In another few seconds, a car driven by Vernon Rae Cornelius 28, of 900 Hermitage Drive hit Dennison, police said. Neither Watson nor Cornelius was injured. They could not have avoided the accident, Toungate said. Dennison died of head injuries just after hitting the tire, police said. Toungate said he is trying to trace ownership of the boat, which he said has changed hands four times in the past few years.

Police believe the driver was aware of the motorcycle accident. Police continued searching Tuesday for the driver of a red Cadillac towing a boat trailer that lost a wheel, causing a fatal accident on Interstate 35. A motorcycle driver hit the wheel, was thrown off the cycle and was struck by a vehicle traveling behind him, police said. The cyclist was identified as William Mark Dennison, 33, of 4309 James Casey St. He died of head injuries.

The accident occurred at 11:57 p.m. Monday in the 1000 block of South 1-35, just south of the Riverside Drive overpass, said Senior Patrol Officer Norman Toungate. The driver towing the boat pulled to the shoulder of the southbound lanes after the trailer began dragging on the road because of the lost wheel, Toungate said. The driver unhitched the boat and drove away after the cyclist was hit, police said. Witnesses described the car towing the boat as a Food, fun Like Christmas, it only comes once a year, but it's worth the wait when Laguna Gloria's Fiesta comes to town.

Two days of art, food, music and fun start Saturday. Time Out Murchison vote seen as no-win situation s4w Trustees reject 1-year shutdown plan as solution to junior high's declining enrollment Rnvanne Evans TTTwww wouldn't hurt anyone and would thought students would have mo Roxanne Evans wouldn't hurt anyone and would thought students would have more help those children who were By I Trustee Gary McKenzie says all four proposals carried minuses. extensive course offerings if they were transferred to Lamar. Clayton said she was concerned that low enrollment at Murchison this fall would cut down on electives and the honors programs. "When you think of what we could offer the kids for only a distance of two miles, that was the real selling point," Clayton said.

"The money is important, but more important is what we could offer the students in terms of the quality of programs." Clayton said she abstained even though she favored closing the school because she considered it a futile vote. "There were already four votes out there to table. My vote wouldn't have made any difference," she said. American-Statesman Staff School trustees faced an almost no-win situation while deciding to table a proposal that would have closed Murchison Junior High School for one year, one of the trustees said Tuesday. Trustees passed the motion to table late Monday on a 4-1 vote with Ed Small voting no and trustee President Nan Clayton and trustee John Lay abstaining.

The proposal for the one-year shutdown was one of four that trustees considered as a way to solve the Northwest Austin school's low enrollment problem. All the proposals were tabled. One plan would have attempted to increase the number of voluntary This day in TEXAS HISTORY May 14, 1836 The treaties of Velasco were signed by David Burnet, Texas president, and Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The treaties provided that Mexican forces withdraw beyond the Rio Grande and not take up arms against Texas.

A secret treaty provided freedom to the captured Santa Anna, on the condition that he try to get Mexico to recognize Texas independence. However, Mexico voided all of Santa Anna's acts. Texas Heritage Calendar, compiled by Austin Sesqulcentennlal Commission caught," up in the decision, he said. Superintendent John Ellis and his staff favored closing Murchison for a year as a way to save more than $900,000 during a year when the district is faced with a severe budget crisis. Students would have been sent to nearby Lamar Junior High.

The year closure would have allowed a consultant to complete a study of the district's busing and assignments plans. McKenzie said a proposal to send Pillow students to Murchison, thus reducing their long bus rides, would have further alienated other Northwest Austin residents who would continue to bus their children. Clayton said she was in favor of closing Murchison because she transfers to the school, at 3700 North Hills Drive. Two other proposals would have assigned students from either Hill or Hill and Pillow attendance areas to Murchison. Trustee Gary McKenzie said all four proposals carried minuses.

"I tried to make a decision that.