El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 10

Ooinion 10A El Paso Times Fnday, Jan. 21, 2000 EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR JOHN LAIRD, 546-6160 Cities Mack Quintana, President and Publisher Dtonlcio "Don" Flexes, Executive Vice President and Editor Andy AkJerette, Managing Editor Robert Moore, Assistant Managing Editor A Gannett newspaper Founded in 1881 EDITORIAL BOARD John Laird, Editorial page editor Bemadette Self, Editorial writer Charie Edgren, Editorial writer Guadalupe Silva, Feature writer 300 N. Campbell El Paso, TX 79901 546-6100 Our views Fccus on education Summit must inspire plans, and action 1 dTOJ ilk Your views The Paso Times welcomes letters to the editor. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity. Limit letters to 200 words and allow 30 days between letters.

Provide full name, address and daytime phone number, which will not be published but are needed for verification only. Aceptamos cartas en espanol. Mailing address: Letters to the editor, Paso Times, P.O. Box 20, Paso, Texas 79999 Call-in letters: 546-6420; Fax letters: 546-6343 E-mail letters (include phone): opinionelpasotimes.com Letters Politicians show double standard Our lawmakers in Congress are second to none in prostituting the laws for their own gains. An example: When the law clearly states that Elian must be returned to Cuba, they simply write a new one.

This law shows the voters their resolve to fight communism, all while their stocks soar from trading with China and Vietnam. The U.S. Congress is the epitome of double standards, welcoming Cubans who flee Castro's socialist ideals, while detaining and deporting those who flee political and economic oppression of U.S.-backed dictators. Mexican nationals seeking work in the United States are faced with not only prejudice, but also with barbed wire and armed guards and are often hunted down like animals. Meanwhile, our Canadian neighbors freely walk across an open border.

But we must not judge our members of Congress too harshly for their double standards; it's hereditary. Their forefathers who were proud slave owners once wrote, "All Men Are Created Equal." Dan Dolt West El Paso A bad policy Some restaurants and other establishments have begun a new method of accepting checks from customers. They will run your check through some sort of debit machine and then ask you to sign a printout. The other method is to stamp the back of your check and ask you to sign it again. But what they won't do is tell you what they are doing with your check or what it is you are signing for and that is wrong.

If you read the fine print of what they want you to' sign, youll 'see it is" to give them, or whomever, the right to access your checking account and deduct the owed amount themselves. This is a bad way to do business with customers. If these merchants see nothing wrong with this method, then they should inform their customers of what they are doing before they do it. Instead, they try to get you to quickly sign and hope you don't take the time to read the fine print. A signed personal check with proper identification should be sufficient enough.

If it is not, then these merchants shouldn't accept checks at all. Jose A. Coronado West El Paso make greater contributions to the common economy than the less-educated. That is neither indictment nor innuendo; it is fact. There is one obvious danger.

The subject of education is so vast and complicated that it would be easy to attempt too much in the two days of the summit. That would result in frustra- tion, and little would be accomplished. But it appears the executive committee organizing the summit has appropriately narrowed the focus to six areas of concern, with the goal, in the words of committee co-chairman Danny Vickers, to lay out a plan for education for the next five, 10, 15 years where the community not just the education section buys into it." One of the summit's objectives must be to improve inclusiveness and opportunity in the education formula. Having the best schools, the best teachers and the best curricula means little if those who desire a quality education cannot have one. The summit should come up with specific plans, and then those plans should be acted upon.

It must be result-oriented and must provide a mechanism by which its suggestions can be followed up and acted El Paso is almost embarrassingly fond of having planning meetings, seminars, workshops and summits, but too often, little of substance emerges from these gab-fests. This education summit must be different. The city's future is at stake, and what could be more important? It is neither frivolous nor hyperbole to characterize the education summit scheduled for Feb. 18-19 at UTEP as the single most important meeting ever held in El Paso. Education and the economy, both on the personal and societal levels, are so inextricably linked as to be virtually indistinguishable.

An individual's personal economic well-being is tied to educational attainment as much as the city's economic success is dependent on an educated society and work force. State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, reflecting on the importance of the summit, said, "What you earn depends on what you learn. In today's economy, if you get out of the eighth grade, you will earn $800,000 in a lifetime. If you get out of college, especially with a technical degree, you will earn $2.8 million and up.

More and more, education is the driver of economic success. "El Paso competes with Hong. Kong, Phoenix, Chihuahua and Austin. Our educational attainment is now measured against world standards. If we want to improve our economy, we simply have to improve our schools and educational attainment." It is incredibly important that the summit come up with specific ways to improve El Paso's educational infrastructure and raise its standards.

Improvements will translate into a stronger, more vi- able and diversified economy, and a better individual quality of life. Better-educated individuals not only raise their own standards of living, but they also such as lack of parental in-' volvement, lack of school funding, lousy teacher pay and overcrowded classrooms, then there will al- ways be students who graduate simply because they "put their time in." If tnis is the case, we might as well turn our schools into warehouses. Adriana Baxter Central El Paso Beware rhetoric Alan Keyes, contender for the Republican presidential nomination, takes the position that America is coming apart at the seams due to moral decay. This contention is not to- -tally without merit, but this is the price we pay to hold onto our most, cherished possession: freedom. I don't agree with everything that goes on in this country, but I don't ex-! pect others to live by my moral standards and nei- ther should Keyes.

In Cuba' there is no freedom and everyone must live accord-' ing to party rules. Would Keyes De happier there? Keyes refers, to gays as moral degenerates when he speaks of allowing gays in the military. I am sure that having gays serve openly in the military would present some problems and may not be a good idea, but referring to homosexuals as moral degenerates reminds me of 1 the greatest bigot of the modern world, who, like Keyes, was also a great and inflammatory orator Adolph Hitler. After the deaths of mil-'. lions of Jews and others in World War II, haven't we learned our lesson con- cerning bigotry and inflammatory rhetoric? I am a lifelong Republican (62 years), but Keyes makes 1 me ashamed of my party.

Dennis Konicki Lower Valley found but not for a program that affects the health and lives of disabled people? Please, get the priorities straight. James B. Tillotson Northeast El Paso Don't blame test In columnist Leon Mctz's tirade about the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, he said he graduated high school not because he learned anything, but because he "put in his time." This view describes what is wrong with people's assessment of the test, namely the belief that an education isn't necessary. Metz said he "often skipped school" and that his "overall average consistently bounced from to an How did he manage to graduate? Are we to envy nis delinquency? As a student who passed the TAAS, I can vouch that the test is not terrible. In fact, it was easy as it is for many students.

There are multiple opportunities to pass and tutoring services are available. If a student flunks the TAAS, don't kill the messenger for showing our educational system to be unfit. Of course, as long as people attack TAAS failure instead of real problems, Improve Sun Metro I am a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans and can no longer drive. I'm dependent on public transportation to get to medical appointments. I have been satisfied with this convenience for years.

But it appears the situation has changed. On Jan. 12, 1 started calling Sun Metro at about 1 p.m. to arrange a pick-up and return for a medical appointment. Between 1 p.m.

and.sometime.after7 p.m., I dialed my phone 80-100 times. I finally received an answer only to find out the scheduling personnel departed at 7 p.m. On Jan. 13, 1 called in the morning. In the afternoon, after dialing many more times, I finally got the message to wait for a scheduler.

I waited so long the telephone company cut me off. After many more dialings I was answered by a scheduler who said only a return ride could be scheduled. When I asked for an appointment for the following week, I was told I must call two weeks in advance. Nobody should be subjected to this frustration. All kinds of funding for frivolous programs can be Millennium madness Y2K party glitches must be resolved cial, problems are troubling.

They should not be allowed to threaten the future of a potentially wonderful tradition for El Paso. It was bad enough a couple of months ago when Hernandez failed to inform City Council peers that she was to be paid $15,000 for organizing the event. She should've disclosed her paid position, as required by state conflict-of-interest laws. Eventually, Hernandez resigned from the board and as coordinator to silence the criticism, but she continued to volunteer her services. It is clear from the latest financial confusion that a communication breakdown occurred between Marcus and Hernandez.

Hernandez undeniably worked countless hours on the event, but she should not seek a leadership role in next year's party assuming there will be one. More diligence is needed in managing the event. If the millennium party is to succeed as a tradition, top organizers must identify errors, learn from mistakes and commit to doing a better job next year. For an event that was supposed to be a lot of fun, the problems surrounding the El Paso Millennium Community Celebration are turning out to be a royal pain. The latest in the millennium party saga is that millennium treasurer David Marcus is accusing South-West city Rep.

Elvia Hernandez of mishandling the group's expenses. He said she wrote checks without getting a second signature, as required by the nonprofit committee's rules. Hernandez counters that Marcus often was not available when she needed his signature. She said she called and told him when she needed to write some checks, so that the event could stay on track. Marcus denies this.

And worse, Marcus said it's not clear to whom some checks were written. As a result, Marcus said he isn't sure there will be enough money to pay remaining bills, including those for police service. Hernandez said she's confident all expenses will be covered. The millennium committee's organizational, and possibly finan School workers debate representation 4i Xst Unite coliseum plans Too many groups pulling in different directions consultation board anyway. Even so, some are justifiably uneasy about a union winning exclusive consultation rights in the EPISD.

The ATPE, and other nonunion groups and nonaffiliated individuals, fear their independent voices will be ignored. About 50 percent of EPISD employees aren't affiliated with any professional group. The federa-tion has 2,000 EPISD members and the ATPE has 760.. "Exclusivity has no place in education," Bechtel told EPISD trustees. "Our entire governmental system is based on hearing and incorporating every voice, minority or otherwise on working together and making decisions together for the greater good, in this case, employees and students." But, Wever candidly says the district's current consultation system is not working.

"We have too many people speaking at the same time and nobody's listening," she said. In the past, Wever said EPISD administration either ignored recommendations, delayed action and at times pitted different teacher groups against each other. The result is that teachers' causes were hurt. Wever says it's a mispercep-tion that employees will have to join the union (it costs about $360 per year). If selected for exclusive consultation, she said the federation would include others' concerns in presentations to ad- ministratioa A change in employee representation may be brewing for El Paso Independent School District employees.

It may be unnoticed by some, applauded by others and fiercely opposed by nonunion staffers. On top of that, critics say the issue a proposal to have only one group "officially" represent teacher salary and other concerns to EPISD administration raises conflict-of-interest questions for two trustees whose spouses are members of the union pushing for an "exclusive consultation" process. Last week, trustees voted to allow district employees to decide in an April election if they want to change the way employees are represented on EPISD's El Paso Consultation Association, the advisory group that represents employee concerns. The option is to allow one professional organization (selected by employees) to represent faculty, instead of individually voting for the 13 members who compose the current advisory group (eight teachers and five support staff). Administrators and support staff also would be allowed to choose a group.

Here's where the rub comes in for some. EPISD trustee Dan Wever's wife, Frances, is president of the El Paso Federation of Teachers and Support Per-sonnel. And, trustee dene Finke's wife, a teacher, also is But, ATPE officials in Dallas paint a different picture. "The most drastic result in district procedures is that three organizations of excellent teachers are no longer allowed input," Diane Reed, president of the Dallas ATPE, wrote in a Jan. 11 letter to EPISD trustees.

"(The American Federation of Teachers) as the governing group never asked for proposals from the other organiza: tions," Reed stated. "After twd meetings that were totally controlled by AFT, the ATPE and Texas State Teachers Association withdrew from the process." Interestingly, the state comptroller's school-performance review recommended last year that EPISD pursue exclusive consultation bet cause it has decreased thg number of employee grievances in Corpus Christi ahd other districts. In EPISD, grievances nearly doubled td 81 in 1997-98 from 42 the pre- vious year. The most important point EPISD employees should re- member in this controversial issue is that they will make the decision in April. If employees' want to make the right deci-.

sion, they must take the time during the next month to carefully weigh the pros and cons' of opposing sides. Bemadette Sedillos Self Is an -editenai writer for the El Paso Times. E-mail: opinlonelpasotimes.com Bemadette Self a member of the federation. The federation is the union group pushing to get exclusive consultation rights. Both Wever and Finke voted in favor of allowing district employees to vote on the option.

Because employees ultimately have the decisionmaking power, Wever and Finke say it was not a conflict of interest for them to vote on the issue. But trustee Ada Gonzalez Peterson and others, including Rose Bechtel, Region 19 president of the nonunion Association of Texas Professional Teachers, or ATPE, say there is a conflict of interest. Bechtel said the federation across the state is using exclusive consultation as a first step toward getting collective-bargaining rights for Texas teachers. For some, that raises the untoward specter of teacher walkouts. But Frances Wever said some nonunion groups are playing on misperceptions.

She said the bulk of ATPE's membership is administrators, who have their own and. who have virtual ly no members on El Paso's Mayor Carlos Ramirez has said he will meet today with city planners, Downtown property owners and civic leaders to reach a consensus on possibly building a sports coliseum or multipurpose facility in the heart of the city. The communication, though, should be more widespread and inclusive. It will do little good for city officials to strike off on one coliseum plan if the county is venturing in another direction or if private-sector people are planning yet a third facility. Obviously, El Paso needs a new coliseum.

But at least three different factions are contemplating building facilities in at least three different parts of town. The city ic Inntina rinwntnwtl. SOme coliseum and private-sector planners are considering building a coliseum in Northwest El Paso. And that doesn't include the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce's sports committee, which also is studying the issue. It's good that the mayor will meet today on this subject, especially because Downtown property owners need to know wnat's in store for their investments.

But the planning and the communication should go much further than that. What we don't need are different factions pulling in different directions, each believing it has the superior plan, each seeking more credit than the others. What we do need, though, is a new coliseum, one that is planned and built through vision and lead county officials are looking at a ership. Both qualities so tar have soccer stadium near the county been sadly lacking in El Paso..