The Paris News from Paris, Texas • Page 1

Area track results 6 A Time for garden 2A Watson leads Masters 6A ar Serving Northeast Texas Southeast Oklahoma Schools ponder reform bill By Peggy Fikac The Associated Press AUSTIN Rich and poor school districts Friday pondered whether to challenge the state's new school finance reform bill, while Gov. Ann Richards made plans to sign it into law shortly before Monday's court hearing on the issue. State District Judge F. Scott McCown, who oversees the case, is scheduled to get a report Monday on legislative efforts.to satisfy the Texas Supreme Court's school finance reform order. In light of the new plan, the state attorney general will ask McCown to lift a Supreme Court injunction against spending state money on the school funding system.

Richards' office said she would sign the bill into law at 8:30 a.m. Monday, 30 minutes before the hearing begins. The injunction took effect when lawmakers missed the Supreme Court's April 1 deadline to devise a reform plan. Its impact was not immediate because the next state checks are not scheduled to be sent to school districts until April 25. McCown also may ask school districts' lawyers their thoughts on the plan, said an attorney in the case.

The Legislature's plan, adopted Thursday night, would shift hundreds of millions of dollars in local property tax money from wealthier to poorer school districts within new education regions are drawn largely along county lines. It would set a minimum local property tax rate, and it would cost the state an extra $1.3 billion over the next two years. The Texas Supreme Court twice has unanimously declared unconstitutional the. current system, which allows wide disparities in Please see School, Pg. 2A 300 athletes participate in area Olympics Denver Pyle hosts Special Olympic games By Shawn R.

Johnson The Paris News More than 300 athletes representing eight counties competed in the annual Area 8 Special Olympic games held Friday in R.L. Maddox stadium. The day was made extra special for Lamar County athletes as they wore their sweat suits presented to the group by Denver Pyle's Child- ren's' Charities and visited with special guests Denver Pyle, Uncle Jesse of the television series The Dukes of Hazard, and his wife, Tippi. "It feels wonderful (to be back in Paris)," aid Mrs. Pyle.

"We always feel like we're back home; it's just a wonderful feeling. We get a charge out of this (Special Olympics) that lasts all year long. "It's a marvelous experience and the people of Paris are special. This is a special town and we just thank you for letting us come back every year. Waylon (Jennings) feels the same can speak for him because he told me yesterday that he's just so excited (about returning to Paris)." "(It feels) like home (to be back in Paris) it's like coming home," said Pyle.

Denver and Tippi were presented a copy of resolution passed in the Texas Senate by Bill Ratliff honoring the two for their work in Lamar County with the Special Olympics and the Denver Pyle's Children's Charities. In addition, the more than 100 volunteers involved in the games were recognizedfor their support of Special Olympics. "These volunteers are the key to Please see Olympics, Pg. 2A Crime Stoppers is seeking information on trailer theft LET THE GAMES BEGIN: Just seconds after Shawn Wood, North Lamar student and athlete of Lamar County, lit the brazier signifying the start of Photo by Marvin Gorley the games, participants released yellow and blue balloons during the opening ceremonies of the Area 8 Special Olympic games. From Staff Reports Crime Stoppers is looking for the person or people responsible for the theft of a 24-foot flatbed trailer.

Up to $1,000 is being offered through April 22 as a reward to anyone who can provide information leading to an arrest and indictment of those responsible for this crime. The gooseneck trailer was black, with orange pinstripes and eight-foot side rails accenting the design. Paris Patrolman Todd Varner, who coordinates the La- mar County Crime Stopper Program, said the trailer was valued at $3,500. The trailer was stolen Dec. 30, 1990.

Anyone with information about this or any other unsolved felony crime is asked to call the Crime Stoppers hot line at 785-TIPS, day or night, and speak to the person on duty. Callers are not asked to give their names and calls are not recorded. Crime Stoppers pays up to $1,000 cash for information leading to an arrest and grand jury indictment. Senator unveils insurance reform By The Associated Press influential senator offered a proposal Friday to rewrite the Texas Insurance Code, which would include abolishing the State Board of Insurance and replacing it with three independent agencies. Sen.

Bob Glasgow, D- Stephenville, described his bill "The Glasgow Insurance Reform Act of 1991" as an original plan to separate insurance rate- making, regulation and data collection. "The public perception, those people we call the Bubbas of Texas, have a perception that the State Board of Insurance answers only to the desires" of the insurance industry, Glasgow told a news conference. Glasgow's proposal is dramatic in that state insurance regulation, which started over a century ago, is usually handled piecemeal by the Legislature. Gov. Ann Richards, however, made insurance reform a key campaign issue, and so-called reform measures are pending in House and Senate committees.

Glasgow said those proposals could help Texas consumers but won't solve insurance problems because they "don't get a control on costs." His proposal would replace the three-member Insurance Board with a nine-member Insurance Rate Commission, appointed by the governor; Consumer Insurance Control Bureau; and Data- Bank for Insurance Research. A six-member legislative committee would oversee the agencies. The rate commission and control bureau would be funded by maintenance taxes charged on premiums written by insurance carriers. The databank would be paid for with tax money. "What I would like to do is not only have separate agencies, I would hope they're not even off- iced in the same building, that they can't talk to each other, because we want these things to be independent agencies doing independent things.

And if we can'do that, we can get it under control," Glasgow said. The plan calls for regulation of all lines of insurance and would require that every Texas employer offer a basic hospitalization policy for their employees. Please see Insurance, Pg. 2A Photo by Marvin Gorley THANKS DENVER AND TIPPI: Shelley Field and Norma Pursifull, coordinators of the Region 8 Special Olympic games, present Tippi and Denver Pyle with a copy of a resolution adopted by the Texas Senate honoring the Pyle's for their work in Lamar County. Bike-A-Thon race planned From Staff Reports Don Wilson, coordinator for the St.

Jude Children's Research Hospital Wheels for Life Bike-A-Thon, invites adults and children to participate in the Saturday, April 27, bike-a-thon. The race will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Blossom. Riders and sponsors of riders are needed.

Certificates and prizes will be given. For more information contact Wilson at 982-6470. Tickets are available for All-Police Rodeo Inside From Staff Reports Tickets for the Second Annual Lamar County Crime Stoppers All Police Rodeo are now available, according to Patrolman Todd Varner, coordinator of the Crime Stopper's program. Varner said advance ticket prices for the rodeo are $4 a person for each of the rodeo's two days. Children under 12 will be admitted free.

At the gates, he said, tickets will be $5 per person. Cosponsored by the city of Paris, the rodeo will feature 11 events, all performed by full-time peace officers. All proceeds will benefit the Lamar County Crime Stoppers program. The rodeo will open at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 11, in the Paris Rodeo and Horse Club arena on the Lamar County Fairgrounds.

The second day of the rodeo will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 12. Tickets are available at Cavender's Western Wear, Liberty National Bank, the Paris Police Department, the Lamar County Sheriffs Department and Bo- Mart, all in Paris; Glen's Food Mart in Pattonville, Roxton Grocery and Hardware in Roxton and Jay's Western Wear in Hugo, Okla. Sperry 2A Lifestyles 3A 4A Sports 6A Classified 8A Comics 10A iy, Cloudy Saturday with J' possible thunderstorms c'. throughout the day.

Highs in I-the 70s. Averse for today offered great sacri-. ffices that day and rejoiced, ffor God had made them with great joy, And the heard 12:43 TalcoBogata schools to receive new equipment for science labs School will spend $7,000 on purchases By Charlie Chitwood The Paris News OGATA The elementary schools in theTalco-Bogata Consolidated Independent School District will be receiving some new science lab equipment soon after the board of education approved more than $7,000 in purchases. District Superintendent Freddy Wade said the district will aae nine complete video display units (video disc player, television and cart) and two computer assisted video disc players. The display units cost the district $4,396, while the players cost $2,745.

In other business, the board approved the district's contract with Region VTII on combined purchasing, which allows the district better buying power for computer supplies. Wade also was instructed to pursue purchasing a used language lab for Spanish class instruction. Approval for the purchase will hinge on the price and cost of repair. Wade reported that re-roofing work on the Talco bus barn and storage shed is progressing and will be finished in the next 10 days. He also said the administrative offices would be receiving new air conditioning units sometime this month.

Thompson Home Repair of Bogata submitted a low bid of $66,800 and will do the work. The Chapter I summer school programa will be continued this with four-hour sessions Monday through Friday during June. Wade also said the district's board voted to provide funding for the DFYIT drug programs for the remainder of the year. "This is the first year of the program," Wade said. "Start up costs with all of the tests involved are higher than they will be in the future.".