Press-Telegram from Long Beach, California • 29

I Hayes plan to phase out project studied I -7-- 1 cautious on Carmelitos By CHARLES SUTTON Staff Writer Members of a newly formed Housing Consortium in Long Beach agreed Wednesday to tread lightly if cautiously around the notion of phasing out trouble-plagued Carmelitos Housing Project The jjca was put fortj James Hayes who described project as time bomb and a terror-stricken community llaves addressing the other members 01 tnc Board Supervisors recommended that the County Housing Authority be urged to assimilate the nearly 3000 tenants into the surrounding community While consortium members seemed agreeable to the idea in principle they also said fhe action might not be feasible or desirable at this time As a result they agreed unanimously to study the proposal before coming up with a decision to endorse or reject it "It's to the advantage of the tenants to be dispersed and absorbed into the normal declared Jim Jones director of the North Long Beach Neighborhood Center which services many of low-income residents But Jones conceded the move could haw serfoM TamiitCaiionS' ftfir both the L'armefifosfte'n-ants and hundreds of families already waiting for low rent housing under the federally subsidized leased housing program According to Mrs Mary Hernandez a community relations worker for the housing authority and a member of the consortium there are now 900 families on the waiting list indicating that low-rent housing in Long Beach is already in desperately short supply If the Carmelitos families to be relocated declared MrsBea Bohnenkamp they'd merely take the places of others who need low-income Mrs Bohnenkamp a long-time tenant at Carmeli-tos and a leading figure in a rent strike at the project' said there the additional danger that relocated fami-lies 4ould be forced into higher-rent situations in the long run Assuming federal flanlsrire used To feibcale The" tenants federal law might protect them for two years said Mrs Bohnenkamp but after that be paving regular she added doriV beTfevF anyone loves the said Harold McFarland acting chairman of the consortium the principal reason they live there is that their income justify their living anywhere Mrs Bohnenkamp asserted that the current problems might have been avoided if the housing authority hadrgiven the tenants human dignity and human She was referring to Tenant Union demands at Carmelitos that the tenants be given a significant voice in running the project a sore point in the 9-month-old rent strike at the project (the second in three years) The housing authority has argued that the Tenants I nion wants power without responsibility In any case it now adds the strike largely fgzjed out a claim strongly domed by Mrs Bohnenkamp In the meantime the consortium whose members include representatives from 3o private and public housing and social welfare organizations in the city agreed pjress its request for greater tenant participation in the project's operation Hayes in calling for dismantling of the project said the housing authority only perpetuating a slum with continued operation of which is characterized bv substandard living a constant crime wave and tenant Press-Telegram THURSDAY MARCH 1 1973-SEC PAGE Harbor sewer pro hit by conservation law stall the commissioners were told The complexities and paradoxes of Proposition 20 were brought before the Board of Harbor Com-" missioners again Wednesday when the Los Angeles City Attorney advised the board of a possible delay in the construction of a harbor sewer system The $665505 proposed sewer collection and treatment system must be constructed and operational by July 15 1974 by order of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board But the board was told in a report by the Public Works Committee of the Los Angeles City Council that the city cannot proceed with the project until it obtains a permit from the recently organized South Coastal Zone Re- gional Conservation Commission The board was advisecl that a delay in starting the project could prevent the full utilization of the secondary treatment plant by the deadline the city be enjoined against the discharge of untreated or only primarily treated sewage into the outej harbor nearly all industry in the harbor area would he required to shut The Harbor Department has received a $665505 construction bid for installation of a collection system on Signal 22nd and Miner streets in the waterfront area of San Pedro Unless the Coastal Conservation Commission can clear a backlog of permit applications and consider applications from Los Angeles County the enn-struction bid may have to be revised and the project could be iirther delayed Mary Ellis Carlton jx on school staff ThreaTens Zzzzzzzz is always buzzzzzy! 1-day boycott DR WILLIAM JOHNSON CHECKS FOR THE LAST SPOONFUL OF SOUP Anna Castorena left eats heartily but Desiree Gray prefers talking -Staff Photo by BOB ANDREW At Dominguez School Supt eats alphabet soup Dr Johnston did not plan his visit just for a free lunch just wanted to get out of downtown and see how things are going in some of the he said refreshing to get back and see youngsters learning for a change instead of sitting in an This was the third time Dr Johnston was scheduled to visit Dominguez School but the two previous trips were frustrated at the last moment by unexpected meetings A MAJOR PURPOSE for the visit was to determine how various experimental reading programs werejyorking out By BOB ANDREW Staff Writer Alphabets are tor eating Dr William Johnston superintendent of thy Los Angeles Unified District discovered Wednesday when he visited a first grade class at Dominguez School in Carson Mrs Vivian Roberts undoubtedly one of the bravest teachers in Southern California gives her class a weekly lesson in cooking and Dr Johnston sampled the results Pulling his knees under the low table Dr Johnston dug in with relish when his cup of class-made alphabet soup was placed before him The children at first in awe of any man who was more important than their own principal quickly came to accept the superintendent as an overgrown fellow pupil Willing and able to talk on their terms soup is more fun than tomato proclaimed one student you spell anything with a Dr Johnston was careful to check each paper plate to see what the children had learned from their lunch MRS ROBERTS explained that spelling was a side benefit of lesson although the children learn much more than cooking from their -weekly experience learn tending through reading the recipe and math by figuring out how much they need tor the whole class she suggested as examples reading were in use in the LA schools Since then about one-third Of the systems have been eliminated and the remainder are being restudied A have told the teachers to use whatever system they feel comfort able with but to stick with it for at least three Dr Johnston said adding that no more than two or three differing methods should be employed in a single school research indicates that it matter which method is used as long as the teacher is en thused with that system Some children may react better to a phonics system and sonic to somq other method but all of them jio better IT the tea char believes in the material she -is working Dr Johnston said By JOHN SHEEHAN Staff Writer Compton teachers Wednesday voted to boycott all classes Monday unless school district administrators agree to immediately renegotiate an administration "get-tough policy on teacher absences and salary freezes Boycott vote returns were incomplete late Wednesday but an unidentified spokesman for the 1400-memher Compton Education Association (CEA) said most of the district's 1800 teachers had voted in favor of the Day of Target of the boycott is what teachers called a week-old policy on teacher- absences salary freezes and reduction of substitute teachers the CEA spokeswoman said That policy is supposed to include administration demands of written proof for claimed illness before a teacher can return to the classroom loss of excess sick leave earned but not used elimination of certificated teachers as substitutes' and an indefinite freeze on incentive pay for professional training However Superintend ent Dr Alonzo A Crim Wednesday flatly denied charges and called the incident small matter that is obviously a misunderstanding Grim said classes will be held Monday regardless of the one-day walkout for the 36000 students enrolled in the Compton Unified School District CEA officials said teachers had received a letter from office telling them written proof of illness would be required that Substitute teachers would be all but eliminated that there would be a freeze on reclassification-incentive pay for graduate and elimination of earned sick leave Crim responded that the district was operating under what he called austere and said his office was trying to resolve what he felt were excessive teacher absences are averaging 500 teacher absences a Crim admitted unusually high figure considering there are only 1800 teachers in the He added that the district had already spent $350000 in salaries to substitute teachers since September and that that fund was all but exhausted Other means would have to found to cover absent teachers he said including the practice of using administrative clerks in the classroom CEA officials charged that students in a class where the teacher is absent are divided among other calsses where they disrupt other students and teachers Officials said they are demanding an end to this practice and asking for regular substitute teachers YOU KNOW HOW after so long a time something becomes a challenge and you give up? how been with Zzzzzzzz been trying to get Zzzzzzzz on the phone for two months But everytime I call I get the sound instead of the party The number is always busy A friend told me about Zzzzzzz the last listing in the LA phone book and is said to get more telediqne calls than anyone in the LA megalopolis inclhdirflpme operators I think After considerable research I finally got hold of Zzzzzzzz But it was on another number which for eaf remembering he translates into TENSION He only gets 100 calls a day on that number HE CONFESSED that Zzzzzzzz fs only a nickname really Bob Bilkiss who lives in Santa Monica re 23 years old and a former student at Santa Monica City College and UCLA He explained that as a high schooler he was forever falling asleep snoozing through class after class Fellow students tagged him Zzzzzzzz and it stucki Foy fun he had it listed in the Los Angeles western as an extension on his phone for only 35 cents a month extra That was in 1969 1 THOUGHT what the hell I might as well be the first listing in the book he said So also find his number under just plain A was the Zzzzzzzz listing that seemed to catch people he said away I started getting 50 75 100 200 calls a day from people wanting to know what the heck I was doing what this was all about the whole FINALLY got put of hand My folks applied for pother number and of course I couldn't take all those calls myself I had to study SOMEtime with the help of friends we rigged up an answering service made tapes with jokes music and comedy skits It got to he a Since then Zzzzzzzz has become something of a without an income the most dialed number in the Zzzzzzzz said' get 50000 caUs a month -which is rhore than the average phone receives in 66 years" I asked how many times an average phone jingles He said 34 times a day which makes mine hyperac- tive get calls from New Zealand Europe Japan and Vietnam We've had calls from the US naval stations at the North Pole and the South Pole say 99 per cent of our calls from out of the country are from telephone employees phone freaks or people in the Armed ZZZZZZZZ has everything figured out in percentages Like: a 96 per cent chance that you get the number if you call I told him it was more like NO chance Why would anyone want that many phone calls anyway? got to be a And we teamed to develop all kinds of the answeririg service tapes that play on and' on through all those calls and change material with each call Nobody ever gets the same -joke Also he eua 'change whatever is playing with a remote control device in his' coat pocket And if he wishes he can listen in I asked what he does for a living looking for a he answered I wondered if he'd considered politics recent survey showed that more than tb dozen methods of Fund asked for alcoholics center at General and the Long Beach Health Department Alcoholism Rehabilitation Center mi n' The program calls for 106 fulltime staff members wHoesala ries would be subsidi z8 'by the federal grant to the tune of 9(1 per cent the first year declining to 70 per cent in the eighth year 1 Officials said over-all cost of the eight -year program would be $16 lion leaving the county to corne up with about $76 million after deduction of the federal grant They said however there was ics ambulatory detoxification and outpatient services They said there apparently is no emergency service for alcoholics in the greater Long Beach' area where an estimated 40000 of the 500-000 alcoholics reside ii Though the program would be centered at Long Beach General which currently runs a major inpatient program for aleohojics1' some of the staff working on the comprehensive project would be located at the Long Beach El Cerrtft Hospital From Our LA Bureau County health officials have filed an applieafion with the federal government for an $84 million grant to subsidize an eight-year comprehensive community alcoholism program center at Long Beach General Hospital The application was sent off Wednesday fob lbwing approval of the plan by tfee board of supervisors Tuesday Officials said the pro-gram is aimed at providing a full spectrum of services including emergency intake for alcohol- C- 1 HAPPENING A reminder of admission-free events in the Long Beach area Friday 10 am Social program lor senior citizens speakers and coffee hour First United Methodist Church 507 Pacific Ave 11 am Films short subjects Long Beach City College LAC-eampus 4901 Carson St 1 pm Senior mixed chorus Bovd High School auditorium 235 8th St 8 pm Discussion US foreign policy Unitarian Chureh 5450 Atherton St some possibility a large part of the county 'costs couldrbe -financed with Short-Doyle or other state alcoholism program funds Officials said President Nixon's proposed cutbacks cast doubt as to whether the application would be funded in time for the hoped for opening of the program July however they said it was important to have the application in so that funding could be provided immediately once the Nixon administration lifts funding restrictions a '4.