San Angelo Standard-Times from San Angelo, Texas • 5

SAN ANGELO STANDARD-TIMES-Tuesday May 12 1992-SA One-room school becomes history for Juno ghost town The other buildings have either burned or have been l-T DEL RIO At the cIom of school thii year Texas will have one fewer one-room school houiea Val Verde County Commissioner's Court voted Monday to annex the Juno Common School District into the Comatock Independent School Diatrict A Common School District la usually a district governed by a three-member board with the county Judge acting as the superinten dent according to Glenn Greenwood Texas Education Agency Information specialist The commissioners voted 44) to annex the Juno district at the requests of both districts County Attorney Carmen Rivera Worley said annexation was the simplest way to Join the two schools Judge Val Cadena is the superintendent Time simply ran out for the small 1 community Juno Common School District Board President Jay Dob bins said in a telephone interview from his ranch Monday afternoon "It seems there Is nobody left out here who wants to perpetuate said is something that had to be done There were no other options problem out here is that basically nobody lives out here the rancher continued are a lot of people who come and go but maintain a residence in town We Just kind of ran out of people" Eight students attend the Juno School two are children of the teacher When the district closes the students will go somewhere else Transportation of students to the Comstock schools has yet to be worked out Juno is a small ranching community about TO miles northeast of Del Rio on Highway US near the Crockett County line Only one store remains Just south of the little kindergarten through 9th he said Although the one-room schools are but a memory in the state they still serve a purpose in West Texas When the smaller district is annexed its tax money goes to the district receiving the students according to Greenwood i Greenwood said distance often is a factor in smaller West Texas districts like Mountain Home and Van Horne taken over by termites said With the dose of the school year only two one-room schools wul remain in Texas according to Greenwood The Divide CSD at Mountain Home has 10 students in grades kindergarten through sixth The smallest school district in the state is the Allamoore CSD at Van Horne with only two students in grades Reading remedy Angelo schools search for early help By EEELY COGHLAN Staff Writer San Angelo elementary school officials hope to catch reading problems early in a idiot program next year at Austin and Glenmore elementary schools San Angelo first-grade teachers at the two schools wifi participate in a University of Minnesota-based research program that uses literature to help boost the skills of students with reading problems if school board members approve the program at their Tuesday hoard meeting want to pick up children before they start floundering and Elementary Education Director Sally Lehr said want to get these students to read at grade-level and prevent them from being held back We think tills program will help rescue She estimated that 10 percent of San Angelo first-graders learn necessary reading skills by the end of first grade Some are retained and some are promoted the probability is very Ugh that a child who lsdisabVed in reading at the end of first grade wlU remain a disabled reader for some Lehr said Lehr and Austin Principal Janet Hudgins visited Midland public schools this year to investigate the Reading Recovery program that Midland schools are using to help students improve their reading skills program uses good teaching strategies but teachers in the program can work Individually with four children a day at most Lehr said San Angelo needed a more cofct-effeetive program Lehr said She learned of Dr Barbara Taylor's Early Intervention in Reading program from an April edition of a national reading Journal It has been implemented- some Minnesota and Wisconsin schools Under the program San Angelo classroom teachers will be trained to work with small four to six children at a time during the school day Teachers will use word meaning syntax and context as strategies to help students team to read white boosting self-esteem Lehr said The program is literature-based but also teaches phonies principles Using good children's literature should boost interest in reading she said Beginning-level books in the program such Magic School and Snowy have a vocabulary of 49 to 90 words Higher-level books Include A Nightmare in My and Lehr said are good books for little Lehr said Reading experts have long claimed that basal readers are boring because they use a much smaller vocabulary than a first-grader real ly has a position that Lehr agrees with Please see READ Page iA Rural health issue opens in Crockett By MOLLY CUNER S-TComspsadeut OZONA Crockett County like many other rural areas is facing some tough decisions regarding medical facilities and health care In an effort to get the community Involved in the issues Crockett County Commissioners and the hospital board called a town meeting for 7pm today in the high school auditorium The meeting is" very very very lnportant" said Martha Grim president of the Crockett County hospital board people aren't satisfied with their hospital or if they are Oils is so they can tell us how to spend their tax Marvin Cole who specialises in rural health care and is vice president of the Texts Hospital Association will speak at the meeting Gries said Cole will discuss many options for future health care in Osona According to Gries one possibility is to contract with another hospital to provide Crockett health care Other options include establishing a hospital district separate from the county or redudng services to an emergency room only The meeting was prompted by a request from the hospital board to the comity commissioners to purchase a computer system for billing The commissioners are divided shout the relatively large expenditure especially since the request followed plans to put a new roof on the hospital and other medical facilities A new building to house the ambulances is also in the works The hospital currently does all billing and recordkeeping by hand Gries said all bills to insurance carriers from the hospital are automatically delayed 80 to 90 days because the hospital is not computerized Collection of bad drifts also is very difficult Gries said because collection agenda require computer records But the computer system come cheap is concerned about the budget for the said Gries had to do so many repairs this year already" Gries said she hopes the meeting will draw a large crowd and that everyone win leave with a better understanding of rural health care options and costs The hospital is In the midst of preparing a survey to reach every hone in the county around June 1 The survey will allow people to express their health care desires Guard armory one step closer to reality for city ByUDLLGORE FaUtleal Affairs Editor A UR House subcommittee has earmarked R7 mmiwi in a new National Guard armory in San Angelo UR Rep Lamar Smith anwmmifH 1 1 The funding will have to win approval from the House Armed Service Committee survive future cuts made by the House and Senate and win the signature to become an official federal allocation Smith R-San Antonio said he made a request for the funding from UR Rep Patricia Schroeder D-Colo who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military installations and Facilities Smith who represents the 21st Congressional District which includes San Angelo sakl the money would be used to move guard units to a new facility with twice the space currently available to units here Currently guard units are in two locations: a small state-owned armory at 451 Caddo SL and a 2L400-square-foot building at 4149 UR Highway 17 North which is teased for 99000 a year Gen Otto Schers former commander of Base Units Command State Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment of the Texas Army National Guard said Monday afternoon teat San Angelo's National Guard involves four units These are Headquarters 3rd Battalion 132nd Field Artillery Head-quartersBatterySrdBattalkm 132nd Field Artillery Service Battery 3rd Battalion 132oa Field Artillery and Co A 3rd Battalion 112th Armor Late in 19911 Schers said the National Guard acquired a 10-acre federally owned tract not far from the south entrance of Goodfellow Air Force Base the site of a new armory designed to encompass all guard activities Guard officials estimated the cost of the facility would be between S35 million and million Smite called the armory lifeline of the National Guard unit (which) includes everything from classrooms to office space to im-Ung for vehicles will be saved with the change from teasing the building to owning be said adding "this money will be well spent" SAN ANGELO 1:30 am San Angelo City Council meets council chambers fourth floor of City Hall Cqfr lege Avenue and Irving Street 9:15 am San Angelo Retired Teachers Association meeting First Christian Church Refreshments and fellowship 9:15 to 9:45 am program officer installation 9:45 to 11 am San Angelo Chamber of commerce monthly membership luncheon Houston Harte University Center Small business awards presentation by Dr LD Vincent president of Angelo State University 1992 United Way of the Concho Valley Jog-A-Thon San Angelo Stadium 7 pm San Angelo School Board meeting Board Room Administration Building 1621 University Ave 7 Tom Green County Historical Commission meeting to discuss recent preservation projects and upcoming historical programs Tom Green County Courthouse Courtroom Public invited 7 pm Grape Creek-Pulliam School Board meeting district's administrative offices New school board members will be sworn in proposed improvements to the football stadium discussed 7:30 Glenn Junior High School Band performs at the San Angelo RlverStage A San Angelo Recreation Department Band Month event 7:30 pm San Angelo Friends of the Environment (SAFE) will hear David Allen speak about the West Texas Boys Ranch plastic recycling project St Paul Presbyterian Church 11N Park Open to the public OZONA 7 pm Town meeting on health care options for the community S-T photo by Cade White Young voice Seven-year-old Deja Madris displays her sign as she listens during a rally by the Children's Advocacy Center Monday evening on the steps of the Tom Green County Courthouse Several hundred adults and children attended the rally promoting public awareness of child abuse Commission (or the Blind to hold meeting The Texas Commission for the Blind will Themeeting will be at 1:30 pm today at the sponsor an organizational meeting to start a Texai Commission for the Blind Office in the support group for those with macular Texas Bank Building degeneration Road repair bids By SHERRI DEATHS RAGE Staff Writer Repair should begin ineariy June on two eounty roads damaged by heavy winter rains Tom Green County commissioners Monday approved a 328339 bid from Reece Albert Inc for seal-coating about 7 miles on two rural roads Work should begin on AUen Road south of Christoval and Burma Road north of San Angelo by June I In March the Federal Emergency Management Agency turned down a city-county request for 9125000 in disaster aid to repair streets and roads damaged by heavy rains in December and January Commissioners later voted to solicit bids from outside contractors to repair the two most badly damaged road segments Commissioners also agreed Monday to allow the Tom Green County Historical Commission to use the eourthouae lobby for a reception Friday honoring families who have owned their farms or ranches for at least 100 years In other action commissioners: Officially accepted budget requests from county department heads Hearings on the 1993 budget are scheduled for a series of morning meetings between May 19 and 29 Approved a 914005 liability insurance policy for employees and public ffHlriili Approved a lease agreement with Court Appointed Special Advocates through which the organization will continue to use space in the county-owned Turner Building rent-free but will purchase its own liability insurance Rejected renewal of a 1715 maintenance agreement on two computer printers Taking District Judge trustee Jim Carter elected to the S-T photo by Cede WIM an oath John Sutton (left) administers the oath of office to new San Angelo School on Monday evening at the School Administration Building Carter was school board May 2 7.