The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 21, 1994 Page: 1 of 4
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Wesleyan Law School
Goes to Washington
See Page 4
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See Page 3
The Rambler
September 21,1994
Texas Wesleyan University
Fort Worth, Texas
Willson Lecture Features Dr. Gil Watson
Atlanta Minister Will Speak on Curing Peripheral Christianity
By Elizabeth '
The Rambler
Lamb
The fall Willson Lecture Se-
ries speaker is Dr. George Oilman
(Gil) Watson, pastor of Nort'hside
United Methodist Church in At-
lanta, Georgia. The Lecture Se-
ries is Tuesday, September 27 at
10:30 a.m. and Wednesday, Sep-
tember 28, at 10 a.m. in the
1 lillard 1 kill of the Sone f ine Arts
Center.
The topic of his Tuesday ad-
dress will be "Curing Peripheral
Christianity: Understanding the
Vision." Wednesday's lecture
will be "Curing Peripheral Chris-
tianity: Growing the Vision."
"His message should be in-
spirational. It will be a Christian
message; how we grow it [Chris-
tianity] and how we make it bet-
ter," President Jake Schrum said.
Schrum met Watson when he
lived in Atlanta. "I met him at a
fox hunt in south Georgia. He
was blessing the hounds,"
Schrum said. Watson was also
Schum's minister while he at-
tended Oak Grove United Meth-
odist Church in Decatur, Geor-
gia.
Watson graduated with a
bachelor's degree from
Oglethorpe University and re-
ceived a Master of Divinity De-
gree from Candler School of The-
ology at Emory University in.
1971. In 1977, he graduated
from McCormick Theological
Seminary of the Theological
Cluster Group of the University
of Chicago, Illinois, with a Doc-
tor of Ministry degree.
On August 4, 1977, Dr.
Watson was invited to Washing-
ton, D.C., to open the session of
the United States Senate. At the
age of 28, he was one of the
youngest clergymen in our
country's history to be afforded
this honor.
"1 find him to be a very, in-
spirational speaker. He kept the
attention of my children. He
kept my attention, He has a real
gift as a speaker," Schrum said.
The Willson Lecture Series
was an endowment.provided by
Dr. Mavis Terry Willson and Dr.
J.Mi Willson of Flovdada, Texas
in 1946. Texas Wesleyan is one
of five .Methodist universities
given the lectureship series.
The selection of speakers for
the series is determined by a
committee of Jake Schrum, Jef-
frey Miller, university chaplain,
and members of the religion de-
partment.
"Anyone, students or faculty
can recommend a- speaker,"
Schrum Stated.
The selection criteria are
that the potential speaker must
be. a good speaker and Schrum
stated that someone on the com-
mittee has usually heard the per-
son speak previously or have
personal knowledge of the per-
son.
"The committee tries to se-
lect various speaker types,"
Schrum said, "every other
speaker is either a Methodist
Bishop of the pastor of a large
steeple church, like Dr. Watson."
"They [Willsons] wanted stu-
dents and faculty to interact with
some of the finest scholars, al-
though it [lecture] does have to
have a religious orientation. You
can be very insular in university
life. The lecture series provides
an opportunity to.expand your
own vision. It was a very vision-
ary thing for them to do,"
Schrum said.
Dr. George
Gilman Watson
ft
———
Above: Signs of a decaying neighborhood.
Below: Graffiti mars the area of Polytechnic Heights.
1
J
•ti
m
%
Citizens Fight Deterioration
in Neighborhood
By Laurie Retzer
The Rambler
Each month neighbor-
hood volunteers give their time
and energy to revitalize a com-
munity that has been neglected
by age and disrespect.
Within a two mile radius
in each direction of Texas
Wesleyan, the area known as
Polytechnic Heights, shows
marks of an undeclared war
zone,
The Polytechnic area,,
one of Fort Worth's oldest
neighborhoods, once had inde-
pendent shops and proud home
owners.
As far as the Polytech-
nic area is concerned, a com-
mercial billboard hanging high
in the air on East Vickery be-
tween Main Street and Wesleyan
may serve as one explanation:
"WELCOME TO CRIP COUNTRY."
"It's hard to believe but
at one time there were movie
theaters, clothing and drug
stores, and a host of other shops
in the area," said W.M.
Cunningham, a 30-year patrol-
man now desk officer with the
Fort Worth Police Department,
east division.
One merchant still re-
mains in the neighborhood.
Chris Farkas, ovvner of Mama's
Pizza continues to operate busi-
rtess as usual *at his original lo-
cation he started with his father
in 1968; across the street from
the Wesleyan campus at 3130
E. Rosed ale. 'Despite lost rev-
enues compared to his other two
stores located several miles
away, Farkas remains despite the
neighborhood's deteriorating
appearance. His reasoning is
runner of Code Blue is the Weed
and Seed operation.
The Weed and Seed slo-
gan is "Pull the weeds...then
•plant the seeds."
However, not all commu-
nity programs in the Polytech-
nic area have a strict focus on
the effects of crime.
The Neighborhood Cleanup Association and Liberation Community
Inc.'s goal is to clean two alleyways each month.
You are,asked to provide your own work gloves. Garden tools, including
racks, lawn mowers, and various other type of equipment are also needed
with the cleanup. The City of Fort Worth will be responsible for picking
up trash. Any individuals or student organizations interested in helping
the Polytechnic neighborhood are asked to call Laverne Blankton at 429-
5405 or 536-4581 AS3ft-4290. -
simple—sentiment.
Paul Nedde, chief plan-
ner for the city of Fort Worth ,
views the Polytechnic area dif-
ferently than Farkas.
"There are many posi-
tive changes in the Polytechnic
area, but revitalizing a neigh-
borhood is a slow process,"
Nedde said.
Code Blue, federally
funded by the City of Fort Worth
and sponsored by the Fort Worth
Police Department is gaining
positive results.
"Our group is comprised
of citizens in the neighborhood
who patrol the area in a
nonconfrontation manner," said
Holly Murtaugh, a Code Blue
community relations officer.
One other mainstream
community program, and a fore-
Liberation .Community
Inc., at 3608 E. Rosedale is re-
building history.
The purpose of LCI's pro-
gram is to provide housing re-
habilitation and community in-
volvement primarily in the Poly-
technic area. Not only does LCI
•
locus on individual neighbor-
hood contribution through re-
vitajizalion of businesses and'
resident dwellings, it searches
out business leaders in the com-
munity to offer other resources
to help rejuvenate the area.
Ray Ezellc, community
leadership coordinator for LCI,
is seeking additional resources
to help restore the Wesleyan
neighborhood.
"We are desperately
See Neighborhood, page 2
Lack of Parking Frustrates Students
By Carey Reynolds
The Rambler
Parking has never been a
pleasant experience. Some still
find parallel parking impossible,
there r. who strategy
•tally .place themselves at the en-
trance to a parking lot and keep
othe-s from leaving.
The problem is the lack of
parking at V\ esle\ an. Exactly
1500 parking decals were
bought by Wesleyan, and only
about 860 have been sold to
commuters. Yet, commuters
who arrive between 9 a.m. and
11 a.m. are finding it nearly
impossible to park. Between the
peak number of students dur-
ing those two hours and the
number of reserved spaces, a
student is lucky to be able to*
park near the school at all.
mm y. .hhm
What is Wesleyan doing
about this? Right now. there is
not much that it can do. Dean
POhi* Dean of Students, says that
the school has bought lots and
demolished buildings to make
room for parking, but the lots
still have to be paved and
painted. Each lot could cost
between $25 • 30,000. The
money would have to come from
gifts — the government is not
going to fund parking lots —■ and
someone who makes a donation
will want their name on a build-
ing, not a parking lot.
Until enough money is col-
lected. students will continue to
park in the east or west lots, the
Sone Center, or by the old the-
ater across from the dorms.
Parking on the street is also an
option. However, most students
do not wish to park several
blocks from their classes because
of safety reasons or the incon-
venience'of walking.
Charles McCorkle. director
of security, assures that safety
for either the cars or the people,
relative to the urban area sur
rounding the campus, is not a
relevant issue. He states that
there are security guards patrol?
ling the school 24 hours a day.
seven days a week, especially
during the times that classes let
out.
Security gets to know many
of the students so that they will
recognize those who belong here
and those who are just "brows-
ing." They question suspicious
. people. They also provide escort
services on request.
See Parking, Page 2
.>•
•;'*> o. ■
. Opinions 2 Et Cetera 3 Law School News 4
The Ftambler Sept 21. 19*5*4
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Bihari, Deidra. The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 21, 1994, newspaper, September 21, 1994; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth287620/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Wesleyan University.