The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 85, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 7, 1991 Page: 1 of 20
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Baytown Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sterling Municipal Library.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
I
®fje Paptoton li>un
Volume 69, No. 85
Telephone Number: 422-8302
Thursday, February 7, 1991
Baytown, texas 77520
25 Cents Per Copy
Chain of support
_ .........
10 Downing St.
target in blast
Scotland Yard suspects IRA
Photo by Angie Bracey
Students at B.P. Hopper Primary School School in Highlands hang yellow chains all over
the school to show their love and support for the troops servingTn the Persian Gulf. Pupils,
from left, are Timothy Hill, Heather Stanley, Freida Green, Jose Vasquez and Robert
Mitchell.
LONDON (AP) — A mortar shell fired from a
van exploded behind 10 Downing St. Thursday,
shattering glass and forcing Prime Minister John
Major to move a War Cabinet meeting to another
room, police and government officials said.
Two other mortar shells exploded near the Fore-
ign Office, ,whi?h adjoins Downing Street, a
spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said. A Foreign
Office spokesman said there was minor damage
including broken windows.
The British Broadcasting Corp. said Scotland
Yard believed the attack was carried out by the
Irish Republican Army, although there was no im-
mediate claim of responsibility. The IRA has used
mortars in Northern Ireland.
■ Two police officers on duty at the Foreign Of-
fice and an employee of the Cabinet Office were
Jnjured, by flying glass, police said.
A Foreign Office spokesman said there was
“minor damage” including broken windows; put
the building, was not evacuated.
Police said two men were reported seen running
from the van, which burned furiously on j a
cordoned-off street just off Whitehall, a busy thor-
oughfare lined with government offices.
The van was 100 yards from 10 Downing S
where the prime minister lives and works.
A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said thj
mortar landed 40-50 feet behind the prime minis
ter’s official residence in the garden, and the. ex
plosion “blew out a few windows” at No. 10 an
adjoining buildings, she said, describing the dam
age as minor. She said the mortars apparently werp
Two to three mortars it would
appear were fired from the
vehicle, and then the vehicle
exploded.
School finance
session Friday
By Katherine Feibleman
of The Baytown Sun
Baytown school, district will host a meeting of state and
neighboring school officials Friday to discuss the public
school finance system.
—Dr. Harry Griffith, Baytown superintendent, said he has in-
vited the superintendents and school board presidents from
Crosby, Channelview, Sheldon, Galena Park, Deer Park, La
Porte and Barbers Hill school districts, as well as state Reps.
Dan Shelley, Mike Jackson and Fred Bosse and Sen. Gene
Green.
One plan the state Legislature is rumored to be considering
would remove school districts from tax abatement programs,
Griffith said. While he stressed it is still only a rumor, he
decided to invite the chairman of the Baytown Area-West
Chambers County Economic Development Foundation’s
Board of Directors to Friday’s meeting.
Since the state Supreme Court ruled the public school fi-
nance system unconstitutional in January, the Legislature Has
until April 1 to formulate an acceptable plan.
“We’re seeing if we can’t collect our forces,” Griffith said,
noting he is not promoting any particular plan with this meet-
ing. “What I’m promoting is communication. What I’m prom-
oting is working together. There’s too much at stake for us to
be disconnected."
Crosby Superintendent Don Hendrix will conduct Friday’s
meeting. “I’m organizing the meeting, but I’m still the newest
kid on the block," Griffith said.
Hill TAAS scores higher
in reading, mathematics
fired from/the roof of the van.
“Two t6 three mortars it would appear were
fired from the vehicle, and then the vehicle ex-
ploded,” a spokesman for Scotland Yard said.
Two women who were participating -in a peace
vigil neat; Downing Street Said a piece of the metal
landed in the street near them, several hundred feet
from where the van was parked.
The burning van was on Horseguards Avenue,
near the Old War Office. , *
•Dr. Andy Ashworth, a former army doctor who
heard the explosions, told the BBC he had been
told there, were bodies in the van, but that could
not be confirmed.
“I heard three loud explosions sort of consecu-
tively, followed a second later by another explo-
sion, I mean just loud bangs basically,” Ashworth
-said:— ....................... ............—.....
"When I turned the comer, I saw a white Ford
transit van, its rear doors open, a couple of sheets
hanging out the back of it. But the inside! of the
van was a burning inferno, just flames completely
engulfing the van, and black smoke billowing up
from the van."
:........, ' .......;. r
By Betsy Claggett
of The Baytown Sun
MONT BELVIEU — Although results from the
Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test showed
that students in the Barbers Hill School District
scored higher than many in Texas in reading and
mathematics, marks in writing for grades 3, 5, 7,
and 9 were below the state average.
f Most of the students did well on the written
composition portion of the exam, but overall
writing scores were brought down by a poor
showing on the multiple choice sections for
spelling, capitalization and punctuation, Pam
’Sapp, curriculum coordinator for the Barbers Hill
School District, said.
“Writing scores were a surprise to most of us in
the district. We expected them to be higher,” Ms.
Sapp-said;- -The others were about what we
expected.”
Students took the TAAS exafn, which replaced
the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum
Skills test, for the first time Oct. 16-18. The
TAAS test has a different format and is more
difficult than its predecessor, Ms. Sapp said.
Results'showed that 49 percent of students
taking the test at Barbers Hill passed writing in
third grade; 79 percent in fifth grade; 70 percent in
seventh grade; 53 percent in ninth grade; and 88
percent at the exit level in eleventh grade.
“We have targeted writing in grades 3-9, all the
.. ■ i:
way through to exit level, especially for the
multiple choice part of it,” Ms. Sapp- said.
-Since most students did well on the written
composition. Ms. Sapp said she feels..that.students
know the. rules of grammar and punctuation, but
had problems with the format of the test. ‘
“They know the information because it shows
up in the written format,” she said.
Students in all grade levels tested scored above
the state average in reading and mathematics, but
because of low writing scores, the number of
students passing all three portions of the exam was
below average in grades 3 and 9.
In the exit level, only 75 percent'of students
taking the exam passed all three portions of the
test, which is a requirement for graduation. The
state average is 68 percent. The students will be
able to retake the parts of the exam they did not
pass April 2-4. ;
Compared to last year's TEAMS lest tesultsr
the district saw a decrease in scores in all areas
except seventh grade reading and writing and exit
level math and language arts, Ms. Sapp said.
This followed the statewide trend, which saw a.
decrease in scores in all levels except exit level
math, she said.
Some-reasons for the decline include the change
to an earlier testing date, which switched from
February to October, the change in the test format
and the increased difficulty of the exam, she said.
State Sen. Gene Green
will host a community
forum to be held >- from
4-5:30 p.m. Friday in 'the
directors’ meeting room on
the sixth floor of Citizens
National Bank and Trust
Co. building at 1300
Rollingbrook.
State Reps. Dan Shelley,
Fred. Bosse and Mike Jack-
sop have also been invited
to join Green in answering
questions about state gov-
ernment and issues facing
the current legislative
session.
His recent appointment
to several top Senate com-
mittees will enable Greefl
to be more directly in-
volved in areas like educa-
tion finance.
Therefore, he said, he
will be better able to an-
swer questions concerning
those important issues dur-
ing the discussion-
question-answer session,
Police seek help in solving gang problem
By Jane Howard
of The Biytown Sun
Baytown police want the
community to join them in an
effort to solve problems related
to street gangs.
And with help from the Har-.
ris County Dis-f
trict Attorney’s
Office, they
hope to deter
gang-related
violence, • using
a statute against
organized crime
activity.
Baytown
police Lt. Gary
Cochran said H»n»«y
that statute “kicks the charge
up” if it can be proved’ that
several people worked together
toward a common goal.
While police currently are not
seeing much organized gang
violence, they say some crimes
are being committed by indivi-
duals reported to be members of
Second In three-part series
gangs.
“Yes, we do have a problem
here,” Baytown Police Chief
Wayne Rdnscey said.
So far, he added, gang-related
problems here are not as intense
as in many other cities.
Officers believe a number of
drive-by shootings last year
were, committed by members of
youth gangs but most of those
cases involved bullets hitting
houses or cars rather than peo-
ple, No fatalities occurred and
those wounded in the shootings
have recovered.
- Members of various gangs
claim involvement in numerous
assaults, plus damage to prop-
erty, Henscey said, but those
cases were matters of personal
grudges, rather than organized
gang-related crimes.
In the last few months; police
have seen a decrease in reported
gang activity, said Cochran,
who is optimistic that a multi-
pronged approach to handling
gang-related activities will help.
“Our biggest problem in the
city is with destruction of prop-
erty and the painting of signs
and symbols on buildings," said
Henscey. "We need help from
the citizens to put a stop to this."
Henscey hopes that with the
combined efforts of citizens,
business owners and schools,
the police can put a stop to the
graffiti on buildings as well as
other more serious offenses.
"I feel like a lot of people
probably see this when it’s
going on,” he said. "When they,
do, they should call us. We’ll be
contacting-- civic organizations
and others to try to work
together and end this problem.”
Some of painters of those
signs and symbols, 'Henscey
observed, are apparently good
artists. .J '■“T
“If they’d use that talent in
other ways we’d, have some
great art around the city. We’d
like to channel their energy into
-other things."
Parents of juveniles involved,
in street gangs could help, Hens-
cey said. "The law practically
requires parents to keep juve-
niles off the streets, Our officers
have been instructed to bring
them to jail when they catch
them, then notify the ■ parents.”
If parents can’t handle their
kids, Henscey said officers will
notify Children’s Protective Ser-
vices.
Owners of property damaged
by juvenile gang members can
seek restitution from parents if
the offenders can be identified;
he said. “Courts can order that.”
Also, thexhief wants the gang
members to be aware of the fact
they__are citizens with all the
rights as other citizens.
"If they are having problems
with outsiders or rival gangs,
they should, come to us,” he
said. "We’d like to help if they
have a problem."
Good Afternoon.
Pearce Street Journal
AROUND TOWN
Positive prognosis
v Fortunately, youth is a
temporary condition
from which one usually
recovers.
--FH
INDEX
Classified............7-8-B
Comics/Crossword..... 6-B.,
Dimension.............. 7-A
Editorial..,,-,..........„ 4-A
Markets........2-A
Movies......9-B
Obituaries............. 8-A
Police-beat.....2-A.
School menus......; 10-B
Sports. : T-2-B
Teen Times .... 3-5-B.10-B
Television .......,9-B
-1-V--
C.G. "Rocky" Roque-
more Is listed in critical
condition in the inten-
sive care unit of Her-
mann Hospital In »
Houston.
Elsie Wilks delighted
by a surprise visit from
her daughter, Diane
Gillette of Cleveland,
Ohio.
WEATHER
THURSDAY NIGHT: Fair
and cool, low in low 40s.
Friday: Sunny and mild,
high in mid-60s. From 8
a.m. Wednesday to 8 a.rri;
Thursday, high of 71, low
of 47;
YES
We Have Discount
Brokerage Service
The Sictmi
weekly TV Guide
To advertise
call 422-8302
Display Advertising
Sale* v S^rvico • Supplte*
COPIERS
II t 8 OFFICE SUPPLY •"
422-8151
UlfciU L\V)fy^.RANK
[New Car Rates 9.5%
with approved credit 20%
down for 48 mos. "
420 S. Main rare. Highlands
426-4588
Ron Craft
Chevrolet-Stibarc
3401 N. Main
427-9525
Advertise in our
EDITION
Sunday, Feb. 17, 1991
Deadline Feb. 7 ' .
fall ads 1/2 Price < Call 422-8302
Now Available . t.
THRIFT CHECKING
You have a friend.it,..
Baytown State Bank
,1 Bay Plaza U Port.
427-5841 FIU.C. 471,2095.
Valentine Share”
Page
Feb. 6 and 11, 1991
Deadline. Mbn,, Feb.' 4
1,,,
1 ~ /
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View six places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Brown, Leon. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 85, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 7, 1991, newspaper, February 7, 1991; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1052382/m1/1/?q=music: accessed June 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.