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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHistorical Records - The Arizona Daily Star (12)No-th-Ing junior ■ ab��out compOrl, s achieve ents - A Junior Achievement company that calls itself "First Time" has had its product judged best in the program's Western Region — a first for any Tucson company since JA came to town 18 years ago, according to the company's executive adviser. Richard Gilreath, an employee of Home Federal Sav- ings & Loan Association, which sponsored First Time, said the company's picture clock won the honor at the region's staff conference in Wickenburg earlier this month. Ten states and Guam are included in the region. Junior Achievement is a non-profit, business -education program for high school students to learn the ins and outs of manufacturing businesses, from developing product ideas to production to sales and liquidation. The idea and production process for manufacturing the picture clock were developed by Gilreath .and co-workers Angela DeGiovanni, Laura Manning and Robert Taylor. Gilreath said that each picture clock, which sells for $30, is part of a numbered -series and contains a photo -reproduc- tion by Tucson photographer Ray Manley. He said the picture clock will be judged in national competition next summer. Products manufactured by JA companies must be original and capable of being produced by any JA company without using power tools. There are about 18 students from several high schools in First Time, and there are about 32 JA companies in the Tucson area, said Gilreath. -- 1 Oro Valley' ■ ■ ■ Subdivision a up for annexation■ pop Oro Valley's Town Council wants to know how some residents of the Shadow Mountains Estates West and Campo Bello subdivisions feel -.bout the possibility of having their homes annexed into the town. The council, meeting tonight, will also discuss whether to include a referendum in a possible special election to stagger the terms of council members. Both matters are scheduled to come before the council session at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall. The public will have a chance to comment on whether 45 homes in Shadow Mountains Estates West and about 10 in Campo Bello should be annexed. Parts of bath subdivisions are already within the town. The council has received a number of requests from residents of the subdivisions to annex the area, an Oro Valley official said. Alliens reminded to f"e a resses next month M The Immigration and Naturalization Service reminds all aliens that they must report their addresses by the end of January, as required by federal law. The service warns of "serious consequences" for those failing to report. Address forms can be obtained from any post office or immigration service office. Just fill the card out at the office and return it to the clerk, the service says. The service sags that all information entered on the forms is kept confidential. All aliens, with the exception of diplomats and certain persons working in such organizations as the United Nations, must report their addresses. Alien minors must also report. For children under 14, parents or legal guardians may submit the reports. Any non -citizen who is ill may send a friend or relative to obtain the form and return it to the clerk after it has been com- pleted by the alien. Immigration officials estimate that there are more than 55,000 legal aliens in Arizona. PAGE EIGHT A&W T.V. and APPLIANCES AFFERM.CHRISTMAS SAILF T ■ Refrigerators, Freezers, Gas & Electric Ranges, Washers & Dryers, Dishwash- ers, Microwave Ovens, Console & Porta ble Televisions, Stereos. In stock items only, t -------------- 'V� <�� •�h1 � a', � 9 r ' � ie .e r e, P1. � •v` 1 i -J = mac sU� r •_ � �1 SALES .� SERVICE � TV & APPLIANCE 886-2573 . 5527 E. PIMA THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR Nei hbors .�g 1 Molina retiring Freakish friendS. Clifford Van Sinderin has a - ..: after 16 yearst `=-Norm collection of strange, animals he exhibits in side- shows nationwide, and the troupe is wintering in - - Man of Bill Molina s duties �. . Y :- _ �' ` Catalina north of Tucson. Among his beasts are miniature horses, a goat with an extra horn and a _ r :7-5 haven't been pleasant —ordering- ` into court or out of their_ = y,. $r ° --n f . five -legged cow. Neighbors North, Page 6C. people homes — but he's done his job •with compassion, After t®mor-The find Consta- =-J- Broadway Baptist arch uses Flying- F g faith.d B chyia w--..- Papago Indians. row, you'll no longer �MA M-= an airplane to fly the gospel to h ble Molina learning to ride horse - Church leaders say their mixture of aviation and } back by repossessing a herd; he 11 evangelism is, well, just heavenly. Neighbors be retired to the golf course. East, Page 7C. ::..... - Neighbors South, Page 2C.IL _ �Tht AerzonaI��StUr TUCSON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1978 PAGE ONE tear vic- tim -- "This area was residential, and all of a sudden they told us this was a business sector," Sammy Lopez says as he takes a break from raking clip- pings at his home in Barrio San Antonio, where he's lived for 50 years. Lopez and other residents of the olds neighborhood north of the railroad tracks and east of Park Avenue are now fighting to keep further commer- cial and industrial de- velopment away. (Star photo by Scott Braucher) � r os o o e reew n s in rrio BY MICHAEL SMITH its wake, Butterfield freeway planning left lives in that home at 546 S. Star Ave. But ficials) would use information developed in The Arizona Daily Star San Antonio disillusioned, violated and, now, in anticipation of freeway and industrial in- that plan in making recommendations on While the communityat large is once committed to self preservation. trusion, residents stopped making home im- zoning cases that might come up." g "This , , provements and virtually gave up on the again mulling crosstown freeways, a small This area was residential, says By last year the Butterfield Route was no neighborhood at its core is still being vic- Sammy Lopez, a resident there for half a neighborhood, he said. longer being considered, and, therefore, an- timized by proposed another ro sed route that liter- century. "And all of a sudden they told us "That's when houses around here went other industrial zoning request was denied. _ ally turned to dust. this was a business sector." That was when down. They just disturb you and put you in In that case, Zoning Examiner David P. Antonio a small old neigh- city planners started work on the never- doubt," he said. Lim, who grew up in Barrio Millville Barrio San � g- borhood between Park and Cherry avenues adopted Park -Cherry Neighborhood Plan in Residents weren't the only ones in doubt. directly south of San Antonio, recommended and between the Arroyo Chico and the rY pretty anticipation of a Butterfield link with the Because "eve rett much had their against further industrial intrusion and equally elusive I-710 proposal for a north- minds set that the Butterfield Route). was sought, but never received, a residential Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, sits in south expressway to the.airport. (the } feasibility study. going to happen," three rezonin s were a what once was the path of the Butterfield g g PPS g P - Route. That proposed downtown-to-eastside That aborted neighborhood plan marked proved in the late '60s, Assistant City Plan- Despite that victory for residential pres- expressway, which for three decades slut- all of San Antonio as industrial, and for the ning Director Carl Winters said. That ervation, San Antonio residents see the ef- tered in and out of the minds, mouths and residents, mostly Mexican -Americans of brought industry to the heretofore residen- fects of the aborted freeway daily in the pocketbooks of city leaders, died beneath modest means, that meant the prospect of tial San Antonio, even, though all that would businesses that have moved in next door. the weight of time and protest a few years losing the only home many had ever known, come of the Butterfield Route would be a Although residents realize they can't ago Lopez said. He said city officials told his dusty unused stretch of road off I-10 that change the three industrial zonings that neighbors the same thing. they told his aunt dead -ends at the Community Center. « But just as the idea for the Butterfield, — "that eventuallyshe would have to have already been allowed, "what's left of it roughly along 15th Street from Interstate 10 -ell.„ winters explained that even though the (the neighborhood) we want to keep residen to Campbell Avenue, lingered on and on, so freeway and its related Park -Cherry plan have the effects of such a plan gone sour. In She didn't sell, though, and Lopez, 60, now were only ideas at that time, "planning (of- (See BUTTERFIELD, Page 4C) fir : Neighbors South r :•. :tiff•: °'.ti South A fter 16 years, Molina plans tto le someone else serve the southside By AL ARIAV The Arizona Daily Star To the elderly, he is "Willie," a friend they rely on. To the youngsters in the barrios, he is "Mr. Molina," a respect- able and much -admired citizen. To a very few, he is an odious form of The Law. The white, unmarked Pima County car he drives throughout the southside is a familiar sight. He, too, is a familiar sight, with his warm sweaters, wire -rimmed glasses, mustache, plump face, kind smile. And badge. His salt -and -pepper hair barely visible under a felt hat, "Tell 'em I'll be around. Yes, sir, Bill Molina will still be around." The primary duties of a constable, an elected official, are to serve papers for the justice of the peace and collect old debts. Some of the papers, in legal terms, are forcible entry forms, writs of restitution, writs of garnishment, criminal and civil summonses, subpoenas and various types of exe- cutions. In simple terms, most are papers that deal with people who haven't paid their rent or bills for several months. It's I- All around town Missionary to Papagos Pilot helps church spread word about Man Above By DANNY MADDUX The Arizona Daily Star G o S p e An eastside church is combining old-fashioned evang(-i- fight --- Fly -ins to ism with modern flight as a way to reach out to the Papay-o bring the gospel --- and Indians in the far corners of their reservation southwest of last week, Christmas Tucson. presents --- to remote Don Ford, working as minister of education at Broad- Papago villages always way Baptist Church, 6700 E. Broadway, is the pilot and coordinator for the program. Ford had spent many hours in the air before becoming draw a crowd, above. At right, a boy plays with his - _ _ new dump an -insurance salesman and then turning to church work. The R truck beside ex -Marine is a former crop -duster for Marana farms and the plane. Below, mem- once owned a glider school south of Phoenix. He is also a.for- bers of the Broadway mer glider -pilot instructor at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Baptist Church put on a The ultimate goal, says Ford, is to teach the church puppet show for,the gath- students how to use missionary aviation as well as to gain converts. Last Saturday, the church members made their fourth flight to the reservation. This time they brought a planeload of Christmas gifts collected in a drive by parishioners to a remote village near the Mexican border, Menegers Dam, that they hadn't reached before. The church, using a rented plane, flies into the interior of the reservation, bringing in the pastor, the Rev. Bob Springs. Springs is also learning how to fly. The idea originated when the long drives along remofo roads down in the flatlands around Sells proved to be too tiring and time-consuming. The church hopes to buy its own plane in February and then, like the barnstormers of the 1930s, land its evangelical party in every village, no matter how small, in just a matter of hours. ering before the sermon.; ry Th s (Star photos by Scott. Braucher.:: WIN to run the ground school while Ford, who has compiled 8,200 flying hours, renews his license as a flight instructor. Ford points out that not only does the fly -in evangelism cover a great deal of territory in a short time, but the church's use of a plane is a novelty to the Papagos. It helps draw a crowd. "It's a little more theatrical when the preacher steps off a plane than if he gets out of a car," Ford says. "I'm very pleased with it," Springs says. "I knew we had to start small." He adds that his goal is to establish `ministries that are unusual, bold ... what other people Even before the plane leaves Ran Field, members of the church's youth group head out to the reservation in their four-wheel-drive vehicles to pick up children from outlying villages. The church had a bus that would hold dozens of y youngsters, but it broke down on a recent trip and the other cars were able to carry only about 20. r Don Smith, who with his wife, Ann, maintains a Bap- .L°r• ,. tist mission on the reservation, also brings children to the meetings. He says the secret of the success of the program is gaining the confidence of the Papagos. "You have to keep coming back, coming back, until they realize you're sincere," he says. "You've got to start somewhere and develop a track record," says Ford. The church party is now trying to make a flight down to the reservation approximately every three weeks, Ford says, although one excursion was grounded by rain. The church has to receive permission from the tribil -1717 council before a trip, and Ford says the Papagos are very cooperative. In these days of heavy drug trafficking, there is a natural suspicion of small planes flying over desolate- areas, he points out. Several volunteer students are scheduled to begin flight training in February. Two Air Force pilots have volunteered TUCSON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1978 ryes "f t� W. s don't want to do." He hopes that eventually a church plane can perform emergency services for the Papagos. When the church group arrives, it usually puts on a puppet show for the children and leads them in songs. Then Springs gives a sermon. Ford feels his background is perfectly suited to handling the project. On return flights to Ryan Field he often passes over farmlands he used to spray in old biplanes. And being a former glider pilot has made him familiar with out-of-the- way landing spots. "It's a big world nowadays," Ford says. "We're trying to reach out in as many directions as we can.'.' THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR SECTION C — PAGE SEVEN Neighbors _ � North Not every snowbird has acow- with 5 legs By MICHAEL E. QUINN The Arizona Daily Star At first glance, the animals in the penned area behind the home of C. Vanteen seem ordinary enough. There's a cow, a few sheep,goats and chickens. But then a llama emerges from behind the shed, and then another llama, except this one looks more like a camel. And then Vanteen points out the extra horns on the goat, the fifth leg growing out of the cow's back, and the sheep's girth, which is about twice normal because of an extra stomach. Vanteen lives in Catalina during the win- ter. when spring comes, he'll be on the road to fairs all over the country, where he'll show his strange collection of animals to anyone who has the price of admission. Vanteen's real name is Clifford Van Sin- derin, but he uses C. Vanteen for conven- ience and as a stage name in a magic act he performs during some of his carnival en- gagements. Vanteen, 52, has been touring with carni- vals since he was 17, but for the last eight years has devoted more time to showing ,strange animals and running a petting zoo than to his magic act. The stranger the animal, the better, says Vanteen. It can be rare, exotic or de- formed. He has a full-grown mule that stands less than 3 feet tall, a five -legged sheep and a four -legged chicken among the animals in his backyard menagerie. Along with those, he has several dogs, including a dog named Vanteen says he's always on the lookout dirty and I don't want anything to do with Winter quarters - c• Kojak, which is hairless and has skin with approximately the texture of an ele- for unusual animals, and is advertising in them," he said. Tucson in hopes of augmenting his collec- He doesn't breed the animals he said . Vanteen's yard in Catalina Is a freak phant's. tion, but so far with few results. The one "I'm not trying'to manufacture freaks. show and petting zoo without a carnival He uses his llamas, alongwith dwarf thing he doesn't n't want is a pig." There's enough of them around already." tent, candy vendors or amusement goats from Africa and other animals, in his a� � You can't work with the pigs. There's a A large percentage of the animals come rides. Above Vanteen is surrounded u ounded by petting zoo. lot of deformed pigs around, but they're from farms where the owner would proba- some of his collection of animals as Jed, destroy the freak animal for fear of the he wolfhound, jumps up for a hug. Th ebly . ' ,... \ s • ' deformity's getting into the breedng chain, other animals with hmare, from eft,a ` ♦ra \x Vanteen said.d' I \ K midget mule, a mini -horse two dark ` _ } 4 "A dozen times a year, someo��e will tell pygmy goats and two llamas. Below, ° ,° ` a tw -headed cow or some1 us of o .hmg that Vanteen plays with Koiak, the hairless Al . .: a .;: ' ,. was just destroyed," he said. elephant -skin dog, and, at left, he feeds ♦�r ° ° ° a When he is on tour, people Nometimes Mean ow, a Brahma C , a bull that has a fifth \ �♦ °�, complain to animal protection ag:ncies, but °: g operation is always cleared he his o P Y says. He leg growing from its back. (Star photos cover narcotics agent. says he gets a monthly permit 4 Y P �-om local b Jack W. Sheaffer Y ) z� `' • " He was ready to get out of police work three years health departments while on the road, as : � < or to in Catalina. .: r: • ,, well as f his stay \ \ ,.\. ,e.:. ..M;:::' • 4 : Amo is stra st animals :ng h strangest Were a six - .:. ` > 4 changing him for the worse. legged cow, another five -legged sheep and a . X . "I didn't like what was happening to me," he remem- dwarf ow. : bers. "I was playing a role. It got to the point where I a "That dwarf cow died last sum mer from •`• :> .tea \.\°°\\ - \ heat prostration in Iowa. It was probably p Y .: , v . ♦ ♦ ° �\ a" • the weirdest animal I had. It was 22 inches \ ° ? ae-:.. tall," says Vanteen. ... .° While human freak shows have largely . He spent five years in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and then joined the Scottsdale force as a uniformed ,. gone out of business because of medical \ California for a year. Then he came back to Arizona to ` �,, �.°• science's gains against birth defects, de- 3 v liquor control board and then as a narcotics agent. '� . ' . ..: formed animals are still to be found, even ° though they usually sell for more than their normal counterparts, he said. ... ' ° Altho h there are some un:�rru ulous .� ti operators, he said, most of the freak -show r. k operators belong to a showmen's a ssociation : that frowns on that sort of thing. �x .< "The days of exhibiting exf ggerated things is past," he said. r\ v. So when Vanteen loads his 20 or so ani - a•. a. '• ? Y � \ mals into a trailer and takes off with his ��Z�. k �� N° wife, Sue, a snake handler, for the fair sea- ? v1 a- a° son, he'll be making the promise for his animals that freak -show operators have made since time immemorial: ire rZ'DY;�> ♦\�` °11 g "Guaranteed real and alive. PAGE SIX -- SECTION C THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR TUCSON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1978 -n�rc happier looking f -o 1.7d S I 7854 WRIGHTOTOWN RD. in CATALINA VILLAGE OPEN DAILY 10 AM to 6 PM - PHONE $85-9663 IMPORTED SWITZERLAND 199 SWISS REGULARLY $3J8 per Ib. BE. OUR GUEST Y SAMPLEOF THE MANY VARIETIES WE STOCK PRICES EFFF[°TIVF T14AU DEC_ 30TH 9 What he likes most about his new line of work is "meeting fascinating people," this time in pleasant cir- cumstances. "My job necessitates going on buying trips on the reservations (in northern Arizona), and I love that coun- try up there," he says. Humphries went a bit further into the unusual to decorate his shop, aside from the -unusual rugs and jew- elry. He paneled his walls with old wood from a barn that stood within a mile of where he grew up. On the ceiling he put imprinted tin, which hasn't been popular since the 19th century. And he found an SO -year-old safe. His 1917 display cases came out of the Miami Empo- rium, where they'd been shoved in a corner when the building became a pool hall years ago. Humphries learned the business working with his wife, Nancy, who owns the Many Goats Trading Co. He says that when he runs into old comrades -in -arms, they are just as delighted with his new venture as he is. But every so often a reminder pops up, like the time he went to change the items in a display case Many Goats maintains at the Tucson International Airport. There is a sticker identifying the firm, and someone had written with a pen, "Don't buy from this guy. He's a narc." Humphries laughs about it and says, "It was proba- bly some guy I had busted." TUCSON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1978 THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR SECTION C -- PAGE THREE By DANNY MADDUX The Arizona Daily Star \ It's a far cry from tracking down drug smugglers to tracking down rare Indian rugs, but Richard Humphries is glad he made the switch. ` vIW Humphries, 42, has opened an Indian arts and crafts shop, the Mogollon Trading Co. at 6340 E. Broadway, .: after a police career that included working as an under- ,$t cover narcotics agent. z� `' • " He was ready to get out of police work three years ' ago, so he joined his wife in running a Indian arts and crafts shop. Being an undercover narcotics agent was ` > 4 changing him for the worse. . X . "I didn't like what was happening to me," he remem- bers. "I was playing a role. It got to the point where I didn't know what I was any more." :> Although he says he is proud of what he was doing, he'd "had enough." Humphries says he's had an interest in Southwestern Indians since his childhood days growing up in Coolidge. He spent five years in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and then joined the Scottsdale force as a uniformed ,. police patrolman before leaving to become a flight instuctor in ` California for a year. Then he came back to Arizona to ` work for the Department of public Safety, first on the liquor control board and then as a narcotics agent. 1.7d S I 7854 WRIGHTOTOWN RD. in CATALINA VILLAGE OPEN DAILY 10 AM to 6 PM - PHONE $85-9663 IMPORTED SWITZERLAND 199 SWISS REGULARLY $3J8 per Ib. BE. OUR GUEST Y SAMPLEOF THE MANY VARIETIES WE STOCK PRICES EFFF[°TIVF T14AU DEC_ 30TH 9 What he likes most about his new line of work is "meeting fascinating people," this time in pleasant cir- cumstances. "My job necessitates going on buying trips on the reservations (in northern Arizona), and I love that coun- try up there," he says. Humphries went a bit further into the unusual to decorate his shop, aside from the -unusual rugs and jew- elry. He paneled his walls with old wood from a barn that stood within a mile of where he grew up. On the ceiling he put imprinted tin, which hasn't been popular since the 19th century. And he found an SO -year-old safe. His 1917 display cases came out of the Miami Empo- rium, where they'd been shoved in a corner when the building became a pool hall years ago. Humphries learned the business working with his wife, Nancy, who owns the Many Goats Trading Co. He says that when he runs into old comrades -in -arms, they are just as delighted with his new venture as he is. But every so often a reminder pops up, like the time he went to change the items in a display case Many Goats maintains at the Tucson International Airport. There is a sticker identifying the firm, and someone had written with a pen, "Don't buy from this guy. He's a narc." Humphries laughs about it and says, "It was proba- bly some guy I had busted." TUCSON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1978 THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR SECTION C -- PAGE THREE Neig hbors Unwanted business- As their children play in front of Barrio San An- tonio homes such as these along South Star Avenue, parents are trying to stave off fur- ther commercial devel- opment in the area. The adults say the lum- ber supply company that uses the pitched - roof building in the background is a good -neighbor, but they'd hate to see more like it come to stay. (Star photo by. Scott Braucher) Butterfield Route's ghost haunts tiny barrio (Continued from Page IQ tial," said Sean Bruner, who has begun or- ganizing San Antonio residents. He stressed that "we're not against busi- ness," noting that the largest one — a lum- beryard — is "fine and they don't pollute . . they're really good neighbors." But Bruner and other residents said they are concerned . about business expansion such as Payless Cashways Lumber Store's use of a residential lot for parking — which is legal —and NiMo Mechanical Inc.'s use of a residential lot for storage — which author- ities say is not legal. With such expansion, "We're getting sur- rounded with businesses," Lopez said, even Sean Bruner `What's left ... keep residential' thoughfuture industrial rezonings will be harder to obtain than in the Butterfield days. Although "the city is somewhat responsi- ble because it has given cross -signals," Win- ters inters said, a resident shouldn't expect any help from City Hall. Because the planning department lacks the money and the man- power, a resident "has to do his own plan- ning and his own lobbying," he said. Doing just that, Bruner, a relative new- comer to the neighborhood who wanted to see industrial intrusion stopped and residen- tial restoration started, went door-to-door getting residents' views and urging a united front. A San Antonio resident for the past four years, Bruner, 26, said that most of the resi- dents supported his efforts, and neighbor- hood meetings later were held to map strat- egies. With advice from the planning de- partment and City Councilman Roy Laos, residents have joined together, set their priorities for neighborhood improvements and applied for financial assistance, Bruner said. They submitted a proposal to get San Antonio a slice of Tucson's approximately $5.1 million in federal block -grant, funds next year. Their request, one of more than 50 citywide, according to Bill Milliron of the city Human and Community Development Department, is for a neighborhood park, street and lighting improvements and hous- ing rehabilitation. The project proposal, which must com- pete for approval from citizens' committees before City Council action in February, would turn the now debris -strewn city land around the arroyo into a park at a cost of about $200,000, Milliron said. Lopez said his neighbors made that part of the request their top priority in an effort to bring back a special quality of together- ness the area once had. "We would like to have the children get out here and play and get to know each other," he said. "That was the idea behind the park." Lighting and street improvements would cover 14th, 15th and 16th streets, as well as Highland Avenue, which provides the neigh- borhood's only direct access to the north. 'Those improvements, -which would include curbs and sidewalks, would cost $320,000, according to city estimates. Milliron said the bulk of the cost of San Antonio's proposal would be in rehabilita- tion of the old homes in the area. He said city housing officials estimate that $1.6 mil- lion would be needed to upgrade the homes, bringing the total cost of the project, to be spread over three years, to $2.1 million. Assistant Planning Director Winters said that because of staff and budget cuts, ap- proval of the project for federal funding is probably the only way San Antonio could get a city -drafted neighborhood plan. He urged creation of such a pian, which would be required if block grant funds are approved, as a hedge against future industrial intru- sion. Zoning Examiner Lim agreed that a plan is needed, saying that San Antonio is "in close proximity to downtown and it's in close proximity to the university, so it therefore has a lot of potential. "But we'd better get cracking or we may lose its potential in the future." Put, forth effort together, organizer urges neighbors When Viola Lewis came to live in Barrio San Antonio 15 years ago she envisioned an organized, active neighborhood with its own social cen- ter. -Her fruitless efforts toward that end, however, left her "very dis- gusted," yet hopeful that today's neighborhood organizers get more co- operation than she did. Lewis, 79, hoped to get the city to locate a neighborhood center in San Antonio so women with children wouldn't have to go downtown for day-care facilities and social services, she said. "I didn't have any children to have to take care of in the day," she noted. "I just wanted to help." So she went to her neighbors, ex- plaining her efforts and seeking others to speak with her at City Coun- cil meetings to decide the center's lo- cation. "I walked these streets myself to get people to sign up. But they just wasn't interested. "I could never get one mother to go to the meetings," Lewis said, shaking her head and wringing her wrinkled hands. "It didn't get off the ground 'cause nobody cooperated. I got very disgusted." In the years since then, there has been no organized voice for San Anto- nio, and, therefore, no help from city officials, Lewis said. "They just don't listen. Years we've been complaining about the (dim) street light, and we need a stop sign at that corner," she said pointing to the partially blind 15th Street -Star Avenue intersection. "But unless you're together on things and all speaking one thing, you'll never get nowhere," she said. She said she is pleased about cur- rent efforts by some residents to get federal aid for the neighborhood, ad- ding, "I sure hope they get more sup- port, because that's what it takes." She stressed, though, that the ef- forts must go farther than discussions at neighborhood meetings. "That ain't no way to get something — wishing for it. "You got to put forth the effort." Role even wider than learning Barrio's tradition of. cooperation finds new expression in school By MICHAEL SMITH The Arizona Baily Star Along one of the unpaved roads in Barrio San Antonio a large, simple building rises up among a few trees. A tiny belfry, barely visible behind the branches, reflects the fruits of the cooperation residents showed decades ago in fighting for their own chapel. Nearly 30 years after residents raised enough money for the Roman Catholic Church to buy the land and have a barracks from Fort Huachuca moved to the site at 15th Street and Highland Avenue, Mass is no longer said there. But the cooperation that brought the building continues inside, where about 20 children learn in the alternative educational system of the Highland Free School. "We try to stimulate cooperation instead of competition," said Nicholas Sofka, the school's director, as he sat on a huge pillow beneath the school's "reading loft." The children, who had been reciting a play at the other end of the building, nearly drowned out his words as they began running to all parts of the building to pick up toys or straighten up bookshelves. Sofka pointed to a little girl picking up storybooks with obvious enthusiasm. "A lot of our kids here are learning to self-discipline themselves," he said, adding that "if they don't want to help clean up, that's OK." But if they so choose, he stressed, they can't use the facilities later. "We give them choices, but we make them responsible for the choices,they make," Sofka said. That freedom to choose, which "brings out the individual," Sofka said, goes for the curriculum, too. The children, who range from 4 to 9 years old, choose from language arts, math, science or reading in the morning, he said. Later the tables are turned when the children "get a chance to be the monitor or teacher or guide" by making class presentations on something of their own choosing, Sofka said. Although the school doesn't use traditional grading and testing of students, Sofka said daily records are kept of each child's work and, because of the sl's low student -teacher ratio, more individual conferences on s4dents' needs are possible. "It makes for a better learning situation for the kids because we're closer," he said. He proudly displayed letters from parents who wrote that their children's reading ability was two to three grade levels higher than that of public school children. "I can't think of any of the kids who are behind in anything," he said. Individual (attention, which makes that possible, is absent from the 30 -student cltassrooms in most public schools, "so some kids get neglected," he & jid. "That's why ratio is so important," Sofka said. Highland has a staff of eight, two of whom are accredited teachers and one a retired teacher. Besides its providing individual attention, Sofka sees interaction of the students with each other and with their environment as other unique aspects of the free school. "What we have here is a community instead of a fragmented group of kids," he said. And because "kids are a summation of their environment," field trips are a regular part of Highland's program, Sofka said. "We use the communit as a campus," he said. "We take field trips from the top of a mountain to a graveyard and everything in between." The school's own back yard provides a learning center, too. Goats, chickens, ducks, assorted dogs and a turkey (a survivor of three Thanksgivings) have given the children lessons ranging from the wonders of birth to the taste of goat's milk, Sofka said. The school's role is even wider than learning, though, Sofka stressed. It has bt-en used by neighborhood residents, not only when it was still a chapel; but also, as a generalmeetingplace. Discussions on the proposed freeways through the area were held at the school, as were recent neigliborhood association meetings on preservation and restoration of area homes, Sofka said the, school, in which several neighborhood children are students, has become an integral part of San Antonio even though it wasn't always there. The alternative school was originally established at two other locations by a group of Long Beach, Calif., college graduates about nine years ago, Sofka said. But because of high rents and low funds, those sites gave way to the present location, offered rent-free by the Catholic Church, he said. Since then, the school, which operates solely on the money par- ents can pay and the help they can give, has been furnished with, literally, whatever parents can scrounge. A "scrounge list" of such items as fabric scraps, string, cartons, colored paper and other items useable in the classroom is given to the parents, Sofka explained. "That is something a school always wants to get —parent partici- pation," he said. Lesson time -- Corinna Butler is a study in concentration as she colors a picture at the Highland Free School within the Barrio San Antonio. Below, the school's director, Nicholas Sofka, takes a look over the shoulders of, from -left, Janna Talbot, Corinna, awn Farley and Tarnea Perry during the art session. (Star photos by Jose Galvez) Outside learning- Part of the children's edu- cation at the alterna- tive school is close ob- servation of animals. Sheila Morrissey runs to enter the animal pen on the school grounds, above. At right, Jessie Greene clambers onto the exercise net.