Northeast Mississippi Phone: 842 -2611
Wednesday, January 29, 1986
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School head: dropout problem begins ea Last in a series By MAR\' FARRELi. Staff Writer
Although statistics show that the largest number of dropouts occur in the ninth grade, the root of the dropout problem begins with the child's first exposure to education, said Dr. Julian Prince, superintendent of the Tupelo city schools. As a result, schools have to be flexible enough to recognize a potential dropout and sensitive enough to respond, he said. "There is only one solution to the dropout problem and that is to have a school which has sufficient flexibility to adjust
the program to the instruction and to the needs of the undermotivated and poorly supported child," Prince said. "Every child can learn in school," he said. "The reasons for dropouts generally are found within the family preparation for the child with school and the support of the child as they go through school." But Prince quickly added that not all the responsibility of rearing a child to have a healthy attitude toward school should be placed soley on the parents. The school administrators and instructors have to be willing to meet the parents and child half way, he said.
THAT HALFWAY point involves the implementation of dropout prevention programs in many area schools. Educators hope the programs, tied in with the 1983 Mississippi Compulsory Attendance Law, will help lower the state's staggering dropout statistics. "We need to move in early on and provide a support system to the child to succeed in school and grow at the same rate as other children," Prince said. "Therefore, to design a dropout program at the upper end of school alone is a hopeless cause. The battle is over by high school." But Camille Caples, counselor at Tupelo High School, believes that by offering al-
ternatives to the academic classroom set· ting, junior high and high school students will choose to stay in school. "We are trying to insure the holding power by turning our attention to work programs, vocational programs that meet the needs of a lot of youngsters," she said. "Other alternatives to dropping out of school are extending counseling services, offering a broader curriculum and programs for the youth with discipline problems ." BUT THE implementation of a dropout Please turn to Page 15A
Shuttle's explosion mystery By HOW ARD BENEDICT Associated Pres~
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A catastrophfo explosion blew apart the space shuttle Challenger 74 seconds after liftoff Tuesday, sending schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe and six NASA astronauts to a fiery death in the sky eight miles out from Kennedy Space Center. "We mourn seven heroes," said President Reagan.
• Excitement turned to tragedy for two Mississippi teachers.
-SaePaga2A •One of Mississippi's five semifinalists had to force herself to concentrate on her job, and a space law expert believes future shuttle flights will be delayed.
-SeePage4A
predicted ._,.,, ;· 'iib~ a.{ cident defied quick ex- -'"co-,•Lawmakers : 1: t inued political backing planatiop. though a slow-motion replay sc..,,med to :sf.ow an initial for the space program. problem with one of two ·p eelaway rocket boosters followed by the detonation of the shuttle's huge external fuel tank . The tank-turned-fireball destroyed Challenger high above the Atlantic while crew families and NASA officials watched in despair from the Cape. Other observers noted that the
Bl NORMA FIELDS
JACKSON - Gov. Bill Allain warned he will veto Senatepassed bills that take less than he wants from the Highway Department this year and don't transfer highway monies to the general fund. He said the Highway Department's offer of $10 million out of its budget next year is an attempt to finesse his recommendations for putting all highway funds into the state general fund and establishing a Department of Transportation. Allain also said if the Legislature does not abolish the Highway Commission and establish a Department of Transportation he will "look at" vetoing other highway bills. Allain made the statements after the Senate passed bills Tuesday morning that would: •Transfer $571,449 from the Highway Department's current administrative budget to the state general fund.
"Within two or three weeks you are going to be required to vote yes or no on all these other cuts."
-Sen. Bob Crook
•Allow as much as 5 percent from the Highway Department's future administrative budgets to be cut in the event budget cuts are necessary. •TRANSFER $10 million from the Highway Department's fiscal 1987 budget to the Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management to be spent only as the Legislature directs. The only controversy on the bills occurred when Sen. Bob Crook of Ruleville lost a bid by a 40-7 margin to increase the $571,449 transfer to $18 million. Crook said the increase in transfer should be made to have more money available for the fiscal 1987 budget where "draconian" cuts will have to be made
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Forecast
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Mississippi suffered the sharpest decline in the nation in .personal income from July through September' last year.
15A Nation
Partly cloudy today and tonight with a high near 60 and a low in the low30s.
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To understand the chang ing role of hospitals in society, one can examine tonsils, said William Currie, the new administrator at Pontotoc Community_ Hospital. . . ___·-· ·-- - --
State
ALLAIN SAID he believed the senators were "saying they're
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By MARY •'ARRELL Staff Writer
AP
Gov. Bill Allain it is a one-time item and does none of the things he has said need to be done. "IT'S NOT doing anything but trying to stop the Department of Transportation and putting those monies in the general fund," Allain said. "Again it shows the Highway Department Please turn to Page 14A
After battling a five-year slide in enrollment and sweating over threatened state budget cuts as a result of the decrease, the University of Mississippi Tupelo Branch reached its enrollment goal of 300 Tuesday. The success of the spring enrollment is the result of efforts by local leaders and school officials, who donated funds to help pay for assistant teachers' scholarships for an Early Childhood Education class. Fifty-nine teacher assistants were offered full tuition scholarships as incentives to register for the course. Ed Younk, branch director, said he is "absolutely delighted that we are in such a favorable Please turn to Page 14A
Air service connects with Nashville
Inside 3 sections, 42 pages Local
in all other agencies except the Highway Department. "Within two or three weeks you are going to be required to vote yes or no on all these other cuts," Crook said, adding he considers the $500,000 offer by the Highway Department "a total nil. They're just finessing the matter." Allain told a hastily-called news conference shortly after the bills passed that the Senate bills are "a cop-out." "I would have supported the Crook amendment," said Allain. "The $500,000 is a sin and a shame really. It's not but onetenth of 1 percent of the cuts we had to make."
more interested in the Highway Department than in children (and their education). "I have no problem with vetoing that because I think it is something that is injurious to the people of Mississippi," said Allain. "We need to start looking at the big picture, the Department of Transportation and putting money in the general fund," the governor declared. "I know they're trying to finesse" recommendations for a DOT. "Unless they put (Highway Department funds) into the general fund like I've advocated, I will veto it; I've said that repeatedly," Allain asserted. "Whether or not I will veto it if they did not come with a Department of Transportation is something I would have to look at," he stated. As for the bill that transfers $10 million to the Bureau of Buildings and Grounds next year, Allain said he would probably also veto that one because
boosters continued to fly crazily through the sky after the explosion, indicating that the fatal explosion might have originated in the giant tank itself.
Branch reaches 300 marl<
Allain: Highway bill eyed Capitol Correspondt>nl
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Many social work~rs have adopted a "better safe than sorry" attitude in child abuse cases.
842-7516
By MARK LEGGETT
ation. If there were three or four major air·
destinations from Nashville. This addition
Staff Writer
lines there it would not be a viable choice," said Tony DeSocio, American Airlines regional sales manager in Nashville. A sound economy and how the city,"hooks into our network" were other considerations. The three flight times are "designed to hook up with flights to the north and west.
means American will serve 23 cities directly from Nashville. Its other major connection points are Chicago and Dallas. New non-stops have been added to Los Angeles; New Orleans; Mobile and Birming· ham, Ala.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Washington, D.C. ; Philadelphia; Newark, N.J.; New York; Boston; Cleveland; Cincinnati; Detroit and Grand Rapids, Mich. Air Midwest will use 16- and 34-passenger aircraft. The larger aircraft will be the SaabFairchild 34, which Republic Express recently brought to Tupelo for two flights daily to Memphis.
Tupelo will be one of 12 cities connected to Nashville by the new American Eagle air service, an American Airlines official con· firmed Tuesday afternoon. Beginning April 15, Tupelo will have three nights daily into American's vastly expanding operation in Nashville. Air Midwest will operate the American Eagle as a franchise operation. "Obviously I'm very happy," said Len Pegues, airport authority member. "I think they made a sound business decision. They are confident the traffic is here and so are we." Tupelo was judged on such criteria as having "a good mix of business and vacation travellers. We looked at the competitive situ-
"THE FLIGHTS feeding into Nashville will provide convenient connections to each
other and to other cities served by American," said DeSocio. The other 11 cities are Columbus, Tuscaloosa and Montgomery, Ala.; Albany, Ga.; Ashville, N.C.; Knoxville and the Tri-Cities in Tennessee; Lexington, Ky., Evansville and Terre Haute, Ind. and Springfield, Ill. American is also adding new flights to 18
THE FARES available from Tupelo have not been entered in the computers, said a local travel agent.