Park Cities People (Newspaper) - November 13, 1986, Dallas, Texas Special Crescent section EOPLE THURSDAY NOVEMBER 13 1986 HP upgrades computer approves small rate hike for Lone Star Gas By Jeff Kerber After a public hearing in which no one spoke and there was no discus sion from members of the Town Coun cil a modified rate hike request from Lone Star Gas Co was approved In a joint study conducted by McMorries and Assoc and ed by Dallas Highland Park and University Park the recommended and approved increase is for only 278 percent The raise in rates will create an additional in revenues for Lone Star The original request from Lone Star was for 736 percent an increase in revenues of approximately The increase will have a minimal ef fect on current residential bills The current monthly is After the increase becomes effective on Dec 11 the average will be a rise of A bid of from IBM was ap proved making way for a 200 megabyte disk storage expansion to the towns IBM main computer The computer upgrade will double the current storage capacity The added memory will allow the town to put the library totally online with the main computer Circulation a complete listing of all works and fines will be stored on some of the new disk space Once operational a citizens outstanding fines will be called up by the computer everytime they attempt to check a book out Lois Jordan Director of the Chem cal Awareness Council was ed by the Town Council for her efforts to provide educational and referral ser vices within the Town Their work was praised for helping the Department of Public Safety in their fight against chemical abuse The council also approved an amendment to the 198687 budget to provide for those expenditures which were spent as part of the 198586 budget but delivery of the items was not received before the end of the budget year Sept 30 1986 A request from Michael McAdams was approved to permit the extension of his fence five feet into an easement at the rear of his residence festival Nov 20 T r r i i PC People photo by Scott Wilson VOLUNTEER Julie Crowley left and son Timothy right help Lillie Wilson in a seniors art class paint a scene from her and record Tt Cultural events t0 events with tickets The groups sole fundraiser Festival of Trees is Thursday Nov 20 at the West End Marketplace with a silent auction musk and hors Tickets Ward 5268112 r PC to Scott JENNY FERGUSON in her Fitness Express exercise studio HPs Jenny Ferguson still leading lady of fitness By Ellen Dupree ftirk Cities residents are the first to applaud when a homegrown girl makes it big and right now Jenny Ferguson is in the center of the health and fitness limelight She knows it well she helped invent the phenomenon A Highland Park High School cheerleader in the class of 66 Jenny added sparkle and to the business of exercise even before the word aerobics entered the dictionary Today as the sole owner and proprietor of a major fitness conglomerate Jenny has become the leading lady in her field In contrast to the hushed disci of traditional dance Ferguson has unleashed in her HP studio a spirit of high intensity The key ingredients of Fergusons Fitness Express are energy volume and a beat you cant lose Inhale a voice urges a room of ladies Drop the shoulder down arm in and feel a nice stretch through that deltoid The instructor continues her discourse as she wanders the room monitoring each participants progress On the stereo rhythmic music accompanies a singer who croons encouraging lyrics All she wants to do is dance dance dance Heaving and sighing the group gradually winds down and prepares to but refreshed Wve always wanted to give people a feeling of achievement each time they leave Ferguson says Theyre tired Theyve work ed hard but they know that they have done something for themselves that day Ferguson has been in the busi see FERGUSON on page 24 gets favorable report on 8586 district finances By Ellen Dupree Highland Park School Board members reviewed an audit report for the 198586 school year at their monthly meeting on Tuesday night Mike Killman of Elms Paris Com pany spoke to the group and answered questions had a good year said Killman Weve had outstanding co operation from your people here and we did not have a problem It went very smoothly and there were no sur prises with the budget The actual results were great The board also appointed a 15 member Textbook Adoption Commit tee to select schoolbooks for the district Virginia Smith Sandra Agnew Jeanie Volker Barbara Easterling Gay Morris Bob Parker Cecil Ann Leary Ann Irizarry Margaux Montgomery Larry Puckett Patrick Pence Don Richardson Genice Self and Hilda Alcerreca will choose many of the books that the schools will use for six years Superintendent Winston Power will serve as committee chairman Power addressed the board on the subject of the possible retention of an insurance consultant He explained that over the past several years there has been a very subtle change in available insurance coverage Said Power In the past all of our insurance needs have been handled by Houseman Insurance now called Marsh and McLennan and very capably They are constantly keeping us updated and advised With the ad vent of the pool of mutual plans it is more cost effective for us to con solidate with other school districts and as a result much of the consul tant service provided previously by Marsh and McLennan is not currently available We have had a proposal that Marsh and McLennan serve as consul tant for the District for a fee of 37500 against which they would credit any premiums which they would receive Board secretary Bobby Reed had the responsibility of making an in dependent review of the proposal and assured the board that a private con tract would be much more costly Ive looked at the agreement and Ive talked to Mr Lewis extensively said Reed We do not have an agent or anybody advising us how to place in surance Were a big buyer of in surance and I dont think we have the expertise The board approved the dation by a unanimous vote in suring our insurance noted Board President John Eisenlohr A lengthy and thorough discussion took place among all of the board members concerning restructuring the system for allocating additional com to employees beyond their state mandated salaries The board considered an offer from a compensa tion study consultant Mr Hugh Williams but declined to take action before investigating systems of other districts Power outlined the goals of the see on page 16 Newspaper now in local Park Cities People will now be available in nine area stores beginning this week an PC People publisher Reid M Slaughter Naturally were very excited saki This it even easier to obtain copies of our newspaper and add to our already substantial circulation lead over Park Cities News Park Cities leads its competitor by wide margins in every category of both circula tion and advertising And this week residents can find their hometown newspaper at the nations finest convenience store chain The following stores will carry PC People each week Highland Village Snider Plaza Mockingbird Airline Knox St at Travis Lovers Ln at Armstrong Lovers Ln at Menier Hillcrest at Asbury Lemmon Ave at Prescott Oaklawn at Rawlins Stop in at any of these loca tions and get your copies of the areas leading weekly paper Kan tells of struggle for freedom By Ellen Dupree X photo by Seatt Wils bUN MAO KAN say they love their new home in Texas As Highland Parks citizens were making their way to vote last week one new American was celebrating his first to exercise this new freedom For Mao Kan Highland High Schools most industrious custo dian the road to becoming an American was long and arduous Kan describes himself as a former captain in the Cambodian Army and the treasurer of the military sub division in Kampot Province He car ries papers in his pocket at all times that authorize him in French to dispense wages to over 6000 men These papers may once have saved his life Kan explains that when the Chinese Pol Pot Communists took over his country in 1975 all urban people in those from his home town of Phnom Penh were forced into the country to work in rice production Everybody was moved from offices and schools to work in the fields says Kan During the mayhem of the ex odus his baby died Kan his wife Sun and their surviving children worked on a rice plantation near the mountains by Phnom Penh for four years A change of fortune occured for Kan in 1979 when his Chinese oppressors clashed with the Soviet Communists from Viet Nam Says Kan Because of the conflict I got time to escape to Thailand by walking through the forest 500 kilometers approx 300 I had to escape because the Vietnamese Communists were putting Cambodian army officers in prison As soon as Kan arrived in the KAN left his wife Sun and their seven children spent seven months in a refugee camp m Thailand after escaping from Cambodia during a Communist purge A letter that he wrote to the American ambassador led to his release and immigration to the US refugee camp on the Thai border he wrote two letters one to his wife and the other to the US ambassador I sent a copy of my papers from the army and since our military had cooperated with the Americans they responded pretty quickly Sun and the children joined Kan at the refugee camp where they remain ed for seven months The next stop was an island in the Philipines for seven months of cultural orientation Finally with the assistance of donations from Christian Church Kan and his family moved to Dallas When I arrived in Dallas I had nothing says Kan After two weeks I had a job which I still have On see CAMBODIAN on page 16
