Waterloo Courier (Newspaper) - April 23, 1996, Waterloo, Iowa Freshmen sophomores must lunch on campus Page Cl 1 7 WATERLOO FALLS 50 cents 42 pages 7 sections Lifestyles Get out the Cook a pork C5 Contractors volunteer to spruce up area schools Courier Tuesday April Waterloo Cedar Falls Iowa A coalition of local building con- tractors is volunteering its muscle and its fund-raising clout to help repair glaring structural problems in loo school buildings Five contractors have signed up so far to strap on their tool belts to fix dripping ceiling broken flooring and other high-priority items Brothers Steve and Scott Jordan who are ing it all told the Board of tion about the plan Monday We feel as the school district grows the whole community said Scott owner of Scott's Electric The plan is to pair up building con- tractors with individual schools They would work with a team of staff members at each school to develop a list of priorities The contractors would then go out to find money and resources to get the jobs done They would figure out what work they would do which would probably be most of said Steve Jordan a Waterloo firefighter And they would put an arm on other contractors to help also The district's financial troubles have put many repair projects on hold schools in Waterloo are more than 80 years old Voters rejected a tax levy issue in 1994 that would maintain he buildings As school board members thanked those volunteers for their help they got even more good Some employees have given a tion to help with building nance costs Leaders of the union that represents custodial and maintenance workers bus mechanics and food servers made the presentation at the meeting The schools are buildings that each and every family uses at some time or food service worker Mulligan said Custodians and maintenance ers are also volunteering to serve on cleanup crews in emergency tions like the recent flooding of West High's gymnasium to minimize property damage 1 Cedar Falls council member calls for a task force By JENNIFER JACOBS Courier Staff Writer There is a large disparity between the number of whites and blacks ing in Cedar Falls as compared to the rest of the county and Americans don't feel comfortable pursuing housing to a new study Twice as many should be living in Cedar Falls than now are the Cedar Falls Fair ing Analysis concluded And reasons other than economic ones keeping them away the study maintains At the Monday night Cedar Falls City Council public hearing on the study a federal requirement com- by the University of Northern Iowa Center For Social Research a council member called for a task force to look into the matter There's some serious dations that could be said council member Elaine Pfalzgraf Allen Hays chairman of the city's Housing Commission said the most vital recommendation is to open a dialogue between black and white community leaders There is a perception that Cedar Falls does not maintain a welcoming environment for he said Whether that tion is completely accurate or not it's there in White people interviewed for the study said they believe middle-class blacks would be welcome in most Cedar Falls neighborhoods But members of a black focus group believed that Cedar Falls has created a clear perception among most members of their community that they are not the study See HOUSING page A7 Disc in the wind Waterloo gets tough with Section 8 rules By TIM JAMISON Courier Staff Writer Low-income residents receiving subsidized housing in Waterloo are now living under tougher rules But several community activists and landlords don't believe the City Council went far enough Monday when it unanimously adopted new Section 8 program rules before a packed house of neighborhood group members We need to quit jacking around with these dead heads and let em said Leon a Black Hawk County supervisor who crusades against neighborhood drug dealers If they want to be homeless we'll let em be less The new Section 8 guidelines require background checks on applicants to determine if they have criminal records and have citizenship in the United States Tenants involved in violent crime or drug activity face expulsion from the program for five years The city will also be allowed to deny Section 8 assistance to someone suspected of illegal drug activity even if they haven't been convicted in a court of law But and other residents who have been involved in drafting the new rules were upset that and drug dealing won't bring a lifetime ban from the program Section 8 is privilege and not a said Thinking in terms of ance they should not be able to go back to drink out of the trough of the taxpayer a second time Resident John Bedard said there are good ple among the Section 8 waiting list that deserve consideration before drug ers About 800 Section 8 units are available in Waterloo See SECTION 8 page A5 Area businesses support daughters at work day By SCOTT LEITH Courier Staff Writer Each year a few more success ries come out of Take Our Daughters to Work Day The annual event slated for day should provide yet another chance for young girls and even a few boys to a get a glimpse of careers they may not know much about These girls just start said Margaret Lyda a teacher at Longfellow Elementary School who's participated in the day in past years All of a sudden they're starting to make goals That's one of the ideas behind Take Our Daughters to Work Day which will be celebrated in places around the country including local sites like Hawkeye Community College The theme of this year's Take Our Daughters to Work Day at HCC is Today's Dreams Tomorrow's Careers It's set to include workshops and tours for girls ages 9 to 18 ing lessons in robotics electronics and hydraulics along with chances to shadow many types of workers The girls will get a chance for a lot of hands-on said Wini Dewey who works for HCC Sixty or 70 participants are expected Elsewhere the program started nationally by the Ms Foundation in 1993 will feature lessons in day work For example Ruppman Marketing Technologies in downtown Waterloo will host 12 kids including a few boys It gives them a real accurate assessment of when mom comes to work that she really does have duties said LeAnn Davis a Ruppman project specialist who's helping with the day's activities Boosters believe Take Our ters to Work Day offers a ed avenue to get girls interested in careers that traditionally have few women workers like engineering and veterinary medicine Our concern is that girls don't look at careers in science and Dewey said I basically grew up with two careers in either a nurse or a teacher See DAUGHTERS page A7 These girls just start blossoming All of a sudden they're starting to make goals Margaret Lyda teacher at Longfellow Elementary School Some cancer genes may hide for generations Newsday WASHINGTON close new look into a gene thought to cause inherited forms of breast and ovarian cancer has uncovered a You don't need to have a strong family history of cancer to have the mutant gene scientists said Monday a The gene seems to be silent in some people apparently moving through several generations before causing disease scientists said This may mean many cancer cases thought to be sporadic since no strong family history of cancer ed may actually be inherited What was surprising was that women who had ovarian cancer and mutations did not have early onset of the disease and they didn't show family histories of cer in their mothers sisters and aunts biologist Jeffrey Boyd said Boyd from the University of sylvania Medical Center in phia reported on the tentative results of his study at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research This has profound implications for genetic Boyd said which could mean some women may want to be screened for mutations when the test becomes available even See CANCER page A7 Session was productive Governor cites crime items like curtailing parole building a new prison and tougher drug penalties By KEVIN POTTER Courier Staff Writer As the 1996 Iowa Legislature draws to a close Gov Terry Branstad says it shouldn't be remembered as a nothing session Branstad speaking with reporters Monday discounted criticism that lawmakers have accomplished little since convening in January I think we could see this as a pretty productive and successful the Republican governor said Among the Legislature's significant accomplishments Branstad listed a wide variety of sures approved by House and the Senate Specifically he praised bills ing parole for violent criminals and sexual predators allocating funds for a new prison ting tougher penalties for dealing methamphetamine and allowing enforcement officials confiscate the homes of drug dealers Those are all significant steps for- Branstad said The governor also said bills giving school districts million for classroom technology over the next five years and allowing local ments to encourage the construction of affordable housing will also have considerable impact I would not say this is a ing session There's been a lot of things the governor said Meanwhile Branstad encouraged legislators to stay within the lines of his proposed budget The House and Senate should avoid the temptation to get carried away with which arises at the end of every session he said We need to keep the state's fiscal house in Branstad said We need to make sure the budget is kept in balance and the level of spending is kept at or below the level I mended See SESSION page A7 Weather Wednesday's Forecast Mostly sunny Complete weather Index D5 B6 Classified Comics BS Crossword Dg Horoscopes lora Lifestyles CM Markets B7 Metro Obituaries cT Opinion A6 Sports Theaters C7 TV B5
