The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 5

SOUTH KING COUNTY LOCAL Obituaries B3 Classified B4-10 THE NEWS TRIBUNE MONDAY JULY 7 1997 Stemming the tide KONG coming to local TV New station will feature favorite reruns for those not connected to cable Bv lUnum MnamuN The News Tribune Starting today Puget Sound folks who have their televisions hooked up to rabbit ears will be able to get something their cable-connected neighbors cant: KONG TV be able to switch that dial to 16 and get the very same programs people used to get when television antennas snatched signals out of the air and sent them to living rooms and dens Run but not owned by KING TV the station will feature evenings with Gomer Pyle and Andy Griffith Alfred Hitchcock and Barney Miller and Viewers with antennas will join Ward Bond on Train and get a whiff of James In the mornings they can tune in to food shows in a Hot Tamales" and Co and from 11 am to 2 pm no sushi show though the half hour of Japanese news at 7 am may put them in the mood for say a California roll Those with antennas will have the station all to themselves until federal regulations requiring cable companies to carry all local channels fines those operators to find a spot for KONG on their lineup probably in August or September Thanks to the communications dainty dance around even more federal regulations KING TV will run KONG TV but it won't own it Bob Casazza marketing director for KING and KONG outlined the history: A group of investors in Everett wanted to start up their own station thought the snappy call letters would be a nice poke at KING and went after federal approval and start-up money They could not get the financing though the Federal Communications Commission had approved the call letters" Casazza said Mane set NONE B2 Tacoma School District takes steps to help the alarmingly high nilmber of Hispanic students who fail to graduate RyRosmmDu The News Tribune Spanish teacher Helen Milus shudders at the word Especially when ifs associated with Hispanic students with her kids those she struggles to keep at Lincoln High School and in the Thcoma School trict But she afford to be squeamish More than half of Hispanic stu- dents who enter ninth grade mafa it acrobs the stage to snag their di Eighteen-year-old John Rivera was one that got away Everything got messed up after middle school a steady downward spiral He dropped out for good last year twinging in and out ofRemann Hall for spending a stint at the Puyallup Jail far starting the ninth grade for four frustrating yean at seven different schools 18 and he knows he coukTve been part of the Class Until recently district officials admit they hadn't paid much attention to kids like John Five years ago Hispanics were less than 3 percent of the student body Now they make up 5 percent-the third-largest ethnic group after blacks and Asians and Pacific Islanders That local trend is part of a statewide boom: His-' panics are the largest minority group in our public schools increasing fivefold to about 80000 in the last 25 years As the population has ballooned so has the number of dropouts In Tacoma Hispanic students bow out at an annual rate higher than any other group one in six quits school Across the country the dropout rate among Hispanics remains twice as high as and more than three times as high as whites' meanwhile demographers project the number of Hispanic youths will increase by 61 percent in the next 15 years numbers and pressure from the community -prompted the district to take initial though incremental measures: a banquet honoring student achievement an August orientation for prospective high school Btudents and their parents a student outreach worker intended to draw dropouts back into the dass- room Any measure was a welcome (me for Milus been with the district for 25 years TIhe fact that they were even saying the statistics are outrageous and looking to the com-' munity for help was a huge step she said Last spring officials first examined and shared comparative test scores and dropout data with a group of Hispanic parents teachers and community leaders The group took on a name the Latino Education Alliance and a mission: to turn the tide of declining perfor-manceas Hispanic kids grow older a tide that Phase see Dropouts B3 VfTM TURNING AROUND TRENDS vfastyear 1 Kv 199SB6 Combined dropoutounlaiowns by flthridty Vt' 1996 standardized Grade 4 Comprehensive Reading 36 48 District 1 1 -1 Reading 44 48 District 11 Curriculum Ruiuwwto Arc it System I -r Htapunli reason (ton (Graduated District 1 gMIBfif? Tswuws jWwnlro Rang SOURCE: Tsooms Schools DapL now part of bridge lore Pickup trailer cars van -and a boat all in bizarre accident on the Narrows By Hectos Ckiso The News Tribune Tb the list of highway hazards on local roads such as black ice and falling rocks add flying boats One almost hit Dennis Level and his two children Saturday kind of strange to see a boat come flying through the air at you Level said Sunday from the safety of his Puyallup home reminded me of the movie when you see the cow going through the air Here you saw the boat sailing through the air" The 49-yearold man his 9-year-old daughter and 5-yearld son were in (me at the five cars involved in ori of the odder accidents in the annals of the Narrows Bridge A trailer carrying a 19-foot boat came loose from the truck towing it Saturday went wandering off under its own momentum and smashed into four cars The collisions eventually dislodged the boat which then sailed off the side of the bridge onto the beach far below Miraculously there was just one serious injury and the patient was released after treatment the same day Trooper JoiHaner pulled up shortly after the 11:40 am accident expecting a few banged-up cars and some injuries But everyone kept telling him about a boat There were no signs of the Haner Baid a while they started pointing over the side and you look over the Bide and there was the boat way down at the bottom It was completely Tie crash happened on the west end of the bridge and involved vehi- PkaseseeWMtstZ test scons 1M of Basle Skills average peroentBee Language 50 Arts Math 36 46 Language 50 Arts Math 39 49 English 43 49 Math 45 54 nlPlaiwIwi of naming RsssuN snd EvWuatlon Ftenecx JocThe News Trmune Hispanic leaders and Viacom a 7 schools -'Officials stunned to vv team that than half of all Hispanic drop out before graduating their performance seemed to be declining as they grew older The Vfatest StaUsUcS Show the probtem: persists although leaders and a educators hope new initiatives will eventually reverse the trends' With eyes set goal Determination helps student Qvercome the odds and graduate RyRosnm Daza The News Tribune A banner inside Isabel medical terminology nagged it time to think about life after after started this month After a graduation that sometimes seemed elu- rive even to Isabel There was in 10th grade when she too started slipping and skipping dragged down by running with the wrong crowd But Isabel couldnt stomach the disapproval she saw in her parents or her teacher Helen Milus Her mother had little-giii longings to become a nurse She earned perfect 10b in school in her native Veracruz Mexico but dropped raonTUnhnoiKn tn stutants wto withdrawn urtth no rnw fauf ygm on life after is attained out of elementary Bchool after her mother insisted she work (Now mother launders and cleans rooms at a Best Western) Her father dropped out after the third grade to become his de facto dad (He has worked at General Metals for 22 years) Las malas compaAias pueden echar todo a perder they warned Isabel Bad company can ruin everything Isabel knew that where one went others would follow And rather lead people in the right direction by becoming president of Lincoln's Latino Pride Club who graduate are not so different from those who drop out pretty much the same except still trying You need friends that keep you on the right track not ones that tell you to go kick it with the homiea" In a slate blue house with cars in various Plane see LSs rilsr Uccois B2 Lincoln High graduate Isabel Loredo recites the Pledge of Allegiance at a recent recognition ceremony where she received an award for scholastic achievement BUSS 't 1.