John E. Cod ell been
named director of the Detroit
Hou ing Dep rtment,
effective June 22.
Codwell, 59, retired as
istant uperintendent of the
Detroi t Public School in
charge of the Office in Support
Service in 1989. In that
po i tion, he over aw the
maintenance of all chool
buildings, the chool ecurlty
department, tudent
transportation, publications,
and food ervice with a
combined total of more than
4,000 personnel.
More recently, he ha
served as a facility use
planning consultant with the
Board of Education. For the
la t year he ha served as
assi tant superintendent in
charge of Buildings, and
Mechanical Maintenance in
the City Recreation
Department
N.J. officials
learn how to
end devil's
night fire
DETROIT (AP) _
To learn how Detroit does
it, officials from Camden,
New Jersey were met with
Mayor Coleman Young
and some of the 36,000 vol-
. .h.t.UJl.�rs who. helped limit
ber of ,Oct. 30 flres
10 62, down from 141 in
1990.
In Camden, population
about 87,000, Halloween
eve is known as Mischief
Night. I..-t year Camden
had 133 fires, the most in a
single night in the city's
history.
"The problems Detroit
confronts seem to get here
a couple years earlier, but
they get to other places,
too," mayoral spokesman
Bob Berg said.
For the period Oct. 28-
30, the mayor's office gave
a total of 156 blazes, a 44
percent drop from the 281
reported in 1990. The peak
year was 1984, when 810
f1l'CS were reported.
"Proportionally, their
fires were worst than
ours," Berg said.
White Jevvish
woman's bias
charge upheld
NBW YORK - In an wuual
dJscrirnination case, a Federal
agerx:y IVfi fourxl that a �
mamgerat a New YorkQty 1alth
clinic WM Jetaliated agaimt atler
she faced �n at work
becauSe * is white and JewBh.
� agaq-� dvfi rlgbts f1-
flee of the United Stilts Depart
ment of Health and Human
Services-� also � �
<Xigitel � complainl
by the woman, Rita Arm.
Mrs. Arro contcOOs that sII:
VIM hamsSCd at work for yeatS,
subjected to threatening pbore
calls, derooted am fuIilly forced
into early retireJmlt after Wayrr,
C Wiltshire, wOO � Blade. wm
rBmCd es � �tratt of a
NeighborOOod Family Que Cen�r
in 1983.
The regional office of the
Federal agerq had earlier fourd
"ooreac;onableeviderx:e" k>s\S8in
dIup.
Discrimimtion cases bro�
by whi� workm are rare. At the
Federal Equal EmpJo�m 0p
portunity Commission, officials
said that only 3 peItint of �
aimination C8geS am\Blly cane
tianwhi .
Child service workers
recommend advocacy,
system reform
LEAH A UEL
flW'rhr
Nearly 100 ocial workers, fo ter
parents and doptive p ren gathered for a
conference, "Meeting the Challenge, Keep
ing the Promi ." The conference, held June
22 at the Mercy College Conference Center,
w forum for di c ing i ue rei ted to
the current � ter care and adoption system.
Lieutenant Governor Connie Binsfeld
revealed the re ul ts of a tudy by the
Bin feld Commis ion on Adoption and
Fo ter Care. She said that, according to the
study, the current y tem contradicts itself.
"Sometimes the very sy tern de igned to
protect the children i barrier to their
placement," she said. "The y tern is
design d to ecure them, but ometime it
loc them in."
Binsfeld added that the recommend -
tion re ulting from the tudy includ d
elimin ting barriers to adoption.
"The e include t te and legl I tive bar
riers, gency barrie , and mo t import nt
ly, attitude barriers," Binsfeld told ocial
workers. "Change won't take place over
night, 0 don't be di couraged."
Verlie Ruffin i the ociate director of
the Michigan Federation of Private Child
and Family Agencie .
"W ARE OT approaching a cri i ,
we are in the middle of a cri is," hid.
"In the mid-1970s to the early 1980 we
thought we had a vision, and we thought
that by the 1990 we would have the
answers, but we don't."
Ruffin said that children are entering th
adoption and foster care system ooner and
staying longer. AI 0, more of th children
have special needs uch as phy ical and
emotional problems. More children in the
system are older children, children of color
nd group of iblin , Ruf In id. Sh
emph ized th t in order to olve problem
in the doption nd fo ter c re y tern,
adoption wor ers would h ve to begin d
dre ing other problems th t contribute to
it, uch unemployment, homele n
crime, drug, nd teen ge pregn ncy.
"As human ervice wor ers in ocial
work," Ruffin id, "we think we have to
olve all the problems. But our ultimate
responsibility i to re pond to the cri is, nd
we cannot re pond to ny cri is until we
have the ppropriate tools to do 0 in the
public ector, the agency aren . We need
re ource .
"We need to de ign a front-end family
preservation unit to insure that, where ap
propriate, children never enter the y tern,
and that the children in it come out in a
timely fashion," she added.
o recommended items
uch a improving access to familie for
children awaiting adoption and alternative
ervice for children that are not adopted.
CLEAN-UP - Benton Harbor NOW organized a beautification effort for that outhwestern
Michigan city. City Clerk Margaret Adams (left) gets help from Marcus Lewis, Earl aenaon and
Billy Davis. (photo by B. Brown)
Black students get
summer boost at U-M
The program, which end Friday,
is being held at Schembechler Hall
on the University of Michigan cam
pus. It is sponsored by the district
am funded by it and a variety of
other sources.
ANN ARBOR, Miell. (AP) - For
about 160 African American chil
dren, a two-week summer program
could mean a boost in self esteem
aJ¥J a leg up when they return to the
Ann Arbor public schools this fall,
Its organizer says.
"We're trying to increase the
success rate of Black students," said
Summer Academy founder William
Ratcliff.
Poll: Race relations bad
and getting wor e
NEW YORK (AP) _ A new poll says most New Yorkers think race
relations are bad and getting worse, am it's at least partly the media's
fault.
The study, released Friday, was the first of a series planned by the
Empire State Survey. The urvey, a privately funded research organiza
tion, questioned 1,237 people at random between May 19 and June 8.
The group said the results were considered accurate within three per
centage points.
It found 54 percent of the respondents thought race relations were
"generally bad," 22 percent thought they were "generally good," am
nearly 23 percent either had mixed views or didn't know ..
Among Blacks and Latino , nearly 60 percent held the view that
racial relations were bad, while 52 percent of whites and 45 percent of
Asians believed that, it said.
The poll fouoo 53 percent of time queried thought relations were
worsening, including 59 percent of Latira, 55 percent of Blacks am
51 percent of whit . Twenty-two percent tmught things were improv
ing and 21 percent w no change.
,About 6S percent of those queried said newspapers am television
create a distorted view that makes race relations seem worse than they
really are, t� survey report said. Twenty percent thought the reporting
w about right, and 9 percent aid it made things appear better than they
are.
It said that bowed a marked Iocreese in distrust of the media since
a 1990 poll by The York Tim , which found 53 percent of New .
Yorkers believed racial problems were exaggerated by new reports.
dents interested in getting ahead in
math and science, Ratcliff said.
Ratcliff, a counselor a� Tappan
Middle School, runs a similar Week
end Academy during the school year
for middle-school students.
The 18 percent of Ann Arbor stu
dents who are Black have trouble
finding a "comfort zone" Insclence
and math etas e , sometimes be
cause of covert, If not overt, racism,
Ratcliff aid. .
"Kids want to learn," Ratcliff
said. "I don't think people under
stand that. But they want to be in an
environment where they feel rom
fortable.
"We concentrate on the po itive
scientists and mathematicians who
are African-Americans ... so they
feel connected."
Ratcliff said the program tries to'
help Black students succeed even
when they-perceive bias, "to make
them realize that whether they feel
the system loves or hates them, they
must put forth the effort regardless."
MORNING ACTIVlTIES in
clude small cl es. Afternoons are
occupied with a variety of enrich
ment programs.
"Education is important so you
can get a job and make somethi og
out of your life," said Charles Mer
cer III, a Tappan seventh-grader.
. "You get to be more yourself,"
aid Tappan seventh-grader Stacey
Fulgham. She said the academy's
teacher help her pinpoint her
strengths and weaknesses.
"We need to clo e the door 0 that
children re not pouring into th y tern,"
id Cl ren e' Willi. re upervi or for
doptions nd fo ter care t the Dep rtment
of Social Service .
"Children come into the y tem t an
e rlier a e, tay in an verage of 36 mont
and h ve an ver ge of five pl cements," he
aid, dding that f mily pre ervation hould
be one goal of a new adoption nd fo ter
care y tem.
It was generally agreed that ocial
workers hould become more involved in
changing the y tern.
"We must become advocate, nd be
willing to tear down wall and get rid of the
turf line (between agencie )," Ruffin ide
"Slowly but urely we must create a
change," agreed Jametta Lilly, coordinator
and consultant for po t-adoption and early
intervention with the Detroit-Wayne Coun
ty Mental Health Board.
"We have to come out from behind that
desk and get involved with those families."
STUDENTS IN SIXTH grade
am older are participating.
Summer Academy is not a reme
dial program. Its goal is to help stu-
.World CUp ge
state aid
State Representative Charlie
J. Harrison, Jr. (D-Pontiac) an
nounced a $400,000 grant to the
City of Pontiac as additional
support for the World Cup Soc
cer Games which are to be
played at the Pontiac Silverdome
in 1994.
Rep. Harrison today
presented a check in the amount
of $400,000 to Pontiac' Mayor
Wallace Holland at City Hall.
The grant came from the
state's local recreation bond
grants under Public Act 83 of
1992. Rep. Harrison offered the
amendment to the bill to include
monies for the World Cup
Games.
In pre enting the check, Rep.
Harrison said, "I am elated to be
able to secure this funding for
the city as it makes history by
hosting the first indoor World
Cup games.
"THE PR�ENCE of the
World Cup reinforces the po i
tion that the Pontiac Silverdome
is undeniably an a et to the en
tire tate, riot just to a particular
region of the state," he said. ,
The games are expected to
generate about $100 million for
the southea t Michigan
economy, and more than
500,000 fans are expected to at
tend.
According to Harri on,
today's $400,000 grant will "go
a long way toward helping en
sure that Pontiac and the Silver
dome can continue the ame type
of excellent operation and
programming which put it in the
position to attract the World Cup
Games."
The. annual Silverdome Sub-
idy, originally e tabli hed as an
$800,000 annual allocation, but
reduced to $400,000 in the 1991-
92 Department of Agriculture
budget, wa vetoed by Governor
Engler. The subsidy come
from restricted revenue from
race track betting and has erved
to help reduce any financial as
si tance that the City and its tax
paying citizens may have had to
provide to the Silverdome.