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FOR FARM WORKERS
PAGE 7—The Southern Cross, January 30, 1975
Proposed Housing Rules Called ‘Degrading, Atrocious’
ARCHBISHOP ENTHRONED -- Dr. Donald Coggin
sits on the St. Augustine Chair as he is enthroned as
100th successor to the apostle of England, Archbishop
of Canterbury, in ceremonies Jan. 24. The new leader
of the Anglican Church is known to be a keen backer
of ecumenism. For the first time since the
Reformation the Vatican sent representatives to the
event. (NC Photo)
SODA Teaching Sessions Start
BY MARJORIE STORY
Weekend over, the Monday morning
return to school brings renewed lessons
in reading, math and social studies. But
for 5 th through 8th grade students in
eight Savannah schools, Monday,
February 3rd will be different -- a new
subject taught by a new teacher.
Operation SODA (Stamp Out Drug
Abuse) begins its second year of
teaching sessions.
Seventy-nine volunteer
teen-counselors from Benedictine
Military School and St. Vincent’s
Academy will be teaching 30-45 minute
sessions on Mondays and Thursdays,
February 3-March 13, at Blessed
Sacrament, Cathedral Day, Nativity,
Sacred Heart, St. James’, St. Mary’s, St.
Michael’s and Hebrew Community
School.
On Sunday evening, January 19,
1975, another milestone in the
Ecumenical movement in Douglas was
established when members of St.
Andrew’s Episcopal Church joined with
St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Congregation
in a combined church service. The
purpose of this united rite was the
celebration of the Church Unity Octave.
The liturgy consisted of the recitation
of Evensong, a regular feature in
Episcopalian Churches, led by Rev.
Gerald Clark, Pastor of St. Andrew’s.
The choir gave beautiful renditions of
the “Magnificat,” the well-known
canticle of Mary, and the “Nunc
Dimittis,” the prayer of Simeon
recorded in Luke 2, 29-32.
Father Clark gave an inspirational
talk in which he traced the origin of
Evensong and showed the connection
between the two sects with close to a
common liturgy. In his recitation of the
Apostles’ Creed, again the significance
of many common beliefs was stressed.
Father Clark insisted that the officials
They will encourage the students to
make a decision concerning drug use
before they face the inevitable offer,
and encourage them to have meaningful
alternatives to drugs.
Training sessions have been held
during the months of October through
January to prepare the teen-counselors
for their teaching duties - experts in the
fields of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana,
inhalants, hallucinogens, police
enforcement, law, narcotics and
chemicals shared their time and talents
at these training sessions to supplement
the comprehensive drug information
contained in the SODA manual which
each teen-counselor will use.
Also, the volunteers were instructed
in teaching value strategy by Mr. Charles
Pearson, St. Vincent’s Academy religion
instructor, and Sr. Patrick Joseph of the
of the Anglican (and Episcopalian) were
most sincere in their efforts to strive for
a united bond of friendship with the
end in view, if possible, of a common
communion service.
Rev. Patrick Mangan, O.M.I., Pastor
of St. Paul’s, stressed the necessity of
both faiths following the broad and
open avenues of common beliefs and
seeking to focus their views on
agreements rather than going their own
way up a one-way street emphasizing
only areas of disagreements. He quoted
pertinent passages from addresses given
by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop
William Baum, Chairman of the
Ecumenical Committee on Ecumenism.
Concluding the service was Solemn
Benediction given by Father Mangan
assisted by Fathers Clark and Crump.
The joint choirs consisted of the
ladies’ choirs of both churches. Mrs.
Betty Johnson of St. Andrew’s was the
organist. A reception, given by the
ladies of St. Paul’s under the
chairmanship of Mrs. Josephine Hanna,
followed in St. Paul’s Social Hall.
SVA faculty. Lesson planning
techniques were outlined by the
faculties of St. Mary’s and St. James.
One highlight of the training sessions
was an address by two inmates of the
Chatham Correctional Institute
participating in the “GET SMART”
program -- both inmates are serving
sentences for armed robbery and
aggravated assault to support drug
habits.
They emphasized to the group that
the use of marijuana is dangerous,
primarily because it brings with it
association with other types of drugs -
anywhere you find someone selling
marijuana, other drugs are there, too.
Dr. Les Hadad, Director of the Poison
Cdntrol Center at Memorial Medical
Center, pointed out that while the final
verdict is still out on marijuana, research
has indicated that chronic use can result
in sterility and even impotence.
Several teens and young adults who
had been involved with drugs at one
time, gave the teen-counselors the
benefit of their first-hand experience on
how drugs had disastrously affected
their lives.
Evaluations on last year’s Operation
SODA program revealed that it was
beneficial to elementary students,
teen-counselors and parents alike. After
teaching sessions are over this year,
many of the teen counselors will
participate in a Youth Speaker Bureau
and will address civic clubs, make
anti-drug commercials and appear on
TV talk shows.
Sr. Michael Mary, R.S.M. of St.
Vincent’s, and Fr. Brinstan Takach,
O.S.B. of Benedictine, are moderators
for the program. If anyone is interested
in using Operation SODA in their school
system, they may order a SODA kit
from Acme Press, 1201 Lincoln Street,
Savannah, Georgia 31401.
For further information, write Mrs.
Marjorie M. Story, SODA Coordinator,
1512 Marlborough Way, Savannah,
Georgia 31406.
BY JIM CASTELLI
WASHINGTON (NC) - Imagine a
migrant farm worker, his wife and
children - two, three, four, possibly
more - living in a five-by-ten-foot room
with cracked walls, no windows, a
damp, cold floor and an inadequate
water supply.
The roof, although water-proofed, is
only seven feet high but begins slanting
downward about half-way across the
room.
There are rats and vermin in the
room, livestock close by outside and the
toilets -- one for every 15 or more
workers’ families - is more than a
200-foot walk away.
This room could well be in
compliance with proposed regulations
for job-related housing issued by the
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSH A), the Labor
Department agency responsible for
protecting workers’ safety and health.
But housing constructed before the
regulations become effective or housing
which is not covered because of
loopholes in the regulations would not
have to meet such high standards.
“Degrading,” “atrocious,” and “a
giant step backwards” are descriptions
of the proposed regulations offered by
supporters of migrant workers,
including labor, church and public
health agencies.
“This standard is so atrocious,” the
AFL-CIO said in testimony of OSHA
hearings on the proposals, “that those
responsible for it should be given a
fitting reward for their efforts: being
sent with their families to live for a
month in the kind of housing they have
provided farm and other workers and
work a full shift each day, preferably at
stoop labor in the fields.”
“It’s hard to believe that such
‘regulations’ could be passed in the 20th
century,” commented Gordon
Cavanaugh, executive director of the
Housing Assistance Council, a
non-profit organization concerned with
rural housing.
The regulations were proposed by
OSHA in September. A series of
hearings here, in Toledo, Ohio; Fort
Lauderdale, Fla.; Corpus Christi, Tex.,
and Portland, Ore., has begun, and
written comments will be accepted until
the end of February.
The proposed regulations attempt to
consolidate two separate sets of
previously existing regulations. But
critics of the new regulations charge
they are weaker than the original
standards.
OSHA officials say they are trying to
establish an enforceable set of
regulations which deal with safety and
health and not with convenience. Critics
claim that many things considered
conveniences by OSHA - including
having a toilet within 200 feet from
sleeping quarters -- are actually health
matters. Critics also claim that
individual states, such as Pennsylvania,
already have much stronger regulations
than those proposed by OSHA and have
no trouble enforcing them.
Observers are pessimistic about
getting substantial changes in the OSHA
regulations. If they do not, they say
they will turn to Congress for legislation
to raise standards for job-related
housing.
The major objection to the proposed
regulations made by Stephen Solis,
migrant specialist for the Secretariat for
the Spanish-Speaking of the U.S.
Catholic Conference, is that the
regulations ignore the fact that farm
workers -- particularly
Mexican-Americans -- take their families
with them while they work.
The proposed regulations specify that
each “employee” must have 50 square
feet of living space -- previous
regulations called for more space per
“occupant.”
The new proposed regulations,
according to Solis, could allow a farm
worker and his whole family only 50
square feet of living space. Solis also
noted that 50 square feet is about half
the minimum space considered
necessary by other standards.
The result would be overcrowding
which would have the most serious
impact on the farm workers’ children,
he said.
Housing conditions are considered
partly responsible for the low life
expectancy of migrant workers - 49
years. Dr. Eric Mood, of Yale
University, chairman of the American
Public Health Association’s committee
on housing and public health, said
migrant workers have two to five times
the respiratory and digestive diseases of
the general population, 17 times as
much tuberculosis and 35 times the
amount of disease produced by
intestinal worms. The proposed
regulations, Dr. Mood told the OSHA
Washington hearings, are “a real threat”
to make the situation worse.
According to Lenin Juarez, a member
of the board of directors of the Housing
Assistant Council, infant and maternal
mortality among farm workers is 125
percent higher than the national
average; death from influenza and
pneumonia 200 percent higher; death
from accidents 300 percent higher and
death from tuberculosis and respiratory
diseases 260 percent higher.
Following is a summary of major
elements of the proposed regulations:
- The housing standard will apply
only to housing which a farm worker
can prove he was required to use by his
employer or by practical necessity.
- Only a waterproof roof - not sound
construction, or sanitary conditions -
will be required.
- There is no space requirement
between beds and no limitation on the
number of beds and bunk beds in a
room.
- Ceilings must be seven feet high for
one-half the space.
- Only one toilet per 15 employees,
not occupants, is required; one toilet for
every 40 employees is required if there
are more than 150 employees.
- No windows are required as long as
some form of ventilation is required.
(Critics claim cracks in a wall could be
considered “ventilation.”)
-- No screening is required as long as
insects are kept out of the housing.
- No electricity is required in areas
where it is not readily available if some
form of lighting - with no minimum
standards - is provided.
Garbage, toilet, bathing and
handwashing facilities do not have to be
accessible to sleeping areas.
Pacelli High School, Columbus, has
released the school’s first and second
honor rolls for the first semester of the
school year.
Achieving 1st honors with an average
between 4.17 and 4.70 are the following
students:
SENIORS: Steve Fadul, Mary
Hubert, Matt Nelson, Steve Patton, Eric
Oswald, Cecilia Ramos, Viki
Siebenmorgan.
JUNIORS: Theresa Majors, Chris
Ranier, Ruth Schowalter.
SOPHOMORES: John Colson, Sandra
McCaskill, Noel Pujos, Chris Rogers.
FRESHMEN: Eva Hubertz, Barbara
McCaskill, Tim McNicholas, Ruben
Melson, Christine Remppel.
Named to the 2nd honors list were:
SENIORS: Eva Alquist, Kevin Blake,
Mark Franco, Stephen Gushwa, Susan
Kaido, John Kearns.
Theresa Lahnstein, John Marino,
Margaret Mueller, Stephen Murdock,
Betsy Tully, Mark Warren.
JUNIORS: Wayne Attaway, David
Boling, Pier Boutte, Ellen Brown,
Bernadette Bowick.
Workers suffering from
communicable diseases may not be
barred from working in food services for
workers.
- Requirements that housing be 500
feet from livestock pens were deleted.
-- Requirements that flooring be
made of. wood, asphalt or concrete and
that wood floors be raised a foot above
the ground were deleted.
-- Housing should be constructed “so
far as reasonably practical in such a
manner as to prevent” the entrance of
rodents. This language, compared to the
old standards, according to the Migrant
Legal Action Project, “means that any
effort not deemed to be reasonably
practical need not be undertaken.
Effective control of rodents, etc., is not
required.”
Cavanaugh of the Housing Assistance
Council called “degrading” the deletion
of the requirement that each toilet be
accessible without having to pass
through a room where people are
sleeping. “The proposed paragraph,” he
said, “totally disregards the privacy of
farmworkers, which is related to
psychological and physiological health.
“Individuals using the bathroom in
the middle of the night could
conceivably disturb the sleep and
bedroom privacy of others if the
existing requirement is deleted. Loss of
sleep and apprehension about invasion
of privacy is directly related to health.”
Cavanaugh also criticized the
“grandfather clause” that would exempt
from the regulations housing
constructed before the regulations
become effective.
“It is not fitting or ethical that
previously built structures be
permanently exempt from the new
regulations. If there is adverse economic
impact in requiring immediate
compliance for older units, a timed
arrangement for compliance should be
required.”
Jenny Coveny, Ellen Forgach,
Melinda Brewer, Allen Guillory, Alice
Lunsford, Valerie Otap, Jeannette
Phillabaum.
Karen Reinke, Ned Schowalter, Steve
Schowalter, Valenica Tarver, Pete
Wetherell.
SOPHOMORES: Emma Amadeo,
Ken Deffinee, Rocky Dillard, Robert
Edwards, Larry French.
John Hatch, Rose Jarrett, Jeanne
Koepsell, Andrew Litavecz, Debbie
Luckerson, Loretta Lunsford, Sally
Mueller.
Carol Narbuth, Peter Oddi, Mitchell
Schuster, Nancy Vatral, Chip Walton.
FRESHMEN: Christopher Anderson,
Richard Boling, Michelle Crum, Michael
Dupont, Laura Pagarason.
Cynthia Fillmore, Mary Fogle, Dana
Ginn, Mary Greco, Ellen Greenwood,
David Lloyd, Lori Lorms.
Donna Maddox, Barbara Malecki,
Mike Morton, Nancy Narbuth, Paula
Nelson, Mary Percy, Carol Rutherford.
Teresa Sebenoler, Theresa Sibley,
Elizabeth Smith, Kathryn Smith, Mike
Thomas, Theresa Tuggle, Kent Vail,
Leslie Weiher.
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Pacelli Honor Rolls