ustxtxb_obs_2001_06_08_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

www.dolphinblue.com Save a World Worth Having: Buy Recycled Office Supplies. Since ’94, we’ve supplied the US Postal Service, UPS & small business Environmentally Responsible Office Supplies Processed Chlorine Free Papers 61 Envelopes Remanufactured Toner Cartridges Post-Consumer Reoynled Copy Paper Letterhead & Envelope Sets Tree Free Papers & Envelopes Dolphin Blue 1402 Corinth Street Suite 217 Dallas, Texas 75215 214.565.0355 fax 214.865.7835 $00.932,7715 et a FREE package of our Processed Chlorine Free PAPER Laser Toner Cartridges indicate DEPT. T.O. In your “ship to” address Earlier this spring, legislators listened to the compelling testimony of a young man from Dallas who found himself trapped in the Catch-22: “I was in the top five percent of my senior class. I had a 4,11 GPA. I still couldn’t have a chance to go to college,” Alem Tewolderberhan told the I-louse committee hearing, his voice choked with emotion, An Ethiopian immigrant who has been living in Dallas since he was five years old, Alem told the committee that through the efforts of friends and a scholarship, he is now attending college. He has a 4.0 GPA in his first semester and plans to become a doctor and work in a county hospital. “All these other students,” he told the legislators, “could be doing the Judge William Wayne Justice \(111\(1 New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson will be speaking on DRUG PROSECUTION & DECRIMINALIZATION in the back room at Giiero’s 1412 S. Congress, Austin on Friday, June 15 from 4-6 p.m. The presentation, tvhich also includes an award to activist Louise Raggio, celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section of the State Bar of Texas, For more information, contact Nancy Trease, Chair, Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section, State Bar of Texas Ntrcase\(eljaol.com same thing.You should also give them a chance. Because they deserve it.” Other students from around the state poured out their stories. All of them had applications for permanent residency pending, all had been sponsored by a family member who has either citizenship or permanent residency. “I’ve worked as a housekeeper for $50 a week and as a waitress for $2.50 an hour,” Maria Bautista, a senior at Edcouch-Elsa explained, “I believe I have the potential to go beyond this. I don’t want to be doing this for the rest of my life,” Her sister, Olivia Bautista, also testified that she had worked and paid taxes. She said, “If we are able to achieve a good career in the United States we will be paying higher taxes than if we work as a waitress or a janitor. All of our knowledge and wisdom does not deserve to be wasted at some meatpacking companyI’ve done thator in the fields. We have the abil ity to serve the nation at a higher level.” Indeed, the economic argument for HB 1403 and similar reforms is powerful. A recent report by the University of Texas Board of Regents predicts the continued rapid growth of the Hispanic population, a group that has in the past been over-represented in numbers of high school dropouts and under-represented in numbers of college graduates, If these trends continue, the report concludes,Texas will find itself with a steep drop in per capita income and a shrinking tax base. At graduation night in EdcouchElsa, thoughts of legislative testimony and the labyrinth of college applications seem far away. Restless seniors in the stadium have blown up a beach ball, The wind is strong and although they try to keep the ball in the air above their heads, it flies out across the field; a school official follows in hot pursuit. At long last the ceremony begins, and the top 10 students solemnly line up for special commendations and the superintendent calls out each of their college destinations, He says that Rosalinda and Edyael are going to Pan Am, Yale, UTAustin, St. Mary’s, Brown and Baylor complete the list. Then the rest of the graduating class files forward in alphabetical order, They step confidently up on the small Astroturf stage while their supporters in the stands yell and struggle to get a picture, After the ceremony, I catch up with Rosalinda, who says that she is happy and proud. Her mother tells me that they heard from the INS last week and it looks like they are one step closer to permanent residency, I ask her again about her college plans. If she gets her green card this year, will she think about transferring to another school? She gives a quizzical look and then says with finality, “I don’t want to make any plans and then have things not go right,” PI Belle ,bars is a writer in San Antonio, 6 IRE TEXAS OBSERVER 6/8/01