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                                    Scholarship CampProgram GivesYouths Desire toImprove Education%u201c All the scholarship campers from last summer are doing very well in school this year. But two cases are especially noteworthy. If the entire project had been run for just these two kids, I%u2019d feel it was more than worthwhile.%u201dThe speaker was John Duda, the P.S. 321 teacher who takes %u201c scholarship campers,%u201d disadvantaged kids from the Park Slope-South Brooklyn area, along with his paying guests to his boys%u2019 camp every summer in Maine.The audience was a small group of Park Slope residents attending a fund raising party at the Ninth Street YMCA recently.The %u2018scholarship campers%u2019 Duda was talking about were the 15 boys, potential dropouts and delinquents, who spent the summer at the camp, thanks to the efforts and generosity of their Brooklyn neighbors.%u201c One boy I took with me last summer had been a chronic truant all last year. He had accumulated something over 60 absences. Since last summer%u2019s experience, and being under my guidance in school this year, he%u2019s only been out one day.%u201dv The other case John cited was equally edifying. %u201cThe kid was constantly disrupting classes. He couldn%u2019t sit still for more than 17 seconds at a stretch. He was in danger of being suspended. A doctor had him on tranquilizers but in spite of the drug, he still had to be practically held in his seat.%u201d%u201c Up at camp, we took him off the drug. He responded beautifully. When we got him back at school, he stayed off-only now he doesn%u2019t need them. Today, he%u2019s one of my best students, and passing everything with flying colors.%u201dThe group at the %u201c Y%u201d also heard plans for future fund raising activities to send this summer%u2019s group of 15 boys to the camp. A flea market, to be held June 8 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at P.S. 321, will include a Kiddies Carnival.Booths, run by the neighborhood teenagers, will be set up in the yard of the school. Body painting, games, rides, hot dogs and soda and other block party fare will make the flea market something of a Community%u2019s Block Party. Friends are presently collecting gear for the flea market.%u201c We%u2019d dearly appreciate any contributions; furniture, antiques,handicrafts, bric-a-brac. I%u2019m always amazed at how one thing some person considers junk turns out to be the exact objet d%u2019art another person has been searching for.%u201dDuda and the camp fund organizers, Burnley Graham, Bill Jesinkey, Howard Dube and Helen Patton, have scheduled a pickup service to collect donations. Persons wishing to make contributions to the flea market may contact John at 965-3695 and arrange for pickup.Burnley Graham noted that this year%u2019s drive was running behind last year%u2019s. %u201c People who sent in checks for $100 last year are giving us just $5 or $10 this year. I guess it%u2019s the economy.%u201d She remained optimistic, however. %u201cOur biggest success last year was the Flea Market, and this year it promises to be an even bigger event. Also, we have a couple of parties planned.%u201dThe funds for the scholarship campers are used to meet their consumed costs-costs like food, transportation, equipm ent and clothing. The drive aims to raise a total of $4500.When the kids come back from the summer camp, Duda tries to have them in his classes the following year, thus giving them the benefit of two years under his guidance.%u201c The change of environment the summer camp provides, plus the experience of finding someone who cares, awakens in the youths an awareness of self-worth and a desire to achieve in school,%u201d he believes.M elov Gets2 Year PactA two-year contract for recentlyelected District 15 superintendent Alfred Melov was approved at a recent public meeting of the school board.Melov, who was formerly the deputy district superintendent, will receive an annual salary of $38,500. The district covers schools in the several South Brooklyn communities, in Park Slope, and in Windsor Terrace. Board chairman Philip Kaplan said Melov%u2019s duties will involve %u201cthe normal requirements of the post.%u201dResidents removed personal belongings from 130 Montague St. after a fire gutted the bulldlnn%u2019.rane apartments and two shops. [Ad9l8 Kreltzer-Salomon Photo] 9 \Seven Firemen HurtMontague St.Ruins Homes,BY DAN ICOLARI A three-alarm blaze on May 16 left 130 Montague Street little more than a charred hulk, gutting nine apartments and two retail stores. Firemen from Ladder Companies 118, 205 and 224 were able to subdue the fire by 9:27, slightly more than an hour after their arrival.Fireman Joseph Monza of Ladder Company 118 climbed the rear fire escape and removed Geraldine Walsh, 21, from Apartment 9 in the building, bringing her to the roof of the adjoining building and administering emergency first aid. When Ms. Walsh had recovered, she was brought to the street and subsequently relocated to a hotel in the Heights.Other residents relocated are William Riley, Mollie Coleman, Edward Carlin, Jerry Rosenblaum, Jeannette Hulpke, Francine Bowen, Mary Heredoa, Maria Lopez. Another resident, Joseph Abosaad, was relocated after his release from Long Island College Hospital, where he had been taken for treatment.A total of seven firemen were removed to local hospitals-six to Long Island College Hospital, oneto Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital%u2014 and were treated and then released. Mr. Irving Blinchik, owner of 130 Montague Street, said the fire is believed to have started in Heights Fixtures, a lighting store in the building%u2019s parlor floor. One Montague Street resident claimed to have seen a Fire Department report that attributes the blaze to landlord negligence.But Fire Marshal Poznak, who is investigating the fire as a matter of course, consistent with Fire Department policy on multiple-alarm blazes, says no determination has yet been made as to the cause or origin of the fire. He deemed Blinchik%u2019s remark %u201c hearsay,%u201d and said no report has yet been issued on the cause of the fire.Blinchik has been in touch with insurance agents, builders and contractors, but says the renovation process will probably take months-in fact, it will not even begin for several weeks. %u201c I%u2019ve been on the phone constantly, every day, since this thing happened,%u201d he said. %u201c The insurance people take their time.%u201dFrom the street, the charred inventory of Heights Fixtures and Montague French Cleaners areBlazeShopsclearly visible. What can%u2019t be seen behind the barricades are the remains of furnishings and personal articles of the residents of nine apartments who were left homeless last Thursday night.Heights BlockGroups UniteEfforts to establish a confederation of Heights block associations, reported last month, are moving forward, according to A1 Tomei, president of the Orange Street Block Association and chief organizer of the project.%u201c At our last meeting,%u201d said Tomei, %u201c I was delegated by the group to draw up an informal constitution. I%u2019ve prepared notes, and the final draft should be ready shortly for review by the group.\Tomei says by unofficial count there are 10 block associations within the Heights; of these, only six really can be considered active. He hopes the confederation may be able to revitalize the inactive ones because of the many common problems to which a larger group might more successfully address itself.Victim of Heights ConflagrationGives Account of Tragic Evening%u201c It was the most nightmarish experience of my life.%u201d That%u2019s how Francine Bowen described the balmy Spring evening last week when she and fellow tenants lost nearly everything when tl eir brownstone dwelling at 130 Montague St. wentlir> in flnxm/vs 'T \\* %u00ab IW Vjuuvubuilding, which housed 9 apartments and 2 stores, had been Francine%u2019s home for the last two years.%u201c I was sitting on the stoop, thinking what a lovely evening it was. I remember seeing the Brooklyn Savings Bank clock down the street flash 8 p.m .%u201d The next thing Fran remembers was the building%u2019s super running into the street to the fire alarm box. Then, lots of smoke.%u201c My first thoughts were of my cat, still in my third floor, rear apartment. I tried to go back in, but there was too much smoke. Someone from the crowd yelled to get out, that theK%u00ab l i l r f i n n m i n M n v / r U r t / i T k %u00ab %u00ab WMMWilMy %u2022%u2022\I IIV/II,firem en arrived and began evacuating residents down the fire escapes at the back.%u201dThere were no casualties in the fire and several animals were also saved. But Francine%u2019s cat, her pet of eight years, perished. Fran was allowed bade in the buildina for a few hours to get what was left of her possessions. %u201c It seemedwhatever was not burnt or smoke damaged was water damaged.%u201dHow does Francine feel now? 1 %u2018On the one hand, quite lucky. It could%u2019ve been worse like in the middle of the night. %u2019 %u2019 Fran was also really touched by the^v-ks-4 k rs l *->%u00a3%u2022 il n /v n /\\ i k / v ixmwnwww mum iivipiuinvAiw vi urupeople on the scene. %u201c But I also feel a little better. Just last week, Fran, recalled, she was saying how much she liked her apartment and how much it felt like home. It was the first thing in a long time that I had really taken in hand, personally. Now it%u2019s gone. And so is mv cat.%u201d%u201c But I%u2019ll pick up the pieces and go on. I really worry about Francine Bowensome of the neighbors, like one elderly man in particular. He's in his 80%u2019s and lived in the building for 50 years. Where will he go?'W hat will he do?%u201d Fran is living with friends, now, soon to begin looking for a new place to live. She and_______t__ __ IVrfU <%u00bb%u00bb III V f IVIII I Kl IVUI V> I UIUI I v>uto the Housing and Deveiopn ment Administration%u2019s Department of Relocation and the Human Resources Administration Department of Income Maintenance. %u201c The frustrations of dealing with these bureaucracies really keeps your mind off what you%u2019ve been through,%u201d observed Fran with a weary grin.- EILEEN BLAIRMay 23, 1974, PHOENIX, Page 3
                                
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