Buffalo Criterion, 1986-03-13

              niagara region the buffalo criterion rochester wny's necessary minority newspaper — featuring paid legitimate circulation vol 61 — no 11 thursday march 13-19 1986 health care plans remain tax exempt representatives of fif teen major new york community organizations traveled to washington march 6 to commend senator alfonse m d amato for supporting con tinued tax-exemption for the nation's 84 non-profit community-based blue cross and blue shield plans blue cross and blue shield plans in new york provide health care coverage to more than 13 million state residents 73 percent of the state since being established in the 19305 the plans have always been exempt from federal income taxes the delegation repre senting hundreds of other new york community groups expressed grave concern about a provision in the house-passed hill which would tax blue cross and blue shield plans for the first time the house provision they said would lead directly to increases in premiums for hundreds of thousands of individual plan subscrib ers and small group members in new york the senate finance com mittee is currently consid ering its own tax bill senator d'amato told the group that he is adamantly opposed to the provision which would eliminate the plans tax exemption noting that it would severely limit access to affordable quality health care cover age he noted that the provision's impact would be particularly severe on senior citizens in new york and pledged his full support for maintaining the plans current tax status according to daniel a caputi vice president marketing blue cross of western new york buf falo who accompanied the community leaders loss of the tax exemption could require significant increas es in premiums for individual subscribers and might jeopardize the ability of the plans to continue to provide afford able health care coverage to thousands of western new yorkers many of them might not be able to secure adequate coverage elsewhere he said the seven new york d'amato praised for support of exempt status blue cross and blue shield plans currently provide health care cover age to over 17 million in dividuals who are not part of an employer group and medicare supplementary coverage to over 1.2 million senior citizens the plans also guarantee the right of individuals covered by their employer groups to convert to individual coverage if they leave their jobs for any reason there are no waiting periods and no exclusions for pre-existing medical conditions for this right which also extends to divorced spouses widows and widowers and de pendable children of covered workers the community leaders who visit a-awhhgion include sandra lorenzo director of personnel of the l l berger inc of buffalo who also serves as a member of the blue cross of western new york board of directors michael freeman execu tive director north eastern association of the blind norma coburn board member metropol itan commission on aging erwin g schultz president syracuse chamber of commerce frank m griffin board member senior citizens action council of pitts ford bob gordon legisla tive representative new york federation of police robert d ragsdale state relations representative american red cross and alfredo matthews vice president new york con vention center also participating were robert h thompson executive vice president of the greater new york hospital association suk k lee president korean american chamber of commerce bonnie fuer stein founder and presi dent sp-ins of new york henry segal administra tor new york consumer assembly ingo esders legislative representa tive international long shoreman's association elaine morgan of the lupus foundation of america and richard boutros former board chairman of the ro chester blue cross group to hold teenage awareness workshop the buffalo alumnae chapter of delta sigma theta sorority inc will sponsor a teenage awareness workshop for teenagers parents youth leaders educators and all interested persons the workshop will provide youth with information regarding social religious and health issues to teenage sexuality and also provides information on teenage parenting and the role of the male and his rf.pilti.-_il-liiimi i nn mi _- . '— ■ the workshop will be held at the erie community college city cnmnhs t i um st i i saturday mar 15th at 9 a.m the following topics will be discussed being the best me workshop leader sandra courtney sexually transmitted diseases workshop leader ed wright contraceptive behavior workshop leaders patricia murphy and deborah kimble role of the male in sexuality workshop leader john anthony ingram stress related to adolescent parenting workshop leaders mattie rhodes and johnnie mac hodges parents of teenagers workshop leader dr marie caldwell and religious aspects of sexuality workshop lead ers rev timolhv careathers and rev andrew holtz of the 31 million teenagers in the united states 11 million are sexually active and 1-2 million become pregnant each year between the ages of 15-19 years the united states has the highest teenage pregnancy rate of all the industralized countries if today's trend continues of early teen pregnancy researchers estimate that 40 percent of 14-year-old girls will be pregnant at least once before the age of 20 one half of the girls who give birth before the age of 18 complete high school they earn one half as much money they are more likely in he rienfln__l_.nl aa welfare teenage pregnancy is a national area of concern for all chapters of delta sigma theta a teenage pregnancy/sexuality workshop was sponsored by the chapter last year they were able to provide information to teens and parents on sexual development adolescent sexuality the role of the church community and family in adolescent pregnancy this year the group plans to place more emphasis on the male role experience of the parents of teenagers and the availability of resources a free lunch will be provided for more information and luncheon reservation contact jeanette davis chairperson at 634-5348 carolyn holder is president of the buffalo alumnae chapter appointed to advisory bd lester smith m d clinical associate profes sor of medicine at the state university of new york at buffalo has been appointed to governor mario cuomo's new york state project 2000's ad visory panel for long term care 2000 smith is nationally known as an expert in the subject of aging and was director of the ub multidisciplinary center for the study of aging for five years until last year the panel is part of project 2000 introduced by governor cuomo in his 1985 state of the state address its purpose is to identify and examine key opportunities challenges and options facing the state throughout the bal ance of the 20th century and beyond the advisory panel to which dr smith was appointed will study concerns such as the impact of the aging population on health care needs the panel and project 2000 is administered by suny albany's nelson a rockefeller institute of government the remainder of the century will witness pro nounced growth in the proportion of the popula tion who are elderly especially in the number of those over age 75 declared sharon dawes executive fellow at the rockefeller institute and study director of long term care 2000 during the first decades of the next century this trend will accelerate even more dramatically demands for long-term support ser vices are likely to be par ticularly heavy dr smith an arkansas native earned his bache lor's degree from the university of california berkeley his master's de gree from howard medical college and his doctoral degree in biochemistry from the university of california medical school in san francisco in 1969 before joining üb's faculty he served as an administrator in the na tional institutes of health for nine years and was founding administrator of the national institute on aging before leaving that position to come to üb he had initialed several national programs in biomedical aging now in more than 200 institu tions and budgeted for more than 42 million he was also chief advisor to the white house and congress on new pro grams for initiatives relat ed to the elderly upon joining the ub medical school's faculty in 1980 he became the first full-time director of the nationally respected cen ter for the study of aging which he headed until last year the center has been designated by the state as the headquarters for aging studies for 64 state-wide colleges and universities he currently serves as editor of the gerontolo gist journal he is also director of home equity living plans inc is a member of congress black caucus brain trust on aging member of the special populations com mittee american cancer society n y state divi sion and holds numerous other positions smith was previously honored with üb's 1982 presidential merit award and the 1978 meritorious achievement award of the national institute of aging an author or editor of 25 books and articles dr smith's research focuses on biological processes of aging especially relating to lipoproteins immuno logy and protein synthesis as well as aging patterns among minority elderly he and his wife pauline live in east amherst they have three children lester smith m d naacp speaks legislative confab highlights exec order gramm-rudman bill by daniel acker the annual naacp legislative conference was held in washington district of columbia at the skyline inn and on capitol hill march 3rd to sth delegates from more than 20 states attended the conference mrs althea t sim mons director of the naacp washington bureau and her staff presented us with legisla tive packages containing up-dated civil rights legislation keynote speakers mon day night march 3rd were the honorable peter j rodino chair of the committee on the judiciary u s house of representatives and dr benjamin l hooks executive director of the naacp the speakers were excellent urging all of us to continue our efforts on behalf of civil rights human rights and human dignity the purpose of the conference and the talks to senators and members of the house of representa tives was to fight back because civil rights is under attack the reagan administra tion as a matter of policy is out spoken in its opposition to race-con scious remedies for past and present discrimination and attempts are being made to have executive order 11246 rescinded education vouchers a sub-minimum wage and tuition tax credits are being proposed although there is compelling evi dence that such initiatives would be disadvantageous naacp to the black community fair housing remains an unfilled dream for millions of americans the gramm-rudman hollins budget deficit act will have a disproportion ate impact on the twenty five 25 percent of black americans who live in poverty yet the - president's fiscal year 1987 federal budget at tempts to secure deficit re gospel night concert set the buffalo lutheran employment service will sponsor a gospel night concert at christ lutheran church 768 broadway at fox sts on sunday april 6 at 6 p.m the new beginnings under the direction of ella robinson will be present ed along with other area groups the admission is free refreshments will be served choir to sponsor salad bar the hemphill gospel choir will sponsor a sunday afternoon salad bar sun april 13 at 1:30 p.m at the church 96 spruce st an invitation is extend ed to all to come and join them for some afternoon delights for a small __..„_...„.,_■■ y ' ,_._»__,_,, donation of 2.00 one can nave a choice of a variety of salads and salad fixings kemp receives urban legislator of the year award washington d c - representative jack kemp r-nyi monday received the urban legislator of he year award for 1985 from the council of great city schools this organization is made up of major urban school dis tricts from around the country including buffalo the award was presented to k»;i7)i ** tzjgom reville the superinten dent of buffalo city schools kemp said buffalo's program provides a model for our nation programs like magnet schools have gained overwhelming sup port from the people of western new york kemp continued the results have been educa tionally and socially posi tive for the parent student and teacher i'm glad to see that 75 million dollars was provided in fy 86 and an additional 75 million dollars for fy 87 has been requested in 1984 legislation to reenact the emergency school aid act was passed by congress and signed into law in 1985 75 million dollars was avail able to school districts in cluding 4 million dollars for buffalo to assist the magnet school programs vtjis year the la>agan ad ministration has requested an additional 75 million dollars for this purpose rep jack kemp rutkowski seeks county representation on nfta county executive rutkowski has called upon state officials to give him power to appoint a member to the niagara frontier transportation authority board of com missioners to protect the interests of the county in light of recent projections of a 62.6 million deficit at the nfta by 1990 in a letter to governor cuomo new york state senator norman j levy chair senate transporta tion committee and state assemblyman vincent j graber chair assembly transportation commit tee rutkowski expressed his concern over growing deficits at the nfta because of the county's responsibility to fund those deficits at a time when there is a growing demand on erie county's limited resources to assist our residents and local communities cope with economic setbacks caused by the loss of jobs in this region the nfta's operating deficits which must be partially funded through county taxes looms as a major problem for erie county govern ment rutkowski said rutkowski said that erie county has paid over 20 million in transit subsidies to the nfta since 1974 representing 90 of the local share in 1985 the county paid over 1.8 million in transit sub sidies and that amount figures to grow because of federal cuts in mass transit subsidies rutkowski added erie county with its regressive proper ty base will find it increasingly difficult to fund these growing defi cits the nfta's problems can be corrected only through major changes in operating policies rut kowski said and since erie county has a direct financial stake in a more efficient nfta it is imperative that we have a voice and an active role in that process rutkowski said that there is already legislation filed in both the senate and the assembly which give the erie county executive an appointment on the nfta board of commissioners legislation in the senate is sponsored by senators dale m volker r-de pew walter j floss r clarence and william t stachowski d-cheekto waga and in the asembly by l william paxon r new stead the problems which the nfta now face will have far reaching implica tions on future erie county budgets rut kowski warned our ability to deliver essential local services while hold ing property taxes in line will be seriously effected by these looming defi cits robinson wants continued look at rebate erie county legislator william f robinson d-3rd district today call ed for a continued follow-up to the idea of a county-wide tax rebate to property owners of erie county because of the huge surplus that has been identified recently in the erie county coffers with some 16 to 19 million surplus dollars sitting the county's cof fers and in light of the property tax increase that the erie county property owners had to swallow for 1986 i firmly believe that the county should con tinue to look into the prospects of doing some robinson see page 3 . see page 2 serving working leading in wny inner cities since 1923 price only 20 c per copy