earns
-page 8
LITTLE HEROS
SWAC Pee Wees headed
for championship game
-page 18
YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD NEWSPAPER SINCE 1923
Natasha, her
Services.
By Adam Worcester
EDITOR
Bruce Savadow/staff
lO-month-old daughter, before class begins at
6 epperoni or Canadian
. bacon'?" asks Alison Sil-
verberg. As class begins,
the teacher takes lunch
orders from her students.
In a few moments she will lead them
through fraction equations, much like any
other high school class.
These, however, are not ordinary high
school students.
While they study ABCs and 123s, their
children cavort in an upstairs playroom at
Southwest Youth and Family Services, 4555
Delridge Way S.W. Parents slip in and out to
check on the toddlers as Silverberg talks.
"YOU HAVE to be preuy flexible," Silver-
berg says. "They're parents first. That comes
before everything else."
"Everything" includes thrice-weekly classes
for high school general equivalency diplomas,
or GEDs.
The 15 students in Silverberg's class will
spend between two months and a year earning
their GEDs. The course also includes two
days a week of parenting classes, as well as
mandatory duty in the day-care play room.
"We really try to focus on family, so the
roles of students and parents are not separate,"
says Nanette Westerman, SWYFS Family
Center coordinator. "We recognize that you
-- See SCHOOL, page 3
decades
almost 400
baptisms and
Pera retired
tor of Hope
says it is the
of growth
ed for
now needs to
"It's
p, new
Sense of direc-
Change and
decades at
eady hand,
into
most active
the Missouri
District.
bible-study
Min-
program aimed
!ch members
raised the
ng and
:s, lncl.uding
to Hope
lnual budget
$1 million,
goes to the
P, the
page 2
The Rev. Clemens Pera says it will be hard to leave Hope Lutheran. "You
in the community and the lives of people, finally you're in too deep."
Bruce Savadow/staff
get entrenched so deeply
By Don Goldman
STAFF WRIER
Tempers flared briefly in the cold
air as more than 200 people waited
in White Center Sunday night tO be
first in line to apply for low-cost
housing.
King County Police dispersed the
crowd jostling for places in line
around 10 p.m. At one point, arrests
were threatened, but people moved
around the corner, where they slept
in their cars as temperatures dipped.
In the morning a boisterous
crowd estimated at 1,000 lined up
in front of the Boys and Girls Club
at Park Lake Homes, on Eighth
Avenue Southwest just south of
Southwest Roxbury Street, under
the eyes of at least 40 police offi-
cers.
This was the first time in three
years that King County has taken
applications for federally subsi-
dized Seetiou-8 housing, said Jim
Dion, director of management for
King County Housing Authority.
"A lot of people are desperate to
get low-income housing," Dion
said. "We expected 5,000 this
week, but did not expect this many
at 5 a.m. on a cold Monday. We
will not shut down today until we
have processed everyone in line."
THE OFFICE will be open from
8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through Fri-
day.
The reason for the fierce compe-
tition for the front of the line
becomes clear when one realizes
the first 100 to 150 people could
get help in 30 to 60 days, while
those at the end might wait three
years, Dion explained.
Persons who lost their places
when police dispersed the line
expressed frustration.
"There wasn't a fight," said a 35-
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