Front Street Weekly; No. 208; 1982-12-02

<v Gwyneth Gamble>As academic achievement scores have fallen, educators have reevaluated their methods <v Gwyneth Gamble>for teaching basic skills. <v Jane Cote>Ready? <v Gwyneth Gamble>There are two radically different methods used to teach kids how to read. <v Gwyneth Gamble>In the state of Oregon, every child is entitled to an education, regardless of a <v Gwyneth Gamble>handicap. We'll talk to legal and educational experts about helping children <v Gwyneth Gamble>at a time when money for special programs is disappearing. <v Cal Norman>Mainstreaming, it seems to me, has been around as long as public law 94-142 <v Cal Norman>has been around. It's been a part of the program here all three years that I've been <v Cal Norman>here. <v Gwyneth Gamble>20 years ago, the remote area of Christmas Valley was advertised as the Palm Springs <v Gwyneth Gamble>of Oregon. Unfortunately, the plans for this resort community have become a high desert <v Gwyneth Gamble>mirage. Now, the town may become the site of a sophisticated military radar <v Gwyneth Gamble>complex. <v Resident>I think most of us are kind of proud to be involved in it. <v Resident>And there's also an economic factor that it has to help our community. <v Resident>We're very interested in that.

<v Gwyneth Gamble>Two newly divorced people talk about the singles scene. <v Jerry Burbach>I went into this place with a friend and I did not want to be there. <v Jerry Burbach>I was not in the mood. I had a hard day at work. <v Jerry Burbach>But he convinced me I should not go home. I should go out, and we'd go out to the bars, <v Jerry Burbach>so we did. And I was sitting there and he was out dancing, having a good time. <v Jerry Burbach>There was this girl down at the end of the bar, having just a miserable time as I was. <v Jerry Burbach>So I thought, well, what the heck. I didn't want to dance, I didn't want to do anything. <v Jerry Burbach>I walked up to her and I says, you're having as miserable time as I am, I says, you know, <v Jerry Burbach>can I sit down? She said, Sure. So the two of us just misery together. <v Gwyneth Gamble>We'll take a look at television's profits, Oregon's weathermen. <v Jim Little>Well, it's really a tough question when you ask about accuracy in forecasting. <v Jim Little>Because you have to define what accurate is. For example, if I say the high temperature <v Jim Little>tomorrow is going to be 75, and in fact, it's 76, is that right or wrong? <v Gwyneth Gamble>Good evening. Welcome to Front Street Weekly. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Declining academic achievement in this country has focused attention on elementary school

<v Gwyneth Gamble>reading programs and the way children are being taught the English language. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Tonight, we'll explore various elements that affect early learning. <v Gwyneth Gamble>We'll also look at two radically different approaches to teaching schoolchildren how to <v Gwyneth Gamble>read. <v Gwyneth Gamble>As elementary school children returned to classes this year, they found themselves in the <v Gwyneth Gamble>middle of an ongoing controversy. <v Gwyneth Gamble>The issue has nothing to do with bussing or prayer in the schools, but it is centered on <v Gwyneth Gamble>scholastic achievement and the way basic skills are being taught in the classroom. <v Doug Carnine>The problem is that the country hasn't genuinely made <v Doug Carnine>achievement and excellence in school a priority. <v Doug Carnine>That we're quite content to have kids who are coming out of schools <v Doug Carnine>learning much, much less than what's possible. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Alarmed by a decade of falling achievement test scores, many school administrators, <v Gwyneth Gamble>teachers and parents have begun to take a hard look at educational priorities. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Some school districts have re evaluated the do your own thing attitude of the 1970s

<v Gwyneth Gamble>and are now promoting a renewed emphasis on the basic skills - reading, writing and <v Gwyneth Gamble>arithmetic. Because reading is so critical to learning in general, <v Gwyneth Gamble>much of the attention of the educational community has been focused on the first "R." <v Gwyneth Gamble>In Eugene, administrators at the Four J School District decided to do a total <v Gwyneth Gamble>evaluation of their reading program. <v Mike Brott>We had found ourselves in a place where, on a system wide basis, our readers scores <v Mike Brott>were really not where they should be. We were in a town with a high socio economic area <v Mike Brott>where we got a lot of people with college education or educational level's high. <v Mike Brott>You would expect to see children in this town doing very well academically. <v Mike Brott>That wasn't necessarily true. <v Gwyneth Gamble>There is general agreement that children can improve their reading skills, both in the <v Gwyneth Gamble>area of phonics, decoding of words by sounding out letters and comprehension, <v Gwyneth Gamble>understanding what the words mean. <v Gwyneth Gamble>But there is no consensus among educators about the best way to teach these skills or <v Gwyneth Gamble>about the materials to be used in the classrooms.

<v Mike Brott>We couldn't find a single textbook, for example, our last adoption that <v Mike Brott>really met all the phonics skills and the later comprehension skills that needed to <v Mike Brott>be developed. So we had to adopt more than one and say this one's really good at <v Mike Brott>the primary level. This one is much better at the upper level. <v child>[child reading] <v Gwyneth Gamble>Traditionally, school reading programs have relied heavily upon Basil textbooks to teach <v Gwyneth Gamble>basic reading skills. Over the years as textbook publishing has become very <v Gwyneth Gamble>lucrative and highly competitive, the Dick and Jane readers that most of us remember <v Gwyneth Gamble>have been replaced by Basils that contain a wide variety of characters, stories and <v Gwyneth Gamble>illustrations. But critics like author Bruno Bettelheim claim that textbook <v Gwyneth Gamble>publishers are making stories less challenging and offering fewer vocabulary words. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Teachers who use the new books in their classrooms, however, like some of the changes. <v Linda Handshaw>The textbook companies have have put a great deal of money <v Linda Handshaw>in to making sure that, for example, there's no sexism

<v Linda Handshaw>in books, there's no racism in books, that the pictures are fantastic. <v Gwyneth Gamble>But even with the best textbooks, many children are failing to learn how to read. <v Gwyneth Gamble>And some educators are blaming other parts of the system. <v Siegfried Englemann>There are many problems with the traditional scheme. <v Siegfried Englemann>These include not only textbooks, but the structure of school <v Siegfried Englemann>systems, the structure of colleges, of education, and to a large extent, <v Siegfried Englemann>the way teachers are reinforced through teacher unions or through district policies <v Siegfried Englemann>that are the sum total of the current <v Siegfried Englemann>traditional system is it is not designed to teach <v Siegfried Englemann>kids. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Ziggy Engelmann, professor of special education at the University of Oregon, has long <v Gwyneth Gamble>been critical of traditional approaches to teaching reading. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Experimenting with new instructional methods, his success in teaching disadvantaged <v Gwyneth Gamble>children how to read has gained him a national reputation and a growing number of

<v Gwyneth Gamble>followers in the educational community. <v Siegfried Englemann>The thing that's wrong with American education is that there is no <v Siegfried Englemann>focus on kid performance, that instead there is <v Siegfried Englemann>justification for doing things the way they're done. <v Siegfried Englemann>So a teacher does something and a percentage of the kids don't learn. <v Siegfried Englemann>Who's blamed? The kids, always. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Engelmann and several colleagues have formed the Engelmann Becker Corporation to develop <v Gwyneth Gamble>educational materials which are marketed under the name Distar and to train teachers <v Gwyneth Gamble>in their direct instruction methods. <v Gwyneth Gamble>The Distar program provides teachers with a very detailed script for teaching word <v Gwyneth Gamble>decoding skills based on Englemann's philosophy that every child can be taught. <v Siegfried Englemann>In our programs, they're taught. <v Siegfried Englemann>There is not just merely exposure. <v Siegfried Englemann>So those programs, are they appropriate for all kids? <v Siegfried Englemann>Yes. Or like we can demonstrate that that will increase <v Siegfried Englemann>the kid's rate of acquisition of reading skills, make them better readers, <v Siegfried Englemann>and do so at a faster rate.

<v Jane Cote>Let's go back to this word and see if you can read it the fast way. <v Jane Cote>Make sure you're sitting up nice and tall so I can hear you reading. <v Jane Cote>Ready? <v Jane Cote>[children reading] What word? Good sounding out. <v Jane Cote>Here's a fast one. <v Jane Cote>Sound it out. Ready? <v Jane Cote>[children reading] What word? Cow. Now let's read this one. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Jane Côté is using the Distar program to teach this first grade class the relationship <v Gwyneth Gamble>between letters and sounds. <v Jane Cote>Ready? <v Gwyneth Gamble>Using direct instruction techniques, she cues responses, corrects mistakes <v Gwyneth Gamble>and rewards appropriate answers with praise. <v Jane Cote>Good, you didn't get tricked on any of your sounds. <v Jane Cote>Let's sound out a real hard word. <v Jane Cote>Sound it out. <v Jane Cote>I prefer the Distar program over other methods of teaching <v Jane Cote>because it is sequential and the students <v Jane Cote>are taught exactly what they need to know to figure

<v Jane Cote>out what the words are. <v Jane Cote>Nothing is left to chance. <v Jane Cote>Nice reading, Jeremy. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Although there is much data to support the effectiveness of Distar, many teachers <v Gwyneth Gamble>disagree with the total focus on phonics and are uncomfortable with the regimentation in <v Gwyneth Gamble>the classroom. <v Christine Pappas>Who is in control? In Distar the teacher is in control. <v Christine Pappas>In my language experience approach, the child is in control <v Christine Pappas>and the teacher is a facilitator, an encourager and knowing <v Christine Pappas>what what kinds of materials that will be interested interesting making <v Christine Pappas>decisions about instruction based on the strengths of the particular child and what <v Christine Pappas>the child needs to know next. <v Christine Pappas> <v Gwyneth Gamble>Dr. Chris Pappas, also an educator at the University of Oregon, approaches the teaching <v Gwyneth Gamble>of reading from a totally different perspective. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Her language experience philosophy is based on the idea that children will be motivated <v Gwyneth Gamble>to read if the material is meaningful. <v Gwyneth Gamble>She says that students come to school wanting to read and rather than focus the process

<v Gwyneth Gamble>on repetitive drills, the teacher should encourage the child to engage in the activity <v Gwyneth Gamble>of reading. <v Christine Pappas>The only way children can learn to read is by reading. <v Christine Pappas>They learn to talk by talking. <v Christine Pappas>They learn to walk by walking. <v Christine Pappas>They're going to learn to read by reading. <v Christine Pappas>And they'll learn to write by writing. <v Christine Pappas>And I mean real live writing activities, reading activities <v Christine Pappas>that have functional use in their own lives. <v Peggy Winbigler>What else can Rabbit do, Kelly? <v child>Run fast. <v Peggy Winbigler>You want to put fast right here then? You want to spell fast for me?. <v child>F-a-s-t. <v Peggy Winbigler>Good girl, run fast. <v Gwyneth Gamble>In Peggy Winbigler's language experience, class children list descriptive words <v Gwyneth Gamble>about familiar subjects and use these words to make up written stories which they then <v Gwyneth Gamble>learn to read. <v Peggy Winbigler>If you want a child to read, you have to give him a reason to read.

<v Peggy Winbigler>He should read not just to say words or read sentences for the teacher. <v Peggy Winbigler>He should read because he wants to find out things. <v Peggy Winbigler>He should read because he wants to use words in other ways. <v Peggy Winbigler>So language experience is really being motivated to write your own ideas, <v Peggy Winbigler>which you read and share with other folks. <v child>The rabbit can change colors in the winter. <v Gwyneth Gamble>The language experience approach is based on the belief that children will learn to read <v Gwyneth Gamble>by being motivated to use new words in creating their own stories. <v Gwyneth Gamble>But this method puts a lot of responsibility on young students, and in some cases, they <v Gwyneth Gamble>find it difficult to respond. <v Siegfried Englemann>The traditional educational philosophy is that we expose - some <v Siegfried Englemann>kids, learn it, some kids don't. <v Siegfried Englemann>If the kids don't, it's their fault because of inadequacies in terms of the way they're <v Siegfried Englemann>wired or their home environment or something over which we have no control, <v Siegfried Englemann>that the basic message and the basic philosophy in which we really believe <v Siegfried Englemann>is that if we know how to teach it, the kids know how to learn it.

<v Gwyneth Gamble>Engelmann's Distar program emphasizes direct instruction <v Gwyneth Gamble>techniques and puts the primary responsibility for learning on the teacher. <v Gwyneth Gamble>But by following a predetermined sequence, this approach sometimes fails to accommodate <v Gwyneth Gamble>what the child already knows about language. <v Christine Pappas>With respect to Distar, the assumption is that there is a blank <v Christine Pappas>slate and that the teacher has all the knowledge and we are somehow <v Christine Pappas>giving that child those bits of knowledge. <v Christine Pappas>Children come to school with lots of different backgrounds, and so <v Christine Pappas>teachers need to be careful observers about what they already know. <v Christine Pappas>And you are making, then, decisions of instruction based on <v Christine Pappas>what children already know. <v Peggy Winbigler>I really don't believe that any one program is good for all <v Peggy Winbigler>children. That's why we have several to choose from. <v Peggy Winbigler>And we try to we try to <v Peggy Winbigler>make sure that the child has the reading program that's best for them.

<v Mike Brott>I think education in general has moved towards the more individualized approach <v Mike Brott>because. <v Mike Brott>We've learned how to organize better, we've learned to better instructional techniques, <v Mike Brott>we learn better diagnostic techniques. <v Mike Brott>Once we do that, then we look for a variety of teaching styles in a variety <v Mike Brott>of materials, are going to meet the various needs of the kids. <v Gwyneth Gamble>While it seems that no single approach to reading works in all situations, one thing on <v Gwyneth Gamble>which all sides agree is that children are greatly influenced by their parents' reading <v Gwyneth Gamble>habits. Children who see their parents enjoying reading and whose parents enjoy <v Gwyneth Gamble>reading to them will be motivated to read no matter what methods they're exposed to at <v Gwyneth Gamble>school. <v Peggy Winbigler>I make sure that the kids now I love to read, and I think the fact that they <v Peggy Winbigler>are reading that they have books around them all the time is the thing that will <v Peggy Winbigler>stimulate them and motivate them to read. <v Peggy Winbigler>Not just me teaching them to read.

<v Peggy Winbigler>I think it goes far beyond that. <v Doug Carnine>The key is that improving educational excellence <v Doug Carnine>involves many different actors, we might say. <v Doug Carnine>It involves the publishers, the colleges of education, the teachers, the <v Doug Carnine>parents, all of these people, through their <v Doug Carnine>attitudes to their skills and what they support, are going to have a big effect <v Doug Carnine>on how well students are going to do in school. <v Gwyneth Gamble>But whether educators choose Distar or a language experience approach in the 1980s, <v Gwyneth Gamble>high technology will also greatly affect children's performance in school and the way <v Gwyneth Gamble>they relate to reading. Some children are becoming readers by watching television. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Others are spending time with video instead of reading. <v Gwyneth Gamble>And others are learning whole new languages. <v Gwyneth Gamble>While computers may replace books as sources of information, reading will still be a <v Gwyneth Gamble>necessary skill in the electronic age. <v Gwyneth Gamble>And no matter how much we come to depend on machines, nothing can replace the experience

<v Gwyneth Gamble>of reading a good book. <v child>You are with me and here I am with you. <v child>Oh, what a happy birthday, dear dragon. That's all. <v Gwyneth Gamble>While national S.A.T. scores have declined steadily since the late 60s, there are <v Gwyneth Gamble>indications that this trend is being reversed. <v Gwyneth Gamble>In Eugene's public schools, reading scores have gone up in recent years, and officials <v Gwyneth Gamble>there say that several problems have been identified and corrected. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Despite the controversy over teaching approaches, there are some hopeful signs that our <v Gwyneth Gamble>children can improve their reading skills, one of the most vital indicators of <v Gwyneth Gamble>scholastic achievement. <v Kevin McGovern>In recent years, children with learning disabilities and serious handicaps have been <v Kevin McGovern>receiving special education designed to help them improve their basic skills. <v Kevin McGovern>Also, emphasis has been placed on making learning disabled children feel part of the <v Kevin McGovern>ordinary school environment.

<v Kevin McGovern>This as a result of a federal law requiring the least restrictive education for <v Kevin McGovern>all students, regardless of handicaps. <v Kevin McGovern>Federal law 94-142. <v Kevin McGovern>While the law represents hope for thousands of families and their children in the <v Kevin McGovern>northwest, it is not without controversy. <v Kevin McGovern>Ben Pedro reports. <v Ben Pedro>For many children, going to public school and studying the basics is taken for granted. <v Ben Pedro>But for children with disabilities, a regular classroom experience is new and exciting <v Ben Pedro>because in the past they have been shut out, excluded from the environment their <v Ben Pedro>peers enjoyed. Public law 94-142 <v Ben Pedro>was designed specifically to protect these handicapped children. <v Ben Pedro>The law requires a, quote, "free and appropriate public education <v Ben Pedro>for all handicapped children in the least restrictive environment." <v Ben Pedro>Mainstreaming <v Ben Pedro>evolved directly from that law.

<v Ben Pedro>Now, both mentally and physically handicapped are being integrated into the public school <v Ben Pedro>system. Well, Hurst Elementary is one of the many schools in the Portland <v Ben Pedro>area involved in the program. <v Cal Norman>This makes great sense. There are any number of areas of the school program that <v Cal Norman>a child should be a part of socially with age mates and so forth. <v Cal Norman>But when they need specific kinds of help, they do need it. <v Cal Norman>I don't see that mainstreaming would ever come to the point where there would be so many <v Cal Norman>girls, boys and girls with problems that are so difficult that <v Cal Norman>would cause undue problems. <v Ben Pedro>Kinds of special education classes vary from school to school. <v Ben Pedro>These handicapped children spend most of their time participating in regular activities. <v Ben Pedro>Every child, whether mentally or physically disabled, deserves an opportunity <v Ben Pedro>to achieve. Mainstreaming provides such an opportunity. <v Cal Norman>The child is the one we're looking at to help him as our is our first goal.

<v Gwyneth Gamble>With us in the studio tonight is Maralyn Helzer, who is the assistant superintendent for <v Gwyneth Gamble>special programs in the Portland Public Schools. <v Gwyneth Gamble>And Betsy McKay, who is chairwoman for a special education advisory committee, and <v Gwyneth Gamble>herself the parent of a Down syndrome child, Andrew, age 11. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Now, the effect of public law. 94-142 is that local school <v Gwyneth Gamble>districts must spend more money proportionately to educate these handicapped children, <v Gwyneth Gamble>and unless they comply with the legal and educational requirements which are costly and <v Gwyneth Gamble>time consuming, they face increasing threat of lawsuits. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Now that many school districts are short of funds for all activities, Maralyn, I guess I <v Gwyneth Gamble>would address you with this question. How are you going to decide to spend limited funds <v Gwyneth Gamble>and what will school districts do? <v Maralyn Helzer>We'll have to go through and look at what our goals are and how what the minimal <v Maralyn Helzer>level of service is as required through the legislation and <v Maralyn Helzer>what we feel our community needs and then have to make some decisions there. <v Maralyn Helzer>I would speculate and again, it's speculation because we're not even sure what kinds of

<v Maralyn Helzer>funds we'll have available, that if we had to reduce services, that we would <v Maralyn Helzer>most likely reduce services to the mildly handicapped first <v Maralyn Helzer>and keep as many services for the severely handicapped intact as possible. <v Maralyn Helzer>But again, we're not even sure at this point what our funding base will be for the next <v Maralyn Helzer>biennium, particularly. <v Kevin McGovern>Betsy, if there are cutbacks and I know you're involved in planning and you're also the <v Kevin McGovern>parent of a child that has a developmental disability, what would happen <v Kevin McGovern>if your child was placed back into a normal classroom? <v Betsy MacKay>Well, my child has never been in a normal classroom in public school, and I'm <v Betsy MacKay>I'm not sure I really don't know what would happen. <v Betsy MacKay>I don't think he would learn very much. <v Betsy MacKay>I don't know that he would do too badly socially, but I'm not sure. <v Betsy MacKay>I don't think he would, what would be the point of having him there. <v Kevin McGovern>So you think this would be a drawback? <v Betsy MacKay>Well, yes. In his case, he is in what is called the self-contained classroom right <v Betsy MacKay>now, which, if I understand you correctly, he is considered moderately

<v Betsy MacKay>retarded. <v Betsy MacKay>There are degrees, mild, moderate, severe, profound. <v Betsy MacKay>And what Maralyn's talking about are the the mildly retarded children <v Betsy MacKay>are ones who are already in something like an ERC, they're <v Betsy MacKay>in a regular classroom some of the time, anyway? <v Maralyn Helzer>Mildly handicapped <v Betsy MacKay>Right, mildly. <v Maralyn Helzer>could include those kids, students with learning disabilities or any kind of handicapping <v Maralyn Helzer>condition but who maybe need a minimal level of support service. <v Gwyneth Gamble>But you're saying you wouldn't cut that minimal level, probably? <v Gwyneth Gamble>That would be the first place where you would cut. <v Maralyn Helzer>Probably, yes. <v Gwyneth Gamble>What would take up the slack for those children who are mildly handicapped? <v Maralyn Helzer>More of those kids would probably have to be supported in the general ed classroom. <v Gwyneth Gamble>But what does this do, then Maralyn, to the general ed classroom, to the rest of the <v Gwyneth Gamble>children who are not handicapped? <v Maralyn Helzer>Well, it affects all of them. It affects. <v Maralyn Helzer>It would affect teacher time. <v Maralyn Helzer>It also, I think, has an effect on the teacher's sense of personal competence <v Maralyn Helzer>when you place children in that environment that maybe they were not trained

<v Maralyn Helzer>to deal with. If we don't have sufficient support staff to provide <v Maralyn Helzer>help to that teacher as well as to those children, then it affects that whole <v Maralyn Helzer>environment. <v Betsy MacKay>Because if the child goes back in and fails immediately, if he can't keep up and he can't <v Betsy MacKay>do the work, part of the good thing that special ed does <v Betsy MacKay>is really increase a child's self-esteem, his feeling that he can accomplish things. <v Betsy MacKay>That's I feel that that is a real benefit. <v Betsy MacKay>And to get blasted back into a class or he is suddenly unable to cope. <v Kevin McGovern>As a mother, what impact would that have on your child and your family? <v Betsy MacKay>Well it would be devastating. <v Kevin McGovern>Devastating is what sense? <v Betsy MacKay>It's bad enough to have your child fail, or your normal child fail, to have a child who <v Betsy MacKay>has failed and failed and failed and finally found a spot where he is actually making <v Betsy MacKay>progress, where suddenly he is going forward and <v Betsy MacKay>to be put back right where he was when he was failing. <v Betsy MacKay>Of course, it's devastating. <v Kevin McGovern>Now Betsy I've heard comments that children often stereotype the developmentally <v Kevin McGovern>disabled. They make fun of them. They ridicule them.

<v Kevin McGovern>Have you found that in your experience to be true? <v Betsy MacKay>In my particular school, I really haven't. <v Betsy MacKay>There are always <v Kevin McGovern>which is self-contained. <v Betsy MacKay>No. Well, he's in a public school. He goes to Glencoe Elementary School. <v Betsy MacKay>He's in a self-contained class in a regular public school. <v Betsy MacKay>He goes to music with a third grade class. He goes to P.E. <v Betsy MacKay>was the third grade class. <v Betsy MacKay>They all eat lunch together with whoever they want to eat lunch with in the cafeteria. <v Betsy MacKay>The children in every child, there are two special ed classes at the school. <v Betsy MacKay>Every child, I think, is treated as a child. <v Betsy MacKay>And I truly feel that in that particular circumstance, there's <v Betsy MacKay>not a lot of fun made. I think the other children are very proud of <v Betsy MacKay>having other kids and working with them. <v Gwyneth Gamble>You know, I'm curious on this subject of the handicapped child, Maralyn you say that this <v Gwyneth Gamble>is going to be taken up by the legislature in terms of budget cuts. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Do you think that there is a sympathy on the part of our lawmakers towards the <v Gwyneth Gamble>handicapped child or perhaps is there a greater interest in providing funds for the <v Gwyneth Gamble>talented and gifted child?

<v Maralyn Helzer>Well, I think there's a sympathy at the legislative level for handicapped to a point <v Gwyneth Gamble>More so than perhaps? <v Maralyn Helzer>I don't think I can say relative. I'm not sure how it compares to talented and gifted. <v Maralyn Helzer>I think that there are some legislators that I've heard speak in sessions who are very <v Maralyn Helzer>frustrated with the requirements of 94-142 and the decisions <v Maralyn Helzer>that it's required our legislators to make so that they've had to make some difficult <v Maralyn Helzer>choices about the allocation of funds based on some federal guidelines. <v Maralyn Helzer>So there's some frustration there. But I also think that there is some sympathy for those <v Maralyn Helzer>programs. It's just that where do you put that money when it's limited? <v Gwyneth Gamble>What numbers of children are we talking about in terms of actual handicapped children, <v Gwyneth Gamble>say, within the Portland public school district? <v Maralyn Helzer>About 4500, if we count the children who in the regional programs <v Maralyn Helzer>for physically handicapped, deaf and visually impaired, as well as <v Maralyn Helzer>the kids in the regular school programs or the support programs like Betsy's. <v Kevin McGovern>Betsy what changes should be made in public law 94-142 or any other <v Kevin McGovern>component of the educational structure we have now?

<v Betsy MacKay>Well, no, I feel strongly as a parent, as a member of the Special Education Advisory <v Betsy MacKay>Committee and as a member of the Association for Retarded Citizens, that absolutely no <v Betsy MacKay>changes should be made in the law or in the regulations <v Betsy MacKay>implementing the law. Any changes will be bad for the children <v Betsy MacKay>involved right now. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Why, Betsy? <v Betsy MacKay>Because of the change. There are many proposed deregulations to the law right at this <v Betsy MacKay>moment. <v Gwyneth Gamble>We're talking about a federal law. <v Betsy MacKay>this - the federal law is public law 94-142. <v Betsy MacKay>It is implemented by regulations from the Department of Education. <v Betsy MacKay>The department is proposing some changes in wording. <v Betsy MacKay>All of the changes involve reduction of services to the children, reduction <v Betsy MacKay>of rights of the parents. <v Betsy MacKay>I can't say strongly enough that all of us involved, all <v Betsy MacKay>of the people that I am involved with support no changes in the law. <v Betsy MacKay>We feel it will be detrimental to our children. <v Betsy MacKay>Any change right now. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Is the law unweidly, Maralyn, do you think it's unwieldy as far as our administrators are <v Gwyneth Gamble>concerned?

<v Maralyn Helzer>In some cases I think you'd find that most educators don't want to <v Maralyn Helzer>reduce or lose services to children, but there are some pieces that would make it <v Maralyn Helzer>easier to manage administratively so that ultimately there could be more time <v Maralyn Helzer>spent with children. We have some specialists who are spending a great deal of time <v Maralyn Helzer>on the paper end of it to provide the due process protections both <v Maralyn Helzer>for districts and for families that actually take time away from <v Maralyn Helzer>services to children. And there are some adjustments that we would like to see made that <v Maralyn Helzer>would bring some relief to that. <v Gwyneth Gamble>So it could it could be tightened up then, but as far as repealing this <v Betsy MacKay>The paperwork we don't mind. <v Betsy MacKay>It's the services that we do. <v Maralyn Helzer>The basic premise should stay, but there's some other management <v Maralyn Helzer>pieces that are unwieldy. <v Gwyneth Gamble>You think that'll happen? <v Maralyn Helzer>We'll have to wait and see what the next batch will look like. <v Maralyn Helzer>I don't know. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Are you optimistic about the future of special education, Betsy? <v Gwyneth Gamble>And as it concerns your child? <v Betsy MacKay>Well, I have been very happy with what has happened with his progress <v Betsy MacKay>in special education in the seven or eight years that he has been involved

<v Betsy MacKay>with it. I would hope that things would continue to get better. <v Betsy MacKay>Public law 94-142 was only finally completely implemented in 1978, <v Betsy MacKay>I believe. And that's a very short time. <v Gwyneth Gamble>While Congress debates whether or not to build a new version of the MX missile system in <v Gwyneth Gamble>Wyoming, we here in Oregon could be asked to host another major military <v Gwyneth Gamble>installation. Christmas Valley, about 100 miles southeast of Bend may <v Gwyneth Gamble>become the site of a giant military radar complex. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Local residents are getting caught up in the spirit of cooperation with the military and <v Gwyneth Gamble>land development. Reporter Jeff Young went to Christmas Valley to see how the people <v Gwyneth Gamble>there feel about defense, business, and the wide open spaces. <v Jeff Young>East of the mountains in central Oregon was a vast and arid expands,

<v Jeff Young>more like Arizona or New Mexico, sagebrush and sand. <v Jeff Young>Home for jack rabbits, coyotes and a few hundred hearty souls who like <v Jeff Young>fresh air and wide open spaces. <v Jeff Young>If you wanted to locate something that would take up lots of room but wouldn't be in <v Jeff Young>people's way, eastern Oregon's high desert would seem a likely area. <v Jeff Young>Christmas Valley, about 100 miles southeast of Bend, is that kind of place. <v Jeff Young>During the past couple years, the Valley's remoteness and topography have attracted <v Jeff Young>the interest of the Air Force. Defense analysts say it's just the sort of place <v Jeff Young>to locate one of the largest radar installations in the world. <v Jeff Young>What the Air Force has in mind is a radar transmitter a mile long and 30 <v Jeff Young>to 50 feet high. It's part of a system called the Over the Horizon backscatter <v Jeff Young>radar. The system consists of three parts: transmitter, receiver <v Jeff Young>and operation center. The Air Force is also looking at two other locations

<v Jeff Young>in Washington and Idaho. But if Oregon is selected, the giant transmitter will <v Jeff Young>be in Christmas Valley and the operations center will be at Kingslee Air Force Base in <v Jeff Young>Klamath Falls. The transmitter would be larger, but roughly similar <v Jeff Young>to this one in Maine. Here's how it works. <v Jeff Young>Radar waves are beamed skyward by the transmitter. <v Jeff Young>They bounce back off the ionosphere and are picked up by the receiver. <v Jeff Young>The Defense Department calls this system the over the horizon or backscatter. <v Jeff Young>Conventional radar is line of sight, like an F.M. <v Jeff Young>radio signal. And it's easily deflected by mountains or other obstructions. <v Jeff Young>And because it's line of sight, range is limited by the curvature of the Earth's surface. <v Jeff Young>Planes can fly low enough to slip under conventional radar nets. <v Jeff Young>But since the over the horizon system covers ground level to the ionosphere, <v Jeff Young>there's no place high or low for planes to hide. <v Jeff Young>And installation in eastern Oregon could detect planes or missiles 500 to 1800 miles <v Jeff Young>out to sea. The backscatter system is already in place on the East Coast

<v Jeff Young>and the Pentagon says another one is needed. <v Jeff Young>The system here, they say, is vital to the defense of the western United States. <v Jeff Young>The Air Force recently set a team of radar experts and public relations men to <v Jeff Young>study Christmas Valley. One of the prerequisites for siting the installation <v Jeff Young>is the support and cooperation of local residents. <v Jeff Young>The military apparently found what it was looking for. <v Resident>Most simplistic way that the Air Force explained it to us was this is the <v Resident>only thing they can determine that will close the holes in the radar. <v Resident>This is the only thing that will give us complete protection. <v Jeff Young>Mentioned potential targets. <v Jeff Young>It just seems to me that, you know, the case of a preemptive strike and what <v Jeff Young>they want to shoot the radar sites that their planes could get through. <v Resident>Brought up the Air Force personnel when he was here and their feelings was we would <v Resident>definitely not become a target. <v Jeff Young>Does it give you a sense of being part of something larger, being part of national <v Jeff Young>defense? What is that feeling?

<v Resident>I think most of us are kind of proud to be involved in it. <v Resident>And there's also an economic factor that it has to help our community. <v Resident>I'm very interested in that. <v Jeff Young>How will that help the community? <v Resident>We'll probably pick up ten to fifteen families that will live here permanently, <v Resident>and that probably adds three or four local people in the local <v Resident>businesses. <v Resident>It just mushrooms when you get a little growth started. <v Resident> <v Resident>[Oregon residents talking] <v Jeff Young>People in Christmas Valley like the idea of being part of national defense. <v Jeff Young>The feeling of doing their part. <v Jeff Young>But as we heard at the Trail Cafe, there's also an economic motive. <v Jeff Young>Christmas Valley is a place that has a small population and is downright neighborly. <v Jeff Young>It also has some reasons to encourage growth. <v Jeff Young>There's three or four hundred people in the town, maybe eight hundred in the surrounding <v Jeff Young>area. I couldn't really determine for sure how many people are scattered around the

<v Jeff Young>county, nor does anyone really seem to care. <v Jeff Young>Those who settle there tend to be older folks, retirees or the semi retired <v Jeff Young>business people. One of the drawbacks of life in the valley are social and <v Jeff Young>medical services they left behind in the city. <v Bud Maple>That's what scares the elderly people out now, it's 90 miles to Bend hospital. <v Bud Maple>If we had our own doctor's office stuff like here, I could see more and more people <v Bud Maple>coming in here to retire. <v Jeff Young>Unlike most places that grow too fast, Christmas Valley wonders why it hasn't grown <v Jeff Young>faster. The town was always supposed to be bigger. <v Jeff Young>When the area began developing 20 years ago, growth was planned if not promised. <v Jeff Young>It was part of a vision. <v Jeff Young>Christmas Valley began as a model development, the dream of California based <v Jeff Young>developer Penn Phillips. <v Jeff Young>Phillips bought more than 70,000 acres of high desert and mapped out 2700 <v Jeff Young>plots of varying sizes. <v Jeff Young>Salesmen told customers out of state people generally that Christmas Valley

<v Jeff Young>would become the Palm Springs of Oregon. <v Jeff Young>Prospective buyers were offered land at unbelievably low prices. <v Jeff Young>Magazine and television ads promised resort style living at $15 dollars, <v Jeff Young>down $15 a month. <v Jeff Young>Many bought the lands at sight unseen. <v Jeff Young>The brochures gave them reason to believe that this corner of the desert was ready to <v Jeff Young>bloom. To his credit Penn Phillips set up the structure necessary for <v Jeff Young>future development. Before the land began selling, his construction crews <v Jeff Young>had built an airfield, a lodge, manmade lake, golf course, and church. <v Jeff Young>The plots of land were equipped with water mains and facilities for power. <v Jeff Young>All the place needed was people. <v Jeff Young>Longtime resident Betty Morehouse tells how life in Christmas Valley was promoted. <v Betty Morehouse>We had vacation plans and for a very low cost for an entire <v Betty Morehouse>family, maybe four to six people. <v Betty Morehouse>They could come and spend five to seven days. <v Betty Morehouse>They had planned trail rides.

<v Betty Morehouse>Hay rides with wagons and horses. <v Betty Morehouse>Weenie roasts. <v Betty Morehouse>Golf, of course, when the golf course was completed and the people that bought the <v Betty Morehouse>property were encouraged to take advantage of this plan so that they could appreciate <v Betty Morehouse>what they would have to look forward to. <v Betty Morehouse>And they did move here. <v Jeff Young>When you moved out, there were very few people here and you seemed to enjoy the freedom <v Jeff Young>that you had and not having too many neighbors. <v Jeff Young>And yet your job was to bring in folks to make this place larger. <v Betty Morehouse>That is very true. <v Betty Morehouse>I sometimes would think, why am I doing this? <v Betty Morehouse>I may be destroying the very thing that I moved here for. <v Betty Morehouse>But I suppose the people learned to adjust. <v Betty Morehouse>And I realized people had to move in here and it has not been that bad. <v Betty Morehouse>I am glad that I helped promote it. <v Betty Morehouse>It's a matter of pride. At the time, too. <v Jeff Young>Those who bought the land planned to settle in 10 to 30 years when they retired. <v Jeff Young>When the development crews packed up and left, Christmas Valley was only slightly larger <v Jeff Young>than before. It was a town of absentee deed holders.

<v Jeff Young>When land buyers finally came to inspect their property, they had mixed reactions. <v Resident>Just depending on whether you're a desert rat, or if you like this <v Resident>type country or whether you don't. <v Jeff Young>Is that often different than they thought it'd be? <v Resident>Half and half. Some were impressed with it being quiet and nobody bothers you much out <v Resident>here, and then other people are really <v Resident>mad about that they thought they got cheated. <v Jeff Young>For the next few years, most development was agricultural. <v Jeff Young>The vision of life on a golf course gave way to farms and circle irrigation. <v Jeff Young>Somewhere under the sandy desert floor lies a vast underground water supply. <v Jeff Young>When this aquifer is tapped and water pumped at the surface, the desert becomes fertile. <v Jeff Young>Christmas Valley is one of those desert areas that if you add water, you can grow just

<v Jeff Young>about anything. And if you don't add water, you have literally kitty litter. <v Jeff Young>Matter of fact, there's a small plant just outside of town where they have thousands of <v Jeff Young>acres of diatomaceous earth. <v Jeff Young>It's so dry that it can absorb about a hundred times its own weight in whatever goes in a <v Jeff Young>cat box or on your garage floor. <v Jeff Young>The oil dry plant is the area's largest single employer. <v Jeff Young>50 or so people scoop the bone dry material out of the desert, <v Jeff Young>process it, dump it in bags and send thousands of pounds <v Jeff Young>of kitty litter out the stores across the country. <v Jeff Young>If you don't work for the plant or farm or have a skill that makes you independent, <v Jeff Young>you're probably out of luck in Christmas Valley. <v Jeff Young>A small population far from the state's urban centers has another disadvantage. <v Jeff Young>Christmas Valley doesn't have a large political base. <v Jeff Young>And perhaps because of that, businesses and government agencies are more <v Jeff Young>likely to locate things there that wouldn't be tolerated in or around cities.

<v Jeff Young>In 1969, the company hoped to locate a radioactive waste disposal site <v Jeff Young>a few miles away. Although area residents were not officially informed <v Jeff Young>about the company, word travels fast in the desert. <v Jeff Young>Fearing potential seepage of radioactive waste into the underground water system, <v Jeff Young>residents were quick to respond. <v Betty Morehouse>We moved to have it stopped. <v Betty Morehouse>After various letters to state people, state agencies <v Betty Morehouse>and releases letters to the editor, articles, we did get <v Betty Morehouse>an Oregon State Senate committee to come to the site and look at it, <v Betty Morehouse>and as soon as they saw it for themselves, then they went back and <v Betty Morehouse>passed the necessary legislation put an end to it. <v Jeff Young>While battling the radioactive waste company, residents also discovered over 10,000 <v Jeff Young>barrels of toxic waste that had been dumped nearby. <v Jeff Young>No one had bothered to inform them that 2, 4-D and other hazardous waste had been

<v Jeff Young>seeping out of rusty barrels for years and years. <v Jeff Young>Perhaps due to its size, residents are more concerned about the quality <v Jeff Young>of life here and noticed changes faster than city folk. <v Gary Malchow>I personally feel that I have a closer <v Gary Malchow>rein in what happens to this community. <v Gary Malchow>I have a closer rein in what values my kids get, and I <v Gary Malchow>just think this is a great place to raise a family. <v Jeff Young>In the meantime, Christmas Valley is waiting to become just a little larger, <v Jeff Young>a little more prosperous and a little more attractive to people who might want to settle <v Jeff Young>there. Although radar base might not be the perfect answer, <v Jeff Young>they say it's the best idea anyone's come up with lately. <v Jeff Young>People out here want to improve their quality of life just like anyone else. <v Jeff Young>They readily accept the tradeoffs of sharing their valley with the strategic air command. <v Jeff Young>But they did give us a clear signal. <v Gary Malchow>I don't want a Metropolis. If this were to become a Metropolis, I'd have to move about <v Gary Malchow>another 80 miles out and start another small town, maybe.

<v Gary Malchow>I won't live in a Metropolis again. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Christmas Valley is undeveloped now, but it definitely has potential for growth. <v Gwyneth Gamble>If everyone who owned land in the area eventually moved there, it would be almost as <v Gwyneth Gamble>crowded as a city such as Bend. <v Gwyneth Gamble>That kind of growth is certainly possible. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Residents, those who would like to be, say if the town had a doctor and other services, <v Gwyneth Gamble>it would be the perfect place to live. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Not too many communities can say that. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Ironically, while Christmas Valley is still in its political infancy, it may be <v Gwyneth Gamble>vulnerable to those who would use it as a dumping ground for chemical waste and satellite <v Gwyneth Gamble>prisons, which have been proposed for the area. <v Gwyneth Gamble>That would spoil the relatively untouched quality that makes Christmas Valley so <v Gwyneth Gamble>special. <v Kevin McGovern>More than half of the couples who get married eventually file for divorce.

<v Kevin McGovern>The legal process of divorce is, for most people, a costly and painful experience. <v Kevin McGovern>But after the financial battles are over and a divorce is final, the worst part of losing <v Kevin McGovern>a partner begins. It's a time when people on their own face guilt and emotional <v Kevin McGovern>isolation. The hope is that things will be better the second time around. <v Kevin McGovern>There may be a few brief scenes coming up that might be objectionable to some viewers. <v Kevin McGovern>Many people who are newly divorced end up sitting in a bar trying to figure out what went <v Kevin McGovern>wrong. It isn't easy. <v Kevin McGovern>They're trying to cope with grief. <v Kevin McGovern>They're wondering if they'll ever be self-sufficient again. <v Kevin McGovern>Often they worry about the way they look, thinking that in order to get into the singles <v Kevin McGovern>scene, they have to project a sexy available image. <v Kevin McGovern>So believing in TV hype and advertising, they often go through a period of physical self <v Kevin McGovern>assessment and decide to cultivate a new look. <v Kevin McGovern>They often join the fitness crowd at a health club or make the rounds in clothing stores,

<v Kevin McGovern>buying the latest fashion. <v Kevin McGovern>Next, the single has to face the frightening prospect of going out. <v Kevin McGovern>Some never do. Everyone who does feels insecure, afraid that somehow <v Kevin McGovern>they won't measure up. Many people haven't dated since before the sexual revolution and <v Kevin McGovern>women's lib. Now they are face to face with their own sexuality. <v Kevin McGovern>Even a good night's kiss can be traumatic. <v Kevin McGovern>Like a scene from a Woody Allen movie. <v Alvy Singer (Woody Allen)>[scene from Woody Allen's Annie Hall] That's terrific. <v Annie Hall (Diane Keaton)>You know something, I never even took a lesson either. <v Alvy Singer (Woody Allen)>Hey, listen, listen. Gimme a kiss. <v Annie Hall (Diane Keaton)>Really? <v Alvy Singer (Woody Allen)>Yeah, why not? Because we're just gonna go home later, right, and then there's gonna be <v Alvy Singer (Woody Allen)>all that tension, you know, we never kissed before and I'll never know when to make the

<v Alvy Singer (Woody Allen)>right moves or anything. So we'll kiss now. We'll get it over with, then we'll go eat. <v Alvy Singer (Woody Allen)>Okay. <v Annie Hall (Diane Keaton)>Oh. <v Alvy Singer (Woody Allen)>And we'll digest our food better. <v Annie Hall (Diane Keaton)>Okay. <v Alvy Singer (Woody Allen)>OK, so now we can digest our food. <v Kevin McGovern>The personal appearance and a new sexual freedom aren't the only stumbling blocks <v Kevin McGovern>informing a new relationship. <v Kevin McGovern>There's the problem of how to meet someone, and there isn't a right way. <v Kevin McGovern>For some, there is help from close friends who get them involved in activities. <v Kevin McGovern>Others decide to join single clubs. <v Kevin McGovern>Single clubs cater to all ages and offer emotional support. <v Kevin McGovern>At club meetings, people can share their feelings and discover they are not alone. <v Kevin McGovern>Sometimes talking is enough, just letting it all out. <v woman>This guy is a phony and why is he putting on this, you know, why doesn't he knock it off <v woman>and be himself. <v woman>And so, you know, it has the opposite <v woman>effect and the person wants. <v Kevin McGovern>It helps to hear from experts that everything will be all right eventually, and to learn <v Kevin McGovern>how to interact with other singles. <v expert>First of all, we'll be dividing you into three separate families.

<v expert>The game attempts to simulate the human movement <v expert>from staying home - see the red sign back there? <v expert>To dating, which is over here, to authentic intimacy, which <v expert>is behind Judy on the poster. <v Kevin McGovern>Roleplaying games encourage people to come out of their shells. <v Kevin McGovern>For some people, it's a challenge. <v Kevin McGovern>For many, an ordeal. <v Kevin McGovern>But trying something new can be a good experience. <v Kevin McGovern>Many new singles don't like to do things in groups. <v Kevin McGovern>They prefer to read self-help books at home. <v Kevin McGovern>Sometimes divorce counselors who give advice on a one to one bases can make <v Kevin McGovern>the period of adjustment to single life less painful. <v Nancy Frisch>Because frequently people who are in a great deal of pain or who have experienced failure <v Nancy Frisch>are not able to see what all of their options are. <v woman>[woman talking] <v Kevin McGovern>For the more adventuresome, meeting someone can be arranged through dating services,

<v Kevin McGovern>some featuring computers and video libraries of available clients. <v woman>?inaudible? A home life. She cans, each year she actually plants her own vegetable <v woman>garden. There's a lot of different interests. <v woman>She was raised. <v Kevin McGovern>There are ads and the personal columns of several papers. <v Kevin McGovern>And of course, certain restaurants also draw a singles crowd. <v Kevin McGovern>At some bars, customers are guaranteed attention from the opposite sex, while <v Kevin McGovern>the male strip show is going on at The Great Gatsby, many women are able to live <v Kevin McGovern>out a fantasy without taking risks. <v Kevin McGovern>For many, the wild side of the singles scene is too threatening. <v Kevin McGovern>The reaction of each person to divorce and the problem of re socialization is different. <v Kevin McGovern>Val Fiske is someone who came out of an unhappy marriage with insecure feelings.

<v Kevin McGovern>Being single again isn't all that she expected. <v Kevin McGovern>She shared with us her thoughts about why her marriage failed and what she is looking for <v Kevin McGovern>now. <v Kevin McGovern>Val, how in love were you when you got married? <v Val Fiske>I really don't think I was in love at all. <v Kevin McGovern>Well, did you have any sparkling feelings or feel really infatuated? <v Val Fiske>Maybe at certain times, but not really. <v Val Fiske>In fact, the day I got married, I was crying my head off because I was so depressed about <v Val Fiske>whether or not I wanted to get married. <v Kevin McGovern>Why did you go ahead with your marriage? <v Val Fiske>I think basically I felt that if I <v Val Fiske>didn't grab the first thing that came along that nothing would ever come along again. <v Val Fiske>And I couldn't believe anybody could ever love me like my husband loved me. <v Val Fiske>And I also felt real, <v Val Fiske>not real good about myself. And I was very unhappy at that point in my life that I felt <v Val Fiske>like being married would make everything better and make Val happy. <v Kevin McGovern>Do you feel you were loved in your first marriage?

<v Kevin McGovern>Extremely loved? <v Val Fiske>Yeah, I do. <v Kevin McGovern>But yet you weren't able to have the same love feelings for your husband. <v Val Fiske>Right, I wasn't able to return that kind of love because I could not walk <v Val Fiske>up and hug this person and say, gosh, I love you. <v Val Fiske>And I wanted that from the very deepest part of my heart, but I couldn't do it. <v Kevin McGovern>Divorces normally have an impact on one's self-image <v Kevin McGovern>and how they feel about themselves. What happened to you? <v Val Fiske>Well, I probably went the opposite for most people. <v Val Fiske>Instead of trying to go out and prove myself and join health clubs and diet, <v Val Fiske>I did the opposite and gained quite a bit of weight and isolated myself and <v Val Fiske>made myself just made myself feel as bad as I could because I was just felt <v Val Fiske>so guilty and like such a bad, bad person. <v Val Fiske>I hated myself for what I'd done to this other person. <v Val Fiske>And I never want to go through that kind of guilt again, the rest of my life, because it <v Val Fiske>was so devastating to me. <v Val Fiske>I just withdrew. All my friends will drag me out and I would be with my friends. <v Val Fiske>But it's like I couldn't even relate to my friends because I just felt so alone, so

<v Val Fiske>confused. <v Kevin McGovern>How did you feel when your friends dragged you out of the house and pulled you to a bar? <v Val Fiske>You know, I'm glad they forced me out of the house because I wouldn't have gone if they <v Val Fiske>didn't. <v Val Fiske>I felt real isolated, I felt that like there was a big wall around me and no one <v Val Fiske>could get near me. I didn't want anybody near me. <v Val Fiske>I realized that I I think at certain points in my life, I want to be loved <v Val Fiske>and I want affection so bad I'm willing to do anything for it. <v Val Fiske>Meaning, you know, to go to bed with a man on the first date or the first, <v Val Fiske>you know, say rendezvous or whatever, <v Val Fiske>but well, and that always turns out to be bad. <v Val Fiske>I mean, those experiences are the most unfulfilling, empty after that's over <v Val Fiske>I feel so empty and lonely, I could just die. <v Val Fiske>You know and I think right now I'm looking more for the friendship and the companionship <v Val Fiske>more than the sexual part of it. <v Kevin McGovern>So the food and the nightlife, the spontaneity may not be as meaningful <v Kevin McGovern>as it's meant to be as discussed by others.

<v Val Fiske>I think it's built up. I think, you know, it's fun to be independent, you know, and it's <v Val Fiske>a great feeling like, wow, I can do this and I can be my own person and I can <v Val Fiske>fend for myself. But there are lots of lonely moments and lots of emptiness. <v Jerry Burbach>Did you write this thing just from because of the stickers?. <v Kevin McGovern>Jerry Burbach, a father of two children has been divorced for several years. <v Kevin McGovern>He's now planning to marry again. <v Kevin McGovern>He began his new relationship because of a mutual interest in skiing. <v Kevin McGovern>It turned into a loving and caring partnership, something he had always hoped for. <v Kevin McGovern>Jerry says things were really rough following his divorce, especially the day his <v Kevin McGovern>wife moved out. <v Jerry Burbach>That Friday I came home and I walked into this house and it was just dead silent. <v Jerry Burbach>And here I was in this house and no kids running around, no wife at home. <v Jerry Burbach>And that was the hardest thing that I could. <v Jerry Burbach>Just stands out immediately. Fortunately, when you're going through a divorce, the <v Jerry Burbach>best thing you can have that really helped me was good close friends. <v Jerry Burbach>I failed, you know, one of the most important things in life to me was being married.

<v Jerry Burbach>And I had failed at my marriage. <v Jerry Burbach>And it got to be I was embarrassed to tell people, well, you know, are you married now? <v Jerry Burbach>I'm divorced. It really became hard for me to say that because it showed that I had <v Jerry Burbach>failed at something. And a sudden I stood out and I was a freak, but I was someone that <v Jerry Burbach>couldn't handle something. <v Kevin McGovern>Jerry, were you in love in your first marriage? <v Jerry Burbach>Yes, I was really very much in love with, in my first marriage. <v Jerry Burbach>I think the thing to look at now is being 41 years old and being16 <v Jerry Burbach>at the time that I met my wife in school, I <v Jerry Burbach>look at love different now than I did than. <v Jerry Burbach>I was in love with Linda a lot. <v Kevin McGovern>What did love mean to you at 16? <v Jerry Burbach>Someone to be with that I really cared about that it was more maybe a physical <v Jerry Burbach>attraction, someone I enjoyed being with, <v Jerry Burbach>going out with. And I didn't really get into the deep emotional feeling of what love is. <v Jerry Burbach>And I think with maturity that comes, and that's <v Jerry Burbach>one of the disadvantages of getting married right out of high school.

<v Jerry Burbach>I'd been married for 15 years and I was out of circulation and the bar scene was <v Jerry Burbach>something I hadn't done for 15 years. And to try to put yourself in it is really a shock. <v Jerry Burbach>I mean, there's a whole different culture out there now than when I was young. <v Kevin McGovern>So that was really frightening for you. <v Jerry Burbach>It was it was frightening for me. <v Kevin McGovern>After 15 years of living in a home, having children, you had to go back out there <v Kevin McGovern>and search. Do you remember some of your first impressions of what the search was going <v Kevin McGovern>to be like, what you had to do after 15 years of hibernation? <v Jerry Burbach>I went into this place with a friend and I did not want to be there. <v Jerry Burbach>I was not in the mood, I had a hard day at work, but he convinced me I should not go <v Jerry Burbach>home, I should go out and we'd got to the bars, so we did. <v Jerry Burbach>And I was sitting there and he was out dancing, having a good time. <v Jerry Burbach>There was this girl down at the end of the bar, having just a miserable time as I was. <v Jerry Burbach>So I thought, well, what the heck? I didn't want to dance, I didn't want to do anything. <v Jerry Burbach>I walked up to her and I says, you're having as miserable time as I am. <v Jerry Burbach>I said, you know, can I sit down? She said, Sure. <v Jerry Burbach>So the two of us just misery together. It gets boring. <v Jerry Burbach>It really does. And like I say, the ladies that I met in these places are not <v Jerry Burbach>really someone I was interested in looking for a long term relationship.

<v Jerry Burbach>And at the time, I really wasn't anyhow. But I just it just wasn't for <v Jerry Burbach>me. <v Kevin McGovern>Now that you're settling down in a new relationship, what advice would you give to <v Kevin McGovern>someone who's just going through a divorce and is back searching again? <v Jerry Burbach>Be with people you want to be with. Like with me, it wasn't the bar scene. <v Jerry Burbach>I didn't want to be there. So I could not be in my element. <v Jerry Burbach>I could not be at ease. And if you're getting, you know, if they are going to go out and <v Jerry Burbach>they want to date and you want to meet people, do it in the environment that you're <v Jerry Burbach>really comfortable in. Because otherwise, I don't think it. <v Jerry Burbach>It just doesn't work. It isn't lasting. <v Kevin McGovern>Adjusting to being single is a difficult process. <v Kevin McGovern>People going through a transition should keep in mind what Val and Jerry have said. <v Kevin McGovern>Value friends and keep trying to get back in the swing of things. <v Kevin McGovern>Be aware of who you are and what you want to be. <v Kevin McGovern>Then maybe things will be better than it was the first time around. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Kevin, we've just seen some options for the newly divorced.

<v Gwyneth Gamble>How does a person know what path to follow when he or she is recently divorced? <v Kevin McGovern>They need to find a direction that will allow them to feel more healthy and to develop <v Kevin McGovern>their self-esteem so they'll feel comfortable with this emancipation. <v Gwyneth Gamble>What are some of the negatives that come up with these options? <v Kevin McGovern>People often become depressed. They lose their self-confidence and they feel extremely <v Kevin McGovern>guilty and lost. <v Gwyneth Gamble>But then in that case, Kevin, does divorce always have to be negative? <v Kevin McGovern>Absolutely not. Many people who become divorced find ways to discover themselves <v Kevin McGovern>and to move forward in life. <v Kevin McGovern>Do you think that we're gonna see more and more divorce in society? <v Gwyneth Gamble>I think over the next 10 years, you're probably going to see an upswing in divorces. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Unless you live in the catacombs, there's no way to get away from it. <v Gwyneth Gamble>If you ski or play tennis, if you're a construction engineer or a student, if you need to <v Gwyneth Gamble>know when the baseball game is being played, you need to know about the weather.

<v Gwyneth Gamble>Oregonians don't have much life threatening weather like hurricanes or tornadoes, but <v Gwyneth Gamble>we do spend a great deal of time each night watching the weather on television. <v Gwyneth Gamble>That interest has prompted the Portland television stations to spend several thousands of <v Gwyneth Gamble>dollars each year to make their weathermen appear credible, understandable and <v Gwyneth Gamble>likable. <v Jim Little>A lot of rain and some gusty winds this morning. <v Jim Little>The winds have died down. <v Gwyneth Gamble>A weatherman at a commercial station spends one hour for every minute he's on the air <v Gwyneth Gamble>just to prepare the forecast. <v Gwyneth Gamble>To make a more accurate prediction, he has to watch the reports and make observations <v Gwyneth Gamble>all day long. But even so, weather is fickle. <v Gwyneth Gamble>No matter how sophisticated the equipment, no prediction can ever be exact. <v Jim Little>Well, it's really a tough question when you ask about accuracy in forecasting, because

<v Jim Little>you have to define what accurate is. For example, if I say the high temperature tomorrow <v Jim Little>is going to be 75. And in fact, it's 76, is that right or wrong? <v Gwyneth Gamble>Oregon's variety of terrain and weather patterns make it very complicated to tell what <v Gwyneth Gamble>is going to happen. It's even more difficult to foresee when a new weather system <v Gwyneth Gamble>will arrive. <v Jim Little>When I was in the Air Force, I forecast weather for the Midwest, for example, and <v Jim Little>the weather came in across Kansas and up through Nebraska. <v Jim Little>And you could just see it coming here. <v Jim Little>It's coming. <v Gwyneth Gamble>All weatherman can do is make educated guesses. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Accuracy isn't the only criteria that affects the public confidence. <v Gwyneth Gamble>People often like a forecaster because of factors other than his ability to predict when <v Gwyneth Gamble>it's going to rain. <v Resident>My favorite weatherman. <v Resident>Well, I think Jim Little. <v Resident>Uh, Jim, what's his name on Channel 8? <v Reporter>Jim Little? <v Resident>Yeah, yeah. <v Resident>Yeah. Why do you listen to him? <v Resident>Because I watch the news at that time. <v Resident>Dr. John, I guess.

<v Reporter>Why? <v Resident>Oh, he has nice delivery. I like the voice, it sounds, you know, good <v Resident>to me. <v Resident>Jim Bosley on Channel 2. <v Reporter>Why? <v Resident>I just like his personality, he's funny. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Of all the other reporters, the weatherman is the only one who has to deal with the <v Gwyneth Gamble>future. And though some weathermen say they're right almost nine times out of ten, <v Gwyneth Gamble>it only takes one mistake to make them seem more fallible. <v Gwyneth Gamble>The ultimate irony is if a forecaster reaches that measure of credibility <v Gwyneth Gamble>he is trying to attain, he then becomes the target of blame when people are unhappy <v Gwyneth Gamble>about the actual weather. <v Dr. John Walls>Sure. I found that a long time ago that we don't use bad <v Dr. John Walls>weather and rain, for example, in the same sentence. <v Dr. John Walls>We don't talk about rainy, cloudy weather as being bad weather at all because many <v Dr. John Walls>people that live in this part of the country look forward to that kind of weather. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Oddly enough, the harder it is to predict weather, the more Portland meteorologists <v Gwyneth Gamble>like it. They say it is more challenging and gratifying to get the right

<v Gwyneth Gamble>answer when the odds are against you. <v Jim Little>Gotta be a little bit of a masochist, I guess, to be in this business, because, you know, <v Jim Little>the state of the art is such that you can't get it right all the time. <v Gwyneth Gamble>These men are not infallible. <v Gwyneth Gamble>In Oregon, predicting the weather is more than an inexact science. <v Gwyneth Gamble>It's an inexact art. <v Gwyneth Gamble>That's all the time we have tonight. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Thanks for watching. Until next time. <v Gwyneth Gamble>Good night.