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Friday, October 27, 2000

Thorns and Roses

   A soft place to land for kids
   When kids using the new bayfront playgrounds take a tumble, they will have a softer landing. A new rubberized surface has been installed at the three playgrounds.
   The installation of the new surface cushions matters also for the city parks department and the City Council, both of which took some hard knocks after it was revealed that some material with some nasty stuff was being used where kids were playing.
   After falling behind schedule in the parks' construction, the department used wood chips mixed with landfill debris as a playground surface. But the stuff had metal pieces and sharp matter. Home Depot provided wood mulch as a replacement after the uproar broke.
   But the Junior League and the department went one better. The League raised $20,000 towards the cost of installing the permanent poured-in-place rubberized material. The total cost: $117.836.
   The city parks department got off to a rocky start, but eventually it got it right with the help of the Junior League of Corpus Christi. Give both ROSES.

   Lowering the bar
   Three years ago the San Francisco Board of Education decided it could no longer turn out high school graduates who had only minimal understanding of math and science. So far, so good.
   New standards required that students take three years of math and science, up from the previous two-year requirement. Requirements for arts, foreign languages and math were similarly beefed up.
   The requirements were tough, but they would have allowed graduates to be admitted to any California university. The board took satisfaction in its action.
   That is, until this year. Trustees learned that 30 percent of this year's seniors, the first class to meet the new standards, would not be able to graduate because of failure to meet the requirements.
   Faced with irate parents, the board junked the requirements and handed out the diplomas. Give trustees a THORN for devaluing the diplomas of the 70 percent who worked hard to meet the standard.

   Foul-ball conduct
   For all of his brilliance on the pitcher's mound, the New York Yankees' Roger Clemens has his quirks. For one, his penchant for acting like a lout.
   That characteristic was on national view on Sunday in the World Series against the New York Mets. That it involved Mets catcher Mike Piazza, a player with whom Clemens had an earlier run-in, only aggravated matters.
   Piazza, who was hit by a pitch in a celebrated incident earlier in the season, swung at a Clemens pitch and fouled off the ball, splintering the bat in the process. The remnant of the bat fell near Clemens who apparently took this as an intrusion on his space. He angrily tossed the piece of wood in the direction of Piazza. The umpire had to intervene between the two players.
   This week major league baseball fined Clemens $50,000 for the incident. To that, give Clemens a THORN for his minor-league behavior.

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