1988_12 The Daily Collegian December 1988

              the Daily Collegian
California State University, Fresno
Thursday. December 1,1988
Parking lot crew stays tight on job
BY SYLVIA CASTRO
Staff Wriatr
The blue cap adorning the construe lion worker's head
reads 'more power, more money, less bullshit."
"It's tbe company cap," jokes Phil Baquera, job super-
intendenl for the men toiling at the site of CSUFs new¬
est parking lot on Ihe corner of Shaw and Woodrow, east
of campus.
"I was hoping [Baquera] would lake il to heart,"
laughs the cap's wearer, Tony Lewis, as the crew pre¬
pared 10 block off for the day.
The exchange reflected lhe comraderie that makes up
Ibe everyday world for these men, employees of the
Gentz Construction Company. Gentz was contracted lo
build tbe S625.660 parking lot "V which is due for
completion in April, though Baquera say the job will be
done in February.
Today was grading day—the preps-ianon for paving
and concrete.
The two, along with about four other workers, had
finished a day's work. But this day was a light one be¬
cause recent rains had made the work area loo muddy.
Baquera and Lewis, along with a fellow worker, Olan
Ragsdale, delayed their departure momenianly to talk
about iheir work and their lives.
They're construction men; some are in it because the
pay is good. But for most, it's the only thing they
know.
"I love this land of work," says Baquera, 50. a New
Mexico native who now resides in Fresno and hat been
with Gentz for 20 years. "Pays good and you're never in
one place loo long"
Lewis, 47, agrees, "the pay is good and 1 like wont¬
ing outdoors." Lewis has been in tbe business 20 yean.
"It's a union job," he said, "If il isn't union you only
get paid half as much." _,■.
Ragsdale, 63, is a blade operator who came lo Fresno
from Oklahoma when he was 13 along with his father
and four siblings after his mother died in 1943.
Ragsdale has been in construction for 36 yean and is
happy because his working days are numbered.
"I have three months to go before I retire. I can't wait.
Please see CREW, page 5
Thor SwUVDaily Collegian
Otttng two year-old Steven Stager to practice hla consonant, requires a liitie coaching from student speech theraplat Tracy Carroll. Steven and hla mother Susan
attend ths CSUF ciinlc In order to overcome Stven'e speech Impedament due to e cleft pallets. ' ' .
•av
Clinic serves clients and students
BY HTM KASABIAN
Staff Writer
Six-year-old Jeff Hartman sits in the
tiny chair, lacing a table full of cards with
pictures on them. His eyebrows knit to¬
gether in total concentration as he pre¬
pares io tell his teacher what he sees on
lhe card she's pointing to.
'Speech is so fundamental for humans, it's fun
to be able to help people communicate better.'
—Julie Goehring
Communicative
Disorders
Pot two of a ltir«3e-pa1 seres
"Rope!" he shouts, his mouth breaking
into o wide grin upon properly identifying
the drawing. Jeff knows that the picture
be sees is of a rape. But Jeff was born
with a condition known as congenital
apraxia, which prevents him Irom being
able lo say what his brain knows.
His teacher, graduate studeni Julie
Goehring. makes sure to praise Jeff every
time be correctly pronounces a word. She
also requires him to repeat those words or
sounds that be doesn't get right the first
lime.
Both teacher and client are pan of an on-
campus clinic, which functions as part of
the communicative disorders program.
Sinjervised by director David Foushee.
the clinic serves both the clients and the
students.
As pan of the curriculum, all com-
mimicaiive disorders graduate students
with an emphasM in speech pathology
must serve 400 hours of clinical week be¬
fore earning their degree. The clinic is
just one way, Foushee said, of fitfUling
that requircmcri: "Students also work in
private practices, hospiials and schools."
he said.
CSUF and San Diego State University
are the only two CSU schools that have
accrcditcdcomraunitaiivedisordcridepail-
ments. In order lo maintain the accredit¬
ation standards, the department is subject
to yearly reviews and evaluations of the
program. Pan of the accreditatioii require¬
ment is a minimum of 300 hours
of clinical work, but Foushee said that
CSUFs requirement of an exjra 100
hours belter prepares the students for a car¬
eer in speech pathology.
The clinic at CSUF serves about 50 lo
70 children and adults per semester who
have various hearing and speech disabil¬
ities ranging from articulation disorders to
cerebal palsy. Foushee said that the wait¬
ing list for clients can be as long as one-
and-a-half years.
"Five to 10 percent of our clients are
released at the end of Ihe semester or dont
come back." he said. Cnnently there are
150 people on lhc clinic's waiting list
One of the primary reasons, be said,
that makes CSUFs clinic so appealing to
Please see CLINIC, ;oge 8