El Independiente

              FIGHTING FOR THE
FUTURE:
SOUTH TUCSON TEENS
ARE HOPING BOXING
MiGHT BE THE KEY TO
SUCCESS.
SEE PAGE 6
2 killed in
shoot- out
By TOM COLUNS
Stoff Writer
See MURDER, page 7
The South Tucson Police
investigation into an appar-ently
drug-related double
murder has stretched to
1hoen ix.
Two South Tucson men
were found dead at a house in
the 100 block of East 32nd
Street about 8 a.m. ,Nov.4, STPD
Cmdr. Fred McVean said.
Police found one of the-men's
car in Phoenix between
ov løand 11 Mççusaid He
said the department was now
follwing up investigative leads
n that city.
McVean said the shootings
were "more than likely drug
related."
There were no drugs found
n the house, but it had been
ransacked and there was drug
paraphernalia at the scene,
McVean said.
"Whoever did this was in
there looking for something
in particular," McVean said.
He said police had been
watching the house because
they suspctd it wa hcing
used for drug dealing.
"When you have people in
the house two or three mm-utes
and then they're back
out, you can pretty well say it's
a drug house," McVean said.
He said police had been stop-ping
people leaving the
house, which was seeing a lot
of foot traffic.
said STPD had pro-viously
arrested one of the
men on drug charges and had
tried to use the federal
immigration and
Naturalization Service and
Border Patrol to drive both
iren out of town. Those efforts,
he said, were unsuccessful.
The men, Orlando R. Curra,
27 and Inocencio D. Ramirez,
52, were sub letting the house,
McVean said The names oI
the victims were initially
witheld because their next of
kin had not been notified.
They were found dead, on
inside the house the other out-side
about 8 a m after police
received a call reporting a
"man down," McVean said. He
Elm
City backs ethnic study program
Turning over a new leaf... ' Resolution cites
8.3 % Hispanic
drop-out rate
South Tucson's
:..:
By TOM COLLINS
Staff Writer
South Tucson will have the teeth to
bite down on businesses that sell tobacco
to kids, thanks to a new city ordinance
that goes into effect Jan. 1.
The law, passed unanimously Oct. 20,
forces store owners who sell tobacco to
get a $100 yearly license from the city.
In order to keep their licenses, busi-nesses
will have to follow state and feder-al
laws to keep their license and make
sure all their employees sign a statement
that they understand the law. The police
department can check up on a store any-time.
"We're just trying to give our police
endiente English/Spanish Newspaper
officers a tool to enforce existing law,"
said Ethan Orr, South Tucson economic
development specialist. He said the new
fee will raise less than $2,000 for the city,
but will provide the police with enforce-ment
authority.
Without a license, a store will not be
able to sell tobacco.
The new ordinance came as no sur-prise
to Kenyon Gee, owner of T&T
Market, 2048 S. Sixth Ave.
It was only a matter of time before
South Tucson would follow Tucson, Gee
said. The city of Tucson passed an ordi-nance
this spring that also required
tobacco dealers to be licensed.
The new law also requires a busi-ness
to take down any self-service racks
By NICOLLE R. HERNANDEZ
Staff Writer
Nearly one year after the fight for a
Tucson Unified School District Mexican-
American Studies program began, South
Tucson hasjoined the Pima County Board
of Supervisors and the Tucson City
Council in support of the program.
The South Tucson City Council adopted
a resolution last month urging the
Tucson Unified School District to start the
program.
The resolution cites the high drop out
rate and low achievement test scores of
the Hispanic students in TUSD schools as
a reasons for a Mexican-American
Studies Program. The statement passed
unanimously, Sept. 22.
The Hispanic drop-out rate of 8.3 per-cent
is the highest of any ethnic group,
according to TUSD statistics.
Pueblo High School, the high school
for most South Tucson teenagers, has the
highest drop out rate in the system at 16
percent.
About42 percent of TUSD students are
Hispanic.
This November marks the one-year-anniversary
since the Coalition of
Neighbors for Mexican American
Studies presented to TUSD a request, with
400 signatures, for the implementation
of the program, said Rosalie Lopez, a
TUSD parent who filed a lawsuit last
January issued by other TUSD parents
against the school board.
TIME TO UNDO
THOSE TATOOS:
A LOCAL PROGRAM
GIVESKIDSTO
ERASE EMBLEMS.
SEE PAGE 8
See MAS, page 7
Ordinance targets illegal tobacco sales to minors
for cigarettes.
Gee said that, though his store has
never had them, this may be the key to
the ordinance.
"It's not effective if (cigarettes) are
still in the same spot."
Jim McNair, manager of Waigreens,
1900 S. Sixth Ave., said that all the drug-store
chain's outlets in the Tucson area
had already taken down their self-ser-vice
displays after the Tucson ordinance
passed.
He said removing the racks had also
cut down on the shoplifting of cigarettes.
Gee said that the $100 was not a lot of
money compared to the $400 he spends a
year for his liquor license.
SeeTOBACCO, page 7
Kern Bloom , EL INDEPENDIENTE
16-year-old Leah Pequeno of the Arizona Girls Ranch chips in
during South Tucson's "Make a Difference Day."