NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Friday. September 27, lfSS Page 3 Nation 1 Pros and cons off contraceptives for teens care of the horses, at UPI photo . Louis Carrasquillo, an inmate at the minimum-security prison in Wallkill, N.Y., feeds and brushes down thoroughbreds every morn- : ing as part of a program in which inmates care for retired and broken-down race horses. The program, called "Thoroughbred Retirement Fund Inc.," receives funding from horse owners and animal lovers and provides inmates the opportunity to learn * groomipg skills while in prison. Prisoners take care of aging race horses By James Carbone United Press International WALLKILL, N.Y. -- Every morning, Luis Carrasquillo goes to a barn where he feeds and waters thoroughbreds, cleans their stalls and brushes them down. At day's end, he returns to his cell at Wallkill Correctional Facility. Carrasquillo and 10 other inmates at the medium-security state prison in -mpstate New York's Ulster County are part of a program in which they care sJor old, sometimes broken-down race horses which might otherwise be put •jb death. •* "The inmates are learning valuable skills," said deputy superintendent Jseonard Portuondo. "There are jobs available out there (at horse farms)." •I Portuondo said one Wallkill inmate, who is scheduled for parole soon and Jaking part in the voluntary program, will be given a job at a horse farm in iftestbrook, Conn. lastyear twa group of horse owners and animi le fate offMH thoroughbreds. The gtf&iib forme Fund the., which pays tfie bills for feedfnji i fundraisers and collects private donations ' „ The prison administers the program and inmates learn grooming skills «imed at helping them land jobs when they are released. All applicants Jnust be low-security risks because the farm is outside the main prison ^building. Z "I feed the horses, clean their stalls and make sure they have water," parrasquillo said recently as he walked a horse at the barn on prison grounds. * "I like horses and would like to find a nice job taking care of horses," added Carrasquillo, who is serving 4Vfe to 9 years for selling drugs. * Portuondo said the inmates seem to develop a more positive attitude fcbout themselves by taking care of the animals. •"They're enthusiastic. Just being outside and being responsible for the 5are of the horses changes their attitudes," he said. While inmates learn job skills, they are also providing a service to the horses. Many of the thoroughbreds have medical problems that ended their facing careers. In many cases, the horses' owners could no longer afford to care for the animals but didn't want to see them put away. w "A lot of the horses would be dog food if it wasn't for the program," said £im Tremper, a prison instructor who supervises the inmates and whb has worked with horses for 16 years. Z "Some of the horses come in great shape," Tremper said. "Their owners have taken good care of them. But some of them..." he said, shaking his head. "It's sad, really sad." * Tremper said some of the animals sent to the farm can barely walk. Others have arthritis, abcesses, broken bones or are just underfed. t "They (the inmates) fatten them up, take care of them and get them (poking good," he said. r To get a horse placed in the program, an owner must write to the foundation's acceptance committee. The horse must be a thoroughbred, Pave a racing record and be free of communicable diseases. Owners must also agree to sign over the horse to the foundation, but can visit the horse whenever they like. * "Some of the owners are still very attached to them," Tremper said. Owners of the program's "star" horse, Telly Hill, decided to turn over (he animal to the foundation so he could serve a "useful function rather ttian letting him just stand there doing nothing, wasting away," Tremper s$id. * Telly Hill, an 11-year-old, won about $348,000 during his career and was New Jersey's Horse of the Year in 1979. IfThere are only 11 horses at the barn today, but plans call for 40 by as $irly as next year, according to Monique Kohler, president of the Thor- edghbred Foundation Fund. * v, 'Killing Fields' reporter resigns from N. Y. Times ' NEW YORK (UPI) - Sydney Schanberg, a New York Times col- pmnist whose experiences during the Cambodian war were chronicled In the movie "The Killing Fields," has resigned from the newspaper following the cancellation of his fcolumn. » A spokesman for the newspaper said Schanberg had been offered Other positions but they "were not what he wanted." He resigned Irtonday. * The column, which Schanberg had been writing for four years, took up luch urban ills as poverty, injustice $nd corruption. - 1 * His resignation, which ended Schanberg's 25-year career with the $imes, came a month after the newspaper announced in a short. ferse statement he would no longer be writing his column. * "After four years of writing his ^vice-weekly 'New York' column on the Op-Ed page of The New York times, Sydney Schanberg has been CHICAGO (UPI) - The issue of dispensing free birth control devices was praised by those who receive them at a South Side high school, b\ others condemned the act as pi moting promiscuity. Du Sable High School, where one- third of the female students became pregnant last year and pregnancy caused 40 percent of the females to drop out, opened an all-purpose clin ic June 26 with funds from a coali tion of private foundations. The clinitjJispenses free birth control pitfsand condoms to stu dents with parental consent. The city does not pay for any of the clinic's services, which is located at the school rent-free. Clinic planners said that before they decided where to locate the facility they were looking for an area where teenage pregnancies were especially high and a commu- JBityJthakwould be receptive to the clinic. \ At a Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday, lines were drawn between' community mem bers supporting the clinic as a way to decrease teenage pregnancies and pro-life groups, all of which came from outside the community. School board President GeoVge Munoz defended the need for the clinic but said, "I personally would not support any Board of Education dollars going to the dispersement" of birth control. Officials at the Du Sable clinic have defended supplying the free birth control as a way to keep stu dents in school. Lenure Spencer, whose pregnant daughter attends Du Sable, said. "If it wasn't for that clinic, my daugh ter would have dropped out." Jan Williams, a Du Sable class president, said. "Birth control and condoms are there to help girls like me." But Joseph Scheidler of the Pro- Life Action League, who does not live in the immediate area surround ing Du Sable, said birth control pills and IUDs were a form of abortion, which he called "a tool to promote a promiscuous society." "I'm not an outsider." Scheidler said. "My taxpayer's dollars are what pay for the clinic." On ABC's "Nightline" Wednesday night, a member of an anti-abortion group criticized programs that dis pense contraceptives. "These programs give official sanction to promiscuous behavior," said Gary Curran of the Committee to Protect the Family. "By saying it's all right to engage in sex as long as you do it, quote, responsibly is promoting promiscuity." The Du Sable clinic was intended as a pilot program, to be extended to other schools if successful, school board officials said. Ti ll: H.CCI? TC Clill.ING STCIN: Presenting Our DECORATING CENTER for • Residential • Commercial • Industrial Our group of friendly professionals welcome you to the FLOOR TO CEILING STORE Decorating Center. We are ready to assist you with your selection of decorating products and services. asked to accept another assignment, which is now under discussion," said an article that appeared in the news paper Aug. 20. Sources outside the newspaper, in cluding the Village Voice, have said Schanberg's attacks against the es tablishment made Times executives uncomfortable. "Schanberg's column made some people in the Times hierarchy as uncomfortable as his chosen tar gets." the Voice said. Schanberg, who began writing the column in 1980 after a four-year stint as metropolitan editor, received wide acclaim for his reporting as a foreign correspondent in Cambodia in 1975, on which the film "The Kill ing Fields" was based. The film was based on the book "The Death and Life of Dith Pran," which Schanberg wrote about his first-hand experience as a witness to the bloody Khmer Rouge takeover of Phnom Penh. ( Wallcoverings ..... 25%-75% off Custom Draperies & Bedspreads 20% off Window Treatments blinds, verticals, softlfghts 50% off I N T R 0 D U C I N G We're extremely proud to announce thai DONNIS JOHNSON is now with our sales staff. Donnis is well trained in the decorating field. Her product knowledge and professional, pleasant personality have made her a great leader in the interior decorating field. Donnis is here to assist you with all your selections from "floor to ceiling"... her expertise in coordinating all aspects of design, fashion and color, expands in the kitchen, bath, and all rooms for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional. New lines of Custom Made Draperies, Bedspreads & Fabrics: • Waverly & Schumacher • draperies, bedspreads, fabric & upholstery fabric... NOW AT 20% SAVINGS!! • DESIGN CRAFT • casement type fabrics. • AERO • exquisite draperies, fabrics and bedspreads. We also carry custom work from NORMAN'S OF SALISBURY. "47'LOCATIONS IN 8 STATES" Financing Available • Fraa Daalgn Sarvlca • Profaialonal InitaMatlon % y * f c i l l l l • - K/ * S TEm 1230DAVIS ROAD (BYPASS RT. 144 47) WOODSTOCK - 815-338 1440 Hour»: Monday* Pridey*-S:M Tuosday, Wodnoodoy, Thursday 9 i; Saturday f-S WE OFFER * CUSTOM INSTALLATION