West Side Recorder Volume 5 No 10

              WEST SIDE RECORDER
Volume 5—Number 10
Monthly Newspaper of the West Side, Denver, Colorado
April, 1969
St. Joseph's Prom Queen
ROYALTY FOR THE PROM—Frances Martinez, center above,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carols Martinez of 5059 Broadway, was
queen for the annual junior-senior prom Friday night (April 25)
at St. Joseph's High School. Her attendants were, from left, Mary
Duran, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Duran of 450 Bannock St., Sharon Valdez, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Valdez
of 751 Inca St., Carolyn Moye, daughter of Mrs. Hazel Beechem
of 952 Stuart St.; and Gloria Avila, daughter of Nicanor Avila
of 571 Galapago St.
Vengan Todos to the Fiesta...
Centro Cultural... May 2-4
Centro Cultural at 935 West llth Ave. is planning a
fiesta for its grand opening May 2, 3 and 4. There will be
a big parade and float contest Saturday, May 3.
The program of events has something for everyone of
any age—musical entertainment by children under 11, stage
performances by young people, street dancing, songfests,
Mexican food and a bazaar.
ANYONE WISHING to be in
the parade should call the parade chairman, Waldo Benave-
diiz, at 623-0737. The parade
will form at Sunken Gardens
beginning at 10 a.m. May 3,
and will move through the West
Side from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.
The welcome and the blessing of
Our Lady of Guadalupe will be
at 11:45 a.m. at the center.
Other special events will be
art exhibits, movies, dramatic
readings and a mariachi mass
on Sunday, May 4.
THE ENTIRE PROGRAM is
as follows:
Friday, May 2: Live musical
entertainment by artists aged
5 to 11—7-9 p.m. at Centro Cultural. "Zapotec," color film—9-
10:15 p.m. Songfest for all ages,
10:15-11:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 3: Parade,
welcome and blessing in morning. Street festivities—1-5 p.m.
Live stage performances featuring young people—1-4 p.m. at
Centro Cultural. Drama—4-5
p.m. Western music and street
dancing—5-6 p.m. Live entertainment—7-11 p.m. at Centro
Cultural. Community dancing to
Latin, folk and modern music
—7 p.m. to midnight.
Sunday, May 4: Mariachi
Mass—11 a.m. at Centro Cultural. Street musical entertainment—12:30 p.m. Official opening and ribbon cutting—1:30
p.m. at Centro Cultural. Judg-
Santa Fe Headquarters
For Two Candidates
A West Side headquarters
has been set up at 966 Santa Fe
Dr., by Denver school board
candidates Edgar Benton and
Monte Pascoe. A bus is stationed there at 1 o'clock daily
so West Siders can register to
vote in the school board election
May 20.
West Siders can get information about the election and
school issues at the new headquarters from Betty Benavidez.
The telephone number is 534-
7596.
Bazaar and Carnival
At Auraria May 17
The annual Auraria Community Center bazaar and carnival
will be Saturday, May 17.
Rummage and baked goods
will be on sale from 2 to 4 p.m.
Booths and games for children
will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
The House Council is collecting trading stamps, especially
Mor-Valu, to purchase a raffle
prize.
ing graffiti, plus music and
singing— 2 p.m. at Centro Cultural. "Zapotac"— 2 p.m. Final
stage performance—3 p.m.
Grand finale songfest and das-
pedida—4:30 p.m.
PLEASE NOTE
The deadline for the May
issue of the West Side Recorder is Tuesday, May 13.
It wiU cover the period from
May 25 through June 29.
Mail or deliver your information to 465 Galapago St
You Are Invited
Clubs Beginning
In Lincoln Park
Club groups are being organized for children in Lincoln
Park Homes by two University
of Colorado students. The
meetings will be for groups of
eight or ten children each, from
6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the following days:
Children six and seven years
old together, children eight
and nine years old together,
on Monday evenings.
Children 10 and 11 years old
together, children 12 and 13
years old together, Wednesday evenings.
Girls 14 to 18 years old,
Tuesday evenings.
The activities win include
singing, dancing, cooking, arts
and crafts, field trips, and other
things the members are interested in. The groups meet at
1438 Navajo St
If enough interest is shown
there may be more groups and
more activities starting next
fall. More information is available by calling Carol Casey at
534-0821 or Ann Brinks at 442-
0942.
School Board Meets
At W. H. S. May 6
All West Siders are invited to a Denver school board
meeting at West High School at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 6.
Anyone who wishes to speak before the board at that
time should call Bal Chavez at 934-4958 or write to him at
935 West llth Ave.
West PTA Sets Up
Special Action Group
The West High School PTA
has formed a special action
committee to work on improving program and communication at West next year. The committee is composed of about 40
parents, teachers and students.
Interested persons may stUl
join by calling Mrs. Loretta
Rhym at 2554910.
The committee has already
met several times. They also
plan to meet during the summer. They are supporting the
requests made to the Denver
School Board by West High's
Lay Advisory Board.
The committee sponsored a
music program for school community day on April 24. The
Soul Explosions played and a
light show was given.
Celebration This Sunday
Honors Sister Cecelia
The 26th anniversary of Sister Cecelia as a Franciscan
Sister and the fifth anniversary of the Adult Education Tutorial Program which she helped found at St. Elizabeth's
School will be celebrated this Sunday, April 27.
A Mariachi Mass will be held
at 5 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's
Church, 1060 llth St., with
Father Jeremias Milner O.F.M.
officiating and Father Joseph
Torres S.J. assisting.
Many of the students and tutors who have participated in
the program over the last five
years are expected to attend.
"THE PURPOSE OF the celebration is to renew past friendships," said Sister Cecelia. "The
emphasis of the program has
been the personal relationship
between tutor and student as
well as the academic experience."
Sister Cecelia's 25 years "in
God's service" have been spent
in the teaching profession.
Reared in the fanning country
of Nebraska during the drouth
years she was the second of 13
children. She wanted to be a
teacher and felt a "call" to enter
Sister  Cecelia «*>nt- on Pa#e 3>
AN APPEAL
TO WEST SIDERS
Our community health center, Mariposa Health Station
at 1178 Mariposa St, has
been broken into EIGHT
times within the last three
months. Items missing include typewriters for registering patients and important
medical equipment for care
of patients.
If anyone can help us find
any of the stolen medical
equipment, please notify the
Health Station, telephone
623-8782, and let us know.
We hope neighborhood
people can help us with our
problem.
IVesf Siders Get Delay, Many Figures on Old Pool
Between 75 and 100 West Siders attended City Council
April 14 to hear Parks and Recreation Manager Joe Ciancio,
Jr., explain why the Lincoln Park Pool won't be fixed up as
promised last summer in time for the regular summer season of 1969.
About a week before the meeting Mr. Ciancio had written to the West Side Recorder and to several other agencies
on the West Side in reply to the West Side's claim that the
city was going back on its year-in, year-out promise to improve park and particularly pool facilities for West Siders.
That letter is printed in full
elsewhere in this issue of the
Recorder.
MR* CIANCIO SAYS in the
letter the City planned to fix
the pool next fall after leaving
it open all summer. This statement, dated April 3, followed by
exactly six weeks the declaration by West Siders to Mr.
Ciancio's representative on Feb.
20 that they would rather have
the pool closed part or all of
next summer in order to have
it fixed. At that time the Parks
and Recreation officials said it
couldn't be done at all.
Mr. Ciancio has privately told
a representative of the West-
side Action Ministry in recent
weeks that if there's any "trou
ble" at the pool—fixed or not
fixed—he'll close it up immediately.
He has indicated that a dirty, unheated, leaky, badly chlorinated pool is better than nothing, and anyway he will close
it if anyone "makes trobule."
AT THE APRIL 14 meeting
Mr. Ciancio presented a record
of $11,027 in completed: improvements in Lincoln Park
from January of 1968 to this
month (April). Pool fencing
was $3,195—bathhouse painting
and window renovation came to
$3066—overhaul of the pressbox
was $3,081—work on the wading and main pool was $500—
and changes in the lawn sprinkling system added up to $1,185.
(Conk on Page 3)
A group of parents, West
High School pupils and representatives of a dozen or more
Hispano organizations and
others met with the Denver
School Board and Superintendent Robert Gilberts April 15
at West High School. The meeting lasted two and one-half
hours.
One of the parents reported:
"FRANKLY,    NOT     MUCH
was accomplished. The meeting
had been planned to have the
board explain how they were
going to carry out the demands
made during the walkout at
West High School. Dr. GUberts
did not do this.
"What did develop at the
meeting was that the group
asked for a summer school at
West this year. They asked
that a school board task force
investigate problems in West
Side elementary schools. They
asked to have a Mexican-
American placed in a top-level
position in the personnel department of the school administration."
THE SCHOOL BOARD reacted favorably to these suggestions and said they would
look into them.
Organizations represented at
the meeting were the American
G. I. Forum, the Lay Advisory
Committee of West High School,
the West Side and Platte Valley
Action Centers, the Latin-
American Research and Service
Agency (LARASA), Crusade
for Justice, Congress of Hispanic Educators, Inner-City
Parish, and Hispanic Educational and Leadership Program.
A Concerned Citizens and
Parents Committee was elected
by the group. Members, in addition to organization representatives, are six parents—Mrs.
Susan Contreras, Mrs. Alberta
Crespin, Mrs. Frank Lopez, Mrs.
Vi Medrano, Mrs. Josephine
Perez and Mrs. Loretta Rhym,
and two pupils, Archie LaForett
and Martha Madrano.
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS
FOR THIS ISSUE OF
THE WEST SIDE RECORDER
Catholic Archdiocese
of Denver $200
Colorado Printers „_   10
First Avenue Presbyterian
Church         io
First Mennonite
Church        io
Inner City Parish ___    10
Theresa Jacinto       5
St. Elizabeth's
Catholic Church __ 10
St. Joseph's
Catholic Church __ 10
Wesley United
Methodist Church 10
Gifts  under  $5:  William
Cooper,  Mr.  and  Mrs.
James M. Hall.
West  Side  pictures:  Bill
Baker.
And a special  thank-you
to Adolph Coors Co.