Episcopal High School - Accolade Yearbook (Baton Rouge, LA)

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America 1987: Baseball, I-ioldegs 7% IDS, the disease that President 11 Reagan proclaimed, Public Enemy 1 for the year 1987, has become one of the largest sources of fear for Americans today. It has currently claimed the lives of nearly 25,000, and up to 1.5 million people in the U.S. alone have become inflicted with the virus. By the year 1991, the federal Centers for Disease Control estimates 179,000 will be dead, and as many as 100 million people could be carrying the disease. The cause of these statistics has spread a fear of AIDS throughout the nation. The fact that there is no known cure or hope for one in the immediate future, makes the outlook seem grim. On December 4, the Accolade staff surveyed all high school students to determine what they felt were the most important issues facing the nation in 1987. Of the 274 who responded, seventy-five percent felt AIDS has left the most impact on our society this year. The following results reflect differences in students' feelings about AIDS, and may indicate a need for education about this disease in the school system: • Twenty-seven percent said they would protest if an AIDS victim were admitted into EHS, while thirty-two said they would not. Forty-one percent remain undecided. • Twenty percent of the student body said they would protest if a present student became inflicted with the disease and were allowed to remain at Episcopal, while forty-three percent said they would not. Thirty-seven percent remain undecided. • Forty-five percent said that if a friend caught the disease, they would treat them the same as before, while nineteen percent said they would not. Thirty-six percent remain undecided. Hnother issue that monopolized air waves and greatly impacted our nation in 1987 was the Iran-contra affair. Everyones all-American hero Lt. Colonel Oliver North took the heat in July during the investigation of the Iran-contra affair involving the diversion of Iranian arm sales profits to the Nicaraguan rebels. North claimed to be just taking orders from his superiors. I was authorized to do everything that I did, said North. Did President Reagan know? Twenty-two percent of the 274 high school students who responded to an Accolade questionnaire believe Reagan had total knowledge of the affair; sixty percent felt he had partial knowledge, and eight percent felt Reagan had no knowledge of the diversion of funds. 1987 Attacks: Personal and Otherwise • November: the U.S. Navy avenged an Iranian missile attack in the Persian Gulf by firing at Iranian oil platforms. • Greed, Secrecy and Scandal: an inside look at Jim and Tammy Bakker's bankrupt empire read the cover of the August 3 issue of Time. The Bakkers, prior to a federal investigation, were the leaders of a $203 million religious empire known as the PTL (Praise the Lord or People That Love) television-and-theme-park ministry in S. Carolina. They were ousted for possible criminal tax fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud. Jim Bakker also confessed to having a sexual tryst with a church secretary Jessica Hahn and paying her hush money. and Apple pie? Fifty seven percent of the 274 students who responded feel that the PTL controversy had an adverse effect on televised religion. Sixty five-percent believe the PTL organization is purely a financial enterprise that took advantage of its supporters. • Douglas Ginsburg, the second Supreme Court nominee, preceded by right-winger Judge Robert Bork, was disqualified after confessing to have smoked marijuana twenty years ago. Anthony Kennedy became Reagan's third and safest choice for this position. • Gary Hart, after his alleged affair with model Donna Rice and other accusations about his personal life, dropped from the president's race in the summer of 1987. He concludes the year of 1987 by dropping back into the race as of mid-December. • Wall Street: The Dow Jones Industrial Stock Market plunged 22.6 percent in late October. The crash was worse than in 1929. Good News Mikhail Gorvebachev visited the U.S. for the first time in mid-December. He and Pres. Reagan answered questions on superpower relations. 27

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Service Project t was odd seeing people like J'Treanor [Marks], Ellis [Pierce], and John [Andri-shock] being so affectionate with the little kids ' said junior Kristin Kaufman in reference to the junior class's trip to the zoo with handicapped preschool children. On October 16, the juniors took two buses out to the Baton Rouge Zoo where they met children from Southdowns Elementary School. Each junior chose a little buddy with whom to tour the zoo. Everyone then split up to enjoy a fun morning watching the animals with their new friends. Around noon, the juniors and the children of Southdowns left the zoo for a picnic lunch at a nearby BREC park. At the park, the children thanked the juniors, who vowed to make this an annual event. With the weight of the world on his shoulders. Tom Coleman plays dad for a day. Marquita Pitcher and little fr-.end Don enjoy a day together at the zoo. 29