SAC students snubbed under Miers' watch
In 1997, as chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission, Harriett Miers, now President Bush's nominee for Supreme Court justice was of no help to local statistics students who found errors in lottery ads.
San Antonio College math professor and Lotto watchdog Gerald Busald said that under Miers' watch, the Texas Lottery Commission stonewalled findings by his statistics class that lottery officials had overstated the average Cash 5 prize.
In Texas lottery ads, the average prize was inaccurately listed as $75,000; Busald's class calculated the true number to be only $57,575. The class' figures were later found to be accurate.
Lottery officials pulled the ads, but did not admit they had erred in their figures, only that, Busald said, "the students just did it another way."
Drum roll, please: Government Canyon opens
After more than five years, the 8,622-acre Government Canyon State Natural Area will open to the public Saturday, October 15. Located in northwest Bexar County over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, Government Canyon SNA is the result of funding and conservation efforts by city, state, and federal governments and community and environmental organizations.
The canyon will be open for day use only, but expects to be able to accommodate overnight guests at camping sites sometime next year. To get to Government Canyon SNA, take Loop 1604 to Culebra Road. Go west on Culebra to Galm Road and turn right and travel for 1.6 miles.
Clinic showing early signs of success
Nearly 1,200 condoms and 372 units of birth control have been dispensed at Planned Parenthood's Marbach Road clinic since it opened three months ago. According to PP officials, the clinic has also conducted 206 exams for sexually transmitted disease, 165 Pap tests, and 144 pregnancy tests.
The clinic opened after local health department statistics showed that in 2003 the nine Zip codes surrounding the site accounted for three-fourths of the city's reported STD diagnoses.
- Lisa Sorg and Nicole Chavez
