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Show J f I 1 K 1 rV ii m m U ii aw A L i fifth 1 KM nm Ml MINI gyft, ll I Li (F I Idaho Farmworkers' Com p Bill Nay Benefit U. Hospital law exempts farm workers, he was unable to pay his hospital bills. "Tellez .really brought it home to legislators and to the public in Idaho that it really is a horrible thing when a farm worker gets injured and he has no way of paying for his medical bills, his lost wages and his disability," Johnson said. Tellez is not alone. In the past 10 years the U. Hospital has paid out several hundred thousand dollars for uncompensated care of COBIESPEVAK Chronicle Staff Writer A bill passed by Idaho legislators this week could aid both Idaho farm workers and the University of Utah Hospital's pocketbook. The bill requires farmers and ranchers to purchase insurance for their employees beginning Jan. 1, 1997. Idaho Legal Aid has introduced similar bills at the Idaho State Legislature since 1993. But according to Erik Johnson, director of migrant farm worker affairs for the organization, it took a story like that of Idaho farm worker Javier Tellez Jaurez to finally secure passage of the bill. Tellez, 24, lost both arms and half of one leg after an accident worker's-compensatio- n with a post-hol- e digger on Dec. 13. He was rushed to the Us Hospital - for treatment Idaho's workers' injured Idaho farm workers -- $640,035 total, not including the more than $600,000 that Tellez is expected to run up. According to Brigid Mclntyre, -- but because compensation director of the U. office of managed carethe U. Hospital always tries to obtain whatever funding it can for the treatment and rehabilitation of patients like Tellez. Because ranching and farming are traditionally highly "darigerdus' occupations, treating injured farm workers can require overwhelming outlays of resources, Mclntyre said. But the U. Hospital's reputation as the only major medical center in the Intermountain West makes it ethically hard to turn anyone away. "The U. Hospital is considered to be a major trauma center. If someone has an accident in Wyoming or Idaho or Montana ... those people have historically been sent down here to U. Hospital. And because Idaho has not made farmers and ranchers responsible for their workers, there's never a payment source," Mclntyre said. Johnson, of Idaho Legal Aid," said that although many Idaho farmers are angered at the passage of the workers bill, they will soon come to cherish the financial protection it offers. "As time goes by and farmers and ranchers see how workers'-com- p helps their workers they'll wonder why they fought it so hard," he said. , mr W. 'T- m mHU Mw-udPHw- ai m, m .4 .vjw. A villager from Ouelessebougou poses for a local photographer during a recent visit to Salt Lake City's African sister village. The Alliance aids the impoverished city every Ouelessebougou-Utah year. Students Lend a Helping Hand to Ouelessebougou DAVID ANDERSON Chronicle Staff Writer Flaying for Pleasure: Robert Debbaut conducts the University Symphony at Abravanel Hall, Tuesday. Despite Few Sour Notes, BIANCA COWAN Ninety percent of the musicians who play in the University Symphony are not even music majors, yet the group played an concert on Tuesday, March 5, in Abravanel Hall. The University Symphony is considered second in quality to the U.'s Philharmonia, which is made almost entirely, of music majors. The' Philharmonia practices three times each week for two hours and has 20 -- 240 Union Building University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah 841 12 Symphony Earns Bravo to 25 performances per quarter. The U. Symphony has one- three-hou-r practice each week and performs once a quarter. "These people play as a hobby," says Robert Debbaut, who conducts both the Philharmonia and the U. Symphony. "For awhile some may have thought they'd be great concert violinists, then they heard a great concert violinist who was playing on their level at age 15, and decided they could be great community violinists. Music is an important part of their lives, but they don't want to try and make a living at it." Debbaut, however, does make his - Chronicle Staff Writer The Daily Utah Chronicle U. , f . of the two Salt U. orchestras and the Lake Symphony, and a U. assistant professor of music, Debbaut has, by his own admission, "no life." Maintaining both life and sanity are two reasons enjoy playing in the symphony. James Caswell, assistant symphony coordinator and teaching assistant, says, "They do it for the fun of it. When you spend all day long working on a tedious major, you need a form of relaxation." Caswell himself is working on his master's degree in orches-- . tra conducting. see "Symphony" on page 4 living with music Director non-majo- What would you do if you had thousands of dollars to spend? Buy a new car? Pick out a new entertainment center? Tour Paris, Hong Kong or board a Caribbean cruise? Perhaps most of us respond to the question with our own personal desires. And when we do have a chance to spend money on our personal needs, it is easy to look at our luxuries as necessities. On the other hand, service to those in need has a way of focusing our attention on how privileged even a modest American lifestyle can be. And nobody knows that better than the members of the Ouelessebougou (pronounced Alliance. Ouelessebougou is a region in Mali, Africa. Lying south of the Sahara desert, the region has endured 18 years of drought conditions. Home to 35,000 people living in 72 villages, it is a poor region in one of the world's poorest countries. It is hard to imagine the depth of Ouelessebougou's poverty. One child in five dies at birth, another within one year. Forty percent of children remaining; do not reach adolescence. Water is scarce. Health care is scattered. Literacy is rare. The life expectancy of Malians is 46 years. Conditions like these made worldwide headlines in 1984, when cameras trained on Sudan and Ethiopia. Aid flowed to those countries, but not Mali. The disturbing TV images from Africa prompted members of Salt Lake's Community Service Council to find a way to help. After research, they decided that Utahns could make a difference in Ouelessebougou. Michelle see "Village" on page 4 BULK RATE U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 1529 Salt Lake City, UT |