News Update.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Max finds school with right fit

AFTER A ROCKY first half, the school year ended sweetly for 8-year-old Max Lester.

Profiled by The Register-Guard last December, Max has a high-functioning form of autism called Asperger syndrome, which skews his motor skills, sensory perceptions and ability to blend with his peers.

Soon after the article appeared, Max's parents, Nan and David Lester, pulled him out of Eugene's Family School, where he had been having daily, sometimes hourly, meltdowns and spending virtually no time in his regular third-grade classroom. After about two months of schooling him at home, they enrolled him at Crest Drive Elementary School, a small neighborhood school with a regional learning center for special education students.

The transformation has been stunning, say his parents, his teachers and Max himself. Because he had fallen behind, Max was placed in a second-grade classroom, and spent more and more time there as the year wound down. In the learning center, Max got lessons - usually one-on-one or in very small groups - in motor skills, computers, math and other subjects.

Max loves to help other children, and he spent about a half-hour a week in the kindergarten classes. Special education teacher Mary Bromley, who runs the learning center, said working with other children and taking the school dog for a walk served as incentives for Max to make it through his lessons. He hasn't had a meltdown in weeks, she said.

On a sunny morning last week, Max flitted around the building, rattling off the names of the students and teachers he knows - nearly all of whom he likes.

"This has been a great school for me," he said. "They're nice to me, they give me more choices. They have a lot more kids with disorders here."

Bromley guessed that the small-school feel, serene setting, welcoming staff and presence of children with more severe disabilities than his have helped foster an environment in which Max can thrive.

"I think he just needed a place where there was less going on, less stress," she said.

Principal Tom Maloney, a former special education teacher, said Max fits right in.

"So many people here really appreciate him and admire him for just exactly who he is," he said. "I think he really feels valued, and in fact, he is. He adds a lot to this school."

- Anne Williams

Synagogue broadens its vision

Temple Beth Israel has a new architect and an expanded vision as it inches forward with plans to build a new synagogue in south Eugene.

With more than 400 families and growing, the synagogue has long since outgrown its 7,500-square-foot building on Portland Street. Five years ago, the congregation bought a 1.3-acre site at the corner of East 29th Avenue and University Street and announced plans to build a new, 20,000-square-foot facility.

A $4 million capital campaign was launched, and synagogue leaders said they hoped to have the new structure finished by 2001.

But delays have surfaced, including a decision to hire a new architectural firm, Solomon & Associates of Kansas City, Mo., which has expertise in synagogue design.

In reviewing Temple Beth's desires for the new building, Solomon concluded that the synagogue might actually need closer to 30,000 square feet, said Sheldon Rubin, co-leader of the synagogue's building steering committee.

As a result, the congregation must decide whether to increase the capital campaign or build the new synagogue in phases, Rubin said.

Rubin said the synagogue is committed "to revitalizing an urban site" and creating a plan that works for neighbors. As for the congregation, more than 80 percent have committed to help, with about $2.7 million already pledged, he said.

- Jeff Wright 

Feline feeling fine

You may recall Justus, the blind, smoky-black kitty rescued in January from abandonment.

Justus was born with tiny, nonfunctioning eyes deep in his sockets, causing some to wonder how many of his nine lives he had exhausted on the streets before his rescue.

Last week Justus had those eyes removed and his eyelids sewn shut, said his new owner, Elizabeth Bell of Eugene. On Tuesday, he'll lose the long, curly, pink sutures that look like false eyelashes.

Justus is about 7 months old now and tipping the scales at 8 pounds, not that he's satisfied.

"When I picked him up (after surgery) he immediately wanted out and he was quite upset and let me know that there was no food or water," Bell said.

Bell quickly remedied that situation and reported that Justus has made his way just fine around the home, not to mention the other family pets - a cat named Tillie and a schnauzer named Allison.

Justus has learned the layout of the house, so now he's tripped up only by the occasional unexpected obstacle - say, a shoe or a napping cat.

But other than that, "you wouldn't realize that he was blind," Bell said.

"He just trots through the house like he can see. He's very wary of strangers, but when it comes to my husband and me, he's very outgoing. He's really gotten to be a lap kitty."

- Matt Cooper 

Do you have suggestions for news updates? Contact reporter Jeff Wright with your ideas at 338-2366 or [e-mail].