Word: barriers
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...rush to the beach started years ago. As far back as the 1970s, Florida officials realized that the state's environmentally sensitive barrier islands, which protect the mainland from the force of incoming storms, were becoming overbuilt. But when officials tried to put the brakes on development, they came up against some hard political realities. The fat revenue stream from condo towers, resorts and convention hotels made it very difficult to elect antigrowth politicians. Hurricanes were acknowledged to be a danger. But, says Charles Lee, senior vice president of the Florida Audubon Society, "instead of restrictions, you got engineering standards...
...situation in Florida is duplicated on barrier islands up and down the Atlantic Coast. When it's time to evacuate, it doesn't really matter where on these narrow strips of land you live--you're stuck on the same stretch of highway. Some officials now believe that the coastal states may have to toughen their construction standards even more, forcing builders to install hardened bunkers, like aboveground bomb shelters, so residents can stay during a hurricane and take their chances...
...wear them--there were "fewer disruptions, fewer suspensions, better attendance," according to Dick Van Der Laan, the system's spokesman. Criminal incidents at the district's schools have decreased 86% since uniforms were mandated in 1994. "A uniform," Hartman now says, "breaks down any kind of social and economic barrier kids may put into place at that age, so everyone is on an even playing field." Marylouise Ortega-Lau, principal of the Wilson Classical High School in that district, notes that "there is a more businesslike attitude as a result of wearing the uniform--and you need to show students...
Then, in 1994 and 1995, teams working in Ethiopia and Kenya announced that they had each found a new species of hominid. Both discoveries smashed the 4 million-year barrier. The first--and at 4.4 million years, the oldest--was dug up by an international team in the Middle Awash region of Ethiopia, about 50 miles south of where Lucy was discovered...
...these persistent welfare cases: the hard to serve. Many have backgrounds that employers shun: weak education, illiteracy, drug and alcohol abuse, mental-health problems and criminal records. Often they also have logistical obstacles, like transportation and child-care difficulties. And, some argue, many of them have the toughest barrier of all: they don't want to do work...