January 9, 1991

Republicans Pick Houston Republicans chose Houston for their 1992 national convention, favoring the city where the President has his legal residence over San Diego and New Orleans. Page A15. Yosemite Park Agreement A foundation will buy the concessions in Yosemite National Park that a Japanese company gained control of in a corporate purchase. Page A18. Hispanic Health Problems Hispanic Americans are much more likely than members of other groups to have some diseases and much less likely to have health insurance, several new reports show. Page A16. The Self-Esteem of Girls The self-esteem of American girls plunges by the time they reach high school, much more than it does among boys, a study found. Page B6. Vaccination System Faulted Flaws in the vaccination system caused a serious measles epidemic, a Federal panel said, and a key official promised to seek changes. Page A17.

CHINA did not tempt Ken Hom. The cookbook author had crossed the Pacific from his home in Berkeley, Calif., to Hong Kong as many as 20 times a year to teach cooking classes and had been offered a contract for a book about China, but he had never traveled in the land of his ancestors. "In 1983 I spent a day in Guangzhou and my impression of the food was so disappointing I could not justify doing a book," he said. But his mother finally persuaded him.

The inspiration for this column came in the mail. Actually, two pieces of mail. First, there was the invitation to the 65th wedding anniversary celebration of Samuel and Miriam Salitan. It came from Lucille, their daughter. She wrote, "It is testimony to living by what the yuppie world would call old-fashioned standards and values, and in the end they proved to be their own reward."

Just a couple of annual reports ago, the Ford Motor Company was selling cars and trucks so briskly and profitably that union officials moaned about the crush of overtime and some investors fretted that the nation's No. 2 auto maker was not investing its multibillion-dollar hoard of cash quickly enough. Ford executives have not heard such complaints lately. Now, like the rest of the domestic car industry, Ford is idling assembly lines and laying off workers in response to slow sales. Its financial strength, once the envy of corporate America, has declined to the point that Ford directors, who are to meet at company headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., on Thursday, are facing a tough decision on whether to conserve cash by cutting the dividend on common stock.

A 31-year-old Manhattan woman died following surgery last night after a purse snatcher grabbed her handbag containing $1 and pushed her between two cars of a subway train pulling out of an Upper West Side station, the transit police said. A suspect with eight arrests for subway muggings was seized on a nearby street.