Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1978-08-04

              STATS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
HITT & LOWRY ST.
COLUMBIA, MO. 65201
ST. 12- 5-- 74
- Story on Page 12A
70th Year - No. 272 Good Morning! It's Friday, August 4. 1978 2 Sections 18 Pages 15 Cents
Keith Myen
Raymond K. Gcfaman Pretty babies
A contestant in the Boone County Fair's baby
contest for girls ages 1 to 2, left, had trouble
reaching the microphone so she could say a
few words to the audience. At right, 2- year- - old
Danette Woods appears confident as her
mother Deanna gives her some words of en-couragement.
The Woods are from Ashland.
City budget calls
for reductions
in some services
By Mike Robinson
Missourian staff writer
Columbians may be trading a cut-back
in city services for lower property
taxes and stable utility rates if the City
Council adopts Acting City Manager
Ray Beck's proposed budget for fiscal
year 1979.
At a press conference Thursday,
Beck linked the predicted decline in
some services to a need for the council
to " take aleading role" in establish'ng
long- ran- ge policy goals. Currently the
city manager frequently must cut
services or defer buying equipment to
implement the council's recommenda-tions
when drafting the annual budget.
Beck said the city manager needs a
priority list for services in case revenue
falls short of expected income.
" Even though the budget is balanced,
we do not feel the procedures followed
may be described as a long- ran- ge
strategy for shaping our future," Beck
said. " Our chief concern is our con-tinual
spreading of total resources
thinner and thinner, resulting in barely
perceptible, but inexorable, decreases
in service levels. These decreases are
and will be occurring without
established priorities."
Although some services will be cut
back and a few capital expenditures
deferred, Beck said the city is not ex-periencing
a financial crisis and has not
reached " a total tax limit."
In fact, the budget was prepared
under council instruction for a one- yea- r,
20-- cent property tax cut, which
said was the lowest in 17 years,
IBeacndka 2- c- ent ongoing decrease in the
city's general obligation bond debt.
Beck said the tax cut amounted to about
$ 300,000.
The money could have been used for
investment purposes or to offset a
decline in service levels. But Beck said
he opposed these measures because the
city should not try " to be some kind of
big banker with other people's money."
Additional money will be placed in the
contingency fund to prepare for
emergency situations which might
place a large strain on the general fund,
Beck said.
The city customarily changes tax
rates to fit its annual revenue, Assistant
City Manager Charles Hargrove said.
Only about 12 percent of total revenue
usually is kept in the general fund, and
this year's tax cut would reduce it to
about that level. Tax rate increases are
necessary when the fund gets too low,
Hargrove said.
The budget was not prepared con-servatively,
Beck said. Small changes
in anticipated income could have
significant impact on the city's budget,
one reason that Beck said the city
manager needs council- establishe- d
priorites for reducing or eliminating
services.
While most utility rates will remain
stable, the budget shows an unspecified
increase in sewer rates. Beck said this
increase is necessary to repay proposed
sewer bonds which will help offset the
land and construction cost of a for-thcoming
$ 40 million sewage- treatme- nt
plant that will phase out all existing
municipal sewage- treatme- nt facilities.
The city will pay about $ 4 million of the
largely federally- - and state- fund- ed
project
MLIL curators OK 5 percent student fee increase
ByJulie Black and Susi Trautmann
Bflsscsaian staff writers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. A normally
staid University Board of Curators
gave way to animated discussion
Thursday over the pros and cons of a 5
percent student fee increase for the
1979- 8- 0 fiscal year. Despite arguments
against the fee increase, the curators
approved the proposal which was in-cluded
in the $ 159 million state ap-propriations
request for the 1979- 6- 0
fiscal year.
The appropriations request, a 15.9
percent increase over the previous
year, was approved by a 6-- 2 vote with
curators Marion Oldham and Robert
Dempster dissenting, reflecting their
opposition to the student fee increase.
For the. first time, student
representatives were on hand at the
meeting on the University's Kansas
City campus to present their objections
to the proposed fee increase. Students
from graduate, medical and veterinary
colleges expressed concern that
financial aid made available to them
was inadequate to meet the fee increase
being asked.
" Medical students today are not
highly paid professionals," a medical
student said, explaining that few
medical students are able to work part- tim- e
and that approximately 50 percent
of these students must rely on student
loans. He predicted that medical school
may become a domain of the wealthy if
student fees are raised.
The strongest opponent of the student
fee increase was Missouri Students
Association President Doug Liljegren.
But he said, students would accept a
compromise increase of 3.6 percent
President James Olson said it is
preferable to increase student fees by 5
percent by the 1979- 8- 0 fiscal year,
rather than to wait and have to increase
fees by " 13 percent or so" in coming
years.
" Although our fees are not unduly
high when compared to those charged
by comparable institutions, we elected
not to ask the students to carry the full
cost of inflation," he said. He has asked
the state to contribute 2 percent.
Curator Oldham said administration
assertions that adequate financial aid is
available to students is a myth. " I hear
from students on all four campuses that
they're wined and dined and groomed
and courted to come here, but the
second year, if their grades aren't what
someone thinks they should be, then
they are back in St Louis."
Her argument was countered by
James Buchholz, University vice
president for administrative affairs,
who said there has been " a great in--
crease" in financial aid over a five- ye- ar
period. Financial aid in the form of
grant monies has jumped from $ 6
million in 1974- 7- 5 to $ 11.4 million in 1979- 8- 0.
Grants equal 25 percent of student
fees, he said. Loan policies totaling $ 4.5
million account for another 10 percent
of this fee and local banks provide $ 4.5
million in loans for " approximately 50
percent of the charge."
Many students are unaware of
( See INCREASES, Page 12A)
American
mediation,
in trouble
By Bernard Gwertzman
N. Y. Times Service
WASHINGTON The Carter ad-ministration's
high- priori- ty efforts to
bring about solutions in the Middle East
and Rhodesia have run into such
serious political and diplomatic
problems that doubts are being raised
increasingly in Washington over
whether these long- standi- ng issues
remain amenable to American
mediation.
Publicly, the State Department will
insist that they are. But to assert other-wise
would hasten the disasters the
United States wants to avoid. The mood
of officials these days is often that of
InsfgM
frustration. The enthusiasm of a year
ago seems to have ended.
Oh Rhodesia, for instance, high of-ficials
talk of impending tragedy a
major civil war among blacks if the
Salisbury " internal settlement" group
headed by Prime Minister Ian D. Smith
does not negotiate on a new government
soon with the Patriotic Front guerrillas
whose military strength is increasing.
Yet, the leverage the administration
might have had on Smith and his black
collaborators may have been dissipated
by votes in the Senate last week and in
the House Wednesday. Those votes
promise the end to economic sanctions
against Rhodesia if the Smith group
carries out its controversial pledge for
free ejections by the end of the year.
Administration officials assert that
such votes have the effect of en-couraging
the Smith government along
the course that will inevitably increase
( See FRUSTRATION, Page 12A)
-
Optimistic Wall Street
sets new volume record
NEW YORK ( UPI) Stock prices
took a roller- coast- er ride up to
new highs for the year and then back
down on heavy volume through a
record breaking day on Wall Street
Thursday.
The day's turnover was the
heaviest in the 186- ye- ar history of
die exchange. Big Board volume
amounted to a record 65,500,000
shares. The previous high of
63,492,530 shares was set April 17.
Hourly volume records were set
through the first three hours of
trading as institutions that had been
holding aloof from the market and
foreign investors poured money into
common stocks.
Brokers could not point to specific
news that sparked the rally, a
continuation of Wednesday's spurt,
but said there was a widespread
belief that interest rates had peaked
and the Carter administration was
showing a greater determination to
combat inflation.
The Dow Jones industrial
average, which surged 22.78 points
Wednesday to a 12- mo- nth high for its
best gain in 3M years, rose 3.38
points to 886.87 at the close.
The closely watched blue chip
average, ahead more than 12 points
in the first hour, pulled back on the
news that Israeli warplanes had
attacked guerrilla bases in Lebanon
and then regained momentum
briefly before giving up ground late
in the trading day.
Observers said profit- take- rs
moved into the market in the early
afternoon to cash in on recent
profits. The Dow has rolled up a
26.16- poi- nt gain in the past two
sessions. But some investors backed
off when the ticker tape was running
22 minutes behind transactions on
the grounds they could not tell what
was happening in the market
Agency requests delay
in widening Broadway
By Mike Robinson
Missourian staff writer
The Missouri Department of Natural- Resource- s
has asked that the proposed
widening of West Broadway be delayed
until the city files an assessment of the
cultural resources along the road,
Acting City Manager Ray Beck said
Thursday.
Filing this survey could delay the
project for " several months," Beck
said.
Beck said he received a letter
Wednesday from the resources
department informing him that the
study was necessary to determine if
construction would adversely affect
any archaeological or architectural
resources along West Broadway.
The letter also rescinded a statement
made by the department in early June,
which said the study was unnecessary.
At a press conference last week, Beck
announced he had received an ad--
ditional letter from the same agency
informing him that construction along
the street posed no problem with
historical resources.
James Denny, a spokesman for the
department said the decision to
require the survey came after the
Office of Historic Preservation's ad-visory
council was unable to determine
the historical significance of the area
along West Broadway. His agency
cannot determine the widening's im-pact
until after examining " the data
generated by the cultural resources
survey," he said.
This type of study " is a routine
matter when federal funds are being
used in the project," Denny said. The
Federal Highway Administration will
fund the project by an amount that
varies with the road width. The original
design called for a 50- fo- ot ( 15- mete- r)
width between curbs and a federal
grant of $ 1 million.
The study will " more clearly identify
the cultural resources that lie close
enough to the roadway to be adversely
( See STUDY, Page 12A)
Imside today
Animal architecture
For years, man has lauded
himself for his efforts in con-struction
of modem architecture.
But the art of innovative building
extends beyond the human
domain. Wasps, spiders, birds,
squirrels and beavers are just a
few of the examples of backyard
neighbors who are " natural
builders." Find out about these
amazing creatures by turning to
the Weekend section, Page IB.
In tiwis
today
7: 30 p. m. " Dear Liar,"
Maplewood Barn Theater
production, performed at
Stephens College Warehouse.
8: 15 pjn. " Private Lives,"
Arrow Rock Lyceum Theater.
Movie listings onPage 2B
ii
Columbians favor downtown conveniences x
Qy Mary Aim King
Missourian staff writer
Columbians may not support
beautification of the downtown area,"
but they would like to shop there with
the convenience of public restrooms
and places to sit arid park, according to
a survey of public opinion conducted by
the Columbia Community Development
Commission.
Projects such as the Flat Branch
redevelopment plan and downtown
beautification, including Guitar
Square, received little support in the
survey. But those polled asked for
downtown conveniences such as public
restrooms and parking areas.
The future of downtown as a major
shopping area may be affected by the
fact that of those polled three- fourt- hs
said they shopped at a shopping center
once a week, while only 30 percent said
they shopped downtown at least that
often.
That figure increases to 40 percent
for once- a- mon- th shopping, but com-mission
member Bob Gassaway said
these figures could be misleading. More
convenience shopping in supermarkets
and discount stores likely is done in
shopping centers, while major pur-chases
may be the rote downtown, he
said.
Facilities for the handicapped
received the greatest support of any
project funded by community
development funds in the past.
Gassaway said the city has come a long
way since 1972, when he and another
citizen raised money for the first wheel-chair
ramp in the city. " There was
reluctance on the part of the city even
to accept the money" at that tune, be
said.
The commission initiated the survey
in an effort to get public feedback on
ways to spend the $ 960,000 in com-munity
development block grant funds
allocated the dry by the U. S. Depart-ment
of Housing and Urban Develop- -
ment Commission members Carol
Harl and Gassaway conducted the
study and released the results at
Wednesday night's commission
meeting.
The commission will get additional
public feedback on ways to spend the
money, targeted for low- - and moderate- incom- e
groups, at public hearings to be
held Aug. 14- 1- 7. Thehearings will be
held at 7 : 30 pjn. on successive nights at
the Columbia Public Library, Paquin
Tower, Blind Boone Community Center
and the Salvation Army Center.
Gassaway said that because the
survey was conducted during summer
-- Intersession, University students were
under- represent- ed in the sample.
However, the median educational level
of persons responding was 15.5 years,
or the equivalent of a college senior.
Women also were under- represent- ed
because heads of households were
designated as those to be interviewed.
The random sample of 400 was drawn
from a housing survey conducted in the
city in April 1978.
The survey had a margin of error of
about 3 percent, which accounts for
coding and other technical problems In
the polling process. More than 99
percent of the perrons contacted