Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1979-08-02

              7Ul wir o. 2( 2 lmr Woniiijj.' Tlnirstla. iimust 2. 7' 2 Sections 20 Pages 15 Cents

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AM tm a fair

county day

Jim Sontag, above left, and

Brian Snyder try to catch an

unruly calf that got away from

its owner during the Boone

County Fair Junior Cattle

Show Tuesday evening. Ed-ward

Fashing, of Sturgeon,

right, takes a break from

working with his cattle at the

fairgrounds. ( Additional

county fair photographs on

Pagel2A.)

MuctHLomiua

"" " Batweiot

Insight

Jobless rate

of 8.2 percent

in forecast

By Edward Cowan

T New York Tunes

WASHINGTON The government's

senior economists, in a confidential

revision of the administration's July 12

economic forecast, predict a deeper

recession this year and " an anemic

recovery" in 198) that will cause the

national unemployment rate to climb to

& 2 percent at about the tune of the

November presidential election

In a forecast prepared for public

distribution as part of the July 12

midyear review of the budget and the

economy, the administration forecast

that the unemployment rate would

climb to 6 a percent in the autumn of

1380

The new forecast, dated July 27 and

circulated to a handful of Cabinet of-ficers,

is expected to raise questions

about the validity of the earlier, public

document

The revised forecast predicted that

the nse of average labor costs wages

plus benefits would accelerate to 10 5

percent in 1980 from 9 5 percent in 1979,

causing the basic, or underlying, in-flation

rate to rise by an extra one- ha- lf

of a percentage point

For the economy as a whole, the new

forecast predicted 8 8 percent inflation

in 1980, compared with the July 12

figure of 8 1 percent These estimates

include a variety of goods outside the

Consumer Price Index, which has been

climbing at a 13 percent annual rate in

1979

The forecasters also indicated, and

officials confirmed, that the ad-ministration

now leans toward in-creasing

the standard for limiting pay

increases to 8 percent for 1980 from 7

percent this year.

The revised assessment also said that

the higher interest rates put into effect

by the Federal Reserve Board on July

20 suggested that monetary policy

might not ease this autumn as the White

House had expected in preparing the

July 12 forecast, and that such a policy

shift would contribute to greater

economic weakness

Without making a recommendation,

( See TAX, Page 12A)

Homeowners

will challenge

land tax ruling

By Harry Papineau

Missourian staff writer

Irate homeowners, upset about a

ruling wh. cn will raise their propert

assessments an average of 52 percent,

will meet head- o- n with the Boone

County Board of Equalization at 9 a m

today and ask the board to rescind the

reassessment order it issued Tuesday

' We will trv to convince the board it

acted illegally, and give them a chance

to correct their mistake." said David

Rogers, a Columbia attorney who

represents sev eral of the homeowners

and whose home is among those

being reassessed

If they don t retract the order, there

unquestionable will be litigation.' he

said

In its Tuesdav meeting the board

attempted to sausfv five complaints of

unfair assessment and protect the

county from an ad erse Missouri Tax

Commission ruling b ordering

reassessment of a number of adjacent

homes in the complainants' neigh-borhoods

The results of a preliminary

reassessment conducted by County

Assessor Donald Fenton can be found

at the end of this storv

But four of the fi e complainants are

not satisfied And their neighbors who

have been drawn into the controversy

bv the board's decision, are joining

forces to fight the ruling

Rogers said he has had so manv calls

from his disgruntled neighbors that he

isn t really sure how many clients he

has in the" case But if things don't go '

well in today's meeting. Rogers said he

will bring action against the in-dividual

members of the board m state

or federal court probably m federal

court"

Rogers said the method of

reassessment was illegal " because it is

absolutelv arbitrary to choose as areas

for reassessment the neighborhoods of

( See REASSESSMENT, Page 10A)

MFA hopeful draws

interest of farmers

By JoeMoran

Missounan staff writer

An MFA employee's surprise

decision to oppose the cooperative's

eteran president in this y ear s election

has drawn interest and support from

farm members across the state

In an informal telephone survey

conducted by the Missourian.

managers of MFA retail exchanges

said 36- year-- old Eric Thompson has

gained the attention and m some caes,

the overwhelming support of delegates

to next week's MFA convention

The convention will begin Monday

morning at Hearnes Center MFA is

headquartered here and is the largest

pnv ate emplov er in Boone Count

The exchange managers are wu-- a

employ ees and not v oting members of

the cooperative but they are in contact

with farmers who elect the president

through delegates

In a pre- con- v ention meeting,

delegates from St Joseph have vowed

unanimous support for Thompson in his

bid to unseat 81-- y ear- oi- d Fred Heinkel

Heinkel has been unopposed for re-election

each vear since he was ap-pointed

to the office in 1941

Managers for two other large ex-changes

one in the northeast part of the

state and one in the west said delegates

for their areas were overwhelminglv in

( See HACKETHORN. Page 10A)

Senate panel to cut synthetic fuel plan

From our wire services

WASHINGTON The Senate Energy and

Natural Resources Committee served notice

Wednesday it would trim back and slow down

President Carter's $ 88 billion program to develop

synthetic fuels, spending less money and making

fewer and less dramatic promises

" We have to make a beginning," said the

committee chairman, Sen Henry M Jackson, D- Wa- sh

" But we don't have to present the big pic-ture

or go off the deep end The sensible thing is to

start down the road with every possible safeguard,

recognizing that there are problems "

Meanwhile, in a farewell message to Congress,

Energy Secretary James Schlesinger tesufied- befor- e

the House Budget Committee on behalf of

Carter's $ 144 billion, 10- ye- ar program including

the proposed $ 88 billion investment in synfuel

development

" We look to a future of chronic shortages of

energy as well as rising energy prices and the

responsibility of us all to adapt to the real life

world . . without too much railing about our

fate," he said " We will be chronically on the

ragged edge of supply "

Schlesinger said only the oncoming recession

will temporarily dampen the increasing demand

for oil, with coal, solar and nuclear power required

as substitutes

Energy Roundup on Page 12A

" We need them all if we are to avoid serous

economic problems that will lead to serious

political difficulties," he said " Tune is running

out on the United States in terms of energy sup-ply"

But the Energy Committee is not about to

plunge blindly into any synthetic fuel programs

During the committee's first discussion of the

proposed legislation on synthetic- fu- el develop

ment the members emphasized that they had no

vay of knowing which if anv experiments to

produce artificial sources of energy were worth

the $ 2 or S3 billion inv estment each requires

The Jackson panel decided to request only $ 3

billion for the synthetic- fu- el program in the 1980

budget compared with the $ 22 billion proposed bv

the Carter administration with $ 17 billion more

tentatively scheduled for the following year The

committee staff director. Daniel A Dreyfus

called these figures lavish "

The committee declined to propose any budget

figures for the next three vears a time during

which the White House would have committed an

additional $ 30 billion It approved an outline for a

svnthetie- fu- el bill that postpones from 1990 to 1995

the date by which the president's production goal

of 2 5 million additional barrels of oil a day would

be achiev ed

The energy committee took Wednesday ' s action

before the August recess in order to give the

Senate Budget Committee some spending

estimates for its pending studv of the impact of the

Carter energy program on future federal budgets

That report is due Sept 15

During Wednesday s debate committee

members indicated concern about whether the full

proceeds of the windfall profits tax on the ori

industry as proposed bv Carter, would be

available to finance synthetic- fu- el production

experiments

But the principal reaction on the Energy

Committee concerned the lack of knowledge about

synthetic- fue- l prospects and costs

The Senate committee s decision will not be

translated into legislation until September, but it

appeared likelv to have a deepening effect on the

president's recommendation for an immediate

heavy investment in replacing foreign oil imports

with synthetic products manufactured in volume

Club leader says public opinion

will determine future of park

By David Pasztor

and Rhooda Stearley

Missourian staff writers

Public opinion will determine if a city

proposal to construct a regional

shopping mall on part of Cosmo Park is

approved, former Cosmopolitan Club

President Grover Hawkins says

Members of Columbia's largest civic

club hope to serve as a catalyst for

opposition to the plan

" If the people of Columbia really

want a shopping center on Cosmo Park,

then they have our blessing," Hawkins

says, " but I don't think that's what they

want"

Tuesday night Mayor Clyde Wilson

and Bob Pugh, chairman of the Land

Clearance Authority, told 90 of the

club's 130 members about authority's

proposal to build a 500,000- squar- e foot

( 45, G09- squar- e meter) mall on the

southwest 50 acres ( 20 hectares) of the

530- ac- re ( 212- hectar- e) Cosmopolitan

Recreation Center

What rankles the Cosmopolitans is

that they have been improving 33 acres

( 14 hectares) of those SO acres ( 20

hectares) since the 1940s, investing

almost $ 100,000 and hours of volunteer

labor in park improvements.

So after the city's presentation, the

club closed its meeting to outsiders and

established a 10- m- an committee to

spearhead the organization's efforts to

stop the proposed development.

Bob Lueneberger, club president,

said the committee has been given no

specific directions on what form the

opposition should take, but battle plans

will be drawn up at next Tuesday's

board of directors meeting

" We are very definitely against them

using the Cosmo Park area as a

prospective shopping mall,"

Lueneberger said. The club is not op-posed

to a regional shopping mall in

Columbia, he said, just to its placement

in the park.

Mayor Wilson said he was not sur-prised

by the club's opposition.

" I know they have a great investment

in the park and I expected them to

oppose the plan initially," he said. But,

Wilson said, some club members may

change their views after reasons for the

selection of Cosmd Park sink in.

" I understand everything they're

saying," Pugh said. " All we've got now

is an impasse"

" We are trying to put the information

before the people and let them see what

the options are," Wilson said. " I'd be

surprised if any group of people of that

size m Columbia would agree com-pletely

on any controversial issue "

Wilson said even he hasn t decided if

he will support the Cosmo Park location

for a regional mall

The authority recommended the park

as a site for the mall because it is

already well- serv- ed bv citv services

Pugh said a council- appointe- d special

task force reported other sites in town

were inferior for development

However, he said, thev do have

potential

Three developers have expressed

interest in building a regional mall in

Columbia, and Gottlieb Corp of Kansas

dry, Mo , is specifically interested in

the Cosmo Park site

Hawkins said he plans to petition,

adding he received several calls

Wednesday from people volunteering to

work against the development " If it

gets to the point where the mall is being

built," he said, " then there should be a

referendum where the people decide "

" And if the council truly represents

the people, then they won't build a mall

that the majority opposes," Hawkins

said.

" The town will go on," Pugh said.

" We're not going to be devastated

In town

today

9 am. Boone County Court meets,

fifth floor. County -- City Building

6 pm. Dog show, ball diamond,

Boone Countv Fairgrounds

7: 30 p. m. Columbia Housing

Authority Board of Commissioners,

OAK Towers, 700 N Garth Ave

8 p. m- - " The Devil is a Woman,"

film, University Middlebush

Auditorium, free

8: 15 pm " The Amorous Flea,"

University Repertory Theatre, Fine

Arts Building, University summer

students free, $ 3 others

8: 15 pm " Misalliance," Arrow

Rock Lyceum Theater, students

with valid identification $ 3 50, $ 4.50

others

Movie listings on Page 11A

Classified th

ComicsTV 7B

Movies UA

Opinioa 4A

People. IB

Record 18A

Sports 5, SA

Stocks 9A L

Insist

today

Gamble

Before the game, the New York

Yankees were unleashing a little

left- hand- ed lightning. Graig Nettles

put a batting- practtc- e pitch into the

right- fiel- d seats Jim Spencer did, jj

too Then Reggie Jackson hit one 1

that was headed for Indiana before jj

the upper deck stopped it.

Before Wednesday night's game, 3

the Yankees got another bolt of 8

lightning.

Oscar Gamble was on ms way. 9

If you're confused now, turn to I

Page 6A. You'll find that you're cot 9

the only one. g