Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1976-10-28

              Ibi town n
today
8: 39 a. m. Boone County Court,
County- Cit- y Building.
Noon Sen. Thomas F, Eagleton
address, open to public,
Columbia College.
7: 30 p. m. PTA parent
education discussion, West
Junior High.
8 p. m. Julian Bond speaks,
Jesse Auditorium, University.
Exhibits
New: Davis Art Gallery,
Stephens College, paintings,
drawings and prints by Ashley
Bryan, 8 a. m. to 5 p. m.;
Columbia Art League, batiks by
Fnedenke Adams, ceramic wall
pieces by Joyce Weller, paintings
and drawings by Donna Moore,
ceramics by Mara Bosch, oil
landscapes, surrealist
paletteknife works, ink drawings
by William Stavricos, 10- 3- 0 a. m.
to 3: 15 p. m.; KIrtley Library,
Columbia College, floor plans,
pencil sketches, watercolors and
perspectives by Marianne
Clough, 2 to 10 p. m.; Brady
Commons Art Gallery, Craft
Studio teachers' exhibit, 2 to 10
p m.; See Sunday Vibrations for
continuing exhibit schedules.
See page 15A for movie listings.
Insight
Candidates
have similar
sentiment
Danforth, Hearnes
differ on specifics
of some programs
By Laura Patrick
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY The anti- Washing- ton
sentiment shared by both
Missouri candidates for U. S. Senate,
Democrat Warren Hearnes, and
Republican John Danforth, makes their
positions on several issues strikingly
similar.
When differences do appear, they
often concern the specifics at certain
federal programs rather than basic
objectives.
Bom proposed a federal takeover of
all welfare programs, " the federal
government already makes all the
rules and the states just provide the
money," Hearnes asserts.
Danforth goes further to advocate a
" family assistance plan." The concept,
proposed several years ago by Daniel
Moynihan, would incorporate existing
welfare payments into a single cash
grant paid to families on the basis of
need. Danforth would retain the
requirement for able- bodie- d adults to
look for a job.
" Let people in need make the
decisions on how to run their own
lives," Danforth says
Hearnes brands the family assistance
approach as a " guaranteed annual
income," a term considered repugnant
to most political conservatives. The
program would pay $ 16 billion annually
to 42.2 million families, Hearnes says.
Adoption of such a plan, he says,
" would mean our government's
repudiation of the work ethic."
Hearnes does not specify how he
would remedy welfare problems, but he
proposes a complete federal takeover
of welfare programs.
Danforth denies advocating a
guaranteed annual income. " Either
Mr. Hearnes has deliberately
misrepresented my view or he simply
does not understand the entire issue,"
Danforth said.
" I have proposed that the present
confusing collection of programs
AFDC ( Aid to Families with Dependent
Children), food stamps, rent
supplements and the rest be
scrapped in favor of creating a single
( See MAJOR SPENDING, page 7A)
" TITS Hir70RIC4T, SOCIETY
HITf & LOVRY GT.
COLUMBIA, MO. 65201
ST. 12- 5-- 74
69th Year - No. 34 ;, Morning! Ils 77mirv. Oct. 28. 1976 2 Section - 28 Page - 1 5 ( etits
Joe E. Smith, above, and Mary HOssabargSr, " right, were
among several General Telephone Co. customers who argued
against a $ 2.1 million rate increase sought by company
during a Missouri Public Service Commission hearing
Wednesday. ( Missourian photos by Tim McKay)
Citizens oppose
phone rate hike
By Ken Fuson
Missourian staff writer
" I feel like I'm playing Russian
roulette every time I pick up the
telephone I've never been satisfied
with the phone service and I've lived
here 23 years," said Mary
Bussabarger, 1914 Princeton Drive.
Her complaint was representative of
comments made at a public hearing
held by the Missouri Public Service
Commission Wednesday to discuss a
proposed $ 2 1 million rate increase
sought by General Telephone Co
The commission staff recommended
Oct 16 that General Telephone be given
only $ 1.1 million to $ 1 5 million of its $ 2 1
million request Dale Sporleder,
attorney for General Telephone, said
the staff recommendation would mean
a monthly rate increase of $ 1 instead of
the $ 1 50 hike foreseen by his client
The full commission will begin its
formal hearing on the rate request Nov
3 General Telephone last received a
general rate increase in August 1973 of
$ 800,000
Nearly all 21 persons who testified at
the hearing opposed either the rate hike
or complained about the quality of
General Telephone service
The average residential customer
would pay an extra $ 18 60 each year if
the PSC approves the company's rate
hike request The average business
customer would pay $ 36 more
The proposed 21 per cent local service
rate increase was criticized by several
persons who asserted that many
individuals needing telephones for
medical reasons might be unable to
afford them
Louise Kuechler, Route 7, insisted on
receiving a quid pro quo m return for a
higher rate " I'm living on a fixed
income and I don't want an increase If
we do get an increase, I want some
additional services, such as free calls to
outside towns "
The assistant director of the Human
Development Corporation, Chris Kelly,
1712 Riback Road, said there was a
basic conflict between General
Telephone's need to make a profit and
( SeeSOMESAY, page 16A)
Resident reports gas leak in blast vicinity
By Geoff Cross
and Jeffrey M. Christian
Missourian staff writers
A Missouri Utilities Co crew turned
off the gas supply to the Lynn Martin
residence Wednesday morning after
Ruth Martin reported a leak in the
underground pipe leading from the
street to their house
The Martin residence, 919 Hulen
Drive, is about six blocks south of the J.
W. ' Chub' Phillips residence, which was
destroyed in an explosion Saturday
night The cause of the explosion is still
unknown, although authorities suspect
a leak and subsequent build- u- p of
natural gas
After turning off the gas, the crew
from Missouri Utilities Co told Mrs
Martin she would have to get a plumber
to repair the leak Plumbers worked at
the Martin residence all day
Wednesday to locate and repair the
damaged pipe, but then they told the
Martins they would have to wait until
this morning for the utility company to
turn on the gas supply
The Martins have lived in the house
for 5cj years, and Mrs Martin said the
leak has been in their yafd as long as
she can remember
The Martins said they had the utility
company check the leak snortly after
they moved in, and Mrs Martin said
both a meter man and a contractor told
her a few years ago there was a leak
She said she had presumed the two men
reported the leak to Missouri Utilities
Co
In Missouri, utility companies are
responsible by law for maintaining gas
mams and feeder lines to the curb of the
street only It is the individual
customer's responsibility to run the gas
into his house
" Though we try to prevent it, if a
customer's piping blows up his house,
it's his problem Our responsibility goes
to the property line," said Jack Moore,
vice president of Missouri Utilities Co
Moore said the company tnes to
prevent gas leaks through " constant
periodic inspection" of the Columbia
area Two men are assigned full time to
a leak survey crew, which patrols on
foot an area of the city each day, using
a highly sensitive " flame pack" to
detect signs of escaping gas
" If we find a leak we give the
customer our standard warning, which
has been publicized in many of our ads
If the odor is strong, go next door and
call us, leave a window open for
ventilation, and don't, under any
circumstances, go look for the leak
yourself with a match You'll be sure to
find it," Moore said
In reply to Mayor Bob Pugh's
( See UTILITY, page 16A)
Season's first major snow
blankets Rockies, Plains
By United Press International
The season's first major
snowstorm left up to a foot ( 3
decimeters) of snow Wednesday on
the Rockies and central Plains,
while off- the- la- ke snow squalls hit
Chicago and Milwaukee
The wintery blast slowed
thousands of travelers, including
President Ford and Democrat
Jimmy Carter, who were delayed in
departing from O'Hare
International Airport in Chicago for
about a half hour because of swirling
snow
A foot ( 3 decimeters) of snow
covered sections of the Colorado
Rockies, and up to 11 inches ( 2 8
decimeters) fell in areas of western
Kansas. Southward, the snow spread
into New Mexico, Oklahoma and
Texas
Ex- sheri- ff now patrolman
Meyer has Florida job
BySneStankey
Missourian staff writer
Jack Meyer resigned as Boone
County sheriff and took a job as a
patrolman in Palm Beach, Fla ,
because he was " just fed up with the
whole thing," his wife Connie said
Wednesday afternoon.
Meyer began work three weeks ago
as a patrolman at a salary of $ 11,803 in
Palm Beach, an exclusive resort
community on the southeast coast of
Florida, about 70 miles ( 112 kilometers)
north of Miami He resigned as sheriff
and left Boone County Sept 30
" He wasn't fed up with being sheriff,
he was just fed up with what he had to
put up with from the county," Mrs
Meyer said " He wasn't the problem
He just wouldn't sit there and let them
walk all over him He wanted the
county to appropriate money to things
that had first priority His whole thing
was law enforcement That's what he
lived on, but he realized he needed
backing, and he didn't have it here He
didn't leave the office a mess They ( the
County Court) made their own bed
" I think the county has lost someone
who did them good Maybe they don't
want to improve law enforcement
Maybe law enforcement just isn't their
thing No matter what he did, he'd hear
( See MEYER, page 16A ) Budget crunch causes busing controversy
By Jon Peck
and Carter Dunkin
Missourian staff writen
Critics of the Columbia Board of
Education's decision to abandon
district- operate- d busing and hire a
private busing firm question the
board's reasons for doing so. They say
the board just didn't want to be in the
basing business any longer.
But school officials say rising-- costs
and tight budgets forced the district to
turn the service over to a private firm
and reduce free service.
Transportation costs increased 133 per
cent during the last five years, they
point out.
Ed BartolaccL a leader of the petition
drive which compelled the school board
to put a proposal for increased free
busing on the Nov. 2 ballot, says be
believes the board did not try hard
enough to maintain district- operate- d
busing.
" My personal opinion is that the
board wanted out of the transportation
business," he says.
Interim school Supt. Russell
Thompson disagrees " I think there are
some board members who hated to get
out of the busing service, but the
economic situation began to dictate the
need for getting out"
R. W. Harmon and Sons of Kansas
City this fall began furnishing bus
service under a contract that will cost
the school district an estimated $ 480,000
this year. The net savings to the school
district is estimated to be $ 70,000 when
compared to last year's expenditures
for district- operate- d buses
Despite the savings, which
represents a 10.4 per cent cut in the
district's transportation budget, the
board found itself embroiled in a
controversy with parents who were
able to get a proposal to increase the
free service on the ballot
Tuesday voters will decide whether
the district will provide free bus service
for all children living one- ha- lf mile ( 8
kilometer) or more from school and
whether an additional property tax of 19
cents per $ 100 assessed property
valuation will be levied to finance the
busing. Each proposal need3 a two- thir- ds
majority to pass.
This spring Columbia voters twice
rejected a proposed 44- ce- nt tax rate
increase for the schools, forcing the
school board to make extensive cuts in
this year's budget.
One major cut was in transportation --
free bus service was eliminated for
secondary students living between 2
and 3 miles ( 3 2 and 5 6 kilometers)
from school, and Harmon and Sons was
hired to provide the busing.
School district financial records show
transportation costs more than doubled
since 1972 Key areas in the
transportation budget increased by
even more. Operation and maintenance
rose by more than 3 times from about
$ 53,000 m 1972 to about $ 195,000 last
year.
In the same period the need for
contracted and leased buses increased
each year. That cost more than tripled,
from about $ 42,000 to about $ 145,000.
Insurance on all the buses more than
doubled during the period, from about
$ 8,000 to about $ 17,000
Enrollment in the same period
increased rapidly. The average number
of students transported per day
increased 22 per cent: from 3,906 to
4.775.
" As our enrollment increased and we
required more buses, the funds were
not available to buy the buses," said Ed
Saunders, school district business
manager Leasing provided the needed
buses at less initial cost, he said
But as transportation costs rose,
school administrators began seeking
less expensive alternatives
" We were scrutinizing it ( the
transportation program) very carefully
over the past three or four years,
constantly looking for more efficient
and more economical ways of doing
things," Thompson says " If it
appeared mat another agency could do
it more economically than we could, we
would bring it to the attention of the
school board"
When the tax rate increase faded and
money became extremely tight this
year, the school board felt it was forced
to make a decision. On July 12, the
board approved the Harmon and Sons
bid to provide the district's busing at
the curtailed limits.
Jim Ritter, administrative assistant
to the superintendent and former
director of transportation, says the bus
service cutback was necessary so that
budget cuts in academic areas could be
lessened.
" I think the board members knew
they were going to have to cut back bus
service," Ritter says " They could not
have provided service for those people
living between the 2 and 3 mile ( 3 2
and 5.6 kilometer) limits "
State law prohibits a school district
from charging for transportation.
However, a private company can
charge, so those students losing free
busing can pay for that service. " The
board wanted to provide that option,"
Ritter says.
" In order to save money, you cut
back on services," he adds " When it
came to a squeeze, we had to cut back
on bus service."