Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1976-06-24

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Lathrop looks for County Court reform By Dave Sedgwick
Mtesoorian staff writer
The County Court will "move ahead"
on the grand jury's proposals for
reform even if Presiding Judge Bob
Brown opposes them, Northern District Judge Carolyn Lathrop said Wednesday.
In a speech to the Lion's Club, Mrs.
Lathrop said the County Court already
has begun to carry out the grand jury's
recommendations.
Mrs. Lathrop said she will ask the
court to:
Create a five-memb- er finance
committee to study the upcoming
county budget and require each county
department to justify its budget "to the
penny".
Receive detailed, periodic reports
on county road repairs from Elmo
WinterhaKer, supervisor of the county
road and bridge crews.
Provide an agenda of County Court
meetings one day in advance, including
a list of court orders to be signed.
Tape record all court meetings for
later transcription.
Hold monthly meetings with the
county's other elected officials.
Require all county officials to turn
in itemized mileage vouchers.
Seek advice from the county
auditor on the budget, bills and court
orders.
Institute an affirmative action
program.
Provide a calendar of upcoming
court activities.
Mrs. Lathrop, who delivered her
speech in the Harvest Moon
restaurant's banquet room by candle
light during a power failure, said she
had the support of Northern District
Judge Rodney Smith on theproposals.
Contacted later, Smith said he will
not know if he can support Lathrop's
call for the creation of a finance
committee until he hears more about it.
He also had no opinion on the need for a
tape recorder at court meetings, but
said he supports Lathrop's other
proposals.
Smith said that Brown also welcomes
some of the reforms, and that
disagreements over specific proposals
will not block the court's reform efforts.
"I think he's (Brown) at the point
where he'd kind of like to get some of
these reforms started," Smith said.
Brown was unavailable for comment.
Mrs. Lathrop said the court has
instructed Winterhalter to report to the
court next week on road conditions,
detailing projected road repairs and the
budget allowances for such
expenditures.
Smith inspected some county roads
Monday, Mrs. Lathrop said, but Smith
will not singlehandedly supervise road
operations as did his predecessor
Clarence Drew. Mrs. Lathrop
emphasized that the court judges
collectively will oversee road and
bridge operations.
Mrs. Lathrop said the County Court
will make contingency plans for a
possible cut in federal revenue sharing
funds another grand jury
recommendation. If such a cut were
made, the County Court judges "can
only budget for service which the law
requires us to budget for," she said.
She added that the finance committee
would help to formulate such a plan.
"We will need two-thir- ds of a court vote
(to establish the finance committee),
and I am going to initiate it," she said.
Mrs. Lathrop added that the County
Court should purchase squad cars for
the sheriff's department, as requested
by the grand jury.
"I'm willing to admit it was a
mistake in judgement in not getting the
cars (last year) ," she said.
The opening of the county-cit- y
building in the renovated Daniel Boone
Hotel will alleviate the lack of
communication between the County
Court and county officials, Mrs.
Lathrop said.
"The biggest mistake we made was
moving out of the courthouse (to the
court offices at Tenth and Walnut
streets)," she said.
Mrs. Lathrop said the agenda for .
today's meeting lists two court orders
to be read at 9:30 and a review of the
planning and zoning board's
recommendations at 10 a.m. Insight
Dialysis
treatment
on the rise
U.S., state help
kidney patients
pay their bills
By Tricia White
Mfesonrian staff writer
A faint, rhythmic hum is heard from
the odd-looki- ng plastic tubing, switches
and dials. Seated in a large, blue easy
chair, Harvey Davis is engrossed in a
mystery novel propped in his lap. A
maze of tubes filled with a deep, red
liquid wind their way upward from his
left forearm to a small, plastic
cylinder. Below, dials cover the face of
a four-fo- ot machine gauging his blood's
almost imperceptible flow.
His dialysis treatment will be over
before he finds out who-dun--it in his
novel. The tubing will be taken from his
arm and, accompanied by his wife, the
67-year--
old kidney patient will drive
from the University of Missouri
Medical Center to his home in Jefferson
City.
Davis and approximately 643 other
Missourians have end-stag-e renal
disease, according to Missouri
Regional Medical Program estimates.
Their kidneys have totally or parHnBri.- -
failed them, and they are faced with
1 one of three choices: First, they may
I qualify for a complicated kidney
transplant operation. Second, they may
have to reconcile themselves to "life on
. the machine" receiving an average
;: of three dialysis treatments a week.
Their third choice is death.
Twelve years ago, only 300
I Americans were receiving dialysis
? treatments on artificial kidney
: machines. Until state and federal funds
became available for the expensive
treatments, only a small percentage of
kidney patients were treated. The rest
died. Today more than 16,000 persons
with end-sta- ge renal disease survive on
dialysis, according to National Kidney
Foundation statistics.
Many patients are now dialyzing
themselves at home using a compact
artificial kidney machine, but a greater
number still are being treated in
(See LEGISLATION, Page 15A)
68th Year No. 232 6W Morning! It's Thursday. June 24. 1 976 2 Sections 24 Pages 1 5 Cents
'
High noon
flashlight
cookery
By Doa Holmes
Missourian staff writer
For Columbia's downtown
merchants, it wasn't exactly
business as usual Wednesday.
People were lighting candles,
searching dark drawers for
batteries and cooking hamburgers
by flashlight.
Just before noon, lights went out in
the downtown area south of
Broadway, north of Cherry Street
and from Hitt Street to the LaCrosse
Lumber Co. A defective cable was
believed to be the cause.
''They were dim all morning,"
said Vicki Rapp, sales clerk at
Puckett's, 906 E. Broadway. "And
around 12. they just went out"
Store clerks in the shops around
the Strollway and along Broadway
simply moved chairs into the street
and calmly waited for servicemen
from the Water and Light
Department to complete the repair.
None of the shops seemed to lack
customers, who perused
merchandise in the faint light from
shop windows.
Steve Reichman, a salesman at
Fox Trot, 28 S. 9th St, smiled at the
customers trying on shoes in the
dark. "We do more business with the
lights off than we do on," he said.
Within an hour after the lights
went out completely, electricity was
back in service. Charles Moreau of
the Water and Light Department
explained, "We bad a feeder to burn
loose." The feeder was one of
several large cables carrying
electricity to large transformers in
the area.
"We think it was a loose
Hhsli owIBBSSkFBE. jbl S&HHSre99HBaHBKH.B3iH0B9SE
A Water and Light Department crew checks fuses in
transformers in an alley off Tenth Street after a circuit
faulted Wednesday and left a good part of downtown
without electricity. George Hessenbruch is on the
platform. Calvin Turner, left, and Vic Winn are at work
below. (Missourian photo by Anne Martin)
connection in the cable," said
Moreau, who still was not certain of
the cause. Crews were expected to
be working on the repair well into
this morning.
"Lights are on now, but on a
curtailed status," Moreau said.
"I was in Harpo's for lunch," Ms.
Rapp said. "I could see them back
there cooking hamburgers with
flashlights."
Electric cash registers caused
store keepers some trouble during
the morning's uncertain power. "It
got so low that we couldn't even open J
the cash drawers,' ' Ms. Rapp said. 1
Computer program flaws debated
By Chris Conway
Missourian staff writer
About 20 top-lev- el University
administrators met behind closed doors
Wednesday to discuss what University
interim president James C. Olson
described as "serious" problems with
the University's Student Information
System computer programs.
Olson said after the meeting that "a
lot of work needs to be done" to correct
the system.
He said the meeting was held "to
develop an understanding of the
problems and develop procedures to
effect solutions." Olson said he will
present a report on the system's
troubles and measures to correct the
problems at the July meeting of the
University Board of Curators.
Olson said "a clear designation" of
authority would be made, because
there has been "some uncertainty in
the past" about who is responsible for
the system.
The $347,000 system has been riddled
with problems since it began operation
in the spring of 1975. The system was
designed to compile and print student
data for student directories, grade
reports, registration, class rolls,
changes in enrollment and billing.
Olson said "lots of specific kinds of
problems" were identified at the
meeting, but he declined to name the
problems. Several other persons at the
meeting said later there was "nothing
new" about the problems named at the
meeting.
The Columbia Missourian reported
June 2 that a computer consultant hired
by the University to examine the
system was highly critical of its design.
He said the system was "doomed to
obsolesence" unless changes are made.
He also said it wasted resources and its
design resulted in programs running
longer than necessary in the computer.
The system was designed by Systems
and Computer Technology of West
Chester, Pa.
In recent weeks, the Missourian also
has reported that problems with the
system have resulted in inaccurate
grade reports and student billings, and
that enrollment data and information
necessary to act on student financial
aid requests has been delayed.
The University has begun a major
effort to correct the problems. Robert
Taylor, director of University
management systems, said Wednesday
his office is "working steadfastly" to
correct the problems.
Woman, 82, lost
$1 million estate
By Mary Morris
Missourian staff writer
Clara Perkins, an 82-year-- old
Columbia rest home resident whose
attorney disappeared last week, may
have lost all but $35,000 to $40,000 of
assets worth between $1 and $2 million.
Mrs. Perkins' nephew, William P.
See, testified Wednesday in Boone
County Probate Court that Robert
Head, the vanished lawyer, had power
of attorney over his aunt's assets.
See told the court he estimates that
$35,000 to $40,000 is left to his aunt. He
told the Columbia Missourian Saturday
he didn't know the initial amount of her
assets, but he said he had heard it was
between $1.5 million and $2 million.
Two lawyers told the Missourian
Wednesday night that before Head
disappeared he had talked to them
frequently about handling a woman's
estate "wWcn was over a million
dollars."
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Earl
Seitz told the Missourian Wednesday
night the case is being investigated by
the prosecutor's office.
The legal ethics committee of the
Boone County Bar Association will
investigate Head.
Power of attorney is a written
instruction by which one person
appoints another as his agent and
confers upon the agent authorization to
perform specific acts. The acts can
include writing checks in the client's
name.
See, 901 Clinkscales Road, also
testified Wednesday that his aunt
owned an undetermined amount of
stocks and bonds, but no real estate.
Mrs. Perkins is at the Restwell
Retirement Lodge.
See was granted guardianship of his
aunt Wednesday after Probate Judge
Ellen Roper declared Mrs. Perkins
"incapable of managing her property
or caring for herself by reasons of
senility."
Acting as guardian, See must
determine Mrs. Perkins' exact assets
and report them to the court as soon as
possible.
Mrs. Perkins' physician. Dr. Jack.
Logue, testified that she is suffering
from senile dementia and is not aware
of her present financial status, or to
whom she had written checks.
Head left his wife, Ann C. Head, a
note last week saying he never plans to
return to Columbia. His wife filed for
divorce in Boone County Circuit Court
June 17.
Pollution violation
unprovable: Novak
By Don Cooper
Missourian staff writer
City Manager Terry Novak said
Wednesday he doubts the state can
prove its contention in a lawsuit filed
against the city Tuesday that the city
power plant has been violating state air
pollution standards since May 1.
He said he thinks the power plant
emissions have been within the legal
limits.
The suit, the first air pollution action
filed against a Missouri city, seeks an
injunction to limit coal burning at the
municipal power plant on Business
Loop 70 so emissions will not exceed
state guidelines.
The suit also seeks the imposition of a
$5,000 fine the maximum that can be
assessed under the law for every day
the city has not been in compliance
since May 1. The maximum possible
fine to date would be $275,000. Novak
said he thinks it is "unrealistic" to
expect such a large fine would be
imposed.
Filed by the state attorney general's
office of behalf of the Missouri Air
Conservation Commission, the suit
contends the city is in violation of state
standards for ash emissions and smoke
from the power plant is too black. The
suit does not mention violations of
sulfur emission standards.
Novak said coal generation at the
plant has been cut back voluntarily
since May 1. He said oil, a more
expensive fuel, has been used to make
up for the decrease in coal generation.
Columbians will not see a dramatic
increase in utility bills as a result of the
oil burning "as long as the weather
stays pretty cool," Novak said. "We've
been lucky so far because people
haven't started turning on their air
conditioners."
Novak said he has sent letters to the
Air Conservation Commission stating
the coal generation already has been
cut back. He said he was surprised
by the lawsuit because "we've been
informing them all along, but we've
never received any reply."
But Asst. Atty. Gen. Dan Summers,
who is handling the state's case, said he
is unaware of any correspondence sent
to the Air Conservation Commission.
"I've worked pretty closely with the air
conservation people, and as far as T
(See COMMISSION, Page 15A) Many incoming officials will set the tone for M.U.
By Anne Hurley
Missourian staff writer
"The University is indeed facing a
major turnaround. When changes like
these come all at once, it's naturally
exciting to look at the possibilities,"
said Robert Daniel, chairman of the
University Faculty Council.
"It certainly throws things into a new
light It is an exciting situation, exciting
for all of us," Curator Barbara
Berkmeyer said. ' "Though no one really
knows which way we're going, at the
same time no one's going to deny we
have a wide open field ahead of us."
The "possibilities" the University
faces come in the form of vacancies in
key administrative posts, both on the
University wide level and on the
Columbia campus. Who fills the
positions will determine the direction
the University takes for the next
several years.
There is, most importantly, room at
the top. While interim president James
C. Olson assumes the duties of running
a four-camp- us university, a special
search committee will be looking for
someone to lead a financially troubled
institution into the 1980s.
Other vacancies, existing and
upcoming, include:
Administrative vice president
This position, created by former
University President C. Brice
Ratchford and approved by the board
last fall, would combine the duties of
vice president for finance and business
management. The search for someone
to fill the post, reported "in its final
stages" in March, has been postponed
because of Ratchf ord's resignation.
Assistant to the president for state
relations, a lobbying position. This
position has been vacant since August
1975 when Stirling Kyd resigned to
accept an appointment as director of
research for the State Senate.
Vice president for finance and
treasurer of the University. In
September 1975, Ray Bezoni, currently
holding this post, announced his plans
to retire sometime this summer when a
replacement can be found. Bezoni, 60,
said he had planned "for several
years" to retire before the customary
age of 65.
Columbia campus chancellor.
Herbert W. Schooling will turn 65 in
November 1977, though he may
contract to remain for another year as
chancellor if he wishes.
The president appoints each of these
positions, although the appointees
traditionally are cleared with the
board. Administrators, faculty and
students all have strong feelings about
what to look for in a president.
Melvin George, vice president for
academic affairs, said he would like to
see a president with "a strong voice,
someone to unify the four campus
system." George also said, "Everyone
students, faculty, administrators and
alumni should have an active voice in
the selection of the president. ' '
Columbia faculty members, who
voted no confidence in Ratchford in
April, would like to see a president in
favor of decentralizing the
administration.
"In the past, we had a high degree of
centralization, which was primarily
responsible for the computer fiasco. I
would rather see more decisions made
at the point where the actual work takes
place," Kent Adair, chairman-elec- t of
the faculty council, said.
Daniel agreed with Adair.
"With the number of things which
might occur, I think I see a trend
toward not only greater student-facult- y
involvement, but toward
decentralization," Daniel said. "Dr.
Ratchford felt trapped in the system ( of
a strong central administration). But
centralization has cost us a tremendous
amount of money. Dr. Olson has
already spoken out in favor of
decentralization. It's a good sign."
Missouri Students Association
President Paul Spencer said he hoped
the new president could help remedy
the financial crisis of the University.
"A University president should be
aware of the fact of limited resources,"
Spencer said. "In many ways it's too
late to do much about the financial
difficulties we're facing; we're in it and
we weren't prepared for it What we
need is someone to help remedy the
tight financial situation we're in now,
and someone who can plan for the
future."
The curators remain strongly
committed to strengtheing the four-camp-us
system, and are searching for
a president committed to this theory.
"We're looking for someone who can
be a good administrator and a good
educator, but mainly for someone who
can get along with the chancellors of all
four campuses. The president should
view all campuses equally," Curator C.
R, Johnston of Springfield said.
Rex Williams of Rolla agrees.
"We're going to follow basically the
same policies we have been following,"
Williams said. "We're committed to
keeping the four-camp- us system strong
(See M.U., Page 16 A)