Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1977-01-04

              57ATE r.I.'T:RICL COCIETT
UITT & LCfcRY ST.
CLU3I, K). 652C1
ST. 12-5-- 74
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69th Year No. 89 (iood Morning! It's Tuesday, Jan, 4, 1976 16 Pages 15 Cents
' N Piigli adopts
different role
as 'fair9 mayor
By Ransdell Pierson
Missourian staff writer
Both the political fnends and foes
of outgoing Mayor Bob Pugh say he
is different from his days as Fourth
Ward councilman Something like
the difference between the sound of
a freight train's hornand the whistle
of a teapot
"Bob went from a very abrasive,
caustic and profane councilman to a
very open-minde- d, moderate
mayor," says his good fnend Les
Proctor, the Fourth Ward coun-cilman
Proctor said he believes Pugh was
serious last weekend when the
mayor repeated a promise that he
Insight
would not seek re-elect- ion this April
First elected to the Fourth Ward
seat in 1973, Pugh defeated former
Mayor Tom Anderson and two other
opponents in the 1975 mayoral race
with 53 per cent of the vote
Pugh, 36, said his decision to leave
politics "permanently" was based
on a need to devote more tune to his
job as comptroller of the Missouri
Store Co "Four years is quite a long
tune in the council," he said "I
can't afford to do it two more
years "
Three-ter- m Sixth Ward Coun-cilman
Clyde Wilson, who says
"political obituary may be
LPuprgehm'sature," agrees that as Mayor
Mayor Bob Pugh "" "Basically a good fellow "
Pugh has become a strong council
leader only by abandoning his
previous firebrand sty le
"He's worked very hard to keep
the council together and didn't do
that as a councilman that's what's
remarkable. He has realized that
you don't have the same freedom of
expression as a mayor because your
efforts have to be directed at
reaching a compromise when you
have a split He was not as divisive a
force as some people thought he
might be "
Although Wilson admits that Pugh
"is not an innovator and doesn't
claim to be," he says the mayor has
greatly improved the administration
of city business by prompting
(See PUGH, page 10)
Adds another conservative vote
ByAlanJocfa
and Mary Wood
Missourian staff writers
The 4-- 3 conservative-liber- al split on
the City Council apparently became a 5-- 2
split Monday night as the council
elected Don Mosby, 42, of 1707 Doris
Drive, Second Ward councilman to
rtplace resigned Councilman David
Ltndstrom.
Mosby, who was elected by a 4--2 vote,
described himself after his selection as
"more conservative than liberal He
did not attend the meeting but listened
to it at home on the radio.
Mosby, a State Farm Insurance
agent, said he "definitely" plans to
seek a full two-ye- ar term m the April
election He said he has three-fourth- s of
the needed signatures on his
nominating petition.
Mosby's statement of his intention to
run came on the same day that Third
Ward Councilman Phil Hanson
announced he definitely plans to seek a
third term.
Also Monday, Fourth Ward
Councilman Les Proctor said he will
make a statement today about his
decision whether to seek re-electi- on.
Meanwhile, a fnend of Proctor's, Jim
Goodrich, 1252 Sunset Drive, Monday
picked up a nominating petition and
said he was considering seeking
Proctor's seat However, he said
Proctor's plans will "have a definite
bearing" on whether he decides to run
Mosby has been a Columbia resident
since he was 7 He attended the
University for two years and worked
for the Missouri Division of
Employment Security before becoming
a State Farm agent 13 years ago
President of the Parkade Neighborhood
Association since 1970, Mosby also
chaired an 18-mem- ber citizens
committee that successfully promoted
passage of a sewer bond issue in 1972
In nominating Mosby, Mayor Bob
Pugh cited Mosby's work with tne
Parkade Association and involvement
with the sewer bond issue as
qualifications for filling the council
seat
"In looking for criteria, I sought
someone who had neighborhood and
citywide leadership experience," Pugh
said. "He clearly stands out as a proven
(See MOSBY, page 16)
Don Mosby daii
New Second Ward councilman
Annual county audits overlooked;
Caldwell cites law's interpretation
By Chris Conway
Missourian staff writer
Boone County Auditor Don Caldwell
does not annually audit county officers
despite a state law which most other
second class county auditors interpret
as requiring annual audits
Auditors of six of Missouri's other 11
second class counties contacted
Monday said they annually audit
county officers because they think state
law requires the audits
According to the law, the auditor is
required to "audit the accounts of all
officers of the county annually or upon
their retirement "
But Caldwell said he interprets the
law to mean he is required only to audit
county officers after they leave office
He said he has audited the books of
most county offices at one time or
another since 1989, but lacks the time
and staff annual audits would require
A Columbia Missourian study also
found that
The current audit of County Clerk
Murry Glascock is the first audit of
Glascock since Caldwell became
auditor in 1969
The current audit of the county
Planning and Zoning Commission is the
first time that office has been audited
since it was created in 1974
Although state law requires an
audit of officials who leave office,
Caldwell has not completed an audit of
former county Collector Woodrow
Wilson, who died last Apnl of leukemia
while in office Caldwell said he
recently completed an audit of former
Probate Judge George Adams, who
committed suicide in November 1975
while in office
Offices that do not handle money,
such as the prosecuting attornej, are
not audited because of staff and tune
limitations, Caldwell said
The audit of Glascock so far has
revealed missing county fees that
Glascock has been unable to account
for In December, Glascock wrote the
county a $3,097 84 personal check to
make up for the missing fees
Caldwell said most county offices, in
effect, are audited on a continuous
basis because county officials are
required to submit monthly statements
to his office "It's a process of monthly
(See CALDWELL, page 16)
Charles Condra checks the ice on Hulen Lake and finds that the recent frigid weather has produced just enough to skate on.
Missouri in path of 'dangerous9 storm
If you've been hoping for a break from winter's
recent onslaught, revise your hopes and hang on at
least another week. The National Weather Service
has issued a winter storm watch in Missouri for
today and tonight, predicting freezing rain and
possibly heavy snow for the Columbia area
The extended forecast for Missouri calls for
continued cold through the rest of the week with a
chance of snow on Saturday.
Today's storm watch results from what the
weather service describes as a "massive,
widespread and dangerous" system heading for the
Midwest. The storm was centered in south-centr- al
Wyoming Monday night
Winter storm watches were issued Monday from
California and Oregon to Missouri and Iowa. Effects
of the system should reach Columbia early today,
officials at the National Weather Service at
Columbia Regional Airport said.
The weather service predicts light freezing rain
will fall on Columbia through the morning,
changing to snow by the afternoon with a possible
accumulation of two Inches before tapering off
Wednesday.
That same storm pummelled the West with up to
six inches (15 centimeters) of ram and three feet (90
centimeters) of snow
In the South, an ice storm shackled traffic and
gave hundreds of thousands of children an extra day
of vacation
The storm trapped motorists in flood-strande- d
automobiles in California, pleased skiers with
waist-dee- p snows in the California-Nevad- a Sierra,
and slugged into the intermountain West
The storm brought the first signs of an end to a
two-ye- ar drought for California farmers. But it was
too late for the navel orange crop which already is
being harvested
Snow fell at an mch (2 5 centimeters) an hour
through the day at Flagstaff, Ariz , leaving a foot
(30 centimeters ) on the ground and closing schools.
In the Sierra at Shaver Lake, Calif , up to three
feet (90 centimeters) of snow fell. Winds were so
strong they blew the roof off the mobile fire station
inBerenda, Calif
Together the two storms were blamed for at least
six traffic deaths and a 16-c- ar pileup in Alabama
"This is the worst ice storm that we can
remember in the past quarter of a century," said
Michael Prudhomme, a spokesman for Central
Louisiana Electric Co. "It's almost like a major
hurricane hitting the CLECO system "
Up to 10 mches (25 centimeters) of snow fell in
Tennessee's Great Smoky mountains, bringing a
bonanza to ski resort owners, and up to five inches
(12.5 centimeters) blanketed the middle part of the
state.
The storm moved out of Texas but left most of the
state shrouded in fog that cut visibility to one-four- th
nule ( 4 kilometers) along the Mexican border
Winds gusting to 40 miles (64 kilometers) an hour
threatened to blow motorists off the road in
southwestern Texas
School children in hundreds of cities and counties
m Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and
Tennessee got an extra day to build snowmen and
toss snowballs as an ice storm continued through its
second day.
IIItWM
'"" today
8:30 a.m. Boone County Court,
County-Cit- y Building
2 pan. First Senior Citizens
Organization, Oak Towers
7:30 p.m. Columbia Human
Rights Commission, Public
Library.
Exhibits
New: Public Library,
collection of ships and bottles, 9
am to9pm
See Sunday Vibrations for
continuing exhibit schedules.
See page 15 for movie listings.
Hopes to streamline government
Carter discusses reorganization
PLAINS, Ga. (AP) - A bill
authorizing president-elec- t Jimmy
Carter to propose a sweeping
reorganization of the federal
government should sail through
gngress, the chairman of the House
vernment Operations Committee
said Monday.
Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Te- x., chairman
of the House Government Operations
Committee, told reporters after
conferring with Carter that a bill will be
ready soon seeking "statutory
autlwrity" for Carter to reorganize the
government
"I think Congress shares his deep
concern about making the federal
government more efficient and
economical," Brooks said.
Asked if he expected strong
opposition, Brooks replied, "I really
don't think so " But he said "of course
there will be some who object . all the
lobbyists ... all the lawyers and public
relations persons . . who want the
government to jump through the
hoops"
Brooks was accompanied by Budget
Director-designat- e Thomas "Bert"
Lance, who will be be in charge of
Carter's government reorganization
project.
Lance, turning to another subject,
told reporters he still believes "we're
going to have some sort of tax (cut)
proposal" to stimulate the ailing
economy
He said that would be one of the
options presented to Carter Thursday
when he meets with his economic
advisers to decide on the package he
will send to Congress
Lance said Carter's advisers are
"still waiting to see" how much the
economy has unproved in view of
mixed reports on Christmas sales,
plant expansion and other indicators
Brooks made the comments after
discussing the reorganization
authorization bill with Carter and Bert
Lance, the designated head of the
Office of Management and Budget, at
Carter's home here
County
hospital
rates rise
By Debbie Quinn
Missourian staff writer
Patients will pay as much as 34 per
cent more for a semi-pnva- te room and
32 per cent more for a private room at
Boone County Hospital beginning this
week
The room rate increases will provide
revenue for a $13 1 million budget for
1977 adopted unanimously Sunday by
the hospital's board of trustees
A semi-pnva- te room now costing
$52 50 and $62 per day will increase to
$72 and $82, and the $58 50 and $62 50
charges for a private room will
increase to $77 and $82 The higher of
the two rates will be charged for rooms
on remodeled floors
"The adjusted room rates reflect a
fuller implementation of the hospital's
philosophy that the patient should pay
for what he gets," Jack Estes,
chairman of the board of trustees, said
Monday
Even the increased hospital room
rates do not reflect the cost to the
hospital of operating the rooms, said B
J Stewart, Boone County Hospital
comptroller
Stewart said hospitals traditionally
have limited daily room rates to keep
them within the range of what health
insurance companies are willing to pay
"Normally," Stewart said, "hospitals
hold down room rates and increase the
cost of ancillary services (such as lab
work, X-ra-ys, drugs, operating room)
to make up for lost revenue "
For example, m most hospitals, a
patient pays $40 for a room that costs
the hospital $50 to operate To make up
for the lost revenue, the hospital
charges the patient $20 for an X-r- ay
that costs $10 to make
The room rates adopted by the board
Sunday still do not include the entire
cost of operating the rooms, and thus
the charges for ancillary services will
not be lowered.
The board rejected an alternative
proposal that would have decreased
ancillary services charges and
increased room rates to cover the full
cost of operating the rooms Under this
plan room rate increases would have
been $6 or $7 more than the increases
actually adopted, Estes said
Stewart said that so large an increase
in room rates at this time would appear
"shocking" to the public.
The new rates for private and semi-pnva- te
rooms are comparable to rates
at the University Medical Center.
The medical center charges $77 per
(See RATES, page 10)