Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1977-07-13

              "M po Thousand
Clowns, aaults $1 Stephens
College W arehouse Theatre
8 pjo. A Midsummer $oght s
Dream, adults $8 University
Fine Arts Building
Exhibits
See Sunda ; Vibrations
magazine for continuing exhibit
schedule
I &Sone listings oa page 9C 1
I
Mnisiiflif;
Measles
epidemic
preventable
Immunization lau
to be enforced
BMarvLttOe
SSssoarian staff writer
Measles outbreaks this spring ji 27
Missouri counties, including an
epidemic in Booae Counts, could hae
been a cided if easting health laws had
been enforced,, a state official said, but
the Columbia school district and the
state blamed each other Ttsesdav for
lack of enforcement
State health officials are working for
statewide enforcement of laws that
require students attending public
schools to be immunized adequately
against measles, polio, dipthena and
rubella
If all the children were immunized
like they were supposed to be, there
wouldn't have been any cases said
Gary Shipley, assistant director of the
Missouri Bureau of Immuiuzable
Diseases
We were expecting the schools as
part of their responsibdit to exclude
children who did not have adequate
immunization," he said.
But Columbia school Supt Russell
Thompson said the state did not ac-tively
enforce the laws because the)
ithe state) did not want to be in a
position of totally excluding students
Director of Elementary Schools Lynn
Marine said Columbia schools did not
enforce the laws because "the state
didnt demand us to do it"
Shipley said a good percentage of
school districts were enforcing the
health laws, but Thompson said he
thought most of the other districts were
treating the laws as Columbia had.
The state t now directing the school
districts "to take positive steps" to
achieve 100 per cent immunization,
Marine said If a student is not
adequately immunized within one
month of the start of school he will be
suspended, unless he has a religious or
medical exemption, he said
' We're just trying really hard to
crack down," Shipley said
Previously if a student was not im-munized
his parents were told they had
one month to comply with state health
laws If they did not comply the
Missouri Division of Health was
notified, Marine said The division then
sent staff persons to work with the
children who were not immunized
Thompson said staff members came
to the district "once or twice" this year
Marine said that before the epidemic
1,043 children remained without
adequate measles immunizations He
estimated the number of children
without measles immunizations now as
a "small" percentage
The law will be strictly enforced this
fall, Marine said 'It's either im-munization
or exemption sheets
He said there would "probably not"
have been an epidemic if the laws had
been enforced
Columbia Director of Health Services
Mike Sanford said if the existing laws
had been enforced "of course there
wouldn't have been" an epidemic
"Obviously there has not been volun-tary
compliance," he said
But Sanford said parents are
responsible for the epidemic, too "The
problem is one of complacency," he
said "A bunch of parents just don't
care enough
"It's a disgrace," Sanford said
. - ' :-
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69th I ear a 251 (hxI Warning! It Wednesday. July 13, J 977 3 Nation 36 Pag 1 5 m
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Map ! Htigpoteil Kim treet extension.
Change possible
for Elm Street
By Cheri Duncan
afissaoriaa staff writer
City Planning Director Mike Bathke
said Tuesday he will negotiate to ac--
lieve traffic congessoa on the down-town
loop
Bathke told loop task force members
that as many as 40 student parking
spaces north of the Loeb Group dormi-tories
would be eliminated in the pro-posal
so the at can extend Elm Street
Elm Street, which runs across the
northern edge of the campus, would be
extended to Fifth Street or Providence
Road so traffic northbound from the
University may avoid traveling up
Sixth Street
Bathke presented the plan after task
force member Dale Puckett, owner of
Puckett's Men's Wear, expressed his
dissatisfaction with traffic flow at the
intersection of Sixth and Locust streets
The city and the University have ar-ranged
for land easements before when
needed by either party KeeGroshong,
associate business officer at the Uni-versity,
said Bathke has not contacted
his office about the parking lot But "we
would cooperate anv way we could"
No mention was made at the meeting
of the residences or of the Dalton
Materials Co , which would be affected
if Elm Street were continued between
FifthStreet and Providence Road
The task force also discussed ways to
inform returning students about the
loop Robert Kren University director
of public information for the Columbia
campus, said the task force could pre-sent
loop information in the bulletin
sent to all faculty members and staff
Aug 31
Sue Rice, chairman of the city affairs
division of the Missouri Students" Asso-ciation
( MSA) , said the education effort
should be directed toward students who
own cars She said MSA would be will--
(See LOOP, page 12A
No state ruling given
on city can ban law
The head of the Missouri division of
liquor control says no one has contacted
that office concerning a possible con-flict
between the Columbia can ban or-dinance
and state liquor regulations
Supervisor Albert Letz said he would
have no comment on allegations by sev-eral
beer distributors that the Columbia
ordinance would force them to violate
state law He said he has not read the
ordinance and "nobody has requested
either an official or unofficial ruling on
whether it conflicts with any state re-quirements
"
The distributors, along with several
beverage retailers, obtained a tem-porary
restraining order June 29 in
Boone County Circuit Court against en-forcement
of the ordinance, charging
that it violates the U S Constitution
Monday, Circuit Court Judge John
Cave extended the restraining order
until at least July 22 to give the parties
time to respond to each other's argu-ments
At Monday's hearing, the plaintiffs
filed an amended petition asserting that
the container deposit refund provisions
of the can ban ordinance would violate
state law Several distributors testified
that they would stop selling beer in Co-lumbia
rather than risk losing their
liquor licenses
Ted A Wisch, manager of N H
Scheppers Distributing Co , Jefferson
City, testified that he had contacted
Robert Stewart, former acting super-visor
of the state division of liquor con-trol,
and was told the ordinance con-tained
possible violations of state law
Letz said Stewart left the division of
liquor control May 17 Letz said neither
he nor his deputy, Duane Franklin,
have received any inquiries about the
Columbia ordinance "If someone asks
for a ruling we will consider the mat-ter,"
he said
Carter wants option to
deploy neutron bombs
Freta our wire services
WASHINGTON President Carter
asked Congress Tuesday to approve
funds for the neutron bomb and said he
needs the option to deploy it even
though use of such weapons "could lead
to a world-wid- e holocaust
I have not yet decided whether to
advocate deployment of the neutron
bomb, but I thank we should have the
option Carter told a news conference.
He also said a nation ought be
justified in starting a nuclear war if the
provocatrca were 'extreme gross,
such as the unwarranted invasion of
another country " The Pentagon wants
todep&o neutron weapons along NATO
front lines in Europe to deter Soviet
invasion.
Because the neutron bomb causes
much less destruction' than
comparable tactical weapons, it could
be used m Europe. Carter said, where
Western forces are badly outmanced
and outgunned b Soviet bloc troops
and tasks.
Production of the bomb does not
affect our strategic negotiations or
SALT talks with the Sonets" because it
is a tactical battlefield weapon and not
a strategic armament, Carter said. The
Soviets, however, have a!read begun
condemning the bomb
A White House spokesman said
Carter could always decia? to scrap the
futuristic radiation weapon as he did
the Bl bomber two weeks ago
Some House and Senate officials
predicted Carters decision would
dear the air and peed passage of
the production funds
Proponents claim it is more effiaent
more humane and a more credible
deterrent to war than other nuclear
weapons, because it confines damage
more preciseh to the military target
and minimizes destruction of civilian
areas.
Opponents argue the neutron bomb
would lower the threshhold of full-scal- e
nuclear war preciseh becai.se of the
temptation to use it
Tuesday Sen Mark Hatfield. R-O- re
leader of the ur rMOS effort to
eliminate appropriation for th
neutron bomb said saenufic sources
claim the bomb s radiation erects a'e
not nearh so limited or short Lved as
claimed.
It seems clear, he said that one
result of a neutron attack coUd be the
creation of a gaseous clud of
radiocative partic'e which could kill
thousands of people - its its patn before
dissapatmg into the -- ppe- atmosphere
and lingering for thousands o ea--s
Carter also announced at tre ?-e-ss
conference marking the ena o --u. m
six months in office that rror e"'om i
iSeeL.S pagel2A
Minimum wage increases
to $265 an hour Jan. 1
WASHINGTON iUPI - Prdert
Carter crgamzed labor nd congres-sional
leaders agreed Tuesda to a
compromise bill that will increase the
minimum wage b 3o cents to $2 6a an
how next Jan 1
The compromise announced b Rep
CarlPerkuis D--K also would orovide
for future automatic anrua5 increases
geared to a percentage of the a erage
factorv wage Labor has long sought
these automatic increases
Perkins chairman of the Hoise
Laoor Comittee said the bill will Dro-vi- ae
for an increase to $2 to an hour
lest Jan i with estimated increase to
$2 89 in 1 --79 and $3 lo in 1980
Carter announced earlier ir the da
at a news conference that he supported
the bill
Perkins noted the bJI still races con-siderable
opposition pnmaih croir
tug business But he predicted tne
House would adopt it o August
Cutoff of medical care stayed
JEFFERSON CITY (AP MS
District Court Judge Elmo Hunter
ordered the state Division of Family
Services on Tuesday to contume paying
medical costs for some 9,900 families
though those famnfas no longer Qualify
for welfare support
Division attorney Robert Nortfacutt
said the court order would remain in
effect until next Wednesday when
Hunter holds a full hearing on the
matter
Hunter issued the order on grounds
that the notice provided those families
as well as others whose pavments were
reduced on Jul 1 was insufficient n
explaining theu rights to a hearing
before their benefits were either cut or
ended completely
3&aertrcMn isrttst tntzght hsr tmt- -
Related story on page 12A
families from St Louis who had been
dropped from the welfare roles under a
revision in the states welfare laws
enacted this ear
Northcutt said Hunter also ordered
the division to send a new notice to the
9 900 families dropped from the rolls
and the more than 20 000 others whose
benefits were reduced The new notice
is to apprise them of their right: to a
hemtitig, ifNttfftwvtfrrtmtof 4to timsiott,
the judge ordered.
Under the revision in the weirare
svstem. mandated b the federal
got prnment recipients are now paid a
percentage of an amount the state
determines necessan to Ine In
calculating the welfare pavment the
state takes into consideration all
sources of income the famih has
5,000 flee
toxic fumes
ROCKWOOD. Tenn (UPI) An
orange-yello- w cloud of lethal fumes
rolled down Roosevelt Mountain
from a wrecked tanker truck
Tuesday, and officials urged
evacuation of all the 5,000 residents
of this coal-minin- g town.
A dispatcher at the Roane County
sheriff's office, which remained
open, said at dusk that "there's a
few who are being contrary and
insisting on staying, but the
evacuation is 80 to 90 per cent
complete "
There was no attempt to force
evacuation, officials said
The truck was loaded with 1,800
gallons of what a Dow Chemical Co
official identified as liquid bromide
when it overturned.
Authorities said the cause of the
crash was under investigation
"It is a very lethal gas," said Dow
spokesman Gordon Sears.who
explained the liquid changes to a gas
when exposed to the air and causes
burnson contact or when inhaled
The tractor-tank-er ng overturned
in the eastbound lane of Interstate 40
and ruptured, releasing a toxic
chemical identified as hydrobromic
acid
UPItdeptnto
Workers, lower right, suited in protective clothing attempt to stop
the flow of liquid bromide from a ruptured tanker truck. About
5,000 residents in the valley below were urged to leave the area as
poisonous fumes drifted down the mountain
City officials will determine procedure
By Peter Tux
Miasourian staff writer
A two-year-o- ld ordinarce may be used to curb
deteriorating housing in Columbia once city offi-cials
determine the proper procedure for enforc-ing
it, Mayor Les Proctor told the Columbia Mis-soun-an
Tuesday
Proctor said the city staff will look into the
business licensing ordinance before the City
Council makes any decision concerning it
Public Works Director Ray Beck brought up
the possibility of using the ordinance to curb de-teriorating
rental housing when Proctor's ad
hoccommittee on bousing met Saturday
The ordinance, passed in May, 1975, requires
businesses to "comply with all health, building,
fire and any other applicable codes and regula-tions
and present certificates and written assur-ances
of compliance with the initial license ap-plication
and when requested by the License In-spector
for license renewals "
The ordinance applies to apartment buildings
of three units or more An inspection is neces-sary
to obtain the initial license, but not for an-nual
renewal
The ordinance has not been enforced previous-ly
because some city officials did not know about
it until Saturday The license inspector is part of
the Qty Finance Department
Columbia's license inspector, J W "Chub"
Phillips, said that inspectors from the health,
building and fire departments can close a busi-ness
be!ore a coroplaM reaches his office
The ordinance allows the license inspector to
require violators to stop business if they are not
complying ith the regulations r "when the
conduct of any licensee, agent, or employee is so
mimical to the public health, safety and general
welfare as to constitute a nuisance and this (sic)
givensetoanesnergency "
Phillips said he has been aware of the ordi-nance
but rarely, if ever, has used it He said
that is because all other city inspectors also
have the power to shut a business down.
"All he (another city inspector) has to do,"
Phillips said, "is refer to the code If it's being
violated, he can shut him down."
Acting Director of Finance Peggy McBride
said her department seldom receives com-plaints
about violations of the xdia&nce
Mrs McBride said being able to enforce the
ordinance ".s the ultimate power behind the h
cense inspector "
Few persons with housing problems go
through the licensing department, Mrs Mc-
Bride said. "The normal course of action is to go
through the specific agency (such as building,
fire or health)," she said "They have more ex-pertise
in this area "
Phillips said "problems are handled before
they get to me"
Assistant City Counselor Scott Snyder said
"the license inspector issues the license" but
also said "a procedural problem" might be pre-venting
use cf the ordinance to enforce housing
violations
"I don't know much about the ordinance, '
Snyder said. All that might be necessary may
be for Chub to serd a Lst of people requesting li-censes
around to the various departments "
Other city departments, he said, might be able
to tell the license inspector who is violating any
ordinance
Ray Beck, whose department is in charge of
housing code violations, said, "If there's a cen-tral
focus point it is the (license) inspector "
Columbia's license inspector can order in-spections
whenever he believes there is a viola-tion
of an ordinance However, without being
notified that there are violations either by a
citizen or by an inspector he has no reason to
require the inspection.