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V Ira $ wm j Noon "Fad Diets," Women's Center, 1 Gentry Hall. 7 pjru "Collegium Musicum Winds," Quad Concert Series, Francis Quadrangle, University, free. 7:39 p.m. "Dial 'NT for Mur-der," Nifong Park. $1 adults, 50 cents children. 8 pan. "A Midsummer Night's Dream," University Theatre, $2.50. 8 p.m."Nosferatu," Ellis Library Auditorium, free. 8:15 jxm. "Light Up the Sky," Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Arrow Rock, $3.50 adults, $2.25 children. Exhibits: See Sunday's Vibrations magniine for continuing exhibit I schedules. Movie listings on page 7B. Cigarette ads should stress health warning, report states WASHINGTON (UPI) Half of all cigarette smokers still are not , really convinced smoking is dangerous to their health, according to a report released by the Federal Trade Commission. The agency, in its annual report to Congress on smoking, repeated the recommendation it has made in past years to toughen the warning label carried on cigarette packs and in print advertising. The agency said it remains concerned that cigarette ads still portray smokers as strong, vigorous, healthy, outdoor types, thus encouraging "consumers to ignore the grave health con-- ! : 1 sequences of smoking." The FTC also released a study claiming "the American public is not- - well informed" about the hazards of smoking even though all cigarette packs have carried warning labels since 1970 and radio and television ads for cigarettes have been banned since January, 1971. The FTC said it believes the warning label should be strengthened, perhaps to say "cigarette smoking is a major health hazard and may result in your death" or to mention specific diseases such as emphysema. STATE IIIJTCIUCAl 3?CISTY liITT & LQ '.'.?. Y ST. 69th Year Io. 258 ,iod Morning! It's Thursday July 21.1 977 2 Section 16 lat's 1 o '.nt Jaworski will head Korean iiicpiiry N.Y. Times Service WASHINGTON The House Ethics Committee Wednesday chose former Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski to take charge of its investiga-tions of Korean influence-buyin- g and to revive public confidence in the inquiry. The Houston attorney agreed to take the post, without compensation, in a telephone conversation with committee Chairman John J. Flynt Jr., D-G-a. In a news conference in Houston, Jaworski said he made his decision after appeals from Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. and Majority Leader Jim Wright. He also said O'Neill hoped that the committee's investigation could be conducted within three months, a deadline that appeared optimistic. "I agreed to do whatever I can do to ferret out the facts," he said. Jaworski's selection appeared to calm the political storm that erupted last week when Philip A. Lacovara quit as special counsel, complaining of con-flicts and lack of trust between turn and Flynt. The choice wes immediately hailed by Rep. John J. Rhodes, D-Ari- z., the House minority leader, who called Jaworski "one of the most distinguished members of the American bar." Initial reaction from younger Democrats, who had pressed O'Neill for quick action, was also favorable. The only complaint came from some Republicans who saw O'Neill's in-fluence as too heavy and said a Republican, not a Democrat like Jaworksi, should have been picked. There was also some criticism of the choice from groups that had lobbied op-posite Jaworski on the Consumer Pro-tection Agency legislation. Commm Cause officials were critical, and con-sumer advocate Ralph Nader saw ,t potential for intimidation in Jaworski's-investigatin- g legislators who still had to vote on that bill, which he opposed. Flynt told reporters he was grateful that Jaworski had accepted City, fire fighters near contract agreement By Peter de Seldtng Missourian staff writer City officials and the fire fighters' union Local 1055, after their initial rounds of sometimes bitter disagreements, now are inching toward each other from opposite poles. Angered by what it called annual "begging sessions" in contract disputes with the city, the union had set about amending their relationship with the city to include binding arbitration. Now, the union has modified its posi-tion, and apparently is ready to discuss other options. The city, after vehement rejection of the fire fighters' proposed amendment, also seems willing to rethink its labor posture. Last Monday, City Manager Terry Novak held the first of what is to be several meetings with the city's four main employe groups to seek proposals on how to improve their relations. "It's one of those things, live and learn," fire union secretary Mel Tipton said. "You've got to get along to sur-vive. There are some workable solutions in between the extremes." Friday's Columbia Missourian will report on the Public Service Employes' Local 45. Saturday's and Sunday's Insight paper will report on the Water and Light Employes Association and the Columbia Police Officers' Association, respectively. The city is scheduled to begin con-tract negotiations with the fire fighters July 27. The sessions recently were opened to the public, and if th recent past is any guide, they should be quite a show. "They're gonna have a hell of a surprise," Tipton says. The backdrop for this year's sessions dates from 1974. In November of that year, a union representative from the Kansas City office was invited to Columbia to advise Local 1055 on how to handle its difficulties with the city. Negotiations had been stalled on a 17-- point fringe benefit package the union was requesting. Soon after arriving, the official an-nounced he had never seen such dissention within the fire department. He said it was due to the union's "basic mistrust" of the city administration. Columbia itself was unaccustomed to the kind of municipal labor feistiness which that year saw the fire fighters come close to an unprecedented work slowdown. In the last three years, sparks have flown over a number of different issues, but little has changed in the underlying nature of their relationship. Basic suspicion still pervades the atmosphere of the upcoming sessions. Since 1974 the fire fighters' union has become more sophisticated in its role as Columbia's most vocal labor group. The city staff, for its part, has learned to play hardball each summer at the negotiating table. Union accusations of bad faith negotiations and an autocratic, "take it or leave it" attitude by the city ad-ministration have become almost a fixture of the annual negotiations. And each year, the 'city answers, union leaders make unrealistic demands to improve their own standing with the rank-and-fi-le members. It was in 1975 that the acrimony between the two sides reached its most (See UNION, page 7A) t UPltritptoto This unidentified family lost all they owned, swept through the Johnstown, Pa., area Tuesday except what they are carrying, when a flood night. 23 die in EasteFn flood From our Hire services A brief respite from recent hot weather is in sight as a result of a cold front moving in today from the nor-thwest. In another part of the country, a flood hit Johnstown, Pa. causing at least 23 deaths. The National Weather Service says temperatures are expected to be a few degrees cooler today and Friday, which is about normal for this time of year. The normal high is 88 degrees F (31 C). By Saturday, temperatures are expected to rise again, as the front moves in a southeasterly direction away from central Missouri. The front will bring with it a 40 per cent chance of thundershowers. Meanwhile, tragedy struck in Johnstown, Pa. when an awesome thunderstorm built a 10-fo- ot (3 meter) wall of water that cascaded without warning through a mountain valley Wednesday, sweeping away roads, cars, homes and families in an area that signifies flood tragedy in American history. Johnstown has had major floods in 1889 when 2,209 died and in 1936 when 25 were killed. State police said at least 23 persons were killed in Wednesday's flood. All but one were known to have drowned. Four other persons died of natural causes at a Johnstown hospital that lost its power in the flood. The death count was expected to go much higher. Officials said $100 million in property was lost in the worst Allegheny Mountain flood in 41 years. "We have just reached a point here we don't know how many are going to be dead," said William Dickson, a Civil Defense spokesman. James Mock, police chief in Richland Township. said."We are going after the living first and the dead will come (See DISASTER, page 8A ) Rate increase possible By Jim Drinkard and John Kennedy Missourian staff writers Columbians may face higher electric rates this fall if the city adopts a new method of pricing electricity that was recommended Wednesday night. A report by the consulting firm of Touche Ross & Co. recommends what is called a "cost of service" appproach to rate making. Under this approach, costs of producing' electric power are charged to the customers who create those costs through their demands for electricity. Fred Moriarty of Touche Ross' St. Louis office gave an oral report on the firm's recommendations Wednesday night to the city Water and Light Ad-visory. The report recommends breaking down electric rates into three com-ponents: customer, energy and demand charges. It would also establish a "summer-wint- er differential" a 50-per-c- ent higher charge for electricity in the summer than in the winter. If adopted, the new rates could go into Here's how a residential customer without electric heat who uses 500 kilowatt-hour- s per month would be af-fected by the new rate structure, ac-cording to Touche Ross: Current monthly charges: $18.90 With the recommended rate structure : 1978 1979 1980 summer .... 19.42 22.40 24.00 winter 26.43 30.47 32.56 The dollar increase would be significantly higher as electricity use increases. effect as early as the beginning of the city's fiscal year on Oct. 1. Rising costs for all elements of electricity production fuel, labor and equipment have eaten away at the return on investment that the city receives from the utility, Mpriarty said. The suggested rate structure is in-tended to allow the city to maintain the utility's sound financial base while more fairly allocating costs to different classes of customers. A preliminary study released in May by the consulting firm showed that residential customers pay less than their share of those costs. Touche Ross recommended a rate hike which would be phased in over three years so that it would be more politically palatable. Customer charges would cover the relatively fixed costs of maintaining . distribution lines, metering and billing which are close to the sametor each customer, regardless of the amount of power used. Energy charges would pay for the amount of electricity used each month. A demand charge is --based on the customer's cycle of electricity use the fluctuation in use and the peak amount used in a given time period. Only large industrial users currently pay demand charges. For residential customers the demand charge would be included in the energy charge, since the metering equipment required to measure peak demand is at present too expensive to be feasible. The different winter and summer rates proposed are intended to help ease the crunch of high summer power demands when air conditioners across (See CITY, page 7A) Meramec funds killed in Congress By Martha Jacobsen Missourian staff writer and the Associated Press A Senate-Hous- e conference com-mittee agreed Wednesday in Washington to end funding for the proposed Meramec Dam, immediately leading to suggestions that the area be turned into a natural recreation area or be sold back to area residents for private use. The action was part of ending funding of nine of 18 controversial water projects President Carter wanted to eliminate. The Senate-Hous- e conference committee met to consider a com-promise which the President offered earlier this week: nine of the 18 water projects considered by him to be "wasteful, unsafe or economically unsound." would be approved by him if the Clinch River breeder reactor near Gak Ridge, Tenn., would be dropped. The agreement was "firm." said Sen. John Stennis, D-Mi- ss., chairman of the Conference Committee, awaiting only a final vote once other differences in the $10.4 billion public works ap-propriations bill were reached. The Meramec Dam project, ap-proved by Congress in 1966. was to include construction of five dams on the lower Meramec River near Sullivan. Controversy over the project has flared ever since the idea of the dam came about. Supporters of the project said that the dams would reduce flooding of homes and farms along the lake and thai the lake could be used as a flat-wat- er recreation area which would attract tourists. Opponents, organized into the St. Louis Coalition for the Environment, believed that the river should be maintained and mass recreation put elsewhere. The group was concerned about the effects that the dams would have on fish and wildlife. In reaction to the ending of the fund-ing for the water project. Rep. (See ICHORD, page 7A) Auditor's findings spark dispute with Glascock ByT.CMurov and Frank Phillips Missourian staff writers The expected release today of an auditor's report concluding that 56,678 is missing from Boone County Clerk Murry Glascock's 1972-7-3 accounts has sparked a dispute between the clerk and Auditor Don Caldwell. Investigations by Caldwell and Boone County Prosecutor Milt Harper have determined that the money is missing from the clerk's liquor license ac-counts, they said. Caldwell is to present the final report of the audit to the Boone County Court this morning. In light of a 1976 spot check of the clerk's office, which showed some irregularities in the liquor license accounts, Caldwell conducted a full-sca- le audit of the clerk's office, the auditor said. Caldwell said he will tell the court mat his office has obtained 1972-7- 3 liquor license applications, which previously were missing. He said Brenda Nichols, deputy auditor, found these applications in a vault in the clerk's office. These applications enabled Caldwell to compute the exact amount of the missing funds, which is more than $500 more than his last estimate in June, he said. Harper said he considers Caldwell's report to be "definitive" evidence that the $6,678 is missing. But he also said, "absolutely no evidence" of criminal conduct has come to his attention. Without such evidence, criminal prosecution to recover the money is impossible, Harper said. "Unless someone comes forward who is willing to testify that they saw theft or can prove it, I can't bring criminal charges," Harper said. There is a three-yea- r .statute of limitations for civil recovery of missing funds from public officials. Harper said. The limitations period for Glascock's 1973 funds expired Jan. 1, 1977. Thus, without evidence of criminal activity, no recovery is possible. Harper said. Primary responsibility for the in-vestigation of Glascock's accounts rests with Caldwell, Harper said. He said he became involved in the in-vestigation because the circumstances surrounding the shortage of funds in the county clerk's office indicated to him that improper activity may have been involved. The significance of the auditor's new findings is that the exact amount of the shortage has been calculated, said Harper. "I think a good job has been done with the records available," Harper said. Glascock said he had no knowledge of what they were investigating. He said, "I welcome the investigation. It'll clear me. I haven't done anything wrong, so why should I worry?" The clerk said Caldwell is "responsible for the licenses as much as I am." Caldwell should have had all the liquor licenses, Glascock said. Glascock said it has been hard to keep up with all his records because he has moved his office four times. "I'm still finding old records," he said. He also said it was difficult because his offices are separated in the .county-cit- y building. Caldwell said his office did not maintain records of liquor licenses. He said the clerk issued the licenses, and the auditor's office merely coun-tersigned the applications. "The significant point is whether money is missing, not whether par-ticular records are available or not," said Caldwell. The clerk said, "It's funny all of a sudden, that he's doing his job." Caldwell has resigned effective July 31 to devote fulltime to his accounting practice. Glascock said the "statutes also say he should conduct an annual audit." He said the last time the clerk's office was audited before Caldwell's recent examination, was in 1968-6- 9, by the state auditor's office. "When you get right down to it, there might be several wrongs," Glascock said. "But two wrongs don't make a right." The only wrong the clerk named was that his office hadn't been audited since 1968-6- 9. He said the auditor's office might be "covering up for themselves." Harper said Glascock's accounts have been found short in seven out of the 10 years he has been clerk. "You can't blame the auditor for all those shortages," Harper said. Caldwell said, "I may have be remiss in my responsibility. However, I thought that the amount of money in-volved in liquor license fees was in-significant compared to the amount of money involved in other offices, such as the treasurer and collector." "But officeholders are in the first line of responsibility and Glascock was the one who received the money," the (See CALDWELL, page 7A)
Object Description
Title | Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1977-07-21 |
Description | Vol. 69TH YEAR, No. 258 |
Subject |
Columbia (Mo.) -- Newspapers Boone County (Mo.) -- Newspapers |
Coverage | United States -- Missouri -- Boone County -- Columbia |
Language | English |
Date.Search | 1977-07-21 |
Type | Newspapers |
Format | |
Collection Name | Columbia Missourian Newspaper Collection |
Publisher.Digital | University of Missour Library Systems |
Rights | These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for distribution or publication. |
Contributing Institution |
State Historical Society of Missouri University of Missouri--Columbia. School of Journalism |
Copy Request | Contact the State Historical Society of Missouri at: (800) 747-6366 or (573) 882-7083 or email contact@shsmo.org. Some fees apply: http://shsmo.org/research/researchfees |
County |
Boone County (Mo.) |
Description
Title | Full Page |
Date.Search | 1977-07-21 |
Type | page |
Contributing Institution |
State Historical Society of Missouri University of Missouri School of Journalism |
Copy Request | Contact the State Historical Society of Missouri at: (800) 747-6366 or (573) 882-7083 or email contact@shsmo.org. Some fees apply: http://shsmo.org/research/researchfees |
Item.Transcript | V Ira $ wm j Noon "Fad Diets," Women's Center, 1 Gentry Hall. 7 pjru "Collegium Musicum Winds," Quad Concert Series, Francis Quadrangle, University, free. 7:39 p.m. "Dial 'NT for Mur-der," Nifong Park. $1 adults, 50 cents children. 8 pan. "A Midsummer Night's Dream," University Theatre, $2.50. 8 p.m."Nosferatu," Ellis Library Auditorium, free. 8:15 jxm. "Light Up the Sky," Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Arrow Rock, $3.50 adults, $2.25 children. Exhibits: See Sunday's Vibrations magniine for continuing exhibit I schedules. Movie listings on page 7B. Cigarette ads should stress health warning, report states WASHINGTON (UPI) Half of all cigarette smokers still are not , really convinced smoking is dangerous to their health, according to a report released by the Federal Trade Commission. The agency, in its annual report to Congress on smoking, repeated the recommendation it has made in past years to toughen the warning label carried on cigarette packs and in print advertising. The agency said it remains concerned that cigarette ads still portray smokers as strong, vigorous, healthy, outdoor types, thus encouraging "consumers to ignore the grave health con-- ! : 1 sequences of smoking." The FTC also released a study claiming "the American public is not- - well informed" about the hazards of smoking even though all cigarette packs have carried warning labels since 1970 and radio and television ads for cigarettes have been banned since January, 1971. The FTC said it believes the warning label should be strengthened, perhaps to say "cigarette smoking is a major health hazard and may result in your death" or to mention specific diseases such as emphysema. STATE IIIJTCIUCAl 3?CISTY liITT & LQ '.'.?. Y ST. 69th Year Io. 258 ,iod Morning! It's Thursday July 21.1 977 2 Section 16 lat's 1 o '.nt Jaworski will head Korean iiicpiiry N.Y. Times Service WASHINGTON The House Ethics Committee Wednesday chose former Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski to take charge of its investiga-tions of Korean influence-buyin- g and to revive public confidence in the inquiry. The Houston attorney agreed to take the post, without compensation, in a telephone conversation with committee Chairman John J. Flynt Jr., D-G-a. In a news conference in Houston, Jaworski said he made his decision after appeals from Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. and Majority Leader Jim Wright. He also said O'Neill hoped that the committee's investigation could be conducted within three months, a deadline that appeared optimistic. "I agreed to do whatever I can do to ferret out the facts," he said. Jaworski's selection appeared to calm the political storm that erupted last week when Philip A. Lacovara quit as special counsel, complaining of con-flicts and lack of trust between turn and Flynt. The choice wes immediately hailed by Rep. John J. Rhodes, D-Ari- z., the House minority leader, who called Jaworski "one of the most distinguished members of the American bar." Initial reaction from younger Democrats, who had pressed O'Neill for quick action, was also favorable. The only complaint came from some Republicans who saw O'Neill's in-fluence as too heavy and said a Republican, not a Democrat like Jaworksi, should have been picked. There was also some criticism of the choice from groups that had lobbied op-posite Jaworski on the Consumer Pro-tection Agency legislation. Commm Cause officials were critical, and con-sumer advocate Ralph Nader saw ,t potential for intimidation in Jaworski's-investigatin- g legislators who still had to vote on that bill, which he opposed. Flynt told reporters he was grateful that Jaworski had accepted City, fire fighters near contract agreement By Peter de Seldtng Missourian staff writer City officials and the fire fighters' union Local 1055, after their initial rounds of sometimes bitter disagreements, now are inching toward each other from opposite poles. Angered by what it called annual "begging sessions" in contract disputes with the city, the union had set about amending their relationship with the city to include binding arbitration. Now, the union has modified its posi-tion, and apparently is ready to discuss other options. The city, after vehement rejection of the fire fighters' proposed amendment, also seems willing to rethink its labor posture. Last Monday, City Manager Terry Novak held the first of what is to be several meetings with the city's four main employe groups to seek proposals on how to improve their relations. "It's one of those things, live and learn," fire union secretary Mel Tipton said. "You've got to get along to sur-vive. There are some workable solutions in between the extremes." Friday's Columbia Missourian will report on the Public Service Employes' Local 45. Saturday's and Sunday's Insight paper will report on the Water and Light Employes Association and the Columbia Police Officers' Association, respectively. The city is scheduled to begin con-tract negotiations with the fire fighters July 27. The sessions recently were opened to the public, and if th recent past is any guide, they should be quite a show. "They're gonna have a hell of a surprise," Tipton says. The backdrop for this year's sessions dates from 1974. In November of that year, a union representative from the Kansas City office was invited to Columbia to advise Local 1055 on how to handle its difficulties with the city. Negotiations had been stalled on a 17-- point fringe benefit package the union was requesting. Soon after arriving, the official an-nounced he had never seen such dissention within the fire department. He said it was due to the union's "basic mistrust" of the city administration. Columbia itself was unaccustomed to the kind of municipal labor feistiness which that year saw the fire fighters come close to an unprecedented work slowdown. In the last three years, sparks have flown over a number of different issues, but little has changed in the underlying nature of their relationship. Basic suspicion still pervades the atmosphere of the upcoming sessions. Since 1974 the fire fighters' union has become more sophisticated in its role as Columbia's most vocal labor group. The city staff, for its part, has learned to play hardball each summer at the negotiating table. Union accusations of bad faith negotiations and an autocratic, "take it or leave it" attitude by the city ad-ministration have become almost a fixture of the annual negotiations. And each year, the 'city answers, union leaders make unrealistic demands to improve their own standing with the rank-and-fi-le members. It was in 1975 that the acrimony between the two sides reached its most (See UNION, page 7A) t UPltritptoto This unidentified family lost all they owned, swept through the Johnstown, Pa., area Tuesday except what they are carrying, when a flood night. 23 die in EasteFn flood From our Hire services A brief respite from recent hot weather is in sight as a result of a cold front moving in today from the nor-thwest. In another part of the country, a flood hit Johnstown, Pa. causing at least 23 deaths. The National Weather Service says temperatures are expected to be a few degrees cooler today and Friday, which is about normal for this time of year. The normal high is 88 degrees F (31 C). By Saturday, temperatures are expected to rise again, as the front moves in a southeasterly direction away from central Missouri. The front will bring with it a 40 per cent chance of thundershowers. Meanwhile, tragedy struck in Johnstown, Pa. when an awesome thunderstorm built a 10-fo- ot (3 meter) wall of water that cascaded without warning through a mountain valley Wednesday, sweeping away roads, cars, homes and families in an area that signifies flood tragedy in American history. Johnstown has had major floods in 1889 when 2,209 died and in 1936 when 25 were killed. State police said at least 23 persons were killed in Wednesday's flood. All but one were known to have drowned. Four other persons died of natural causes at a Johnstown hospital that lost its power in the flood. The death count was expected to go much higher. Officials said $100 million in property was lost in the worst Allegheny Mountain flood in 41 years. "We have just reached a point here we don't know how many are going to be dead," said William Dickson, a Civil Defense spokesman. James Mock, police chief in Richland Township. said."We are going after the living first and the dead will come (See DISASTER, page 8A ) Rate increase possible By Jim Drinkard and John Kennedy Missourian staff writers Columbians may face higher electric rates this fall if the city adopts a new method of pricing electricity that was recommended Wednesday night. A report by the consulting firm of Touche Ross & Co. recommends what is called a "cost of service" appproach to rate making. Under this approach, costs of producing' electric power are charged to the customers who create those costs through their demands for electricity. Fred Moriarty of Touche Ross' St. Louis office gave an oral report on the firm's recommendations Wednesday night to the city Water and Light Ad-visory. The report recommends breaking down electric rates into three com-ponents: customer, energy and demand charges. It would also establish a "summer-wint- er differential" a 50-per-c- ent higher charge for electricity in the summer than in the winter. If adopted, the new rates could go into Here's how a residential customer without electric heat who uses 500 kilowatt-hour- s per month would be af-fected by the new rate structure, ac-cording to Touche Ross: Current monthly charges: $18.90 With the recommended rate structure : 1978 1979 1980 summer .... 19.42 22.40 24.00 winter 26.43 30.47 32.56 The dollar increase would be significantly higher as electricity use increases. effect as early as the beginning of the city's fiscal year on Oct. 1. Rising costs for all elements of electricity production fuel, labor and equipment have eaten away at the return on investment that the city receives from the utility, Mpriarty said. The suggested rate structure is in-tended to allow the city to maintain the utility's sound financial base while more fairly allocating costs to different classes of customers. A preliminary study released in May by the consulting firm showed that residential customers pay less than their share of those costs. Touche Ross recommended a rate hike which would be phased in over three years so that it would be more politically palatable. Customer charges would cover the relatively fixed costs of maintaining . distribution lines, metering and billing which are close to the sametor each customer, regardless of the amount of power used. Energy charges would pay for the amount of electricity used each month. A demand charge is --based on the customer's cycle of electricity use the fluctuation in use and the peak amount used in a given time period. Only large industrial users currently pay demand charges. For residential customers the demand charge would be included in the energy charge, since the metering equipment required to measure peak demand is at present too expensive to be feasible. The different winter and summer rates proposed are intended to help ease the crunch of high summer power demands when air conditioners across (See CITY, page 7A) Meramec funds killed in Congress By Martha Jacobsen Missourian staff writer and the Associated Press A Senate-Hous- e conference com-mittee agreed Wednesday in Washington to end funding for the proposed Meramec Dam, immediately leading to suggestions that the area be turned into a natural recreation area or be sold back to area residents for private use. The action was part of ending funding of nine of 18 controversial water projects President Carter wanted to eliminate. The Senate-Hous- e conference committee met to consider a com-promise which the President offered earlier this week: nine of the 18 water projects considered by him to be "wasteful, unsafe or economically unsound." would be approved by him if the Clinch River breeder reactor near Gak Ridge, Tenn., would be dropped. The agreement was "firm." said Sen. John Stennis, D-Mi- ss., chairman of the Conference Committee, awaiting only a final vote once other differences in the $10.4 billion public works ap-propriations bill were reached. The Meramec Dam project, ap-proved by Congress in 1966. was to include construction of five dams on the lower Meramec River near Sullivan. Controversy over the project has flared ever since the idea of the dam came about. Supporters of the project said that the dams would reduce flooding of homes and farms along the lake and thai the lake could be used as a flat-wat- er recreation area which would attract tourists. Opponents, organized into the St. Louis Coalition for the Environment, believed that the river should be maintained and mass recreation put elsewhere. The group was concerned about the effects that the dams would have on fish and wildlife. In reaction to the ending of the fund-ing for the water project. Rep. (See ICHORD, page 7A) Auditor's findings spark dispute with Glascock ByT.CMurov and Frank Phillips Missourian staff writers The expected release today of an auditor's report concluding that 56,678 is missing from Boone County Clerk Murry Glascock's 1972-7-3 accounts has sparked a dispute between the clerk and Auditor Don Caldwell. Investigations by Caldwell and Boone County Prosecutor Milt Harper have determined that the money is missing from the clerk's liquor license ac-counts, they said. Caldwell is to present the final report of the audit to the Boone County Court this morning. In light of a 1976 spot check of the clerk's office, which showed some irregularities in the liquor license accounts, Caldwell conducted a full-sca- le audit of the clerk's office, the auditor said. Caldwell said he will tell the court mat his office has obtained 1972-7- 3 liquor license applications, which previously were missing. He said Brenda Nichols, deputy auditor, found these applications in a vault in the clerk's office. These applications enabled Caldwell to compute the exact amount of the missing funds, which is more than $500 more than his last estimate in June, he said. Harper said he considers Caldwell's report to be "definitive" evidence that the $6,678 is missing. But he also said, "absolutely no evidence" of criminal conduct has come to his attention. Without such evidence, criminal prosecution to recover the money is impossible, Harper said. "Unless someone comes forward who is willing to testify that they saw theft or can prove it, I can't bring criminal charges," Harper said. There is a three-yea- r .statute of limitations for civil recovery of missing funds from public officials. Harper said. The limitations period for Glascock's 1973 funds expired Jan. 1, 1977. Thus, without evidence of criminal activity, no recovery is possible. Harper said. Primary responsibility for the in-vestigation of Glascock's accounts rests with Caldwell, Harper said. He said he became involved in the in-vestigation because the circumstances surrounding the shortage of funds in the county clerk's office indicated to him that improper activity may have been involved. The significance of the auditor's new findings is that the exact amount of the shortage has been calculated, said Harper. "I think a good job has been done with the records available," Harper said. Glascock said he had no knowledge of what they were investigating. He said, "I welcome the investigation. It'll clear me. I haven't done anything wrong, so why should I worry?" The clerk said Caldwell is "responsible for the licenses as much as I am." Caldwell should have had all the liquor licenses, Glascock said. Glascock said it has been hard to keep up with all his records because he has moved his office four times. "I'm still finding old records," he said. He also said it was difficult because his offices are separated in the .county-cit- y building. Caldwell said his office did not maintain records of liquor licenses. He said the clerk issued the licenses, and the auditor's office merely coun-tersigned the applications. "The significant point is whether money is missing, not whether par-ticular records are available or not," said Caldwell. The clerk said, "It's funny all of a sudden, that he's doing his job." Caldwell has resigned effective July 31 to devote fulltime to his accounting practice. Glascock said the "statutes also say he should conduct an annual audit." He said the last time the clerk's office was audited before Caldwell's recent examination, was in 1968-6- 9, by the state auditor's office. "When you get right down to it, there might be several wrongs," Glascock said. "But two wrongs don't make a right." The only wrong the clerk named was that his office hadn't been audited since 1968-6- 9. He said the auditor's office might be "covering up for themselves." Harper said Glascock's accounts have been found short in seven out of the 10 years he has been clerk. "You can't blame the auditor for all those shortages," Harper said. Caldwell said, "I may have be remiss in my responsibility. However, I thought that the amount of money in-volved in liquor license fees was in-significant compared to the amount of money involved in other offices, such as the treasurer and collector." "But officeholders are in the first line of responsibility and Glascock was the one who received the money," the (See CALDWELL, page 7A) |