Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1977-08-10

              8:15 p.m. "The Good Doctor," S V Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre,
adults $3.50.
Movie listings on page UB 69fch Year No. 275 (iood Mormngl It s Wednesday Aug. 10. 1977 2 Sections 28 Pages 15 Cents
minimi mm J n Who watches
the watchers?
By Randy McConnell
Missourian staff writer
It may be a case of letting the cat
watch out for the interests of the mice.
But the jury is still out.
Fifteen state boards regulate the
work of almost 150,000 professionals
licensed in Missouri and, within legal
limits, decide how much education and
training are necessary to be licensed in
more than two dozen vocations.
But not one of 4.5 million consumers
who buy these professional's services is
represented on the licensing boards.
State laws require all 77 men and
woman on the boards to be licensed in
the fields they regulate.
Is the public interest served if the
regulated are the regulators?
Legislatures in California and other
states recently disagreed, passing laws
putting laymen on the boards.
Legislation in Missouri to replace one
member of each board with a consumer
died quiet deaths in 1975 and 1976
because cf opposition from the
professions and poor tuning, said
former Rep. James Mulvaney, D-S- t.
Louis County, the bills' first sponsor.
Mulvaney, new State Public Service
Commission chairman, said he in-troduced
the legislation because
"professionals might get themselves in
a position that makes it difficult, very
difficult to criticize someone in his own
field.
"I think a consumer could ask some
pertinent questions. An outsider may
bring things to their (board members')
attention that they never would have
thought about," he said.
Mulvaney said the bills were filed
late, after the legislative session began,
and died on the House calendarjbeftotu.
ibey could be' debated. The bills were
not filed in this year's legislature.
No board supported the bills.
Most licensing boards' reactions to
the legislation ranged from qualified to
flat opposition. Several boards said
they did not object to adding a con-sumer
to the current membership, but
balked at losing a professional
member.
Those who adamantly opposed the
bills said the consumer member would
lack the expertise needed to deal with
board business. "We didn't feel a lay
member would know anything about
the problems we face," said Carlene
Orr, executive secretary and former
member of the cosmetology board.
But the regulated fields do not always
match the dictionary definition and
popular image of a "profession,"
which suggests extensive training and
education.
Although such highly-skille- d persons
as doctors, nurses, accountants,
engineers, architects and veterinarians
are regulated, the boards also license
hairdressers and manicurists, animal
technicians, hearing aid dealers,
barbers, funeral home directors and
real estate agents.
(Missouri's lawyers are regulated by
the State Supreme Court and the
Missouri Bar, a court-supervis- ed
organization.)
The results of limiting beard mem-bership
to professionals have been
predictable. The typical board member
is more than 50 years old, white and
male.
Although 16 board members are
women, all but four are found on two
boards nursing and cosmetology
that govern predominantly female
professions. Four blacks are members
of various boards.
Missouri's governors, who appoint
me board members, recently have tried
to erase the boards' images as white,
male bastions. Only eight women and
one black were board members in 1969.
But the scarcity of prominent women
and minority members in the
professions has complicated the task.
"When we had our last-- vacancy,
(former Gov. Christopher) Bond said
he wanted a minority or a girl," one
board's executive secretary said. "We
were lucky to get such a cracker-jac-k
gal, considering how many we have
(See LICENSING, page ISA)
Changes in loop
to be considered
By Cberi Duncan
Missourian staff writer
Traffic islands on Broadway at Sixth
and Tenth streets would be replaced
with temporary barriers that would be
erected during business hours only if
the City Council approves a proposal of
the Downtown Task Force.
Task force member Dale Puckett
suggested the moveable barriers at the
group's meeting Tuesday, and the
members unanimously approved a
motion to recommend to the council use
of the barriers between 7 a.m. and 6
p.m. daily except Sunday.
The proposal would not interfere with
the intent of the loop because traffic
still would be guided around the
downtown area during peak traffic
periods, task force member Tom
Baumgardner said.
"I think a lot of irritation would be
eliminated by this," Puckett said,
adding that there is no need to block
traffic from direct travel on Broadway
at night.
Using Broadway as a through street
after business hours would help bring
back evening window shoppers,
Puckett said. Merchants have com
plained the loop is driving away window
shoppers who are important to their
businesses.
City Planning Director Michael
Bathke expressed reservations about
moving the barriers twice daily. He
added that if driver confusion is a
problem on the loop now, the change
might worsen that problem. But he said
was not opposed to the plan.
Public Works Director Ray Beck and
City Manager Terry Novak attended
the meeting but presented no opposition
to the proposal.
Former mayor Bob Pugh, a task
force member, said he did not think
confusion would be a problem because
the University uses moveable barriers
to block automobile entrances to the
campus during school hours. He asked
that the barriers be aesthetically
pleasing, expressing dissatisfaction
with the chains used by the University.
The task force also will present to the
council a proposal to open the in-tersections
of Ninth and Locust streets
and Eighth and Ash streets for direct
exit from the interior of the loop area.
The city will study opening the two
(See OPINIONS, page ISA)
Columbia man faces
another DWI charge
By George Mazurak
Mlssonrian staff writer
James Lee Acton, arrested nine
times in the last 23 years on charges of
driving while intoxicated, is expected to
be charged today with being in-toxicated
in the Boone County Court-house
Friday as he showed up to serve
a weekend in jail for his latest DWI
conviction.
Acton, 38, Crestvale Mobile Home
Park, was convicted cf driving while
intoxicated for the fourth time and was
sentenced July 19 to serve 90 days in
Boone County Jail. However,
Magistrate Court Judge Temple
Morgett suspended 60 days cf the
sentence and allowed Acton to serve the
remaining 30 days on weekends.
Acton also was pieced on probation
for two years. He will have to serve the
60 suspended days of his sentence if he
is convicted of a DWI violation during
the probationary period or if he fails to
serve one of his weekends in jail.
Although the July DWI conviction
was Acton's fourth, for purposes cf
determining whether it was a felony it
only counted as his second. A third DWI
conviction is a felony.
Because the July conviction was not a
felony, the maximum sentence was one
year in jail. Had it been counted as a
felony, the maximum possible sentence
would have been two to five years in the
state penitentiary.'
Acton paid a $100 fine, the minimum
amount, for a 1975 DWI conviction
because it technically was considered
(See ACTON, page MA)
ftelief """'"
Lupe Gomez, 12, and his friend, Jesus Vasquez, 9, both of Austin,
Tex., beat the heat by romping through a snakelike length of
sprinkler.
"Thunderstorms thrash counts
By Jim Stern and Vidd Alien
Misscsrian staff writers
Severe thunderstorms pommeled
Boone County about 9 p.m. Tuesday,
downing power lines, causing some
minor flooding and starting several
minor fires. Fire and police officials
reported no storm-relate- d injuries.
Unofficial reports indicated up to 2
inches (5 centimeters) of rain fell on
parts of Columbia in a one-ha- lf hour
period, but the National Weather
Service at Columbia Regional Airport
reported only a trace of rain there.
Electricity was reported out in large
parts of west and southwest Columbia,
and power lines felled by lightning
caused failures throughout the city.
Officials said almost all the city was
without power at some point during the
storm.
Water and Light Department officials
said 20 per cent of the electricity
distribution system was still knocked
out at 11 p.m.
In rural areas, the Bcone Electric
Cooperative reported several power
failures concentrated in an area north
of Columbia. A spokesman said power
was expected to be restored by 1 or 2
a.m. today.
Rural areas reported without power
included the Route PP area, Waterloo
Drive area, Sun Valley Estates and the
Sturgeon area.
The Columbia Fire Department was
kept busy with 18 calls for a number of
minor fires and downed power lines.
Lightning caused a number of short-circuit- ed
fire alarms, fire officials said.
Among locations where power lines
were reported down in the city were at
Broadway and Scott Boulevard, at
Sunrise Drive and Rockhill Road, at
Range Line Street and Wilkes
Boulevard, on Christian College
Avenue, in the 900 block of Stewart
Road, and on West Parkway Drive.
A minor electricity transformer fire
was reported at U.S. 63 North and
grasshoppers and serious trouble,"
said Wilfred Craig, University en-tomology
professor, because of the
dry weather there.
Most of the damage near Columbia
has been done around the borders of
crops and in small crop plots, Kimmel
said.
The best way to control
grasshoppers is to spray insecticide
when they are small, but most farm-ers
do not find the time to spray, Kim-mel
said.
When the grasshoppers get larger,
they scatter and are difficult to
control, Kimmel said.
Grasshoppers, unlike many other
insects, are unpredictable, Kimmel
said, so farmers cannot control them
before they hatch.
Factors affecting the grasshopper
population include weather, disease
and parasites, Craig said. Dry
weather increases their population.
If there is disease following a wet
season when the grasshoppers are
young, it is "unlikely the young
hoppers will make it through," Craig
said.
. ,
Han0an"nvvaanilnillllHIIBHIiaHiai'a"""aaaBaMMMMaa FEA proposes
lifting gasoline
price controls
Vandiver Drive.
General Telephone Co. service
manager Holland Hopwood said there
were no reports of interrupted
telephone service.
KFRU radio was off the air for
several brief periods because of power
failures, and KBIA-F- M was off the air
for about five minutes starting at 10:28
p.m. after lightning struck near its
transmitter at the KOMU-T- V station
south of Columbia.
At the height of the storm water was
reported running 2 feet (60 cen-timeters)
deep down Broadway in the
downtown area. Flooding was reported
to have delayed traffic on U.S. 63 South.
'Hoppers eat weeds,
leave crops alone
ByKathyMcComb
Missourian staff writer
Local grasshoppers and farmers
both are happy about the recent rain.
Grasshoppers are happy because rain
means more green foliage to eat.
Farmers are happy because the
grasshoppers can eat more of the
foilage and less of their crops.
This year there are a lot of
grasshoppers because they hatched
early in June when the weather was
- dry, said Ray Kimmel, area
agronomy specialist for the
University Extension Division.
The dry weather gave the
grasshoppers a "good healthy start,"
Kimmel said. In years when there is a
heavy rain, Kimmel said,
grasshopper egg sacks are drowned,
reducing their number.
Even though the number of
grasshoppers this year is large, local
crops have not been damaged badly,
Kimmel said, because the rains have
provided more foilage for them to eat.
However northwest Missouri is
experiencing "great numbers of
WASHINGTON (UPI) The Federal
Energy Administration, spurred by
reports of ample fuel supplies, Tuesday
proposed lifting mandatory price
controls from gasoline at the end of the
summer driving season.
FEA said the nation has enough
gasoline now to supply motorists
through the end of 1979 and removal of
controls would increase competition
by letting independent marketers shop
around for the best price from sup-pliers.
An FEA report predicted little
change in consumer prices through the
end of 1979 as a result of dropping the
controls which have held prices to what
they were during the 1973 oil embargo
plus adjustments for current crude
prices and a few other factors such as
labor costs.
The report said investments in new
refineries to meet higher demand
might drive prices up to one cent a
gallon above the level currently
allowed.
The report said FEA rejected an
industry argument that decontrol
would add seven cents to the price of a
gallon of gas.
Another FEA report issued Tuesday
said existing plans for new refineries
would raise total U.S. fuel oil produc-tion
to 1.9 million barrels a day. The
energy plan sees a cut in demand from
3.6 million barrels to 2 million barrels a
day, so "the addition of 1 million
barrels per day would suffice to meet
1985 demand at reasonable upper limits
of refinery utilization"
Lifting the controls, FEA said, should
not harm the economy. "With current
adequate supplies of motor gasoline
and the industry operating at an
adequate level of profitability, motor
gasoline prices are not experiencing
any strong upward pressure," the
report said.
"Competition and market forces are
therefore adequate to protect con-sumers
and as long as supplies remain
adequate. It is not anticipated that
exempting motor gasoline from
regulation will result in inequitable
prices for any class of consumer."
FEA even suggested that
deregulation "may, in fact, stimulate
production and should not adversely
affect supply."
The price of gasoline has been con-trolled
since an original freeze of Aug.
15, 1971. Both price and supply were
strictly controlled during the Arab oil
embargo that was imposed during the
1973 Middle East war.
In the deregulation proposal, the
FEA revived a controversial plan
proposed by former President Gerald
Ford and then withdrawn in the early
days of President Carter's ad-ministration.
Ford, who ealier had removed the
controls from most other petroleum
products, asked Congress to decontrol
gasoline prices during the closing days
of his adminstration.
Carter withdrew the Ford proposal
almost as soon as he took office, saying
he wanted his energy experts to study
it.
Got crickets? The worst is yet to come
By Kathy McComb
Miscourian staff writer
. "Jimminy Cricket!" Little field
crickets have invaded Columbia.
Most are in fields, but they also are
'congregating in the city around doors
I and hallways, said Wilfred Craig,
University professor of entomology.
Craig said the crickets, in and
around Columbia this time nearly
every year, are not a serious pest.
"They're a nuisance more than
anything," said Jim Keys of Orkin
Exterminating Co., 1400 U.S. 40 W. A
large number of them, however, can
cause damage to fabrics such as
linen, rayon and furs, Keys said.
The crickets mostly feed on plant
material dry or green but prefer
dry plants, Craig said, so they cause
, no serious crop damage.
The crickets also like light, which
attracts them to doors and hallways,
Craig said. Sheer numbers mean
some crickets will find their way
indoors, Keys said.
In two or three weeks the crickets
will get large and there will be more,
said Keys, who already has had many
calls about them. The crickets out
now are primarily young ones, Keys
said.
"We've been predicting this is going
to be a big year for crickets, end I
don't think we'll be disappointed."
1 '