Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1983-10-16

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COLUMBIA, MO. 65211
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Husked lllKill Gifted students ; fiBB The story teller yTigri
Missouri played well, but not WgBmiSMr Extended Educational Experi-- clPSHHrH You may nave seen lum sltting Sfii- sssJl-ab
quite well enough, Saturday jaHPanf " fill3 ences, or Triple E, is a pro- - jkL 2l2HpV lH out " front of niS nome on fifetol 1
against Nebraska. The Tigers BSSfe' BH iram at the Columbia Public & Q8$ E& V RkT Providence Road. He's there BKHStanB J let too many opportunities go BahSjig Schools for gifted children. But IjWMEt $ SSm! SZ-- j nearly every day in good WK3ftB& R& sML
unused, and Cornhuskers IVMkV& JuS& ZjfiBBvZ the kids accepted into the pro-- rF weather. He's Ellory Stem-- fflfcy wfffiiB
grabbed every opportunity and fttffliwBtaglBWl gram are not superkids. ' Gif-- Hnraf "
mons, Sr., a resident of Colum- - JBHSMBBflBg- B- i won their seven straight game jwfBllPi tedness is an ability, a talent, Ay- flWH- y bia for over 80 years. Ellory HjSEaHTB of the season, 3413, o prove 3HfJIWPmJB but doesn't mean you're per- - IFJJzSb A nas seen a lot and done a lot W& ISmr their No. 1 ranking. See Page ffiKlflBMw fect'' savs Triple E teacher ! pp iaj and he likes to tell about it. See HMIP " fl
ff- - Columbia TOP
76th Year No. 29 Good Morning! It's Sunday, October 16, 1983 6 Sections 54 Pages 50 Cents
Scott TrtusN
fefQfl fiflfl Suzy Conley a Tiger fan from Chicago, sits
JLFC'tfl. U C11U glumly in the midst of Husker fans and
watches Missouri lose 34- 1- 3, Saturday.
Balloonist burned in accident
ByToddCopilevitz
and Glanna Jacobson
Miaaowten staff writera
A Nebraska fan in town for Satur-day's
game was admitted to Univer-sity
Hospital with severe burns fol-lowing
a ballooning accident after
the game.
William Yancey of Omaha, Neb.,
received second degree burns when
a balloon he was trying to inflate at
Reactor Field at about 7 p. m. caught
fire and fell on top of him. Hospital
officials were not able to release in
formation on his condition.
Witnesses said Yancey and at
least five other people had been try-ing
to inflate the balloon for about an
hour when the burner set fire to the
nylon. Yancey was in the basket at
the tune but jumped out, they said.
" Hie whole damn balloon lit up,"
said Dennis Knaub of Lincoln, Neb.
Knaub and five other Nebraska fans
were sitting next to then camper
parked in Reactor field when the ac- cidentoccu- rred.
Fire equipment was hampered
getting to the field because of the
traffic, Knaub said.
The balloon had caught fire about
15 minutes earlier, be said, but the
crew working on the inflatable extin-guished
it leaving two minor holes
and was trying again to get the
balloon in the an when the accident
happened.
Yancey was taken to the hospital
by the crew, leaving the balloon to
burn and drift, he said.
A member of the crew who refused
to be identified said they were plan-ning
to inflate the balloon and let it
float above the field.
t Special session tackles
statebudget problems
By State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY When a
special session of the Legislature
gets down to business Wednesday,
several tugs- of- w- ar are expected
over the items on its agenda the
longest and most controversial one
for a special session in nearly 20
years
1 Lawmakers, who could use the full
60 days allowed for a special session,
agree that solving the state's budget
problems will dominate the session
called in June by Gov. Christopher
Bend
Bond, who chastized legislators for
not acting on what he termed critical
matters last spring, recalled the
state's 197 lawmakers to deal with 15
' crucial' issues before the regular
session begins Jan 4
Bond's initial reason for railing a
special session was to persuade leg-islators
to authorize an additional
$ 250 million in revj& we bonds as part
of the $ 6W- - rmHicn bond issue ap-proved
bjfvoters last year.
Hpwever, -- me significance of the
bond issue appears to have taken
second billing to Borp recent call
for a tax increase. Bond announced
in September ( hat he would seek
more revenue from higher taxes,
perhaps as much as $ 150 million, to
keep the state from going broke this
year. If that money is not generated,
he said, the state would have to with-hold
some payments for the third
consecutive year.
Raising taxes already has created
a stir among the state's most in-fluential
leaders. Some Senate lead-ers
have been trying to find ways to
solve immediate budget problems
through taxation while other House
leaders have said they would not
support a tax increase that would
solve only short- ter- m problems.
House Speaker Bob Gnffin, D- Camer- on,
for instance, said he
would only support a comprehensive
tax reform solution. Even those who
do agree that an immediate tax in-crease
is needed have not agreed on
the size or shape it should be.
Last week, Bend proposed a 2- perc-ent
increase m corporate taxes and
a doubling of the state's franchise
tax on businesses. Many lawmakers
voiced immediate dislike to that pro-posal
and vowed to fight it.
Legislators also will take up a revenue-
- generating former House bill
that would create as much as $ 50
million by accelerating the state's
sales tax collection.
The bill died last spring, and Bond
has called for further deliberation
saying mat the money should be
channeled nto the state's cash re-serve
fund so the state can pay its '
bills on time. The state currently has
about a $ 5Q- snilli- on surplus but eco-nomic
experts have predicted that
the state needs at least $ 100 million
to get by.
The bill is expected to receive op-position
from those with business
ties. It would be prohibitively expen-sive
and impractical for small bu- sinss- es,
which have neither the time
nor bookkeeping methods to pay
sales taxes on a weekly basis
The governor also has said the ad-ditional
bendng authority is needed
to improve public facilities and cre-ate
jobs across the state. Last year,
the General Assembly approved $ 75
million in bonds. But a proposal last
spring that called for issuing $ 225
million in bonds was defeated in the
Senate, where opponents said the
state could not afford to pay the
debt.
House Majority Leader Tom Villa,
D-- St Louis, said it's too early to tell
if the bonds will be approved in the
special session, although he supports
the issuance
" The big thing the bond issue has
going for it is the thought of the al-ternative,"
he said " How will we
stimulate the state's economy and
address the prison issue without the
bonds'"
Sen Roger Wilson, D- Colum-bia,
said many legislators will approve
the bonds only if they are accompa-nied
by a tax increase something
that still is up in the air
Despite a Bond administration ef-fort
to sell the bond usue to hesitant
legislators by adding $ 25 million
and several projects to the list in
June Wilson said not enough
thought has been given to how the
bonds will be paid back " The ad-ministration
has failed to ask,
' Where are we gouig to get a $ 30 mil-lion
paymentfor2years''' "
But Wilson said even without an
increase, he will vote for the second
phase of the bond issue which of-fers
more than $ 23 million in capital
improvements for Boone County and
See GOVERNOR'S, Page 10A
Bond asks assembly
to ponder 1 5 proposals
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY Gov
Christopher S. Bond has placed 15
subjects on the agenda of the spe-cial
session that convenes
Wednesday Bond has asked the
General Assembly to consider
legislation for these items
- Authorization of $ 250 million
in building construction bonds
An unspecified tax increase,
which probably will include a
boost in the corporate income
tax.
Money to hire 193 additional
employees for the state's prison
system and implement the Com-munity
Corrections Act
To improve the state's tax
collection system.
To extend the half- ce- nt sales
tax for transit operations.
k-- To provide statewide early
childhood education programs.
y To establish a fund for job
training programs and retraining
assistance.
v To strengthen a bill passed
this year allowing revocation of a
driver's license upon arrest for
drunken driving
v To halt the spread of brucel-losis
in the state's livestock indus-try
To authorize some local gov-ernments
to propose a sales tax
for economic development and
tourism
To allow Missouri to join an
interstate low -- level radioactivity
waste disposal compact
To restore a ban on child
welfare to unemploed tw- o- pa- re-nt
families j
To allow licensed practical j
nurses to administer intravenous I
fluid treatments I
A $ 3 4 million emergency ap-- I
propnahon to finance the state 1
health insurance program. I
An emergency apptopnation J
that would include money for is- - j
suing bonds, renovating the Kan- - j
sas City State Office Building, J
and minority contractor assist- - f
ance for the Office of Admimstra- -
tion
Money also . vould be given to
the state's education departments
to be used for hiring additional
personnel
Rights Commission seeks to close deliberations
ByJarwtShadden
Mtoaourtan staff miter
' History does tend to repeat itself,
at least for the Colombia Human
RightsCommission.
'. Two years ago the commission
proposed to the City Council that
commission deliberations be closed
to the public. The council denied the
request
: Monday night the commission
lakes the same request to a new
council whose membership has
tamed over completely since 1881,
with tiie exception of Third Ward
Counoflrnan Rodney Smith. The
commission will make its pitch for
closed deliberations at the council's
pre- meeti- ng dinner
: Commission members contend
tbeir deliberations should be private
under state law, but their attempts
to hold executive sessions have
brought criticism from the news me-dia
and members of the public. At-torneys
involved disagree among
themsetwisabout whois right
The commission, formed in 1964,
uses a five- stag- e process to investi-gate
complaints of violations of the
city's anti- discriminati- on ordi-nances.
--,.. 1
DKDK3rD
The process begins with investiga-tion
by a commissioner to determine
if there is probable cause for a com-plaint
If cause is not found, the com-print
is dismissed. Otherwise, the
investigating commissioner at-tempts
to negotiate a settlement If
an agreement cannot be reached,
the complaint goes before the com-mission
for a hearing. Following the
hearing, the commission deliberates
on the testimony and decides on a
recommendation. Commissioners
menprepare a statement of the facts
containing its final recommenda-tion.
The closed- meetin- g question af-fects
only the fourth stage of the
process, deliberations pn evidence.
Of 113 cases brought through the
complaint process, only three have
progressed to the hearing and delib-erations
stages. The first to arrive at
the bearing stage came in August
1980 and set off the debate en closing
deliberations. '
Massey Watson, an attorney and
then a commission member, asked
the commission to close its deliber
ations on a sex discrimination case
involving a local restaurant employ-ee.
When the commission voted to
leave the deliberations open, Watson
filed suit to try to force the commis-sion
to close the proceedings. His
suit is soil pending.
In February 1981, the commission
voted to try to decide the issue at the
local level rather than in the courts
and submitted the matter to the
council for its decision. Under city
ordinance, the council must approve
any closed meetings before such ac-tion
can be taken. The council unani-mously
denied the commission's re-quest
The issue was dormant until
March, when new commission mem-ber
James Rutter questioned the
reasoning for holding open deliber-ations.
The commission then formed
a subcommittee to consider closing
deliberations.
The subcommittee report, which
the commission has endorsed, rec-ommended
that deliberations be
closed on the grounds that open de-liberations
were a violation of the
complaintanfs right to due process
and that news coverage harmed ev-eryone
involved.
" We used to argue that it ( open de- -
i
y
liberations) was just an inconve-nience
to us, but it is in fact a viola-tion
of due process," says
subcommittee chairman James Cal- hha- n.
" Due process demands that
the litigants get the full benefit of
our discussion," Callihan says, add-ing
that such discussion is impossi-ble
when the commissioners feel un-able
to share their opinions with
each other because of public scruti-ny
Deliberating on cases involves as-signing
subjective meaning to the
evidence presented in the hearing,
Callihan says.
" Weighing the evidence sounds
wonderfully'scienufic, but the scale
seems essentially subjective," he
says.
Rutter says legitimate consider-ations
for the commission when it is
deliberating include the demeanor
and appearance of a litigant
" It is perfectly legitimate for
someone to observe from the liti-gant's
demeanor that he is being less
thantruthful," he says.
Rutter says such observations
about someone's character should
not be made in public.
" How would you feel if I got up in
there in front of God and everybody
and said I thought you were being
less than truthful? And you knew
you couldn't sue me for saying it?"
Rutter asks. The fact that none of
the commissioners feels comfortable
with making such statements in pub- h- e
restrains the commission, Rutter
says.
" Nobody winds up saying any-thing;
we just call for a vote," he
says.
The commission has gamed legal
support from the city attorney,
something it lacked in its previous
attempt
City Counselor David Evans says
that closed deliberations are legally
defensible. Evans says the deliber-ations
do not fall under the Missouri
sunshine law's definition of a pubhc
meeting because neither pubhc poli-cy
nor pubhc business is being dis-cussed
or decided.
" If they are considering a claim of
discrimination of one individual
against another, no pubhc policy is
being discussed," he says.
Even if the commission: did fall un-der
the definition of pubhc meetings,
Evans says, closure might still be
Justified under the sunshine law's lit-igation
exemption. The law says that
meetings may be closed if a body is
f
discussing legal action, causes of ac-tion
or litigation involving a pubhc
body. Evans says the commission's
deliberations could be compared to
the deliberations of a jury, which is
excluded from the open meetings
law.
Evans' position is in direct opposi-tion
to the opinion of Scott Snyder,
city attorney at the time of the first
closure attempt Snyder advised the
commission that closed dehber-- atio- ns
would be a violation of the
sunshine law.
" There are as many opinions as
there are lawyers," Evans said
about the difference in the legal
opinions.
Part of the supporting material
the commission cited in its recom-mendation
was a statement by Al
Plummer, executive director of the
Missouri Human Rights Commis-sion,
that Columbia's commission
was the only human rights commis-sion
in the state to deliberate pub-licly.
The commissions in Sedaha, Ful-ton
and Springfield conduct closed
deliberations, according to commis-sion
members m each of those cities.