Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1980-04-02

              Iii7IATT7E LLIGOTCayRICGATL. SOCIETY 3Ri 9V334 COLUMBIA, MO. 65201
72nd Year No. 170 Good Morning! It's Wednesday, April 2, 1980 3 Sections 26 Pages 15 Cents
Voters reject Flat Branch plan 2-- 1
By Wayde Byard and Shawn Balthrop
Missourian staff writer
Voters killed the Flat Branch redevelopment
project by a two- to- o- ne margin Tuesday.
" You can kiss Flat Branch goodbye," said
County Clerk Chris Kelly as he handed report-ers
a computer printout with election results
The proposal was defeated 6,323- 3,06- 8.
Although the proposal met defeat, it may not
be dead. Bob Pugh, chairman of the Land
Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, said
Tuesday night authority members probably
will meet within the next two weeks to develop
a new proposal on Flat Branch for the City
Council
" The fact that . this proposition is defeated
does not erase a community problem," Pugh
said. " It's not going to be solved as some people
think by free enterprise. If that were true it
would have already happened.' '
Pugh said Columbia is too content with the
status quo to really push for any major commu-nity
improvement. In the past, he said, the
community has been content to feed off the ex-pansion
of the local colleges and the University
But the days of University expansion are over
and the community must now do something for
itself, Pugh said.
" This town has been on the trough too long "
Yet as long as the community remains con-tent
with the status quo, Pugh said, a project
such as Flat Branch finds little chance of pas-sage.
The project's opponents, however, said that
its resounding defeat should bury the Flat
Branch issue for good
Jay Jones, an opposition leader, said his
group believed the council did not represent the
majority of voters.
4 This should show the City Council and the
mayor a vote of no confidence," opponent A. J
McRoberts said " I think that the will of the
people, if the council follows the will of the peo-ple,
will be to abolish the Land Clearance for
Redevelopment Authority."
The opponents, many" of whom argued the
project impinged on individual rights, earned
the day.
" I think private enterprise should do it," one
voter said as he emerged from the polls
" I'm a strong believer m private enterprise
That's what built this country, not govern-ment."
Other criticisms ranged from poor economic
timing to personal inconvenience One woman
voted against the project because it would add
to the traffic problem on Providence Road " I
live out that way," she said. " I have enough
trouble with football games "
The proponents of the project, however, ex-pressed
concern that the blighted area would
never be developed if this proposal were defeat- -
ed " It's the only way we're going to get that
area cleaned up, and it's gradually deteriorated
and will continue to deteriorate," Vernon
Kunzler said soon after casting his ballot for
the project.
Other voters said this project was necessary
for downtown to survive competiton against an
incoming regional mall ' If they want to main-tain
Columbia and keep the downtown alive this
is what they need," one voter said
Flat Branch is bordered by Providence Road,
Broadway, Sixth Street and Stewart Road
On Dec 17, 1979, the City Council approved a
plan from the Land Clearance for Redevel- -
( See FLAT, Page 14A)
Sole ballot
jams gears
in election
It wasn't even a good April Fool's
joke.
Ballot counting at the County- City
Building was proceeding smoothly.
Flat Branch was losing. New Haven
school annexation was winning But
the Columbia Board of Education elec-tion
was too close to calL
Then the computer coughed, sput-tered
and stopped. It was 9: 30 pan. Radio
newscasters were left with time to
filL Television newscasters had to re-port
the 10 o'clock news without final
results The editors of this morning
newspaper started figuring out last- possib- le
press times. And the candi-dates
had to bide their tune while ex-perts
examined the mechanical pa-tient.
Nearly one hour after the break-down,
the computer whizzed instead of
wheezed, and the results started pour-ing
out again. Boone County Clerk
Chns Kelly breathed a sigh of relief.
A computer card had shredded when
it was -- passing through the reader. It
jammed the system. " The computer is
a mechanical device, and with a me-chanical
device, you have to expect
this kind cferrorr-' XellysaHi- -
There were other problems on this
election day when 12,835 of the approxi-mately
41,000 voters went to the polls
in Boone County.
Not everyone who wanted to vote
was able to, however. A number of peo-ple
were turned away at the polls be-cause
their registrations had been
canceled
" There were a lot of cancellations
because people did not notify us when
they moved," Kelly said. " There were
also cases where people had registered
within the last 28 days The law re-quires
voters to be registered for 30
days prior to voting
But Kelly said persons who proved
their registration error was his office's
fault were allowed to vote " If anyone
made a reasonable case, we let them
vote."
Kelly said he did not know exactly
how many registrations were
canceled. " I know it was substantial
more than other elections
" Better now than in the primaries."
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No 100 Janet Harrison and daughter at the polls BrianMi I
New Haven seeks annexation By Stan Herrin
Missourian staff writer
New Haven residents voted over-whelmingly
Tuesday to seek annexa-tion
of their school district to Columbia's
In a relatively light voter turnout,
281, or 67 percent, voted for annexa-tion,
and 138, or 32.9 percent, voted
against. Financial problems were cited
by proponents of annexation.
While annexation still is contingent
on approval by the Columbia Board of
Education, President Patsy Gamer
said Tuesday she saw no obstacles to
acceptance by the Columbia board.
New Haven board member F. Milton
Miller said be was pleased with the
election results. " I think we really had
no alternative," he said. " You hate to
give up the tradition of the New Haven
School District, but you have to face
the financial realities."
Voters Tuesday also elected Jim
Moore and Kenneth Gamble to the New
Haven Board of Education. If annexa-tion
proceeds as planned, however, the
two will participate only until the end
of this school year in the transition
process.
New Haven's financial problems
were complicated last November,
when voters, for the first time in the
district's 23- ye- ar history, turned down
a levy increase of 50 cents per $ 100 of
assessed valuation Even if the in-crease
had passed, the ever- increasi- ng
deficit produced by New Haven's
small, shifting tax base would have
swallowed the 50- ce- nt increase whole.
Board President Turner Vemer said.
But the real alarm did not sound un-til
Jan. 14, when Vemer appeared be-fore
the Columbia school board to feel
members out on the possibility of an-nexation.
Board members said they
could make no decision until the New
Haven residents had had their say, but
did indicate ' receptivity," board
member Jan Fisch said
On Jan. 15, accountant Frank Regan
told the New Haven board that the dis-trict
was facing a $ 97,000 projected def-icit
for 1981, and'to solve the problem
internally would require at least a $ 1 21
levy increase. The increase would
raise the present levy to $ 5.86, $ 1 23
more than Columbia's
Placing the issue before New Haven
residents in an old- sty- le town meeting
Jan 17, the board heard numerous
opinions but no clear- cu- t solutions
About half of the residents said they
couldn't afford the $ 1.21 increase, the
other half said they feared annexation
would mean the end of the Tnple-- A
rated New Haven District.
Two days later, the board decided to
put the issue to the voters To provide
residents the choice of increasing their
financial support for the district before
presenting the annexation issue, the
board placed the levy increase on a
March 4 ballot, along with a $ 258,876
bond issue.
The levy increase, which required a
two- thir- ds majority, was defeated 312- 20- 4.
The bond proposal, which also
needed a two- thir- ds majority,-- ' also was
defeated. 203- 31- 1.
The dilemma: Fulton or prison?
By Pat BeHinghaasen
Missourian staff writer
Herscbel Henderson quietly followed his lawyer into a
small courtroom on the afternoon of Nov. 6. Henderson
had been in the Boone County Courthouse twice before,
but this appearance was to mark his last trip anywhere
for a long while perhaps for the rest of his life.
Since July 2 when he was arrested and charged with
shooting his 60- year-- old neighbor as the man walked by
his Columbia home, Henderson had been shuttled between
the Boone County Jafl and Fulton State HospitaL
Sitting nearly motionless, this heavy, 49- year-- old man
in unfaded denim overalls and a red, white and blue plaid
flannel shirt seemed bewildered by the legal procedures
that swirled around him He was silent while the judge,
public defender, prosecutor and psychiatrist talked about
him.
" He's a sick man," said the doctor.
Later, Henderson's lawyer told the judge, " The only
Insight
thing I can get him to understand is that he can go to one
of two places: the penitentiary in Jeff City or the hospital
in Fulton."
But the question of trial or hospitalization finally rested
with Associate Circuit Judge Joan Pinnell, who said she
would stuay the case and announce her decision later.
When questions of mental competency and responsibili-ty
arise in a criminal proceeding, law and medicine must
coalesce. The law relies heavily on psychiatric opinions,
but nonmedical people judges, juries or prosecutors
make the final decision on the defendant's mental state.
In Henderson's case, the doctor, the prosecutor, the
public defender and the judge agreed Henderson had a
mental problem that rendered him incompetent for trial
( See JUDGES, Page 12A)
Harris captures
education spot;
Middleton wins
By Becky Blades
Missourian staff writer
The Columbia Board of Education
Tuesday found its two vacancies filled
with a familiar face and a popular new
one
Dr. Robert J. Hams, a Columbia pe-diatrician,
led the three- wa- y race with
6,493 votes The real contest turned out
to be between incumbent Charles C
" Bud" Middleton and Tom Krynski
Middleton won by 139 votes, 5,459- 5,32- 0
If Krynski, a new faculty member in
the University's Extension Division
and former news director of KFRU ra-dio
had been elected, at 29, he would
have been the youngest member on the
board
Hams is part of a five- ma- n pediatric
group that cares for 6,000 to 7,000 pa-tients.
He said his experience as a chil-dren's
doctor gives him personal and
professional insights into the needs of
Columbia students. He made higher
teachers' salaries his No. 1 priority,
but also said he wanted to improve the
district's health and safety programs
Harris said dedicated, well- qualifi- ed
teachers are the key to Columbia's ed-ucation
system.
' I see kids every day who aren't get-ting
any help at home, they don't have
any good, strong background coming
into the school, and the person who
then becomes most influential in their
lives, besides their peer group, is the
teacher. Some average citizens think
teachers are overpaid. I just don't see
it that way "
Middleton, a University professor of
pathology and veterinary medicine,
ran on his record established during
the three- ye- ar term be is completing.
He campaigned on the same " back to
basics" and strict financial platform
that won nun the board seat in 1977 He
said careful allocation of the school
district's limited budget is one of the
most important considerations in
maintaining a strong school system
CITY OF COLUMBIA
BOARD OF EDUCATION
( Top Two Elected)
Middleton . . 5459
Harris 6493
Krynski 5320
Although they listed different priori-ties,
all three candidates campaigned
on basically the same issues higher
salaries for teachers, improved special
education for the academically tal-ented
and handicapped and better allo-cations
of funds
The six members of the Columbia
Board of Education serve three- ye- ar
terms, and the terms of two expire
each year.
This term's other outgoing board
member, Jan Fisch, did not run for re-election
because she plans to leave Columbia
in September.
Other members of the board are Patsy
Garner, Ray Lewis, James Oglesby
and Charles St. John
Inside In town
today today
Carter, Reagan win
President Carter and Ronald Reagan
continued their seemingly unstoppable
marches toward the major- part- y presi-dential
nominations Tuesday with solid
wins in Wisconsin and Kansas
Carter's victories dimmed the hopes
of Sen Edward Kennedy and drove
Edmund G. Brown out of the 1980 race
John Anderson said he would continue
his fight against Reagan in the GOP
column, but his disappointing third- plac- e
finish in Wisconsin may have in-creased
the likelihood that the maver-ick
congressman would bolt the party
and launch an independent presi-dential
campaign ( Story on Page
14A.)
2 pan College baseball, Southern
Illinois- Edwardsville vs
Missouri, doubleheader, Simmons
Field
6 p. m. Children's Dinner Theater
for children aged 10 to 12,
Assembly Room, Columbia Public
Library, 100 West Broadway,
$ 1
7: 30 p. m. " The Tempest," Stephens
College Playhouse, $ 3 50
for public, $ 1 75 students
7: 30 p. m. ' Everyday Shakespeare
Art of Emotion," Chataqua
lecture by William Jones,
University English professor,
Pickard Hall Auditorium.
Movie listings on Page 13A
strike halts construction By Tim Potter
Missourian staff writer
It was a strange silence outside
Boone County Hospital. Two laborers
with picket signs walked slowly back
and forth between the padlocked trail-ers
and empty scaffolding where work-ers
have been busy on a hospital addi-tion.
Elsewhere, the 3M Co construction
site on Route B was silent. Two cement
masons leaned against a parked car,
and picket signs lay nearby.
The usual clamor at area construc-tion
sites ended Tuesday morning after
the Construction and General Laborers
Union, Local 682, and the Cement Masons
Union, Local 411, failed to reach
new contract agreements with the
Builders Association of Missouri Monday
night.
And with other trades honoring the
laborers' and cement masons' pickets,
commercial work at sites m Columbia,
Jefferson City, Moberly and Mexico
ground to a halt. Hundreds of workers
did not report to work, and labor lead-ers
said they are uncertain about when
the strike will end.
Because they pay 20 percent interest
on construction loans and have strict
schedules to follow, contractors lose
money every minute the workers are
off the job.
" The union decides when to go on
strike, and they decide when to go back
to work," said Don Wilkerson, chief ne-gotiator
for the contractors' bargain-ing
agent, the Builders Association.
" I'm surprised they would go on strike
then the federal mediates are trying to
get them to negotiate and stay at
work."
But Ken Suns, business manager of
Columbia's Local 955 of the labours
union, said the Builders Association
turned down several of the union's 21
proposals During six hours of negotia-tions,
Suns said the Builders Association
asked the union to cut many of its
proposals
Although he would not specify what
pay raise the laborers are seeking,
Sims said pay is not the union's only
concern. He mentioned one proposal
that would require contractors to give
workers adequate notice if work is to
be interrupted for any reason.
Suns said the strike could last a few
days or several weeks The Builders
Association thinks that when the labor-ers
" get hungry enough, they'll go
back to work," Sims said. " They want
( See OTHER, Page 14A)