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., TTr. . " C- - 112 LcaaY use CjLUKBIA, M.. 65201 . 76th Year No. 88 Good Morning! It's Thursday, December 27, 1984 2 Sections 14 Pages 25 Cents Columbia's poor grow in number Poor emerge from all walks of life By Sandra Borcten end Stew VUr Mtcsaurtan KtfI writer With the aid of a broomstick, 58- year-- old J Ridge hobbles around en the legs he injured in a construction accident seven years ago He has no job, nowhere to live, and the $ 317 he receives each month in disability payments isn't enough to make ends meet Ridge hitched a train ride to Co-lumbia seven months ago As others, he came here seeking medical atten-tion from one of the city's hospitals ' Tm about ready to throw in the towel," Ridge says " You grow de-spondent." Ridge is only one of 8,802 people in Columbia who live in poverty Accordng to 1980 census figures, 173 percent of Columbia and 12 7 percent of Boone County's popula-tion are at or below the federal pov-erty leveL Social workers and other citizens m the community who regularly deal with the needy say Columbia reflects the national development of the last four years Since 1979, the number of Americans Irving in poverty has in-creased by more man 9 million, or 35 percent the largest increase since poverty figures began being record-ed. Today, 15 percent of the United States is poor, based on federal guidelines. " Our poor reflect the national trend," says Lana Jacobs, who works with me Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen, the St Francis House and the Central Missouri Foodbank Network Inc. " Only we see it on a smaller scale because we're a small town." According to Congressional Bud-get Office data, programs for the poor were reduced by $ 57 billion -- , over the four- ye- ar period from fiscal year lSS2mrough 1985 Nootherpart of the federal budget was cut so sharply, with low- incom- e programs bearing nearly one- thir- d of all cuts made. In addiion, many " of the same faimiltpg were affected by cuts in dtf- fere- nt low- inco- me programs, accordng to a recently released re-port by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities These cuts have deeply affected Columbia's poor. But the city also has unique characteristics mat make the problem here more serious than it seems on the surface A mong the reasons for the large number of poor m Columbia, are the city's me, location, and prominent medical and college com-munities This Columbia woman collects cans to supplement her Social Security. Director Joyce Miller of the Volun-tary Acuon Center says Columbia is a mecca of sorts for people in the area who are seeking employment or housing. " We will always have a relatively large number of transients because we are sitting on ( Interstate) 70 and Highway 63," sue explains, adding the only comparable cities in size in the area are St Louis, Kansas City and Jefferson City Besides these, mere only are Kirksville in the north and Springfield in the south Columbia's medical facilities at-tract people having problems with employment as well as health " Here you have hospitals equal only to Rochester, Mum.," says former VAC Director Betty Adams " To the non-- or semi- skille- d labor force, that represents employment " That's the core of employment here, and there's more people than jobs." Consequently, the poor who flock to Columbia from surrounding areas often must watt a long time before they secure employment For those with little or no skills, college stu-dents pose a major threat in the job market " The employer tends to make the job more accessible to them," Ad-ams says. " A student will do almost anything to get through school, so that they tie up the job market" The problem is particularly pro-nounced n the food- service- s area, where most non-- and semi- skille- d workers find jobs " Why are they going to lure someone who's func-tionally illiterate when they can hire somebody with two years of college who will probably work for less''" Adams says. An added phis to employers hiring foreign students is that they don't have to pay Social Security benefits, Adams says. These factors add up to a swelling poverty problem reflected in the sharp increase in the need for social services in the community and m the drop in clients' ncomes " We have this idea people are poor because they are huy," says Nancv See MOST, Page 8A U. S. denounces Viet and Soviet interventions New York Times WASHINGTON - The State De-partment Wednesday condemned the Vietnamese attacks on Cambodi-an camps along the Thai- Cambodi- an border, while President Reagan as-sailed the Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan that began five years ago today In a statement noting that the Christinas Day attacks occurred on the sixth anniversary of Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia the depart-ment said it was tune for Hanoi to stop defying the UN General As-sembly, which has regularly called on Vietnam to withdraw its troops and allow free elections State Department officials said that the attacks on the border camps in Cambodia were an effort by Viet-nam to inflict a major military and psychological blow on the anb- com- mun- ist resistance groups More than 85,000 Cambodian civil-ians have been living in the primi-tive camps along the border, togeth-er with several thousand armed Cambodian guerrillas opposed to the Vietnamese- backe- d regime of Presi-dent Heng Samnn The State De-partment officials said that the raids were apparently directed chiefly against the camps loyal to the anti- commun- ist Khmer People's Nation-al Liberation Front, led by former Prune Minister Son Sann, who is backed by the Association of South East Asian Nations and the United States Son Sann, and the former Cambo-dian leader, Pnnce Norodom Siha-nouk, have formed a coalition with Pol Pot the communist leader, whose ruthless government was overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1978 The United States and most na-tions continue to support the seating of the coalition group in the United Nations, although Washington has no dealings with Pol Pot's organization, which receives military and other aid from China Son Sann has re-peatedly sought American military aid for his several thousand guerril-las, but has been turned down He is said to get arms from Singapore, China and other countries fhe State Department in its statement said ' Vietnam's contin-uing aggression in Cambodia, di-rected chiefly against civilian camps and non- commun- ist military forces, is contemptible " " The Cambodian people, after so many years of war, should be allow-ed to choose their own government and to live in peace, Alan D Rom-berg, a department spokesman said These attacks came as the Viet-namese took a tougher attitude to-ward the release of thousands of po-litical prisoners neld in so- call- ed ' re- educati- on camps " Inittallv Vietnam said it would allow the United States to take the prisoners Later, however, it expressed con-cern that they might become gueml las, and failed to agree to an offer made in September bv the United States to accept the prisoners and their families In a related development Presi dent Reagan in a statement issued by the White House, said that tne presence of Soviet occupying forces in Afghanistan constitutes a senous impediment to the improvement of our bilateral relations ' Marking the fifth anmversar of the invasion of Afghanistan Reagan praised the Afghan people for their legendary courage ' and said his administration will continue to sup-port their noble struggle' to resist Soviet forces The statement on Afghanistan was issued as Reagan spent an otherwise tight work day in the Oval Office and as he continued to mull o er strate-gy for upcoming talks between US and Soviet officials in Geneva that hold promise for a possible resump-tion of full- sca- le arms control nego-tiations ' For our part, the U S has made clear to Soviet leaders that the pres ence of Soviet occupying forces in Afghanistan constitutes a serious, impediment to the unprov ement of our bilateral relations," he said We cannot and will not remain si lenton Afghanistan " Reagan called for an end to this tragic situation under steps pro-posed by the United Nations, includ ing withdrawal of Sov let troops re-storation of the independence and non- align- ed status for Afghanistan self- determinati- on for the Afghan people and the safe return of mil lions of refugees " Until these goals are achieved, he said, " the Soviet Union will con-tinue to pay a high price for its sup-pression of Afghanistan's freedom Since Reagan took office, the Unit ed States has channeled tens of mil lions of dollars worth of arms and equipment to the Afghan rebels to support their fight against the Soviet occupation troops The bulk of the secret aid has been supplied through the CIA Boone County fire district adopts life- safe- ty code By Antonio VKtdcil and Linda Swr Mtesourtanataffwrttore Toe Boone County Fire Protection District has taken an unheralded but potentially important and controver-sial step toward moving rural Boone County closer to the adoption of a building code The three- memb- er fire district board of directors adopted a life- safe- ty code on Dec 4 The code, sponsored by the National Fire Pro-tection Association, provides for in-spection and construction changes to improve escape during fires The board adopted the codes at a meet-ing with nopubbc bearing. Steve PaulselL chief of the fire dis-trict, said Wednesday night that the new code, added to me fire code adopted m 1979, gives the fire dis-trict authority to require certain safety measures in buddmgs where many people gather " The life- safe- ty code allows us to go into some existing buildings," Paulsen said " We can do that in high hazards nursing homes, bars, motels, schools, that sort of thing." Private dwellings will not be af-fected Pausefl said the new code " relates to things that allow people to get out of buildings," including width of exit routes and water sprinklers over fur-naces. Some new and existing buildings wul be reqiared to have a fire alarm, smoke detectors, emergency light-ing andadequate escape routes. " There's probably a hundred buildings out there we have to con sider," PaulseU said. " Like other codes, it is a minimum standard It does not involve tearing down build-ings to their foundations It does not involve residential at all No one is gouig to come knocking on some-body's door at 6 o'clock at night and say, ' We're here to inspect your house'" PaulseU could offer no estimate of the cost of complying with the code He said the cost wQl vary according to the type of construction and age of the building. Paulsefl and other leaders of the fire district have been working about five years to persuade members of the Boone County Court to adopt a bunding code for the entire county. However, the current members of the court have delayed mnfcing a de-cision until at least Feb 1 A countv bmldrag code committee had pre-viously urged the court to adopt the national standard BOCA Code PaulseU told the court on Nov 21 that be was bred of delays ' Tm tired of fighting political whims, of attending meetings and rehashing subject matter that has been dis-cussed for five years " On Wednesday night, PaulseU said the buildng code still is important because it relates to new construc-tion. By contrast, the county fire and life- safe- ty codes do not " relate to buddings' footings and things tike mat" PaulseO said he still hopes the court wul act to pass a total code " We still beueve that is the best way the ccuntywide building code con-cept This doesn't take the place of the budding code They work band- in- hand- ." PaulseU said no public hearing on the new code was necessary " The people voted on it," he con-tended, panting to the Nov 6 vote in Boone County to approve an 11 cent per $ 100 valuation fire district levy to pay for a fire prevention program, 61 percent of voters favored the levy Pausell also noted that a survey done for the County Court this fall showed a majority of respondents fa-vor building codes ihe Boone County Fire Protection District is the largest fire protection district in the state, with an area of 512 square miles in the northern three- fourth- s of the county, it has a firefighting staff of about 142 located in nine fire stations The Southern Boone County Fire Protection Dis-trict covers the remainder of the county WASHINGTON ( UPI) Just when you miak Christmas is over, a card usually shows up from some long- lo- st friend or relative. Mail soon will be arriving, however, from someone who's probably not on any-one Christinas card list the In-ternal Revenue Service. The IRS be-gan ossQing out its 1884 tax forms on Wednesday. Sat most taxpayers getting New Year's greetings from the IRS Serv-ice a& ao wfll find something extra in their S65 paychecks, officials said. Tbe last of the 1981 tax law changes to take effect, known aa tax Indexing, means inflation wul no looger be taxed. Amounts vimbdd by esgsbyere from paychecks begin- ms- g Jan. I wfll be awm tea. t But the change wul not effect taxes paid tins coming Apnl 15 on 1934 income, uang the 94 million forms the IRS is mailing in the next three weeks. The changes n withholding are small on a weekly basis, out they can add up Each withholding allowance claimed on W-- 4 forms submitted to employers excludes $ 20 in 19SS week-ly income from withholding, 77 cents more than last year. The amount of weekly wages on which there is no withhold Big for a married taxpayer goes up $ 2 to $ 48 Every bracketon up becomes a little wider. Overall, the system is excluding 4077 percent from incomes so that Mo. forms mailed Page 8A the increase attributed to reflation is not taxed. " By far, the majority of taxpayers are going to see less withheld from then paychecks,'' IRS spokesman WusonFaaehflaid. IRS officials warn taxpayers not to get carried away claiming withhold-ing allowances. Any more than 14 is reported to the government for pos-sible investigation. Some people, the IRS cannot say how many, wfll not get a withholding break because of another change in the system being made this yesr. In order to make the amount withheld closer to what is actually owed, the f IRS is revising the calculations made by employers and then com-puters People who found they either al-ways got a refund or always had to pay something even though they chimed the correct number of with- hoidi- ng exemptions may now find what was taken out over a year's time is closer to what is owed April 15. The instructions for the 1040 long form, addressed to about 53 nnHion people, ran 51 pages. The note from IRS commissioner Roscoe Egger warns taxpayers to scrtttuiize page 2 to catchup on anamber of changes. Basically the changes are these f Up to half of Social Security henems will be taxable if total in come exceeds $ 25,000 for single peo-ple or $ 32,000 for a couple filing a jointreturn. A higher limit is in effect for charitable contributions for those who do not itemize, amounting to 25 percent of the first $ 300 up to a limit not exceeding $ 75, also applicable to 1040A aid 1040EZ returns. The " 1 percent rule" for medi-cine is replaced by a credit A diesel fuel credit may be available for owners of diesel cars, light trucks and vans in model years after STB The final 5 percent of the three- stag- e 25 percent tax cut enacted in 1931 took effect last year and causes no new change in withholding tables forB85 New fire codes critcized by local builders By Antonio Vindeli and Linda Barr Missourian stafl writers Carl Burpo, a Columbia general contractor, is critical of the way the Boone County Fire Protection Dis-trict has implemented the new fire and safety code " If we adopt the code, it will mean tens of thousands ( of dollars in costs) for some people," Burpo con-tends. He says his general contract ing firm started to build the Countrv Stampede at the intersection of Route Z and Interstate 70 in July, but in December the fire district sudden-ly adopted the new code " If they ( the fire protection dis-trict) are gang to make other places adopt tte code, Tm for it," said Bur-po, owner of Casu Development Corp, 1107 E Ash St " But I believe the code is very unfair because it was implemented without any public input" Steve PaulseU, chief of the Boone County Fire Protection District, says the code was properly and le-gally adopted. ' Chapter 321 of state statutes enables us to set standards for life and property safety," Paul-seU says. He adds " Anything you do is not going to please everybody " " We're talking about some basic fundamentals and certain mum- mu- m things to ensure safety," says Dennis Jones, a hfe- safe- ty specialist working for the fire district since November of this year The code does not place a large burden on property owners, but it wfll serve to prevent large loss of life from fires, Jones said. The newly implemented code also S3 NEW, Pago 8A t
Object Description
Title | Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1984-12-27 |
Description | Vol. 76th Year, No. 88 |
Subject |
Columbia (Mo.) -- Newspapers Boone County (Mo.) -- Newspapers |
Coverage | United States -- Missouri -- Boone County -- Columbia |
Language | English |
Date.Search | 1984-12-27 |
Type | Newspaper |
Format | |
Collection Name | Columbia Missourian Newspaper Collection |
Publisher.Digital | The Office of Library Systems of the University of Missouri |
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 |
Description
Title | Full Page |
Date.Search | 1984-12-27 |
Type | page |
Item.Transcript | ., TTr. . " C- - 112 LcaaY use CjLUKBIA, M.. 65201 . 76th Year No. 88 Good Morning! It's Thursday, December 27, 1984 2 Sections 14 Pages 25 Cents Columbia's poor grow in number Poor emerge from all walks of life By Sandra Borcten end Stew VUr Mtcsaurtan KtfI writer With the aid of a broomstick, 58- year-- old J Ridge hobbles around en the legs he injured in a construction accident seven years ago He has no job, nowhere to live, and the $ 317 he receives each month in disability payments isn't enough to make ends meet Ridge hitched a train ride to Co-lumbia seven months ago As others, he came here seeking medical atten-tion from one of the city's hospitals ' Tm about ready to throw in the towel," Ridge says " You grow de-spondent." Ridge is only one of 8,802 people in Columbia who live in poverty Accordng to 1980 census figures, 173 percent of Columbia and 12 7 percent of Boone County's popula-tion are at or below the federal pov-erty leveL Social workers and other citizens m the community who regularly deal with the needy say Columbia reflects the national development of the last four years Since 1979, the number of Americans Irving in poverty has in-creased by more man 9 million, or 35 percent the largest increase since poverty figures began being record-ed. Today, 15 percent of the United States is poor, based on federal guidelines. " Our poor reflect the national trend," says Lana Jacobs, who works with me Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen, the St Francis House and the Central Missouri Foodbank Network Inc. " Only we see it on a smaller scale because we're a small town." According to Congressional Bud-get Office data, programs for the poor were reduced by $ 57 billion -- , over the four- ye- ar period from fiscal year lSS2mrough 1985 Nootherpart of the federal budget was cut so sharply, with low- incom- e programs bearing nearly one- thir- d of all cuts made. In addiion, many " of the same faimiltpg were affected by cuts in dtf- fere- nt low- inco- me programs, accordng to a recently released re-port by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities These cuts have deeply affected Columbia's poor. But the city also has unique characteristics mat make the problem here more serious than it seems on the surface A mong the reasons for the large number of poor m Columbia, are the city's me, location, and prominent medical and college com-munities This Columbia woman collects cans to supplement her Social Security. Director Joyce Miller of the Volun-tary Acuon Center says Columbia is a mecca of sorts for people in the area who are seeking employment or housing. " We will always have a relatively large number of transients because we are sitting on ( Interstate) 70 and Highway 63," sue explains, adding the only comparable cities in size in the area are St Louis, Kansas City and Jefferson City Besides these, mere only are Kirksville in the north and Springfield in the south Columbia's medical facilities at-tract people having problems with employment as well as health " Here you have hospitals equal only to Rochester, Mum.," says former VAC Director Betty Adams " To the non-- or semi- skille- d labor force, that represents employment " That's the core of employment here, and there's more people than jobs." Consequently, the poor who flock to Columbia from surrounding areas often must watt a long time before they secure employment For those with little or no skills, college stu-dents pose a major threat in the job market " The employer tends to make the job more accessible to them," Ad-ams says. " A student will do almost anything to get through school, so that they tie up the job market" The problem is particularly pro-nounced n the food- service- s area, where most non-- and semi- skille- d workers find jobs " Why are they going to lure someone who's func-tionally illiterate when they can hire somebody with two years of college who will probably work for less''" Adams says. An added phis to employers hiring foreign students is that they don't have to pay Social Security benefits, Adams says. These factors add up to a swelling poverty problem reflected in the sharp increase in the need for social services in the community and m the drop in clients' ncomes " We have this idea people are poor because they are huy," says Nancv See MOST, Page 8A U. S. denounces Viet and Soviet interventions New York Times WASHINGTON - The State De-partment Wednesday condemned the Vietnamese attacks on Cambodi-an camps along the Thai- Cambodi- an border, while President Reagan as-sailed the Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan that began five years ago today In a statement noting that the Christinas Day attacks occurred on the sixth anniversary of Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia the depart-ment said it was tune for Hanoi to stop defying the UN General As-sembly, which has regularly called on Vietnam to withdraw its troops and allow free elections State Department officials said that the attacks on the border camps in Cambodia were an effort by Viet-nam to inflict a major military and psychological blow on the anb- com- mun- ist resistance groups More than 85,000 Cambodian civil-ians have been living in the primi-tive camps along the border, togeth-er with several thousand armed Cambodian guerrillas opposed to the Vietnamese- backe- d regime of Presi-dent Heng Samnn The State De-partment officials said that the raids were apparently directed chiefly against the camps loyal to the anti- commun- ist Khmer People's Nation-al Liberation Front, led by former Prune Minister Son Sann, who is backed by the Association of South East Asian Nations and the United States Son Sann, and the former Cambo-dian leader, Pnnce Norodom Siha-nouk, have formed a coalition with Pol Pot the communist leader, whose ruthless government was overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1978 The United States and most na-tions continue to support the seating of the coalition group in the United Nations, although Washington has no dealings with Pol Pot's organization, which receives military and other aid from China Son Sann has re-peatedly sought American military aid for his several thousand guerril-las, but has been turned down He is said to get arms from Singapore, China and other countries fhe State Department in its statement said ' Vietnam's contin-uing aggression in Cambodia, di-rected chiefly against civilian camps and non- commun- ist military forces, is contemptible " " The Cambodian people, after so many years of war, should be allow-ed to choose their own government and to live in peace, Alan D Rom-berg, a department spokesman said These attacks came as the Viet-namese took a tougher attitude to-ward the release of thousands of po-litical prisoners neld in so- call- ed ' re- educati- on camps " Inittallv Vietnam said it would allow the United States to take the prisoners Later, however, it expressed con-cern that they might become gueml las, and failed to agree to an offer made in September bv the United States to accept the prisoners and their families In a related development Presi dent Reagan in a statement issued by the White House, said that tne presence of Soviet occupying forces in Afghanistan constitutes a senous impediment to the improvement of our bilateral relations ' Marking the fifth anmversar of the invasion of Afghanistan Reagan praised the Afghan people for their legendary courage ' and said his administration will continue to sup-port their noble struggle' to resist Soviet forces The statement on Afghanistan was issued as Reagan spent an otherwise tight work day in the Oval Office and as he continued to mull o er strate-gy for upcoming talks between US and Soviet officials in Geneva that hold promise for a possible resump-tion of full- sca- le arms control nego-tiations ' For our part, the U S has made clear to Soviet leaders that the pres ence of Soviet occupying forces in Afghanistan constitutes a serious, impediment to the unprov ement of our bilateral relations," he said We cannot and will not remain si lenton Afghanistan " Reagan called for an end to this tragic situation under steps pro-posed by the United Nations, includ ing withdrawal of Sov let troops re-storation of the independence and non- align- ed status for Afghanistan self- determinati- on for the Afghan people and the safe return of mil lions of refugees " Until these goals are achieved, he said, " the Soviet Union will con-tinue to pay a high price for its sup-pression of Afghanistan's freedom Since Reagan took office, the Unit ed States has channeled tens of mil lions of dollars worth of arms and equipment to the Afghan rebels to support their fight against the Soviet occupation troops The bulk of the secret aid has been supplied through the CIA Boone County fire district adopts life- safe- ty code By Antonio VKtdcil and Linda Swr Mtesourtanataffwrttore Toe Boone County Fire Protection District has taken an unheralded but potentially important and controver-sial step toward moving rural Boone County closer to the adoption of a building code The three- memb- er fire district board of directors adopted a life- safe- ty code on Dec 4 The code, sponsored by the National Fire Pro-tection Association, provides for in-spection and construction changes to improve escape during fires The board adopted the codes at a meet-ing with nopubbc bearing. Steve PaulselL chief of the fire dis-trict, said Wednesday night that the new code, added to me fire code adopted m 1979, gives the fire dis-trict authority to require certain safety measures in buddmgs where many people gather " The life- safe- ty code allows us to go into some existing buildings," Paulsen said " We can do that in high hazards nursing homes, bars, motels, schools, that sort of thing." Private dwellings will not be af-fected Pausefl said the new code " relates to things that allow people to get out of buildings," including width of exit routes and water sprinklers over fur-naces. Some new and existing buildings wul be reqiared to have a fire alarm, smoke detectors, emergency light-ing andadequate escape routes. " There's probably a hundred buildings out there we have to con sider," PaulseU said. " Like other codes, it is a minimum standard It does not involve tearing down build-ings to their foundations It does not involve residential at all No one is gouig to come knocking on some-body's door at 6 o'clock at night and say, ' We're here to inspect your house'" PaulseU could offer no estimate of the cost of complying with the code He said the cost wQl vary according to the type of construction and age of the building. Paulsefl and other leaders of the fire district have been working about five years to persuade members of the Boone County Court to adopt a bunding code for the entire county. However, the current members of the court have delayed mnfcing a de-cision until at least Feb 1 A countv bmldrag code committee had pre-viously urged the court to adopt the national standard BOCA Code PaulseU told the court on Nov 21 that be was bred of delays ' Tm tired of fighting political whims, of attending meetings and rehashing subject matter that has been dis-cussed for five years " On Wednesday night, PaulseU said the buildng code still is important because it relates to new construc-tion. By contrast, the county fire and life- safe- ty codes do not " relate to buddings' footings and things tike mat" PaulseO said he still hopes the court wul act to pass a total code " We still beueve that is the best way the ccuntywide building code con-cept This doesn't take the place of the budding code They work band- in- hand- ." PaulseU said no public hearing on the new code was necessary " The people voted on it," he con-tended, panting to the Nov 6 vote in Boone County to approve an 11 cent per $ 100 valuation fire district levy to pay for a fire prevention program, 61 percent of voters favored the levy Pausell also noted that a survey done for the County Court this fall showed a majority of respondents fa-vor building codes ihe Boone County Fire Protection District is the largest fire protection district in the state, with an area of 512 square miles in the northern three- fourth- s of the county, it has a firefighting staff of about 142 located in nine fire stations The Southern Boone County Fire Protection Dis-trict covers the remainder of the county WASHINGTON ( UPI) Just when you miak Christmas is over, a card usually shows up from some long- lo- st friend or relative. Mail soon will be arriving, however, from someone who's probably not on any-one Christinas card list the In-ternal Revenue Service. The IRS be-gan ossQing out its 1884 tax forms on Wednesday. Sat most taxpayers getting New Year's greetings from the IRS Serv-ice a& ao wfll find something extra in their S65 paychecks, officials said. Tbe last of the 1981 tax law changes to take effect, known aa tax Indexing, means inflation wul no looger be taxed. Amounts vimbdd by esgsbyere from paychecks begin- ms- g Jan. I wfll be awm tea. t But the change wul not effect taxes paid tins coming Apnl 15 on 1934 income, uang the 94 million forms the IRS is mailing in the next three weeks. The changes n withholding are small on a weekly basis, out they can add up Each withholding allowance claimed on W-- 4 forms submitted to employers excludes $ 20 in 19SS week-ly income from withholding, 77 cents more than last year. The amount of weekly wages on which there is no withhold Big for a married taxpayer goes up $ 2 to $ 48 Every bracketon up becomes a little wider. Overall, the system is excluding 4077 percent from incomes so that Mo. forms mailed Page 8A the increase attributed to reflation is not taxed. " By far, the majority of taxpayers are going to see less withheld from then paychecks,'' IRS spokesman WusonFaaehflaid. IRS officials warn taxpayers not to get carried away claiming withhold-ing allowances. Any more than 14 is reported to the government for pos-sible investigation. Some people, the IRS cannot say how many, wfll not get a withholding break because of another change in the system being made this yesr. In order to make the amount withheld closer to what is actually owed, the f IRS is revising the calculations made by employers and then com-puters People who found they either al-ways got a refund or always had to pay something even though they chimed the correct number of with- hoidi- ng exemptions may now find what was taken out over a year's time is closer to what is owed April 15. The instructions for the 1040 long form, addressed to about 53 nnHion people, ran 51 pages. The note from IRS commissioner Roscoe Egger warns taxpayers to scrtttuiize page 2 to catchup on anamber of changes. Basically the changes are these f Up to half of Social Security henems will be taxable if total in come exceeds $ 25,000 for single peo-ple or $ 32,000 for a couple filing a jointreturn. A higher limit is in effect for charitable contributions for those who do not itemize, amounting to 25 percent of the first $ 300 up to a limit not exceeding $ 75, also applicable to 1040A aid 1040EZ returns. The " 1 percent rule" for medi-cine is replaced by a credit A diesel fuel credit may be available for owners of diesel cars, light trucks and vans in model years after STB The final 5 percent of the three- stag- e 25 percent tax cut enacted in 1931 took effect last year and causes no new change in withholding tables forB85 New fire codes critcized by local builders By Antonio Vindeli and Linda Barr Missourian stafl writers Carl Burpo, a Columbia general contractor, is critical of the way the Boone County Fire Protection Dis-trict has implemented the new fire and safety code " If we adopt the code, it will mean tens of thousands ( of dollars in costs) for some people," Burpo con-tends. He says his general contract ing firm started to build the Countrv Stampede at the intersection of Route Z and Interstate 70 in July, but in December the fire district sudden-ly adopted the new code " If they ( the fire protection dis-trict) are gang to make other places adopt tte code, Tm for it," said Bur-po, owner of Casu Development Corp, 1107 E Ash St " But I believe the code is very unfair because it was implemented without any public input" Steve PaulseU, chief of the Boone County Fire Protection District, says the code was properly and le-gally adopted. ' Chapter 321 of state statutes enables us to set standards for life and property safety," Paul-seU says. He adds " Anything you do is not going to please everybody " " We're talking about some basic fundamentals and certain mum- mu- m things to ensure safety," says Dennis Jones, a hfe- safe- ty specialist working for the fire district since November of this year The code does not place a large burden on property owners, but it wfll serve to prevent large loss of life from fires, Jones said. The newly implemented code also S3 NEW, Pago 8A t |