Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1984-12-27

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CjLUKBIA, M.. 65201
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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