Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1984-11-05

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77th Yea r --- No. 45 Good Morning! it's Monday,
: November! 5, 1984 2 Sections 26 Pages 25 Cents
111
Michefe Cordon
Charity on wheels
More than 150 motorcyclists paraded to
the Salvation Army, 602 N Garth Ave ,
to drop off the more than $ 800 in toys
and more than 100 canned goods they
donated to charity Sunday The annua!
toy ride, sponsored by the Freedom of
Road Riders, originated at ' Zooks' Har- ley- Davids- on,
608 Nebraska Ave , and
wound up at the Salvation Army after
touring the city with a police escort.
Above, Chuck Williams and his stuffea
companion wait in the parking lot for
the other bikers to arrive
By Michael Coit, Chela Caughron and
Mike Holticlaw
Missounan staff writers
In a final effort to sway their con-gregations,
some mid- Misso- uri
church leaders brought opposition to
two gambling issues on Tuesday's
statewide ballot to the pulpit Sun-day.
Dunng worship services, the pas-tors
railed against those who scheme
for money and don't work for their
wages Then- message- s were both di-rect
and indirect, but the words
shared common meanings and car-ried
biblical force against Amend-ment
5, which would establish a
state lottery, and Amendment 7,
which would allow pan- mutu- e! wa-gering
at horse races
Most Columbia pastors contacted
said they had no plans to address the
issues during Sunday's services. The
Rev. Max Klinkenborg of Bethel
Church, an American Baptist church
here, said he doubted that most
mainline churches would take tune
during services to speak against the
proposals.
However, at the Central Methodist
College campus in Fayette, the Rev.
James Smith of Linn Memorial Cha
pel read a letter from Bishop W. T.
Handy Jr to a congregation of 200
" Traditionally, the United Meth-odist
Church and its predecessors
have regarded gambling as a major
social evil," the letter says " Gam- bun- g
was seen to be a threat to fami-ly
life and disrupted the tranquility
of the community."
The letter, which touched on Meth-odist
movements against gambling
throughout the past century, re-flected
the official position of the
United Methodist Church
Smith chose not to interpret the
church's position.
" I'm not in the business of casting
other people's votes, but I believe we
are justified in making statements
on some of the facts concerning the
issues," he said.
The Rev. Sam Martin, who leads
the congregation of the Emmanuel
Baptist Church, 3100 Pioneer Drive,
veiled his message in a 20- min- ute
sermon concerning the exploits of
the Biblical figure Jacob God will
take care of those who try to take
away the wages cf others, Martin
said.
He said Jacob, who was an honest
schemer in the bock cf Genesis, al-ways
came out on the short end of
deals he made for 20 years with an-other
biblical character, Laban
Martin compared Jacob's misfor-tune
with a state lottery that he said
would promise people more than
they actually could receive
" As I understand it, if you win a $ 1
million lottery, you don't get it all at
once but in installments, and the
winners don't earn any interest on
the money they don't receive," Mar-tin
said
Martin was the chairman cf the
Christian life commission within the
Missouri Baptist Convention from
1971 to 1977 and helped lead opposi-tion
to previous ' ottery proposals He
never specifically addressed the lot-tery
during a sermon, but included
information in announcements that
precedethe services
At the First Baptist Church of
Fayette, the Rev. Robert Quinn said
nothing in his sermon Sunday con-cerning
either amendments, the lot-tery
or the pari- mutu- el proposals,
but his stance on the issues was
clear.
At the front of the church, a
" Flimflam" bumper sticker hung
beneath a Missouri Baptist Conven-tion
Sesqincentenrual poster Flimf
lam is the derogatory term Missour- lan- s
Against 5 and 7 use to slam the
ballot proposals
On the offertory table in the
church vestibule, a basket was filled
with envelopes to collect donations
for Misscunans Against 5 and 7.
Quinn said while he did not men-tion
the ballot proposals Sunday, he
has given three or four sermons dur-ing
Sunday night services specifical-ly
against the issues.
Despite his efforts, Quinn said he
thinks both ballot proposals will pass
in Tuesday's general election
The Missouri Baptist Convention
lobbied against a state lottery pro-posal
during the spring legislative
session and joined Missounans
Against 5 and 7 to oppose pan- mu- tu- el
wagenng Both measures are
ahead in recent polls.
Cindy Blosser, press secretary for
Missounans Against 5 and 7, said
four of Missouri's five major denom- inaao- ns
have taken official stands
against the two ballot issues Those
churches the Missouri Baptists,
Disciples of Christ, Catholics, Meth-odists
and Lutherans make up 41
percent of Missouri voters, she said.
The Lutherans have not met
statewide yet this year, she said
ST. LOUIS ( UPI) - President
Reagan, asking a flag- wavi- ng crowd
for four more years in office, Sunday
reminded supporters that his admin-istration
has cut taxes, lowered in-flation
and made America a safer
place to live
To the chants of " Four more
years'," Reagan told a crowd gath-ered
around the Gateway Arch that
America was going through its sec-ond
revolution and getting stronger
all the time, but " it's only just be-gun,"
he said
The president, who was nearly two
hours late arriving due to a last min-ute
scheduling change that took him
to Rochester, Minn , was introduced
by Hollywood fnend Bob Hope to a
crowd estimated by police at 20,009
Hope warmed up the audience
with one- liner- s like, " You know what
America would be like without Ron-ald
Reagan Mr. T without mus-cles."
Reagan, 73, on the fourth day of his
10- sta- te campaign swing on his own
behalf and the behalf of Republican
congressional candidates, praised
Reps. Gene Taylor, Bill Emerson
and Tom Coleman, who all are run-ning
for re- elect- ion
He also said Missouri needed rep-- 1
resentatives like Enc Rathbone,
who is running against Richard Ge-phardt
in Missouri's 1st District,
Came Francke, who is trying to un-- !
seat Harold Volkmer in the 9th Dis-trict,
and Jack Buechner, who run-ning
against Robert Young in the
2nd District
" Don't send me back alone," Rea-gan
said telling the crowd he wanted
House members who were on his
side
Reagan also stumped for the Re-publican
party's candidates for
statewide offices Attorney General
John Ashcroft for governor, Mel
Hancock for lieutenant governor,
Wendall Bailey for treasiirer, Bill
Webster for attorney general and
Roy Blunt for secretary of state
Reagan criticized the policies of
Democratic challenger Walter Mon- da- le
as ones that would result m
higher taxes and weakened military
security. He told the audience that
he was the president who cut taxes
" We've cut personal tax rates by
25 percent and while some people
have said that benefits some people
more than others, that tax cut was
even- steve- n across the board and
benefited everybody," Reagan said,
as he was interrupted by a round of
boos from about 20 Mondale support-ers
Undaunted by the hecklers, Rea-gan
boasted about the administra-tion's
record of lowering inflation
from 12 percent to 4 percent, cre-ating
6 million jobs in 21 months and
lowering gasoline prices by 8 cents a
gallon
" If he ( Mondale) keeps his prom-ises,
it will cost every household
$ 1,890," Reagan said. " That's more
than $ 150 a month Tnai's like nav- m- g
a second mortage A Mondale
morgtage."
Reagan recalled his own conver-sion
from the Democratic Party to
the GOP years ago and charged the
Democrats no longer represent the
values of Harry S Truman and John
Kennedy
As he invited the Democrats in the
crowd to " walk with us down that
path of hope and opportunity," the
crowd once again broke into chants
of " Four more years "
Thousands of spectators filled the
grassy area and steps by 10 a. m ,
only to wait four hours for the presi-dent's
arrival
Governor hopefuls
Is ffl st H as si H Ka 83 fa Vra a ' SS fig 53 ZrSi Bf " ILB' ( 9 fir-- " ' Sat
By Helene Feger
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY As Mis-souri's
gubernatorial candidates
splash their final ads across the tele-vision
screen and hastily schedule a
few more campaign stops to pick up
stray votes, political observers are
charting Missouri's voting map in
anticipation of Tuesday's balloting
Both sides Republican John
Ashcroft and Democrat Ken Roth- ma- n
are confident of a victory,
but where the candidates will draw
their voting strength is open to dis-pute
'
Lou Millot, political director of the
state Republican Party, analyzed
voting patterns in each of the state's
114 counties in an effort to predict
how Tuesday's vote might go Millot
said there are five bellweather coun-ties
m the state Washington, St
Francis, Livingston, Texas and p- t- is
counties He said they have con-sistently
picked the winning gover-nor
since the 1964 election
Besides these regions, St Louis
County, because of its size, is vitally
important in moving a candidate
from the win or loss column, Millot
said
" Republicans do not win in the
state unless they carry St Louis,"
he said.
But the area is one that is hotly
fought over by the two candidates
See ST LOUIS, Page 14A
By Geoff Campbell and Faith Lyman
IWfasourlan staff writers
Time is running out for industrial revenue
bonds. At tonight's City Council meeting
Mayor John Westlund is expected to propose
that the council create a new industrial bond-ing
authority in an attempt to take advan-tage
of a federal program whose life expec-tancy
is less than two years.
Does this sound like a lastrditch effort?
" That's what it is," Sixth Ward Coun-cilman
Matt McCormick said following last
Monday's meeting of the Boone County In-dustrial
Development Authority. At that
meeting, the board vetoed a proposal that
sought a compromise between Columbia's
development master plan and the authority's
philosophy governing bond issues.
" The city will, in fact, take a very aggres-sive
approach to attracting commercial ( de-velopment)
while the two- ye- ar time period is
still available," he added.
The mayor's actions stem from the City
Council's concern that the Boone County In-dustrial
Development Authority has been too
f
conservative in the way it has issued tax- exem- pt
bonds through its five- ye- ar history
and, as a consequence, has frightened off
commercial industries that could benefit Co-lumbia's
economic future.
The proposal will likely breeze through
council. Westlund and Assistant City Man-ager
Bob Black, who last month announced
men intentions to push for the creation of an
authority, have garnered council support by
persuading members that a new authority is
necessary for the city's future growth.
' The industrial revenue bonds that a new
authority would issue have come under in-creasing
criticism nationwide.
At the center of the debate is whether
these bonds actually entice new industry into
a community or whether they simply pro-vide
an inexpensive source of capital financ-ing
for companies that would have settled in
an area regardless of bond availability.
Just as compelling are the alleged abuses
of the bonds and the effects they have had on
the interest rates of all municipal bonds and
the taxpayer's wallet
But in the city's eye, advantages outweigh
i
i
such concerns The bonds, city officials say,
can and should be used to Columbia's advan-tage.
According to McCormick, the city has
spent a lot of money on its economic devel-opment
department in an effort to attract
non- pollutin- g, commercial and medical in-dustries.
The bonds are " a kind of carrot on
a stick, if you will, to those types of indus-tries,"
McCormick said Friday.
The industrial revenue bonds, or IRBs,
have financed all types cf private enter-prises,
from gram elevators to retirement
homes to McDonald's restaurants and K- M- art
shopping centers. In the St. Louis area,
IRBs have financed the construction of about
a dozen 905 International Stores a liquor
retailer that has since found itself immersed
' in financial hot water.
Recently a bondirg agency in a Kansas
City, Mo., suburb approtd as i& ue for the
construction of a real estate office.
All these issues are legal, hi fact, almost
anything goes in the industrial bonding
game. But the Congressional Budget Office
in a 1981 report cited issues for public and
private golf courses, national hamburger
chains and a retail furniture outlet as the
type that have jeopardized the future of IRB
financing
But the report also notes that the principal
users of IRBs, in fact, are those that were
designed to be helped small corporations
with average sales of $ 47 million and an av-erage
payroll of 87 employees.
Controversy aside, authorities assert that
these bonds enhance the economic base of a
community by creating jobs and increasing
taxrevenues.
George Brakatselos, senior associate with
the Public Securities Association in New
York, says IRBs offer " a definite benefit to
communities. They are effective in that they
do contribute to die economic development
of a community."
However, proof of this is sketchy at best
since the federal government began only a
year ago to require formal reports about is-sues
and their uses and effects on a commu-nity's
labor force and economy .
Following legislation in 1983, Missouri be-came
one of the few states in the country to
require municipal bonding authorities to
submit annual reports on their bond issues.
The reports require municipalities to detail
how bond money has been spent and the esti-matednumber
of jobs a project has created
Not available, however, are studies that
address the question of whether a company
seeking the bonds actually needs them. In
other words, how many companies seeking
IRBs and denied them have gone ahead with
their projects?
Thomas Monks, the manager of existing
services with the state's Community and
Economic Development Division, says IRBs
have had a positive impact on a commu-nity's
economic development and employ- mentbas- e.
" You soil have to ask the question,"
Monks added, " ' Would a job be done ; ad
IRBs not been available?' That can't be an-swered.
It's intangible."
Criticism of the costs of these bonds con-tinues
to mount, particularly at the federal
level The U. S. government claims to foot the
Sec GOVERNMENT, Pag 14A