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9 ? HI" :- - '' - : 74th Year No. 258 Good Morning! It's Saturday. July 17. 1982 2 Section 1() Page 2o Cent-- . : : Judge denies guilty plea Woman accused of confining son for three months A Cape Girardeau woman accused of locking her 7- year- - old son in her basement for almost three months pleaded guilty to child abuse Fri-day in Boone County Circuit Court. But Judge Frank Conley raised questions about Olgica Kocevski's mental condition and rejected her plea. Ms. Kocevski, a 27- year-- old naturalized Ca-nadian citizen, appeared ashen and at times shook uncontrollably. Straining to hear, Judge Conley had to coax whispered answers from her as she testified from the witness stand. Akbar Esker, a 28- year-- old Pakistani and co- defend- ent in the case, was not present for the pre- tri- al hearing but is scheduled to appear for trial July 28. Ms. Kocevski, who has claimed she did not re-port the abuse of Dejan Kocevski because she was afraid of Esker, had been expected to testi-fy against Esker. But the fact that her guilty plea was rejected on the basis of her emotional stability could jeopardize her use as a prosecu-tion witness. " This will put the prosecution in a hell of a spot," said Esker's attorney, Hale W. Brown. Ms. Kocevski, who is expected to return to court July 28 to answer charges against her, was taken to Fulton State Mental Hospital for psychiatric evaluation when she left court Fri-day. The bizarre case has attracted national atten-tion, largely because of the legal problems cre-ated by the couple's nationalities. It was or-dered transfered to Columbia in June due to extensive pre- tri- al publicity in Cape Girardeau. The alleged child abuse came to light April 13 when fire broke out in Ms. Kocevski's rented home. The blaze was blamed on an electrical short that ignited loose attic insulation. A result-ing explosion blew the roof off the house, awak-ening neighbors, who summoned Cape Girar-deau firefighters. Much of the house had been destroyed by the time fire crews arrived. I Firemen broke through a locked basement door in an effort to salvage what they could from the home. Firefighter Robert Thompson later reported that he was entering the smoke- fille- d basement for a second time when he stum-bled over a smalt bundle at the foot of toe stairs. That small bundle was Dejan. - Thompson carried Dejan, who was suffering from smoke inhalation and heat prostration, into the yard. There firefighters administered mouth- to- mou- th resuscitation and cardio- pulmi- na- ry resuscitation to the unconscious child. After an ambulance had left with Dejan for Southeast Missouri State Hospital, a neighbor alerted Fire Chief Charles Mills that Ms. Kocevski had a 7- yea-r- old boy. Mills ordered his men back into the house to search for him. " He was awful small," Mills said of the child who already had been removed from the house. " We couldn't believe he was a 7- year-- old." He had estimated Dejan's age at 4. According to hospital reports, Dejan was suf-fering from chronic malnutrition. He weighed only 32 pounds. Mills said he was shocked by the child's stunted appearance. Asked by telephone Friday if Dejan had bruises or marks on his body, the fire chief declined to comment. Ms. Kocevski and Esker were not home at the time of the fire. According to Cape Girardeau authorities, the couple had been in Peoria, HI., for three or four days. Firefighters said the basement was a dingy room with a concrete floor and a small bath -- room. The main room was lit by a single naked light bulb. It's furnishings consisted of a couch and a small chest of drawers. Firemen said stains on the couch appeared to be vomit. Atop the chest was a small platter containing a ba-nana snack cake and a couple of cookies. ' ' There were no toys,' ' Mills said. Ms. Kocevski and Esker had been renting the Cape Girardeau house since late December 1981. But most neighbors said they hadn'. t seen Dejan in the three months prior to the the fire. According to news accounts, Dejan had been al-- Sg1! Ji. Jim Waketum Olgica Kocevski. a 27- year- o- ld Cape G5- - cuit t; ourt. A naturalized citizen. Ms. rardeau resident, is taken to her pre- tri- - Kocevski appeared ashen and at times al hearing Friday in Boone County Cir- - shook uncontrollably. lowed up from the basement only once to cel-ebrate his seventh birthday in January. Ms. Kocevski and Esker moved to Cape G-irardeau from Toronto, Canada, where they had worked on the maintenance staff of a hotel. Ms. Koqevski met Esker at the hotel after her di- - 4He was awful small. We couldn't believe he was a 7- year- - old.' vorce from Dejan's Yugoslavian father, Branko Kocevski. A check with Canadian authorities revealed that Dejan was admitted to a Canadian hospital in March 1981 after a teacher at the Church Street School in Toronto reported she believed the boy was in pain. According to news ac-counts, Dejan had a reddened eye, cigarette burns on bis arms and back, a bump on his fore-head, scratches on his buttocks and bruises on most of his body. Veronica Payne, acting executive director of Toronto's Catholic Children's Aid Society, said Friday that Dejan had showed signs of abuse but said the only injuries she could confirm were those to his eyes. The society took temporary custody of the child, and the case was investigated by the city's child abuse team. But at a court hearing, the team was unable to establish who was re-sponsible for Dejan's condition. Custody of the child was returned to Ms. Kocevski after the court was assured she was no longer seeing Esker. Ms. Kocevski took Dejan out of the Church Street School and enrolled him in Toronto's pri-vate Jesse Catchem School. According to Ca-nadian news accounts, she removed Dejan from that school in November 1981, telling officials she was taking the boy on a trip to Europe. Ms. Kocevski and Esker then left Canada in a rented truck. Police said Dejan never was enrolled in a Cape Girardeau school. After the fire, Dejan was hospitalized for sev-eral weeks, generating medical bills totaling more than $ 21,000. Medicaid has paid $ 2,000; the balance remains unpaid. Dejan has been living in a temporary foster home, but may be reunited with his father soon. A Cape Girardeau circuit court has granted cus-tody to Branko Kocevski, who now works in a hotel on the border of France and West Ger-many. In Missouri, child abuse is considered a class D felony. Fines for a class D felony range from $ 1 to $ 5,000. Sentences range from a day in Boone County Jail to five years in the state peni-tentiary. This story was reported by Missourian staff writers Paul Shannon, Keith Philpott and Debo-rah Kay NeweD. Hig this Gophers burrowing in radioactive waste LOS ALAMOS, N. M. ( UPI) A Los Alamos National Laboratory study has uncovered another factor that designers of radioactive waste disposal sites should keep in mind gophers. Tom Hakonson, Leo Martinez and Gary White said in a recent report their study showed that a colony of gophers moved more than 12 tons of j dirt and burrowed 1.7 miles of tun-- 1 nels in a 2.4- acr- e site during a 401-- ; day period in 1979- 198- 0. Almost all the activity in the test site, located in a section of a low- le- v- 3 el radioactive waste site at the lab, 1 was confined to three feet below the ; surface, while the waste is buried be-- k low the four- fo- ot level. " The question is, if you have 50 years of that activity, what will be the situation?" Hakonson said re-- -. cently. He said most low- lev- el waste ,." material in the country is buried in 7 trenches that are covered with 3-- 6 ft? 1 feet of soil. Most gophers burrow within the top three feet, he said, but some dig as far down as six feet. Even when the animals do not dig into buried wastes, their tunneling can be harmful by providing con-duits for water to infilitrate the wast-es and cause erosion, Hakonson said. Scientists also are studying meth-ods to protect the waste from go-phers, such as incorporating layers of gravel or cobblestones. Los Ala-mos is incorporating some of these ideas into its waste site, Hakonson said. " What we're trying to do is devel-op the best techniques for minimiz-ing any risk," he said. " We need to contain this stuff for decades, maybe a couple hundred years. What we are not yet able to answer is what hap-pens in the long run." The gopher study and related re-search at Los Alamos is part of a De-partment of Energy study on dispos-ing of low- lev- el radioactive waste. 1m towi totiy 6: 30 pjn. " By Strouse," din-ner theater, Memorial Union Ballroom. Tickets, by reserva-tion only, 882- 734- 4. 8: 15 pan. " On Golden Pond," Summer Repertory Theater, University Theater. Tickets, $ 6 for general admission, $ 1 for students. Index Classified 2- 3- B Comics 4B Opinion 4A Record 5A Religion 3A Sports 1-- 2B Iran Iraq stalemated United Press International Iraq said it launched another ma-jor counterattack against the Irani-an army Friday and claimed to have destroyed 75 percent of the enemy's armed forces. It claimed to have moved the war back into Iran with air strikes against the city of Hama- da- n. Iranian ruler Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, his troops reportedly thrown back by the counteroffen- siv- e, issued a new set of peace condi-tions that appeared to drop a key de-mand for the ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but wanted Iraq -- to agree to pay war damages and admit it was the ag-gressor. Though conflicting claims made it difficult to assess action on the ground, U. S. intelligence sources in Washington said the 22- month- - old war that has now shifted into Iraq was still " basically a stalemate." They said the Iraqis had managed to push back an Iranian advance to-wards Basra, Iraq's only Persian Gulf port, but that the Iranians have regrouped in two main armies north and east of Basra for a major as-sault expected over the weekend. Combat on the fourth day of Iran's push into Iraq, " Operation Rama-dan," shifted to the skies with re-ports of heavy Iraqi air attacks against Iranian positions on the Ira-qi side of the Shatt al- Ar- ab water way that forms part of the disputed border between the two Gulf rivals. Iraq said it shot down a U S -- made Iranian jet fighter, the third report-ed Iranian loss since the start of the invasion. But Iraq also said its ground forces resumed their counterattack and contained the enemy offensive Iraq said its forces beat back the Iranian advance on Basra after ' vi-olent combat' Thursday, killing more than 1,000 Iranians Iran said Iraqi jet fighters at-tacked the Hamadan in western Iran, killing 64 people and wounding 350 others. Iran said Iraq's combat losses in Thursday's fighting included 600 troops killed or wounded and 77 tanks and armored vehicles de-stroyed or captured. U. S. intelligence sources, whose information was understood to come from spy satellite pictures, said they expected the Iranians to strike next from the north and the east in an en-circling pincer movement against the Iraqis defending Basra. The communiques of both sides made it clear the Iranians were still holding Iraqi territory west of Bas-ra. After initially advancing six to 10 miles across the frontier, the Irani-ans were pushed back in a bow- shap- ed line extending slightly west of the border the U S. sources, who requested anonymity, said Councilmen ponder deposit amendment ByLeeDancy Missourian staff writers Three of the seven city councilmen said Friday they do nctfa or exclud-ing 2- li- ter plastic bottles from Co-lumbia's container- depos- it law. Fifth Ward Councilman Dick Walls suggested the City Council ex-clude the 2- li- ter bottles from the law at the council's July 6 meeting. The law now requires a 5- c- ent deposit on all canned beverages and bottled beer sold in Columbia. The council will hold a public hear-ing and final vote on the proposal at its regular meeting at 7: 30 p. m. Mon-day in the County- Cit- y Building. Sixth Ward Councilman Matt Mc- Cormi- ck and Fourth Ward Coun-cilman Pat Barnes told the Missour-ian they would vote against the amendment. Mayor John Westlund said that, al-though he had not decided how to vote, he was leaning against the pro-posed amendment. " I haven't developed a firm opin-ion yet," Westlund said. " I'll have to wait until the public hearing." The mayor said he would prefer to keep the law intact, particularly if there is a referendum in November. Second Ward Councilman Duane Lammers, Third Ward Councilman Rodney Smith and First Ward Coun-cilman Al Tacker could not be reached by the Missourian. Petitions are being gathered at three Nowell's liquor stores and at Eastgate Party Shop, 2006 E. Broad-way, to put the ordinance on the No-vember ballot. " Two- lite- r plastic bottles are not being recycled, and they are not a litter problem," Walls said. " I don't feel we should have to pay somebody to haul them away." Recycled 2- li- ter containers can be the fuler for coats and vests instead of expensive goosedown, saia David Thelen, organizer of Columbians Against Throwaways. They also are used in polyester fabrics, he said. Local recycler Dave Allen, owner of Civic Recycling, 1407 Grand Ave., said he makes approximately $ 20 on each bag of 275 bottles distributors bring to him for disposal. Poor sales of textiles " nave hurt re-cycling businesses, Allen added. Contracts between Wellman Indus-tries and du Pont, which has recy-cling plants in Michigan and Iowa, bring in all the plastic the two firms presently can handle Both states have deposit laws. Thelen said these circumstances are not good reasons to amend the ordinance. " The worst that happens is they go to the landfill." he said. " Then they're out of the litter stream." Thelen asserted that firms are willing to take the bottles, although he declined to name them. Other items to be considered by the council include : A request from Keeneland Properties, representative of Excep- tico- n Midwest to . zone a 7.7- ac- re tract in the 100 block of Portland Avenue from single- famil- y resi-dential to office classification. The request received unanimous approv-al from the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission June 2-- 5 A request from Harold Juhnson to rezone 6 42 acres m three jarcels from single- fami- ly residential to ( See REQUEST, P. 6A) KOMU change to AUC involves more ' than just flip of a switch By Scott Stuckey Missourian staff writer When KOMU- T- V drops NBC Aug. 8 to become an ABC affiliate, it won't be with a simple flip of a switch. Although the technological re-quirements for the switch aren't par-ticularly complex, there will be a fundamental change in the way the station receives its new network sig-nal. KOMU, Channel 8, will receive its ABC feed directly from the ComStar D-- 3 satellite, says station manager Tom Gray. Currently, KOMU relies on a more costly microwave signal that " hops" down from Chicago along a line of microwave towers spaced 25 to 30 miles apart. ABC recently equipped KOMU with a 4.6- met- er dish to receive the satellite signal, and a larger dish is on order, Gray says. The satellite link will save the network the fees it currently pays telephone companies for use of the microwave " line" Insight from Chicago. ABC is the first of the networks to change to direct satellite reception, although CBS and NBC also plan to. Gray says. Gray cites ABC's superior national ratings, emphasis on news and a commitment to quality program-ming as the main reasons for the switch from NBC. Recently, NBC slipped into last place among the three national networks in the rat-ings race, while ABC emerged as a strong contender. " Everyone knows that NBC's rat-ings are a major concern," Gray says, adding that NBC affiliate sta-tions in Savannah, Ga., and Odessa, Texas, also are switching to ABC. Gray says the move to ABC will not bring about immediate rate in-creases for KOMU's local advertis-ers, even though the station expects a larger share of the network audi ence. Program changes planned for KOMU include moving the noon news broadcast to 11 a. m and ainng the network program " Couples," now shown only on the West Coast, at 9 a. m. Gray says ABC also is plan-ning a new late- nig- ht feature news program hosted by Phil Donahue. KOMU's switch to ABC, originally scheduled for July 12, was delayed by a dispute over a possible sale of the current ABC affiliate. KCBJ- T- V. But Wednesday, a U. S. district judge in Kansas City ruled that KCBJ would relinquish its ABC affiliation Aug. 8. KCBJ hopes to become the new NBC affiliate on the same day, but negotiations have been complicated by a suit against station manager Richard Koerug. The suit was filed by Wooster Republican Printing Co., which claims breach of contract for sale of the station. Wooster, an Ohio media chain, has been trying to buy KCBJ for several years. 4
Object Description
Title | Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1982-07-17 |
Description | Vol. 74th Year, No. 258 |
Subject |
Columbia (Mo.) -- Newspapers Boone County (Mo.) -- Newspapers |
Coverage | United States -- Missouri -- Boone County -- Columbia |
Language | English |
Date.Search | 1982-07-17 |
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 | 1982-07-17 |
Type | page |
Item.Transcript | 9 ? HI" :- - '' - : 74th Year No. 258 Good Morning! It's Saturday. July 17. 1982 2 Section 1() Page 2o Cent-- . : : Judge denies guilty plea Woman accused of confining son for three months A Cape Girardeau woman accused of locking her 7- year- - old son in her basement for almost three months pleaded guilty to child abuse Fri-day in Boone County Circuit Court. But Judge Frank Conley raised questions about Olgica Kocevski's mental condition and rejected her plea. Ms. Kocevski, a 27- year-- old naturalized Ca-nadian citizen, appeared ashen and at times shook uncontrollably. Straining to hear, Judge Conley had to coax whispered answers from her as she testified from the witness stand. Akbar Esker, a 28- year-- old Pakistani and co- defend- ent in the case, was not present for the pre- tri- al hearing but is scheduled to appear for trial July 28. Ms. Kocevski, who has claimed she did not re-port the abuse of Dejan Kocevski because she was afraid of Esker, had been expected to testi-fy against Esker. But the fact that her guilty plea was rejected on the basis of her emotional stability could jeopardize her use as a prosecu-tion witness. " This will put the prosecution in a hell of a spot," said Esker's attorney, Hale W. Brown. Ms. Kocevski, who is expected to return to court July 28 to answer charges against her, was taken to Fulton State Mental Hospital for psychiatric evaluation when she left court Fri-day. The bizarre case has attracted national atten-tion, largely because of the legal problems cre-ated by the couple's nationalities. It was or-dered transfered to Columbia in June due to extensive pre- tri- al publicity in Cape Girardeau. The alleged child abuse came to light April 13 when fire broke out in Ms. Kocevski's rented home. The blaze was blamed on an electrical short that ignited loose attic insulation. A result-ing explosion blew the roof off the house, awak-ening neighbors, who summoned Cape Girar-deau firefighters. Much of the house had been destroyed by the time fire crews arrived. I Firemen broke through a locked basement door in an effort to salvage what they could from the home. Firefighter Robert Thompson later reported that he was entering the smoke- fille- d basement for a second time when he stum-bled over a smalt bundle at the foot of toe stairs. That small bundle was Dejan. - Thompson carried Dejan, who was suffering from smoke inhalation and heat prostration, into the yard. There firefighters administered mouth- to- mou- th resuscitation and cardio- pulmi- na- ry resuscitation to the unconscious child. After an ambulance had left with Dejan for Southeast Missouri State Hospital, a neighbor alerted Fire Chief Charles Mills that Ms. Kocevski had a 7- yea-r- old boy. Mills ordered his men back into the house to search for him. " He was awful small," Mills said of the child who already had been removed from the house. " We couldn't believe he was a 7- year-- old." He had estimated Dejan's age at 4. According to hospital reports, Dejan was suf-fering from chronic malnutrition. He weighed only 32 pounds. Mills said he was shocked by the child's stunted appearance. Asked by telephone Friday if Dejan had bruises or marks on his body, the fire chief declined to comment. Ms. Kocevski and Esker were not home at the time of the fire. According to Cape Girardeau authorities, the couple had been in Peoria, HI., for three or four days. Firefighters said the basement was a dingy room with a concrete floor and a small bath -- room. The main room was lit by a single naked light bulb. It's furnishings consisted of a couch and a small chest of drawers. Firemen said stains on the couch appeared to be vomit. Atop the chest was a small platter containing a ba-nana snack cake and a couple of cookies. ' ' There were no toys,' ' Mills said. Ms. Kocevski and Esker had been renting the Cape Girardeau house since late December 1981. But most neighbors said they hadn'. t seen Dejan in the three months prior to the the fire. According to news accounts, Dejan had been al-- Sg1! Ji. Jim Waketum Olgica Kocevski. a 27- year- o- ld Cape G5- - cuit t; ourt. A naturalized citizen. Ms. rardeau resident, is taken to her pre- tri- - Kocevski appeared ashen and at times al hearing Friday in Boone County Cir- - shook uncontrollably. lowed up from the basement only once to cel-ebrate his seventh birthday in January. Ms. Kocevski and Esker moved to Cape G-irardeau from Toronto, Canada, where they had worked on the maintenance staff of a hotel. Ms. Koqevski met Esker at the hotel after her di- - 4He was awful small. We couldn't believe he was a 7- year- - old.' vorce from Dejan's Yugoslavian father, Branko Kocevski. A check with Canadian authorities revealed that Dejan was admitted to a Canadian hospital in March 1981 after a teacher at the Church Street School in Toronto reported she believed the boy was in pain. According to news ac-counts, Dejan had a reddened eye, cigarette burns on bis arms and back, a bump on his fore-head, scratches on his buttocks and bruises on most of his body. Veronica Payne, acting executive director of Toronto's Catholic Children's Aid Society, said Friday that Dejan had showed signs of abuse but said the only injuries she could confirm were those to his eyes. The society took temporary custody of the child, and the case was investigated by the city's child abuse team. But at a court hearing, the team was unable to establish who was re-sponsible for Dejan's condition. Custody of the child was returned to Ms. Kocevski after the court was assured she was no longer seeing Esker. Ms. Kocevski took Dejan out of the Church Street School and enrolled him in Toronto's pri-vate Jesse Catchem School. According to Ca-nadian news accounts, she removed Dejan from that school in November 1981, telling officials she was taking the boy on a trip to Europe. Ms. Kocevski and Esker then left Canada in a rented truck. Police said Dejan never was enrolled in a Cape Girardeau school. After the fire, Dejan was hospitalized for sev-eral weeks, generating medical bills totaling more than $ 21,000. Medicaid has paid $ 2,000; the balance remains unpaid. Dejan has been living in a temporary foster home, but may be reunited with his father soon. A Cape Girardeau circuit court has granted cus-tody to Branko Kocevski, who now works in a hotel on the border of France and West Ger-many. In Missouri, child abuse is considered a class D felony. Fines for a class D felony range from $ 1 to $ 5,000. Sentences range from a day in Boone County Jail to five years in the state peni-tentiary. This story was reported by Missourian staff writers Paul Shannon, Keith Philpott and Debo-rah Kay NeweD. Hig this Gophers burrowing in radioactive waste LOS ALAMOS, N. M. ( UPI) A Los Alamos National Laboratory study has uncovered another factor that designers of radioactive waste disposal sites should keep in mind gophers. Tom Hakonson, Leo Martinez and Gary White said in a recent report their study showed that a colony of gophers moved more than 12 tons of j dirt and burrowed 1.7 miles of tun-- 1 nels in a 2.4- acr- e site during a 401-- ; day period in 1979- 198- 0. Almost all the activity in the test site, located in a section of a low- le- v- 3 el radioactive waste site at the lab, 1 was confined to three feet below the ; surface, while the waste is buried be-- k low the four- fo- ot level. " The question is, if you have 50 years of that activity, what will be the situation?" Hakonson said re-- -. cently. He said most low- lev- el waste ,." material in the country is buried in 7 trenches that are covered with 3-- 6 ft? 1 feet of soil. Most gophers burrow within the top three feet, he said, but some dig as far down as six feet. Even when the animals do not dig into buried wastes, their tunneling can be harmful by providing con-duits for water to infilitrate the wast-es and cause erosion, Hakonson said. Scientists also are studying meth-ods to protect the waste from go-phers, such as incorporating layers of gravel or cobblestones. Los Ala-mos is incorporating some of these ideas into its waste site, Hakonson said. " What we're trying to do is devel-op the best techniques for minimiz-ing any risk," he said. " We need to contain this stuff for decades, maybe a couple hundred years. What we are not yet able to answer is what hap-pens in the long run." The gopher study and related re-search at Los Alamos is part of a De-partment of Energy study on dispos-ing of low- lev- el radioactive waste. 1m towi totiy 6: 30 pjn. " By Strouse," din-ner theater, Memorial Union Ballroom. Tickets, by reserva-tion only, 882- 734- 4. 8: 15 pan. " On Golden Pond," Summer Repertory Theater, University Theater. Tickets, $ 6 for general admission, $ 1 for students. Index Classified 2- 3- B Comics 4B Opinion 4A Record 5A Religion 3A Sports 1-- 2B Iran Iraq stalemated United Press International Iraq said it launched another ma-jor counterattack against the Irani-an army Friday and claimed to have destroyed 75 percent of the enemy's armed forces. It claimed to have moved the war back into Iran with air strikes against the city of Hama- da- n. Iranian ruler Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, his troops reportedly thrown back by the counteroffen- siv- e, issued a new set of peace condi-tions that appeared to drop a key de-mand for the ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but wanted Iraq -- to agree to pay war damages and admit it was the ag-gressor. Though conflicting claims made it difficult to assess action on the ground, U. S. intelligence sources in Washington said the 22- month- - old war that has now shifted into Iraq was still " basically a stalemate." They said the Iraqis had managed to push back an Iranian advance to-wards Basra, Iraq's only Persian Gulf port, but that the Iranians have regrouped in two main armies north and east of Basra for a major as-sault expected over the weekend. Combat on the fourth day of Iran's push into Iraq, " Operation Rama-dan," shifted to the skies with re-ports of heavy Iraqi air attacks against Iranian positions on the Ira-qi side of the Shatt al- Ar- ab water way that forms part of the disputed border between the two Gulf rivals. Iraq said it shot down a U S -- made Iranian jet fighter, the third report-ed Iranian loss since the start of the invasion. But Iraq also said its ground forces resumed their counterattack and contained the enemy offensive Iraq said its forces beat back the Iranian advance on Basra after ' vi-olent combat' Thursday, killing more than 1,000 Iranians Iran said Iraqi jet fighters at-tacked the Hamadan in western Iran, killing 64 people and wounding 350 others. Iran said Iraq's combat losses in Thursday's fighting included 600 troops killed or wounded and 77 tanks and armored vehicles de-stroyed or captured. U. S. intelligence sources, whose information was understood to come from spy satellite pictures, said they expected the Iranians to strike next from the north and the east in an en-circling pincer movement against the Iraqis defending Basra. The communiques of both sides made it clear the Iranians were still holding Iraqi territory west of Bas-ra. After initially advancing six to 10 miles across the frontier, the Irani-ans were pushed back in a bow- shap- ed line extending slightly west of the border the U S. sources, who requested anonymity, said Councilmen ponder deposit amendment ByLeeDancy Missourian staff writers Three of the seven city councilmen said Friday they do nctfa or exclud-ing 2- li- ter plastic bottles from Co-lumbia's container- depos- it law. Fifth Ward Councilman Dick Walls suggested the City Council ex-clude the 2- li- ter bottles from the law at the council's July 6 meeting. The law now requires a 5- c- ent deposit on all canned beverages and bottled beer sold in Columbia. The council will hold a public hear-ing and final vote on the proposal at its regular meeting at 7: 30 p. m. Mon-day in the County- Cit- y Building. Sixth Ward Councilman Matt Mc- Cormi- ck and Fourth Ward Coun-cilman Pat Barnes told the Missour-ian they would vote against the amendment. Mayor John Westlund said that, al-though he had not decided how to vote, he was leaning against the pro-posed amendment. " I haven't developed a firm opin-ion yet," Westlund said. " I'll have to wait until the public hearing." The mayor said he would prefer to keep the law intact, particularly if there is a referendum in November. Second Ward Councilman Duane Lammers, Third Ward Councilman Rodney Smith and First Ward Coun-cilman Al Tacker could not be reached by the Missourian. Petitions are being gathered at three Nowell's liquor stores and at Eastgate Party Shop, 2006 E. Broad-way, to put the ordinance on the No-vember ballot. " Two- lite- r plastic bottles are not being recycled, and they are not a litter problem," Walls said. " I don't feel we should have to pay somebody to haul them away." Recycled 2- li- ter containers can be the fuler for coats and vests instead of expensive goosedown, saia David Thelen, organizer of Columbians Against Throwaways. They also are used in polyester fabrics, he said. Local recycler Dave Allen, owner of Civic Recycling, 1407 Grand Ave., said he makes approximately $ 20 on each bag of 275 bottles distributors bring to him for disposal. Poor sales of textiles " nave hurt re-cycling businesses, Allen added. Contracts between Wellman Indus-tries and du Pont, which has recy-cling plants in Michigan and Iowa, bring in all the plastic the two firms presently can handle Both states have deposit laws. Thelen said these circumstances are not good reasons to amend the ordinance. " The worst that happens is they go to the landfill." he said. " Then they're out of the litter stream." Thelen asserted that firms are willing to take the bottles, although he declined to name them. Other items to be considered by the council include : A request from Keeneland Properties, representative of Excep- tico- n Midwest to . zone a 7.7- ac- re tract in the 100 block of Portland Avenue from single- famil- y resi-dential to office classification. The request received unanimous approv-al from the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission June 2-- 5 A request from Harold Juhnson to rezone 6 42 acres m three jarcels from single- fami- ly residential to ( See REQUEST, P. 6A) KOMU change to AUC involves more ' than just flip of a switch By Scott Stuckey Missourian staff writer When KOMU- T- V drops NBC Aug. 8 to become an ABC affiliate, it won't be with a simple flip of a switch. Although the technological re-quirements for the switch aren't par-ticularly complex, there will be a fundamental change in the way the station receives its new network sig-nal. KOMU, Channel 8, will receive its ABC feed directly from the ComStar D-- 3 satellite, says station manager Tom Gray. Currently, KOMU relies on a more costly microwave signal that " hops" down from Chicago along a line of microwave towers spaced 25 to 30 miles apart. ABC recently equipped KOMU with a 4.6- met- er dish to receive the satellite signal, and a larger dish is on order, Gray says. The satellite link will save the network the fees it currently pays telephone companies for use of the microwave " line" Insight from Chicago. ABC is the first of the networks to change to direct satellite reception, although CBS and NBC also plan to. Gray says. Gray cites ABC's superior national ratings, emphasis on news and a commitment to quality program-ming as the main reasons for the switch from NBC. Recently, NBC slipped into last place among the three national networks in the rat-ings race, while ABC emerged as a strong contender. " Everyone knows that NBC's rat-ings are a major concern," Gray says, adding that NBC affiliate sta-tions in Savannah, Ga., and Odessa, Texas, also are switching to ABC. Gray says the move to ABC will not bring about immediate rate in-creases for KOMU's local advertis-ers, even though the station expects a larger share of the network audi ence. Program changes planned for KOMU include moving the noon news broadcast to 11 a. m and ainng the network program " Couples," now shown only on the West Coast, at 9 a. m. Gray says ABC also is plan-ning a new late- nig- ht feature news program hosted by Phil Donahue. KOMU's switch to ABC, originally scheduled for July 12, was delayed by a dispute over a possible sale of the current ABC affiliate. KCBJ- T- V. But Wednesday, a U. S. district judge in Kansas City ruled that KCBJ would relinquish its ABC affiliation Aug. 8. KCBJ hopes to become the new NBC affiliate on the same day, but negotiations have been complicated by a suit against station manager Richard Koerug. The suit was filed by Wooster Republican Printing Co., which claims breach of contract for sale of the station. Wooster, an Ohio media chain, has been trying to buy KCBJ for several years. 4 |