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m J STATE HISTORICAL OCIETY ' 0334 i$ ffBfHf V tfc'QllItltPtfl COLUMBIA, mo. 65201 75th Year No. 57 , Good Morning Mt's Thursday, November 18, 1982 3 Sections 16 Pages 25 Cents Nation's factory- tis- e rate plummets to record low Reagan hints at early tax cut for consumers WASHINGTON ( AP) - Nearly one- thir- d, of the production lines at U. S. factories stood idle last month as the recession deepened, in what one economist called a " near de-pression." The 68.4 percent factory- us- e rate reported Wednesday was the worst on record. Shortly after the Federal Reserve Board report was released, Presi-dent Reagan told reporters he was thinking about asking Congress to give Americans access to next July's tax- rat- e cut in January in order to stimulate the economy by encourag-ing consumer spending. In a third economic development, the Commerce Department said housing starts by U. S. builders rose 1 percent in October. That was only a modest increase to an annual rate of 1.12 million units but the same report provided better news in the form of a second straight jump in building permits for future construc-tion. Permits rose to an annual rate of 1.18 million, up 17.7 percent from September and up a full 60 percent from October of last year good news because permits indicate how well builders should be doing in com-ing months. For the present, however, the Fed-eral Reserve's factory- us- e report was nothing but bad news. For ex-ample: The decline was the 13th in IS months. And rather than getting smaller, the monthly drops have been getting larger: 0.2 percentage point in August, 0.6 point in Septem-ber and now 0.8 point in October. There were new declines in two major industries: Factory use fell to 49.7 percent for automakers and to 42 percent for iron and steel produc-ers. The latter figure was that indus-try's lowest since a big 1959 strike stifled output. For the first time in the reces-sion, overall factory use fell below the 1975 low of 69 percent, a figure that had been the lowest level in sta-tistics going back to 1948. Allen Sinai, a vice president with Data Resources Inc., said the new operating rate " is further evidence that the U. S. economy has suffered a near depression over the past few years" as a result of efforts to bring down the high inflation rates of the 1970s. But he said the unemployment rate already at a 42- ye- ar high of 10.4 percent, should rise no higher than 10.7 percent. And he said " the processes for recovery" including lower interest rates and moderately improving sales of houses and con-sumer goods have begun and should lead to " meaningful recov-ery" by early next year. In Washington, White House econ-omist Martin Feldstein said moving up the date for reducing amounts withheld from taxpayers' paychecks would put an additional $ 14 billion in consumer hands. A disadvantage would be that it would increase a budget deficit al-ready headed for record levels of $ 150 billion or more, he added. Halisville tabloid Hallsville B- I- V basketball and the Little Dixie Conference are ex-plored in a four- pag- e tabloid in to-day's Columbia Missourian. Today Noon " Handguns: What women should know." Women's Center, ' Gentry Hall on the University cam-pus. 7 p. m. Parks and Recreation Commission meets, fourth- floo- r conference room, County- Cit- y Building. 7: 30 p. m. County Planning and Zoning Commission meets. Coun-ty Courtroom, fifth floor County- Cit- y Building. ! 7: 30 p. m. " Moonchildren." Gen-try Studio Theater, Gentry Hall, University. Tickets S1 . 8 p. m. " The Music Man." Hick-man High School auditorium. 1104 N. Providence Road, through Nov. 20. Tickets S2 50 and S3. Inside Business 7a Classified 2- 3- B Comics 6A Opinion 4A Record 7a Sports 1- 2- B Belden to close local factory at month's end By Jeffrey Pundyk Missourian staff writer For Cambodian refugee Lan Yun- tain- g, even simple conversations are tests of patience. She begins every conversation with her disclaimer, " I speak very little English." and ends with a broad smile and a tentative nod of her head. An employee meeting Monday at the Belden Corp.' s Columbia plant, 1809 Nelwood Drive, was particular-ly confusing for Lan. That was when I. an found out the plant is closing, which means she is loosing her job. Lan says she doesn't really under-stand the recession or unfair foreign competition. What she does under-stand, now that it has been explained by an interpreter, is that, as of Nov. 1 30, she will no longer earn S4.35 per hour working at a machine that manufactures a part for electrical cords. Lan came to Columbia in May 1981 with her husband, their infant daughter and their 4- year- - old son. She has been working for Belden for a year. " These are the people I feel really sorry for," says Dick Rasnick, plant manager, ' i can always go out and get a job. It'll be really tough for them." Rasnick says the plant, which has been open for 32 years, will be shut down because sales are at about one- quart- er of what they should be dur-ing what is normally the company's busy season. " This is a darn good plant with good employees. The whole industry is down. It's no fault of the employ-ees," he says. Rasnick, a tall, thin man with a grey beard, speaks of the matter in a slow, quiet voice: "' Business started to decline a year or so ago and kept going down. At one time we em-ployed as many as 45 people. This will be a permanent ' shutdown with no relocations for any employees." Frank Haes. an official with the Belden Corp.. says the Columbia shop was vulnerable because it is the smallest of Belden's eight plants. Belden is a subsidiary of Cooper In-dustries of Houston. Rasnick. a Belden employee for 18 years, sat in his wood- panele- d office decorated only with the company's business licenses and one picture frame holding shotb of his wife and four daughters. He looked out at the machinery in his plant and reflected on his 31.-- years as plant manager: " At one time it was pretty busy around here. There's just not any-thing to produce. Someplace has to be closed and this one was. chosen." Rasnick isn't annr; . just disap-pointed. Alan Beeler. the plant supervisor, agrees. " You can't blame amone," the 28- year-- old says. " I kind of saw it com-ing, but I wasn't fully prepared." Lan didn't see it coming not un-til it was told to her over and over. ' I will just look for another job," she says, smiling and nodding her head. Hung over Christmas decoration time finds Charles Perkins, 214 Shady Lakes Estates, stringing Christmas lights at the Broadway Dana Piper Inn, 1111 E. Broadway. These and other downtown lights will be turned on the day after Thanksgiving. Local hospitals could lose lit Medicare cutbacks By Debbie Stone Missourian staff writer Columbia's medical industry may be entering a new and perhaps less profitable era of health care. Local hospitals are closely watch-ing the Reagan administration's ef-forts to reduce Medicaid and Medi-care funding. They should. More than half of their patients pay their bills with money from the two pro-grams. Next year, government cutbacks in payments for Medicaid and Medi-care could reach $ 14.4 billion nation-wide, according to a report by a leading accounting firm, Peat, Mar- wic- k, Mitchell & Co. Last year, Mis-souri hospitals had to cut back $ 40,- 000,0- 00 in expenses due to Medicare changes already in effect, said Dian Sprenger, vice president of public af-fairs for the Missouri Hospital Asso-ciation. DG0DK! f Columbia Regional Hospital, the only private medical center in the area, claims the largest federal out-lay of any local hospital aside from the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. At Columbia Regional, 59 percent of the patients rely on Medicare and Medi-caid, while about 10 percent use Blue Cross- Blu- e Shield and about 4 per-cent use other private insurance pro-grams. That leaves only 27 percent of the patients there paying out of their own pockets. The two not- for- pro- fit hospitals in Columbia, Boone Hospital Center and the University Hospital, say 53 percent of their patients use Medi-caid and Medicare to pay the bills. But the 30 percent of the patients covered by private insurance at Boone Hospital Center means that, similar to Columbia Regional, only 27 percent pay out of their pockets. Currently, 73 percent of Ellis Fis-chers revenue comes from Medicaid and Medicare programs. When these programs were estab-lished in 1966, Medicaid and Med-icare funding seemed endless. An el-derly or poor patient who could not pay for hospital services was cov-ered and the government re-imbursed the hospital. Analysts have called this type of payment plan. " the smorgasboard syndrome of health care." A patient uses more services than he wants or actually needs, Now the once- endle- ss smorgas-board appears endangered. A recent article in Health Care Financial Management magazine predicted federal funds supporting Medicaid and Medicare will be depleted by 1991. In order to keep the programs afloat, the federal Health Care Fi-nancing Administration has pro-posed a payment plan that would im-pose tighter regulations and budget controls on hospitals and force doc-tors to be more cost- conscio- us. Detroit has even begun a " Medi-caid test," restricting a patient's choice of doctor. They now must choose doctors in a health mainte-nance organization noted for its cost- consciousne- ss. Consumers also are going to begin taking more responsibility for their mediral bills. As of Jan. 1, all Medi-care patients will have to pay 17 per-cent more out of their own pocket be-fore insurance takes over. The Missouri Hospital Association antic-ipates that paying patients in private hospitals will have to pay $ 10 a day more to pick up the tab for what the See OPTIMISM, Page 8A It's just a man- eat- d- og world COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa ( AP) It finally happened. A man bit a dog, and it made news. It also startled the dog's owners and the dog. Dennis Morris, 26, of Omaha, Neb., was charged with public intox-ication and criminal mischief after he wrestled a mixed- bree- d Labrador-- Husky dog to the ground and sank his teeth into its neck until the owners dragged him off, authorities said. The dog, a mother of three, proba-bly didn't fight back because she knew her assailant, and had even sat on his. lap from time to time, one of its owners said. Council Bluffs City Attorney Dick 1 Wade said the incident began when Morris got into a fight with co- work- er Mark Helzer at Helzer's Lake Ma- na- wa home and Helzer told him to leave. After Morris stopped banging on the doors, Helzer went outside to find a telephone to call police but was " attacked" by Morris, " the po-lice report said. The Helzers do not have a telephone. The police report said Morris ran off, but " a very short time later Helzer heard his dog yelping in the backyard." The Helzers ran back and found Morris " lying on top of the dog, bit-ing its neck," the report said. Bureaucratic snag leaves poor in cold 300 apply for utility aid By Lenny Heymann Missourian staff writer If bureaucratic red tape burned, fewer Boone County residents today would be without gas and electricity. Assistance is available to help those who can't meet the full cost of their utility bills. But there's a catch: these programs don't provide money for deposits to initiate utility service or to pay delinquent bills. The Voluntary Action Center Tues-day reported 60 families were with-out heat because they can't meet those payments. On Wednesday. Betty Adams, the center's director, said another 10 people who face the same problem also asked for help. " It appears at this point that it could be a nightmare," she said. Some of those without heat have had their utilities shut off because of delinquent payments. Others have moved into new housing but can't af-ford the deposit needed to begin service, Mrs. Adams said. Meanwhile, there are households without gas or electncty. Many are filled with single women and their children who have no place to go, so they bundle up the best they can, said Mrs. Adams. " Some of them have gone to stay with friends during the day and j'ump into their covers at night," she said. There is a program to help fami-lies in crises, but it's stuck in bu-reaucratic low gear. Formerly ad-ministered by the now- defun- ct Community Services Administration in Washington, D, C, the Low In-come Energy Assistance Project now turns over block grants to the state. That where's Mrs. Adams be-lieves the trouble lies. " What's coming down to me is that the Feds were a little faster on the draw than the state," she said. " I think the state's sitting on the money." Human Development Corp.' s exec-utive director, David Thayer, is try-ing to shake those dollars loose. He spoke with state officials a few- - weeks ago and was promised a grant of $ 40,000. But while he had a verbal agreement, he only just received the written guidelines explaining how to apply for the money. " It's one thing to sa you'll be get-ting an award and another to get something in writing." Thayer said. " Without the commitment, we'd be taking the risk of not being paid back." Once the grant comes through, the Human Development Corp. will be able to provide up to $ 300 per family for utility start- u- p costs. When that money will reach Boone County is not known. Tom Lawlor. a special projects coordinator for the state Division of Manpower Plan-ning, declined to set a date. Without hitches, the applications could be processed in two weeks, Lawlor said. He also attributed some of the delays to the federal government's slowness in getting the block grant to the state. " It's just an awful lot of ducks to get lined up in a row." Lawlor said. " We've done as much as we could in anticipation of the grant." Those with current service can ap-ply with the Division of Family Serv-ices, 2100 E. Broadway, for assist-ance in paying their bills. Since the program started on Monday, the di-vision has received nearly 300 appli-cations, said Executive Director Jer-ry Brewer. The division's money comes from the same federal program, but can only be used for those with existing service. Brewer said. The two programs are matched together." Brewer said. " We're hop-ing that HDC will get money for peo-ple we can't help." But it may be weeks until the state money comes through. Meanwhile. Mrs. Adams is leading an effort to find help on the local level. " We're developing resources as quickly as possible." she said. " In two to four weeks ou can be awful cold with no way of heating the place." Reagan to urge reduction in UeSe9 Soviet defenses WASHINGTON ( AP) - President Reagan is about to propose to the So-viet Union an expansion of the Washingt-on- Moscow hotline and other " confidence- buildin- g" measures, in-cluding notice of upcoming missile tests, administration sources said Wednesday. The sources said Reagan, in his new arms- contr- ol initiative, will en-courage the post- Brezhn- ev lead-ership in Moscow to reach an agree-ment with U. S. negotiators in Geneva on at least some of the prin-ciples of his proposed treaty to sharply reduce strategic nuclear weapons on both sides. The initiative is contained in a speech nearing completion in which the president intends to draw atten-tion to the massive sums the two su-perpowers are spending on defense and urge that they intensify efforts to reverse the accumulation of nu-clear weapons. However, he will not propose a less comprehensive pact than one mandating sharp cuts in current ar-senals, nor will he support ratifica-tion of the SALT II treaty, signed in Vienna in 1979 by former President Jimmy Carter and the late Soviet 1 President Leonid 1. Brezhnev, said the sources. The sources revealed the presi-dent's plans on condition that their names not be used. The current hotline is a teleprinter circuit between the two capitals. Es-tablished under a 1963 agreement, it was designed to flash alerts of immi-nent, accidental nulcear attacks. It has never been used for that pur-pose, although presidents and Soviet leaders have used it on other occa-sions to exchange messages in times of tension, notably during the 1973 Arab- Israe- li war. Sens. Henry M. Jackson, D- Was- h., and Sam Nunn, D- G- a., have sug-gested bolstering the coded message system with a military crisis center, staffed by U. S. and Soviet officials who would quickly exchange nuclear information and warnings. The president's speech which according to the sources could be de-livered within a week, although an occasion has not yet been specified is designed to offer Yuri Andro-pov, the new Communist party gen-eral secretary, and other Kremlin leaders the opportunity to chart a new course concerning arms control.
Object Description
Title | Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1982-11-18 |
Description | Vol. 75th Year, No. 57 |
Subject |
Columbia (Mo.) -- Newspapers Boone County (Mo.) -- Newspapers |
Coverage | United States -- Missouri -- Boone County -- Columbia |
Language | English |
Date.Search | 1982-11-18 |
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 | 1982-11-18 |
Type | page |
Item.Transcript | m J STATE HISTORICAL OCIETY ' 0334 i$ ffBfHf V tfc'QllItltPtfl COLUMBIA, mo. 65201 75th Year No. 57 , Good Morning Mt's Thursday, November 18, 1982 3 Sections 16 Pages 25 Cents Nation's factory- tis- e rate plummets to record low Reagan hints at early tax cut for consumers WASHINGTON ( AP) - Nearly one- thir- d, of the production lines at U. S. factories stood idle last month as the recession deepened, in what one economist called a " near de-pression." The 68.4 percent factory- us- e rate reported Wednesday was the worst on record. Shortly after the Federal Reserve Board report was released, Presi-dent Reagan told reporters he was thinking about asking Congress to give Americans access to next July's tax- rat- e cut in January in order to stimulate the economy by encourag-ing consumer spending. In a third economic development, the Commerce Department said housing starts by U. S. builders rose 1 percent in October. That was only a modest increase to an annual rate of 1.12 million units but the same report provided better news in the form of a second straight jump in building permits for future construc-tion. Permits rose to an annual rate of 1.18 million, up 17.7 percent from September and up a full 60 percent from October of last year good news because permits indicate how well builders should be doing in com-ing months. For the present, however, the Fed-eral Reserve's factory- us- e report was nothing but bad news. For ex-ample: The decline was the 13th in IS months. And rather than getting smaller, the monthly drops have been getting larger: 0.2 percentage point in August, 0.6 point in Septem-ber and now 0.8 point in October. There were new declines in two major industries: Factory use fell to 49.7 percent for automakers and to 42 percent for iron and steel produc-ers. The latter figure was that indus-try's lowest since a big 1959 strike stifled output. For the first time in the reces-sion, overall factory use fell below the 1975 low of 69 percent, a figure that had been the lowest level in sta-tistics going back to 1948. Allen Sinai, a vice president with Data Resources Inc., said the new operating rate " is further evidence that the U. S. economy has suffered a near depression over the past few years" as a result of efforts to bring down the high inflation rates of the 1970s. But he said the unemployment rate already at a 42- ye- ar high of 10.4 percent, should rise no higher than 10.7 percent. And he said " the processes for recovery" including lower interest rates and moderately improving sales of houses and con-sumer goods have begun and should lead to " meaningful recov-ery" by early next year. In Washington, White House econ-omist Martin Feldstein said moving up the date for reducing amounts withheld from taxpayers' paychecks would put an additional $ 14 billion in consumer hands. A disadvantage would be that it would increase a budget deficit al-ready headed for record levels of $ 150 billion or more, he added. Halisville tabloid Hallsville B- I- V basketball and the Little Dixie Conference are ex-plored in a four- pag- e tabloid in to-day's Columbia Missourian. Today Noon " Handguns: What women should know." Women's Center, ' Gentry Hall on the University cam-pus. 7 p. m. Parks and Recreation Commission meets, fourth- floo- r conference room, County- Cit- y Building. 7: 30 p. m. County Planning and Zoning Commission meets. Coun-ty Courtroom, fifth floor County- Cit- y Building. ! 7: 30 p. m. " Moonchildren." Gen-try Studio Theater, Gentry Hall, University. Tickets S1 . 8 p. m. " The Music Man." Hick-man High School auditorium. 1104 N. Providence Road, through Nov. 20. Tickets S2 50 and S3. Inside Business 7a Classified 2- 3- B Comics 6A Opinion 4A Record 7a Sports 1- 2- B Belden to close local factory at month's end By Jeffrey Pundyk Missourian staff writer For Cambodian refugee Lan Yun- tain- g, even simple conversations are tests of patience. She begins every conversation with her disclaimer, " I speak very little English." and ends with a broad smile and a tentative nod of her head. An employee meeting Monday at the Belden Corp.' s Columbia plant, 1809 Nelwood Drive, was particular-ly confusing for Lan. That was when I. an found out the plant is closing, which means she is loosing her job. Lan says she doesn't really under-stand the recession or unfair foreign competition. What she does under-stand, now that it has been explained by an interpreter, is that, as of Nov. 1 30, she will no longer earn S4.35 per hour working at a machine that manufactures a part for electrical cords. Lan came to Columbia in May 1981 with her husband, their infant daughter and their 4- year- - old son. She has been working for Belden for a year. " These are the people I feel really sorry for," says Dick Rasnick, plant manager, ' i can always go out and get a job. It'll be really tough for them." Rasnick says the plant, which has been open for 32 years, will be shut down because sales are at about one- quart- er of what they should be dur-ing what is normally the company's busy season. " This is a darn good plant with good employees. The whole industry is down. It's no fault of the employ-ees," he says. Rasnick, a tall, thin man with a grey beard, speaks of the matter in a slow, quiet voice: "' Business started to decline a year or so ago and kept going down. At one time we em-ployed as many as 45 people. This will be a permanent ' shutdown with no relocations for any employees." Frank Haes. an official with the Belden Corp.. says the Columbia shop was vulnerable because it is the smallest of Belden's eight plants. Belden is a subsidiary of Cooper In-dustries of Houston. Rasnick. a Belden employee for 18 years, sat in his wood- panele- d office decorated only with the company's business licenses and one picture frame holding shotb of his wife and four daughters. He looked out at the machinery in his plant and reflected on his 31.-- years as plant manager: " At one time it was pretty busy around here. There's just not any-thing to produce. Someplace has to be closed and this one was. chosen." Rasnick isn't annr; . just disap-pointed. Alan Beeler. the plant supervisor, agrees. " You can't blame amone," the 28- year-- old says. " I kind of saw it com-ing, but I wasn't fully prepared." Lan didn't see it coming not un-til it was told to her over and over. ' I will just look for another job," she says, smiling and nodding her head. Hung over Christmas decoration time finds Charles Perkins, 214 Shady Lakes Estates, stringing Christmas lights at the Broadway Dana Piper Inn, 1111 E. Broadway. These and other downtown lights will be turned on the day after Thanksgiving. Local hospitals could lose lit Medicare cutbacks By Debbie Stone Missourian staff writer Columbia's medical industry may be entering a new and perhaps less profitable era of health care. Local hospitals are closely watch-ing the Reagan administration's ef-forts to reduce Medicaid and Medi-care funding. They should. More than half of their patients pay their bills with money from the two pro-grams. Next year, government cutbacks in payments for Medicaid and Medi-care could reach $ 14.4 billion nation-wide, according to a report by a leading accounting firm, Peat, Mar- wic- k, Mitchell & Co. Last year, Mis-souri hospitals had to cut back $ 40,- 000,0- 00 in expenses due to Medicare changes already in effect, said Dian Sprenger, vice president of public af-fairs for the Missouri Hospital Asso-ciation. DG0DK! f Columbia Regional Hospital, the only private medical center in the area, claims the largest federal out-lay of any local hospital aside from the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. At Columbia Regional, 59 percent of the patients rely on Medicare and Medi-caid, while about 10 percent use Blue Cross- Blu- e Shield and about 4 per-cent use other private insurance pro-grams. That leaves only 27 percent of the patients there paying out of their own pockets. The two not- for- pro- fit hospitals in Columbia, Boone Hospital Center and the University Hospital, say 53 percent of their patients use Medi-caid and Medicare to pay the bills. But the 30 percent of the patients covered by private insurance at Boone Hospital Center means that, similar to Columbia Regional, only 27 percent pay out of their pockets. Currently, 73 percent of Ellis Fis-chers revenue comes from Medicaid and Medicare programs. When these programs were estab-lished in 1966, Medicaid and Med-icare funding seemed endless. An el-derly or poor patient who could not pay for hospital services was cov-ered and the government re-imbursed the hospital. Analysts have called this type of payment plan. " the smorgasboard syndrome of health care." A patient uses more services than he wants or actually needs, Now the once- endle- ss smorgas-board appears endangered. A recent article in Health Care Financial Management magazine predicted federal funds supporting Medicaid and Medicare will be depleted by 1991. In order to keep the programs afloat, the federal Health Care Fi-nancing Administration has pro-posed a payment plan that would im-pose tighter regulations and budget controls on hospitals and force doc-tors to be more cost- conscio- us. Detroit has even begun a " Medi-caid test," restricting a patient's choice of doctor. They now must choose doctors in a health mainte-nance organization noted for its cost- consciousne- ss. Consumers also are going to begin taking more responsibility for their mediral bills. As of Jan. 1, all Medi-care patients will have to pay 17 per-cent more out of their own pocket be-fore insurance takes over. The Missouri Hospital Association antic-ipates that paying patients in private hospitals will have to pay $ 10 a day more to pick up the tab for what the See OPTIMISM, Page 8A It's just a man- eat- d- og world COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa ( AP) It finally happened. A man bit a dog, and it made news. It also startled the dog's owners and the dog. Dennis Morris, 26, of Omaha, Neb., was charged with public intox-ication and criminal mischief after he wrestled a mixed- bree- d Labrador-- Husky dog to the ground and sank his teeth into its neck until the owners dragged him off, authorities said. The dog, a mother of three, proba-bly didn't fight back because she knew her assailant, and had even sat on his. lap from time to time, one of its owners said. Council Bluffs City Attorney Dick 1 Wade said the incident began when Morris got into a fight with co- work- er Mark Helzer at Helzer's Lake Ma- na- wa home and Helzer told him to leave. After Morris stopped banging on the doors, Helzer went outside to find a telephone to call police but was " attacked" by Morris, " the po-lice report said. The Helzers do not have a telephone. The police report said Morris ran off, but " a very short time later Helzer heard his dog yelping in the backyard." The Helzers ran back and found Morris " lying on top of the dog, bit-ing its neck," the report said. Bureaucratic snag leaves poor in cold 300 apply for utility aid By Lenny Heymann Missourian staff writer If bureaucratic red tape burned, fewer Boone County residents today would be without gas and electricity. Assistance is available to help those who can't meet the full cost of their utility bills. But there's a catch: these programs don't provide money for deposits to initiate utility service or to pay delinquent bills. The Voluntary Action Center Tues-day reported 60 families were with-out heat because they can't meet those payments. On Wednesday. Betty Adams, the center's director, said another 10 people who face the same problem also asked for help. " It appears at this point that it could be a nightmare," she said. Some of those without heat have had their utilities shut off because of delinquent payments. Others have moved into new housing but can't af-ford the deposit needed to begin service, Mrs. Adams said. Meanwhile, there are households without gas or electncty. Many are filled with single women and their children who have no place to go, so they bundle up the best they can, said Mrs. Adams. " Some of them have gone to stay with friends during the day and j'ump into their covers at night," she said. There is a program to help fami-lies in crises, but it's stuck in bu-reaucratic low gear. Formerly ad-ministered by the now- defun- ct Community Services Administration in Washington, D, C, the Low In-come Energy Assistance Project now turns over block grants to the state. That where's Mrs. Adams be-lieves the trouble lies. " What's coming down to me is that the Feds were a little faster on the draw than the state," she said. " I think the state's sitting on the money." Human Development Corp.' s exec-utive director, David Thayer, is try-ing to shake those dollars loose. He spoke with state officials a few- - weeks ago and was promised a grant of $ 40,000. But while he had a verbal agreement, he only just received the written guidelines explaining how to apply for the money. " It's one thing to sa you'll be get-ting an award and another to get something in writing." Thayer said. " Without the commitment, we'd be taking the risk of not being paid back." Once the grant comes through, the Human Development Corp. will be able to provide up to $ 300 per family for utility start- u- p costs. When that money will reach Boone County is not known. Tom Lawlor. a special projects coordinator for the state Division of Manpower Plan-ning, declined to set a date. Without hitches, the applications could be processed in two weeks, Lawlor said. He also attributed some of the delays to the federal government's slowness in getting the block grant to the state. " It's just an awful lot of ducks to get lined up in a row." Lawlor said. " We've done as much as we could in anticipation of the grant." Those with current service can ap-ply with the Division of Family Serv-ices, 2100 E. Broadway, for assist-ance in paying their bills. Since the program started on Monday, the di-vision has received nearly 300 appli-cations, said Executive Director Jer-ry Brewer. The division's money comes from the same federal program, but can only be used for those with existing service. Brewer said. The two programs are matched together." Brewer said. " We're hop-ing that HDC will get money for peo-ple we can't help." But it may be weeks until the state money comes through. Meanwhile. Mrs. Adams is leading an effort to find help on the local level. " We're developing resources as quickly as possible." she said. " In two to four weeks ou can be awful cold with no way of heating the place." Reagan to urge reduction in UeSe9 Soviet defenses WASHINGTON ( AP) - President Reagan is about to propose to the So-viet Union an expansion of the Washingt-on- Moscow hotline and other " confidence- buildin- g" measures, in-cluding notice of upcoming missile tests, administration sources said Wednesday. The sources said Reagan, in his new arms- contr- ol initiative, will en-courage the post- Brezhn- ev lead-ership in Moscow to reach an agree-ment with U. S. negotiators in Geneva on at least some of the prin-ciples of his proposed treaty to sharply reduce strategic nuclear weapons on both sides. The initiative is contained in a speech nearing completion in which the president intends to draw atten-tion to the massive sums the two su-perpowers are spending on defense and urge that they intensify efforts to reverse the accumulation of nu-clear weapons. However, he will not propose a less comprehensive pact than one mandating sharp cuts in current ar-senals, nor will he support ratifica-tion of the SALT II treaty, signed in Vienna in 1979 by former President Jimmy Carter and the late Soviet 1 President Leonid 1. Brezhnev, said the sources. The sources revealed the presi-dent's plans on condition that their names not be used. The current hotline is a teleprinter circuit between the two capitals. Es-tablished under a 1963 agreement, it was designed to flash alerts of immi-nent, accidental nulcear attacks. It has never been used for that pur-pose, although presidents and Soviet leaders have used it on other occa-sions to exchange messages in times of tension, notably during the 1973 Arab- Israe- li war. Sens. Henry M. Jackson, D- Was- h., and Sam Nunn, D- G- a., have sug-gested bolstering the coded message system with a military crisis center, staffed by U. S. and Soviet officials who would quickly exchange nuclear information and warnings. The president's speech which according to the sources could be de-livered within a week, although an occasion has not yet been specified is designed to offer Yuri Andro-pov, the new Communist party gen-eral secretary, and other Kremlin leaders the opportunity to chart a new course concerning arms control. |