Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1983-04-14

              STATE IIZ. BICA', MCXETT
HITT 4 LOtfHY ST. RV
a a . sJ 4 1 COLUMBIA, MO. 65211
75th Year No. 181 Good Morning! It's Thursday, April 14, 1983 2 Sections 14 Pages 25 Cents
-- 4t0
JBnT " Bb. HHH& wan iptHDHDr KbVBBBbVhbVBHBShBm !
DinM Whit
Chris Ftflmwald
What goes clown comes up
By Pat Firan
Mlaaourian staff writer
A new front is being opened in the gasoline
price war but this tune consumers will be
the victims rather than the beneficiaries.
Gas prices have been declining for the past
two years and bottomed out at less than $ 1 a
gallon at some local stations in February.
Optimism that prices would at least stabilize
around the $ 1 a gallon level or perhaps even
decline was fueled by turmoil at an OPEC
conference earlier this year. Oil producing
nations were unsuccessful in establishing
production levels and prices, and an interna-tional
price war seemed in the offing.
But instead of long- await- ed relief at the
gas pumps, Americans got a 5- ce- nt a gallon
increase from a tax designed to generate
revenue to improve the nation's highways
and put many of its unemployed back to
work.
Now, local service station owners say they
must tack a little more onto the price per
gallon. They blame rising costs paid to dis-tributors
for increases that could run as high
as a dune more for each gallon.
Last weekend, Bill George's Phillips 66
Service, 1205 N. Providence Road, increased
its prices 3 cents to $ 1.07 9 for regular and
$ 1.14.9 for unleaded. And owner Bill George
expects others to follow suit soon.
" There will be a little lag," he said, " but
as soon as what little gas the jobbers have is
depleted, I think we'll all be about even."
Gasoline prices to rise again
Some already have tacked an additional 5
cents a gallon to previous pnces. But others
say they're biting the bullet and waiting for
the competition to make the first move.
The problem is that at the moment, there's
a shortage of imported fuel, according to
John Hahn, executive director of the Missou-ri
Oil Jobbers Association. The major oil
companies reportedly cut back on orders for
foreign oil last year when they found them-selves
with more fuel than they could sell
and have been unable to replenish supplies
fast enough to meet the current demand.
Now there's less to go around, and what is
available has become more valuable.
Retailers say they can no longer afford to
absorb the price increases being imposed by
the wholesalers.
" I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see it go
as high as 5 to 10 cents a gallon beyond the
present pump price," said Hahn, adding that
there could even be shortages of certain pe-troleum
products. " I look for the problem to
continue until the inventories are rebuilt."
The increases come at a bad tune for local
distributors, most of whom raised their
prices 5 to 10 cents- a- gall- on April 1 to absorb
the nickel- a- gallo- n federal gasoline tax and a
previous wholesale pnce hike, Hahn said.
" This is the most financial distress for pe
troleum makers and retailers since 1932,"
Hahn said.
Many Columbia retailers have broadened
the range of merchandise and services to
make up for the less than 10 percent profit
from the pumps. Typical of these is Norman
Dietzel, operator of 1-- 70 Shell, 1004 Stadium
Blvd.
Dietzel said his gas profits have been de-clining
for the past two years, but that his
maintenance and repair service have
doubled during the same penod to take up
the slack.
He said his distributor raised his wholesale
pnce 2.6 cents a gallon Tuesday but that he
has not passed it on to customers. His hands
are tied by competition with independent
dealers, who charge an average of 3 cents
less a gallon, he explained.
" I'll have to raise it again," he said of his
gasoline pnces " But for now I'll just sit
tight and watch what the other guys do. It's
hard to compete with independents you
just have to hope their supply goes down so
they'll raise prices."
Service stations must average 10- cents- a- g-allon
profit to stay afloat, Dietzel said. His
station makes 3 cents a gallon at self- servi- ce
pumps, but like every other service station
operators interviewed, he declined comment
on full- servic- e profits.
Magazine spotlights Columbian
Success takes author on new travels
By Jody K. Debs
Missourian staff writer
Five years ago, William Trogdon criss-crossed
America's backroads to help forget
failure. Now the Columbia man travels first- cla- ss
to publicize his best- selli- ng novel de-picting
his 14,000- mi- le trek
In the April 18 issue of People magazine,
it's Trogdon's turn to be scrutinized. A three- pag- e
interview explores the author's motiva-tions
for making his trip and his impressions
of people he met.
Trogdon also appeared a week ago on the
David Latterman television show.
" Blue Highways,'" published by Atlantic
Little- Brow- n under Trogdon's Indian name
William Least Heat Moon, appeared in Jan-uary
and was greeted with rave reviews by
critics and readers alike.
The book descnbes Trogdon's attempt to
escape the pressures of unemployment and a
failing marriage. " Blue Highways" contains
his observations of the land and people in
America's unknown villages and towns; the
title is derived from the blue lines on high-way
maps that denote state highway net-works.
People magazine says that critics call
Trogdon's work the most life- affirmi- ng
American travel memoir since John Stem- bec- k
took to the road with his dog Charley.
The manager at Village Square Book
Store, Eighth and Walnut, says the book has
received overwhelmingly positive reviews
nationally and locally, and is currently No. 5
on the New York Tunes' best- selle- rs list.
The response at Biscayne Book Store also
has been favorable. The atore has sold 200
copies.
A spokesman for Atlantic Little- Brow- n
says " Blue Highways" is already in its 10th
printing. " The book's sales have superseded
our expectations and surprised everyone
with how well its doing," the spokesman
says.
The book's success even surprised the 43- year-- old
author. " It has been very gratifying
and was not expected by either the publisher
or myself," Trogdon says.
Columbia has treated the book well, Trog-don
says. It's also currently No. 1 on the
best- sellin- g list in St. Louis.
" With all the TV, radio and newspaper ap-pearances
and interviews, it will be very
nice to once again get back to privacy,"
Trogdon says. Privacy also will give him
tune to work on a second book
Trogdon is not the only one who will bene-fit
from the book's success Stephens Col-lege
also will receive monetary benefits
from " Blue Highways." Trogdon donated a
portion of the book's royalties to the college.
The part- Osag- e Indian author's donations
to Stephens College will be used to support
the study of the American Indian culture.
Trogdon previously was an English instruc-tor
at the college.
Child's death blamed on I-- V dosage
By John Slanton
Missourian staff writer
The March 30 death of a 3- year-
- old Dade- vill- e,
Mo., girl was accidental, says Boone
County Medical Examiner Jay Due, whose
ruling Wednesday leaves open the possiblity
that the University Hospital and Clinics
could be faced with a lawsuit.
Dix, who performed an autopsy on
Adrienne Blarney, said the child died of
heart failure as a result of excessive
amounts of intravenous fluid.
Hospital officials Wednesday continued to
refuse comment on reports that an incorrect
dose of intravenous fluid may have contrib-uted
to the girl's death. They also declined to
confirm whether a nurse who allegedly mis-read
the dosage called for by the attending
physician has been suspended.
The dead girl's father, Robert Blarney,
said he wasn't surprised by Dix's findings.
" It's what we expected to hear," he said.
" I hate to say it, but I've been suspicious all
along." Blarney added, however, that he has
not decided what if any legal action the
family will take.
Donald Sanders, Blarney's attorney, said
he and his client will not reach a decision un--
til after they have reviewed Dix's report and
the results of an internal investigation by the
hospital.
A multidisciplinary team headed by staff
cardiologist Brent Parker was assigned by
hospital administrators to look into the inc-ident
That investigation was completed this
week but the report has yet to be made pub-lic.
Until then, Sanders said he and his client
will proceed with caution. Sanders said he
has told Blarney to refrain from comment on
the case.
" Bob may receive a disembodied voice
from someone claiming to be from a newspa-per,
when in fact it could be someone from
the hospital trying to get something from
him," Sanders said.
Sanders noted that if it becomes obvious to
him there was negligence in the girl's treat-ment,
he will not hesitate to take appropiate
action.
Upon learning that Blarney had hired a
lawyer, the hospital turned to attorneys rep-resenting
the University for counsel. Robert
Ross, who is handling the case, declined
comment Wednesday and refused to release
the contents of the report on the investiga-tion
headed by Parker.
The hospital itself is shrouded in silence.
Sandy Blair, director of public relations,
said that after it was reported that Blarney
was considering legal action she was di-rected
to issue no further statements. Mem-bers
of the hospital staff also have been in-structed
to refrain from comment on the
incident, she said.
Adrienne Blarney had been plagued by a
congenital heart defect that included mal-formed
valves. Her father said that prior to
being transferred to University Hospital, she
was hospitalized at St. John's Regional
Health Center in Springfield for pneumonia
in her left lung. Because of a leak in her
lymph system, he said, doctors inserted a
tube in her chest to relieve congestion
around her heart.
After being moved to University Hospital,
the girl was intraveneously fed a high- protei- n
liquid diet According to unconfirmed
reports, the girl received 10 times the pre-scribed
amount of fluid shortly before her
death.
Doctors attempted to revive her with car-diopulmonary
resuscitation and efforts to
dram excess fluids from her body, Blarney
said
The state ' s unemployed INSICjUT are not e ony ones
running short of funds
' By JoHrayR. Scott
i Statacapltal bureau
1 JEFFERSON CITY When pay--
ment of bills becomes impossible,
; the usual solution is to borrow. But
j; what happens when the lender has
run out of money?
That's the question the Missouri
House has been facing this week as
I members debated changes in the
1 state's unemployment compensation
1 fund. But Wednesday the House
I shelved legislation to provide an an--
swer.
To more than 47,000 unemployed
I Mlssourians, it became clear in late
March that changes in the unem--
i ployment compensation fund are
g needed. That's when the state's Iend- -
I er the federal unemployment
1 trust fund temporarily ran out of
1 money.
W It ran out of money because Con--
jj$ gress debated longer than expected
m Before approving and sending Presl- -
H dent Reagan a funding bill. While
waiting, the Missouri Division of
Employment Security wrote the un-employment
checks but delayed
mailing them for several days.
Missouri has borrowed $ 136 mil-lion
from the trust fund since Jan-uary
1882 because its own coffers are
riddled with red ink.
The Missouri State Labor Council
is backing a legislative solution to
the problem. Along with raising em-ployers'
contributions to Missouri's
Employment Security trust fund, the
proposed legislation would raise the
maximum benefits the unemployed
could receive from the current $ 105 a
week to $ 137 45 percent of the
state's average weekly wage. Propo-nents
say it would make Missouri's
fund solvent in three years.
Business lobbyists agree some-thing
must be done, but they say this
bill will increase business taxes too
much.
" We're not taking a position of no
change in the law," said Curtis
Long, president of Associated Indus- -
tnes of Missouri. " We're not taking
a position that there should be no
benefit increase. But this has got to
be moderated."
Industry seemed to win a victory
Wednesday when the House stalled
after discussing the bill for two days.
Citing Missouri's current fiscal trou-bles,
Rep. Marvin Proffer, D- Jack- s- on,
offered an amendment to delay
any increases in benefits until the
state's trust fund contains $ 150 mil-lion.
According to -- some experts, that
could take several years.
If the original bill had passed, em-ployers
would have paid taxes on the
first $ 10,600 workers earn annually,
up from the $ 7,000 now. As wages in-crease,
so would employer contribu-tions
to the fund.
Opponents managed to weaken
this feature of the bill with an
amendment freezing the wage base
at $ 7,000. But Rep. John Birch, D- Kan- sas
City, the bill's sponsor, said
floating benefits need a floating
Ai
wage base.
Business puts forth another argu-ment
Bob Farrar, president of the
Missouri Chamber of Commerce,
says many businesses would not be
able to afford the proposed provi-sions.
But according to a Labor Council
flyer, a study that ranks Missouri's
business climate 19th in the country
stands in stark comparison to the
state's ranking of 48th for its maxi-mum
unemployment benefit of $ 105.
With all the incentives industry re-ceives
to remain in Missouri, says
Duke McVey, the Labor Council's
president, it should be able to con-tribute
more to the unemployment
fund. He says the bill will not drive
industry out of the state.
" Missouri is 48th in the country,"
McVey said. " Where're we gonna
drive them to? Puerto Rico?"
Birch agrees. " Not only is Missou-ri
48th in maximum benefits, but
45th in benefits being paid," he said.
" I think we can do better."
7 p. m. Chamber Choir to Rolla
Festival, Hickman High School Au-ditorium.
7: 30 p. m. " A Double Barrelled
Detective Story," a Mark Twain
satire on melodramatic detective
fiction, Oakland Junior High
School school gymnasium, tickets
$ 2 adults and $ 1 children
Woman, 67, back on her feet
day after brutal hammer attack
By dreg Campbell
Mlaaourian staff writer
A 67- year-- old Columbia woman de-scribed
herself as " up and about"
Wednesday following a Tuesday af-ternoon
incident in which police say
she was brutally assaulted by a bur-glar
wielding a claw hammer.
Police identified the woman as Ms.
R. P. Arnold of southwest Columbia.
She was treated at Boone Hospital
Center for four head wounds, none
apparently serious.
When Ms. Arnold walked into her
house at about 2: 30 p. m. she did not
realize anyone else was there. " I
probably just surprised him and
there's no telling what they'll do
when they're surprised," she said.
The burglar grabbed her from be-hind
and knocked her to the floor
i
with a blow from a small claw ham-mer,
police say.
Apparently he kept on hitting her.
Police say she was hit more than
four times.
" I just told him to take the mon-ey,"
she said. The burglar then stole
an unspecified amount of cash from
her purse and fled.
" For her it was a sizeable
amount," said Lt. Tom Hudson.
The burglar apparently took noth-ing
but the cash.
" We won't know why he hit her un-til
we get him," Hudson said.
" We don't know whether he was
trying to kill her or what he was fry-ing
to do."
Neither police nor Ms. Arnold de-scribed
the suspect
The Police Department Wednes-day
said it had no suspects.
1