Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1983-01-23

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75th Year No. 112 Good Morning! It's Sunday, January 23, 1983 5 Sections 42 Pages 50 Cents
Farm life's uncertainties
breed stress for women
By Ted Griggs
Mlssourian staff writer
Just inside the barn door at 8: 30 on
a freezing January morning, the
chickens are cackling hysterically
and strutting to the beat of the
Beatle's classic rock ' n' roll tune
" Ticket to Ride." The roosters out-side
are crooning their best soprano,
while Maggie the donkey offers an
occasional bass note.
Sometimes farm life simply isn't
the way youmight imagine it.
" The music is supposed to ward
off predators," says the woman
filling the water tank that will soon
serve the farm's 70 sheep. " I get
down here at two in the morning to
deliver a lamb with the radio going
and I'm dancing around," she says
with a laugh.
Then, suddenly serious, she adds:
" I had dogs kill a number of sheep
last year."
Dancing is the smallest part of the
job for Marjone Cunningham, 41,
who has been raising sheep a mile
outside Midway for five years. Con-cerns
about dogs, unpredictable
weather and farm prices combine
with the rewards of country living to
make life stressful, though reward-ing
for her and her husband.
Sandy Cunningham, 43, farms 400
acres of nulo, corn and soybeans in
addition to being a builder. The past
year has betfn a particularly hard
one tor the couple. Lamb and wool
prices are down, and the weather
has been bad.
But for women dealing with the
special brand of stress that comes
from the constant uncertainty of
farm life weather, animal health,
crop and fertilizer prices and tem-peramental
tractors, to name a few
there was a day of comaradene
and advice last Saturday. Farmway
Service Co- o- p pi, Columbia held a
" stress seminar' that day for 35
farm women at the Flaming Pit res-taurant
in Parkade Plaza.
June Gooding, the women's pro-gram
specialist for Farmland Indus-tries,
spoke about women's increas-ing
role on the farm and about ways
to deal with the inevitable stress that
accompanies those duties
" Most people don't realize the
stress farm women are under," Mrs.
Gooding said. She listed the various
jobs farm women often undertake:
emotional hub of the family, record- keepe- r,
marketing agent for buying
and selling grains and animals, me-chanic,
cook, community volunteer
and more. The stress is often created
by a basic premise of farm life : there
is no leaving the job at the end of the
day you live on the job, she said.
" Rarely is there an opportunity
for a two- we- ek vacation like most of
Marjone Cunningham finds happiness and stress in raising
sheep on the family farm in rural Midway. Day- to- da- y uncertain-ties
of farm life came the stress, while tending to the daily
needs of the sheep helps bring pleasure. At top, the 41- year- o- ld
woman feeds some of the 70 sheep that roam the farm. Above,
she hoists bales of hay down from the barn to the waiting
sheep she has been tending much of the last eight years.
us have," Mrs. Gooding said. A natu-ral
tool that farm people use to cope
with the inability to walk away from
problems is to look at insoluble di-lemmas
from a positive perspective.
" They just redefine things on the
farm all the time, whereas you or I
would just change jobs." Even then,
Mrs. Gooding said, parts of the farm
woman's life are beyond any control.
Mrs Cunningham confirmed those
observations Tuesday as she
dropped a 50- pou- nd hay bale out the
barn loft window to the sheep below.
She loves farm life, she says, but
there is some unavoidable stress
" Not being able to control the end
result when all your efforts are for
See FRUSTRATION, Page 8A
Landowner sues city in Red Roof Inn controversy
By Leslie Wersteln
MI8QUrian staff writer
It came as little surprise to most anyone in-volved
in the Red Roof Inn controversy that prop-erty
owner Harold Johnson has filed suit against
the city.
But Second Ward Councilman Duane Lammers
says Johnson's suit, challenging a zoning- chang- e
denial for a piece of land he wants to sell to the
motel chain, doesn't have a leg to stand on. John-son's
attorney, Gary Sprick, filed the suit late Fri-day
afternoon with the Boone County Circuit
Court.
Johnson's case has four elements. One is that
the two- fami- ly residential zoning of the undevel-oped
land located at 207 E. Texas Ave. is un-reasonable.
Other charges in the suit are: the pro-test
against the change filed was invalid,
Lammers should have been disqualified from the
council vote because he was biased and the city's
four- fifth- s vote requirement to reapprove a zoning
change is too restrictive.
The charge that the zoning change denial is un
reasonable and arbitrary stems from earlier ar-guments
that no one would want to build a house
on land next to commercial structures.
But Parkade residents claim they just don't
want another budget motel abutting their neigh-borhood.
,
" He's tried to rezone the property twice, and
twice the people said no, we don't want it," says
Roger Fries, president of the Parkade Neighbor-hood
Association. " The man has absolutely no re-gard
for property owners.' '
Fries also contends that Dale Nicholls, owner of
Nicholls Buick- Hond- a, had every right to protest
the change. He says vandalism and thefts in-creased
with the opening of another budget motel
nearby, and he fears the same would happen
again with a Red Roof Inn. " I'm a real estate ap-praiser,"
be says, " and increased vandalism and
thefts will decrease his property value."
Lammers disagrees with charges that his vote
should have been disqualified because he says he
doesn't have his own financial interest at stake.
" If anyone of the councilmen is unbiased in prop- -
erty matters," Fries says, " it's Duane because he
doesn't own any property."
Lammers says his vote was only a shared opin-ion
his own and his constituents'. And Fries agrees.
" If a councilman can't represent his constitu-ents,
it's a pretty sad day," Lammers says. " I
was elected to represent my ward, and if I can't
do that, then there is something wrong with the
city's system."
It remains to be seen whether one existing el-ement
of the city's system the six- councilm- an
vote required to reapprove a zoning change vio-lates
the state's three- fourt- hs requirement. The
Planning and Zoning Commission Thursday night
asked City Counselor Dave Evans to further in- vestigate the matter.
But some resent Johnson's persistence in chal-lenging
the council's action. " It's ridiculous that a
guy that has that much money has such utter dis-regard
for the law and the people," Fries says " I
compare him to a five- year- o- ld child he always
has to get what he wants.' '
RUTLY2T. I) TZTANIaXUW Sl, u7nt? mSttorat9 egP- m- i- es,"" EffwecotirvkeshoJopb,
Room 110, Noye3 Building, Umver'
Noon: Missouri men's basket- - sity campus,
ball vs. Marquette at the Hearnes
Noon to 11 p. m. Bluegrass festi- - jSrf val, Lela Raney Wood Student , A. BBS ) J, Center Ballroom, Stephens Col-- l S8
7: 30 p. m. Task force on low- in- - . fffiy"
come housing, County Courtroom, - S- -
County City Building.
9 p. m. Stephens College Trouba- -
doura perform music and dance ItlSluO
from " Grease," Lela Raney Wood i
Student Center Business .. ............. 6B
Classilfed .................... 4- 5- B
. m. Boone County Court, EIl " 19
L9KinVCourtroom, County'Ci, ZZZZZZZZZZaSb
1
Moberly candidate
fighting ' gag order'
By Jon Harmon
Mlssourian staff writer
MOBERLY - At the beginning of
each of the last two Moberly City
Council meetings, Mayor Don Schaf- fe- r
has read a prepared statement
barring all council candidates from
commenting on any subject during
council meetings. The so- call- ed " gag
order" has infuriated at least one
candidate who says she is consid-ering
a federal court suit charging
violations of her civil rights
Concern that candidates would use
the council as a campaign forum
moved Schaffer again on Jan 17 to
prohibit them from speaking Four
of the eight candidates will be elimi-nated
in the Feb 8 primary; the gen-eral
election for two at- lar- ge council
seats is Apnl 5
" I cleared what I did beforehand
with the council," Schaffer said
" There was no objection from any-one
We decided no candidate is
going to come down to the council
meeting and spout off Council meet-ings
are not the place for someone to
get publicity."
Schaffer's statement reads " The
Moberly City Council meets . . to
conduct city business and not to lis-ten
to candidates for the City Council
praise or degrade the City Manager
or the council Therefore no candi-date
or their supporters will be per-mitted
to make any comments at a
councd meeting "
Catherine Green, a council candi-date,
believes the restriction in-fringes
on her First Amendment
rights " My lawyer is working on the
constitutional aspects of fighting this
gag order," she said " I plan on
doing anything possible to stop them
from doing this. I surely do plan to
go to court."
Mrs Green's attorney, N. E.
Brown, sees the mayor's order as a
clear First Amendment violation
" They have to make the forum open
to all citizens," Brown said. " If they
don't have time and you aren't on
the agenda, they may tell you that
you have to come back at the next
meeting and that they will put you on
the agenda then But they can't tell
you that you can't speak at all "
" The extraordinary thing is that
none of the other candidates seem to
object to this," Mrs Green said. Of
the five candidates the Mlssourian
was able to contact, Mrs Green is
the onlv one who opposes the order
The vagueness in the statement's
wording, including the phrase " and
their supporters," would seem to al-low
the extension of the prohibition
against anyone with a preference for
one of the candidates, she said
It is also not clear how " any com-ments"
is to be interpeted Dr Ir- r- y
Noel, the only councilman run-ning
for re- electi- on, said the order
only pertains to campaigning Schaf-fer,
whose term is up but who is not
seeking re- electi- on, said the order
applies to all candidates speaking on
any subject " We had to say that to
make it fair to everyone," he said
" I don't think it is an important is-sue,"
Noel, who has continued to
speak at the meetings, said " It is
the mayor's right to recognize any-one
at a City Council meeting I'm
not worried about it. We have tried
to run this city well," he said " I'm
not going to put up with any ha-rassment"
The charge of harassment, as well
as the wording of the statement it-self,
is clearly aimed at Mrs Green,
who at the Dec. 20 councd meeting
asked that City Manager Paul Walk-er
be fired Schaffer said he then in-formed
Mrs Green that personnel
matters are not discussed in council
meetings At the next meeting, Jan
3, Schaffer read the statement for
the first time
Mrs Green has refused at this
time to say pubucally why she wants
Walker fired. However, at the re-quest
of the council, she has sub-mitted
her reasons in writing to the
council
Under the state Sunshine Law,
boards with power to hire and fire
can choose to discuss personnel mat-ters
in private. Lay citizens, howev-er,
can express any opinion on any
government employee in public
Senate to hear testimony
on cancer center funding
By John Blanton
Mlssourian staff writer
Help may be on the way for Ellis
Fischel State Cancer Center
A Missouri Senate subcommittee
will hear testimony the first week in
February on the passage of a bill
that could alleviate some of the fi-nancial
woes now afflicting the hos-pital.
The bill, and a similar version sub-mitted
to the House, includes provi-sions
that would help generate sorely- ne-eded
revenue for the ailing
hospital. The provisions would also
give the hospital a better chance to
become financially independent of
the state by the July 1, 1985, dead-line.
If passed, the bill would establish
a state cancer center fund in which
revenue generated by the hospital
would be placed, giving it a private
account earning valuable interest.
The hospital's profits are current-ly
pooled in the state treasury de-partment's
general appropriations
fund, but there is no guarantee that
the money will be re- alloca- ted to the
hospital.
The proposed bill also contains a
provision that would allow the hospi-tal
to lease some of the land sur-rounding
it. Another would deem the
hospital exempt from using the
state's bidding system for pur-chases.
" Most of the hospital's problems
are a issult of depending too heavily
upon the state, and if this bill passes,
it would be a step toward autonomy
for the hospital," said Janice Gen-tile,
director of governmental liaison
and public affairs for the hospital.
With the hospital running a $ 140,- 00- 0
deficit for the first half of fiscal
1983, ( and the possibility of that fig-ure
rising to as high as $ 1 5 million
by the year's end), measures must
be taken immediately to save the
hospital money, said Harry Johnson
of the Missouri State Cancer Com-mission.
The problem is more urgent be-cause
the state constitution requires
a balanced budget for all state agen-cies
and institutions.
The commission agreed to contin-ue
its current hiring freeze. " Hiring
can only be done if it will increase
the number of paying patients in the
hospital enough to offset the added
expense," commission chairman
Joe Holt said.
The commission also plans to limit
further capital expenditures to cover
emergency situations only. Staff re-views
will also be conducted in an ef-fort
to cut back expenses, he said.
" We are currently drawing up per-formance
standards to increase the
cost effectiveness of our staff," said
Dr. Oscar Guerra, hospital chief of
staff.
The hospital administration re-quested
an emergency appropriation
of $ 1.5 million to supplement its cur-rent
$ 8.5 million budget But even if
the hospital receives the full
amount, by state law it would have
to earn it all back in revenues.
Although passage of the bill would
slightly improve the hospital's fi-nances,
Walter Kenney, assistant
administrator of the hospital, said
increasing the hospital's patient cen-sus
as low as 37 in recent months
is still the most important determin-ant
of financial security for the hos-pital.
Curtain temporarily falls on UMSL theater debate
By Tom Dixon
State Capitol Bureau
JEFFERSON CITY Senate Ap-propriations
Committee Chairman
Edwin DLxk, D- S- t. Louis County,
Just didn't want to hear anymore.
He and two other senators had ex-pressed
outrage during their grilling
of University of Missouri- S- t. Louis
Chancellor Arnold Grobman about
the scheduled production on his cam-pus
of " Sister Mary Ignatious Ex-plains
It All For You."
" Sister Mary Ignatious," which
takes a satirical look at parochial up-bringing,
has stirred controversy in
the St. Louis area during the last
couple of weeks.
" I think we've heard enough,"
Dirck said Thursday. " My mind is
t
DGapaTf
made up."
With a wave of his hand, Dirck
abruptly ended the University's bud-get
hearing, which had become a
scolding session during a stormy
session with University officials. The
committee used only 45 minutes of
the two hours it originally had sched-uled
for the University's hearing.
Committee members threatened
that if Grobman, who sat serenely
next to University President James
Olson, allowed the " anti- Chnstia- n"
play to be shown beginning Thurs-day,
the University system's appro-priation
could be slashed.
Grobman, however, said the show
must and will go on.
He and Olson said the principle in-volved
academic freedom and
prior restriant is important Olson
would not discuss, however, whether
he thought the controversy would af-fect
the University system's $ 197
million budget request, which is $ 30
million more than Gov. Christopher
Bond's recommendation.
Thursday's scene, performed with
the state capital as the backdrop,
was just another act in the long run-ning
drama between the University
and the committee both sides will
tell you. The University has been
threatened by the committee on nu-merous
occasions.
Some legislators were unable to
tell if the committee was just play
acting, but they were quick to point
out the one time when the committee
followed through on its threats to the
University.
In May 1973, the committee pan-ned
a proposal to extend the Univer-sity's
Extension Division services
from rural to urban areas by ap-proving
a $ 4 million cut in state aid
The General Assembly eventually
approved an appropriation of $ 104 7
million $ 2 million less than then- Go- v.
Christopher Bond's recommen-dation.
Although the committee did not
cut as much as it wanted from the
University appropriation, the paring
indicated mat committee members
meant business.
In the 1973 controversy, then- U- m-
Soe FIGHT, Page 8A