Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1984-01-26

              CjLjMjIA, LSJ. 65211
76th Year No. 114 Good Morning! It's Thursday, January 26, 1983 2 Sections 1 2 Pages 25 Cents
Reagan calls for bipartisan panel to trim deficit
WASHINGTON ( UPI) Presi-dent
Reagan Wednesday night pro-posed
that a bipartisan panel decide
how to cut the budget deficit by $ 100
billion, saying that simply raising
taxes is a " Band- ai- d solution" that
threatens economic recovery.
In his State of the Union address to
a joint session of Congress, he said
the panel of congressional leaders
and administration representatives
could negotiate deficit cuts to be im-plemented
over the next three years
as a " down payment" on the nation-al
debt.
A Reagan aide said the target
would be reached by making rela-tively
non- controvers- ial spending
cuts, closing tax loopholes and elimi-nating
waste uncovered by a com-mission
headed by businessman J
Peter Grace
Congressional leaders, including
House Speaker Thomas O'Neill,
agreed in principle to the panel, said
the official, who adamantly denied
the group is a " commission " He
called it a " negotiating team "
Reagan said he asked O'Neill and
Senate Republican Leader Howard
Baker to designate representatives
to meet with administration officials
" to try to reach prompt agreement
on a bipartisan deficit reduction
plan . . . What I have proposed is
that we first see if we can agree on a
down payment"
Warning that " a down payment
alone is not enough to break us out of
a deficit problem" Reagan proposed
" structural reforms" to slow spend-ing
Those reforms included tax re-form
and approval of the line item
veto that would allow the president
to selectively veto parts of a bill
without voiding the whole thing.
Reagan previously rejected calls
for a commission made up of mem-bers
outside of government
The president asked Treasury Sec-retary
Donald Regan to come up
with " a plan for action to simplify
the entire tax code" by the end of the
year to make the tax system fairer
and broader based.
While offering cooperation on Rea-gan's
call for bipartisan action on
the deficit, O'Neill urged Reagan to
publicly declare the defense budget
will not be a " sacred cow."
The Reagan aide said the presi-dent
who is expected to propose a 14
percent increase in Pentagon spend-ing
for fiscal 1985, " is obviously not
gong to change his position on the
importance of a defense buildup,"
but may adopt some Grace commis-sion
recommendations to cut Penta-gon
waste.
Reagan was reported to have re-jected
the commission idea, support-ed
by some of his own aides, a week
ago on grounds that any criticism of
his spending and tax policies could
only embarrass him in an election
year
Reagan, however, has been enam-ored
of commissions in the past
year, using panels made up of prom-inent
Republicans and Democrats to
help him tread political minefields
like Social Security reform, the MX
missile, hunger in America and poli-cy
m Central America
Reagan has adamantly resisted ad-vice
from aides that he raise taxes to
cover the deficit political embar-rassment
given his 1980 promise to
achieve a balanced budget Instead,
the Reagan line on fighting the defi--
cit has been to cut spending more,
although a relatively small $ 5 billion
or so is targeted for cuts in the electio-n-
year budget request he gives
Congress next week.
The deficit was $ 195 4 billion in fis-cal
1983 and is expected to exceed
$ 180 billion m fiscal 1984, with future
deficits forecast m the same neigh--
borhood through the rest of the de-cade
The administration official said
half the $ 100 billion deficit- reductio- n
would be accounted for in the budget
request While the amount may
seem like a lot he said, it might be
achievable because many of the
items have been agreed to in con-gressional
committees but held up
by disputes over farther reaching
plans
The idea," he said, is to set if
we can relatively quicklv find out if
it's possible to come to agreement on
a number of small matters that acid
up to a lot of money. "
Bright
future
Anderson- Haye- s
board members
are optimistic
By Scott Williams
MIsowian U writer
The number of resignations rose to
suf at the Anderson- Haye- s Day Care
Center Wednesday mght, but mem-bers
of. the center's board of direc-tors
expressed optimism about its
future.
Chairwoman Cynthia Jefferson re-signed
at a meeting of six of the. re-maining
11 board members, and said
later that the board had made the
mistake of mixing friendship with
business
" The function of the board ' is busi-ness,"
she said. " Hiring and firing
should be left to the director."
Jefferson's move came after con-troversy
over the rehiring of Alma
Lynn Tapp, the center's head teach-er.
Tapp had been fired by Vanda
Rice, the center's former executive
director, for allegedly forging par-ents'
signatures on field trip permis-sion
forms and for using ice cream
without permission at a student's
gang- awa- y party.
Tapp, who is black, later charged
that Rice, who is white, was preju-diced
against her.
Rice resigned on Jan. 12, the day
after the board reinstated Tapp The
board also put both Rice and Tapp
on probation for 90 days and planned
to have their performances reviewed
by an outside consultant
Board member the Rev. Raymond
Prince expressed hope that the oper-ations
of the board of directors
would get back to normal within a
month.
" Now that the wind has blown
away the stalematers, we can get
down to busness," he said after the
meeting " We're ready to go on now.
The people left on the board arje will--
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BobtrtS Gross Alma Lynn Tapp, second from left, during the meeting Wednesday at the Anderson- Haye- s Day Care Center.
ing to meet the challenge. Come
back in a month and see how much
things have changed."
Tapp said she felt good about the
outlook for the center, located at 403
Park Ave. She added that both the
center's staff and parents of children
enrolled there have expressed confi-dence
in her ability to run the facili-ty.
Tapp will serve as acting director
until a permanent director can be
lured.
Pnnce said only two students have
left the center since the dispute be-gan.
Jefferson was one of the par-ents
who withdrew her child from
the center. Pnnce said 49 children
are enrolled at there.
The board also formed two com-mittees
Wednesday night, one to rec-ommend
applicants to the board for
a vacant teaching position and an-other
to search for a bookkeeper.
The four vacancies on the board of
directors also will be filled soon, he
said. In addition to Jefferson's resig-nation,
the board received one from
Jean Cunningham on Jan. 14 She
quit because she believed the board
was no longer concerned with the
standards of care for the children.
Mary Mick, administrative assis-tant
quit Tuesday night which came
as a surprise to several board mem-bers
who had believed Mick was
quite happy with her job
Some staff members at the center
felt the board's decision to rehire
Tapp undermined the Rice's ability
to be effective as director. Earlier
this month, teachers Paula Keves
and Marilyn Taylor resigned be-cause
of the board's decision
Although Jefferson leaves behind
an intense dispute, she is not bitter
about what happened.
" You dont know people until you
work with them," she said.
" Friendship and business some- tun- es
don't mix. My part is done ' '
" I soil like Alma," she added
Georgian bites back
with mail rattlesnake
WAYCROSS, Ga. A federal
court jury Wednesday convicted
a man of mailing a live 3- foot- longr-attlesnake
to his wife's for-mer
husband, who had just
gained custody of the couple's
teenage daughter.
James Tillman Carter, 43, of
Alma, had been accused of mail-ing
an Eastern diamondback rat-tlesnake
to Joey V. Tanner, of
NicboDs, with the intent to harm
or kill him.
The jury deliberated less than
Wt boors before finding Carter
guilty of mailing an injurious ar-ticle.
VS. District Judge B. Av-- 1
ant Edenfield was expected to set
I sentencing within 30days.
I The package was delivered Oct
I 25 to Tanner's home 15 days af--
I ter he was awarded custody of a
I teenage daughter from his for--
I mer marriage. The gui had been
B Kvmg in the Carter household for
B about IS years.
R Daring testimony Tuesday,
Tannersaid he used a knife to cut H open the package, which con
tained a taped sboebox. He said
he placed the box across his knee
and opened it.
" I saw the snake looking right
at me," he said. " I jumped up
and threw it ( the sncebox)
against the wall as hard as I
could. He got away from me two
or three tunes because he was
madand I was shaking."
Tanner killed the snake with a
pitchfork after struggling with it
for about a half hour. The snake,
whose rattles had been cut off be-fore
being mailed, was packed in
a jar and introduced as evidence
during the trial.
" Carter denied mailing the
snake, but Tanner testified that
Carter telephoned nun two days
after the custody bearing and told
nun be bad " a few days left to
live." A document analyst for the
US. Postal Service crime lab
also testified that fingerprints
found on the package s inner
wrapping matched Carter's
prints.
Democrats have a different view of the nation
WASHINGTON ( UPI) - Demo-crats
challenged President Reagan's
rosy State of the Union address
Wednesday night, while Republican
allies said the president has much to
crow about.
' Our view of the state of the union
is different from the president's,"
House Speaker Thomas O'Neill said
in a pre- tape- d Democratic response
' In case after case, we find this ad-ministration's
policies unfair to
working men and women, to the el-der!'
and to our children "
Sen Darnel Moymhan, D- N- Y.,
warned, " With $ 200 billion deficits
Iooming, in David Stockman's
words, as far as the eye can sec it
is fantasy to suggest that our prob-lems
are behind us "
But Senate Republican leader
Howard Baker said Reagan has kept
the central promises he made at the
start of his administration to slow
federal spending, ease taxes, rebuild
US defenses, and restore national
resolve in foreign policy
Presidential hopeful Sen Gary
Hart, D- Co- lo , called the speech an-other
political sleight of hand by the
president lake a juggler, he tries to
keep our attention riveted on his suc- -
cess so we won't notice the real fail-ures
"
But Rep Guy Vander Jagt R- Mi- ch,
said Reagan's address to a
joint session of Congress launches
a campaign that will end o 6 with
substantial GOP victories
Sen Bob Dole, R- K- an . prais.-- d
Reagan's call for a bipartisan stui'
of the deficit problem to determine
how $ 100 billion can be cut in tha e
years
He deserves full credit for tak, r.
the lead on the deficit issue he's out
front and leading the charge. Dole
said
Support builds
for lottery bill
By James V Grtmaldi
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY - Increased
pressure from the House speaker
has forced a House committee to ac-celerate
its process for considering a
state- operate- d lottery
On Wednesday the House Revenue
and Economics Committee, which is
a crucial testing point for the lottery
issue, advanced its hearing by a
week to listen to testimony The
move by committee Chairwoman
Karen Benson, D- Kan- sas City, came
at the behest of Speaker Bob Gnffin
Since the Senate Miscellaneous
Bills Committee approved the lot-tery
a week ago, interest in the
House revenue committee's opinion
on the subjecthas been increasing
The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen
Ed Dirck, ISt Ann, now goes to the
Senate, which is expected to consid-er
the issue sometime m the next two
weeks
But the proposed lottery's most
difficult barrier, legislators say, is
the House Revenue and Economics
Committee. Both sides have applied
pressure on committee members to
make a decision
It is difficult to tell how the com-mittee
will vote on the issue, Benson
said. On Wednesday, questioning in
a hearing of both the sponsors of five
House lottery bills and religious lob-byists
opposing the bills was rigor-ous
The committee will not vote on the
issue until Feb 8, Benson said
Church groups, especially the Mis-souri
Baptist Convention, have been
applying pressure on revenue com-mittee
members to reject the mea-sure,
legislators said.
Wednesday's hearing turned up
little new information on the lottery,
which at the most would raise $ 100
million a year, according to projec-tions
The Baptist group and Missouri
Catholic Conference lobbyists ap-peared
before each committee The
Baptists said that a lottery is a di-version
from real solutions to the
state's financial problems
You'll find many leaders in black caucus
By Beth Lazarus
SUIe capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY Sen. John
Bass, D- S- t Louis, defines a caucus
as a group with common interests
and political strengths.
If Bass' definition is correct, Mis-souri's
black caucus may not be a
caucus at all, but merely 14 legis-lators
with one thing m common.
They're black.
Rep. Fred Williams, D- S- t. Louis,
says that power struggles are par-tially
to blame for the lack of cohe-sion
in the black caucus.
" We have too many chiefs and not
enough Indians," Williams says.
" We're all trying to be leaders, and
we don't have enoughfollowers."
Williams says mere is no reason
why any delegate should be expected
to take a subservient role. " There
are enough issues for everyone to
playa role."
However, a lack of issues isn't the
problem. The conflict stems from
the traditional rivalries of subgroups
within the caucus.
Historically, the black caucus has
been divided into three mam fac-tions,
Williams says. One of them is
a, Kansas City group; the other two
are comprised of St Louis lawmak- -
3
DGagpcam?
ers with slightly different politics.
Williams says the Kansas City fac-tion
is a more unified group because
those delegates are part of one politi-cal
organization Freedom Inc.
The existence of Freedom Inc.,
coupled with the Kansas City dele-gation's
small size, has kept it to-gether,
Williams says.
Mary Groves Bland, D- Kans- as
dry, agrees mat she and the other
Kansas City representatives are a
unified foursome.
" We are the freedom team. That
in itself is a unity." Bland also main-tains
that relations are good between
the Kansas City and St Louis poli-ticians.
But the picture isnt quite so rosy
on the other side of the state. The re-cent
conflict between Reps. Qmncy
Troupe and Louis Ford, both Demo-crats
from St Louis, may illustrate
a much larger rift among the city's
black legislators.
Witnesses said Troupe, the chair-man
of the black caucus and a mem-ber
of the St Louis Freedom Inc.,
assaulted Ford in House Speaker
Bob Griffin's office. Troupe and
Ford were to iron out their differ-ences
at the meeting. But it only ex-aggerated
differences and height-ened
tension within the caucus.
By trying to refrain from siding
with either St Louis faction, Wil-liams
has often found himself in the
center of the conflict He was me-diating
the discussion between the
two legislators before the altercation
began
Williams attributes the disharmo-ny
among St. Louis representatives
to a few key factors " In St. Louis,
there's a larger delegation. There's
Freedom Inc. and there's a group
the media call the Congressman
Clay camp."
The latter is a reference to those
who support Congressman William
Clay. State Rep William Clay Jr.,
the son of Congressman Clay, says
be feels the animosity aimed at his
father.
" They resent the fact that my fa-ther
wields political power in the
city," Clay says. " I know there's re-sentment;
it's there for me, too."
After his arrival. Clay says, he
asked if it wouldn't benefit the cau-cus
to vote as a bloc. But the re-sponse
wasn't very positive. " That's
iust not the way things are done
here," he says.
But what appears to be a lack of
direction may actually be a signal
marking the changing roles of black
legislators
There is soil a lot of injustice in
the American way, says Bass
" American history is a history of
preferences "
But Bland, the Kansas City Demo-crat,
says those preferences like
the issues before the legislature
aren't black and white any more
The issues of today, she says, are the
issues of all of Missouri's oppressed
The oppressed are not just the
state's blacks, but other minorities
women, the handicapped and the
aged.
" Equality means equality for all
people." Bland maintains that the
duty of black lawmakers is much
broader than it was 20years ago.
Clay agrees. " I want to get away
from the race issue entirely. I want
to represent all of my constituents,
not just black ones and not just white
ones."
Yet the struggle for power contin-ues
even though caucus members
recognize that it saps their collective
strength.
Perhaps Williams puts it
best " There arent enough of us to
be divided."
j