Full Page |
Previous | 1 of 104 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
|
This page
All
|
JBhLM BBI , bW at . taaW . BV . eW , LV , bV v aVaaaav HbBi 76th Year No. 70 Good Morning! It's Saturday, December 3, 1 983 2 Sections 12 Pages 25 Cents aaaiaiHaailjlHaHBIiaHIHaHlialllljaH Agencies, clergy resist county plan for services By Jan Maacham Missourian stall writer Clergy and churchgoers from more than 20 of Columbia's churches have joined with other agencies to protest the consolidation of social service fundng by the city, the chairman of the Interfaith Council of Columbia announced Friday. In a letter sent to Mayor John Westlund and City Council mem-bers, 43 members of the Interfaith Council expressed concern mat a 1984 budget recommendation will " critically affect the delivery of services to those who need them most" The issue will go before the City Council Monday night. Representatives from the church-es, as well as affected social service agencies, are expected to attend the council meeting in large numbers to protest proposed consolidation of so-cial service funding, said the Rev. John Hayes, chairman of the Interf-aith Council The budget recommendation, put together m November by the Boone County Community Services Advi-sory Commission, proposes to award the bulk of social service funding to the Job Center Inc to provide a wide spectrum of services. Tradi-tionally, fundng has been divided among several agencies that special-ize in diverse services The Interfaith Council's letter op-poses the consolidation and asks the City Council to continue funding a number of agencies. It recommends tabling the plan for as long as a year toenabejrurther, study. - -- r. Included in the agencies jyrjose.. funding will be cut if the City Councfl" approves the allocations Monday are the Voluntary Action Center, 200 Stroliway Centre; Everyday People, 209 Price Ave.; Family and Chil-dren's Services of Mid- Missou- n, 800 N Providence Road, Family Coun-seling Center, 1005 Cherry St; and the Boone County Council on Aging, 123 S Ninth St. Hayes, pastor of Wilkes Boulevard United Methodist Church, 702 Wilkes Blvd., said members of the ecumeni-cal group oppose the consolidation plan primarily because of possible cuts to the Voluntary Action Center's budget The 14- year-- old agency ad-ministers the church council's FISH fund donations from 18 Columbia congregations to aidthe needy. Hayes said members of the Interf-aith Council fear ther Voluntary Ac-tion Center's loss of funding could seriously affect its provision of serv-ices to the community The Voluntary Action Center and Columbia churches have a symbiotic relationship because the churches are able to refer poor and needy peo-ple to the social service agency for aid. In return, the Voluntary Action Center receives the churches' collectio-n- plate donations that are ear-marked to help the underprivileged, Hayes said. " It's not that the idea of consolida-tion is bad," Hayes said, " but that we feel the idea is ill- advis-ed right now. It's hastily put together and hasn't been carefully considered, so Soe CLERGY, Pago 8A BJS VMM fjC JJ ' 3BJZ- - aaasaaaWaJIaaaaaWaMaaaaWgME " ' iLJaaflBaaaSBaaBaaflBanaaaaaHBflaBILafiEBffEiM The Parkade Baptist Church gets a new hat, Wes Manns, left, and Steve Keith, both of Steeple crowns Baptist church High- ris- e addition from Kentucky- cost- s $ 16,000 By Alicia Wittberoer Missourian stall writer The Parkade Baptist Church Fri-day morning received the crowning touch to its new sanctuary, which is currently under construction. Now sittmg atop the church at 2102 N Garth Ave. is a 47- fo- ot steeple, brought all the way from Carnp- beHsyfl- le, Ky. The steeple cost the congregation$ 16,000 William H. Camp, pastor of the churchsmce 1970, says the architect chose this particular steeple because it complements the design of the sanctuary. " It is proportioned to the Jim Lemon Campbelivilie, Ky., make final adjustments on -- the steeple that was installed Friday building," Camp says. The church's first service was m September 1966 with 81 people pre-sent The growth of the church has been steady. Today the church is in the process of constructing a $ 900,000 sanctuary to accommodate more than 500 members. The sanctuary is a worship center with space along both sides for Sun-day Bible studies. Paul Bass, associate pastor, says the additional space the sanctuary provides will encourage the church's growth. " The sanctuary is designed so that the classrooms can be pulled out to create an even larger worship centerif necessary." According to Camp, the church has been struggling for several years because it does not have enough classroom space. The church also needs to hold two Sunday serv-ices so that all members may at-tend. It is hoped that the sanctuary will help eliminate these problems. Members raised about 40 percent of the money, more than $ 380,000, by asking each family to make individ-ual pledges to be paid to the church over a three- yea- r period " It was an exciting time," says Camp. " It had been expected that we would raise about $ 250,000" Camp says the remainder of the money will be financed either by selling bonds or through a bank loan Ted Horton, the sanctuary's ar-chitect, designed the sanctuary be-fore he was formally contracted by the church's building committee Construction began last May, and the tentative dedication date is April 29 Jammed wires GTE: ' Sorry ... all lines are busy' By Helens Feger Missourian stall writer Talk about an earful With an additional 10,000 calls per month to the customer service division of General Telephone of the Midwest, the company's serv-ice representatives in Boone Coun-ty have had trouble keeping up with customer calls. Not only has the number of calls increased, but the length of the service calls has tripled. " They used to be eight minutes per call' said Ron Hopwood, Division Pub-lic Affairs manager for GTE, 625 E. Cherry St " Now they are 25 to aOminutes on average " The delays in service tins re-porter waited 10 minutes for a cus-tomer service representative to come on the lute spurred GTE to run an apology in Friday's Mis-sourian. j-- t Besides apologies, GTE has added 42 ears and a computer sys-tem. The company's staff has been increased by 21 to a total of 52 em-ployees. The company claims that cus-tomer confusion about the impend-ing deregulation of the phone in-dustry has jammed the phone lines. Questions about changes in service, whether to purchase or rent phone equipment and, in par-ticular, customer confusion about itemized billing, which the compa-ny introduced in October, have generated the flurry of calls and the lengthy service delays. " People are not complaining about phone service. Repair serv-ice and facilities have been un-proved," Hopwood said. " Now bil-ling questions make up for these." Under the new baling system, service charges are itemized. In-stead of one local service charge. separate fees are levied for the use of phone equipment and for a basic dial tone. The change is necessary because after deregulation cus-tomers will have the option of buy-ing, rather than renting, their tele-phones. While Hopwood estimated that the number of calls to GTE service agents has multiplied tenfold, he added that the number of com-plaint calls has fallen off by 25,000 from last year. Whereas GTE used to receive 10 complaints for every 100 lines in service, that number is now down to eight uopwooa attributes improved service to new outside cables and new test equipment for checking on the condition of underground cable. Damaged cable equipment and earpieces are responsible for the most frequent customer com-plaint static on the line according to Hopwood. Mall, city agree to enforce code Display booths to be fire- saf- e By Janet Shadden Missourian stall writer Biscayne Mall officials agreed Fri-day to bring all mall display booths into full compliance with the city s fire codes today Dan Simon, attorney for the Bis-cayne Mall Merchants Association, and City Counselor David Evans an-nounced the agreement after a two- hou- r meeting of the mvolved parties at the County- Cit- y Building Partici-pants in the meeting included Ken Schmck, merchants association president Fire Chief Bill Westoff and Public Works Director Ray Beck Evans and Simon agreed that compliance would come quickly " The people at the mall are going to be able to comply with the city s code by tomorrow ( Saturday)," Si-mon said Simon said booths already had been moved to meet the code's re-quirements of a clear 10- foot- w- ide path through all corridors at the mall and 20 feet of open space be-tween booths " Minor electrical modifications need to be made," Simon said He said those modifications involved re-moving some electrical cords that are strung across the floor Evans said the problems between the mall and the city arose because of misunderstandings Westoff re-medied that problem by explaining the code to the merchants at the meeung, Evans said " They were pretty much in com-pliance before ( the controversy arose)," Evans said " It wasn't so much that they weren't in compli-ance with our codes as a lack of com- mumcati- on " Final determination on whether the booths meet city codes will come today when officials from the Fire Department the Public Works De-partment and the business license office inspect die booths, Evans said The seven existing mall booths have applied for " permanent- temporary- " business licenses, which allow the booths to operate for a limited fame, in these cases until after Christmas. If the booths pass inspec-tion, a temporary license will be is-sued until Tuesday, when the official permanent- temporar- y license will be issued. The agreement prevents further court battles between the parties The merchants association Thurs-day took the city to court, where Cir-cuit Court Judge Gene Hamilton is-sued a temporary restraining order against the city. The parties soil wdl have to ap-pear m court Tuesday for a hearing on the order Simon said he expected the order to be rescinded and the case to be dismissed. Simon said the agreement on the short- ter- m problem did not elimi-nate the possibility of more prob-lems with the code enforcement in the future " I'm not going to say that we won't run into this problem again," Simon said He said he hoped future problems with the code could be worked out administratively or by asking the City Council to amend the code. Simon said he did not expect the enforcement to interfere with the op-eration of the existing booths They ( booth operators) seem to think they can live with it. Simon said The problem at the mall surfaced when Cit Manager Dick Gray sent a letter to mall officials Nov 25. ad-vising them that booths were in vio-lation of the fire codes The letter gave the mall until Dec 1 to comply with the codes before the city took action to remove the booths Mall of-ficials protested that the booths had been allowed for 11 years, but the city countered that the situation had worsened in recent months Shoppers unfazed by uproar By J Harry Jones Missourian stall writer None of the customers felt threatened, some didn t know about it, and Santa was confi-dent everything would work out its own merry way Although the city was still upset about fire hazards in the Biscayne Mall on Fnday, lei-surely Christmas shoppers didn't seem worried Most peo-ple were aware of the recent controversy between the city and the mall concerning the placement of temporary booths in the aisles, but none said they felt any danger being in the building If I felt that I was in dan-ger, I wouldn't be here," said Gene Shaw of 1800 Kathy Dr ' That s a dumb question As he scanned the mall's hallway booths, Edwin West- broo- k of 1513 Richardson St , said, ' It looks pretty good now Last Saturday and Sun-day though, it was quite a ( crowded) mess " Westbrook said he under-stood the city's position ' When they make a law, thev should apply it to everyone I don't care who they are Shaw added, I think the city has bent over backwards and I don't blame them a bit for doing what they are now " Santa Claus, whose position at the mall could be jeopar-dized should the city have its way, said he was confident that the problems would be ironed out in negotiations Five shoppers of 25 inter-viewed said they hadn't heard about the controversy Several who did know of the problem said they were concerned about the propane gas used by the glass blowing booth One shopper, Jim Steffan of 106 Spring Valley Road said he also was worried by the gas But Steffan said he didn't think the city had given the mall adequate time to correct the problems " I think the booths add something People like to browse and look at the crafts," he said Bond sale not likely to benefit county By Katharine George State capital bureau JEFFERSON CITY Boone County's overall economy has little to gam if legislators pass a $ 350 mil-lion bond issue during the special session, according to a researcher at the state Division of Employment Security. " With the recovery coming along, it may have no significant impact at all," said Jerry Dickson. A proposal to sell $ 350 million in bonds and use the money to repair and construct state buddings and stimulate the economy is now await-ing action in the Senate. The economy has been looking brighter since July in Boone County -- and throughout the state And it would continue to do so without the rrMtimillion- dolla- r issue, Dickson said. Boone County's economic recov-ery began four months ago when un-employment claims began to drop. County unemployment during the period from July through October was lower this year than in 1981 and 1982, Dickson said. $ 350 million proposal awaits action 0KnK) U " When into a situation where claims already are dropping, we won't see a noticeable change," Dickson said Under the House proposal, Colum-bia would receive about $ 31 million to repair and construct buildings at the University, University Hospital, Mid- Misso- uri Mental Health Center and Ellis Fischel Cancer Center Contracts for the repairs and con-struction probably would be awarded to firms outside Columbia, according to Commissioner for High-er Education Shaila Aery. " With regard to geographic distri-bution of projects as relates to in-creased jobs, with very few excep-tions contracts for major renovation and construction projects over all parts of the state are awarded to Kansas City and St. Louis firms," Aery said last August i university rresiueni james uison has said proposed construction of an agricultural engineering building at the Columbia campus is ready to be-gin. The University is simply wait-ing for the green light from legis-lators However, spokesman Bob Mussman said the University will not contract services of construction firms unbi the bond issue passes He did not say whether Columbia firms would get construction contracts for Columbia projects The bond issue would not provide enough jobs statewide to significant-ly lower state unemployment churns, Dickson said. Statewide claims began dropping around July and have remained steadily below levels last year. Dick-son said he expects the recovery to continue Boone County is not typical of oth-er counties in Missouri, Dickson said. Its chief industries, health and education, " go down slower and are affected probably last by an econom-ic downturn."
Object Description
Title | Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1983-12-03 |
Description | Vol. 75th Year, No. 70 |
Subject |
Columbia (Mo.) -- Newspapers Boone County (Mo.) -- Newspapers |
Coverage | United States -- Missouri -- Boone County -- Columbia |
Language | English |
Date.Search | 1983-12-03 |
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 | 1983-12-03 |
Type | page |
Item.Transcript | JBhLM BBI , bW at . taaW . BV . eW , LV , bV v aVaaaav HbBi 76th Year No. 70 Good Morning! It's Saturday, December 3, 1 983 2 Sections 12 Pages 25 Cents aaaiaiHaailjlHaHBIiaHIHaHlialllljaH Agencies, clergy resist county plan for services By Jan Maacham Missourian stall writer Clergy and churchgoers from more than 20 of Columbia's churches have joined with other agencies to protest the consolidation of social service fundng by the city, the chairman of the Interfaith Council of Columbia announced Friday. In a letter sent to Mayor John Westlund and City Council mem-bers, 43 members of the Interfaith Council expressed concern mat a 1984 budget recommendation will " critically affect the delivery of services to those who need them most" The issue will go before the City Council Monday night. Representatives from the church-es, as well as affected social service agencies, are expected to attend the council meeting in large numbers to protest proposed consolidation of so-cial service funding, said the Rev. John Hayes, chairman of the Interf-aith Council The budget recommendation, put together m November by the Boone County Community Services Advi-sory Commission, proposes to award the bulk of social service funding to the Job Center Inc to provide a wide spectrum of services. Tradi-tionally, fundng has been divided among several agencies that special-ize in diverse services The Interfaith Council's letter op-poses the consolidation and asks the City Council to continue funding a number of agencies. It recommends tabling the plan for as long as a year toenabejrurther, study. - -- r. Included in the agencies jyrjose.. funding will be cut if the City Councfl" approves the allocations Monday are the Voluntary Action Center, 200 Stroliway Centre; Everyday People, 209 Price Ave.; Family and Chil-dren's Services of Mid- Missou- n, 800 N Providence Road, Family Coun-seling Center, 1005 Cherry St; and the Boone County Council on Aging, 123 S Ninth St. Hayes, pastor of Wilkes Boulevard United Methodist Church, 702 Wilkes Blvd., said members of the ecumeni-cal group oppose the consolidation plan primarily because of possible cuts to the Voluntary Action Center's budget The 14- year-- old agency ad-ministers the church council's FISH fund donations from 18 Columbia congregations to aidthe needy. Hayes said members of the Interf-aith Council fear ther Voluntary Ac-tion Center's loss of funding could seriously affect its provision of serv-ices to the community The Voluntary Action Center and Columbia churches have a symbiotic relationship because the churches are able to refer poor and needy peo-ple to the social service agency for aid. In return, the Voluntary Action Center receives the churches' collectio-n- plate donations that are ear-marked to help the underprivileged, Hayes said. " It's not that the idea of consolida-tion is bad," Hayes said, " but that we feel the idea is ill- advis-ed right now. It's hastily put together and hasn't been carefully considered, so Soe CLERGY, Pago 8A BJS VMM fjC JJ ' 3BJZ- - aaasaaaWaJIaaaaaWaMaaaaWgME " ' iLJaaflBaaaSBaaBaaflBanaaaaaHBflaBILafiEBffEiM The Parkade Baptist Church gets a new hat, Wes Manns, left, and Steve Keith, both of Steeple crowns Baptist church High- ris- e addition from Kentucky- cost- s $ 16,000 By Alicia Wittberoer Missourian stall writer The Parkade Baptist Church Fri-day morning received the crowning touch to its new sanctuary, which is currently under construction. Now sittmg atop the church at 2102 N Garth Ave. is a 47- fo- ot steeple, brought all the way from Carnp- beHsyfl- le, Ky. The steeple cost the congregation$ 16,000 William H. Camp, pastor of the churchsmce 1970, says the architect chose this particular steeple because it complements the design of the sanctuary. " It is proportioned to the Jim Lemon Campbelivilie, Ky., make final adjustments on -- the steeple that was installed Friday building," Camp says. The church's first service was m September 1966 with 81 people pre-sent The growth of the church has been steady. Today the church is in the process of constructing a $ 900,000 sanctuary to accommodate more than 500 members. The sanctuary is a worship center with space along both sides for Sun-day Bible studies. Paul Bass, associate pastor, says the additional space the sanctuary provides will encourage the church's growth. " The sanctuary is designed so that the classrooms can be pulled out to create an even larger worship centerif necessary." According to Camp, the church has been struggling for several years because it does not have enough classroom space. The church also needs to hold two Sunday serv-ices so that all members may at-tend. It is hoped that the sanctuary will help eliminate these problems. Members raised about 40 percent of the money, more than $ 380,000, by asking each family to make individ-ual pledges to be paid to the church over a three- yea- r period " It was an exciting time," says Camp. " It had been expected that we would raise about $ 250,000" Camp says the remainder of the money will be financed either by selling bonds or through a bank loan Ted Horton, the sanctuary's ar-chitect, designed the sanctuary be-fore he was formally contracted by the church's building committee Construction began last May, and the tentative dedication date is April 29 Jammed wires GTE: ' Sorry ... all lines are busy' By Helens Feger Missourian stall writer Talk about an earful With an additional 10,000 calls per month to the customer service division of General Telephone of the Midwest, the company's serv-ice representatives in Boone Coun-ty have had trouble keeping up with customer calls. Not only has the number of calls increased, but the length of the service calls has tripled. " They used to be eight minutes per call' said Ron Hopwood, Division Pub-lic Affairs manager for GTE, 625 E. Cherry St " Now they are 25 to aOminutes on average " The delays in service tins re-porter waited 10 minutes for a cus-tomer service representative to come on the lute spurred GTE to run an apology in Friday's Mis-sourian. j-- t Besides apologies, GTE has added 42 ears and a computer sys-tem. The company's staff has been increased by 21 to a total of 52 em-ployees. The company claims that cus-tomer confusion about the impend-ing deregulation of the phone in-dustry has jammed the phone lines. Questions about changes in service, whether to purchase or rent phone equipment and, in par-ticular, customer confusion about itemized billing, which the compa-ny introduced in October, have generated the flurry of calls and the lengthy service delays. " People are not complaining about phone service. Repair serv-ice and facilities have been un-proved," Hopwood said. " Now bil-ling questions make up for these." Under the new baling system, service charges are itemized. In-stead of one local service charge. separate fees are levied for the use of phone equipment and for a basic dial tone. The change is necessary because after deregulation cus-tomers will have the option of buy-ing, rather than renting, their tele-phones. While Hopwood estimated that the number of calls to GTE service agents has multiplied tenfold, he added that the number of com-plaint calls has fallen off by 25,000 from last year. Whereas GTE used to receive 10 complaints for every 100 lines in service, that number is now down to eight uopwooa attributes improved service to new outside cables and new test equipment for checking on the condition of underground cable. Damaged cable equipment and earpieces are responsible for the most frequent customer com-plaint static on the line according to Hopwood. Mall, city agree to enforce code Display booths to be fire- saf- e By Janet Shadden Missourian stall writer Biscayne Mall officials agreed Fri-day to bring all mall display booths into full compliance with the city s fire codes today Dan Simon, attorney for the Bis-cayne Mall Merchants Association, and City Counselor David Evans an-nounced the agreement after a two- hou- r meeting of the mvolved parties at the County- Cit- y Building Partici-pants in the meeting included Ken Schmck, merchants association president Fire Chief Bill Westoff and Public Works Director Ray Beck Evans and Simon agreed that compliance would come quickly " The people at the mall are going to be able to comply with the city s code by tomorrow ( Saturday)," Si-mon said Simon said booths already had been moved to meet the code's re-quirements of a clear 10- foot- w- ide path through all corridors at the mall and 20 feet of open space be-tween booths " Minor electrical modifications need to be made," Simon said He said those modifications involved re-moving some electrical cords that are strung across the floor Evans said the problems between the mall and the city arose because of misunderstandings Westoff re-medied that problem by explaining the code to the merchants at the meeung, Evans said " They were pretty much in com-pliance before ( the controversy arose)," Evans said " It wasn't so much that they weren't in compli-ance with our codes as a lack of com- mumcati- on " Final determination on whether the booths meet city codes will come today when officials from the Fire Department the Public Works De-partment and the business license office inspect die booths, Evans said The seven existing mall booths have applied for " permanent- temporary- " business licenses, which allow the booths to operate for a limited fame, in these cases until after Christmas. If the booths pass inspec-tion, a temporary license will be is-sued until Tuesday, when the official permanent- temporar- y license will be issued. The agreement prevents further court battles between the parties The merchants association Thurs-day took the city to court, where Cir-cuit Court Judge Gene Hamilton is-sued a temporary restraining order against the city. The parties soil wdl have to ap-pear m court Tuesday for a hearing on the order Simon said he expected the order to be rescinded and the case to be dismissed. Simon said the agreement on the short- ter- m problem did not elimi-nate the possibility of more prob-lems with the code enforcement in the future " I'm not going to say that we won't run into this problem again," Simon said He said he hoped future problems with the code could be worked out administratively or by asking the City Council to amend the code. Simon said he did not expect the enforcement to interfere with the op-eration of the existing booths They ( booth operators) seem to think they can live with it. Simon said The problem at the mall surfaced when Cit Manager Dick Gray sent a letter to mall officials Nov 25. ad-vising them that booths were in vio-lation of the fire codes The letter gave the mall until Dec 1 to comply with the codes before the city took action to remove the booths Mall of-ficials protested that the booths had been allowed for 11 years, but the city countered that the situation had worsened in recent months Shoppers unfazed by uproar By J Harry Jones Missourian stall writer None of the customers felt threatened, some didn t know about it, and Santa was confi-dent everything would work out its own merry way Although the city was still upset about fire hazards in the Biscayne Mall on Fnday, lei-surely Christmas shoppers didn't seem worried Most peo-ple were aware of the recent controversy between the city and the mall concerning the placement of temporary booths in the aisles, but none said they felt any danger being in the building If I felt that I was in dan-ger, I wouldn't be here," said Gene Shaw of 1800 Kathy Dr ' That s a dumb question As he scanned the mall's hallway booths, Edwin West- broo- k of 1513 Richardson St , said, ' It looks pretty good now Last Saturday and Sun-day though, it was quite a ( crowded) mess " Westbrook said he under-stood the city's position ' When they make a law, thev should apply it to everyone I don't care who they are Shaw added, I think the city has bent over backwards and I don't blame them a bit for doing what they are now " Santa Claus, whose position at the mall could be jeopar-dized should the city have its way, said he was confident that the problems would be ironed out in negotiations Five shoppers of 25 inter-viewed said they hadn't heard about the controversy Several who did know of the problem said they were concerned about the propane gas used by the glass blowing booth One shopper, Jim Steffan of 106 Spring Valley Road said he also was worried by the gas But Steffan said he didn't think the city had given the mall adequate time to correct the problems " I think the booths add something People like to browse and look at the crafts," he said Bond sale not likely to benefit county By Katharine George State capital bureau JEFFERSON CITY Boone County's overall economy has little to gam if legislators pass a $ 350 mil-lion bond issue during the special session, according to a researcher at the state Division of Employment Security. " With the recovery coming along, it may have no significant impact at all," said Jerry Dickson. A proposal to sell $ 350 million in bonds and use the money to repair and construct state buddings and stimulate the economy is now await-ing action in the Senate. The economy has been looking brighter since July in Boone County -- and throughout the state And it would continue to do so without the rrMtimillion- dolla- r issue, Dickson said. Boone County's economic recov-ery began four months ago when un-employment claims began to drop. County unemployment during the period from July through October was lower this year than in 1981 and 1982, Dickson said. $ 350 million proposal awaits action 0KnK) U " When into a situation where claims already are dropping, we won't see a noticeable change," Dickson said Under the House proposal, Colum-bia would receive about $ 31 million to repair and construct buildings at the University, University Hospital, Mid- Misso- uri Mental Health Center and Ellis Fischel Cancer Center Contracts for the repairs and con-struction probably would be awarded to firms outside Columbia, according to Commissioner for High-er Education Shaila Aery. " With regard to geographic distri-bution of projects as relates to in-creased jobs, with very few excep-tions contracts for major renovation and construction projects over all parts of the state are awarded to Kansas City and St. Louis firms," Aery said last August i university rresiueni james uison has said proposed construction of an agricultural engineering building at the Columbia campus is ready to be-gin. The University is simply wait-ing for the green light from legis-lators However, spokesman Bob Mussman said the University will not contract services of construction firms unbi the bond issue passes He did not say whether Columbia firms would get construction contracts for Columbia projects The bond issue would not provide enough jobs statewide to significant-ly lower state unemployment churns, Dickson said. Statewide claims began dropping around July and have remained steadily below levels last year. Dick-son said he expects the recovery to continue Boone County is not typical of oth-er counties in Missouri, Dickson said. Its chief industries, health and education, " go down slower and are affected probably last by an econom-ic downturn." |