The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 11

THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER IN BUSINESS Procter Gamble is expected to announce today that it met its Today's number 80,000 Amount of runway space in square feet that Executive Jet Management would include in its proposal to expand Lunken Airport. revised fourth-quarter earnings estimates, which the company warned last month would fall well below previous forecasts. Stay, BIO WE TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2000 irport expansions facing delay 6r METEO A. Middletown Oversight board proposed to respond to Lunken gripes maintenance facility for corporate jets. The facility would include 75,000 square feet of hangar and office space for its corporate headquarters and 80,000 square feet of runway space.

"Suffice to say, we will be harmed," if it takes more than 30 days for the new board to form and vote on Executive Jet Management's expansion, said Jeff Cryder, the company's senior vice president of finance. "We are willing to find common ground with the In a committee meeting Monday, City Council members recommended that city lawyers meet with surrounding communities to create the new board to decide "the nature and extejit of Lunken Airport operations." City Council will decide Wednesday whether to form the new board. Speaking on behalf of dozens of people attending Monday's meeting, Dan Roche of the Lunken Neighborhood Coalition blamed the airport expansion on "unbridled greed" of corporate executives who bene fit from private jets at the expense of communities. "This facility should be put in the cornfields of Warren County," Mr. Roche said.

Mr. Cryder promised that Executive Jet Management has no plans to fly larger aircraft, such as Boeing 737 passenger jets, into Lunken. Executive Jet Management's average of 20 daily flights at Lunken would increase by six after the expansion, Mr. Cryder said. It would take on more flights from its sister compa ny, Executive Jet Aviation of Columbus.

Both companies are owned by Mr. Buffet's Omaha, Berkshire Hathaway, an investment company geared toward the wealthy. Any delay in construction could disrupt a contract Executive Jet Management has with Ohio National Financial Services. The charter jet company agreed to vacate and hand over its Lunken space next year to Ohio National. BLfTLFR CO.

WARREN CO. Hamilton Fairfield OHIO HAMILTON CO. Cincinnati Cincinnati N.Hylntl.: Airport KY. The Cincinnati Enquirer Oversight Board is a way to remedy the city administration's lack of response to concerns of residents in Mount Lookout, Linwood, Mount Washington and other communities near the airport, Councilman Todd Por-tune said. But it also would delay Executive Jet Management's plans to start construction this month of a regional Setbacks I School vacation hurts kids' learning bid.

town frets over casino delay -rf x( v.l in mmlt Lsm Photos by JEFF SWINGERThe Cincinnati Enquirer Children from a Head Start class participate in a reading program at the Cincinnati Public Library Children's Center. Educators stress the importance of continued learning during the summer. Everybody's talking about boat collision By Tom O'Neill The Cincinnati Enquirer FLORENCE, Ind. News of a collision on the Mississippi River involving a new casino swept quickly upstream Monday, all the way to Switzerland County, where the casino's arrival -and tax revenue are eagerly anticipated. Now, the Aug.

21 opening of the Belterra casino is indefinitely delayed, Belterra general manager John Spina said Monday. "People are talking, oh my gosh, there were a lot of jocal people on it," said San-di Kidwell of Florence, where the Belterra casino complex has been built in the shadow of the Markland Dam, 7 miles east of Vevay. 'I've heard today that, 'How's this gonna affect the money coming said Ms. Kidwell, a native of Delhi Township. That question remained unanswered Monday because Belterra is uncertain how long the opening will be delayed.

Switzerland is one of IAdiana's poorest counties and has been eagerly awaiting the casino and the $12 million annually in tax revenue it's expected to generate for the county. But until then, a third of Skills erode i with summer i Jr 1 SI 'Lkwjf By Ken Alltucker The Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati City Council members want to halt all expansions at Lunken Airport including one proposed by billionaire investor Warren Buffet's charter jet company until an oversight board formed to keep an eye On airport operations. Creating a Lunken Airport Piper wants an end to 'club' Holcomb money 'passed away' By Janice Morse The Cincinnati Enquirer HAMILTON When Butler County Prosecutor John F. Holcomb died July 22, he left behind a substantial re-election fund, generated mostly from the "2 Percent Club" -his bwn employees donating about 2 percent of their salaries. On Monday, Robin Piper, the Republican candidate for Butler County prosecutor, called on Acting Prosecutor Dan Gattermeyer to refuse to use this method of fund-raising and to ask the contributors where the money should go.

"2 Percent Club has passed away (with Mr. Hol-comb's death). It is no longer in existence," Mr. Piper said. "And I would like to invite my opponent to come forward and show the people of Butler County that he will make tough decisions and that he will not reinstitute the 2 percent tax on public employees." Mr.

Piper, who has spoken out. against the 2 Percent Club, said he thinks the money should be returned to the contributors or could perhaps be placed in a scholarship fund in Mr. Holcomb's memory. Mr. Gattermeyer, who is expected to be officially chosen tonight as the Butler Democrats' choice to oppose Piper, wouldn't take a stand Monday on the 2 Percent Club.

He said it was premature to comment on the issue until the party takes action and until he sets up his campaign committee. But Mr. Gattermeyer did say he anticipates that Mr. Holcomb's war chest, which stood at $164,000 in April, will be transferred to his election effort. Mr.

Piper's fund had a balance of about $3,800 in mid-April. Mr. Piper said Ohio law allows the treasurer of the candidate's campaign committee to decide how to distribute the funds. Mary Sue Predit, Mr. Holcomb's longtime office administrator, therefore controls the purse strings, Mr.

Gattermeyer said. He said he's certain that Mrs. Predit would allocate the funds in accordance with Ohio law and Mr. Holcomb's wishes and he expects that the money would therefore go to him. Mr.

Piper, however, noted that Mr. Holcomb rarely gave money to other political candidates. "I'm sure that Robin Piper would like to see me run a campaign without any money," said Mr. Gattermeyer, who was a top contributor to the 2 Percent Club. He gave $1,850 in 1998.

Mr. Piper, who said he felt uncomfortable contributing the, 2 percent for more than dozen years while he worked for Mr. Holcomb, retorted: "I just want a level playing field." By Jennifer Mrozowski The Cincinnati Enauirer The Cincinnati Enquirer Children who don't read or exercise their brains over the summer lose ground academically, teachers say. "It's a kids," says Elm-wood Place Elementary Teacher Bonita Lewis, who has been teaching for 21 years. "I see some of the brightest students who haven't done anything over the summer.

They lose some of their strengths." That translates into weeks of review at the start of the school year just to get back on track. Ms. Lewis said she needs about four weeks reviewing material from the year before leaving only about eight months to learn new material in a school year. Reading, math games Switzerland's work force is employed outside the county, many of them in industrial jobs across the Ohio River in Kentucky. The casino should change that.

The 2000 budget for Switzerland County (population 9,000) is $1.7 million. "Of course, everybody's talkin' about it," Vevay Town Council President Earl Van Winkle said. "But this riverboat has never been here, so we're still waiting. We're getting more rumors than anything. We're hoping to get this going because we have a lot of people invested in this with jobs." Mr.

Spina responded by saying that although the opening is postponed, workers who were expected to start in, August will be kept on the payroll. The casino is expected to employ 1,500 people, the majority of whom are local residents. Three Belterra workers suffered minor injuries Monday morning when the casino boat newly built and en route to Switzerland County collided with a towboat on the Mississippi, about 75 miles north of Memphis, Tenn. "We have no idea how long the delay will be," Mr. Spina told the Enquirer.

"Obviously, we want to get open and start contributing tax dollars. It's a bump in the road we're gonna get through." U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning of Southgate and Gov. Paul Patton, urged the Department of Housing and Urban Development to make the grant.

"For a little town like Newport (pop. 18,000) to receive this kind of federal assistance is so wonderful, almost unheard of," Ms. Wingo said. "This has been a focus of city officials for many years. It's the first step in a major way.

The impact on the community will be immense." The housing units to replace those lost at the housing authority project will be mixed-income developments, including 150 public housing units, 67 affordable units, and 96 market rate units, 69 of which will be for home ownership. The new mixed-income developments probably won't be on the same site, but in another location. The area now occupied by the housing project, located between the flood wall and 4th Street, from Central Avenue to the 4'th Street Bridge, will be opened up for development. There have been rumors of a possible condominium complex or mixed residential and office complex there. Newport gets $28M for homes Bob Drew, a children's librarian at the Cincinnati Public Library, acts out a part from a book.

W. The Associaied PresststviN ihAhF Mr. Laufman said. Cincinnati police would not comment on the name and Social Security number mix-up that led to Miss Smith's night in the Cook County Jail. Miss Smith's nightmare began innocently enough: A Cincinnati detective was See MIX-UP, Page B5 uMine the books niUIIlg Hie Long summers will be a thing of the past for Silver Grove students.

B5 and library story hours can help. And teachers are fighting the summer learning lag with "summer packets" and "to-do" lists for parents to keep kids thinking. Otherwise the skills erode, says Carol Rasco, director of the grass-roots national reading campaign for children called the "America Reads Challenge." Even if it's comic books, the America Reads program urges, get children to read. Use grocery coupons to figure out savings or write letters weekly to See LEARNING, Page BS in Cincinnati theme song and teased her about being a college professor, she said Monday at her Granville, Ohio, office. Since, the Cincinnati Police Division has apologized for mixing up "Kristen" with the real suspect, "Kristin." Miss Smith is considering suing the city for $3,100 in legal fees and expenses, plus pain and suffering.

On Monday, the provost at Denison University extended her doctoral dissertation deadline from August until December. "A mistake is one thing," said Miss Smith's attorney, Paul Laufman of Cincinnati. "This was simply sloppy police work. She was locked in one of the most notorious jails in the country for nearly two days and she has never committed a crime i.i her Police mix-up means cold cell Public complex to be demolished By Terry Flynn The Cincinnati Enquirer NEWPORT Years of effort to revitalize the city's housing stock finally produced results in a big way Monday. Newport officials were told the city had been awarded a $28.4 million federal Hope VI housing grant.

"I think it will have a tremendous impact in this city," said veteran City Commissioner Jan Knepshield. "The influx of new housing will be a like a shot in the arm for the whole city, and at the same time help eliminate some of the problem homes and replace them with new housing." The grant will result in 313 new and rehabilitated housing units throughout the city, but the most obvious result for most observers will be demolition of the 202 units that comprise the Newport Housing Authority complex. Newport Economic Development Director Pat Wingo said everyone at city hall was excited about the news, announced by U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas, a Richwood Democrat, who, with Republican ill -i II I I.

I Kristen Smith was held in jail for 27 hours in Chicago because of a Cincinnati police warrant that confused her with another woman. She's considering a lawsuit. life." they were supposed to do," Mistaken identity costs woman freedom By Reid Forgrave The Cincinnati Enquirer While she was in Nairobi in July, Denison University instructor Kristen Smith studied a Kenyan musical and storytelling troupe for her World Music classes. But she can top any of the troupe's stories now. After flying back from Africa on July 10, Miss Smith was handcuffed at O'Hare airport and locked in a Cook County Jail cell for 27 hours by Chicago police on a Cincinnati warrant for credit card fraud.

You've got the wrong woman, 27-year-old Miss Smith insisted, but the officer in charge of her holding cell merely sang the WKRP Miss Smith, who lives in Newark, Ohio, resided in Clifton last year while taking doctoral classes at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She was arrested on a warrant intended for a neighbor with a similar name. "Her arrest could have easily been avoided if the (Cincinnati) officers did what.