Logansport Pharos-Tribune from Logansport, Indiana • Page 1

The quarter' and last season TODAY IN Pacers Bulls: Previews for NBA season openers. Page B1 Thundershowers possible tonight. Low around 55. chance of rain Saturday. High near 65.

O.J. Simpson jury consultant Jo- Ellen Dimitrius faces the media outside the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles Thursday. Legal analysts said Simpson should be pleased with the panel selected Thursday after a tense, grueling day in which attorneys exercised their peremptory challenges. Fifteen alternates still must be chosen. See story, page AID.

An 80-million-year-old egg from a Chinese desert contains the first embryo ever found of a meat- eating dinosaur. This photo shows a nearly complete skeleton of an oviraptorid dinosaur embryo, preserved in its shell. Crash investigations The pilot of an ATR-72 that encountered buffeting and icing the same night that American Eagle Flight 4184 crashed said he thought the autopilot function increased the roll of his plane, a federal investigator said. American Eagle announced it was prohibiting all of its ATR planes from flying on autopilot in icing conditions while the National Transportation Safety Board investigates the crash. See story pageA9 Breakfasts The Twelve Mile Community Breakfast will be served from 7 to 10 a.m.

at the community building by the Cass County Democrats. Donations will be accepted. Free Meals A free meal will be served from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Calvary Presbyterian Church.

All are welcome. Advice Area A3 Business Classified B7 Lifestyle Nation Opinion A2 Sports State. A7 TV A12 Weather City residents, officials gave consultants on the Logansport-to- Lafayette segment of the Hoosier Heartland their opinions and their questions Thursdayriight By DAVE KITCHELL Pharos-Tribune Associate Editor Dick Bailey had been at a meeting like the one he attended Thursday night before, It was a meeting about a promised four- lane highway for Logansport, and the promise was made by the state highway commissioner. There were sacrifices that the community would have to make, but they were made. That meeting, Bailey told consultants for the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor Thursday night, was 30 years ago when he was president of the Coun- Down The Rokd To Lafayette Your Opinion Area residents who want to comment on the process can contact the consultants for the Loganspprt-to- Lafayette segment of the Hoosier Heartland by calling (800) 900-2649.

ty Chamber of Commerce. Then, Bailey told consultants and more than 50 people at the Logansport Community Schools Administration Building, he was a businessman who was glad to see Logansport make Broadway one-way west and Market Street one-way east. Now, as a retiree in his 70s, Bailey said he's glad he's not in business in Logansport anymore. The city's population has declined See ROAD, Page A2 Beatty Says Buyer Voted Against $1.7 Million In Heartland Funding Beatty pledges to work million in federal funding for highway; Buyer says Beatty's desperate By DAVE KITCHELL Pharos-Tribune Associate Editor Rep. Steve Buyer, apparently unknowingly, voted against a federal transportation bill in 1993 that provides $1.7 million in funding for the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor project.

Buyer's Democratic challenger in the Nov. 8 5th District congressional race recently released information on Buyer's vote against the Fiscal 1994 Transportation Appropriations Bill. The bill eventually passed, 312-89. A check with Project Vote Smart, a nonpartisan Congressional voting research center in Corvallis, confirmed Beatty's claims Thursday afternoon that Buyer voted against both the consideration and the passage of the bill on Sept. 23,1993.

Although Hoosier Heartland was not mentioned specifically as a line item in the bill, former Rep. Jim Jontz had secured $1.7 million in federal funding for the corridor over a five-year period from the Federal Highway Trust Fund. See BUYER, Page A2 Andy Tribune Mike Berger tries to match the proper gun with the nose turret of the B-25 bomber at the Grissom Air Museum. He was recently named the full-time curator of the museum. The Future New air museum director predicts changes in displays by spring By AMY LA VALLEY Pharos-Tribune Regional Editor PERU Mike Berger has plans.

Sure, he faces challenges, but they are nothing some enthusiasm and bright ideas can't overcome. And he appears to have both. He started Oct. 3 as the first paid for the Grissom Air Museum. Berger, a Cincinnati native, previously was of the Old Jail Museum in Crawfordsville.

"The first two priorities have been establishing a better volunteer base and trying to establish a funding base," Berger says. Both have been ongoing concerns for the The Grissom Air Museum is always looking for volunteers. Mike Berger, the new at the museum, would like to see 30 people give up one day a month to give tours and handle other tasks. For more information, call Berger between 8:30 am. and 4 p.m.

Monday through Friday at (317) 688-2654, or leave a message. museum, which was run by volunteers until Berger took over. Until Oct. 1, when the 305th Air Refueling Wing deactivated, the. Air Force provided the utilities, ground maintenance, paint, tools and supplies, as well as a curator.

The Heritage Museum Foundation had to raise at least $75,000 to keep the planes here. The planes are on loan from Wright- Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where the Air Force Museum program is based. People Rescuing Our Planes, or PROP, the fund-raising effort by the museum foundation, actually raised more than $100,000, far beyond its original goal. "We haven't spent it. It's still in the bank," Berger explains.

See MUSEUM, Page A3 Candidates, Incumbents Want To Make Assessing Process Easier Cass County and Eel Township assessor races will both be decided Tuesday By DAVE KITCHELL Pharos-Tribune Associate Editor Four women are vying for the two elected Cass County assessor positions in the Nov. 8 election. Incumbent Democrats Dalene McMillen and Shelby Ridenour are being challenged by Republicans Judy Shafer and Nancy Stoops. McMillen, 34, who is completing her first term, served under long-time Cass Assessor Wayne Dodt for 11 years prior to winning his seat in 1990. Dalene McMillen Judy Shafer Democrat Republican McMillen is certified by the State Board of Tax Commissioners as an Indiana She is Northwest District president of the Indiana County Assessors Association.

"I have striven each year to operate the Shelby Ridenour Nancy Stoops Democrat Republican office on a low budget to save the taxpayers as much as possible," McMillen says. "By supervising local personnel on the 1989 and now 1995 reassessment in data collecting See ASSESSOR, Page A2 Council May Broaden Scope Of Utility Study City council members agreed to table and amend an. ordinance that" would secure a consultant for the sale of the local utilities By DAVE KITCHELL Pharos-Tribune Associate Editor The Logansport City Council is making a list, but it's got nothing to do with laundry, groceries or Christmas presents. Council members met in a special meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss the mission statement for a consultant who will recommend the best option that lies ahead for the Logansport Municipal Utilities. Council members agreed to table an or-.

dinance at Monday night's meeting that had been scheduled to come up for a second reading. If passed, the ordinance would; have cleared the way for the council to hire a consultant to address the sale of LMU to CINergy, formerly PSI. After hearing comments from former Logansport City Councilman Jim former Indiana House Speaker Nelson Becker and former City Clerk-Treasurer: See COUNCIL, Page A2 Arrest Warrant Says Mother Confessed To Killing Sons By JIM CLARKE Associated Press Writer UNION, S.C. She spun a heartbreaking tale of being dumped on a lonely road by a carjacker who abducted her two young sons, and her tearful pleas on national television for their return inspired a search from Georgia to Seattle. Now Susan Smith has confessed to killing her sons, according to an arrest warrant.

And the nine-day search by authorities and hundreds of volunteers for 3- year-old Michael and 14-month- old Alex ended where their mother's story began: at John D. Michael (L) and Alexander Smith. Long Lake. Mrs. Smith's burgundy 1990 Mazda was pulled out of the lake Thursday night, the bodies of two children in the back seat.

She was to be arraigned today on two charges of murder. See SONS, Page A3.