Columbia Daily Tribune from Columbia, Missouri • 10

Page 10 Columbla Dally Tribune Columbia Mo Saturday June 25 1988 Ashcroft signs bills to help city and county cooperate By RUDI KELLER of the staff JEERSON CITY Gov John Ashcroft yesterday signed into law three measures local legislators sponsored Two measures are designed to increase city county cooperation and another to implement a long term goal of Rep Chris Kelly Ashcroft signed bills allowing cooperation on dividing service ar eas between the city electric utility and the county electric cooperative and to allow the county to take part in Regional Economic Devel opment Inc or REDI a not for profit corporation created to pro mote the economy He also signed measure ending the sales tax exemption for videocassette rentals The new rev enue would finance a satellite tele vision education network for state schools bringing in $114 million annually by 1991 Columbia and Boone County government leaders praised the cooperation measures as impor tant models for future city county cooperation The laws will "begin to chip away" at attitudes that lead to competition said Dick Malon di rector of the city Water and light Department Sen Roger Wilson and Kelly sponsored the law allowing Boone Electric Cooperative and the city owned utility to divide service in fast growing areas around Colum bia It is the final step in ending a long term dispute between the util ities Under agreements between the utilities both give up the right to provide service in some areas in return for exclusive service rights in others In the past Boone Elec tric complained that continued ex pansion of the city utility cut into its income "Dick Malon and I finally got tired of fighting so we sat down and started talking" Boone Elec tric director Bob Alderson said Malon said the utility measure "will let us both share the growth of the community without dupli cating facilities" The REDI bill sponsored by Rep Ken Jacob en sures that the county cart legally contract with the not for profit corporation for its economic devel opment work The agency was formed after an agreement between the city county and the Columbia Chamber of Commerce Southern District commissioner David Horner said REDI will re ceive $15000 from the county He called it a cooperative ef fort to produce job opportunities' With all the talk of cooperation city manager Ray Beck said he hoped it would spill over into other areas such as fire protection and water and sewage systems The city is planning a major ex pansion of its sewage treatment plant and the Boone County Re gional Sewer District failed last year to get approval for bonds to expand its treatment facilities That area is ripe for cooperation Beck said are communicating with the sewer district to discover in what areas we could work to get more he said Court martial urged for recruit's drowning PENSACOLA la (AP) A Navy swimming instructor accused of liter ally scaring a recruit to death by holding him under water has been recommended for a court martial but five others accused in the inci dent should face lesser punishment a Navy spokesman said yesterday Petty Officer Second Class Michael Combe an instructor at the Navy rescue swimmer school was recommended for court martial by Rear Adm David Morris chief of na val air training said Lt Cmdr Den nis Hessler The Navy accused Combe of hold ing the head of airman recruit Lee Mirecki 19 of Appleton Wis under water after Combe and other instruc tors pushed or tossed the trainee into a pool when he panicked and tried to quit the course Morris in Corpus Christi Texas recommended court martial to Vice Adm NR Thunman chief of naval education and training the ranking officer in Pensacola la Morris also decided to drop the manslaughter charges against all of the instructors except Combe Hessler said Combe and four other instructors were charged with involuntary man slaughter and conspiracy to commit battery Lt Thomas Torchia the offi cer in charge of the school was ac cused only of dereliction of duty a lesser offense At a hearing earlier this month a pathologist testified that Mirecki who had a phobia about being dragged under water died of when he was forced back into the pool after trying to quit the course All five instructors were accused of shoving or throwing Mirecki into the pool while Combe was also ac cused of holding the young man's head under water afterward Mirecki died either of heart failure brought about by fear or subsequently drowned the pathologist testified All six defendants could have faced courts martial but Hessler said Morris recommended that the other cases be resolved with non judicial punishment a proceeding known as an that only deter mines punishment not guilt or inno cence Morris "concluded that disciplin ary action is appropriate" Hessler said The five have until Monday to de cide whether to ask for a formal court martial in hopes of clearing themselves outright or opting for the lesser hearing on punishment Hessler said If court martialed and found guilty military defendants can get time in prison and be removed from the service Those penalties cannot be imposed in a non judicial pro ceeding though lesser punishment such as a reduction in rank can be ordered Besides Torchia the others recom mended for the admiral's mast hear ing were Petty Otiicers irst Class Richard Blevins and David Smith and Petty Officers Second Class rankie Deaton and John Zelenock Thunman will review rec ommendations and make the final determination on whether case warrants a court martial sister Lynn Johansen to said she wasn't disappointed that some of the defendants could avoid a court martial Nixon backing prompts assault By KAREN BALL of the Associated Press JEERSON CITY Jay Nixon and an aide to Jack Danforth traded jabs Thursday over what is becoming one of the hottest is sues of the US Senate race Social Securi ty Nixon a Democratic state senator from Hillsboro trying to unseat Danforth an nounced that he had been endorsed by the National Committee to Preserve Social Secu rity and Medicare Nixon called it an honor to win the backing which he said has 5 million members nationwide and 121000 members in Missouri But John Hall campaign man ager was quick to criticize endorse ment from a group he said is well known for trying to frighten and take advantage of older people very suiprised that he would accept the endorsement of this Hall said organization has been roundly con demned by Missouri newspapers for using scare tactics and misleading information to fleece thousands of senior citizens out of their Last year the National Committee came under sharp criticism from a dozen members of Congress during a hearing in March 1987 before the House Ways and Means subcom mittee on Social Security The members Republicans and Demo crats expressed anger over direct mail cam paigns that have allowed the group to collect more than $75 million since 1983 Critics say the group uses scare tactics misleading in formation and exaggerates its influence and presence in Washington Nixon who has repeatedly criticized Dan forth the incumbent Republican for voting against Social Security defended the en dorsement He said the group had been hailed by lorida congressman Claude Pep per a leading advocate for the elderly as of the most effective at representing the interests of older Americans" Nixon said the Danforth campaign was trying to make an issue out of the endorse ment in an effort to veil record on Social Security seeing here is once again a clever attempt by Nixon Danforth 1 people to avoid the issue of Social Security and unwillingness to come back to Missouri and debate the Nixon said Nixon has challenged Danforth to a de bate on Social Security before the August primary Neither Nixon or Danforth has primary opposition and will automatically face each other in the November general election Hall maintains that no point to a debate before the general election season starts af ter Aug 2 indicated that they will defend his 29 votes against Social Security chapter and verse and they certainly have not started that process Nixon said Hall said Social Security should be a non issue of the campaign because Danforth has been supportive of the program and an original co sponsor of legislation in 1983 that saved Social Security from bankruptcy and put it back on a sound financial ought to be the issue of this cam paign is that Jay Nixon is willing to say any thing and do anything to get his name in the paper Hall said At last congressional hearing James Roosevelt the eldest son of ranklin Roosevelt told the subcommittee that the group was established to alert the elderly to issues so they could contact lawmakers and as their own A staff report by the subcommittee cited what it called numerous inaccuracies in mailings including a March 1984 mailing that said contributors could help it possible to continue our work here in the But at the time the commit tee had not hired any lobbyist Danforth criticized for defense donations Contributions from Pentagon inquiry targets Related story on Page 8 By GEORGE MAZURAK of the staff US Senate contender Jay Nixon yester day demanded that Sen Jack Danforth re turn campaign contributions from four Mc Donnell Douglas Corp employees who have reportedly been investigated in the Pentagon procurement probe Danforth has received $4750 from four McDonnell Douglas executives who were re portedly named on federal search warrants unsealed last week in St Louis Nixon a state senator from Hillsboro said in a prepared statement that Danforth should all of his campaign contribu tions from the four individuals who have been investigated by the BI in connection with Operation Ill Danforth campaign manager John Hall de clined to discuss the contributions but he said the demand was "another attempt by Mr Nixon to get some cheap publicity" The federal investigation of fraud and bribery involves 60 defense companies and defense contracts totaling billions of dollars The inquiry has focused on defense consult ant Melvyn Paisley whose major client was McDonnell Douglas Corporate executives named in the federal search warrant were Thomas Gunn Bob Hood Bob Little and Jim Caldwell the St Louis Post Dispatch reported June 16 in a copyright story Gunn a vice president of marketing for McDonnell Aircraft Co gave campaign $1250 Robert Hood a vice presi dent of aerospace business development contributed $2000 Robert Little vice chair man of the board for government business donated $1000 and Caldwell vice president for McDonnell Aircraft gave $500 Nixon campaign spokesman Craig Varoga said Danforth to run fast away from anything tainted by" the investigation Re turning the contributions would be quickest way to clear the No indictments have resulted from the BI investigation But Varoga said that "at the very least it creates the appearance of a potential con flict considering'the widespread allegations of corruption and bribery and favoritism" A yRiation paar OSSm wlKiO ffr 'A HP Rodney Garnett presiding commissioner of Callaway County practices nabbing the nla yesterday during Kingdom Days In ulton Garnett Is a candidate to kiss the pig In a contest 9 designed to raise money for the American Diabetes Association (Jim Noelker photo) Snout smooch ulton festival features fun for all By MICHAEL WANG of the staff ULTON Callaway County presiding commissioner Rodney Garnett swore that the little pig looked like his first date kiss that Garnett said as he climbed into a straw filled pen to greet Squealer a 5 month old pig got a fe ver blister and I want the pig to get Garnett is one of eight candidates in the A Pig" contest sponsored by the American Diabetes Association as part of Kingdom Days a festival that runs through tomorrow in ulton In the contest voters cast their ballots with dollar bills and the lucky winner gets to smack Squealer squarely on the snout tomorrow evening in front of the courthouse and a large crowd "I went out with a lot of pigs in my Garnett said after exiting the pen reminds me of my first With only $8 in votes Garnett lags well behind front runner Vicki Russell pub lisher of the ulton Sun who led voting with $86 late yesterday afternoon A total of $210 had been collected While Garnett was hamming it up inside the pigpen Mike Healy stood by the booth wearing a more serious expression Healy 34 the fund raising chairman of the Amer ican Diabetes county chap ter said he has more at stake in the con test than a pig peck Healy has had diabe tes since he was 13 always have it on the back of your mind" he said of the disease have to plan your day around Diabetes is a disease that impairs the ability to use sugar and causes ab normal levels of sugar to appear in the urine or Healy diabetes means taking two injections of insulin every day and fol lowing a restrictive diet Healy hopes to raise about $1000 by the final tally tomorrow for research toward finding a cure for diabetes This year marks the fourth annual King dom Days sponsored by the Kingdom of Callaway Chamber of Commerce The events include an auction of ce lebrity memorabilia and special screen ings of the movie "Kings Row" which is based on the novel of the same name by ulton native Henry Bellamann Bob Cummings who starred in the 1941 movie with President Ronald Reagan will appear at a reception tomorrow Reagan is not scheduled to attend although a suit he wore in the movie will be displayed and the president has sent a telegram extend ing his best wishes US charges five in rocket scheme SACRAMENTO Calif (AP) The gov ernment yesterday accused five people in cluding two Egyptian army colonels of plot ting to illegally export US technology used in sophisticated weapons systems such as the Stealth bomber Authorities said the group directed in the United States by naturalized American rocket specialist Abdelkader Helmy oper ated an international export ring that ille gally routed sensitive material to Europe and the Middle East is conspiracy with deep roots in the Sacramento area" said US attorney David Levi in announcing the com plaint Three people were arrested but one an Egyptian colonel who claimed diplomatic immunity was immediately released author ities said Helmy's wife remained at large but was expected to surrender voluntarily in Califor nia while the fifth person named in the com plaint another Egyptian colonel was in Aus tria Helmy received $1 million in payments from Egyptian sources for his role in the scheme which involved the illicit export of a substance called carbon carbon or carbon composite US authorities said The material is a low radar visibility com pound used in missile nose cones and Stealth aircraft investigators said a carbon material been heated twice at high temperatures and is extremely resistant to heat said Dan Brown a spokes man for Aerojet the company that employed Helmy an American technology that shouldn be given to foreign nations" Levi said Aerojet cooperated with federal agents conducting the investigation which he said is continuing I.