The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 14

2 THE tOtJRIER-JOURNAL, FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 1980 Students are offered a taste at youth assembly olitics By MERVIN AUBESPIN Couriw-Jowrnal Stiff Wrlttr Seventeen-year-old Kent Greenfield of Princeton would like to be a congressman. But for now, he will have to settle for governor. This week, Greenfield, a senior at Caldwell County High School, Is presiding as the state's chief executive during the 35th annual Kentucky Youth Assembly, which opened yesterday at Executive West Motor Hotel in Louisville. The assembly, sponsored by the State YMCA of Kentucky, is a mock state government for high school students. It has representatives, senators, a supreme court, lobbyists, pages and a press corps much like the real General Assembly in Frankfort.

And before the assembly concludes tomorrow, bills drawn up by participants will go through the same process as real ones do In Frankfort. Gov. Greenfield, who was elected at last year's assembly, got mixed reviews yesterday after his address at the opening session. In his speech, he criticized the state's real governor, John Y. Brown for failing to provide leadership in the General Assembly.

And he also criti of didates were in the hotel's lobby and corridors. Martha Kimmey, a 16-year-old junior at Pleasure Ridge Park High School in Jefferson County, is running for governor. She said she and her supporters planned to roll an automobile tire through the corridor to bring attention to her slogan "Roll with Kimmey for a better Kentucky Youth Assembly." Further down the corrldorf DaVid of Madisonvlue, elected lleu- tenant governor last yeari wa8 trying to drum up support for Steve Edelstein, his candidate for the job this year. "Being in this program has given me an interest in politics. And, I can certainly understand what our lawmakers go through," he said.

The students will spend today in Frankfort, where they will hear a speech by Raymond Barber, superintendent of public instruction, and conduct their mock sessions In the state's House, Senate and Supreme Court chambers. Lt. Gov. Martha Layne Collins will speak tonight at the "governor's banquet" in Louisville. 4 i mmmmsrr-mr a im I Staff Photo by Gill Flthor register for the 35th Kentucky Youth Assembly.

The assembly continues until tomorrow. Members of the student delegation from Wayne County arrived at Executive West Motor Hotel to cized President Carter for his handling of the Iranian crisis and the situation in Afghanistan. Greenfield said the youth assembly helps young people understand the workings of government. He said the assembly allows students from different parts of the region to meet each other and voice their concerns. His package of "executive office" bills includes measures calling for elimination of the death penalty for tax credits to homeowners using solar ener- gy and for a ban on using public funds for abortions.

"This project is an excellent training grouna in pontics ana government, said Michael D. Haynes, executive director of the state YMCA. Haynes said about 500 students representing Hi-Y, Co-Ed-Y, Y-Teen, Trl-Hi-Y clubs and other groups are attending. The young people are from 45 Kentucky counties and Southern Indiana. Besides acting on legislation, the students elect a governor, lieutenant governor and other state officials.

Campaigning for those offices took up much of yesterday. Posters urging support of various can- and tornado, boiler, glass, bridge and automobile. One of the more lucrative contracts was for workers' compensation coverage, but the state switched last year to self-insurance in that field. In the past bids have been taken on the group life policy for state and local-school employees, but most other policies have been awarded without public notice or bidding. Policies often were awarded to agents who had political or personal connections with the administration in power.

The award of state policies under former Govs. Wendell Ford and Julian Carroll has apparently been a subject of investigation by a special federal grand jury in Lexington since last summer. "One focus of the investigation concerns allegations that cash and assets are distributed to public and party officials through a scheme in which insurance agencies shared their fees on certain (state) insurance with other Brown names panel to evaluate how state buys insurance penses but no pay and would not seek state business while serving on the committee. Briscoe said they had also agreed not to bid on insurance bought under specifications they drew. The Department of Insurance is to provide staff for the committee's work.

Brown and Foster Pettit, secretary of the Public Protection and Regulation Cabinet, which includes the Insurance Department, did not rule out the continued buying of some insurance through negotiation rather than competitive bidding. But, Pettit said, "I can't conceive that we wouldn't have competitive bidding on most of our business." The state's group life policy with Kentucky Central, which yields the company about $1.6 million a year, was to expire Dec. 31. But last October former Finance Secretary Gordon Duke said the policy had been extended to June 30 to allow time WAVE radio, TV are up for sale along with 6 other Orion stations Trni 1 Tj It panies would be allowed to bid in the future. "Certainly our in-state carriers would be able to give better service," Brown said, "and I would think that we would continue to work with them unless there is significant difference in cost." Respect for Life Party has a presidential team Tha Courier-Journal Bureau FRANKFORT, Ky.

The Respect for Life Party has filed petitions enabling its candidates, Ellen McCormack for president and Carroll Driscoll for vice president, to be on the Kentucky ballot in November, according to the state Board of Elections. The party's candidates were not included in a list published in yesterday's editions. as $35 million. Orion's total holdings are almost certainly worth more than $100 million. That kind of cash would pay off the the IRS and leave the family a tidy sum.

But would the family with nearly a half-century of broadcasting service to Kentucky and Southern Indiana consider keeping WAVE for old-times sake and letting the others go? "Our intention is to try to keep the corporation intact and sell Orion as a group of stations," Morton said. "Of course anything could happen. Nothing happen. We might not sell at all." But that isn't likely. Morton admits that some sort of transaction seems inevitable.

"Painful" is what he calls the decision. "Regret" is what everybody feels, he said. The final page is apparently being turned in the WAVE Family album. THE FmWEST SAFETY WO Fit for your feet and fit for yout work Protective steel safety toe Soft cushion insole and comfortable arch lift 4008 DIXIE HWY PHONE: 448-2085 7208 PRESTON HWY PHONE: 968-5265 to prepare specifications and take competitive bids. That bidding plan was never completed, apparently because of changes of top officials that took place when Brown replaced Carroll on Dec.

11. One member of the advisory committee, Boston, said yesterday that from now until June 30 is a "pretty short period" for the committee to complete a recommendation on the group life policy. In an earlier interview, Briscoe said continuing the Kentucky Central contract for another 12 months is an alternative if the committee has not made a recommendation. But Briscoe said he expects committee members will make the group life policy "one of their first orders of business." In the past, bidding on the group life policy has been restricted to Kentucky-based companies. Brown was asked if out-of-state com other place when I hear that they've completed a deal," another added.

"It's a very sad thing," one veteran employee said. "Of course, I'm worried. I've been here a long time, but I still have years to go before retirement. Where would I go to start over? Will some new employer who didn't hire me and say 'hello in the halls every morning for 20 years care what happens to me?" Others took a middle ground. "There's so much to fret about these days.

If it's really two years off I guess the economy is a bigger threat to me right now than any sale." Wait and see was probably the most frequently heard response. But department heads were fast to hang out the "no comment" sign. Managers are the most vulnerable people in any business sale or merger. "It could go either way," one WAVE management employee said. "We could be bought by a big corporation that didn't know anything about running a station who wanted our exper tise.

They might offer us bigger salaries and benefits or. "Or" is what some employees don't want to think about. "Or" means Orion could be purchased by another communications company that would install its own people in the top jobs. New ownerships, especially in broadcasting, have a way of bringing the broom along and sweeping the old managers out. That might be more true in WAVE'S case because it recently lost its longtime dominance in the news ratings.

In the end, it all depends on the bottom line. And WAVE has always run a tight ship where profits were concerned. A family business doesn't have to disclose its worth and WAVE never has. But local broadcasters who can read between the lines of FCC reports know that at one point several years ago WAVE appeared to be making more than all its Louisville electronic competitors combined. No one knows what the Orion group is worth today, including the Norton family.

That's part of the reason the stations are on the auction block to determine their worth. But radio-TV complexes the size of WAVE in other similar cities are selling for as much Insurance agencies designated by certain public and party officials," a federal prosecutor said in an affidavit last Such commission-sharing, for which recipient agencies performed "no services whatsoever," has been "commonplace in Kentucky for a number of years," the prosecutor said. Brown said yesterday that "the time has come to stop the practice of trading political support for insurance business." And he predicted that a new system will save the state money. Brown named these "insurance professionals" to the committee: Charles M. Moore Jr.

of Charles Moore Insurance, Bowling Green; John W. Causey of Causey-Springer Insurance Henderson; Eric S. Tachau of Harris Louisville; Hendree B. Mil-ward of Powell-Walton-Mllward Lexington; and William R. Boston of Dairymen Louisville.

Brown said they would receive ex Staff Mwla by Oall Pltkar look for extra revenue to add 28 teachers to the middle schools. If those additions could be made, it would bring the teacher-student ratio in the middle schools down to 25 to 1. That was the goal set when the board adopted the plan for a new middle school curriculum. The extra teachers were not included in the proposed budget because of a lack of funds and a need to keep a $2 million reserve to meet unexpected contingencies, according to school officials. The 28 additional teachers would cost about $475,000.

Sen. Ford, U.S. official to speak to coal task force LEXINGTON, Ky. AP) U.S. Sen.

Wendell Ford, and Jerry Pfeffer, assistant administrator of the U.S. Department of Energy, are scheduled to speak at the next meeting of the Interstate Coal Task Force on April 11. The meeting is scheduled at the Kentucky Department of Energy building on Iron Works Pike. The task force was formed late last year to convey the concern of member states about progress in converting from imported oil to domestic coal. The task force has adopted a resolu tion urging congressional leaders and administration officials to consider locating synthetic-fuel plants in states that produce high-sulfur coal.

Participating states include Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. By LIVINGSTON TAYLOR Courlar-Journil Staff Wrlttr FRANKFORT, Kyi The state's Insurance business will be studied with an eye toward eliminating politics and using competitive bidding, Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. said yesterday.

Brown named a five-man advisory committee to "evaluate the state's insurance needs and recommend a comprehensive program for the purchase of insurance that will include the use of competitive bidding." No date was set for completion of the study, but Insurance Commissioner Danny Briscoe said "every effort will be made" to have a recommendation on the state's group life policy by June 30. That is when the current policy with Kentucky Central Life Insurance Co. expires, The state spends several million dol lars a year on vrij bus types of insur ance, including gfaiip life, health, fire Kay Lowe, the graphics manager County Board of Education, took School board By CAROLYN COLWELL Courltr-Joumal Staff Wrlttr The Jefferson County Board of Education approved a $197.4 million operating budget for next year including amended job descriptions at 1:15 a.m. today. The meeting that began at 6 p.m.

continued after the budget vote in executive session on a personnel matter. After an earlier one-hour executive session and a two-hour public hearing attended by about 100 people, the board began a detailed discussion of the job descriptions for 49 new positions In the budget proposals. Several changes in the descriptions were made by the board. Earlier in the evening Milburn Mau-pin, former superintendent of the Louisville school district and now executive director of the Jefferson County Association of School Administrators, alleged that some of the descriptions had been tailored to the qualifications of specific individuals. One of the most debated changes was the amendment made to the job description for the new coordinator of the advance program.

Board member Bill Stites apparently coached by parents from the advance program advisory group made a motion to require a minimum of three years of teaching experience and a minimum of three years teaching experience with gifted students or three years experience supervising programs for gifted students. This change in the proposed job description apparently would make the present director of the advance program eligible Lr A of the Jefferson night in the hall outside the board's meeting. The a few notes last meeting lasted until early this morning. passes budget for next year Continued from Page 1 ries and fears about any housecleaning of the 200 people who work at WAVE and the 300 at Orion's other stations. "They told us that any buyer would be bound by federal law on pensions and that they would certainly honor union agreements and other contracts with employees," said one employee.

The contracts issue is kind of moot anyway. Any sale or merger is probably at least two years off. It would take that much time to negotiate a deal and get Federal Communications Commission approval. By that time most contracts would have run out and a new employer might be present at the bargaining table. WAVE employees weren't biting their fingernails off yesterday.

They were talkative, but didn't want to put their feelings on the record for either an old or new boss. "Look," said one young employee, "This is broadcasting a here-today, gone-tomorrow business no matter who owns the station." 'I'll probably be working at some 30 groups say Carter budget hurts the poor The elderly, minorities, women and children the people at the bottom of the United States' economic barrel will suffer from President Carter's proposed fiscal 1981 budget, a coalition of groups said in Louisville yesterday. The 30 organizations protesting the budget Included social workers, teachers, inner-city residents and representatives of labor groups. The meeting, one of many held across the nation yesterday, was coordinated by the National Women's Political Caucus and the National Organization for Women. Other groups joining the protest were the National Association of Social Workers, the Kentucky Nurses Association, Federally Employed Women and the Women's Equity Action League.

On Monday, Carter sent Congress a budget for the next fiscal year that he says will reduce inflation by balancing the federal budget. He also says lt will provide the largest surplus in history. The proposed budget calls for increased defense spending and cuts in social-service programs such as education, health and welfare-reform. Carter has said his plan is "the best thing I can do for the poor," since they are hurt most by 582-2211 to subscribe to The Courier-Journal to apply for the new coordinator's position, which is a lower-level job. However, in other cases amendments to job descriptions by the board appeared to establish requirements that fit the job and proposed salary level regardless of the incumbent's qualifications.

Eight of the 33 speakers during the two-hour public hearing protested the change in leadership of the advance program. Other speakers expressed concern about the budget proposal to abolish the division of human and community relations. Some of the functions would be transferred to two coordinators in the superintendent's office and others to an assistant director of student relations and an assistant director of student activities. The proposed reorganization eliminates the position of assistant superintendent for human and community relations. Alderman W.

J. Hodge, Marie Abrams of the National Council of Jewish Women and Joseph Miller, a former school administrator, spoke against eliminating the division and the assistant superintendent position. Miller said he was "shocked" by the proposal. He said it cuts the human relations staff at a time when the system "should be adding staff to combat individual and Institutional racism." "It boggles my mind that you would have the audacity to eliminate this division," he said. Earlier in the evening, the board approved a motion asking the superintendent to use any extra revenue and to Med ica I or Den ta I Assist i ng LATE REGISTRATION Learn an exciting career while helping others in the world of health care.

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