Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 7

rrrr j- The Arizona Republic Tuesday, August 5, 1980 and Valley City landfills by Salt are risks to healthf state suit charges! County OKs senior-citizen zoning areas By Pamela Manson Southeast Valley Bureau Maricopa County's first senior- citizen zoning, permitted under a ordinance, was ap ides, arsenic, cyanide, phosphates and pesticides. The lawsuit accuses the city of violating the terms of a Dec. 27, 1979, consent order in which it agreed to correct these and other Judge Ed Hughes of Maricopa County Superior Court will conduct a hearing at 9 a.m. Aug. 18 on a request by the Department of Heakh Services to force the city to abide by the terms of the consent order, Ron Jensen, city public-works director, said Monday-the city has made a good-faith effort to comply with the consent order but has run into unforeseen delays in receiving consulting studies and letting out contract bids.

"We are all frustrated," Jensen said. "I think that state officials are feeling pressure from the EPA, and they feel that by going to court it would apply more pressure on Jensen said the 19th Avenue landfill has been closed for about 1 Vt years and the 16th Street dumping ground is scheduled to be closed by Nov. 12. j. By Brent Whiting Republic Staff State health officials have filed suit accusing the city of Phoenix of creating possible health hazards and pollution problems because of its operation of three landfills near the Salt River.

The garbage dumping grounds are at 16th Street, 19th Avenue and 27th Avenue, and the Arizona Department of Health Services contends in the suit that the landfills constitute a public nuisance. According to the suit filed Friday, dangerous levels of methane gas are being generated by waste decomposition at the 16th Street and 19th Avenue sites. The suit says the gas is toxic and highly explosive and may migrate underground to nearby buildings and residences. The suit says gas emissions and general-disposal operations at the 16th Street and 27th Avenue sites are causing severe odors. The suit adds that the city has failed to sample ground-water monitoring wells at all three sites for potential contaminants such as fluor "lyi OT'U 'f 1, Assessed values rise $268 million in county proved 4-1 Monday by the Board of Supervisors for parts of Dreamland Villa and Ahwatukee.

Supervisor George Campbell, who voted for the zoning, also requested an opinion from the county attorney's office on the constitutionality of the ordinance. The county attorney's office issued a 1978 opinion stating that exclusive zoning appeared to have some support based on recent court decisions. Campbell insisted upon an updated version, however. "I have no problem with having a community for adults," he said. "I i think we're going to inherit some problems with this, though.

Putting Jin this overlay (zoning) is questionable. It's better when it's new zoning." i Also voting in fivor of the ordinance were Supervisors Tom Free-stone, Fred Koory and Hawley I Atkinson. Supervisor Ed Pastor said he voted against the zoning because "it is unconstitutional and unenforceable." Under the zoning ordinance, adopted in May 1979, at least one member of a household must be 50, and no one under 18 may live in zoned areas longer than 90 days. I The measure is known as overlay zoning because it does not affect existing zoning ordinances. The county Planning and Zoning Commission in June recommended denying the zoning.

The new zoning affects all 18 subdivisions and adjacent parcels that make up Dreamland Villa, which is within an area strip-annexed by Mesa last falL There are 5,200 residents in Dreamland Villa. It also affects about half of Ahwatukee, or 12 subdivisions that currently are deeded for senior citizens only. Ahwatukee is south of Phoenix within an area strip-annexed by the city. There are 6,000 people living in Ahwatukee. Only counties have the authority to apply senior-citizen zoning so it is uncertain what will happen if Dreamland Villa and Ahwatukee are annexed by the respective cities.

I The ordinance makes an age violation a misdemeanor to be prosecuted by the county. Chester Perkins, chairman of the zoning committee for the Dreamland Villa community club, said residents want to protect the lifestyle there. Although all original buyers signed agreements saying they would not rent or sell to young adults, there have been some violations as the property changed hands, he said. James Decker, a Dreamland Villa resident, said the zoning is discriminatory. "You're segregating according to age," he said.

"You don't have the authority to limit the visits of family members to 90 days." Robert Shiveley, an Ahwatukee resident, said, "The age restriction would affect my responsibility to take care of my grandchildren in case of an emergency." Nearly 80 percent of the property owners in each of the two areas signed petitions. By Beverly Medlyn Republic Staff Maricopa County's primary assessed valuation has increased $268.5 million from $3.5 billion last year to $3.8 billion this year mainly because of new Valley construction. County Assessor Ken Kunes forwarded assessed-valuation figures Monday to the Board of Supervisors, which will set the county tax rate-Aug. 18. Ted Nix, county finance director, expects the tax rate to go down from last year's $2.30 per $100 assessed valuation.

Nix said the reduction will Peter SchwepkerRepuMic Hold the line Shami Khan, 15, a visitor from California, swings over the waters of Oak Creek just before letting go of her rope and plunging in. Shami was cooling off recently at Grasshopper Point, north of Sedona. Judge to review Adamson assault-charge ruling Attorney is trying to prevent trial in brutal beating of talent agent Boros beaten because the talent agent had an affair with Tanner's wife. Adamson testified that he lured Boros to the hotel, and that Robison and Tanner then brutally beat him. Boros' testimony coincided with Adamson's account.

Adamson, Robison and Tanner, who since has died, all were charged in the beating in late 1976. Charges against Adamson were dropped after he struck his deal with prosecutors in January 1977. Adamson signed the plea agreement after confessing to the June 1976 murder of Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles. His testimony in the murder case led to the convictions of Robison and Max Dunlap, but the state Supreme Court overturned those convictions last February. Adamson subsequently refused to testify again for the state unless he was given a better deal than the 20-year and two-month prison term to which he agreed in 1977.

Because of his refusal to testify, the state high court on May 29 set his plea agreement aside and ordered him to face trial in the Bolles murder. The state contended that since the plea agreement no longer is in force, neither is Adamson's grant of immunity in the Boros case. William Feldhacker, Adamson's court-appointed attorney, said the state had no right to reinstate charges against his client in the beating. Feldhacker said when the beating charges against Adamson were dismissed, it was with the understanding that they never could be refiled. Furthermore, Feldhacker said, he does not accept the state high court's decision that Adamson breached his plea agreement He has filed a petition in U.S.

District Court challenging the Supreme Court's decision. Feldhacker said he did not have a chance to argue his case orally to French before the judge reinstated the beating charges against Adamson. Feldhacker said he requested oral arguments on July 17, not knowing French had issued his ruling the previous day. It is unlikely that Adamson's trial in the Boros beating will begin as scheduled Sept 2. Adamson's murder trial will start Aug.

28 in Tucson. Robison, a Chandler plumber, is serving a 29-year sentence in the Arizona State Prison for his part in the Boros beating. Tanner died of cancer in June 1977, two days before he. was to be sentenced. By Bruce N.

Tomaso Republic Staff A Maricopa County judge agreed Monday to reconsider a ruling that reinstated charges against John Harvey Adamson in the 1975 beating of a Scottsdale talent agent Superior Court Judge Michael Bradford will hear arguments Aug. 22 on a motion by Adamson 's attorneys to halt his trial in the beating of Les Boros. The trial is scheduled to start Sept 2. Assault and related charges were reinstated against Adamson on July 16 by Criminal Presiding Judge David French on a request by the state attorney general's office. The state contended Adamson should be tried in the beating because he reneged on a 1977 plea agreement in which he was granted immunity for his part in the crime.

Adamson's testimony that year helped convict James Robison and Peoria rancher Stan Tanner of assaulting Boros in a Scottsdale hotel room Feb. 24, 1975. According to Adamson, Tanner wanted result partly from 'the gain in property values and partly from the voter-approved tax-relief package devised by the Legislature. County officials had feared dhe revisions would hurt their tax base because assessed values for nearly all property classes were reduced. For example, the assessed valuation for homes now is 10 percent of full cash value, a reduction from the.

previous level of 15 percent. But because of new homes built in the Valley this year, there is more property to tax. The result is a Assessed, B2 ct POLICY BENEFITS Insurance company agrees to stop misrepresenting benefits of its supplemental Medicare insurance policies. B2. CLOSURES OPPOSED Citizens and legislators urge the Phoenix Union High School District not to close three high schools.

B3. BRIDGE TRAFFIC The number of cars able to cross a flooded Salt River could double by 1983 after bridges are completed. B4. JUDGES ENDORSED A lawyers' survey shows three Superior Court judges in Pima County are recommended for retention in the falL B5. The Transportation Department has been hit hard by the decline in gas-tax revenues, which is attributed to a shift by many Arizonans to smaller cars that get higher gas mileage.

Similar problems are being experienced around the nation. The department's latest projection of revenues from Arizona's 8-cent-a-' gallon gas tax during the next five years is $147 million. Last year's revenue estimate was $229 million over five years. The state's portion of the Highway User Revenue Fund, which gets most of its money from the gas tax, finances the Transportation Department's highway-related operations and its highway-maintenance and construction program. The expected $8.5 million savings from the staff reduction will be transferred from operations to highway construction in the 1981 budget The cutback applies to every division of the department except, aeronautics, which is financed by aviation revenues.

Of the 203 jobs being eliminated 133 will be lost in the Highways Division, the largest in the agency; Other divisions experiencing staff reductions are Motor Vehicle, Transportation Planning, Administrative Services and the director's office. a I Today JP says ruling reduces courts' independence State's transit agency will abolish 203 posts ml Dave W-f 11 Hicks Bricks, mortar help bind father, son By John Schroeder Northern Arizona Bureau PINETOP A Pinetop justice of the peace has lost a Superior Court challenge of the Navajo County Board of Supervisors' control over his court's budget The ruling, handed down July 16, affects the independence of justice courts in Arizona to control their own operations, Justice of the Peace Ryan Reinhold said Monday. "The significance of this trial was that in every case involving Superior Courts, the rulings have always been in favor of the courts and against interference by the supervisors," Reinhold said. "Justice courts should have this same control, especially since our workload has doubled in the past three years." At issue is the board's refusal to approve Reinhold's $8,160 budget request to retain one of his two court clerics after federal funding expired. The question, said Reinhold, who was answering, the telephone and typing docket entries Monday, "is can the board control the operation of the justice court by cutting the court's budget?" "The damage to me is done," said Reinhold.

"I lost my clerk and we're limping along." He said he has had to eliminate qpne court services and be less flexible in adjusting the court's schedule for lawyers and the public. Reinhold's petition said the board obstructed his legal duties by refusing to fund his total salary-budget request and that there must be a separation of powers. Visiting Gila County Superior Court Judge Edward L. Dawson said his ruling was based not so much on the reasonableness of the request, but whether the board was being arbitrary and capricious in the way it divided the budget funds. "It was my judgment," he said, "that there was nothing arbitrary and capricious about the budget as adopted by the county." Dawson said justice courts are not constitutionally endowed courts and do not enjoy the same inherent powers held by Superior and Supreme courts.

I Reinhold disagreed, saying justice courts are constitutionally endowed and are required by law to fulfill certain duties. Reinhold said the danger is that funds needed by the court to effectively administer justice could be given to another county department Navajo County Supervisor Johnny Butler of Winslow said the board funded only two new positions in the county because of a voter-approved tax-reform package that curtails expenduures. By John Leach Republic Staff The Arizona Department of Transportation will eliminate 203 jobs in the next two months as the agency struggles to cover an $8.5 million shortfall in revenues from the gasoline tax, officials said Monday. The staff-reduction plan calls for the elimination by Oct 1 of 178 full-time jobs and 25 temporary positions, all but 15 through attrition and transfers within the agency. Department officials said the 15 jobs are expected to be eliminated through a reduction-in-force procedure that gives the employees an opportunity to move to other jobs in state government at close to the same pay.

The department has about 4,000 employees. Transportation Director William Ordway said in a press release that the staff cutback is needed to finance highway construction during the 1981 fiscal year because -gas-tax revenues are declining. Ordway was attending a convention in Idaho and was unavailable for comment Officials have been working on the istaff-reduction plan since April and now are preparing a proposed fiscal 1982 budget with similar cuts in programs and staff. The budget request will be buLcittcd to the Legislature in January. BITSOFTID: The note left for his father, EA Marshall Jr.

of Phoenix, betrayed no little apprehension on the part of 16-year-old Scott Marshall: "Dad, please do not become very angry with me, because last night I broke part of the brick wall down in the driveway. "I have already made plans for Dave and Jim and Mark (friends) to help me reconstruct the wall. Please try not to be too angry. Love, Scott" It didn't matter that Scott was covering for a friend who had caused the damage while visiting. The appeal was effective.

"Scott's friends were there bright and early the next morning," noted Marshall "The job took them all day." Was Dad "too angry?" Na He even loaned the construction crew enough money to purchase the necessary mortar. Rather, Marshall observed proudly, "When there is communication like that, kids are really neat" OVERHEARD: On KOY's Mi chael Dixon talk show, a caller suggested that Jimmy Carter is suffering a severe case of Billyache. OUR UNSUNG, unpaid and unidentified poet laureate, known only as Longchap, weighs in once again with this Iranian prospective: "Every day I fly my flag, I think, it's really great, to show the world I love this land, and also this great state. "Lately, though, it's at half-staff it isn't regulation but that is where it's going to stay, through our country's degradation. "I hope we can get everyone who shows a flag each day, to also show his feelings, and fly it in this way.

"We might just start a custom that will spread across our nation, and show our Mr. Carter he's only on probation." VACATION MEMO: You know the beaches in California are overcrowded when you put a sesshell up to yoiir ear and the line's busy..