Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 7

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC POISON CENTERS The state Legislature is providing money to keep two poispn centers open. B2. IRON LADY Former prime minister of Bri-tan visits Valley. B6. 8 TUESDAY MAY 3, 1994 Editor, Laurie Roberts 271-8222 bLaL3blr3t)L3L3LlLaLDLnLaL3L3L3L3L3 if 1J Pi i tate sues 'By God, when I go after somebody I go after them9 Quartzsite mayor's deal on tape US.

over expenses Map Parker garea DarnJp Phoenix "-f Parker WW s. I 5 miles 1 S5 rAU 5km -95-yu Quartzsite Ehrenberg br aliens By Gail Tabor The Arizona Republic Quartzsite Mayor Rex Byrd, who has been charged in a murder-for-hire plot against a political enemy, was caught on tape trying to recruit a newspaper publisher to help him "get" his rival, according to' court documents. The documents show the depths of Byrd's dislike for former Mayor Richard Oldham and add even more fuel to the controversy, which has kept the western Arizona community in an uproar since Byrd was arrested in March and accused of plotting to kill Oldham. At the center of the latest revelation is a transcript of an audiotape secretly recorded in 1992 by Jim Loyd, publisher of The Gem newspaper. In the transcript, Byrd, who had sued the paper for libel, says he will drop the suit if Loyd will help him get Oldham.

In one part of the conversation, Byrd tells Loyd, "You help me get that (SOB), and you're off the hook. That simple. Completely off the hook." Later, Byrd refers to the lawsuit and says, "We can drop it in a minute It will cost me a little money, but by God, when I go after somebody, I go after them." Shortly after the tape was made, The Gem switched its allegiance from Oldham to Byrd. "Richard Oldham walked on water, and Rex Byrd was the devil incarnate," said a source who asked not be identified by name. "After the lawsuit, everything was reversed." The suit was settled out of court and dismissed at Byrd's request.

The transcript was unearthed in La Paz County Courthouse by Byrd critic John Harvey, a former columnist with the La Paz County Sun-Times, a newspaper that competes with The Gem. In another development, The Gem, which recently filed a $110 million suit against the Sun-Times, reported Thursday that its office was burglarized the weekend of April 23-24. The only thing taken was a copy of the transcript, it said. Oldham and Byrd have been feuding for nearly a decade, and the animosity between the two is virulent. Byrd, who became mayor in an August recall election aimed at then-Mayor Oldham, was arrested March 12 and charged with attempted first-degree murder.

Department of Public Safety investigators said Byrd and an accomplice, Robert Kenneth Bacon, tried to hire a hit man for $10,000 to murder Oldham. Florida law-enforcement records show that Bacon had at least eight felony arrests from 1973 to 1986. The charges included aggravated assault and homicide. Both men were indicted by a grand jury. The trial is scheduled to begin May 17.

Gus WalkerThe Arizona Republic Learning about their own backyard yji v-. It a A- mm 1 4 WWW. Seeks $121 million to cover incarceration By Mary Jo Pitzl The Arizona Republic State officials sued the federal government Monday to recover more than $121 million they say Arizona is owed for imprisoning illegal aliens. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, makes good a long-standing threat by state officials and adds Arizona to the growing pack of states suing the federal government over illegal-immigration costs.

The lawsuit cites the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which says that states should be reimbursed for the costs of imprisoning any illegal alien convicted of a felony. "We have a law on the books that says the feds will pay for our costs to incarcerate illegal aliens," said Attorney General Grant Woods, whose office filed the suit. "We've really limited it to that." Florida led the charge last month, seeking $884 million. Last week, California sought $2 billion in a separate lawsuit. "This has nothing to do with ethnicity," said Gov.

Fife Symington, one of the plaintiffs in Arizona's suit. "We are asking Washington to pay us for the tremendous cost of this on our state." Arizona's suit seeks $55 million to recoup the costs of housing illegal aliens in state prisons over the past two years. It also seeks $66 million to cover prison-construction costs. The suit alleges that if Arizona did not have to house 1,760 undocumented immigrant felons, it could have avoided building the equivalent of two state prisons. In addition, the suit seeks $32,000 for parole-supervision costs and $41,610 for each illegal juvenile handled by the state Department of Youth Treatment and Rehabilitation.

The suit does not specify how many juveniles that involves. Along with Symington, the plaintiffs are Sam Lewis, director of the state Department of Corrections, and Eugene Moore, director of the youth-rehabilitation department. Named as defendants are U.S. Attorney Janet Reno, Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner, and Leon Panetta, director of the Office of Management and Budget. Woods and Symington said the state likely will file other lawsuits to recover Arizona taxpayer dollars spent on issues related to illegal immigration, such as education and See STATE, page B2 fJ7 S3 Jii1' 4 5 'Vt More than 160 children (left) from three inner-city schools watch as Igor, a great horned owl, is shown to them at the raptor exhibit in Desert Botanical Garden on Monday during the Day in the Desert program, sponsored by the garden and Broadway.

Patricia Perez (above), 9, a fourth-grader at Ann Ott Elementary School, pounds mesquite pods into flour with a metate at an exhibit on the plants and people of the Sonoran Desert Each child got an octopus agave plant to take home, complete with care instructions. 9 It Photos by John SamoraThe Arizona Republic COMING UP Biker killed, cyclist hurt in hit-and-runs WEDNESDAY A special session on children's issues planned for Monday never came off because many Republican legislators viewed the plan as a liberal, Democratic idea. By Jim Walsh The Arizona Republic A Scottsdale motorcyclist was killed in a hit-and-run accident Monday, about 1 1 hours after a Mesa girl was injured in another hit-and-run. Eugene Charles Ermis, 25, was killed when his motorcycle was struck from behind in Tempe shortly after 6 a.m. At 7 p.m.

Sunday, Kathy Harwood, 10, was hit by a pickup truck while riding her bicycle in Mesa. Her condition was upgraded Monday to fair from critical at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Suspects were arrested in each case. The accidents were at least the third and fourth hit-and-runs since April 12, when Christopher "Kipp" Turner and Carl Voss were killed. In the latest cases, Tempe police John Cocca, a spokesman for the Scottsdale Police Department.

Drivers "have to be held accountable for their actions," he said. Neighbors were appalled that the girl was left bleeding in the 1300 block of South Hobson Street after she was struck while riding her bicycle. "I can't imagine a person leaving a child lying there in the street," said Nancy Seddon, who saw the pickup. pass her house but did not witness; the collision. "He (the driver) backed up and pulled around" to flee the $cenc, she said.

Art Alvarez, a neighbor of the Harwood family, said the hit-and-runs show a "disregard of life." "People (are) starting not to respect life in general," he said. "They're just tracked down Fleance Lee Clay, 28, about three hours after Ermis was killed. Clay denied responsibility, police said. Meanwhile, family pressure prompted Julio Apodaca, 20, of Mesa, to turn himself in after he admitted fleeing the scene where the girl was struck, police said. He surrendered at police headquarters as officers arrived at his residence to search his pickup, said Sgt.

Mark Mitchell, a Mesa police spokesman. "Apparently, the family put the pressure on him to do the right thing," Mitchell said. Police say that the number of recent hit-and-runs is coincidental and that such accidents always have been a problem. "I think the reasons for leaving the scene are varied, but the act of leaving the scene is highly irresponsible," said Sgt. getting used to the violence." The girl's family would not comment.

Mitchell said Apodaca told police he fled because he "just got scared." "He had a suspended driver's license and some other problems with the vehicle," Mitchell said. Apodaca admitted fault when he surrendered, Mitchell said. "He told me he ran her over," he said. If Apodaca had remained at the scene, he likely would have been arrested only for a driving on a suspended license, a misdemeanor, Mitchell said. Instead, he is accused of leaving the scene of an injury accident, a felony.

In the Tempe fatality, Ermis was stopped at a traffic light at Scottsdale and See BIKER, page B2 Council may scrap development fees in southwest Phoenix Cindy Resnick enters Senate race Cindy Resnick The Tucson Democrat is one of two women seeking Sen. Dennis DeConcini's seat. By Abraham wok Th Arizona Republic The supermarket chain Smith's opted to build a distribution warehouse in Tolleson instead of Phoenix. So did competitor Albertson's Inc. The reasons may have been many, but Phoenix officials suspect the companies wanted to avoid a development fee that in each case would have topped $20,000.

So Phoenix just may eliminate the fee for development in the southwestern section of the city. The City Council will vote on the proposal Wednesday. The city's "fiscal-impact fees" are collected to offset the cost for such services as water, police and fire protection, and parks and recreation. The fees work well in areas where housing developments are exploding, such as in the city's northern edges. But, city officials said, it's a different story in Phoenix's westernmost region, an area geared more toward industrial and commercial development than residential projects.

Growth in the area has been anemic, largely because businesses choose to relocate to nearby cities that do not impose similar impact fees, officials said. The fees seem especially unreasonable, given the lower costs of providing services to large businesses, as compared with homes, officials said. "We're not talking about libraries and parks" in industrial areas, said David Kreitor, who oversees Phoenix's economic development. "The fee sends a message for businesses to go to Tolleson and other adjoining communities," Kreitor said, Mand that's not the message we should be sending." Kreitor says it is not known how much new industry Phoenix might attract by eliminating the fees, but he contends that the figure would amount to significantly more than the $200,000 the city has collected in such fees over the past five yean. By Mary Jo Pltzl The Arizona Republic State Senate Minority Leader Cindy Resnick entered the Democratic primary for the U.S.

Senate on Monday, citing her tics to the community and her experience in medical issues as her chief qualifications. "Oftentimes, we are not well-represented by our Washington representatives," Resnick, 44, said in a morning news conference in Phoenix. "I think it's important we bring the issues back home." Resnick joins a crowded field seeking to replace Sen. Dennis DcConcini, who is finishing his last term before retirement. Resnick, a Tucson resident, is one of two women in the race.

State Rep. Cathy Eden of Phoenix declared her candidacy in February. Open congressional scats usually draw the interest of women's groups, but "Emily's List," one of the key organizations support' ing Democratic fcmule candidates, has not made an endorsement in this race. The National Organization for Women already is backing Eden, saying she has exhibited more leadership on women's issues Resnick said her work on the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's alternative program to Medicaid, gives her an advantage in undemanding one of the key issues on Capitol Hill today. Through the National Conference of State Legislatures, she worked with the Clinton White House on mapping health-reform strategy.

Resnick said she backs the key goals of Clinton's health-care plan: universal coverage and early intervention. However, she said, work needs to be done to ensure that small- and medium-size businesses aren't overburdened with health expenses. "I think Congress needs to spend more time talking with small business and less with GM," she said, referring to General Motors, one of the nation's largest corporations. Resnick, who represents north Tucson, served four terms in the Arizona House and has been in the Senate for two terms. She repeated her announcement at a mxm press conference in Tucson, which she said will be the geographic base of her support.

in the past year than Resnick did. Tricia Primrose, a spokeswoman for Emily's List, said it is unclear whether the group will choose between Eden and Resnick. Earlier this year, she said it was certain the group would back a candidate. Emily's List Emily is an acronym for "early money is like yeast" identifies female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights and tries to funnel money to them early in their campaigns to give them a chance to compete with presumably better-funded male candidates. Resnick said she is not counting on Emily's List money.

She's banking on lots of small, in-state contributions, she said, estimating that she would raise one-third to one-half the amount her rivals would. She discounted those who say she and Eden were hurting each other by being in the same race. "Nobody ever suggests that (Dick) Mahtv ncy and (Sjm) Coppersmith are killing each other, and 'hcy're both in the race," she said, referring to two higher-profile men in the primary. CROWDED FIELD Other Democrats in tha U.S. Senate race: Sam Coppersmith, U.S.

representative from the 1st District. Cathy Eden, state representative from central Phoenix. Dick Mahoney, Arizona secretary of state. Dave Moss, Phoenix-area businessman and frequent Democratic candidate. Richard Sherzan, Mesa law clerk, 1992 Democratic candidate for U.S.

Senate..