The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 16

16A THE DES MOINES REGISTER Feb. 16, 1985 Report urges continuing contractors5 aid program Woman sues over removal of a pancreas By JANE NORMAN Despite past problems, the city should continue the small contractors' assistance program for another year with a budget of $110,000, the city manager's office will recommend to the City Council Monday. The program was designed to help small contractors and minority- and female-run contractors gain technical and financial expertise so they could compete better with large contractors. It has been criticized because few participated, according to a report by the manager's office. The program's "early ineffectiveness" was because it was assigned to no single city department for 15 months after it was started, the report said.

The report also notes that little money was spent after during the time spent getting the program on its feet "Undoubtedly, the benefit as it relates to numbers of participants in the past has been somewhat disappointing," the report said, but the "potential of benefit both to small and general contractors in the city of Des Moines is significant" Also, small contractors and those run by women and members of minority groups still need aid, according to the report Because of that the report said, the council should support the city's Human Rights Commission "in its attempt to establish a defendable track record in implementing this program." Also, the city's budget and research deparment will monitor the program, according to the report. If the council approves, the program this year would help participants learn to read blueprints, manage projects, prepare bids and understand contracts, among other activities. Also, a contract with Drake University to provide instruction in record-keeping principles and tax procedures would be expanded to include 35 participants. And a bid security fund would aid contractors who need financial help. Indiana company to buy Des Moines' KCBR-TV ByDAVERHEIN MtftsJw TV dMr The president of Independence Broadcasting Corp.

of Des Moines said Friday an agreement has been signed to sell television station KCBR-TV to Duchossois Communications Co. of Bloomington, for $8.3 million. William Trout president and one of four partners who own Independence Broadcasting, announced the sale less than two months after a deal fell through to sell the Des Moines independent station to Citadel Communications Co. for $9 million. Rolland C.

Johnson, president of Duchossois Communications, said KCBR will become his firm's first television station. The broadcasting company, which began operations in 1982, owns radio stations WASK AM-FM in Lafayette, and KDAL-AM in Duluth, Minn. Another radio station, KDAL-FM, is under construction in Duluth. "Channel 17 will become a flagship station of our growing communications company," said Johnson. "In my judgment the Des Moines area is an attractive market for us, and we look forward to becoming part of the community." Garage Door Openers Duchossois Communications is a wholly owned subsidiary of Duchossois Enterprises, which Johnson says is the world's largest maker of garage door openers.

The company makes Chamberlain garage door openers that are sold by Sears Roebuck and Co. Johnson says he is planning to make very few chang a at KCBR. Neither the call letters nor the station management will change. He does expect to strengthen the station's program schedule and engage in more promotional activity than KCBR has in the past "We are very proud of what KCBR has done in the marketplace and expect to build on that foundation. We think it's a very strong foundation," said Johnson, who added that KCBR's present owners will continue as consultants for the new owners.

The $8.3 million cash purchase price did not include Independence Broadcasting's license and construction permit to build a UHF television station in Waterloo. Trout indicated that property may be sold separately but did not rule out the possibility that his company would build the station. The sale of KCBR is subject to approval of the Federal Communications Commission. Deal Went Sour On Nov. 1, Independence Broadcasting announced the sale of KCBR-TV to Citadel Communication, which is headed by Philip Lombardo of Bronx-ville, N.Y.

At that time, a $300,000 good-faith deposit was made by Citadel. In December, however, the deal went sour. On Dec. 28, Independence Broadcasting filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Citadel and was granted a court order barring Lombardo from removing the $300,000 from a Des Moines bank. Trout said Friday the $300,000 remains on deposit in Des Moines and action is still pending on that suit KCBR-TV went on the air in March 1983 at an estimated start-up cost of $2.8 million.

Along with Trout other partners in Independence Broadcasting are Ray Gazzo, Joe Coppola and Carl Goldsberry, all of Des Plunge in farmland value worse here than elsewhere By ANNE CAROTHERS-KAY Rcftttar Stiff WiiNf A Winterset woman seeks $600,000 from a local correctional unit and two of its directors, claiming in a lawsuit Friday that she was denied medical assistance that could have prevented the removal of an organ. Darlene Foland's petition in Polk County District Court claims officials at the Fort Des Moines Correctional Facility denied her prescription medicine and a prescribed diet to treat a condition caused by the fact that she was born with two pancreases. Poland claims that because she was denied the medical aid, she had to have one pancreas removed in July 1982. She claims the state and officials violated her constitutional rights and were negligent in caring for her while she was in their custody. The lawsuit accuses the facility, its former director, Gary Rosburg, and the assistant director, Hazel Wesley.

Rosburg and Wesley could not be reached at the facility Friday. James "Bud" Kilman, director of community corrections for the Iowa Department of Corrections, said Foland has tried to collect directly from the state. Kilman declined to comment because the lawsuit has begun. Foland's petition says she filed a claim with the State Appeal Board but withdrew it when no action had been 1 taken after six months. Foland says her two pancreases had not troubled her until February 1982.

Her doctor prescribed medication and a special diet to relieve pain and help prevent further problems. In June 1982, she entered the Fort Des Moines facility and just over a month later she underwent removal of one pancreas. Court documents do not say why she was imprisoned. The petition says Foland has sustained "serious, painful and permanent injuries and disability." She seeks $200,000 from the correctional facility and the two directors to compensate her for medical expenses and pain and suffering. She also seeks $200,000 in punitive damages from Rosburg and Wesley, and $200,000 in punitive damages from the facility.

Kilman said Rosburg had resigned as facility director to practice privately as a psychologist He said the Foland incident had nothing to do with Rosburg's resignation. By BLAIR KAMIN RvftsJtr Stiff WrMtr Farmland prices in Iowa dropped by nearly one-third in 1984, the worst decline among 12 Farm Belt states, a new survey shows. A report accompanying the survey, completed by Landowner Newsletter of Cedar Falls, calls the drop in prices "a near-twin to the crash of 1932-'S3" but says the farmland market is "approaching a low." The Landowner survey shows the cost per acre for average-yield corn acreage in Iowa fell 32 percent during 1381. The report accompanying the survey said that since 1981 Iowa farmland has lost about 61 percent of the value it gained between 1972 and 1981. The survey is based on more than 2,000 replies from farmers and brokers in Illinois, North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Kansas, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Missouri and from 950 Iowans.

The Landowner survey showed Minnesota farmland suffered the second highest drop during 1984, with average-yield corn acreage declining 26 percent In general, Nebraska land declined less in value than Minneso D.L1. schools plan to spend $111 million By MARK HORSTMEYER RvOhtor Sttff Wftttr The Des Moines School District pro. poses to spend more than $111 million during the 1985-86 school year to edtP cate its 31,000 students and would need a tax increase to do it i The proposed budget reflects a 3.8 percent or $3,840,908, increase over the 1984-85 school year, Officials estimate that the tax rate would rise from the current $12.71 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $12.99 next school year the first time the, rate has increased in four years and only the second time since 1976, according to Roger Hudson, district controller and treasurer. A property owner with a home valued at $60,000 for tax purposes would pay $502 next year in school taxes; compared with $471 this year, after the tax formula and the homestead exemption are applied. The school tax is only part of the total tax bill property owners will pay.

Part of the reason for the tax rate increase is the $1,934,506 the district proposes to receive in local property tax revenue for the gifted and talented and drop-out prevention programs that are continuing from this year, and the educational improvement project, which will be new. The Legislature allows school districts to collect property taxes above their regular budgets to finance the three programs. Hudson also said that a change in state revenue also had an impact oh increasing the tax rate. The state has decided to direct money collected in court fines into the treasury rather than distribute it to school districts directly as in past years. To make up for that switch, the state allowed districts to tax for that amount The bulk of the proposed budget is the $102 million in the operating fund.

The largest chunk of that fund $89,324,760, or 87.6 percent goes for salaries and employee It's down slightly from the current operating fund. Hudson characterized the tentative budget as top-heavy in expenses on employees and light on capital outlay, although that fund would increase from $616,162 currently to $1,126,832 in 198546, a 83 percent raise. "Still, we have an awful lot of need for improvements and equipment and we can't meet that need," Hudson said. "What growth we've gotten, we've put into salaries through negotiation." t1 He noted that many school buses need to be replaced, but the district will be unable to replace them. The operating fund also reflects a net gain of 5.5 staff positions.

The proposes cutting 13 positions at the transitional school level one assistant principal and 12 teachers. Elementary schools will show the addition of five teachers and two counselors and the elimination of one principal and one educational coordinator. The senior high schools show a gain of 1.5 positions the addition of 2.5 counselors and the cut of one Here is a breakdown of the major revenue and expenditure categories for the proposed 1985-86 budget, which the board will be asked to approve tentatively Tuesday for the purposes of publication and public hearing: Revenue: Property taxes $44,938,198.: State aid Special projects $4,953,467. Area Education Agency 11 $3,970,002. Other revenue $5,219,181.

Carryover from the fund balance Expenses: Instructional programs $66,193,076. Support service programs $35,806,924. Continuing-adult education and recreation programs $1,489,000. Capital outlay $5,800,000. Debt service $1,130,328.

Tort liability $170,000. Unemployment compensation $500,000. Minority fire applicants sought ta's, but average-yield corn acreage dropped 27 percent In Wisconsin, average-yield corn acreage was down 20 percent; in Indiana and Kansas, 18 percent; in 16 percent; in Missouri and Ohio, 14 percent and in Michigan, 11 percent. North Dakota average-yield corn acreage dropped 5 percent; South Dakota fell the least of the 12 states surveyed 3 percent Among the factors contributing to the survey's assessment that the farmland market is "approaching a low" are that prices in many areas have reached a point where a farmer who makes a 20 percent to 30 percent down payment can make the farming operation "cash flow." Also, the report said the "rate of current rental return" on land in the Midwest has almost doubled. The survey also showed that cash rents for farmland remained firm, pushing current average earnings into the 6 percent to 9 percent range.

Iowa cash rent returns, as of Jan. 1, according to the survey, were 7 percent for high quality land, 8 percent for average quality land and 9 percent for low quality land. first serve! So come tO PIDGjEON'S SCRATCH partment's firelighters are supposed to be blacks. Now, 5.7 percent are blacks, and only one firefighter is a woman. There are no entry-level vacancies in the department, but the city needs a list of qualified candidates for eventual hiring, Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Murray said at a press conference at City Hall Friday.

Also at the conference were three of the department's minority firefighters Angelito Bar-ongan, Mary DeLong and LaMont Lovelady. Willie Robinson, equal opportunity administrator for the city, said there are 17 black firefighters and one black fire medic, and four more blacks are needed on the force to match the percentage of blacks living in Des Moines. Robinson said progress is being made. "Black kids, Hispanic kids, are seeing blacks and Hispanics doing Jobs. That's the best recruitment tool we can have.

When you see a fire truck going down the street, odds are you'll see a minority member on that truck," he said. Mayor Pete Crivaro, also at the press conference, urged minority members and women to apply for firefighter jobs. "The city of Des Moines must strive aggressively to ensure the entry and growth of minorities and women in our work force and that equality of opportunity in the city is a fact as well as an ideal," he said, reading from a prepared statement Recruiting will continue until March 29. Candidates must have a high school degree or its equivalent, be between the ages of 18 and 32, have good vision in both eyes and be of appropriate weight for height. The city has a six- to eight-week physical training program to aid applicants in developing flrefighting skills, Robinson said.

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