The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 15

cjtstcr Section Aug. 15, 1985 REGISTER PHOTO BY BOB NANDELL i man, IOWA Prison warden prohibits editorial for black inmates Parents sue over home study rules By JONATHAN ROOS Rtaitttr $tH Writer Two Creston parents who teach their children at home have filed a lawsuit attempting to block new state 4 DES MOINES rules that govern home instruction and private schooling. Documents filed Crnton tfdl. I' tif Si v'J 4 -ly- Liiiu'VwWnr 11 muVMKi fifth By WILLIAM PETROSKI Rttfiter Stiff Writer Black inmates at the Iowa State Penitentiary won't be reading a newsletter editorial this month that encouraged them to take control of their lives and improve themselves. Publication of the editorial was banned by Warden Crispus Nix, who also is black, on the ground that parts of it are racially inflammatory against whites.

The warden's censorship was criticized Wednesday by an attorney for the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, who said it may violate the Constitution, and by a clergyman who works with inmates. Nix, in a memorandum to the editorial's author, said, "I certainly am not going to let you spread the venom that every white person in this institution is racist, just as there are others who think every black person is a crook, shiftless, lazy and has no morals." The editorial, which covered six typed pages, was written by Billy Joe Armento, who also is known as Ameen Yusuf Shakir. Armento is president of the Progressive Black Culture Organization, an inmate group, and he is managing editor of its newsletter, "Focus and Concerns for African-Americans." He is serving a life sentence for the 1975 slaying of Ann Margaret King, 55, in Des Moines. Analysis of Policies The editorial attempted to analyze state and national policies on corrections, and encouraged black prisoners to improve themselves while they are incarcerated. "Too many African-Americans bring the passivity of slavery with them into the prison system," Armento wrote.

"They take the position that many slaves took on the plantation and on the streets of 1985; and that is a position that believes that we cannot do anything more for ourselves than the overseer, guards or Euro-American rulers will let us do. Behind such a belief is fear!" Armento also wrote: "Efforts can be made to eliminate the oppressive- NIX Please turn to Page SM George Kern Charged utith drug-forsex deal State to present surprise witness in drug trial By ANNE CAROTHERS-KAY Prosecutors in the drug trial of Des Moines physician George Kern announced Wednesday that a surprise witness is expected to testify today that for nearly two yean Kern gave her Percodan in exchange for sexual favors. The witness is expected to bolster the state's case, which is based on one incident a vice squad "sting" that Des Moines police were unable to successfully tape record. Kern, 59, of 6012 Waterbury Circle is being tried in Polk County District Court on a charge that he gave 10 tablets of the highly addictive painkiller Percodan to an undercover policewoman, whom he allegedly believed KERN Please turn to Pace CM 0 mm 200 by Gafy ad Chris. tine Berglund in Polk County District Court contend that the Board of Public Instruction should have followed normal rule-making procedures rather than enact emergency rules that took effect immediately.

The rules, which were approved July 11, are intended to clarify a state law that says parents must either send their children to a public school or provide them with "equivalent instruction by a certified teacher elsewhere," which could be in their home or a private school. But critics say the rules are too restrictive and were passed too hastily. The Berglunds have been teaching their 8-year-old daughter, Heather, at home since the fall of 1983. They also have two younger children. The parents say they work with a state-certified teacher and use religious-oriented teaching materials.

The Berglunds allege the state board infringed upon the rights of parents and educators by failing to seek their comments before adopting the rules. They contend that the board could have written such rules years earlier and are rushing them into effect now to bolster their defense in a related federal court case over state regulation of private instruction. One issue in that case is whether state laws on equivalent instruction are unconstitutionally vague. Kathy Collins, a Department of Public Instruction legal consultant, says emergency rules were necessary because the federal case, involving Marshalltown and Keokuk Christian schools, is about to be tried and because the new school year is only weeks away. Collins said the Board of Public Instruction didn't act sooner because it was not until last May that the Iowa Supreme Court, in a ruling affecting a Charles City Christian school, said state rules defining equivalent instruction were needed.

Collins noted that the rules are still subject to change, pending the outcome of administrative reviews and a public meeting at 1 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Grimes State Office Building in Des Moines. On Friday, Polk County District Judge Arthur Gamble will hear arguments concerning the Berglunds' lawsuit, and a legislative rules committee is to review the new rules on equivalent instruction. i 'f 3 1 Pickett to challenge Flagg for at-Iarge council seat Burlington woman charged in 13-year-old murder case The Reflijter'i Iowa Nwi Scrvici BURLINGTON, IA.

A Burlington woman was arrested Wednesday and charged with murdering her husband 13 years ago in Pennsylvania. Burlington police arrested Anna Jean Akers Wolfe, 38, at her home on a warrant issued in Allegheny County, on Aug. 9. Wolfe is being held without bail in Des Moines County Jail pending extradition proceedings. On June 29, 1972, Wolfe's husband, James A.

Akers, 33, died in a motel room of a gunshot wound to the head. Shooting at of I campus was murder, officials say TJtt RMster't lowi Niwi Sarvlc IOWA CITY, IA. A 22-year-old North Liberty man whose body was found Tuesday in a picnic shelter at the University of Iowa's Oakdale campus was a homicide victim, officials said Wednesday. Lance Lee De-Woody died from two gunshot wounds one to his head and another to his neck, an autopsy showed. "It was definitely a murder.

It was not a suicide, and it was not accidental," said Bill Tynan, chief of campus police at the University of Iowa. Six off-track betting firms close underpressure COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA. (AP) Six of seven off-track betting services in the Council Bluffs area1 have agreed to close under pressure from local prosecutors, who contend their acceptance of money to run bets is illegal. Only the Dutch Mill OTB in Carter Lake was allowed to remain open, pending a court decision on whether to close the service temporarily, an official said. The operations that agreed to close, as of this Sunday, were Carter Lake Messenger Service of Carter Lake, OTB Sports Courier, Stretch Runner OTB, Second Avenue Messenger and Finish Line OTB, all of Council Bluffs.

A sixth off-track betting service, Starting Gate OTB in Carter Lake, also voluntarily agreed to close. School challenges ruling on education exemptions CHARLES CITY, IA. (AP) -Calvary Baptist Christian1 Academy will appeal an Iowa Supreme Court ruling denying them an exemption from state education requirements to the U.S. Supreme Court, school officials said Wednesday. The church school contends state laws regulating education violate constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion.

C.R. man sentenced, fined for role in drug ring Ttw Rtgitter's Iowa Nws Sarvlc CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. Thomas Sage, 39, of Cedar Rapids, who was arrested in May as part of a raid on an alleged international drug ring, was sentenced Wednesday to 28 years in prison and fined $145,000 on four drug-related charges. Twenty years of the sentence were linked to a charge of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Sage had pleaded guilty to four drug counts in a plea bargain.

Bond set at 1 million for suspect in strangulation Tht RMhtofi law Ntwt Srvk WATERLOO, IA. Bond was set at $1 million on Wednesday for Steven B. Hepperle, 29, of Evansdale, who was charged in the July 16 slaying of 26-year-old Diane K. Voss. Voss was found strangled in her bedroom.

Hepperle was being held in Black Hawk County Jail on a parole violation when he was charged with first-degree murder in the Voss slaying. Pilot of antique plane flies into power line OTTUMWA, IA. (AP) A Kansas pilot and his passenger escaped serious injury when the antique, two-seat airplane they were flying hit a power line and plunged into the Des Moines River north of Ottumwa. Wapello County sheriff's deputies said John Krekovich, 55, of Overland Park, and his passenger, Ad-rienne Kizer, 12, of Prairie Village, were en route in the World War ll-era plane to a fly-in at Blakesburg when he hit the power line near Iowa Highway 23. Father pleads innocent in death of young son Tin Rtoliter's tewi Ntwi Sarvtct DAVENPORT, IA.

Michael Dunn, 31, of Toronto in Clinton County on Wednesday pleaded innocent of second-degree murder in the death of his 19-month-old son, Michael. Police allege that Dunn smothered Michael, who died in April 1984. Trial in Scott County District Court is slated for Oct. 7. Dunn is free on the county's pretrial release program.

3-. Puddle jumper Blair Smith, 9, of Des Moines spends a soggy Wednesday afternoon buzzing through paddles near Eighth and Chervy streets as light rain falls in the area. Commerce panel flexes muscles in 3 cases ft ri By JANE NORMAN Regliter Staff Writer Michael Walter Pickett, 37, of 3100 Sixty-first St. took out nomination papers Wednesday to run for the at-large seat on the Des Moines City Council in the Nov. 5 election.

Pickett, owner of the Woodland Lounge at 1430 Woodland said he will challenge Councilman George Flagg, who so far has no other opponents. "I'm not real happy with Mr. Flagg's representation. I'd like to see some new representation," said Pickett. Pickett, a Des Moines native who has owned the Woodland Lounge for nine years, said he never has run for office.

Pickett said he supports continued downtown development. "I think the thing downtown needs is to be followed through on, and if it isn't we've wasted a lot of money," he said. Pickett is married and has two sons. Two other seats are also up for grabs in this fall's election. In the First Ward, which takes in the northwest and west portions of the city, Councilwoman Elaine Szymoniak of 2116 Forty-fourth St.

is being challenged by Hugh Hammond of 2905 Thirty-eighth St. and Betty Saunders of 5115 Aurora Ave. In the Third Ward, which takes in a chunk of the city's west and south sides, Frank Wagner of 915 Lewis Ave. and Ric Jorgensen of 4005 Kingman Bivd. have taken out nomination papers.

Incumbent Third Ward Councilman George Nahas is vacating the By DAVID ELBERT Rwitter Stiff Writer The Iowa Commerce Commission squared off Wednesday against a major power company, a major long-distance telephone company and the state Board of Regents. Union Electric Co. was told to lower a $15 million interim-rate increase by a third after the St. Louis-based utility admitted supplying the commission with the wrong set of figures upon which the increase was based. Those interim rates went into effect last month and Commission Chairman Andrew Varley said Union Electric should be pressured to "put an immediate credit" on the next set of bills that it sends to its 17,500 customers in Lee County.

The utility also was told that by the end of next week it will have to tell the commission how it plans to reduce the interim increase and how it plans to refund overcharges to customers. If that deadline is not met, Union Electric could face a stiff fine, Commis sioner Christine Hansen said. In the second case, Iowa's rural telephone companies were advised by the commission on how they might force Teleconnect Co. of Cedar Rapids, one of the state's major long-distance telephone companies, to pay for access to the local telephone companies' customers. Many of Iowa's small local telephone companies have found themselves in a Catch 22 situation, and as a result, Teleconnect has not been paying the 3-cents-per-minute access charge required by the commission.

Teleconnect officials contend they haven't paid because the small phone companies have not sent them a bill, and the small phone companies say they haven't billed Teleconnect because Teleconnect won't tell them how much their customers are using Teleconnect's service. Varley advised the phone compa nies to charge Teleconnect for whatever the companies think is a reasonable amount of time, "eight hours, 12 hours or 24 hours a day, however much they think their customers are using Teleconnect." "If Teleconnect has proof of something else, then they can show it," Varley said, adding, "We need to break the logjam." In a third matter, involving plans by the state's two major universities to resell telephone service to students at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa, the commission decided to up the stakes after the Board of Regents, which governs the universities, refused to answer several questions about the plan. The commission is investigating the resale in an effort to determine whether it has any authority over the rates the schools plan to charge dormitory students for telephone service. Michael Walter Pickett Wants downtown development seat. Candidates may begin filing nomination papers Aug.

30, and the deadline is 5 p.m. Sept. 26. If more than two candidates file papers to run for any one seat, a primary election will be Oct. 15.

An at-large council candidate needs 363 signatures on a nominating petition, while a First Ward candidate needs 105 and a Third Ward candidate needs 122. Petitions are available at the city clerk's office at City Hall. Relax 9-year-old boy declares day of rest for loafers By VALERIE MONSON Rwistor Ststt Writer Because life is too hard and work can be such a drag, you deserve a break today. So, ye workers of the world unite: Go back to bed. By proclamation of 9-year-old Sean Moeller, today is National Relaxation Day.

"People don't think enough about relaxing," says Sean, an observant and precocious fourth-grader from Clio, who probably never will have to fret about ulcers or heart attacks. "They think too much about working, and that's not good because if you work too hard, then you can get a fever or get run-down and maybe even get sick." So let a little child lead you on this national day of loafing. "Oh, yeah, I really need this," sighs Sean, a bit pooped out from a hectic schedule of playing outdoors. "I mean, no, I don't really work. Well, I help with the dishes and cut down weeds and water the plants.

And I ride my bike a lot. See, kids get tired from, you know, being hot and everything." Relatives Day, Clean Off Your Desk Day and Boss-Employee Exchange Day (hey, that sounds like a good one). Sean's father, Peter, proposed National Underdog Day, and Sean's sister, Monica, came up with National Goof -Off Day. "Sean was feeling kind of left out because everyone else had their days," says Anne Moeller. "So he was real excited about National Relaxation Day." Sean says that to make his day a success, you just don't do anything of any real value.

Unlike most holidays, you reed not work your tail off to gft ready for it, and there's no cleaning up afterwards. "Do whatever you do to relax," advises Sean. "You can sit in the bock yard and get a suntan or lie down or watch TV." As for Sean, well, he plans a ho-hum day of playing with computer games. No weeding, watering or dish-washing for Our Patron Saint of Relaxation, Sean. "It's just that, see, people don't have the time to relax or they can't relax," says Sean.

"I don't think working is bad. I mean, people need, money. Working is OK, but you need to rest." Sean never expects his holiday to become a Christmas in August. "If it did become a national holiday, I'd be amazed," he admits. Still, the Moellers are getting into it.

Anne says she's not lifting a finger today. Neither is Monica. Or Grandpa. Dad, however, hasn't been able to convince his boss at General Motors that a productive worker is a relaxed worker. "Dad has to work," says Sean, unable to hide his dejection.

By the way, Sean, did you know that today, National Relaxation Day, is this reporter's birthday? "Really?" Sean replies, all excited. "You should take the day off." Sounds good to me. It was a year ago yesterday when Sean, burned out to the max from a tough morning of going to the post office and "doing stuff," decided it was high time that everyone should be excused from one working or hard playing day a year just to put up their feet and take life easy. "Well, I was with my grandpa in the basement, and I was just thinking and lying around and relaxing and I thought maybe it would be good to have a national relaxation day," says Sean. Declaring holidays, understand, sort of runs in Sean's genes.

His grandpa is William D. Chase, publisher of Chase's Annual Events, a perennial paperback calendar of offbeat or oft-forgotten days and events. The whole deal has become a family affair for Chase's clan. They're into really holidays the zanier, the better. Chase's daughter and Sean's mother, Anne Moeller, annually sponsors the popular Blame Someone Else Day, the less popular Visit Your.