The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 1

102 Dalmatians' Sequel Is Spotty 12 mum A DM Wednesday The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon DesMoinesRcgister.com Price 40 Cents in Stores 50 Cents in Coin Racks November 22, 2000 Weather Aw lie Ml HIGH LOW Mostly sunny skies, fair tonight. Details, Page 10B ELECTION Valid tally called Essential'; queries remain as Gore gains Inside state's 25 Electoral College votes and break the stalemate in the 2000 presidential contest. The decision extended the uncertainty over the election but laid out an endgame for the country: Next week, the nation might finally know who will occupy the White House for the next four years. Further legal challenges and complications, however, can't be ruled out the state's presidential balloting. The court set a deadline of 5 p.m.

EST Sunday if the office of the state's top election officer is open, or 9 a.m. Monday otherwise, for Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties to turn in their manual recounts. "An accurate vote count is one of the essential foundations of our democracy," the court's ruling said. The work of the people, it said, is more until one candidate concedes defeat. In setting the deadline, the court underscored its concern that delays might imperil the state's ability to select its Electoral College members by Dec.

12, as required by federal law. The decision weighed the rights of a small number of voters whose ballots might not have See RECOUNT, Page 1 0A INSIDE: More election news, Pages 8A, 9A, 10A. By JAMES KUHNHENN and PETER WALLSTEN KNIGHT BIDDER NEWSPAPERS Tallahassee, Fla. The Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that hand recounts of general election ballots cast in three heavily Democratic counties can continue through the weekend. The court's 42-page decision kept alive Democrat Al Gore's hopes of surpassing the 930-vote lead that Republican George W.

Bush holds in than just machines. The winner of the Florida balloting would secure the Hawkeye men overtake Bulldogs The University of Iowa men's basketball team survived another slow start to beat Drake, 73-71 Tuesday. Page 1C Snow buries Buffalo Poverty nags 9 counties in south Iowa Judge gives Hunter 10 years i 4 On the Web To view a color map showing poverty rates in the nation's 3,141 counties, or to be linked to the Census Bureau Web site to see the full report, go to desmoinesregister.com on the Internet. Inside A list of the estimated proportion of residents in each of Iowa's 99 counties who were living in poverty in 1997. Page 8A A- By LINDSEYA.

HENRY REGISTER STAFF WRITER Former Des Moines businessman Peter Hunter will spend up to 10 years in prison for asking a hit man to kill his two brothers. A Polk County judge sentenced Hunter on Tuesday after considering his mother's request to keep her 50-year-old son out of prison. Hunter's attorney said he would ask District Judge D.J. Stovall to reconsider the sentence within 60 days. Alfredo Parrish said he wants the judge to consider probation or a lesser sentence if Hunter continues to take Salvation Army bells are quiet Kickoff day for the Salvation Army's annual charity drive was quieter than usual as fewer than half of the Des Moines-area collection kettles had bell ringers.

PagelB Family tree mystery solved By john Mccormick REGISTER STAFF WRITER Iowa's southern two tiers of counties continue to experience significant poverty, despite a U.S. economy now in its ninth year of expansion, a new U.S. Census Bureau report shows. The report shows Decatur County is Iowa's poorest, with an estimated 19.5 percent of residents living in poverty as of 1997. The southern Iowa county ranks in the top fifth of all U.S.

counties for poverty. Iowa's nine poorest counties, all located in the southern two tiers, all rank in the top half of the poorest counties in the nation, according to the report released today. The counties with the highest concentration of poverty tend to be removed from Iowa's generally thriving metropolitan areas. They're often in areas with declining or aging population medication for his bipolar disorder and behaves appropriately. Hunter could have faced up Ken Fuson tells the story in Thursday's Register of 77-year-old Harvey Quillin, who to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty in August.

His plot tar- was recently reunited with his family for the first time since he was 10 years old. geted his brother Jeff, living in poverty. Iowa's overaU ranking for poverty slipped one spot between 1996 and 1997, but still just nine states can claim a lower statewide poverty rate. The report says 10 percent of Iowa residents were living in poverty in 1997. The Census Bureau's poverty definitions vary based on family size.

In 1997, a family of four with two parents, for example, was considered to be living in poverty if the family's gross income was below $16,276. Jack Van Laar, an Extension education director who has lived in Decatur County for most of his life, said he hasn't seen evidence of the nation's economic expansion trickling down into his part of southern Iowa. "I don't see that as showing itself down here," he said. Note to Readers bases. "It comes down to a lack of opportunities for people," said Paul Lasley, a rural sociologist at Iowa State University.

"There is a lack of jobs, lack of natural resources, lack of government expenditures and lack of transportation infrastructure." Dallas County, an increasingly affluent suburban county west of Des Moines, had the state's lowest poverty rate. In 1997, just 6 percent of that county's population was it Due to a technological problem, the photos of six toys described on the cover of Tech.World did not appear Tuesday. Those photos are running today on Page 6D. DAVID DUPREYASSOCIATED PRESS Slow going: Vehicles stand paralyzed in Niagara Square Tuesday after a surprise 2-foot snowstorm socked Buffalo, N.Y., on Monday. Thousands of workers and schoolchildren were stranded overnight.

Related article, Page 14A. Hotel Fort Des Humer Moines, and Dan, a Boston humorist and playwright. Hunter also admitted he wanted to injure the family's accountant. Hunter spent several weeks in a Texas mental health center before returning to Des Moines for his sentencing. Hunter has begun taking regular medication for his bipolar disorder, said Assistant Polk County Attorney Dan Voogt.

Hunter told Stovall he appreciated the chance to get treatment. Family and friends have said Hunter's problems began in 1988, when the family sold MZXZL Whoosh! Drivers largely ignore state speed laws On The Web For local news and special projects, join us online at: DesMoinesRegister.com news Mast vehicles will pass you if you're driving at the speed limit in Iowa. for the three months ending Sept. 30, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. Among those drivers, 17 percent exceeded 75 mph.

Compliance is even worse on urban freeways posted at See SPEED, Page 4A drivers from speeding, state records show. Motorists hitting the road over the Thanksgiving weekend will find plenty of travelers driving faster than state law permits. Eighty-six percent of motorists drove faster than 65 mph on Iowa's rural interstate highways of cars are passing me," said Tedford, a retired manufacturing executive who stopped with his wife, Donna, at the Mitchellville rest area. "It doesn't seem to make any difference what the speed limits are." Law enforcement officers are losing the statewide battle to stop By WILLIAM PETR0SKI REGISTER STAFF WRITER Mitchellville, la Jim Ted-ford of Grinnell was headed to Des Moines on Interstate Highway 80 last week. Like almost everybody else, he violated the 65 mph speed limit.

"IVe been driving 70, and a lot Hiland Potato Chip where the Ivy League graduate served as president. Hunter's downward spiral continued with the death of his father and his divorce. His relationship with the family fell apart in recent years over the family's hotel business. He contended that he suffered emotional distress as a result of being frozen out of the business, according to a lawsuit he filed against his family after his arrest in the murder plot. Hunter was prohibited from speaking to his mother, Carolya Stovall lifted the no-contact order at her request Tuesday.

Parrish also argued that Carolyn preferred her son stay out of $76 million speedway proposed near Newton Ann Landers 2E Business 1D Classified 1F Comics 5E Crossword 4E Editorials 12A Letters 12A Lotteries 2A Movies 6E Obituaries 9B Sports Roundup 4C TV Guide 4E Printed with SOY INK Copyright 2000 Des Moines Register and Tribune Company A Gannett Newspaper November 22. 2000 1 By JEFF OLSON REGISTER STAFF WRITER Newton, la. A $76 million, speedway that eventually could attract NASCAR and Indy-car racing has been proposed for a site near here. The Jasper County board of supervisors met Tuesday afternoon to discuss the possibility of issuing $30 million to $40 million in bonds for the track, which is proposed by Cincinnati developer Jerry Carroll. The three-member board voted to schedule a meeting with the Newton City Council next week to discuss the issue.

"I feel real comfortable with it," supervisor Loren "Pat" Milligan said. "I think it's a real possibility. I don't know how many counties would be able to step forward with that kind of bonding to do something like this." Carroll, whose Kentucky Speedway near Cincinnati opened this summer, has selected 400 acres of county-owned land for the one-mile asphalt track. The site is located one mile southeast of Newton exit 168, off Interstate Highway 80. See NEWTON.

Page 5A ja rtitatas" i prison. Prosecutor Voogt said Hunter's relatives differed on the appropriate punishment but agreed with the sentence and the possibility of a reconsideration. Jeff Hunter declined to comment. The family believed the sentence would "punish him for his crimes" and ensure rehabilitation, Voogt said. Reporter Lindsay Henry can be reechef it (515) 284-1211 or kenryldnews dmreg "40901 "1 50061 iee iiwnaieo cartoons online: www.DesMoinesRegister comdufty.