The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 3

September 29,1986 THE PES MOINES REGISTER 3A PEOPLE Hi THE HEWS Texas eavesdropper Actor Robert Duvall says he gleaned the Texas flavor for his role in Tender Mercies by traveling the state's back roads and listening to native accents. He told an arts conference in Denton, Texas, that studying real people is important in preparing for a role. He said he has written a screenplay for a film about a preacher and has been listening to preachers as preparation. More than 1,000 people attended the Governor's Sesquicentennial Conference on the Literary Arts at North Texas State University. 8 Nobody serious Michael Lerner, president of Safety 1st, poses at his Newton, office with a model of one of his signs.

Although upset by comical parodies of the signs, Lerner says his firm will survive the fad, which involves putting signs like "Mother In Law In Trunk," "Baby Driving" and "Nobody On Board" in cars across America. The yellow plastic diamonds attach by suction cups to rear windows. fjj New comics Saturday Night Live will feature ivux ivaiicuiaua aa new nasi iiicmucrg when the TV show returns Oct. 11. Pic- tr tl V'iAI tured from left to right are: Jan Hooks, who was featured as a tour guide in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure; Victoria Jackson has performed nine times on The Tonight Show and has been on The Jeffer-sons and General Hospital; Dana Carv-ey played a parole officer in the feature film Tough Guys, and he appeared in the TV series Blue Thunder; Phil Hartman has been a writer and performer in a Cal Give him a big hand, folks Charleton Heston poses backstage with the co-stars of Mummenschantz, Andres Bossard and Bernie Schnrch, both costumed as hands for roles in the New York play.

He's used to having people in strange garb (e.g., ape costumes) around him. season's shuffle were Joan Cusack, Robert Downey, Anthony Michael Hall, Terry Sweeney, Randy Quaid and Danitra Vance. ifornia improvisational group and will be in the movie The Three Ami-gos with SNL alumni Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. Lost in last Mother's election victory means school board will hear her now ft -JIv VI B. Jf Fn 9k.

Curtin call Actress-comedian Jane Curtin has been awarded this year's Boston Theatre District Award. "I've never even gotten any good reviews here," Curtin said at a news conference Friday. The former Northeastern University student got her start in the 1960s-doing improvisation-at a Boston theater Curtin, 39, has won two Emmys for her role as Allie Lowell in the CBS comedy: PHOTO BY BOB Jf 4 i ft," a 4 "IT were tailored by Deck, who had beeir; a television anchorwoman heretofore retiring to raise her Just a couple of weeks into her three-year term, Deck believes shelil alr eady bringing about changes in the school board. She noted that outgoing board president Mary Beth field has suggested that the board be" more responsive. "It was obvious they wanted to say it before I did," said Deck.

"But don't care who said it as long as peo- i pie know they can speak and we wllf listen." A GANNETT NEWSPAPER Published Monday Ihroueh Saturday DES MOINES REGISTER AND TRIBUNE COMPANY? 715 Locul Slrral Dm Moirm, It. SOJW Vol, No. 13 Stplembw 191, CHARLES C. EDWARDS JR Publisher JAMES P. GANNON, Edilor GORDON R.

BLACK, Advarllilng Director FAL A BOLZNER, Operailont Director SUSAN A. BRUNKAN, Controller DIANE GLASS, MarKellng Services Director -JOHN M. MIKSICH, Circulation Director SUE A. TEMPERO, Employee Relations Director "1 General Builneis Telephone (SIS) 234-1000 Circulation Service (515)214-1311 ClaxMtd AdvertWng (515) 2W-IH! Toil-Free Number 1-IOO-532-I5C5 Direct Lines ta Newt OMcet Det Moines ISIS) 214-eOiS Ames (515) 22-)23 Cedar Rapids (319) 3S-r40-i Davenport 131') 326-266? Iowa City 131) 3Sl-eS2 Weterloo I31) 233-2011 Washington, DC. (202) 347-tll The Assoclaled Press Is enlllled exclusively to the use or reproduction ol ell local news printed In UUtv, newspaper.

SnggMed Retail Price Otaler and Vendor (Sinoje Copy) .35 -Carrier (foot) In Iowa 6 days il.75mk.,. Motor Route (Metro Arta) 6days U.S. Mail In Iowa U.S. Mail (Outside Iowa) The Des Moines Register Is distributed bv Des Moines Register and Tribune Company and by Independent contractors. In subscriber areas served1 by Independent contractors, prices may vary h-om the suegmted retail prices shown above since Independent' contractors tsUWiih their own pricing and olbw I'.

policies. For subscription change of address or other- subscription euestions, write: Circulation Dept. Des Moines Reglsler, Bo 57, Des Moines, la Second clt pnsiagt ptld at Des Moines, Iowa. (USPS 1S4-7SO) Near Bondurant Sunday, a tornado ravaged farm buildings owned by Richard Rieck and his sister, Mabel Rieck. Storms, hail reported around state many places were hit," Cole said.

Spokesmen for the Poweshiek, Tama and Marshall county sheriff's offices had no reports of Injury or major damage. Northern Iowa Damage In northwest Iowa, a tornado damaged the Edgar Pearson farm west of Spencer about 7 p.m., but no injuries were reported. Farther east, the rural Colwell farm home of Bill Biwer was destroyed as the storm hit Floyd County, officials said. Cynthia Deck's election to the Sioux City School Board came too late to the closing of 7C-year-old Lowell Elementary School, a three-block walk home for her children. She has pledged to preserve the concept of neighborhood schools: "Our school ii closed.

But we have a future to protect." Her dren are (front to back): Tod, Michael and Bryan, with Sarah at top REGISTER PHOTO BY DOUG WELLS Another storm system moved through northeast Dallas County and across northern Polk County between 8:30 and 9 p.m. Sunday. A spokeswoman for the Polk County sheriffs office said there were unconfirmed reports of another tornado north of Interstate Highway 80. Other Intense storms were reported in western and southwestern counties Sunday night. Golfball-size hail was reported some 30 miles west of Cedar Rapids.

subject to collective bargaining under Iowa law, he maintained. "They must bargain," Boldt said. "We informed them that if they insist on doing it unilaterally we will have to litigate." A requirement saying that anyone working for the city of Clinton can't smoke when off duty is unreasonable, Boldt said. "Until they outlaw tobacco, they cannot make that a condition of employment It is not a reasonable accommodation." The City Council deferred action on the proposal at last week's meeting so the city attorney and city employee relations committee could study the matter more. Boldt said he expects the issue to be discussed when contract negotiations start next month.

Although police officers would be affected, Charles Klaes, chairman of the Clinton Police Department Bargaining Unit, said he has no objections to the proposal. "I would be concerned if they pass legislation concerning the existing employees," he said. "But as a pre-employment requirement, I don't have a problem." Said Klaes: "We told the council it will be impossible to enforce. Speaking on behalf of our members, we felt we had to state openly that we do not want the police department to be an arm of enforcement for this. We don't want to be peeking around to see if employees are smoking." Smith said this would not be a problem because, if passed, the new restriction would be enforced on the honor system.

"If someone is going to smoke off duty, there isn't much we can do," he said. "We are not going to run around with search warrants to see if employees are smoking at home." If smokers cost more, don't hire any, city urged By BOB LAWRENCE SIOUX CITY, IA. Cynthia Deck may have lost a battle, but she hopes to win the war. When Deck could not keep her children's school from closing, she ran for the Sioux City School Board and won. Her victory Sept.

9 came in an election that saw twice as many people vote as usually do, that saw two Incumbent board members trounced and Deck finishing with the largest number of votes in several years. "Our school is closed. But we have a future to protect," said the mother of four. "This issue is larger than me or mine. It's ours." A year ago, Deck's biggest concern about school was getting her children there on time.

But she thought Sarah and Tod were getting a good education at 76-year-old Lowell Elementary School, a three-block walk from home. Last winter, however, she found herself leading a battle to keep Lowell from being closed and to preserve the concept of neighborhood schools in Sioux City. By spring, the fight was lost when the school board voted to close Lowell and Webster Elementary School. "A Step in the Grave" Deck accused the board of not listening to parents, and she termed the board's decision "a step in the grave for neighborhood schools." Her children cried when they heard the news. "It took away a big piece of their world, some of their security," she said, noting that Lowell was a social and recreational center for them.

"When you lose your school, a lot of the neighborhood evaporates," she said. When schools opened this fall, Deck's children, along with 400 students from Lowell and Webster, were split up among nearby schools, and the distance they have to walk to school has doubled. Still, Deck, 32, said she would not have entered the school board race in September if the board had allowed representatives of her group, Support Our Students, to speak against the proposed closings at a meeting in March. "We thought the board would welcome us with open arms, that we'd be listened to," she said. "But they didn't, and we were stunned." The 10 minutes the board allowed her group to present its case was not enough, she said, because the group also wanted to speak against a proposal to create four middle schools by moving sixth-graders into the junior high schools.

Deck said the group was concerned that the change might expose sixth-grade students to drugs and sex in the junior highs. Enrollment Down But a majority of the school board members decided that consolidation was necessary for efficiency and economy. Enrollment has declined by 25 percent in the Sioux City schools in the past 13 years, and state aid to the district dropped $900,000 in 1985, ac- Callers reached out but couldn't touch Some long-distance telephone service in the Atlantic and Carroll areas was interrupted for upo 5Vi hours Sunday, but local service was not affected, a Northwestern Bell spokesman said. The difficulty was corrected by and Northwestern Bell workers at facilities in Omaha, according to Sig Jaastad, Northwestern Bell spokesman in Des Moines. No specific cause had been isolated Sunday evening, Jaastad said, but the problem was corrected by 3:30 p.m.

r.wnrciff.T Continued from Page One very much if sight-seers would stay away from here for the next couple of days." Other sources said a mobile home near Baxter was destroyed and other homes were damaged near Mingo. A command post was set up two miles south of Baxter where sheriff's officials and troopers with the Iowa State Patrol were taking reports of damage. "We don't know at this point how Teen-ager shot outside tavern By TOM ALEX Rttfsfcr SMI Wrtttf A tavern owner was charged with assault after a 16-year-old boy was shot in the chest near the Walnut Tap early Sunday, Des Moines police said. Michael J. Howe, 16, of 2F02U Logan Ave.

was treated at Broad-lawns Medical Center for a gunshot wound and later released, hospital officials said. Police charged Douglas Morgan, 38, of 1505 E. 23rd St. with assault with intent to commit great bodily injury. Officers were called to Howe's home at about 4:40 a.m.

Suiday after Howe called police to say he'd been shot. Other officers were called to the Walnut Tap, 2401 E. Walnut to investigate a report of criminal mischief. Howe told police that he and a friend had gone to the back porch of the tavern and had taken a light bulb out of its socket when they dropped it. The bulb broke when it hit the floor of the porch and, as Howe and his friend were leaving, the back door of the tavern swung open and someone shouted at them.

According to a police report, Howe heard a shot as he was walking east in the alley behind the tavern. Believing it was a warning shot, he put his hands in the air, police said. A moment later there was a second shot and Howe felt a "sting" on the left side of his chest, authorities said. The teen-ager said he saw a man crouched over the hood of a pickup truck, holding a dark-colored handgun. Morgan later was taken into cording Superintendent Thomaii Brown.

Five of 26 elementary schools and four of eight junior highs have been closed in the past five years, although Brown contends, "We have not compromised the level of education with the closings." Deck believes that the economy measures have more to do with bow buildings are used than with educational needs. "We've been studying building utilization for years," she said. "I'd like to see us study student and teacher utilization." She has accused school administrators of basing their proposals on socio-economic boundaries. "They haven't closed one in the richer areas," she said. While Brown acknowledges that the closings have occured in poorer neighborhoods, he attributes it more to happenstance than intent.

Lowell could have remained open, he said, but it was too crowded to absorb students from nearby schools that might have been closed. In December, the school board will discuss more building closings. But Deck vowed to lead the opposition. "We don't need to close another building in this district, and I'm going to be there to warn others that their neighborhood may be next," she said. Into Public View Before Deck organized Support Our Students, "We were just some parents on the phone griping about the problem among ourselves." she said.

"Some said, 'What will our kids And I said, 'What will they think if we don't speak With Deck as president, the organization moved into the public eye. News releases and news conferences CORRECTIONS I CURIFICATIQXS TIM Rtgtitor itrtvtt Mr tccurtcv and Mmttv Irrtn In wr ntwt catwmw tfracHd In thit tpac. RhMti wn biltv Mm paper hn rrd may rtwmt a carrtctlM bv Phanlne th met tdHar (SIS) M4-IS01 By CLAIRE HUEHOLT Rftijistor Stiff Wrtttf Clinton is considering a proposal to hang a "Smokers Need Not Apply" sign at City Hall. City Council member Darrell Smith has proposed that smokers be barred from consideration for city jobs because of escalating disability payments to former employees who smoked. A new state law boosts the benefits the city has to pay to police officers and firefighters when they are affected by heart or lung ailments, he said.

"The city clerk has estimated the additional costs of pensions, early retirement and the two-thirds disability payment will cost the city an additional $900,000," Smith said. "And this does not include intangible expenses, such as the experience of the officers lost." Smith said five Clinton employees recently were awarded disability payments due to heart or lung ailments. "I'm not sure about one, but most of them were moderate to heavy smokers," he said. Charles Boldt, an official of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, vowed last week to fight Smith's proposal, saying it is against the law. Matters of health and safety are A zoo of their own on the Lewerke farm Th RwMv'l Mwi Nwt Strvtc BRITT, IA.

Elzo and Betty Ann Lewerke of Britt have a veritable zoo on their seven-acre home just east of Britt. Their animals include 10 buffalo, a llama, a long-horned cow, a family of wild turkeys, two swans, and several species of pheasants and ducks..