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

tufcuM it, yoo i nt iviwiiNrj RLOlsitK 3A fl tW If REGISTER PHOTO BY DAVID PETERSON Junlrins hits DATELINE IOWA I WIIIIW.WWMI Bransfad on se wafer issue -v. Vx1 1 4 1 1 ill 4" lv goers recuperate in the courtyard of the Cultural Center at the State Fair. C.R. man shoots at police during morning standoff TIM Register's Iowa News Servtce CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. A Cedar Rapids man fired eight to 10 shotgun blasts at Cedar Rapids police officers Wednesday morning, hitting one officer and holding them at bay for more than 90 minutes before giving up.

Officials said Identification Officer John Graham was struck by a 12-gauge shotgun pellet but the injury did not require treatment. Joseph Willard Chesmore, 18, was charged with attempted murder and was being held in Linn County jail, Police were called to Chesmore's residence about 5:15 a.m. and Chesmore fired the gun, damaging the residence and a police car. After speaking to his parents by telephone, Chesmore surrendered to police about 6:50 a.m., authorities said. Company fined for blast at Milford storage tank The Register's Iowa News Service MILFORD, IA.

The Iowa Occupational Health and Safety Administration has fined an Oklahoma company $1,440 for two safety violations after an explosion here last month killed three workers and injured three others. Williams Pipeline Company of Tulsa, was cited for failing to require employees to wear protective Missing Knoxville youth last seen with three teens Financial woes close K01A-TV in Oftumva By THOMAS A. FOG ARTY Register Stall Writer Gov. Terry Branstad's recommendation to the 1986 Legislature to eliminate state financing of a water research division at Iowa State University indicates that the Republican chief executive has no commitment to improving the environment, his Democratic opponent charged Wednesday. "It seems to me rather interesting that his record is different than his rhetoric," said Lowell Junkins, the Democratic candidate for governor.

At issue is Branstad's recommendation in January that the Water Resources Research Institute at the Ames school lose its annual state support of $128,500. The institute spent a total of $348,000 in state and federal money last year researching water issues. Institute research topics include the seepage of farm chemicals into the state's groundwater and farm management techniques that conserve the state's groundwater. Ultimately, the Legislature restored $100,000 in state money for the budget year that began July 1. Junkins claimed the appropriation was the result of pressure from House Democrats.

But Dick Vohs, a spokesman for Branstad, said the appropriation was ultimately made with the governor's support. According to Vohs, Branstad recommended elimination of state support because the governor and bis staff had been led to believe that the institute could carry on its work with federal money alone. After Branstad presented his budget, Vohs said, the governor's staff learned that the elimination of state support jeopardized the federal money. At that point, the governor agreed that state support should be restored, Vohs said. The exchange Wednesday between Junkins and Branstad is yet another episode in a running battle between the two candidates over whose commitment to the environment, particularly to the the purity of the state's groundwater, is greater.

Last week, Branstad announced a A couple of pooped-out fair tojtoWttMf flufff jfmtif otuTJiftra 'ifttamkr Parker sets fund-raiser at Mingo tavern By TIM Associated Press Representative Ed Parker, a Mingo Democrat, has scheduled a fund-raising reception next week at the same tavern where a bachelor party was held in his honor, an event that led to his indictment along with that of four others this week. Parker insisted the Back Forty tavern is the only place in Mingo where a fund-raising event can be held. Besides, Parker argued, he did nothing wrong at the bachelor party and has no reason to avoid the tavern. "It's the only place in town," he said. "It's a community place.

It's where you have all the wedding receptions and retirement parties. It's a small town." In addition, Parker said, the fund- raising event was scheduled well before the indictments were handed up Monday, and it's too late to reschedule it. The $10-per-person fund-raiser is planned next Tuesday, he said. Parker said it a simple fact of life in small-town Iowa that there aren't many places to hold fund-raisers. Parker is seeking a third two-year term in the House, and he said his past campaigns have featured events at the Back Forty, adding there's no reason to change in this election.

"I don't know anything wrong with it," Parker said. "We all have local fund-raisers there. I'm running my campaign just like I always have." The April 17 bachelor party has be deviled Parker since it occurred, and Monday Parker was indicted on a charge of violating the state's gift law, which forbids gifts of more than $50 to lawmakers. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. lobbyist Jim Pribyl was indicted on the same charge.

Representative Al Sturgeon, a Sioux City Democrat, and an exotic dancer who performed at the party were indicted on indecent exposure charges, and a bartender was indicted on charges of allowing the incident. Parker has maintained that he asked organizers of the party specifically not to provide dancers, and said he left his own bachelor party when he discovered they were present. "I did nothing wrong," he said. ft 4i ED PARKER ByDAVERHEIN Register TV Editor KOIA-TV, the independent station in Ottumwa, went off the air Tuesday after its owners, Impact TV Group Inc. of Vienna, cut off financial support.

"The company went bust beneath us," said Paul Vaughn, the general manager of the station. "They claim they have no corporate money left to support us." KOIA went on the air June 2 with a part-time schedule 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. while seeking Federal Communications Commission approval to go on the air full time. Vaughn said the station was planning to go full time Sept.

1. But last week, Vaughn said he got a call from Richard Hutcheson, president of Impact TV, who informed him that the twice-monthly checks helping to keep KOIA in business would be stopped and that Impact was attempting to sell the station. Without financial support, Vaughn said he decided to take the station off the air rather than operate until a new owner took over. Closing the sta tion left 10 full-time and three part-time employees out of work until a new owner is found. Hutcheson did not return telephone calls made to his office Wednesday.

Impact TV also owns low-power TV stations in Oglesby, Jackson, and Jonesboro, Ark. Vaughn said Impact TV also pulled financial support from its Oglesby and Jackson stations. According to Vaughn, Impact TV owned 51 percent of KOIA. The other 49 percent was owned by corporate and local investors. The station was operating at a deficit, but Vaughn declined to say how much money KOIA owed its creditors.

Heart transplant patient goes home An Urbandale businessman was released from Mercy Hospital Medical Center In Des Moines Wednesday afternoon, 13 days after he became the 12th person to undergo a heart transplant in Iowa. Richard A. Hanson, 52, had shown no signs of rejecting his new heart, and he left for home "very excited and optimistic," said Dr. William Wickemeyer, a heart specialist at Mercy, where the transplant was performed Aug. 7.

groundwater clean-up plan to be financed by $27 million from a settlement between the federal government and the oil industry in an overcharge case. The three-year program would be geared to reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers by farmers. Junkins charged Tuesday that Branstad has effectively ignored environmental problems during his 3 Mi years in office and is addressing them now because the election is nearing. Junkins offered recommendations for improving and protecting water quality, including creating a task force and providing state money for research and construction of sewage and water treatment plants. Vohs said Junkins is ignoring a $1 million environmental program established by the 1986 Legislature at Branstad's recommendation.

The program, which is financed by an earlier allocation of oil overcharge money, finances demonstration projects in which farmers are encouraged to minimize fertilizer and pesticide use and reduce their fuel usage. "Lowell Junkins has been consistently delivering personal attacks on the governor based on incorrect information," Vohs charged. By FRANK SANTIAGO Register Staff Writer A report that missing Knoxville youth Jason Rodgers was last seen in the company of three other teen-agers at the Iowa State Fair the day he disappeared was being investigated Wednesday. Police said a caller reported seeing the 16-year-old in the campground area of the fairgrounds, asking directions with two boys and a girl at RODGERS about 7 p.m. Des Moines Police Sgt.

Bill Mullins, spokesman for the investigation, said the sighting "appeared valid." Mullins said a man, whom he declined to identify, was sitting outside his camper when a youngster approached him and asked directions to a trailer "in area 6, block 4." He said the man noticed two other boys and a girl standing at a distance while he gave directions. "He didn't think anything of it until he saw Jason's picture on television reporting his disappearance. He then called us," Mullins said. After investigators interviewed him, said they determined "the man was 100 percent positive the youngster was Jason." Dad convicted of CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. (AP) An outspoken advocate of fathers' rights has been found guilty of assault stemming from a spanking he gave his 5-year-old son.

Robert Burwinkel of Cedar Rapids was found guilty Tuesday by Linn County District Court Judge John Sie-benmann. The judge said a parent has a right to punish a child but the punishment in this case was excessive and unreasonable. "I feel bad about causing injury to the extent that it caused this much concern," Burwinkel said. "On the other hand, as I told the judge, I do not know what else I could have done." His attorney said the conviction would be appealed. Sentencing was set for Sept.

4. The charge is a simple misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $100 fine. In the ruling, the judge said the dened by what has occurred. This is a good council. Maybe they did it because they are so conscientious." Shafer said he was stunned by the resignations, adding: "I feel they acted very hastily." The resignations have apparently thrown Mount Ayr city government into a quandary because there is no longer a quorum on the five-member City Council.

Bonnett said Drake may be able to rescind his resignation because it is not effective until Aug. 31. Cannon appears to be definitely off the council because he handed in a clear-cut resignation, the city attorney said. Marler and Elliott had resigned citing the insurance problems, so there is a possibility they can be reinstated, Bonnett said. if a quorum can be established, the remaining council members could reappoint those who previously left the panel.

If not, a special city election would have to be called as soon as possible, the city attorney said. Drake said Thursday that even if the insurance question is settled, he isn't sure whether he will return to the mayor's office, though he declined to specify his reasons. However, he added: "I hope we get something straightened out because everything is at a standstill now. The city can't pay any bills or do anything else." 1 Mml Mullins said police went to the trailer the man had directed the youth to, but the occupant, a "young person" whom Mullins declined to identify, had not been home at the time the directions were given and said Rodgers had not been seen. Mullins said the identities of the teens with Rodgers are not known.

He said police are asking anyone who was with Rodgers to call police at 283-4811. If the sighting is valid, it would place Rodgers at the fairgrounds later than previously known. Police have said Rodgers was last seen about 5:20 p.m. by Chrystal Lash, one of his junior high school teachers, and her husband, Steve, a Knoxville police officer. They met him near a commercial trailer display where Rodgers had become separated from a cousin and another boy about 4:30 p.m.

Investigators also said Rodgers suffers from asthma and regularly takes medications. A family spokesman said the drugs include Theo-dur, taken twice a day, and PBZ, which is taken when needed. The information was released in hopes that a pharmacist may notice suspicious activity involving the medications. Mullins said investigators are continuing to pursue leads. son's assault father contended he had struck the child only on the bottom Feb.

6, but evidence showed the child's back and legs were puffy and red and were turning black and blue. Burwinkel said he had struck the child nine times with a piece of plywood 4 or 5 inches wide and 8 to 10 inches long, the judge said. The child's mother, Jennifer Roberts, who divorced Burwinkel in 1984 and has physical custody of the boy, testified the child found it hard to sit down for a week or more after the spanking. When Roberts filed for divorce in 1982, she obtained a temporary injunction against Burwinkel after filing an affidavit declaring that he had inflicted physical injury on her and the child. Burwinkel is active in the local chapter of the Iowa Fathers Rights Council and frequently sends letters to newspaper editors concerning fathers' rights.

Pharmacist named in suit By DEBORA WILEY 01 The Register's Cedar Rapids Bureau CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. The mother of a Cedar Rapids man who died in April is suing the pharmacist accused of filling a prescription with the wrong medication. Olive Severa filed the suit in Linn County District Court against pharmacist James McEnany of Cedar Rapids and the Fifth Avenue Pharmacy, which McEnany owns. The suit alleges that James T. Severa, 33, was given the wrong medication on April 15, causing his death three days later.

McEnany declined to comment on the allegations Wednesday. Olive Severa's attorney, Michael Sheehy of Cedar Rapids, said James Severa had been given a prescription for morphine for pain because he suffered from numerous medical problems. Sheehy refused to disclose what those problems were. Sheehy said at the time of Severa's death doctors discovered the medication provided by the pharmacy was actually methadone instead of morphine. "Methadone does have a different effect on the body," Sheehy said.

Olive Severa is asking for damages to cover her son's pain and suffering, medical expenses, funeral expenses and the loss to his estate. She declined to comment on the lawsuit. clothing in a hazardous area. The company also was cited for allowing flammable liquids to be handled, drawn or dispensed where flammable vapor could reach a source of ignition." Workers were cleaning a 2.2 million-gallon gasoline storage tank July 2 when fumes ignited, blowing the top off the tank. Williams Pipeline, which was penalized $720 for each violation, has 15 days to appeal the fines.

Sioux City mission to move, make room for civic center Ttw Register's Iowa News Service SIOUX CITY, IA. The Sioux City Gospel Mission has accepted a settlement from the city and will move to make room for a proposed $7.5 million civic center and convention hall. Erma Christensen, president of the 450-member group that finances the home, said the mission agreed to accept the $240,000 offer for its 96-year-old, four-story building. Mission administrators earlier had said $240,000 the appraised value was not enough to pay relocation expenses. Christensen said the 28-member board of directors is considering three new Sioux City locations.

She said she hopes to persuade them to choose a one-story building located about 10 blocks from the current mission, which must be vacated by Oct. 1. The building would cost about $300,000, but a coin-operated laundry there would generate some income. Father presses lawsuit naming state in girl's death The Mister's Iowa News Service AUDUBON, IA. The father of a 3-year-old girl who was beaten to death while in the custody of her mother has appealed Audubon County District Judge J.C.

Irvin's dismissal of his lawsuit against the state. Jack W. Brown, the father of Christina Rae Duede, is seeking unspecified damages from the state. In the suit. Brown claims state social workers were negligent in returning his daughter to the custody of her mother, Joan Marie Palma.

The child had initially been placed in the care of foster parents after social workers discovered that Palma was abusing her. In his dismissal, Irvin cited two previous cases that said the state is not negligent when it fails to remove children from the homes of their natural parents. Palma is serving a 10-year sentence at the women's prison in Mitchellville for the Dec. 23, 1982, beating death of her daughter. 18 cars of coal train derail, blocking Amtrak route HASTINGS, IA.

(AP) Crews were working to reopen both sets of Burlington Northern Railroad tracks throueh this southwestern Iowa town Wednesday afternoon following an 18-car coal train derailment Monday. One set of tracks was open by 3:45 m. Tuesday, said a Burlington Northern dispatcner in uaiesDurg, in. The derailment occurred about is n.m. Monday as a Ill-car Bur lington Northern t-ain was passing through Hastings on its way 10 reo-ria, 111., from the Powder River basin in Wyoming.

The derailment forced approxi mately 700 Amtrak passengers to hoard buses for a ride around the blocked track between Red Oak and Omaha. The Burlington Northern trar-k is used bv Amtrak trains run ning between Oakland, and Mount Ayr officials quit over insurance concerns Sculptor hopes to save tree-trunk monument By LISA COLLINS Register Staff Writer Iowa Falls residents are worried that their famous 33-foot Indian monument carved out of a tree trunk may plunge into the Iowa River because the sculpture is rotting at its base. But its creator, Peter Toth, is coming to the rescue in two weeks to try to save the carving, which was made in 1978 from a 100-year-old cottonwood tree. Cottonwoods are a soft wood, which may have made the tree rot faster, but Toth could not find a harder oak or walnut tree big enough for his sculpture. Iowa Falls City Manager Terri Schroeder said workers have wrapped ropes and chains around the tree's girth and propped up the leaning sculpture with two utility poles in an effort to fight gravity.

Schroeder said she doubts the sculpture will tumble over before Toth arrives. Toth has told Schroeder he will arrive as soon as he finishes a monument he is carving in Las Cruces, N.M. The Iowa Falls and Las Cruces sculptures are part of a state-by-state tribute to the American Indians by Toth. He plans to erect sculptures in all 50 states. The Iowa Falls statue was his 27th.

Dennis White of Iowa Falls lives across the street from the sculpture and became close friends with Toth during the month and a half it took Toth to carve it. White said Toth and his family fled from communism in Hungary in the 1950s. "In my opinion, that's why he has deep feelings for the American Indians and is making these monuments: The Hungarians and Indians went through some of the same things and both were pushed off their land," said White. The Iowa Falls sculpture is nestled among the limestone bluffs that run along the Iowa River and is surrounded by majestic, old trees. Schroeder said Toth told her none of his other Indian monuments has decayed yet, so he is not sure what to do to save the sculpture, which overlooks the river.

Toth mails newsletters to the cities that are homes to his monuments, telling them about his current projects and giving suggestions for treating the wood to prevent decay. Schroeder said Iowa Falls has painstakingly brushed wood preservative onto the Indian monument twice a year as Toth advises, but that did not help to preserve the inside of the trunk. Schroeder said the rotten innards of the sculpture may be carved out, leaving it hollow and supported by steel rods. Or Toth may cut off the rotten base and reinforce the top of the sculpture with steel rods driven through the Indian's feathers down to his neck, Schroeder said. By WILLIAM PETROSKI Register Staff Writer Confusion reigns in Mount Ayr city government after the mayor and three City Council members resigned this week because of concerns about the city's loss of a form of liability insurance.

Albert Drake, who has been mayor for nine years, announced he is quitting, along with council members Jerry Marler, Dick Elliott and Gerald Cannon. They acted Tuesday after learning Monday night that an "errors and omissions" insurance policy, which covers City Council policy-making decisions, has not been renewed and other coverage could not be found. But the mayor and council members may have made a terrible mistake. Robert Shafer, the city's insurance broker, said Thursday he has located another liability insurer who can provide a new policy effective Aug. 27.

Further, even if the council has no insurance, Iowa law appears to protect city officials from being held personally liable for policy-making decisions, City Attorney Robert Bon-nett said. If council decisions are made in good faith, city government must stand behind the council's actions in the event of lawsuit damage awards, he said. "I wished they had talked to me before they had handed in their papers," Bonnett said. "I am really sad Chicago..