The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 10

IOAThk DksMoink.s Rkcistkh Wkdnksday, Gisneros finds rules adequate Iowa cities to get HUD flood aid Slain woman left Colorado to be closer to family By CHRIS OSHER Registfr Staff Wkitf.r CISNEROS LANGE the Des Moines Public Housing Authority, said current rules covering evictions deal only with neighborhood problems relating to drug-related and violent crimes. Plymat said that at the end of the Bush administration, new rules were written that have yet to be put into effect. Once those rules went into effect, they would allow for the eviction of public housing clients who had caused generally less serious problems, such as damage to property or disturbing neighbors' peace. Certificates that pay the rent of low-income residents eventually result in a landlord getting rent money. Plymat said the federal program operates under the theory that landlords are responsible for enforcing the rules and evict problem tenants.

"My critique is that landlords get all this public money and that serves as an inducement for them not to do that," Plymat said. The grant application for the aid failed to win support of a majority of the Des Moines City Council twice last week. This Monday, a majority of the council endorsed the efforts by the Des Moines Public Housing Authority to obtain the aid. "I have heard the complaint, but my sense is that, following the proper procedures, it is possible to evict someone," Cisneros said. "But there are certain protections so that arbitrariness cannot enter into that decision.

The federal guidelines do protect tenants, but properly pursued and documented, it is entirely possible to evict people who are disruptive." Cisneros said he did not know of any reason why the current guidelines should be loosened. "It is certainly something I will be happy to look at," Cisneros said. "And I will do that." Bill Plymat, a commissioner for Henry Cisneros, U.S. secretary of housing and urban development, said Tuesday he believed adequate iules were in place to allow for the eviction of disruptive tenants whose rent is subsidized by the federal government. Cisneros, during an interview Tuesday, touched on a controversial issue that raged in Des Moines during the past week.

Some neighborhood activists and Des Moines City Council members have complained that federal regulations make it difficult to oust tenants receiving the subsidies who are abusing the system. The controversy almost squelched efforts to obtain $1.5 million in federal aid that would subsidize the rent of 50 families. Moines and its suburbs during the last 10 days, other agents were talking to people who knew her in Colorado. Two DCI agents went to Colorado "to obtain background information and follow up any leads they find wherever it takes them," Ramey said. Additionally, at least a dozen detectives and agents have been assigned full-time to the case.

Authorities said it was unlikely that Lange, bored with living in a hotel for more than a week, sought entertainment at a nightspot and met someone who proved to be her killer. "We tend to doubt it. She was not the kind of woman who hung around nightclubs. She was a very reserved and quiet young lady," Ramey said. Lange was single and had no children.

Ramey said she was married once "for a short time years ago." Dan Miller, security director at the University Park Holiday Inn, said the hotel has stepped up security, but he declined to say exactly how. The hotel's atrium construction helps security guards in the building, he said. "You can stand up on 10 and pretty much see every room in the hotel." Managers at other area hotels said it would be premature to beef up security because of one incident but said they are following the West Des Moines investigation. Continued from Page I A Moines Police Department. They declined to speak to reporters.

"The parents are quite shocked by the event. I don't believe they have a clue" as to why their only child was slain, Ramey said. Authorities gave the parents "very few more answers" than were being released to the public, the assistant county attorney said. "I think they understand we have a need to keep things in-house in the investigation at this point." John Tinker, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said Lange moved to the Des Moines area to be closer to her parents. "Secondly, where she had been working out there, they have been laying some people off, cutting down on jobs.

She may have anticipated her long-term job out there was in jeopardy and she was looking around. She kind of wanted to get back closer to home." Bill Lloyd, a spokesman for Nor-west Mortgage said Lange was just starting her job as a data base administrator in informational services. He said the company "offers condolences to her family at this time of sorrow." While investigators sought anyone who had contact with Lange in Des A it 1 Continuedmm Page 1A ministration, is scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the Des Moines Convention Center. Government officials from nine states are expected to attend. Cisneros said the primary focus of the meeting will be finding ways to get flood victims into housing.

He said the goal is to "talk about how we get the funds appropriated for housing in their hands and how we get people into housing, into homes." Good Job He said the Red Cross and FEMA did a good job of providing temporary arrangements to people displaced by the flood. "Now, we need to talk about how we move people into permanent housing," Cisneros said. "In 3ome cases, rebuilding and refurbishing and moving back into their own homes, and in other instances really moving into new settings." Cisneros said that about 45,000 people were flooded out of their homes in the Midwest. The conference will provide facts about federal programs that are available. There also will be discussions about waiving the rules normally associated with federal aid.

"We want to talk about technical waivers, and the kinds of flexibility we're prepared to build in these programs so that people can make the quickest and most effective use of them," Cisneros said. Strings Attached Richard Clark, the deputy city manager of Des Moines, said the city wants to learn the amount of federal aid it will receive and whether the normal strings that are attached to such aid will remain. "The issue here is you have a sense of urgency," Clark said. "People are out of their homes. The need is right now.

We can't have a normal, business-as-usual attitude." Clark said the City Council wants to proceed with a buyout program for residential areas hit by the flood. But he said that if the city is required to adhere to usual requirements for federal aid, "it could be a very long time before we actually get the money to the people who need it." The city already has been told that FEMA will not require the city to comply with the requirements because the buyout program would be voluntary. The city has not yet received a definite answer on whether HUD also is willing to waive the requirements. Clark said it is just as crucial for the city to find out how much money it will receive. "It would be real hard to start with this buyout program without having enough money to do the whole thing," Clark said.

"We can't very well start down the list and then find out, 'Well, I'm sorry we can't buy your house now because we ran out of Slaying prompts worrying among women travelers The ABCs of Childbirth By VIVIEN LOU CHEN Rkkistkk Staff Writkk With a baby on the way, there's a lot to do. Mercy can help you prepare, with classes that provide a fast, fun way to learn the ABCs of childbirth. And, just like babies, Mercy classes come in all sizes. 0 Childbirth Education EJ Fast Track Six evening classes help Mom and Childbirth education basics inside a bar at the Hotel Savery. "Whenever I'm in a strange city, I'm very concerned.

If I don't have someone to eat with, I eat in the hotel. "On the one hand, you think of the flooding situation. People pitching in. Community spirit. You think the Midwest is a great place to live.

On the other hand, a woman jogger is kidnapped and somebody gets strangled at the Holiday Inn at West pes Moines. They're at two totally opposite ends of the spectrum." her labor coach prepare. Includes Early Bird Single session addresses early preparation, maternal changes, health, nutrition, and development, from conception through birth. Tuesdays, p.m. Aug.

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13 prenatal and newborn development, breathing and relaxation, birthing options, infant feeding and parenting. Weekly sessions, August, September, October Call 243-2584 for dates and times. sp44ERCY I Call the Mercy Nurse, 243-2584, for more information, or to arrange a tour. In the wake of a weekend slaying in West Des Moines, women who travel on business expressed safety concerns Tuesday. "It's definitely very alarming," said Sandra Liu, 27, a technical specialist from St.

Louis who was waiting for a shuttle bus outside the downtown Marriott Hotel. "Prior to that, I didn't think there was any danger traveling on business as long as you stay in a reputable hotel. The danger would cross my mind more going to New York as opposed to Des Moines." Liu was in Des Moines for one night to attend a seminar with a female co-worker. She carries Mace spray with her on a key chain, but admitted, "I'm probably not as careful as I could be." Diane Tough, 39, of West Des Moines takes every precaution when traveling. As an information systems availability specialist for IBM, Tough said she is on the road working six to eight weeks out of the year.

"You just don't feel that safe anymore, anywhere," she said as she sat Man sinks into mother's grave Newtown, Pa. (AP) A man planting mums' on his mother's grave was trapped for two hours when the ground gave way and he sank knee-high. i Kenneth McLaughlin, 29, said he tried repeatedly to free himself, but the leg that sank into soft ground Saturday became stuck under the base of his mother's headstone. After two hours McLaughlin was rescued by a bicyclist, who called for help. A police officer used a flower pot near the grave to shovel a two-foot hole and free McLaughlin.

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