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

NT DKS MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER AUGUST 19, 1984 3B REGISTER PHOTO BY LARRY E. NEIBERGALL r-' T' f. a Recent tragedies take toll on parents trying to protect children Plane crash victims identified DCS MOINES OSKALOOSA, IA. Two men who died Friday night after their light plane crashed near here were identified Saturday as pilot Marlin L. McKeag, 43, and James Woodard 70, both of Oskaloosa.

Flight Service Station officials in Ottumwa re I Otkdoou 0 Mitat 200 ported that the single engine Cessna 170 took off about 6 p.m. Friday night from the Oskaloosa Municipal Airport, circled the airport seven or eight times, and then stalled, crashed and burned in an adjacent soybean field. A spokesman for the FSS said that McKeag, a pilot for Mahaska Bottling did not file a flight plan and the destination of the flight was unknown. Weather at the time of takeoff was described as overcast with a ceiling. The plane circled the airport while flying about 200 feet above the surface, according to the FSS.

The FSS spokesman said the aircraft did not make radio contact UNI President Comtaatloe Curris respects the edocation his school offers. with the FSS and that it was not known whether the plane was in leviate fears. "You can't protect a child 100 percent," she said. Prevention Techniques To prevent child abductions, Sims and Lt. William Tigue, head of the crime prevention bureau of the Des Moines Police Department, and other sources offer various suggestions: Have your children travel in groups or at least use the "buddy" system.

Rehearse various situations with your child so you can determine how he or she would react. "SAFETY ZONE," a book teaching child-abduction prevention skills, can be purchased for $3 from The Chas. Franklin Press, 18409 Ninetieth Ave. Edmonds, Wa. 98020.

Stress to your children that being abducted is possible, but not likely to happen. Have a secret code word that you agree to use in case you ask a friend to pick up your child. Periodically review rules about never getting in a car with a stranger and walking around the neighborhood after dark. Tell your children to call home when they reach their destination. Know where your child is at all times.

(Jl president isn't buying Hve-get-no-respect' image contact with the fixed base operator at Oskaloosa. 'Car hits house, Sioux City man killed Th RcfMtr't tew Nw Sarvtc A Sioux City man was killed SIOUX CITY, IA and his wife was critically injured early Saturday after a car crashed into the bedroom of their ISIoux City Ides moines house along U.S. Highway 75 here. Bernard L. Anderson, 68, died, while his wife, Myrna, 63, remained in critical condition Satur- M.iai 200 By MELINDA VOSS RttltMr Staff Writer A baby is strangled in his crib by a pet python in Ottumwa; a 3-year-old girl dies after getting caught in the intake valve of a reflecting pool in Des Moines; two toddlers die in a fire at Ryan; and a 13-year-old newspaper boy disappears without a trace in Des Moines.

These stories, all involving Iowa children within the last few weeks, have focused parental attention on the safety of their own. How far should they go to ensure the well-being of their children? Is there such a thing as being over-protective? The vulnerability of children provokes nightmares even among the calmest of parents. Don't worry, those reactions are normal, say the experts. "It's a real intense time for parents when these things happen," said Linda Sims, a home economist for the Iowa State University extension service, and the mother of two children under 7. But she said, "Life is a risk and we don't want to restrict our children so much that they're not getting the benefit of what life has to offer." Des Moines psychiatrist Michael Taylor says he worries more when his 12-year-old son goes out for a bike ride.

Nevertheless, he said he's not taking any extraordinary precautions. City Not More Dangerous "Safety precautions are just as necessary today as they were two weeks ago, but not more so. It's not any more dangerous today in Des Moines than it was two weeks ago. We're just more acutely aware of it," Taylor said. "If there's any silver lining in the cloud, we just have to make sure that our kids are aware of potentially dangerous situations," he said.

But if parents get anxious, it's important that they don't pass that anxiety on to their children, said Taylor. "We don't need kids who are scared of everything they approach," he said. Crises frequently mobilize parents to take extra precautions, he said. "There's probably a number of parents who are restricting their children's activities now, but who are probably letting them ride in the car without seat belts," Taylor said. Patrick Sullivan, a Des Moines psychologist, agrees.

"If you're an over-protective parent, you're keeping the child from learning how to be responsible, from developing the skills. When people develop the skills, sometimes they mess up or an accident happens. Most of the time, it's not a life-threatening situation," Sullivan said. Check With Other Parents For parents wondering whether they're being too protective, Sullivan suggests they check with other parents to see how they handle situations. "The wise parent is continually sorting and evaluating.

No one person has the absolute answer. You don't have to I day night at Marian Health Center here. An auto driven by David M. Miller, 21, of Moville crashed into 'the Anderson home on North Lewis Boulevard between 2 and 2:20 a.m. according to police.

Miller and a passenger, Kim Kroger, 24, Of Sioux City, left the scene to seek hospital treatment for minor lacerations. Miller has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and was i being held Saturday in the Woodbury County Jail in lieu of $115,000 bond. Police Capt. Ron Pettit said it appears the accident was alcohol related. I Benefit set for ailing Callender girl Th Rnhtar't lw Hm SarvM D.M.

police don't know where to search 3 niLliUKE By ACK HOVELSON Ol TM RMttttfl Wttolto tWMU CEDAR FALLS, IA. The Rodney Dangerfield "we-get-no-respect" ailment that sometimes invades the University of Northern Iowa campus has yet to infect the school's president, Dr. Constantine Curris. UNI expects to be overshadowed in most respects by its two larger sister state universities, but after a year of exposure Curris seems immune to feeling sorry for his school. "It's almost a paranoia at times" on campus, Curris conceded in an interview a few days after marking his one-year anniversary on Aug.

1 as UNI chief executive. Curris, 43, was president of Murray State University in his native Kentucky when the Iowa Board of Regents tabbed him as the successor to John Kamerick, who had been UNI president for 12 years. "There is that Rodney Dangerfield feeling here, but we have to understand that we are the least known university in the state and a lot of that is because we are the newest university in the state," Curris said. "The other two-state universities are already developed, but we're a developing one. That's one reason we're not known as well," Curris said.

Northern Iowa, he said, once was Iowa State Teachers College (ISTC), then the State College of Iowa (SCI). As ISTC it established a good name for training teachers, a reputation that many people believe works to UNI's disadvantage as it tries to develop a multi-faceted university. But Curris sees the teacher-training image as one that should be exploited. "Our visibility dropped because the demand for teachers diminished. But, the era of teacher surplus is rapidly evaporating," he insisted.

"We have to concentrate on our Ctllandar CALLENDER, IA. A benefit volleyball game and ice cream social will be held at the Callender School from 2 to 5 p.m. today to raise money to help pay for a liver transplant for Andrea Witte, the 4-month-old daughter of Jim and Sandi Witte of Callender. IDES MOINES 5 he can start promoting the university off campus. And he's not particularly worried about spurring enrollment growth.

"Ten thousand students is the optimum size for quality student learning experiences here. We're not in a position to get bigger. We've taken a stance against using graduate assistants in large class sections. "I don't want this university to go the route of other schools that abandon undergraduate education to graduate assistants," Curris said. Quality education is his objective.

He estimates that UNI is 5 percent to 10 percent short of the faculty members needed to bring about the best quality education. Curris said he wants to expand UNI's international studies program to tie into Iowa's increasing emphasis on foreign trade. "I'm not too worried about the Iowa economy and its effect on UNI. The Iowa economy is bouncing back. I don't want to sound like Ronald Reagan when I say that, because we have some serious economic problems in agriculture.

In our non-agriculture economy, however, I see some rebound," Curris said. "There's a tendency in Iowa for people to undersell themselves and the state. They focus on the blustery Iowa winters when there's so many good and positive things here. You have to live in another state to appreciate it. A sense of pride in this state needs to be manifested more," he added.

Curris said Iowans generally don't recognize the necessity of economic development of their state. "When the Iowa Development Commission puts on a party in New York where they're buying booze, the people here wonder why they're buying booze instead of looking at what they're trying to accomplish," he said. Curris maintains that he "feels good" about the way UNI has been treated by the Board of Regents and its staff. "I don't operate on the assumption that we've been treated as a second-class institution," he said. The girl is suffering from a terminal liver disease, biliary atresia, and doctors have told the family that a transplant is the only hope for saving the child.

Andrea's condition was discovered when she underwent a routine checkup seven months ago. Her liver is degenerating, and without a transplant, doctors have said she has no more than a year to live. Jim Witte is a cattle producer, Sandi Witte is a church secretary in Fort Dodge. The family's insurance will cover some, but not all, of the expenses involved in a transplant and the child's recuperation, according to friends who have formed a group to raise money to help the family. The group, called Andrea's Angels, is accepting donations at P.O.

Box 213, Callender, la. 50523. Today's charity game and ice cream social are sponsored by the Aid Association for Lutherans. Iowa City man charged with murder TM KtvUfefl tow Nw Sarvtc Continued from Page One after a psychic advised the parents he could be found north of Interstate 80 near Highway 117. "She mentioned something about a Holland windmill," Donald Martin said.

"But there was nothing out there. Not even a footprint." Psychic Gave Tip The psychic informed them their 13-year-old son was alive, Martin said, "but he was badly beaten and weak and thirsty." Until her stepson's case is solved, Sue Martin believes young people are not safe in Des Moines. "There's going to be another kid with his picture on the poster. I just know it," she said, referring to thousands of posters that have been distributed nationwide bearing the photos of Eugene Martin and missing newspaper carrier Johnny Gosch, who disappeared two years ago in West Des Moines. Both boys were delivering the Des Moines Sunday Register before they vanished.

Since Eugene Martin disappeared, neither his stepmother, a cashier at a Ma and Pa store in Des Moines, nor Donald Martin, who began work as a strength as the leader in teacher education in Iowa," Curris said. low City IOWA CITY, IA. An Iowa City man was arrested Saturday and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of his wife. Ronald Lee Kulow, 32, was arrested after he turned himself over to Iowa City police officials ue.3 The quality of education at UNI is MOINES "the greatest secret in Iowa," he said. If he's guilty of cheerleading it's be cause that's what Curris thinks everyone at the university should be doing.

Curris said he spent nearly all of his Saturday. He was charged with slaying his wife, Deborah A. Kulow, 27. Police said the stabbing occurred around noon Saturday at the Kulow's residence at 1024 E. Washington St.

in Iowa City. An autopsy was being performed Saturday evening. Kulow was taken into custody and is being held on $250,000 bond. first year on campus ironing out internal problems and building confidence in his administration. Furthermore, he thinks he'll need another year before Interest groups rate legislators on votes have a license to be a parent.

It may be the most valuable and difficult job in the world," he said. Several parents interviewed in Des Moines last week said they're keeping a more watchful eye on their offspring. "It's getting frightening considering all the things that go on," said Bonnie Harvey, who directed her 15-year-old son Brian to quit carrying the Des Moines Sunday Register following the disappearance of Eugene Wade Martin on Des Moines' south side last Sunday while delivering the paper. Martin was the second Des Moines-area newspaper carrier to disappear in two years. Johnny Gosch was 12 when he vanished from a West Des Moines neighborhood in September 1982.

Parents are scared, and like the Harveys, they're taking steps to protect their children. "You hate to do it," said Harvey. "He was disappointed. But we just decided we couldn't handle it if something happened to him." Harvey said her son wanted to continue the route and felt that he could protect himself adequately because By DEWEY KNUDSON maintenance man at Westchester vu-lege apartments just one week before the incident, have returned to work. Sighted in New Mexico In another development, a claim was made Saturday that Eugene Martin has been sighted in New Mexico, but authorities say they are unaware of the boy being in that state.

Sue Martin said that Paul Bishop, a representative of Children in Distress, based in Springfield, telephoned her Saturday to say that Eugene had been sighted in the Gallup, N.M., area. "He said he had just heard from some lady," she said, and he plans to send private investigators to the New Mexico and Arizona region to search for the boy. However, Daniel Bowman, a spokesman for the Gallup Police Department, said in a telephone interview that he wasn't aware of the report. "No one has contacted us. We haven't heard anything about it," he said.

Des Moines Police Sgt Bill Mullins said detectives will thoroughly investigate the alleged sighting, but added, "It is no more probable than any of the he's had training in karate and self de fense, but she said that wasn't enough. "I didn't want him to be next," she said. other leads we've got." Linda Shepherd, who lives in south Easter Lake Search Sue Martin said Bishop told her the east Des Moines, said her two boys, Jeff, 14, and Kurt, 13, have given notice that they will quit their newspaper routes. In the meantime, the boys are doing their routes together, she boy was seen in New Mexico in a 1977 or 1978 Plymouth Fury four-door automobile, which was painted dark green and bore Arizona license plates. said.

Quitting Paper Routes The first letter of the license piate is the letter she said. Also the mother of a 3-year-old, Bishon could not be reached for comment Saturday because his organization does not have a telephone list Shepherd said, "You'd think I'd worry more about the littlest one." But when Kurt wanted to go on a bike ride with a friend, Shepherd said, she told him he Rtfttfvf Stiff Writer Representative Ralph Rosenberg Ames) and Senator Tom Slater Council Bluffs) are the most liberal members of the Iowa Legislature, jintf the staunchest conservatives are Representative Bob Renken Aplington) and Senator Edgar Holden Davenport). Those conclusions are drawn from an examination of the voting records of members of the General Assembly that have been compiled by interest goups monitoring lawmakers' voting habits. Rosenberg and Slater, for example, received per-ifect marks from the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, etter than 95 percent scores from the Iowa Federation of Labor, and bottom rankings from the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, On the other hand, Renken and Holden received perfect scores from the business and industry group, which tends to reflect more conservative viewpoints, and low marks from the ICLU and the labor federation, which are more liberal. "I'm surprised that mine would show the most conservative," Renken said.

"I knew I had a pretty conservative voting record. I guess that reflects the people in my district" Voting records show that in addition to his 100 percent score from the Association of Business and Industry, Renken was one of six House Republicans who received a zero from the labor group. He also had the lowest score, 14 percent, from the ICLU. Said Rosenberg: "I don't call myself a liberal when I campaign. I call myself a populist or progressive.

Unfortunately, liberal has gotten a bad connotation." Rosenberg said his record also reflects work on behalf of groups such as corrections officials, law enforcement officers and firefighters. "I think I'm conservative on some things, like energy," he said. lt believe in conserving energy and conserving natural resources." 3 Yet Rosenberg was the only House member with ike combination of a perfect ICLU score, better than 9j percent from the labor federation and no more than one "right" vote in the eyes of the Association 0f Business and Industry. "Yes, I guess I would have to agree," Holden said of his most-conservative rating. "A great deal of it is the fiscal concern I have for what we are doing." While receiving a perfect score from the ABI, Holden was judged to have voted wrong 67 percent oLthe time by the Civil Liberties Union and 93 per-tejkt of the time by the labor federation.

Slater, who is retiring from the Senate, could not be reached for comment late last week. Other lawmakers with overwhelmingly liberal judged wrong on just one. The labor group's key issues included public employee negotiating powers, choice of doctors in workers compensation cases, a state lottery, a moratorium on winter utility shutoffs, and credit card finance charges. The Association of Business and Industry concluded that 11 senators and 18 representatives had perfect voting records. All were Republicans.

The group's key issues included choice of doctors, use of lie detectors in hiring, and a 1983 unemployment compensation bill. Both the business association and labor federation score cards showed strong partisan flavor, with the business and industry group siding with Republicans and the labor organization embracing Democrats. "All the Democrats look after is labor unions," said Senate GOP Leader Calvin Hultman Red Oak). "Republicans tend to be more on the Main Street businessman approach." But Senate Majority Leader Lowell Junkins Montrose) said the Democratic-controlled General Assembly "isn't owned by the special interest groups. It does reflect that Democrats are more sympathetic to working persons' problems in the state, and we respond when we are in control." Noting that the Association of Business and Industry was not happy with the Legislature, he added: "We're not anti-business.

We did not, during difficult times, give to the big business people many of their legislative agenda items, which were very expensive." Both Junkins and his House counterpart, Speaker Donald Avenson Oelwein), said the business and industry association represents primarily big manufacturers and slights small employers. "We did try to move the Democratic legislative agenda toward small business concerns and toward farm concerns," Avenson said. "We may not have shown that same concern to the large manufacturers of Iowa." Interestingly, the score cards complied by the Association of Business and Industry and the National Federation of Independent Business show a broad difference of opinion in the business community: the association rated Senate Republicans at 82 percent "right" and Senate Democrats at 28 percent "right," the federation said the two parties voted "right" 78 percent and 70 percent of the time, respectively. Similarly, in the House, the association approved of Republican votes 84 percent of the time and of Democratic votes 26 percent of the time, and the federation gave Republicans an 80 percent approval rating and Democrats a 75 percent score. voting records, according to all three interest groups, are Representative Florence Buhr Des Moines) and Senators Charles Bruner Ames) and Tom Mann Des Moines).

Those with the next most conservative records, all Republicans, were Representatives Robert Grandia of Pella, William Harbor of Henderson, Ruhl Maulsby of Rockwell City, Janis Torrence of Atalissa and Richard Welden of Iowa Falls; and Senators Norman Goodwin of De Witt, Lee Holt of Spencer and Arne Waldstein of Storm Lake. An analysis of the legislative score cards of votes on selected issues in 1983 and 1984 also shows: Senate Democrats voted with labor unions 84 percent of the time, while House Democrats aligned with labor on 86 percent of the selected votes. Senate Republicans sided with the business and industry association on 82 percent of the votes, while GOP House members voted with the association 84 percent of the time. A broad chasm exists between the views of the business and industry group, which has sought to broaden its base after years of being perceived as representing just large manufacturers, and the National Federation of Independent Business. The independent-business group, for example, gave Democrats in both chambers relatively high marks, while the Association of Business and Industry disagreed with Democrats on about three votes out of four.

Both lawmakers and representatives of the special interest groups agree that legislative score cards are only one means for evaluating members of the General Assembly. They focus on only a handful of the hundreds of votes cast each session, and those votes often are chosen to reflect the narrow interests of the organization, rather than a broad spectrum of issues. Even so, the three legislative reports that seem to give the best picture of where lawmakers stand on the liberal-conservative spectrum are those compiled by the Civil Liberties Union, the Federation of Labor and the Association of Business and Industry. The ICLU granted perfect voting records to 18 lawmakers in both chambers, three Republicans and 15 Democrats. The evaluations were based on such votes as the District of Columbia voting rights amendment, confidentiality of library records and barring the use of lie detectors in hiring decisions.

Four Democrats Rod Halvorson of Fort Dodge, Mike Oxley of Marion, Doris Peick of Cedar Rapids and Dennis Renaud of Altoona voted "right" on 24 House votes in the eyes of the Federation of Labor. No senators were given a perfect score on 30 votes, though Slater and Joe Welsh (Dem, Dubuque) were ing in Springfield. Meanwhile, in Des Moines on Satur couldn't. "It's hard to know what to do. You have to go by your own feelings," she day, volunteers assisted police with their search, looking north of Easter Lake in Polk County and in the southwest corner of Des Moines.

said. Philip Thomas, who lives on Des About 100 volunteers helped with the search. Mullins said. "These are random searches," he said. "We don't Moines' northwest side, said he thought about making Sajo, his 13-year-old son, quit his newspaper route, but rejected the idea.

"Quitting is not an answer," said Thomas, who now rises at 6 a.m. to accompany his son on the route. know where to He said Dolice are still receiving telephone tips but so far none of them have provided leads. "Part of the problem is parents, too. Don't leave everything to the kids," he said.

Other parents said they no longer let their children have free run of the neighborhood without knowing their exact whereabouts. One mother said she doesn't let her pre-teen daughter walk behind her when shopping in a mall. Reward fund now at $64,000 Pledges to a reward fund for information leading to the recovery of either Eugene Martin or Johnny Gosch have been boosted to a total of $64,000. Sims, the home economist, said par ents have trouble coping with situations they can't control, but taking as many precautions as possible may al.