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

SECTION tics nioincsj www Sunbay Register li 1 Covt19M HM. Dm Motntt Rtglttor nd Trltoun Cmny April 7, 1985 it IOWA DOtZZI REGISTER PHOTO BY WARREN TAYLOR -r leap of uoes More songs for farmers Three weeks ago, I mentioned how most good social movements inspire memorable music, but that the farm protest movement so far hadn't. I wondered where all the minstrels were. Believe me, I've now heard from a buncb of them. The best new tingle continues to be "What's A Banker Gonna Do With A i I (i VI if I 9 she popped a pill every three or four laundry or outer noasenoia chores.

harder for people to get off the pills booze and I've been hooked on both," "There's just something about those cung to them. Rapids, one of every 10 people who seek gel hooked f. Ml i I lilili III rffl 'l 'Jt '1 and poor. At the height of her addiction, boors, couldn cook and never did we After 14 years of addiction to the tranquilizer Valium, Peg Rhiner of Urbandale once again Is able to greet callers cheerfully with a pot of coffee she can make on prescription drugs Elou abusers By KEN FUSON Rfttttar Staff WiHwr Peg Rhiner was a drug addict for 14 years. This is her reward for quitting: Total numbness.

Shaking so bad "your like they're going to blow up." Flashing red and white lights. Dizziness when she stands, twitching when she rests. The sensation that snakes and bugs are crawling on her and in her. Eyes that feel as if they could pop. Screeching sounds, like birds in pain.

or drug dependency at St. Luke's addicted to prescription drugs. "And I only get the tip of the iceberg," says the hospital's director of psychiatric cials representing Iowa government medical and law enforcement organizations have been meeting since last November to look at the extent of the problem and what can be done about it Sponsored by the state and the American Medical Association, the group is expected to issue its report in about six weeks. "Our first question was, 'Do we have a says Norman Johnson, executive secretary of the Iowa Board of Pharmacy Examiners. "I think the consensus was yes, we do Now we're seeing a growing increase in the number of prescription drugs that are being used and abused." In Des Moines, for example, about half of the 800 people who are cared for each year at the Powell III Alcoholism Treatment Center also are addicted to a prescription or street drug, says Dr.

Stan Haugland, the center's medical director. holds more women than men. Pat the former director of the Women's Center at Des Moines General Hospital "The withdrawal is horrible, it really says. "The biggest fear I have is losing Rhiner, 49, is not a skid row junkie, but dale homemaker. She was not shooting a ramshackle flophouse, but gulping Spanish-style ranch home.

She scored from pushers, but from doctors. And she's not alone. Nobody knows how many lowans abuse tion medicine, but that may change. A my up her Iowa's rural transit systems "I think it's than it is the Haugland pills. You just In Cedar services.

where Rhiner times ahead man of the state advisory council of the Iowa Commission on the Aging. State transit assistance in Iowa currently averages 69 cents per capita, according to the Iowa Public Transit Association, compared with $5.49 per capita in Minnesota, $9.12 in Wisconsin, $13.25 in Illinois and $1.13 in Nebraska. Iowa has 17 urban transit systems, which, state officials say, primarily serve women, students, the elderly and poor people. There also are 16 rural regional transit systems that give rides mainly to senior citizens, the handicapped and young children. Combined, the systems last year provided more than 21 million rides to lowans who were going to work, on shopping trips, to doctor's appointments, to handicapped work programs, to preschool education and many other places, say state officials.

Public transit in Iowa bears little resemblance to subway or elevated railroad systems in such cities as New York or Chicago. In Iowa, public transit usually means riding a bus or van REGISTER CHART BY MINDY MILLER says. help for alcohol Hospital is think that we Cindy Reed, That iceberg Selberg-Smith, Recovery insides feel is," Rhiner mind." an Urban- heroin in Valium in a stash not prescrip host of offi face hard ers and President Reagan agreed to major spending cuts for transit that would include gradually eliminating almost 900 million in operating subsidies to states by 1990 and reducing capital grants by about S2 billion by 1988. Iowa transit officials have not yet determined exactly how these cuts would affect each transit system in the state, but a recent DOT survey indicated that federal cuts of 25 percent or more would result in fare increases or service reductions in many systems. Supporters of state transit programs are hoping that Iowa legislators will retain at least 1.8 million from the state's general fund for transit, and they are also trying to persuade legislators to earmark an additional $3 million from gas tax revenues to help offset possible federal cuts.

About 6,000 lowans, mostly senior citizens, have signed petitions urging state legislators to increase state money for transit programs, said Ken Morrow of Diagonal, legislative chair may require fall session Legislature faces big tax, budget, school questions By DAVID YEPSEN and TOM WITOSKY Iowa's problems may be too big for the Legislature to handle in one bite. A growing number of legislative leaders say tax, budget and school questions may force the General Assembly to reconvene this fall to clean up some troublesome problems. Among them are: A treasury that, even after con troversial bookkeeping changes announced by the governor last week, is running on empty. Tax increases or budget cuts are a distinct possibility. The fallout from federal budget trims and tax law changes that could require state adjustments to mesh with federal actions.

A complex school aid formula that needs revisions too extensive for lawmakers to complete before they adjourn in early May. Despite the unfinished business, leaders say the regular session will be productive, with enactment of landmark bills such as the state lottery, the private sale of wine and the repeal of the sales tax on industrial and farm machinery. The session is entering its final month. The state budget may be the most pressing problem. Revenues Depressed Last week, Gov.

Terry Branstad said the farm crisis has depressed farm tax revenues, and he lowered the state budget for the current year by $30 million. Under his new plan, spending for fiscal year 1985, which ends June 30, will be $2,265 billion instead of $2,295 billion as he originally projected. Spending in fiscal year 1984 was $2,141 billion. Branstad covers the shortfall by eliminating a $10 million surplus, by spending an $8 million "rainy day fund" and by ordering state agencies not to spend $10 million they are au- -thorized to spend. On June 30, when the budget year ends, the governor estimates the state will have nothing in the treasury.

Most lowans won notice the changes, because they were made without tax increases and without cuts in services. But several controversial changes were prompting Democratic lawmakers to accuse the Republican governor of "phony budgeting" for future years. Sales Tax on Lottery? They said Branstad is balancing his budget by asking for a sales tax on lottery tickets a move that would cheat lowans out of prize money. They said he's also called for a risky program to allow the state to make a profit from stock-market changes. The Democrats criticized Bran-stad's plan to offer a tax amnesty program, which would allow delinquent taxpayers to come forward and pay back taxes without penalty.

Branstad is counting on attracting $5 million with the program, and if taxpayers aren't stricken with pangs of guilt, his 1986 budget won't balance. And, finally, the Democrats were critical of the governor's plan to use LEGISLATURE Please turn to Page 6B Dr. Adeluala Lipede "I take other doctors' rejects" last November. Six administrators and the hospital also are named in the suit. The Lipede case has caused a split in the once tightly knit Burlington medical community that may never be repaired.

Doctors who once were friends no longer speak. Much of what led to the split has DOCTOR Please turn to Page 3B THE INDEX Where to ind it: Weather Dateline Iowa Obituaries I I Pag3B Combine?" by Jeremy Lyon of Omaha, who goes on to sing that the banker "milked the farmer for all he's worth, now let's see him milk a cow." And Ly on asks what bankers will do with barns they are repossessing "put in another drive-thru?" And we have "Let's Have A Fair Shake for Farmers," by Michael Laughlin and The Tillers from Oak' land, who say in song: "When farmers are on food stamps, it's a sorry sight to see. They feed the whole darned nation, but can feed their fa mi-lee." From Farmington in southeast Iowa, we have farmer-singer Harold Muntz, 65, with "The Plight of the Farmer," in which he croons, "It's kind of sad the way things are. From Minneapolis, there is "Every Empty Farmhouse Has to Have A Story" by Julie Rhine and Gene Mar tin. Not bad.

From Viroqua, Daniel J. Eu murian and The Hired Hands are checking in with "The Family Farm," which is mediocre, but they come clos er on the flipside with "Bilk." This one begins with cows mooing, and then goes into a story about how some farmer decides that since dairying isn't real profitable, he'll feed his cows "that crazy weed," which enables them to produce "bilk" instead of "milk." Then he gets rich. From California we have Don Henley, an established recording artist, weighing-in with "A Month of Sundays," the royalties from which he says he is donating to two farm orga nizations. Too bad for them; the song stinks. Leslie Mason of Allerton in southern Iowa has been performing "This Is My Land," in which she sings, "Now let us stand together, and pray to our dear Lord above, to ask him to grant us this blessing: To restore us the land that we love." Nice, huh? Keith M.

Reins of Waterloo is out with "Ring Around the Moon," the chorus of which contains these lines: "And the summer it was hot, and the weather it was dry, and the rains they did not come, and the well it did run dry." One of the angrier songs I've heard is "Grampa's Farm, by Mike Michal icek of Cedar Falls, who almost 'seethes: "Working hard from dawn to dusk, is all I thought I had to da, the bank's coming here tomorrow, selling Grampa farm at 2. The biggest effort I've come across is a full-blown album, slickly pro duced in Nashville, by J.R Richards, 37, of Ottumwa. He says he is taking a farmer-like financial risk with his "A Tribute to the American Farmer." "I'm selling the albums and casettes for $6.99, plus a buck for postage and handling," he said, "and I figure I've got to sell of them just to start to breakeven. "I've been performing in clubs around Ottumwa and the Midwest for 20 years, just as a sidelight, and I de- cided it was time to fish or cut bait So a couple of weeks ago I gave up my job running heavy equipment for the city of Ottumwa and am going full time in music. I've got a wife and two kids, so you can bet I'm real serious about making it This album is my start.

Richards said the album is "not pro- test music, but more my sincere feel ings about farmers." In one number, a group of Ottumwa High singers are softly doing "America the Beautiful" in the background as Richards sing speaks from the heart, "There would be no 'Amber Waves of Grain' without you, the American farmer." Richards said he is "not an overly religious type," but it was nonetheless "almost a religious experience" that helped him with this album. He was in a Nashville motel room, stewing be-. cause the album's title song wasn't working right and he was scheduled to record the next morning. "I was scared and I prayed," he said. "I said, 'Boy, Lord, you got me clear down here, now can you help me The next morning, I was in the shower when the words started com ing to me.

I ran out in the room with only a towel around me and in three I wrote the title song. At the studio they asked me how I did it, and I told them, Well, let's just say I had a little heln last Two of my favorite songs on the al bum are his less-serious offerings. One, "Boogie Woogie Beer Joint Blues," is "about four Iowa farm boys who make it big in music," Richards said. "It's sort of a wish song." Best of all is "Hog Wild," a song that he wrote a year or so ago and that already has been played on some radio stations. It opens with some very high quality hos imitations done by tucnaras nun- self, and eoes into the sad lament of a sorry old boar who finally has to ask his sweetie.

"Now, baby could I be mistakin', or have you and someone i else been makin bacon? Chuck Off en burger healthy, but By WILLIAM PETROSKI RMtstaf SMI Writer Some urban and rural transit agen cies in Iowa have been forced to cut routes and streamline operations in recent years because of tight finances, although most systems are still providing adequate service, say Iowa transit administrators. But more reductions in service and big fare increases may be needed on some systems if major slashes occur in federal funding, they say. "There is no system in Iowa that has money to burn," said Candace Bakke, director of public transit for the lowa Department of Transportation. "We are going to have to decide as a society how much service we are willing to provide for people because transit serves people who can't provide transportation for themselves," she added. Barbara Dunn, executive director of the Iowa Public Transit Association, said, "I think the systems have reached a point where there just isn't any more give." The U.S.

House has not decided on its plans for federal transit funding, but last week Senate Republican lead Which Not THE Doctors Front received her treatment, says studies DRUGS Please turn to Page 8B or taxicab during daylight hours on a weekday. Night and Sunday service are unavailable in most Iowa commu nities, and some transit agencies do not offer rides on Saturday. All of the systems are run by local government or non-profit agencies, and all heavily rely upon federal, state and local government subsidies to TRANSIT Please turn to Page 4B Burlington doctor fired; cites racism By JOHN CARLSON RNtoMr Stiff WrMr BURLINGTON, IA. Dr. Adeluala Lipede says the complicated surgeries he routinely performs bafiie ana amaze" the other doctors on the staff at southeast Iowa's largest hospital.

"I take the cases nobody else wants," says the Nigerian-born Lipede in a near whisper. "I take the other doctors' rejects. The other doctors tell them, 'I can't help The people come to me, and I make them well. Even Iowa City won't take some of the procedures I perform." Lipede, 41, is confident, seii-assurea and well-educated. But he's being thrown off the staff of the Burlington Medical Center, where he says he has performed 474 major surgeries in the 2 ft years he's been there without a surgically related death.

"They resent me because I am successful and because I'm the first competition the surgeons of this town have had in 48 years," Lipede says, bis hand resting on the ever-present Bible atop his office desk, his normally quiet voice rising. "And they want to get me out of town because I'm black." Publicly, the doctors will say little about their opinions of Lipede's medical skills 15 of them are defendants in a race discrimination suit he filed MILLION 40 PUIUC TRANSIT sPEHDma mitt iii4 30 ff 20 10 STATE LOCAL E3 FEDERAL ESI TOTAL fg3 Local includes local taxes, farebox revenues and contracts. IOWA POLL: HOSTALGIA of the following should be brought back? who make house calls porch swings celebrating every holiday on Monday ALLI0WAKS MEN WOMEN 72 67 75 57 48 65 50 46 55 ,49 52 47. 35 33 '38 23 20, 20 13 9 16 5 5 4 Movies about the Old West Carhops Trolleys Manual typewriters Cars with big tail fins None of the above What lowans miss from the past By DAVID ELBERT Register SMI Writer Memories are made of front porch swings, doctors who make house calls, movies of the Old West and, occasionally, carhops. They are not, an Iowa Poll shows, the stuff of cars with big tail fins, manual typewriters or trolleys.

Keep that in mind if you are planning a nostalgia party. In fact If you're considering a nostalgia party, why not hold it on the real Memorial Day Thursday, May SO, this year. To many lowans, holidays, such as Memorial Day, that now fall on Mondays are about as exciting as dressing up to go to the dentist. The poll shows that when lowans are given a choice, 50 percent vote for a return to cele- trails and skies that aren't cloudy all day. But it's doctors who make house calls who are the hottest of eight items-on the poll's list of golden oldies that lowans would like to see make a comeback.

Nearly three out of four lowans (72 percent) favor returning to that more personalized era of medicine, when physicians were affectionately known to one and all as "Doc." No nostalgia party would be com plete without a front porch swing, which next to door-knocking doctors is the most popular item on our list, Among all Iowa adults, 57 percent favor bringing back front porch POLL Please turn to Page 2B brating holidays on whatever day they really fall. And for entertainment at that nostalgia party, consider showing an old western movie maybe "Stagecoach," the 1939 classic starring the IOWA POLE then-unknown John Wayne, or "Shane," which starred Alan Ladd and Brandon de Wilde. Forty-nine percent of lowans wish more filmmakers would return to the roots of American cinema and once again make movies about the Old West the poll shows. They've apparently had enough of teen-age sex and galactic adventures; they want happy.