The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 1

THE WEATHER Showers likely today; high in the lower 70s. Cloudy with a chance of showers tonight; low in the mld-50s. Mostly cloudy Sunday, high around 70. Sunrise: 648 a.m. Sunset: 735 p.m.

Detail UT ArwUmlerv 4T Editor, UA 13 i Buwwit ItUen 1JA RrktfiQfl Uk, Cliirfia 4T Lotttrm Soorti Roundup ST Motrin TVKhiif 2T Guerrero's homer helps Cards beat Cubs, 11-8 Spcrti, IS High tech comes to Science Center Todiy, IT A SICflON CmrrlM INt Dm MolftM mw en Trlkun Company THE NEWSPAPER IOWA DEPENDS UPON Dei Moines, Iowa, Saturday, September 9, 1989 Price 35 Farm activist phones quit ringing Shipments of cocaine slow since crackdown; D.S. shortage expected By MICHAEL WINES ttff New Vert Timet WASHINGTON, C. Large air shipments of cocaine from Colombia to staging areas near the United States have slowed to a crawl since the Colombian government began its crackdown on the nation's drug industry, officials of the Customs Service and other federal agencies said Friday. Those officials, in Miami, Los Angeles and other major smuggling centers, said the reduction held the promise of creating at least a temporary shortage of cocaine and its smokable deriva By DAN LOOKER RtflttW tMMM Witter Pete Brent, an ex-farmer who counseled and consoled perhaps 15,000 financially troubled farmers during the credit crisis of the 1980s, no longer answers the phone at Prairieflre in Des Moines. Brent, 51, was laid off at the end of August as the farm advocacy group's hot line coordinator the victim of a declining budget at the nonprofit group and the public perception that the credit crisis is winding down.

Others Laid Off Also laid off was Denise O'Brien, an Atlantic farmer who headed Prairief ire's rural women's leadership development project. Another staff member, former research director Daniel Levltaa, left Prairieflre to become director of the Center for Democratic Renewal in Atlanta. But Prairieflre director David Ostendorf said that despite budget cuts and layoffs, the organization will continue its work, although its emphasis is changing. He said Prairieflre will be studying the causes of long-term decline In rural America. "It's an entrenched problem that's going to be with us for decades to come.

It's not getting any better out there in the countryside." Ostendorf said that Prairieflre'! smaller staff of four full-time workers and one part-time worker will continue to answer a hot line and that the group will hold a women's leadership conference next February. Less Money Available He said Prairieflre was pleased with the work of both staffers and he would have liked to keep both on the payroll if the organization's budget hadn't been shrinking. Prairieflre will spend about $200,000 this year, down from about $300,000 a year In 1986, he said. From a peak of about 35 telephone calls a day during the winter of 1985, when Brent Joined the staff, phone BRENT Please turn to Page 8A Pete Brent Loses job at Prairief ire OS NANOELUTne HeeUter Reagan has successful tive, crack, particularly in the larger cities of the United States. They cautioned, however, that so much cocaine was already stored in sites near the U.S.

border that only a very long halt in new shipments was likely to crimp supplies on the streeU, the end of a long and complex supply line. Indeed, officials in New York and other large cities said Friday that v.Jiska 1 brain surgery they saw no evidence of reduced mm supplies. Crack Epidemic The selling and use of the highly addictive crack has reached epidemic proportions in the interior sections of many American cities and has begun to be a serious problem in rural areas as well. Ralph Lochridge, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration's regional headquarters in Los Angeles, said in an interview that drug dealers in the United States have "a problem, temporarily, with getting dope into the United States." But he added: "Who knows what's already in the U.S.? Nobody really knows." Lochridge and others credited the Colombian government's anti-drug assault, launched a little more than two weeks ago, with the slowdown in smuggling. Military forces have DRUGS ROCHESTER, MINN.

(AP) Former President Ronald Reagan underwent successful brain surgery Friday afternoon for removal of fluid that apparently resulted from his horseback-riding accident two months ago, his spokesman said. "The president is in excellent and stable condition," spokesman Mark Weinberg said at a brief news conference Friday night following the hour-long surgery at St. Marys Hospital, which is part of the Mayo Clinic. "President Reagan is conscious and recovering in his room, where he is comfortable and in good spirits," Weinberg said. Weinberg said the surgery, performed by a team of Mayo Clinic surgeons, went "without complications." The 78-year-old former president "will be carefully monitored, although no further treatment is REAGAN Please turn to Page 9A Please turn to Page 9A Bob Rutherford, whose farmstead Is on the edge of Atlantic, keeps an eye on floodwaters rising toward his buildings from the East Nishnabotna River.

New look in Iowa: Wettest 24 hours this year Attnclattd Prm IISA FRASIglVTho Rogiifr Rainy September Her Is a breakdown by raglon of tha average amount of rain from Sept 1 to Sept 8 (as of 7 a.m.), compared to normal, and tha amount of precipitation so far this year, compared to normal. 7" By PATRICK BEACH RttUttr Staff Writer For the first time in two years, Don Reinert of Oelwein rented a sump pump to somebody with water in his basement. "I was surprised our pumps still worked," said Reinert, the owner of Oelwein's Iowa Rental Inc. "I've heard as much as 4 feet in basements." Such was the case in much of Iowa, as the soggy state and its slightly bewildered residents were left open-mouthed at minor flooding, school and road closings and the wettest 24 hours of the year. More Rain Expected That's right.

The 24 hours from 7 a.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday saw an average 1.42 inches of rain fall over the state, the National Weather Service reported. More rain is expected this weekend. At about 6:35 p.m.

Friday, a tornado sent a tree into a house in rural Fremont County, a sheriff's dispatcher reported. There also were tornado sightings in southern Mills County night, but no damage or injuries were reported. Schools Closed Heavy rains of more than 6 inches in western and west-central Iowa Cramer, a dispatcher with the Audubon County sheriff's office. "The creek did get bank-full here in town, but just small lowlands were flooding." Fits the Model State Climatologist Harry Hillaker said the weather for 1989 fits the historical model for recovering from a drought: drier than normal in the heart of summer, wetter than normal in late summer and early fall. Normal September rainfall is about 3 ft inches.

"That's how much we've had so far this month, Hillaker said. Still, a few spots in the state are asking, "What rain?" Eddyville, for example, finished the 24 hours with a measly 0.10 inch of rain. Oelwein received nearly 7.2 inches and topped the state for total rain during the period, the weather service reported. "I guess you could say it was a gully washer," said Oelwein police officer Bruce Barker. "It made three or four roads closed, not even passable.

It came down in layers." The police department's office RAIN Please turn to Page 3 A Region Sept. 18' of normal Jan. 1- of Sept8 normal Northwest 2.73 310 17.11 79 North-central 2.31 241 16.07 65 Northeast 3.57 372 19,34 77 West-central 4.64 438 20.58 87 Central 3.28 342 20.68 82 East-central 3.07 320 22.54 87 Southwest S.32 '475 25.27 99 South-central 2.61 233 22.70 88 Southeast 2.03 18t 22.22 85 Statewide 3.32 332 20.55 83 Former President Ronald Reagan waves to a crowd in Rochester, Fri day before entering St. Marys Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery. SOURCE: Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, National Weather Service 3 D.M.

swimming pools need replaced, study says water washed out the road, sheriff's officials there reported. In Audubon County, a car driven by Mary Johnson of Exira was washed off the road near Elk Horn. "We had some trees down out in the country, street flooding," said Kathy flooded fields and low-lying areas. In Atlantic, schools were closed three hours early Friday and scores of athletic games were called off. A stretch of U.S.

Highway 30 in Crawford County was down to one lane early Friday morning after By PERRY BEEMAN Reekler Sttff Writer Three Des Moines pools are in such NANCY IHLENFELOTThe poor condition the city should replace them at a cost of up to $5 million, a Report: Somali army killed thousands consultant's report says. The Des Moines City Council asked Larkin Associates Consulting Engineers Inc. of Kansas City, to assess all five city pools. The study focused on the three oldest South-town, Teachout and Northwest which have been hampered by a range of problems. Some of the prob worth pool filter system, which was installed after voters approved reconstructing the pool in 1984.

Ash-worth and Birdland pool, also rebuilt in 1984, need work on their buildings $71,000 worth at Ashworth, $113,000 at Birdland, the consultants said. In a letter to City Council members, City Manager Cy Carney said voters would have to approve a bond issue to finance the major pool work because no other money is available. He called work on the pools "essen-, tial." The city also has studied whether i to convert a pool into a type of water park if private financing were avail-able for part of the work, but that idea was not part of the Larkin analy-: sis. The consultants said Northwest' pool, built in 1958, should be replaced lems put the pools in violation of health and safety regulations, the study said. djiboutiWOMALIa ethiopia j.

py' Mian Mogadishu Ocean AFRItt Larkin's report calls for replacing By JANE PERLEZ Ntw Yerk Tkntt NAIROBI, KENYA A report commissioned by the U.S. State Department says the Somali army "purposely murdered" at least 5,000 unarmed civilians over 10 months ending in March. In one instance, at least 500 men of the Isaak clan, whose members make up the major armed opposition to the Somali government, were rounded up and killed mainly by having their throats cut and buried in mass graves, says the report, which documents wide-ranging human rights abuses. "Widespread, systematic and extremely violent assault" on unarmed civilians in northern Somalia took place even though there was no dan Northwest, Southtown and Teachout that allows military use of the port of Berbera on the Gulf of Aden, where the report said the 500 Isaaks were killed. There are no U.S.

military personnel at the port, a State Department official said. As an expression of Washington's disapproval of the government's human rights abuses, $2.5 million in military aid and $21 million in economic aid to Somalia has been suspended. A decision on whether to include Somalia in joint military exercises this fall with the United States and SOMALIA Please turn to Page 1 1 A ger to the Somali armed forces, the report said. Allegations Denied The Somali government Friday denied that the army had killed 5,000 people. "This is an old, rehashed story," said Abdi Awale Jama, charge d'affaires at the Somali Embassy in Washington.

"I can't say that it accurately reflects what happened." The army has received U.S. military aid as part of Washington's support of the military government of President Mohammed Siad Barre over the last 12 years. The United States has an agreement with the Somali government pools at a cost of $1.3 million to $1.7 million each, depending upon how large the new pools would be. The consultants also said the city faces $41,000 in repairs and improvements before the pools open next summer. The company recommended the POOLS Please turn to Page 3A city spend $75,000 to replace the Ash-.