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

Saturday's Forecast HIGH LOW NICOLE'S SISTER BREAKS DOWN Denise Brown bursts into tears while testifying in OJ. Simpson's murder trial Page 6A Feb. 4, 1995: Partly sunny: northwesterly winds 10 to 1 5 mph Sunrise: 7:24 a.m. Sunset: 5:34 Details: 2T. 13-19 Jfcdme, Des Moines, Iowa Saturday, February 4, 1995 Price 50 cents Soup Line in W.D.M.

pimps in slwdlw 1 II '3N 1 AtiSllCIATKIl HRKS8 PERCENT OF U.S. work force, seasonally adjusted. 5 If i i 4- 7.5 7.0 i5J) 5.5 FMAMJJ ASONDJ 1994 "94 SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor GOP plan to balance budget maybe doomed GARY FANDRlKlXilSTKK FlIOTOS Lunch for students of Indian Hills Junior High Friday included meatless soup, day-old bread, half an apple, hard candy and water. Learning lesson of hard times Depression-style fare makes history real for eighth-graders The new numbers ease fears that the Federal Reserve will approve yet another rise in interest rates.

By ROGER FILLI0N Rl.lTKU Washington, D.C. The unemployment rate jumped to 5.7 percent in January its first rise in 2XA years and job growth slowed markedly, the government said Friday, suggesting that rising interest rates finally may be slowing the economy, Stocks and bonds soared on the report as fears eased that the Federal Reserve which has jacked up rates for a year to head off inflation would engineer yet another rate increase soon. The January unemployment rate, up from a 4'fc-year low of 5.4 percent in December, was the highest since October and was a shock to economists and traders who had expected no change. Revised Downward The Labor Department also said 134,000 new jobs were generated outside the farm sector last month, the smallest rise since 101,000 in January 1994. The December jobs increase was revised downward to 210,000 from 256,000.

Economists cautioned the report probably overstated any slackening in the economy because it contained some quirks as well as signs of strength. Factory overtime hit an all-time high. The workweek expanded. Wages jumped 0.6 percent. And manufacturing and construction saw gains in payroll jobs.

But the data reinforced other scattered signs of slowing: weak sales at retail stores, a fall in sales of new homes, and rising inventories of unsold new cars on dealers' lots. "Let's not take these numbers literally," said Robert Dederick of Northern Trust Corp. "But they do seem to be giving us a new message, namely the growth pace is ebbing and inflation pressures are gradually emerging." Some Moderation Chief White House Economist Laura Tyson said the data may suggest some moderation in employment growth in coming months. "But it is too early to tell because of the problem of adjusting for sea- By KATHY A. EOLTEN Register Staff Writer i TV i By HELEN DEWAR and ERIC PIANIN VSIIIViTliVl'dM Washington, D.C.

Key Senate Republicans said Friday that support for a constitutional amendment to balance the budget is eroding among Democrats and conceded that it probably has no better than a 50-50 chance of passage. Sen. Bob Parkwxd, chairman of the Finance Committee, told an audience Friday, "Unfortunately, I don't think we are going to succeed. I think the Democrats are going to succeed in killing it in the Senate." Only a week after the House overwhelmingly approved the amendment, the Republicans' leading campaign promise, the measure has encountered formidable resistance from Senate Democrats and outside groups that have linked it to the politically volatile issue of Social Security. $1.3 Trillion in Cuts Democrats also have put Republicans on the defensive by repeatedly challenging them to spell out in detail the more than $1.3 trillion of spending cuts that would be required to balance the budget by the amendment's target year, 2002.

By the end of the week, at least three uncommitted Democrats had announced they would oppose the amendment unless it were altered to guarantee against cuts in Social Security to achieve a balanced budget. Republican and Democratic propo- those served to Indian Hills students. "They probably wouldn't have gotten food that was this good and this wasn't the greatest. And what they had was probably cold and not nearly as filling," he said. Makes an Impression "They are going to remember this 10 to 20 years from now," said Mary Brooks, a language arts teacher who helped spearhead the effort.

The Depression didn't make as much of an impression on students who studied it in past years, she said. "A lot of kids can't tell you what decade the Depression occurred in. These kids will be able to tell you that, and they're going to be able to relate it to our present-day world," Brooks said. Many of the students ate only a small portion of the soup they were given, throwing the remainder away. Few were like Peter Blink, who traded his piece of candy for a bowl of soup with another student.

Three others students just gave him their soup. "It was good," said Blink. "I really liked it." West Des Moines, la. Joanna Piasecka chatted with her friends as she toyed with a spoon in her bowl of meatless soup. She scooped up a spoonful of the brownish-red liquid and then let it drip back into the bowl.

"It's all right, I guess," Piasecka said, looking at her lunch. "I'm not going to eat it, though. These apples look like they've sat out awhile; they're kind of brown." Piasecka was one of nearly 300 Indian Hills Junior High School eighth-graders who dined Friday on a Depression-style meal of meatless soup with beans, day-old brown bread, half an apple, hard candy and water. In nearly all of their classes this month and last, the students have been studying the Great Depression. Steinbeck's Novels They've learned about Hoover-villes and the stock market crash of 1929.

They watched the movie "Grapes of Wrath" and read one or more of John Steinbeck's novels. They attended "Of Mice and Men" Linda Boberg, a member of the Indian Hills Parent Advisory Council, ladles soup for Kelsey Sharpe, 14. at the Des Moines Playhouse. They discussed the Dust Bowl and how it was caused, and they made graphs relating to the market crash. And Friday, they stood in line at Western Hills Elementary School some for nearly 45 minutes waiting for a lunch of soup and bread.

"I kind of know now what it was like to be in the Depression," said Sarah O'Renick, who ate little of her soup. Added Sarah Lawrence: "I've learned we've got it pretty good." Neil Sahu said people who lived through the Depression probably ate even less-appetizing meals than J0BLESS Please turn to Page 3A SPENDING Please turn to Page 6A Not a Deterrent? Inside Your Daily Register hi 1 1 Anamosa Woman Found Killed in 79 15 years later, man charged in slaying Last Iowa governor to allow executions doubts their effect Long Journey "T- 1 Cremains of a woman who died in 1987 are found in a U-Haul. Iowa News, Page 2A i By DAVID YEPSEN Kiciistf.k Staff Wkitir Minimum Wage Debated The Iowa impact of raising the minimum wage by 90 cents. Business, Page 8S Funky Eye Fashions Eyewear is available in new col AM 1 ui3, aijru-s cuiu eiuui'iuaiiiiii'iiia. Today, Page IT "It's not over yet," Kray said.

The Jones County attorney's office said in a statement that the homicide investigation was reopened in mid-1994 by the state Division of Criminal Investigation, the Jones County Sheriff's Department and Anamosa police. "Sufficient new evidence was obtained by the DCI case agent to allow presentment of the case to the Jones County grand jury," the statement said. Maquoketa police Sgt. Dave Coff-man said Van Skike was arrested for indecent exposure in August 1993. "He exposed himself to a couple young girls, and pleaded guilty to one count of two incidents," Coff-man said.

After the arrest, Coffman said, a Division of Criminal Investigation agent told him that Van Skike was a primary suspect in the death of a former girlfriend. County Attorney Connie Ricklefs would not specify what new evidence had been found in the death. Manuel's remains were found by a passer-by on April 8, 1979. The case reopened last year, and on Friday a Maquokcta man was indieted by a grand jury for the murder. By EDDIE BAEB Staff Wwth Iowa authorities made an arrest Friday in a murder case they began investigating more than 15 years ago.

The victim, Lynda Manuel of Anamosa, was 17 when she was reported missing in June 1978. Her remains were found almost a year later in a ditch along a gravel road about three miles north of Fillmore, an unincorporated town in Dubuque County. Tom Paul Van Skike, 42, of Ma-quoketa was arrested Friday after a Jones County grand jury indicted him on a charge of first-degree murder. Gaylen Kray of Monticello, the husband of Manuel's sister Pamela, said he and his wife did not wish to comment. As Iowans this year grapple with the many issues that surround the death penalty, the last Iowa governor to permit an execution under state law said he's already done his struggling.

Norman Erbe said in an interview this week that while he has no second thoughts about his decision back in 1962, he does not think the death penalty will stop crime. "Most of the death penalties are imposed because of the killing of another person or kidnapping or horrible crime. I don't think the person who goes ahead and commits those is thinking in the back of his head that 'If I do this, I'm going to get the death I don't think it's a deterrent because these crimes are committed in situations of passion." "I don't think it's a deterrent as far as murders are concerned," said Erbe, governor from 1961 to 1963. The last person executed in Iowa was put to death by the federal government. Victor Harry Feguer was executed March 16, 1963, for kidnapping and murder.

Then-Gov. Harold Hughes pleaded unsuccessfully with President Kennedy to stop the execution. Since it was a federal matter, Hughes had no legal authority to stop the exe- ERBE Please turn to Page 3 A IVII.I1U.K.MISTlll Rli.MIK Norman Erbe was governor from 1961 to 1903. Ann Landers 2T Jim Flansburg 5A Business 8S Letters 4A Classifieds 5T Lotteries 3A Comics 3T People in News 4T Crossword 4T Sports Roundup4S editorials 4A TV Schedules 4T A statewide public hearing on proposals to reinstate the death penalty is scheduled from 1 to 2:30 p.m. today.

The electronic hearing will be conducted over the state's fiber-optic network; people will testify from 19 sites. In addition, cable TV systems around the state will carry the hearing live. 4 CorYHiiiHT 19H5 Des Moines Register and Tribune Company IHf A Gannett Newspaper Printed won SOY INK.