Logansport Pharos-Tribune from Logansport, Indiana • Page 1

WEDNESDAY, ApriM 8,1990 Miami Runner In Europe TODAY IN SPORTSMONTHLY KnOCkOUt: George Foreman wins again Page 13. FOUNDED 1844 LOGANSPORT, INDIANA Outside Sunny: Clear and cool tonight. Low: 35. Thursday increasing cloudiness and warmer. High: 60.

Digest Rights Leader Dies: The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, (R) stands on the balcony of the Memphis Hotel on April 3,1968 with Dr. Martin Luther King (C) and Jessie Jackson (L) the day before King's assassination at the same location. The Rev. Abernathy died Tuesday in an Atlanta hospital.

Global Warming: President Bush told an international conference on global warming to do more research despite its grumbling that the United States and Bush are moving too slowly on the problem. Today Stress Workshop: Four County Counseling Center's Aaron Levine will present a stress management workshop from 7 to 8 p.m. in the conference room at Woodlawn Center, 1416 Woodlawn Ave. Planned Parenthood: An open house is planned for 4 to 6 p.m. tonight at the Planned Parenthood Clinic's new location, 320 E.

Broadway. The public is invited to attend. Tomorrow Business After Hours: Chicago Motor Club's AM Travel Agency in the Logansport Mall, U.S. 24 East, will host Business After Hours from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Sponsored by the County Chamber of Commerce, the event is designed to give Chamber members an opportunity to become acquainted and make new business contacts.

Refreshments will be served. Index Ann Landers Area Classified Comics Opinion Nation Lifestyle Sports Television Weather State Business Page 19 Page 6 Page 20 Page 18 Page 4 Page 10 Page 8 Page 13 Page 19 Page 12 PageS Page 15 24 Bypass Sparks Concerns Residents voice questions about fire response time and drainage changes By DAVE KITCHEL City Editor Maps enlarged to unusually large scale hung from the windows of the LHS cafeteria Tuesday night, and 70 Cass County residents affected by the proposed U.S. 24 bypass had some large scale concerns of their own. The two most expressed were emergency response time for people in the New Waverly Fire Protection District on the county's eastern edge and drainage. Residents made their remarks at a design hearing on the U.S.

24 segment from New Waverly to Cass County Road 500E. The 5.8-mile segment is part of the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor project, which, when completed, will connect Lafayette and Fort Wayne with a four-lane highway. This segment is the first involved in connecting Logansport with Peru. Once the Logansport-to-Peru segment is completed, it will provide Logansport and Cass County with its first four-lane highway. Another 30 people met with state highway officials and engineers for the project during an informal afternoon session.

One of the most-voiced concerns was the lack of an access on the new U.S. 24 for residents along 900E. The current design plan calls for direct access to the highway at 500E, 600E (Cass Station Road), 700E, 875E and 125S, which will be the road to Lewisburg. J.J. Cox, one resident, in the 900E area, said the new highway will lengthen the fire response time in the area.

Willard Hale, an engineer with American Consulting Engineers, Indianapolis, the consultants for the project, said concerns about fire protection may bring a change in the plans. Creating some dead-end roads by constructing a new highway may decrease response time, Hale said, but it will increase safety for motorists who use the highway and access roads. Cul-de-sacs will be created on 125S, 900E and the Lewisburg Road, Hale said. Drainage, however, probably won't be changed at all in highway planning, Hale said. The informational packet distributed by the IDOT indicates the highway project will maintain existing drainage patterns.

Mark Maupin, who lives near 700E, expressed drainage concerns. Residents still have until May 4 to submit written comments on the proposed highway to the IDOT. Tapes of the hearing and all documents received will be included in the engineering report. All property owners will receive copies of the proposed project, which will cost $16,858,088. Two residences, a log cabin, one mobile home, and eight farm buildings will be moved if the current design is approved.

Exide Asking For Lower Electric Rates Talks between Exide management and city officials focused on how operation costs will affect the company and employment By MARGO MAROCCO Pharos-Tribune Business Editor "Productive" was the word used by an Exide Corporation official to describe a meeting involving Exide management, labor and city officials Tuesday. The focus of the session, involving Mike Reed, Frankfort, Exide senior plant manager for the Midwest; Tim Wilson, president of UAW Local 84, Steve Hartoin, vice president of the local; Ken Weaver, Exide factory manager in Logansport; Logansport Mayor John Davis, and Utility Manager Klaus Hemberger, was utility rates. Mayor Davis said the session was one in a series of meetings held to discuss Exide's desire for reduced electrical rates. "Reed told us that Exide needs to control its operational costs, and that our electrical rates are outrageously high," Davis said. Employment levels at Ex- ide's Logansport plant on Water Street peaked at nearly 300 salaried and production personnel and drivers about three years ago.

Today there are 5 or 6 people working on a short term basis, according to Reed. "Currently there are no productive operations in the plant. We are looking at resuming a level of battery charging. The plans are being worked out now and we will probably be doing something within the next 30 to 60 days," Reed said. "We hope to have 40 or so people on recall within that 60 day period." The long term outlook will be affected by whether or not the plant can operative cost effectively and that will depend on what is worked out wijii the city, Reed said.

Davis said Reed will prepare an estimate of Exide's future electrical usage requirements and present them for review by Utility Manager Hemberger. Hemberger, in the meantime, is studying Exide's electrical use for the past five years. "There is some precedent for offering special electrical rates for off peak usage of electricity such as on weekends," Davis said. See EXIDE, Page 2 Painful Stretch Sheet metal worker Steve Crooks, an employee of Midwest Roofing and Sheet Metal caulks Associated Press the panes of a skylight In the roof of an Indoor swimming pool in Evansville. Gossard Building Repairs Will Be Made By Owner Board of Public Works extends time allowed Lithuania Getting Supplies As Usual Despite Soviet threats of an embargo, oil and gas supplies are normal in the Baltic Republic MOSCOW (AP) Oil and natural gas flowed normally into Lithuania today despite threats by Moscow to halt the supplies to curb the Baltic republic's independence drive, officials of the breakaway government said.

Lithuanian officials had expected the Kremlin to begin cutting oil and natural gas supplies early today to enforce Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's threatened economic embargo. Soviet troops were seen near a pumping station at an oil refinery in northwestern Lithuania this morning, but there was no change in the supply of fuel at the facility, according to a report on Lithuanian television. Lithuania's energy minister said oil supplies were normal and he had not been informed of any planned reductions. On Friday, Gorbachev threatened to impose an embargo of critical supplies unless Lithuania rescinded within 48 hours several laws meant to bolster its March 11 declaration of independence.

Lithuanian leaders have made no move to meet Gorbachev's demands, but say they are willing to negotiate. Gorbachev refuses to meet with them until they rescind their declaration of independence. President Bush said in Washington the United States was considering "appropriate responses" if supplies were cut But he also said he did not want to damage superpower relations. Lithuania's parliament, the Supreme Council, met today to formulate an official response to the Soviet leader, and they were still debating the tone of the resolution into the afternoon, said Rita Dapkus of the legislature's Information Office. The owner of the former Gossard building at Sixth and East Market Street says the building will be repaired.

Building Commissioner Robert Newman told the Logansport Board of Public Works and Safety this morning that James Gentry of Highland, who owns the Gossard building, inspected the building this week. The board extended a hearing on the renovation of the property for three months to allow Gentry enough time to make repairs. Gentry told city officials that the building will be renovated and that options for future use of the structure are being explored, Newman said. The board also continued two other property cleanup projects to May 23. Glen Reid, 7 Fountain was given a month to finish a project on property west of his residence.

Newman said some progress has been made on the cleanup. Scott Brady, 1133 Pleasant Hill, has been given 30 days to finish a project at 1216 Michigan Ave. A permit was issued to raze a garage at that address. Newman reported that cleanup projects at 1304 Spear and at 721 Van Buren Street are completed to his satisfaction. This Could Be Your Special Day: Proclamations Are Part Of Job By AMY BELL Pharos-Tribune Regional Reporter 4 It may be Baltic Mourning Week.

Or Health Care Month. Or Child Protection Day. Or even Respiratory Therapy Week. Area mayors and county commissioners sometimes find themselves issuing proclamations for a day, a week, or even a month. The requests come from all over national groups, local groups and individuals, and the spectrum of things they represent is quite broad.

"You name a group, they have a program," said Logansport Mayor John Davis, who issues between 25 and 30 proclamations a year. A proclamation "adds credibility and shows honor to a group or person," Davis said. He has issued proclamations for public events, such as Earth Day, which is April 22. The Cass County Conservation Group asked for the proclamation, because local activities have been planned at Spencer Park. Some proclamations tie in with national or state events, and Davis has also issued what he calls "one- shot deals." When Logansport High School wrestling coach Joe Patacsil retired, Davis issued a proclamation in his honor.

Davis also honored proclamation requests for Baltic Mourning Week and Estonia Freedom Day for Estonian air force pilot Ed Laete, who died in 1988. "I can't think of a time we turned one down," he said. Delphi Mayor Carolyn Wagner won't turn someone down, but may talk them into withdrawing their request. Proclamations are not usually issued unless they serve the community. "We don't do it for businesses," she said.

"It's not going to be Chevy Day in Delphi." Wagner said she issues about five local proclamations a year. Last Saturday was proclaimed Child Protection See PROCLAMATIONS, Page 2.