Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 27

Tonight's tip Section 2C OBITUARIES 5-1 7C CLASSIFIED Friday OCTOBER 3, 1986 RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL Nevad. The Nevada Repertory Company performs "The Trial," an adaptation of Franz Kafka's novel, at 8 p.m. in the Church Fine Arts Theater at the University of Nevada-Reno. Details: 784-6505. Money for Nevada's poor kids running out between 1979 and 1984 the largest drop among the 50 states.

The 1985 Legislature based the current AFDC budget on 13,500 cases per month. But the number of families in the program has hit 16,400, up from 15,300 last March. "It's still increasing a little every month," Ryan said. We don't know exactly what's causing the caseloads to rise." Ryan said she hasn't seen the congressional report but doubts its financial estimates. Even so, "there's a lot of poor children, and there's certainly not enough funding," Ryan said.

"Guidelines are To qualify for AFDC benefits, a Nevada family must have dependent children, just one parent in the household and a monthly income of $285 for a family of three. Ryan said she can't estimate exactly when the state funds would dry up if the budget isn't increased. She said she will announce her staff's recommendations in two weeks. She declined to list possible funding changes. The funding crunch comes despite a state Interim Finance Committee decision last March to shift $2.8 million to See POOR, page 2C very strict in Nevada." Also, although 33 states pay more per person than Nevada, "we're certainly a long way from the lowest payment," Ryan said.

"Perhaps Nevada should be higher, and I wish it were." In 1973, Nevada boosted its average AFDC payments from $35 to $42 per child, the first major increase since the program started in the mid-1950s. Nevada lawmakers boosted average monthly payments from $70 per person to $85 in 1985. Half of monthly AFDC benefits are paid to recipients from state funds. The other half comes from the federal AFDC program. By Wayne MeltonGazetie-Joumai Money for Nevada's poor children is drying up while the number of families seeking aid has skyrocketed, a state official said Thursday.

Nevada's Aid to Families with Dependent Children budget of $13.7 million for fiscal 1985-87 will soon be used up unless the state takes special steps, State Welfare Director Linda Ryan said. That report on welfare budget woes came on the heels of a congressional report released Thursday showing that, after inflation was taken into account, AFDC payments going to poor families in Nevada plummeted 34 percent Park bill becoming a political football House Democrats say they will approve plans for a 110,000 acre park for Nevada as early as today and kick the political football back to the Senate. Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Harry Reid and Republican Sen. Chic Hecht continue to blame each other for the impasse over the park issue. The Senate Tuesday night approved a 44,000 acre park bill by Hecht and Sen.

Paul Laxalt, R-Nev. The House had already approved a Reid bill calling for a 174,000 acre park and preserve. Now Reid says he will compromise, but will agree to nothing less than 100,000 acres. "If this bill does not get through, the fault lies clearly in the lap of Chic Hecht," Reid said Wednesday. Hecht spokesman Mike Miller said there is no roadblock and that Reid can join the rest of the Nevada delegation and approve the Senate-backed measure.

The park would be located in White Pine County. The Chamber of Commerce in Ely supports the park's creation although some ranchers and miners oppose it. Hecht said the people of Nevada support a 44,000 acre park. Interior Secretary Donald Hodel has said President Reagan would veto any larger park because of the cost. Deal upheld in casino skim case II fi fjf a ft.

i "Mr: Craig SallorGarette Journai AIN'T MOO-VIN' Duncan Fleming, far left, and Sheilah tioned at the Reno Invitational Cattle Sale Saturday at 1 p.m. Rothlisberger push while Sheilah's husband, John, pulls a The breeding cattle are from two herds in Oregon and sev-heifer into a cattle washing area at the Nevada State Fair- eral in Canada. Fleming is from Granum, Alberta, and the grounds Thursday. The heifer and 43 others are to be auc- Rothlisbergers from Bend, Ore. Cafferata: Bryan soft on drugs, pornography Santini-Reid debate delayed LAS VEGAS Rep.

Harry Reid will be unable to make the first scheduled debate with U.S. Senate candidate Jim Santini because of an expected late adjournment of Congress, a Reid spokesman said Thursday. Spokesman Larry Werner said Reid is trying to reschedule the Oct. 9 debate, possibly for Oct. 13, but that no firm plans have been agreed upon by either candidate.

He said Reid cannot make the first debate, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, because congressional leaders say the current session will extend into late next week. "We're in the process of reviewing our calendar and hope to come up with alternate dates," said Werner. Santini spokeswoman Faith Greaves said her candidate is anxious to set a new date. "I know we want to debate and we'll probably bend over backwards to do it," said Greaves. The two candidates also have a debate scheduled for Oct.

17 in Reno and a final debate Oct. 28 in Las Vegas. Nevada Day celebrations Secretary of State William Swackhamer will be the grand marshal of Nevada Day and the theme will be "Nevada, Land of Contrasts," event chairman Mike Shaughnessy announced. The 122nd birthday celebration of the state will start Monday, Oct. 27, with the Nevada Day art show, which runs all week at 449 W.

King St. The Grand Ball is Thursday, Oct. 30, at the Ormbsy House. Tickets will be available at the Carson City Chamber of Commerce. The climax of the celebration is Friday, Oct.

31, with a parade beginning at 10 a.m., followed by the Carson Indian Colony Pow Wow and the 12th Annual World Championship Single Jack Rock Drilling contest. Events will continue through Sunday. By Laura MyersGaxette-Journai Republican gubernatorial candidate Patty Cafferata on Thursday called for tougher pornography laws and accused Gov. Richard Bryan of having a poor record of fighting pornography and drug abuse. But Bryan, who will meet Cafferata in the Nov.

4 general election, responded that he is opposed to pornography and illegal drugs and "it is ludicrous to suggest otherwise." Cafferata, speaking at a news conference at which she received the endorsement of the Nevada Pro-Family Christian Coalition, said Nevada needs more leadership on the pornography issue. She said Bryan's leadership has been lacking. The state treasurer cited three bills Bryan voted on as a legislator as proof advertisement of pornographic materials. "Dick Bryan's record shows he does not have a clear understanding of the impact of pornographic materials on our society in general and on our young people in particular," Cafferata said. "The record is clear." Dick Cooper, Bryan's press secretary, said Cafferata has taken an incomplete look at Bryan's voting record on pornography issues.

Those are only three votes," Cooper said. "On the whole I think his record is very strong against pornography." Bryan, while not denying the votes Cafferata cited, said, "I am disappointed that Mrs. Cafferata continues to take the low road in this campaign." "It is a shame Mrs. Cafferata has taken See BRYAN, page 2C I am very disappointed that Mrs. Cafferata continues to take the low road in this campaign.

5 Gov. Richard Bryan that he hasn't taken a strong stance against pornography. In 1969, Bryan voted against a bill that would have prohibited the exhibition or sale of obscene materials to minors. The bill eventually became law. In 1971, Bryan voted against a bill that extended Nevada obscenity laws to sound recordings.

And, in 1973, Bryan voted against a bill that would have prohibited the Court says Sachs, Tobman must pay $3 million fines SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A settlement requiring Las Vegas hotel owners Allan Sachs and Herbert Tobman to pay fines of $3 million and give up their ownership of the Stardust and Fremont hotel-casinos has been upheld by a federal appeals court. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments that Sachs and Tobman were coerced into the settlement by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The decision involves a case that started when the board filed a complaint with the Nevada Gaming Commission in December 1983 saying illegal skimming of money was taking place at the Stardust. The commission immediately suspended the license of Sachs and Tob-man's Trans-Sterling Inc.

to operate the Stardust. The company also owned the Fremont and operated the Sundance hotel. The board then offered the company a settlement on what the court described as a "take-it-or-leave-it basis." It provided that Trans-Sterling would admit no wrongdoing but would pay $3 million in fines, lose all its Las Vegas hotel licenses after a fixed waiting period to find buyers, and would give up the right to appeal in court or to sue members of the state agencies. The court said Sachs and Tobman signed the agreement in a conference call with the commission in January 1984. With their lawyers alongside, both men were asked if they were acting voluntarily and without coercion, the court said.

Sachs said, "Yes," and Tobman said, "Yes under the circumstances." Six months later, and eight days before the license revocations were to take effect, the two men and their companies sued members of the state board and commission, saying they were coerced into the settlement. U.S. District Judge Roger Foley ruled that the settlement was voluntary and dismissed the suit. In upholding Foley's ruling, the appeals court endorsed his findings that Sachs, Tobman and Trans-Sterling "were sophisticated and experienced in the business, mat they were well represented by counsel, and that they had plenty of time and opportunities to pursue other administrative or judicial remedies." The panel rejected arguments that the commission had coerced the settlement by prejudging the case and by making wrongful threats of going after Trans-Sterling's other hotels if the settlement were rejected. "There is simply no objective evidence that could reasonably lead to the impression of prejudgment," the court said.

It also said that if the board threatened other action against Trans-Sterling, as the company claimed, those threats would have been within the board's power and were no more improper than the threat of a prosecutor to bring additional charges in order to encourage a plea-bargain. Casino manager forced out at Stateline club By Brendan RileyAP CARSON CITY State gaming officials forced the general manager of a Lake Tahoe casino to step down Thursday but conceded a lengthy audit of the club turned up no evidence of any skimming. Rick Jorgenson, faced with opposition from the state Gaming Control Board to his bid for relicensing as Lakeside Inn general manager, stepped down to a position as a club "host" handling various non-gaming matters. Jorgenson had received a limited license last spring after board members voiced concerns over possible skimming at the Lakeside because of a low win percentage stemming from what later proved to be losses to high-rolling blackjack players. Board member Mike Rumbolz, who had made the "skimming" remark, said after Thursday's action that he didn't think he had "popped off" unnecessarily at the time.

Rumbolz said it might have been better had the comment been made in private. But he added the remark was intended to point out a possible explanation for the See STATELINE, page 2C 4 I Reno planners split over 1 47-acre Reno project being assured the towers would be within one of the high-rise "focal centers" spelled out in the city's recently updated Title 18, the planning and zoning code. The developers a partnership called Convention Properties and the Nell J. Redfield Trust are seeking annexation, amendments to the city's Land Use and Transportation Guide and a series of zone changes. Approval by the City Council, which has final say, will open the door for transforming an idyllic patch of South Reno pastureland into a commercial and residential hUbThe two hotel-casinos are only the largest and most con- See PLANNERS, page 2C two in the morning?" asked Pine Springs Drive resident Chuck Ellis, one of four south Reno residents who spoke against the development.

Even commissioners who voted in favor of the project said they had serious reservations. But they said it complied with the city's master plan and new development regulations on high-rises and hotel-casinos. "In your opinion, what is their (residents') quality of life going to be like with these towers there?" Commissioner Sue Smith asked project coordinator Alex Fit-tinghoff. "Well, for one thing, I don't think they're going to see them," he said. 1 Smith voted in favor of the project after Gaming grants distributed LAS VEGAS The Nevada Gaming Foundation for Educational Excellence has distributed $129,934 to students and education programs in its first seven months of operation.

The foundation, funded by a group of Nevada hotel-casinos and other members of the gaming industry, has provided scholarships to 80 graduating high school seniors throughout the state. The seniors have received $75,550 through the program to date. In addition, the program has provided another $54,400 for a series of educational programs across Nevada. Free pulmonary screening Learn how well your lungs work by participating in a free pulmonary function screening. Saint Mary's Hospital will administer the test during National Respiratory Care Week, Oct.

5-11. Screening will take place 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the hospital, 235 W. Sixth Reno.

The test takes 10 to 15 minutes. To schedule an appointment, call 789-3055. By Jim NiCklesGazette-Journal After a five-hour hearing, Reno planners split 3-3 early Thursday over a proposed master-planned community on South Virginia Street that includes sites for two 15-story hotel-casinos. The deadlock, caused by the absence of Planning Commission member H.B. "By" Sprenger, will go to the City Council as a recommendation for denial.

The 147-acre project, to be built over a 10- to 15-year period, provoked concern among commissioners and neighborhood residents over traffic congestion, air pollution and the impact of a large gaming complex on nearby single-family homes. "How would you like to have the Shriners celebrating in your backyard at Despite escape, sheriff insists center is secure By Phil BarberGazette-Journal Despite Tuesday's escape of a murder suspect, Washoe County Sheriff Vince Swinney insists his Detention Center is secure. "It wasn't the first (murder suspect) I've put there and it won't be the last," Swinney said Thursday about holding Timothy Johnson in the Detention Center rather than the County Jail. Johnson, 31, escaped from the jail on Glendale Avenue Tuesday by scaling two chain-link fences, both topped with razor wire. He had been in an exercise yard, guarded only by a television camera.

Acting on a Secret Witness telephone tip, about 23 officers from Reno and Sparks police and the Sheriff's Department apprehended Johnson Wednesday night at a trailer home on Prater Way in Sparks. Police also arrested the resident of the trailer. Lorenzo Saenz Murillo, 30, was See SHERIFF, page 2C 4 -jr-i. -Vi 1 killed, 1 hurt in crash TRUCKEE A Nevada City, woman was killed and a man was seriously injured Thursday night when their car crashed 100 feet down from State Route 89, south of Emerald Bay, the California Highway Patrol reported. Identities were withheld until relatives could be notified.

The accident happened shortly before 9 p.m. Staff and wire service reports Mark CrosaeGazette-Journai HEALTH CHECK: Lillian Little is given a computerized lung test Thursday by Larry Cody, chief technician for pulmonary physiology at Washoe Medical Center. The tests were offered at the Washoe Med Health Fair at Meadowood Mall. Eight free tests are offered along with several that cost money. The fair is held from 8 a.m.

to 2 p.m. and will run through Saturday..