Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 31

r-psajii 0 Thursday, May 20, 1982 Reno Evening Gazette Ag Col leg oder rp)irEedl ftincS Chancellor Robert M. Bersi's office has been conducting an extensive college audit since Bohmont stepped down, at the request of Bersi and the new dean. Crowley fired Bohmont last summer after the dean tried to arrange the sale of university property with several legislators in Carson City without notifying Crowley of his plans. Bohmont was allowed to remain as dean until Decern ber and help the new dean in a period of transition until June, when he officially retires. At least a dozen officials said agriculture college budget procedures deteriorated because previous UNR and chancellors' administrations feared Bohmont.

He was perceived as powerful, his budgets untouchable during his 18-year tenure. Said one: "He threatened every- By PAMELA GALLOWAY FAY The University of Nevada-Reno's College of Agriculture consistently underre-ported the amount of federal funds it has received in recent years, university officials acknowledged Wednesday. The agriculture college is receiving or has received at least $500,000 more than it told Nevada it was expecting in federal U.S. Department of Agriculture funds for its Cooperative Extension Service and Experiment Station, said Ron Sparks, university system financial planner. Because the state was unaware of how much federal assistance the school received, Nevada support increased.

The state has not been told about the excess yet, Sparks said, although part of it will be turned over to the state. The $500,000 to $600,000 represents the second large pool of federal agriculture funds university officials were surprised to discover existed. Last week, UNR President Joe Crowley told the state Legislature's Interim Finance Committee the agriculture college accepted and spent $419,452 in federal funds without seeking proper approval. The latest public announcement of extra money brings the total to nearly $1 million. Sparks said he does not think auditors will find any more underestimated federal funds.

The school's new dean, Bernard Jones, said he is sifting through financial records trying to understand the school's budget history. Jones said he is having "a very difficult time trying to sort out the pieces," and is not sure whether the excess funds represent an accumulation through many years, or are current fiscal dollars. Repeated attempts to contact former Dean Dale Bohmont for comment failed. In the past, Nevada has matched federal agriculture funds by 2-to-l. Now that state coffers are low, the university plans to revert 67 percent of the money about $350,000 to Nevada.

Last week in an interview concerning the unreported $419,452, Bohmont said federal, state and internal audits never uncovered inappropriate budget procedures. "They may say procedures weren't followed, but if that happened the audits would have picked it up," he said. "I'm sure everything has been followed up to the president's office. I'm sure transmittals to the president's office are complete." He also speculated confusion may exist because administrators don't understand the intricacies of federal funding. Please COLLEGE, peg 2D Washoe Med's slots pay off in better health Who runs Citifare dispute on agenda Who runs Citifare will be the big item facing the Regional Transportation Commission when members meet at 8:30 a.m.

Friday at Reno City Hall. The bus system, which serves Reno and Sparks, has been run since 1978 by ATE Management. Three months ago Jerry Hall, executive director of RTC, proposed that his agency take it over. Commissioners have since rejected that in favor of the consideration of new management proposals that will be on Friday's agenda. Also on the agenda is a report on Nevada Department of Transportation priorities from state director Albert E.

Stone. Plane didn't radio for help The pilot of the private plane that crashed near Mount Shasta in California Monday, killing freauent Reno entertainer John Felten and the three other occupants, had not radioed any trouble, the Federal Aviation Administration reported. The single-engine Beechcraft Musketeer crashed into trees and snow at about the level on Picadilly Mountain. The Siskiyou Sheriff's Department reported the weather at the time was overcast and stormy. An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board in Los Angeles was due to inspect the site and wreckage today to try to determine the cause.

Autopsies Wednesday showed the victims died of multiple injuries suffered on impact. There were no known witnesses. Stead man held on child abuse charge Reno police juvenile officers Wednesday arrested a Stead man on suspicion of knocking out his 2-year-old son teeth and slashing his face with a piece of metal. Victim Darrell Bible was listed in good condition today at Saint Mary's Hospital, where he was to be examined by a plastic surgeon. James E.

Bible, 21, remained in the city jail in lieu of $2,500 bail today on a charge of child abuse. Police said they were notified of the injury by the hospital Wednesday afternoon. Bible initially told them he injured his son accidentally. He said that during an argument with his wife i i .1 I 1 i It By WAYNE MELTON Jackpots from two slot machines at Reno's Washoe Medical Center give what nurses say can be as good a payoff as the ones in downtown casinos. Better health is the reward not money.

The 7s don't even have to line up and patients needn't plunk coins in. Just pull the handle. The health experts agree that pulling a slot handle is indeed good exercise especially for someone injured in an accident or who suffers from muscular trouble, nurses said. Besides a chance to move muscles, the patients have another incentive: Prizes are awarded to those who win enough jackpots. "One doctor even ordered his patient to come down and play the machines for therapy the other day he said they would be good for her," said Linn West, head of the hospital Rehabilitation Unit.

Dubbed the first hospital in the country with slot machines, Washoe Med has had the one-armed bandits in the unit's rehabilitation room since shortly after Christmas. Patients are "using the machines throughout the day mostly in evenings and on weekends to improve upper body muscles," said Miss West, a registered nurse. Because money is not used in the machines, nurses devised a "point system" patients who attain enough points win a prize. The top award is a steak dinner, with' other prizes including a free hair comb or cut in the hospital barber shop and a selection of gifts from the center's shop. "We think the program has been pretty successful," Miss West said.

"I believe it does help the patients. "We have some patients who are quadriplegic and paraplegic with some upper extremity function," she said. "This has helped many of them strengthen what upper muscle function they do have." Miss West said she and the other nurses are pleased because "this gets many of them up out of bed and away from the TV. It helps them do other things." The nurse said the program was first suggested last fall by hospital volunteer June Swanson, a multiple sclerosis victim whose husband works as an electrician for Bally Distributing Co. The business distributes slot machines.

Mrs. Swanson, who has had the disease for about 20 years and is confined to a wheelchair, said when she lived in Michi-, gan "every time I came out here to visit I'd play the slots a good two weeks." She said the activity seemed to help strengthen her arm muscles. A Reno resident for about a year, Mrs. Swanson said she decided the exercise might be good for other handicapped patients, "so I asked someone here why they didn't have slots for rehabilitation in the hospital. They said they would check into it." Miss West said she then contacted George Vucanovich, a local Bally executive who agreed to donate two machines to the hosptial.

The slots were immediately popular with patients, according to Mrs. Swanson. "The patients get a kick out of it. After all, the more exercise they get is what it's all about," Miss West said. Teresa at their residence at 11500 Andes! PHOTO BY MARILYN NEWTON I IT'S THERAPY, REALLY: Nurse Linn West watches as June Swan-! son tugs the handle at one of Washoe Medical Center's new slot' machines, installed for physical therapy.

Mrs. Swanson said she likes to "watch work hard for the jackpots and they want mem reacn lor uie nanaie. it hard work to get credit." for many, but they enjoy it." The nurses don't mind the chore of However, some patients "get real upset when nurses are not around to document the jackpots," Miss West said. "They keeping the jackpot records, though because the big payoff is better health for the patients, she said. Colton puts down rumors, files for governor "But this is a brand new economy, one that I think has to be dealt with by someone with a background to deal with it and I've made myself an economic expert through this office.

I have the background to guide the state through this time. I have the ability to do what needs to be A said. "I'm in this race to stay and I'll see you in September and most likely again in November." Attorney General Richard Bryan is the only other announced Democratic hopeful for the post. O'Callaghan has said he has no plans to run, despite a movement to draft him into the race. Colton was unsure whether O'Callaghan, a fellow Democrat, would enter the contest, but said he believes he could beat him if he did.

O'Callaghan served two terms from 1971 to 1979. By MARTIN GRIFFITH CARSON CITY State Treasurer Stan Colton, saying he could beat Mike O'Cal-laghan if the former governor decides to run, today filed for the Democratic nomination for governor. At a news conference, Colton said he decided to file early "to put to rest some of the persistent rumors" that he was backing out of the race because of O'Cal-laghan's possible candidacy. "There's nothing or nobody that will cause me to get out of the race," Colton "If I didn't think I could win, I wouldn't be in the race," Colton said. "I think everybody has their day and you can't relive yesterday.

What we had 12 years ago and up to four years ago is not what the state is going to be looking at in the BOs. "We have a brand new future and a brand new position ahead of us, one that didn't need to be dealt with and I don't mean that critically of Mr. O'Callaghan. He did an admirable job for the type of economy we were living in at that time. Colton, 45, urged O'Callaghan to declare his intentions, saying his failure to do so could hurt Democratic gubernato- Please see COLTON, page 2D Politicians detail finances; some worth $1 million he threw a piece of aluminum door 1 stripping at a china cabinet, but hit the child, police said.

After further investigation, police arrested him. Money problems may stall interchange plans Construction on a planned interchange in Sparks off of Interstate 80 could be BKtponed if the state Highway epartment is unable to come up with enough money to help with the project. The city of Sparks has already obtained about $5 million of the necessary $9.8 million through bond sales approved by Sparks voters in May, 1980. But city officials have been counting on the state Highway Department to supply the remaining amount. However, during a Highway Board meeting earlier this month, Sparks Mayor Ron Player and Public Works Director Dave Roundtree were told that all of the state's highway construction funds have already been earmarked.

The board consists of Gov. Robert List, Attorney General Richard Bryan and State Controller Wilson McGowan. All three told Player and Roundtree they "strongly support" the interchange concept, but didn have the money to help fund it. Still, the board directed its staff to see if there was anyway to come up with financing for the interchange between the McCarran and Vista interchanges. Sparks officials will find out on June 1 if the efforts were successful or not.

Midwife licensing law likely legislative topic Nevada midwives moved one step closer Wednesday to winning their battle for recognition with a promise from the state Board of Health that the matter will be brought before the 1983 Legislature. The board asked the state Division of Health to draw up a proposal calling for the licensing of midwives which would be presented during the next Legislative session. The proposal also would include stopgap rules on infectious diseases in infants. Kate Winningham-Pierce, a Carson Valley midwife, has been fighting for such licensing for the past two years. During Wednesday's meeting, she submitted draft regulations for the board to consider as part of its pending proposal.

Her suggested regulations included a call for county health departments to keep a file on each midwife in that county which would be available to consumers. And it called for an advisory board composed of three midwives, three consumers, one nurse-midwife, a pediatrician and a doctor. By BRENDAN RILEY The AP CARSON CITY Reports show U.S. Sen. Howard Cannon and Senate hopeful Jack Kenney have holdings possibly worth more than $1 million.

And House candidate Barbara Vucanovich could be worth up to $1 million. Reports were due in Washington, D.C., May 15 from all congressional incumbents and challengers, although copies $2,000 apiece from American International Group, Atlas Van Lines, Central Telephone Utilities of Chicago and Summa Corp. A total of $4,250 of the honoraria was donated by Cannon to charity. The form also showed he and three other beneficiaries of the Cannon Family Trust had property and stock valued at between $763,000 and nearly $1.9 million. Among properties and stock listed were homes in Las Vegas and suburban Wash from others including U.S.

Rep. Jim Santini and Sen. Paul Laxalt were not yet on file here as of Wednesday. Cannon's disclosure form showed 1981 income, including Senate pay, honoraria, a property sale and stock dividends, totaled between $177,990 and $292,090. Cannon's Senate pay was $60,662.

He also had $16,250 in Air Force retirement money. Among the total of $19,750 in payments for speeches and appearances was ington, D.C., and more than $250,000 Worth of stock in Las Vegan Frank Scott's casino-owning Scott The report also showed debts of between $145,000 and $410,000. One liability included a sum of between $50,000 and $100,000 due in taxes to the IRS. Santini, a fellow Democrat who is challenging Cannon this year, had claimed an Please see POLITICS, page 20 County records show $27 million in liens filed Title firm hits Benny with $22 million suit AX munity last week by the county commission. According to documents on file at the courthouse, Nevada National Bank has begun fore closure proceedings to collect $21 million loaned to Benny after he failed to make his last inter- 1 est payment.

Nevada National sold all but $2.5 million of the loans to out-of-state parties, Rich Martucci, the bank's assistant vice president in the real estate department said. It now serves as lead lender to service the loans he said. The money was borrowed a year ago against the Double Diamond property as well as Benny's Casablanca condominium project in Las Vegas which Please see LIENS, tag, jq By MICHAEL PHILLIS A San Francisco title company has filed a $22 million suit against George Benny, owner and developer of the proposed Double Diamond Ranch, and asked all his Nevada property be held until the claim is settled. Chicago Title Insurance Co. charged in the suit, filed in U.S.

District Court in Reno Tuesday, that Benny used a "check-kiting" scheme to defraud it out of $17 million. The company asked that the money be repaid and Benny be ordered to pay an additional $5 million in punitive damages. Benny has said through his attorney that he is financially solvent. The suit also seeks liens against Benny's Nevada property, including the Double Diamond Ranch in southeast Reno, the River Inn in Verdi and the Casablanca condominiums in Las Vegas. It asks that the property be held in trust until the matter is resolved.

In an earlier suit filed in California rising out of the same complaint, a federal judge froze $15 million of Benny's California assets until the case with Chicago Title is resolved. The suit in Reno also asks that Nevada National Bank, the lead lender in securing $21 million in loans to Benny against the same property, not be allowed to dispose of the property for non-payment of the loan until the matter is resolved. Nevada National Bank began foreclosure pro- By SUSAN VOYLES George Benny's enterprises in Nevada have $27 million in mechanic's liens and foreclosures filed against them, according to records in the Washoe County Recorder's office. The liens were filed by 13 contractors and suppliers, mostly local, Nevada National Bank, serving as the lead lender on $21 million in loans, and by several local investors on a deed of trust investment, according to the records. Benny is the man behind the Double Diamond development planned for south of Reno.

Benny was granted a one-year extension for his subdivision plans for the first phase of the projected com- i GEORGE BENNY Double Diamond developer' ceedings against the Double Diamond and Casablanca condominiums when Benny failed to make an interest payment. Rich Martucci, the bank's assistant vice president, said after the foreclosure notice that Nevada National Bank sold all Please see BENNY, page 2D.