Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 193

Mevada Letters by number The Reno-Sparks Scrabble Club meets each Wednesday at the Senior Citizens Center, Ninth and Sutro, in Reno. Play is held from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Details: 323-8169. Wednesday DECEMBER 26, 1990 RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL Section 2C OBITUARIES 2C VITALS mr Dl ICtKtCCC CITY DESK: 788-6397 Ibyd we get.

feces lwm Shelton said some of the increase is due an expansion of people eligible for help; For instance, two-parent households are now eligible for Aid to Dependent Children if both adults are unemployed. Single, en ployable men also recently became eligi-: ble for welfare benefits. "That boosted the numbers a little bit, but generally it's because of the economy," Shelton said. Jerry Griepentrog, director of the Neva-! da Department of Human Resources, ear; Her this month told the Legislature's Inter-i im Finance Committee of the projected: shortfall. Griepentrog could not be reached for comment last week, but the.

department's chief accountant, Scott; Mayne, said program cuts would be made-See WELFARE, page 3C! asking for more funds before fiscal 1991 ends. Programs that could feel the crunch include Aid to Dependent Children, Medicaid and disability payments. In Washoe County alone, the amount of money paid out to residents waiting to receive state aid has more than doubled in the past year. In November, the county's general assistance fund spent more than $64,000 to help needy residents, compared to a $28,000 layout in November 1989. General assistance pays an average $5 a month less than state welfare and expires after 60 days.

A single person receiving general assistance can get up to $205 monthly, while a mother with two children can get $325 a month while waiting for her $330 monthly ADC payments to begin. County Social Services Director May State officials project shortfall of $29 million By Courtney BrennGazette-joumai A projected $29 million shortfall in the state welfare budget threatens to further strip a system that's already paying bare bones aid to Nevada's women, children, elderly and disabled, officials say. Before the fiscal year ends in June, welfare officials say the budget will be short $14.5 million in state funds, meaning; ti Drive on frozen lake ends with stuck truck A Carson City man got his Chevrolet Suburban truck stuck Tuesday in the ice at the south end of Washoe Lake and will have to retrieve it this morning. The Washoe County Sheriff's Office is asking the public to refrain from driving on frozen lakes because authorities say the ice often cannot support the load. The man drove the Suburban out onto the ice Tuesday afternoon with his wife, teen-age daughter and his parents, the sheriff's office said.

It became stuck and he was unable to reach it with another vehicle. The sheriff's office ordered him off the lake Tuesday evening and told him to retrieve the vehicle this morning. Woman killed in crosswalk SOUTH LAKE TAHOE A visitor crossing U.S. Highway 50 against a don't walk signal died Christmas morning when she was hit by a Greyhound bus. The South Lake Tahoe Police Department said Eleanor Stopi, 78, of Minersville, attempted to walk across the highway in or near a crosswalk at Lyons Avenue about 9:30 a.m.

when the bus hit and killed her. No citations were issued. Christmas holiday fun depends on how you work it they'll lose another $14.5 million in federal matching funds. Most of the shortfall is due to an unexpectedly dramatic jump in the number of Nevadans eligible for state aid. Caseloads in the state office were up 17 percent earlier this year, with at least 2,000 more eligible clients than estimated in the original budget.

The two-year, $498 million budget approved by the 1989 Legislature was largely based on conditions and projections in late 1988, long before the economic crunch set in. And despite pleas from more liberal lawmakers to leave room for unexpected population jumps and a changing econom ic climate, the 1989 Legislature imposed caps prohibiting welfare officials from V'. of Reno gets 8-year-old daughter Leah off What a way to spend the holidays. Other people, like John Holmblad and his daughter, Leah, spent the day sledding with family members, opening presents and feasting on turkey dinner. People like Maxwell, who had to work, gritted their teeth and did their jobs.

Even though plumbers worked through Christmas Day to undo the damage caused by Reno's recent cold snap, they weren't the only ones working. Maxwell's wife, Marlene, pitched in answering telephone calls for Roto-Rooter from 5 p.m. Christmas Eve and was expected to continue until 7:30 this morning. Of course, as the boss' wife she was able to answer calls from home. And that didn't cut into family lime loo much.

WOOLMAN: She's renovated PUSH COMES TO SHOVE: John Holmblad For many folks, it's just another day on the job By Darcy De LeonGazette-Joumai Charlie Maxwell celebrated Christmas like most other plumbers in Reno on Tuesday crawling underneath houses fixing frozen water pipes. "Things have been booked up since last week because of the weather," said Maxwell, manager of Reno's Roto-Rooter plumbing service. "Everyone but one person is working Christmas. I was out this morning, and I'm only home for a few minutes. Then I go back out again." Ho, ho, ho.

Jo GoMftQazette-Journai end of Seventh Street in northwest Reno. hind in Connecticut last month. "I came here because the East Coast is in a recession, and there are no jobs," she said. "I love it out here, but holiday times make me bummed out. I miss my family back at home a lot.

Gerda Hoddow, 65, didn't mind working the till at the PDQ convenience store at Clear Acre Lane and McCarran Boulevard. Hoddow is divorced and the only relative she has is a son who lives in Georgia. "Working is fine with me," she said. "We've got to be there for the customers. So many times they forget something and everything else is closed today.

This morning a lady came in and was so glad we were open because she'd forgotten to buy Cool Whip for her Christmas pies." Hit-and-run driver sought Reno police are looking for a hit-and-run vehicle that left a 65-year-old Reno man seriously injured early Christmas Day on West Second Street east of Dickerson Road. Frank Plankey was still in serious condition late Tuesday in Washoe Medical Center's intensive care unit with injuries suffered in the hit-and-run. Plankey was walking on West Second Street just before 12:30 a.m. when he was hit, police said. Police ask anyone with information about the incident to call the administrative sergeant at 334-2194 or accident investigations at 334-2115.

Kids need to get numbers Beginning Jan. 1, children who turn 1 year old and will be claimed as dependents on their parents' tax returns filed in 1992 will be required to have Social Security numbers. But, as of Jan. 1, mothers of newborns need not wait to apply for their child's Social Security number. Parents can ask for a number when the hospital medical records clerk asks for information needed to complete the birth certificate.

The card will be sent tb the parents about six to eight weeks later. There is no charge for this service; the request is strictly voluntary. Parents cag obtain a number later through the local Social Security office at no charge. Hotel-casino ordered to talks LAS VEGAS The Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino has been hit with a federal court injunction ordering management to negotiate a contract with the Culinary and Bartenders unions. The injunction also prohibits the Las Vegas resort from initiating any changes in wages and working conditions without bargaining with the two unions.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro, in a 21-page opinion, said there was reasonable cause to believe the hotel management threatened employees who joined or supported the unions. The ruling said employees who supported the union faced blackballing, unspecified reprisals or continued discriminatory treatment. The order directs resort owner Michael Gaughan to recognize and, upon request, meet and bargain in good faith with the union. Gaughan denied threatening employees.

The Barbary Coast is one of 13 Las Vegas resorts that have yet to negotiate new contracts with the two unions. The previous contract expired in June 1989. Gaughan implemented a so-called last, best and final contract offer to the two unions in November 1989 after saying negotiations had reached an impasse. Homeless won't be evicted LAS VEGAS Clark County library officials have apparently agreed to quit evicting the homeless from libraries in Las Vegas. Barbara Buckley, a staff attorney for Nevada Legal Services, said she has been advised that library officials will halt the evictions immediately.

Buckley said she met with the attorney for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District and was told the practice would be halted immediately. Buckley said library officials acknowledged asking about 15 homeless people to leave the downtown library last week. Library director Charles Hunsberger said at the time that it was not the mission of the library district to create what he called a bums shelter. The evictions came after homeless began taking refuge in city libraries during the recent cold snap. Wire service and staff reports -4.

to a good start Tuesday while sledding at the "It's not really all that bad," she said. "All I'm doing is answering the phone. I'm still cooking my dinner and having family over." Sylvia Cole, a Harrah's Reno telephone operator, didn't mind working either. "I do all of my celebrating on Christmas Eve. I always have," she said.

"I came in at 4 p.m. today, and I was off all day yesterday. This morning I woke up to Christmas breakfast. So my Christmas is pretty much over." But what about people separated from their family for the first time? Jessica Drudi's shift at Major Video grew depressing and long when she thought about her friends and family she left be the mansion to her own liking Gaming ban LAS Board says Chuck Disseminators horse races and race The board more than gaming companies. The board lacks good him unsuitable DiRocco, publishes a dissemination DiRocco bringing in California The investigation DiRocco's tracks and charges, took actions safety, The signature wrongdoing gaming In addition, on race tracks Gaming a former horse New York.

That However. and The overcharged i'' i board seeks on TV race provider VEGAS (AP) The Nevada Gaming Control it wants to ban horse race disseminator DiRocco from the gaming industry. handle the telecasts and results of from out-of-state tracks to Nevada casinos books. They are licensed by the state. has filed a 21 -count complaint that seeks $21 million in fines and revocation of all licenses belonging to DiRocco and his complaint says DiRocco is dishonest and character and integrity, thereby rendering to hold a disseminator's license.

55, is owner of Sports Form which gaming newspaper. He also owns several services. is charged with overbilling race books for horse racing telecast signals from northern and Louisiana tracks in 1987 and 1988. gaming board complaint follows a two-year into DiRocco's business practices. companies also allegedly billed the race 34 Nevada race books for the same causing Control Board members to allege he they called inimical to the public health, morals, good order and welfare of Nevada.

complaint also accuses DiRocco of forging the of an ex-employee on a letter to cover up to the race track, race books and the board. DiRocco is accused of forging signatures checks payable to fictitious people to defraud and race books. board investigators began looking into DiRocco's activities in 1988 because of his friendship with jockey convicted in 1980 of fixing thoroughbred races at two of the largest race tracks in relationship was not named in the complaint DiRocco has admitted the friendship previously said he had no intention of severing it. probe led gaming agents to allege that be Nevada race books hundreds of thousands of dollars for the dissemination services. IXIoinrne aft Dastt California refugee makes new life in restored Sparks mansion By Susan VoyleSGazette-Journal In the winter of 1890, Elko rancher John Sparks lost 35,000 head of cattle to the arctic cold.

The Elko newspaper reported temperatures of 40 below zero. Bone pickers, with their wagons and pack mules, crossed the state that spring, scavenging for the remains of the great herds, according to James Young and B. Abbott Sparks in "Cattle in the Cold Desert." The bones were stacked so high along the railroad tracks that they looked like white hills. They were shipped to San Francisco and boiled for fertilizer or cut into buttons. That's bone-chilling cold.

In the winter of 1990, in the kitchen of the home of former rancher and Gov. John Sparks, it's still cold. The Sparks mansion, located along U.S. Highway 395 in Steamboat, is a house with no heat. But it's livable and it's home for Maxine Woo! man.

Woolman, a self-described. Southern California refugee, took on the job of restoring the home in May 1988. After nearly 2 Vj years of hard work and about $600,000. she moved in September. She practically lives in the kitchen, heated by the oven of a commercial-sized stove.

And like many others, her pipes have frozen. A bucket serves for a bathroom while the constant drip, drip, drip in the kitchen keeps the pipes there from refreezing. Woolman said she ran out of money before she could put in a heating system this fall. Put that's first on her list when an investment matures in January. The Sparks mansion, where the former governor-rancher entertained often in the early 1900s, will never be what it once was.

It's been moved from its original site at Virginia Street and Peckham Lane. It's been ravaged by vandals, left exposed to the elements and sold off by previous owners in bits and pieces. But Woolman is renovating it piece by piece. "It has everything but ghosts," she said. "You see, the ghosts Se HOME, page 2C.