The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 3

Evening Journal, Wilmington, Thurtday, January 11, 1979 State Is Auditing County School Board Spending hrf J0IH i I Jj V- j7 1 hjv rznEji AP Wirtpholo tend to solicit bids whenever the school board goes out to dinner. "That's not a reasonable way to operate," Fauser said. The board has spent more than $1,500 at the Ramada Inn since August 1977, according to vouchers on file in the state treasurer's office. Much of that spending was for meals eaten by Reed andother board members. Reed has acknowledged his financial interest in the motel and has admitted eating meals there at public expense.

But any personal benefit would be "insignificant," he said last month. Collins said that Dec. 26 articles in the News-Journal papers on Reed and the board's spending at the Ramada Inn appeared shortly after his office began its investigation. He said his staff "stumbled onto" the Reed-Ramada link while looking into "something else," which he would not describe. Md.

Family Of 3 Dies In Heater Fire FEDERALSBURG, Md. -State police say Marvin A. Mitchell, 34, his wife Kathy, 27, and their 4-month-old son, Marvin were all killed last night in a fire at their rural home. A faulty space heater apparently started the fire in the kitchen. Passersby saw flames pouring from the 2-story wood-frame house on American Corners Road.

Federalsburg and Preston firefighters found the bodies in the rubble after the roof collapsed. The fire was reported about midnight. Autopsies have been ordered. State Auditor Richard T. Collins has launched what he calls an "investigative audit" of the New Castle County Board of Education's spending policies.

Collins said one part of the audit will look into the board's expenditures at the Ramada Inn, in which board member Earl J. Reed has a financial interest. Collins would not say what else the audit would investigate, but said it involves more than just spending for meals at the Ramada. The audit, Collins said, would look into possible "illegal and unbusinesslike practices" by the board. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice will be checking to see if Reed is subject to the state's conflict of interest law.

State law requires bids on purchases of $2,000 or more, but the conflict of interest law requires bidding on purchases of $25 or more when an agency's officer or employee has a financial interest in a potential vendor. After the News-Journal papers disclosed the possible conflict in December, Reed said, "If it's a problem, I will comply with it." If Reed is subject to that law, he could be removed from the board for not disclosing his 2 percent interest in the firms that own the Ramada Inn. Reed is a vice president and director of Gracelawn Memorial Parks, which owns all the stock in Gracelawn Realty, the owner of the Ramada. The board often uses the Ramada Inn for its meetings, which frequently include a dinner at state expense. David K.

Fauser, deputy superintendent for administrative services, said the district doesn't in Out From Behind the Eight-Ball? ill and Greta Rideout are buck together acquitted of raping her liave reconciled. Last again. The Oregon couple whone marital buttles night lie watched him play pool hi a Salem made national new two weeks ago when he was tavern. New House Speaker Doesn't 'Pack' Joint Finance Committee Bill Allows Strikes By Public Workers Senate Balks At Committee Reform Plan By Vr H. BALDWIN Dover Bureau A senator's efforts to reform the General Assembly's committee system have succeeded in the House but have run into trouble in his own chamber.

The House already has approved a change in its rules to require scheduled committee meetings on all bills, with recorded votes. But Senate Democrats are balking at putting the requirement into their rules. The purpose of the rule change, according to Sen. Harris McDowell III, D-Wilmingtonits chief backer, is to strengthen, the legislative branch and "open up the legislative process to the public." McDowell, chairman of the former Committee on Committees that studied committee reform for a year and a half, succeeded in having the rule adopted in the form of a statute signed into law last July. But the law came too late to affect the 129th General Assembly and cannot constitutionally bind the 130th, McDowell concedes.

Each chamber has the power to set its own rules, McDowell said. House Democrats, prodded by Majority Whip Ruth Ann Minner of Milford, endorsed the rule change in caucus. The full House, where Democrats hold a one-vote majority over Republicans, approved the Democrats' rules in legislature's organizational meeting Tuesday. The new rules mandate: Pre-announced committee sessions on all bills, at which the public can testify. Special notice to a sponsor of when his bill will be taken up.

A weekly listing of all bills being held by a committee. Minutes, with recorded votes, kept at every committee meeting. Several Senate Democrats are reluctant to commit themselves to this procedure, and have demanded modifications in the proposal. Asked what the objections were, McDowell said, "I don't want to get into speculation." In the past, the legislature's loose committee system allowed chairmen to "walk" bills around the House or Senate floor, collecting signatures of committee members without any discussion of a bill's merits and without any opportunity for public comment. Some House committee chairmen are less than ethusiastic about the reform.

"When I want to have a public hearing I'll have a public hearing. Nobody's going to force me to," Rep. John Matushefkse, D-Wil-mington Manor, said yesterday. Matushefkse is chairman of the Banking and Insurance Conirrittee. The rule change may be "premature," said Rep.

Robert F. Gilligan, D-Sherwood Park, chairman of the House Health and Social Services Committee. It's impractical to demand minutes of meetings before the committees have staffing, he said. One of the by-products of McDowell's crusade for committee reform was an appropriation of $35,000 for committee aides in the 1979 session of the legislature. Up to now the only committee with its own staff has been the Joint Finance Committee.

Legislative Council plans to begin hiring the new committee assistants Jan. 15, Mrs. Minner said. Senate Republicans, who are outnumbered 13-8 by the Democrats, support McDowell's reform rule, according to Senate Minority Leader Andrew G. Knox, there is no way they could join several Democrats sympathetic to the rule change and force a vote on the issue, Knox said.

"The majority party is going to maintain the loyalty and consistency of voting to retain their committee chairmen's power," Knox said. "That'll take precedence over whether somebody's sympathetic to com mittee reform The rules approved in the House do not tamper with a chairman's veto power over legislation assigned to his committee. Reformers such as Rep. Robert Maxwell, D-Lancaster Village, and the citizens' group Common Cause, would like to have the reporting of bills determined solely by majority vote of committee members. McDowell has shied away from attacking the committee chairman's power to kill bills.

BP The Sale Goes On! From the Dover Bureau DOVER A bill which would give most Delaware public employees the right to strike was introduced in the Senate yesterday. S.B. 8, sponsored by Sen. Anthony J. Cicione, D-Elsmere, also provides for third-party binding arbitration in public employee contract negotiations.

Police and fire employees are excluded from the strike provision. Similar legislation has failed in the past but Cicione's measure may get considerable attention in the wake of last fall's five-week New Castle County teachers strike. Labor leaders have listed changes in the public employee bargaining law as a key goal for this year. Government administrators, however, have consistently opposed binding arbitration, fearing costly settlements which would overextend tax resources. Cicione said he hopes to hold public hearings on the bill but expects no immediate action.

"I just want to keep it fresh in the minds of the people interested in it," he said. The bill was referred to the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee. ISf 1 1 ET 1IM it By W.H.BALDWIN Dover Bureau DOVER-Speaker of the House John P. Ferguson, has decided at least for now, not to pack the powerful Joint Finance Committee by increasing the number of House members on the panel. Tentative committee assignments, released by Ferguson just before the House adjourned yesterday afternoon, included seven members on the House Appropriations Committee, the same number as in the last session.

Some legislators had speculated that Ferguson might increase the size of the committee to ensure election of a House member as chairman of the Joint Finance Committee. Joint Finance the committee that deals with the state budget, is considered the most powerful committee in the legislature. It consists of the House Appropriations Committee plus, the Senate Finance Committee. Rep. Orlando J.

George D-Wilmington, was named chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and is expected to be elected Joint Finance chairman. Sen. But Nancy W. Cook, D-Kenton, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is also vying for the JFC chairmanship. Ferguson expanded two other House committees as a concession to the Republicans.

Education, to be chaired by Rep. Edward J. Bennett, D-Dover, has five Democrats and three Republicans. Revenue and Finance, the tax-writing committee to be chaired by Rep. Gerard A.

Cain, D-Sher-wood has four Democrats and three Republicans. Appropriations has five Democrats and two Republicans. All other committees have four majority-party members and two minority-party members. Republicans constitute slightly less than half the House 20 of 41 members. House rules requro the speaker to make committee assignments in proportion to the number of seats each party controls.

Minority Leader John M. Burris, R-Mil-ford, said he didn't press the point except to ask that more than two members of his party get assignments on Education, Revenue and Finance, and Corrections. are yours for the asking, right now at Lucille's! Dresses, sweaters, blazers, skirts, coats and nighties and handbags and shirts and slacks everything your heart desires and your fashion flair demands! Lucille, you really have a way with sales! Other committees will be chaired by the following Democratic representatives: Administrative Services, Herman Holloway Jr. of Wilmington; Aging, Marion P. Anderson of Robscott Manor; Agriculture, Howard A.

Clendan-icl of Georgetown; Banking and Insurance, John Matushefske of Wilmington Manor. Community Affairs, Al O. Plant of Wilmington; Constitution, David B. McBride of Middleboro Manor; Corrections, J. Edward Morris of Camden; Energy, into which Federal and State Relations was consolidated, William H.

Brady II of Middletown; Environmental Control, Joseph C. Lough-ney of Claymont. Health and Social Services, Robert F. Gilligan of Sherwood Park; Highways and Transportation, Daniel A. Kelly of Stonehurst; Judiciary, Casimir S.

Jonkiert of Wilmington; Labor and Commerce, Robert L. Maxwell of Lancaster Village; Natural Resources, Ronald L. Darling of Wyoming; and Public Safety, Charles P. West of Gumboro. Market Street Mall Concord Mall, Rt.

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