Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 2

metroState mim Star Tribune 4bmS; 271991; -ip 3 Read then recycle ID tpili id be phased in COLE erty-lax nounced last week. His opponents say that his plan simply shifts the current tax burdens from state government, which relies on income and sales taxes, to local governments, which rely on property taxes. Carlson says the Minnesota system of generous state support of local governments has encouraged Property tax continued on page 6B ty-tax reforms. He emphasized, among other things, that his plan calls for whopping increases in an existing "income-sensitive" property-tax refund program. That "circuit-breaker" program would soften the hikes on those with low and middle incomes.

Carlson also urged local governments to make a good-faith effort to cut their budgets and not to automatical down historic mill Jim Klobuchar Thar's cash in them thar chips Like Klondike prospectors, the family stood in Robert Glad's driveway in south Minneapolis, with a shovel, a barrel and an arsenal of plastic lawn bags. They faced nine yards of wood chips piled 6 feet high in the driveway. Their mission: find $730 in cash, chewed up in bits, in smaller bits and in microscopic bits. They faced one thing more. If they found enough bits, they would have to solve the most expensive jigsaw puzzle ever laid on the family table.

Never in the history of American finance has $730 been so minutely mangled, at 25,000 rpms by the city Park Board brush shredder. Someplace in that mountain of wood chips was Ben Franklin's nose. Make that Ben Franklin's noses. By Robert Glad's count there were three of Ben Franklin's noses, representing three $100 bills, nearly half the money he lost when his wallet fell out of his shirt pocket and into the ly convert his proposed reductions in state aids into higher property taxes. He reminded audiences that he also proposes lifting many state-imposed "mandates" for local spending.

Independent-Republican Carlson, supported mostly by business interests, has been locked in a battle for public support against DFL leaders in the Legislature and local governments since his proposal was an 4 "I personally am willing to consider a phase-in," Revenue Commissioner Dorothy McClung said Tuesday, adding that doing so over two or three years would be more realistic than a five-year plan. "There has to be a reasonable assurance that we would reach the goal." Meanwhile, Carlson spent yesterday visiting southern Minnesota cities to promote his budget cuts and proper 'ai brings i 6 By Dane Smith Staff Writer Gov. Arne Carlson's budget team may consider a gradual phase-in of property-tax rate changes to make his tax-and-budgct overhaul more palatable to owners of lower-valued homes, who could see a doubling of their current property taxes under his plan. DiffSity on board Bush Foundation a rarity among peers because of composition By Robert Franklin Staff Writer With four appointments being announced today, Minnesota's Bush Foundation has taken a rare place among U.S. grant-makers: its 15-mernber board includes seven women, three blacks and one Indian.

The foundation has replaced four older white The new members are Sharon Sayles Belton, president of the Minneapolis City Council, who is black; Ann Wynia, St. Paul, former majority leader of the Minnesota House; W. Richard West, founding director of the National Museum of the American Indian at tne Smithsonian Institution, who is Indian, and C. Angus Wurtele, chief executive officer of The Valspar Minneapolis. That makes Bush, Minnesota's second-largest private foundation, with annual grants of about $19 million, "a sort of model of what I think is necessary," said James Joseph, president of the national Council on Foundations in Washington.

The council has been pushing for diversified grant-making boards and staffs for nearly two decades. With limited success, however. A 1989 survey of 75 foundations the 25 largest private, 25 largest corporate and 25 largest community-based found 23 without a single woman trustee. They included the Amoco Foundation, Exxon Education Foundation, Ford Motor Co. Fund, General Motors Foundation, Procter Gamble Fund and RJR Nabisco Foundation.

A woman has since been added by at least two on the list, the 3M Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation's largest health care philanthropy. The Minneapolis Foundation was the only one of the 75 with any Indian board members, according to the survey, taken by Women and FoundationsCorporate Philanthropy. "It was discouraging and surprising that there is not more commitment," said Marion Etzwiler, president of the Minneapolis Foundation, which makes grants of about $6 million a Board continued on page 5B shredder. It happened not long after Robert Glad cashed his check for his toils as a tree trimmer for the city. "While I was loading brush from the boulevard tree trimming someplace near Southwest High School, a branch must have snagged the button and popped my wallet into the shredder," he said.

"I didn't realize it until the end of the day. I ran back for blocks where we were working. When I got back the truck driver was holding a small slice of a 100 bill and he said, 'Laddie, I think your money is all ground up in the truck." It was the bleak truth. The churner had spewed thousands of chips into the truck box in front it. Friday night he went home and conscripted Linda, his wife, and two kids, Madeline, 7, and Alexandra, 5.

He told them, "We're going on a treasure hunt" From the truck in the Park Board storage lot they recovered enough additional snips and slivers of green to reach a command decision: bring the mountain to mama. The job foreman approved, and Monday the truck unloaded a ton of cash-laced choppings on the Glad driveway next to his parents' home. Robert and Linda, and his parents, Megan and Clinton, started shoveling, sifting each shovelful. When they found green, they slipped it into a plastic sandwich bag. The scene attracted inquisitive neighbors, especially after -Megan Glad hauled out the barbecue cooker for warmth.

Neighbors believed that the Glads had fallen on hard times. They resembled homeless derelicts scavenging the woodpile beside the frail heater. Somebody in the family called in the United States of America for a ruling. have to know the law on reassembling cash in bits and pieces." The question went to the Federal Reserve Bank and the Citizens State Bank in St. Louis Park.

The answer If you've got the the serial number, the portrait in the middle and 5 1 percent of the bill, we can do business. On the dining room table, they started fitting noses to eyes. Washington's mouth helped. Very recognizable. So did U.S.

i Grant's bow tie and Franklin's bald head. service on 99.5 FM today. MPR will not move any personnel into WLOL's office-studio complex in Minneapolis' warehouse district An MPR spokesperson said WLOL's equipment eventually will be absorbed by MPR's 19-station regional network. MPR revealed its plan in late December to buy WLOL from Emmis Broadcasting Corp. of WLOL continued on page 6B ghair Staff Photo by Bruce Bisping A fire toppled the historic Washburn-Crosby A Mill Tuesday night, sending sparks and flames from the top of the seven-story stone structure along the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.

The building was vacant and no one was injured. Story, page 3B. Independent Goswitz seeks DFL endorsement Long-haired to Ion turns classical today Rock station By Noel Holston Staff Writer Twin Cities rock station WLOL has rolled over for Beethoven. The Federal Communications Commission late Tuesday afternoon approved the sale of WLOL to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), which will use the station's frequency, 99.5 FM, to broadcast classical music as of sunrise today. At 6 p.m.

yesterday, WLOL played Prince's "Thieves in the Temple," segued into a staff-produced rap number in which its disc jockeys said their goodbyes to the Twin Cities, then went to a tape that excerpted dozens of hit records the station had played over the past decade. At midnight, MPR's engineers were to begin making the technical adjustments necessary to start broadcasting its classical music "I'm more Democrat than most of the people in this building," said Goswitz as he greeted delegates at Johnson High School on the East Side. Neid, who was standing nearby, said, "It's an open process. We've always welcomed Republicans who want to run as Democrats." Elsewhere on the East Side, Council Member Tom Dimond started his reelection campaign in caucuses at Harding High School. He is opposed by Dino Guerin, a city firefighter Caucuses continued on page 5B Bill to restrict race withdrawal A division of the Minnesota House has approved a bill to make candidates who wish to withdraw from running for top state offices including that of governor do so no more than 15 days after the primary.

The death of a candidate would be the only exception to the law. Page 39. By Anthony Lonetree Staff Writer DFL activists began the process of endorsing candidates for the St. Paul City Council at precinct caucuses Tuesday night, and among the people vying for their votes was an old rival claiming to be a longtime Democrat. City Council Member Roger Gos-witz, who has defeated DFL-en-dorsed candidates twice as an independent, said last night that he will seek the DFL endorsement in his race against Karl Neid, a former city DFL chairman, in the Sixth District certificates and old photos sit behind two locked doors in the department's St.

Paul offices. But starting next -week, the department will make its annual effort to find the owners, their relatives or other claimants by publishing in Minnesota newspapers, long lists of the items' owners and last-known addresses. Duane Galles, compliance Unclaimed continued on page 6B Lost and found: $9.6 million worth of stuff Late Monday afternoon, the Glads took their sandwich bags into the Citizens State Bank. They weren't sure whether they were going to get a lie-detector test or Scotch tape. The bank settled for Scotch tape.

By Tuesday they had salvaged more than $600 in usable cash, all of it tentatively accepted and exchanged by the bank. "Actually, the jigsaw puzzling wasn't hard," Robert said. "We had about 26 bills to put together, and the shades were different It also helps when you're motivated." Today the pile of chips is down to a few yards. Still missing is a piece of U.S. Grant, which plutocrats among you will recognize as $50 worth of beard.

The wood chips are going to friends for mulch, Glad's driver's license has been reincarnated in five pieces from shredded-elm and the neighbors are no longer tempted to call in the mobile soup kitchen. If you get one of Glad's bills, don't try it in the change machine. By Dan Wascoe Jr. StaffWriter Would the gent (or lady) who lost track of a set of burglar's tools in a nifty black zippered case kindly claim them from the Minnesota Commerce Department? Same goes for the owners of two gold teeth, tarnished silverware and a $64,041 savings account the Employers Insurance Co. of Wausau, Wis.

Former sex-oriented bookstore owner Ferris Alexander has a $5,000 cashier's check waiting at Riverside Bank of Minneapolis. The Minnesota Twins have a $320 certified check unclaimed at Northern State Bank of Virginia, Minn. Even state Auditor Mark Dayton had a $58.51 uncashed refund check from Hertz Corp. Cabinets full of jewelry, stock A record $9.6 million in unclaimed property and accounts was reported last year to the department. That's up from the previous record of $8 million in 1988.

Added to past years, the state lists $29.8 million in unclaimed property waiting for its proper owners. Some shouldn't be too hard to find. Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton has an $8,668 uncashed check waiting from STAR TRIBUNE STJeAJJUEQITJQfcL.