Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 1

71 pcopb puttering Popularity of BMX grows in (Mississippi crcclo of c'lcro Business, CB crcund wilh miniature golf Southern Style, 1F Sports, 10 35c THURSDAY Copyright 1987 FINAL I Volume 151 No. 112 I 6 sections 56 pages 150 Years of Service: 1837-1987 JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI July 23, 1987 Neshoba County Fair flourishes as forum for politicos Pranksters strike Dantin, Waller campaigns The fair will draw attention from many of the state's newspapers and television stations, and the four presidential hopefuls scheduled to appear will likely attract the national media. "A candidate's exposure to that many people at one time is something money can't buy," said King. State Auditor Ray Mabus is considered the front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor, with the other seven fighting for a run-off spot. On the Republican side, businessmen Doug Lemon of Richland and Jack Reed of Tupelo are battling for a spot in the November general election.

White House hopefuls scheduled to appear include U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp of New York, former Nevada Sen. Paul Lax-alt and evangelist Pat Robertson, all Republicans, and Democrat Buck Ladner of Pass Christian. The presidential hopefuls will be laying the groundwork for the Super Tuesday presidential primary in March, involving more than a dozen Southern states.

Because of the fair's importance, many of the candidates will make special efforts. Mabus said he is preparing a speech tailored for the fair. See Neshoba, back page this section Giant house party flourishes, IF i By DAN DAVIS Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer The tin-roofed pavilion at the Neshoba County Fair, the launching pad for many gubernatorial campaigns, could be the crash site for some during three days of political speeches next week. "Careers have begun and ended at the fair," said Secretary of State Dick Molpus, whose family owns a cabin on the fair's Founders' Square. With several candidates bunched together in the fight for the Democratic nomination and two others locked in a struggle for the Republican banner, political performances at the historic fair could be pivotal, leading up to the Aug.

4 primaries. The political speeches are scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week. "I don't know if it will make or break a candidate, but it sure wouldn't do him any harm because he gets a lot of exposure," said Allan King, one of the fair's directors. The weeklong fair, which opens Friday, will draw thousands of voters to its dusty or muddy, if it rains grounds. "We ought to have a doggone good crowd," King said.

"I hope there's so many you can't stir them with a stick." Mississippi," said campaign director Mike Frazier. Earlier this week, a Tupelo television station was notified by someone purporting to be from Waller's campaign headquarters that a Waller political rally in New Albany had been canceled. The prank was uncovered when the station called the campaign of fice to verify the cancellation. The rally went on as scheduled and drew an estimated 500 Waller supporters. The political pranksters tried to pull a similar trick on the Dantin campaign when the sponsor of a fish fry in Natchez was told to cancel the party because Dantin couldn't attend.

The trick was foiled when the fish fry host called See Pranks, back page this section By DAN DAVIS Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer It's campaign capers time. With less than two weeks before the Aug. 4 primaries, at least two candidates have been the target of political pranks. Former Gov. Bill Waller and Maurice Dantin, both Democrats, were hit with similar pranks in the last 10 days.

Waller, widely considered a leading contender for a run-off spot in the fight for the Democratic nomination, was victimized last week when a man identifying himself as Waller contacted newspapers in Tupelo and Hattiesburg and blasted Democrat John Arthur Eaves' plan to reduce the cost of an automobile license tag to $10. "Bill was in an airplane at the time over south Another truck stuck House OKs expansion of Medicare s'' s-r' vXJ-H vv" N.Y. Times News Service WASHINGTON The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to protect 31 million elderly and disabled people against the costs of catastrophic illness by approving the largest expansion of Medicare benefits in the program's 22-year history. The bill seeks to limit beneficiaries' liability for the costs of hospital care, doctors' services and prescription drugs. It also provides modest additional coverage for care in skilled nursing homes, hospices and at home: The vote on the bill was 302-127.

The measure was supported by 241 Democrats and 61 Republicans. It was opposed by 14 Democrats and 113 Republicans. Higher premiums from Medicare beneficiaries would pay the entire cost of the expanded coverage, estimated by the Congressional Budget Office at $33 billion over five years. About 40 percent of the elderly would bear most of the financial burden while the rest would pay relatively little because their income is low. The maximum extra premium would be $580 a year for a person with income exceeding $14,166.

The current premium is $214.80 a year for each Medicare beneficiary regardless of income. The bill does not explicitly define catastrophic illness, but protects people against the costs of chronic and acute ailments exceeding specified amounts. It would cover the nation's 28 million people 65 or older, plus 3 million disabled people who are covered by Medicare. President Reagan has threatened to veto this version of the bill, fearing the costs might explode because of the new prescription drug benefit. But Reagan himself proposed a new catastrophic health insurance program in February and is likely to sign the final product that emerges from negotiations with the Senate, See Health, back page this section MICHAEL BARRETTThe Clarion-Ledger A delivery truck for Partners Home Supply Inc.

of Jack- became wedged at an angle about 5:30 p.m. The driver, son is stuck Wednesday under an ll-foot-2-inch railroad Pete Guice of Jackson, said he was not wearing his seat overpass on Gallatin Street at Porter Street. The truck belt but was not injured. U.S. escorts help tankers up waterway Convoy stays alert for Iran's gunboats The Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Two Kuwaiti tankers sailed swiftly up the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, ed by U.S.

jet fighters and Navy warships on high alert for Iran's high-speed gunboats and helicopters. Iran has vowed to strike the convoy, take American sailors prisoner and burn the Stars and Stripes flying on the fantails of the reflagged Kuwaiti tankers if any of its ships are attacked. The supertanker Bridgeton and the smaller oil products carrier Gas Prince were surrounded by three and at times five U.S. warships as they passed within range of an Iranian missile battery in the Strait of Hormuz, considered the most perilous part of their three-day, 500-mile journey to Kuwait. Overhead, aircraft from the carrier USS Constellation stationed outside the gulf flew a rotating air cover.

In Washington, the Pentagon said it had not detected any hostile actions on the sea or in the air toward the convoy, only "normal patrol activity" by Iranian aircraft. Iran did not prepare any of its Chinese-made Silkworm anti-ship missiles, and the ships were out of range after the convoy cleared the strait, the Pentagon said. "So in reality, the ships are already safely through the passage and on their way to Kuwait," one official added. The destroyer Kidd had to fire a flare to warn off a helicopter that apparently was carrying reporters near the ships, said Pentagon spokesman Robert Sims. By midafternoon, the ships had passed within 12 miles of Abu Musa, an Iranian island used by Revolutionary Guards, fanatical followers of Ayatol-lah Ruhollah Khomeini, to launch gunboat and helicopter attacks on commercial shipping.

As night fell on the gulf, the convoy cruised past the long shoreline of the United Arab Emirates and the port of Dubai. "They are moving fast in close convoy," reported one shipping source as the cluster of ships traveled through the strait at about 16 knots, the approximate top speed of the Bridgeton. Capt. David P. Yonkers, who commands the Navy escort dubbed "Operation Earnest Will," said the U.S.

ships would come no closer than one or two miles to the "exclusion zone" declared by Iran along its side of the gulf "Remember, this is the real thing this is not a drill," Capt. William W. Mathis told the 476-member crew aboard the Navy cruiser USS Fox before it entered the Strait of Hormuz. "We are going to be ready. We will make sure that these ships get to Kuwait on time and unharmed." Both the Bridgeton, formerly the Al-Rekkah, and the Gas Prince, formerly the Al-Minagish, ran up the American flag Tuesday off the United Arab Emirates.

The ships, with American captains, left the United Arab Emirates port of Khor Fakkan on Wednesday morning for Kuwait's Al-Ahmadi oil terminal. The Fox led the convoy, while the See Persian Gulf, back page this section Tax Commission's new rules bar lewd' behavior of the bikinis. After the complaints were filed, Saturday's nightclub in Gulfport canceled a scheduled Chippendale performance. Marx said there was "a flurry of requests from permittees across the state" for information on acceptable activities under the new guidelines. Ginger Boutwell, manager of the Gulfport nightclub, said Wednesday that the guidelines are too restrictive.

"Good Lord, that took care of everything," Boutwell said. See Tax, back page this section well as "contests or exhibitions involving the use of swim wear, lingerie or similar attire." Obscene language by entertainers also is prohibited unless a sign is posted at the entrance of the establishment saying that certain words or phrases may be offensive to some people. The Alcohol Beverage Control Bureau, a division of the Tax Commission, brought complaints last month against clubs in Hattiesburg and Vicks-burg that featured a troupe of male erotic dancers known as Chippendale dancers. During the shows, which attracted hundreds of women, the men danced in skimpy bikinis and cut-off T-shirts, and women stuffed dollar bills into the front and sides acts, topless dancers, simulation of sexual acts and "touching, caressing or fondling" of body parts. The amended regulations, which take effect in 30 days, were passed to give permit-holders more specific examples of prohibited activities, said Charles Marx, head of the Tax Commission.

"It's the same thing we've always done, ing to our enforcement people," Marx said. "It's explicit, but when you're dealing with smut, you have to be explicit." Under the new guidelines, such contests as mud-wrestling, wet T-shirt competitions or hairiest-chest and best-leg competitions are prohibited, as By LYNN WATKINS Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer The Chippendale male dance troupe can bare all it wants on television and in other states, but not in Mississippi establishments that sell liquor. Thirty days from now, new regulations will kick in, barring "lewd, immoral or offensive acts" in bars or restaurants holding permits to sell mixed drinks. The State Tax Commission on Wednesday amended Alcohol Beverage Control Bureau regulations to prohibit "live entertainment or conduct which is lewd, immoral or offensive to public decency." That includes live sex acts, strip-tease INDEX 6 vie for post in low visibility state auditor race Tcampaign State auditor Ann Landers 2F Bridge 4F Business 8B Classified 2D Comics 4E Crosswords Deaths 2B Entertainment 4F Food IE Horoscope 3F Jumble 6D Names Faces 2A Opinion Southern Style IF Sports 1C State 'Metro IB Stocks TV-Radio Log 5F WEATHER Rain likely. High 93.

Details, 14A. By HAYES JOHNSON Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Good government is a popular topic in the race for state auditor, where six candidates want to replace outgoing Auditor Ray Mabus. "We're all against corruption, we're all against waste and inefficiency in government, and we all want to continue to modernize the state's accounting systems," said Michael Raff, one of five Democrats who will meet in the Aug. 4 primary. "That's all very good, but it doesn't say much," Raff said.

Mabus, a lawyer who is running for governor, has drawn attention to the auditor's office since 1984 by using it to ferret out public corruption and reclaim misspent taxes. Despite heightened awareness of the technical skills. the auditor does what he is supposed to do, the technical skills will help him do a better job." Al Gary of Mendenhall, a certified public accountant and former director of technical assistance under Mabus, agrees that the auditor needs to be professionally trained in accounting. Gary, who spent a total of seven years working for Mabus and former State Auditor Hamp King, has been critical of politicians using the office as a steppingstone for higher office. He also has pledged not to be as "flamboyant" as Mabus if elected auditor.

Some of the other candidates say management ability is the most important trait for auditor, since the office See Auditor race, back page this section that would use the of fice to monitor the efficiency not just the legality of public expenditures. "Most public officials want to perform at a higher level; all they need is more information," said Robertson, a two-term member of the Legislature. "We have got to utilize the information in that office to plan and set objectives." Candidate Jerry Williams, a former Mississippi Research and Development Center official, has called for a state law that would require the auditor to be a certified public accountant like himself. "I think Mr. Mabus did a good job in the new direction he gave the department," Williams said.

"But now we've got to come with some very strong, office, though, the auditor's race this summer hasn't sparked much voter interest. With the primary less than two weeks away, the Democratic candidates are searching for ways to distinguish themselves from the pack. State Rep. Ronnie Robertson of Greenwood is campaigning on a plan.