Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 15

Cfce CIarfontcDgcc December 10, 1171 Local News Editorials IB Cablevision to ask council for rate increase 30 Box 4acksong( I A 'ar'on'tf6grclr ujribs fiction commissioners Fred Johnson and Nielsen Cochran. Danks said it appears the company has met its contractural obligation of making cable service available citywide. However, there is now a problem of connecting promptly all the homeowners who want the service to hundreds of miles of newly installed cable. "The whole purpose of the contract is to make service available to homeowners who want it," the mayor said. "That option is not open now.

When the people of this city are afforded that option, I would be open to their arguments for a rate increase." Colyott acknowledged that a "lag time" does exists for people who want to get the service. He said the company is trying to beef up its work crews to ease the problem. Nevertheless, Colyott maintains that it usually takes no longer than three weeks from the time a homeowner requests service. He further acknowledged that the public would probably react negatively to a rate increase but he claims that one is necessary to provide adequate service. "People are just adverse to rate increases and I can understand it," he said.

"But remember, there's a 13-percent inflation increase per year right now." The cost of Home Box Office would not change under the proposed increases. In a letter to City Council members, Mike Colyott, Cablevision's general manager, said the company has incurred $2 million in capital expenses since August 1978. He said those expenses include: About 275 miles of additional cable installed either underground or on utility poles. Much of the new cable was necessary to meet a contractual deadline of July 1 to make cable service available to residents throughout the city. The City Council extended the period to Nov.

1, a deadline which the company appears to have met. The wiring of all Jackson public schools to the cable system as required by the city contract. A two-way cable television link to the Jackson-Hinds Emergency Operations Center. This provides a ready outlet for the city to make public announcements during an emergency. The addition of a second independent station, WGN of Chicago.

The programming of this station, called a "Superstation," is transmitted throughout the U.S. via satellite. In addition, Colyott said there are planned By CLIFF TREYENS CUriM-Urfiw Suit Wrtut Little more than a month after apparently meeting an extended deadline to provide citywide cable television service, Capitol Cablevision officials plan to seek a rate increase before Jackson City Council on Tuesday. The proposed 10.76-percent increase, which would become effective on Feb. 1 if approved by the City Council, is necessary to keep pace with inflation while providing for service improvements, company officials say.

It would be Cablevlsion's fourth rate increase since 1970, when the company signed a 20-year contract with the city. The proposal would raise to $7.81 the current $7.40 monthly charge for cable service, according to documents supplied by the company. The monthly charge for each additional cable outlet in a home would increase from $2 to $2.22. One-time charges for installation of a primary or additional outlet, FM outlet, relocation of an outlet within the same structure or transfer of service to a new residence would increase from $15 to $16.62. improvements including construction of a second satellite receiving station in the south Jackson area, a new sports station and FM classical music station, and a service called "Play on which customers can play video games.

He cited further a company-produced public relations videotape on Jackson that will be aired on WTBS in Atlanta. Colyott wrote that the program will reach "major markets" nationwide. Finally, he said, the company is going beyond its contractural obligations by installing cable in areas of the city where there are fewer than 50 homes per linear mile. These areas, which Colyott said arc not profitable, include the Country Club, Beverly Heights, Forest Lake and Red Hill Drive. Despite the company's arguments for an increase, at least one member of the City Council is opposed to it.

Mayor Dale Danks Jr. said he believes the company has fallen short of providing adequate service. "I'm against it," he said flatly. The mayor has consistently voted against requests by the cable company including a 55-cent rate increase in August 1978 and an extension of the July 1 deadline to provide citywide service. Both those measures were approved by the other council members, Write Action answers questions and checks out valid complaints on a wide variety of consumer matters.

Write Action also cuts through government red tape. II you feel you have been victimized or have a question regarding any of these JVeit? Wings takes flight in city schools 1 Jf Hi i ww Demise of land post ends an era By JO ANN KLEIN CUrioa-Lrdger Staff Writer A 90-year-old tradition will end next month when Mississippi's new suae officials begin their terms. There will be no land commissioner, a post that dates from the 1890 constitution. John Ed Ainsworth, a controversial Delta farmer who became the state's last land commissioner in 1976, recently discussed the demise of that office, saying his tenure "brought it to a successful conclusion." The post was created by the Legislature the same year the state constitution was approved. But it really started 63 years earlier, in 1817, with the state's first land office which oversaw the development of public lands for private use.

As early settlers moved into Mississippi, the land office helped them find property. During the Depression, the land office again was a prominent state post. Because most state residents were too poor to pay taxes due on their property, the state took over tax-delinquent properties. Ainsworth said entire counties were sold for non-payment of taxes during that period. That property was resold to the public, however, as the Depression era ended.

With those three periods of heavy land business, the land commissioner became an important elected official with a big salary and big staff, Ainsworth said. The demise of the commissioner's post began in the 1950s and extended into the 1960s. "Needs changed. Land became so valuable that people were better about paying their taxes and the state didn't acquire as much land," Ainsworth said. As a result, the land commissioner wasn't the powerful official he had once been.

By the time the 1978 Legislature voted to abolish the post, the commissioner had become one of the least powerful elected officials in state government. In 1978 the Legislature, at Ains-worth's insistence, revamped the state's management of 16th section school lands, which had long been abused by local officials. During the lengthy fight to change those laws, Ainsworth, ironically enough, brought renewed prominence to the land commissioner's post. Ainsworth, who recommended abolishing the post, said it is important to remember that the land commissioner's job, but not the land commission office, is ending. The land commission, which keeps records on all state property and clears taxes for titles, will be See 90-year, page 2B areas, please write write Action.

The Clarion-Ledger, P.O. Box 40, Jackson, Miss. 39205. Be sure to include the names and addresses of any companies you write about and any documentation. We will also need your name and address, which will be kept confidential.

Write Action does not shop for readers. Q. Last Christmas I gave my daughter a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens, and I gave my daughter-in-law a subscription. My daughter has been getting her mag-1 ailne but my daughter-in-law hasn't received a magazine or even a no-, tlce. When I received a renewal notice In August, I immediately wrote the company, stating thrt the subscription had never started although I bad paid for it.

I also stated that I would like to renew my daughter's subscription, but only if my daughter-in-law got her subscription in 1980 at no additional cost. To date I have not heard anything from the magazine's gift department, but I continue to get renewal notices. Could you help me? Mrs. W.T.O, McComb. A.

Your daughter-in-law should be getting her magazines now. Write Action received a letter from customer service manager Robert Austin after we forwarded your complaint to the magazine's office in Des Moines, Iowa. Austin said the "non-service" resulted from a clerical error, and that an adjustment has been made. The subscription will continue for a full term paid, starting with the November issue, Austin said. Q.

We purchased a vinyl sofa sleeper March 3 from Furniture Distributors, Inc. The sleeper was on sale and in perfect condition at the time we purchased it. After several months, we noticed splotching and discoloration, and contacted the manager at Furniture Distributors. After many conversations with him and the factory representative in Nashville, we were contacted in September that the factory would re-cover the sleeper or deduct $20 from the price we paid. The next day we decided to have the sleeper re-covered.

The manager has said that the factory representative will nave the sleeper picked up when there is a truck in the area. When will there be a truck in the area to pick np the sleeper and will Furniture Distributors deliver us a couch to use in the meantime? Mrs. Jackson. A. Your sofa has been picked up and a temporary one put in its place.

Write Action forwarded your complaint to Mickey Harrelson, manager of Furniture Distributors. Harrelson telephoned us soon afterwards and agreed that your complaint is "as true as it can be with one exception; we're doing everything we can do to help." Harrelson explained that you needed a little more patience while waiting for the truck from the factory, which sometimes can be a while. Besides, he said, there is no factory warranty on fabrics but the factory had agreed to re-cover yours, he said, because the fabric was obviously faulty. Harrelson added, however, that he was going to contact the Nashville office again to see when they could send a truck. While he couldn't give any time estimates, you contacted Write Action about three days later and said a truck was scheduled to pick up your sofa that day, and that you would be receiving a couch to use in the meantime.

Q. I ordered three books last July from Pinnacle Book Mailing Services in Rockville Center, New York. It's been over three months, and I've not received the books or a refund. After writing and sending copies of my canceled check twice, I finally received a note saying all orders had been shipped. This I received Oct.

12, but I still haven't received books. If I had not wanted the books, I would not have ordered them, and I feel there are lots of people who need my $7.25 a lot more than a book publishing company if I had chosen to give the money to the needy. I would appreciate assistance. H.Y., Brandon. By FRED ANKLAM Jr.

CUriaa-Ledger Suit Writer A tabloid newspaper called New Wings is being tested in two Jackson public schools this fall as a new approach to an old problem convincing students that reading can be fun. First indications are that New Wings is succeeding. Teachers at Lanier High School, where about 250 students are receiving copies of the monthly 24-page newspaper, say students in their classes have shown increased enthusiasm for reading in the three months that they have been using New Wings. Cultivating that enthusiasm for reading was one of the primary goals of California publisher Alex Contis, who developed New Wings to appeal to 7th- through 12th-grade students. The newspaper is being used as a pilot program this fall in three school districts Dallas, Grand Rapids, and Jackson.

New Wings is designed to take students "out of the print crisis and into the print culture," said Contis in a telephone interview from his Novato, office. "It offers excitement, drama and high adventure," Contis said. "One of the major goals is to give students something good to read that will better their minds as well as excite them." Excitement for reading has grown, teachers say, especially with the November issue devoted to mystery and terror. The issue features excerpts of seven books, ranging from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic The Hound of the Baskervilles to the more recently published The Bermuda Triangle by Charles Berlitz. New Wings also offers several feature stories relating to the subjects discussed in the books, such as November interviews with a San Francisco police detective and a psychic who, through extra-sensoi perception, helped California police find th body of a murdered child.

In addition, regular features include: Media Focus tl.i month featuring the role of radio; Wit ss and Power explaining how writers use woras and writing techniques to make their writing more effective; and Trade Secrets hints on how to do research and use a dictionary. Contis also developed a similar newspaper. Real World, to prepare students for careers and then sold it to King Features Syndicate. He said the regular departments in New Wings, such as Words and Power, are "aimed at developing skills in students subversively without them knowing it." Although a test newspaper was first used in the San Francisco Bay area last year, Contis said the newspaper is still undergoing extensive evaluation during its first full year in Jackson and the other school districts. Students, parents and teachers will be asked to fill out evaluation forms at the end of the year.

But Jackson students are getting an earlier opportunity to influence the development of the newspaper. Al Granowsky, director of reading and language arts for the Dallas Independent School Dis- 'Mite SlHtl Dnoto bv Frank Kimmel plain why they meet the criteria. He also asked the students to pick the three losers. After evaluating New Wings in this manner, Granowsky told the students they should write Contis a letter explaining what their view of the newspaper. Contis has promised to publish the letters if they are sent soon, and the students have an opportunity to influence the future of New Wings, Granowsky told the students.

He added that Contis or other staff members of the paper will probably come to Jackson in the spring to meet the students and get firsthand critiques from them. Meeting with teachers before the session with the students, Granowsky explained that the evaluation is an attempt to help the students to develop taste and critical judgement. Ultimately, Granowsky said he would like to see the students attempt writing themselves, so they can compare their work with the different styles they have read. Fannie Johnson, a Title I language lab teacher, See Newspaper, page 2B trict and a member of the New Wings advisory board, was at Lanier High School and Rowan Junior High School last week to have students begin a simpler evaluation of the newspaper. Granowsky, who serves as program consultant to the Jackson school district, spent a Monday morning class period talking with six Lanier High School students about why reading is worth the time it takes.

Together, Granowsky and the students established a set of criteria for judging whether New Wings is worth the time it takes to read it. These criteria were whether the newspaper makes a student want to read, whether it builds thoughts and ideas, whether it helps students with their expression and delivery, and whether it stimulates writing. The students decided that New Wings would be effective if each issue taught them between five and ten useful words. Granowsky asked the students to select the three top articles in the November issue and ex- 11 races to be decided in Warren runoffs K. Foley, and in District 5 with Otto A.

Branan facing Patricia Lucroy. Constable races to be contested Tuesday are: District 1, with incumbents William W. Dreland and Herbert C. Stokes opposing each other. The incumbents were put in the same district under the interim district plan.

District 4, where incumbent Tommy Kavanaugh faces Roger A. Holdiness. District 5, with David F. Vanderberry opposing incumbent Mike Ouzts, who was appointed to the post in September after former Constable Billy Sheffield resigned. Voter turnout in the Nov.

27 special election was much lighter than officials had anticipated, and a light turnout is expected Tuesday. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. In District 2, John Ferguson, a black candidate who received 717 votes two weeks ago, is opposing Ben F. Blansett, who had 294.

Black candidate Eddie Thomas Sr. received 575 votes in the District 3 election. In the runoff, he opposes Z.B. Fry, who received 429 votes two weeks ago. Other black winners in the Nov.

27 election were Clifton W. Jeffery and Austin Brown, who captured constable posts in districts 2 and 3. The other black candidate in Tuesday's runoff is Mabel Peterson, who faces incumbent Justice Court Judge Doris Erwin Sanders in District 3. The remaining Justice Court races to be decided Tuesday are in District 1, where incumbent Dorothy H. Breland opposes Robert At least two of the present board members, all of whom are seeking re-election, will be defeated because of the redistricting.

Two incumbent supervisors, T.F. Tommy Akers and Herbert Boler face each other in District 1, and incumbents James R. Andrews and Clyde R. Donnell oppose each other in District 5. District 4 Supervisor Paul A.

Pride is the only incumbent not facing another member of the board. His opponent is Carl P. Kelly. As few as two incumbent supervisors could be re-elected to the board. The boundaries of districts 2 and 3 were changed by the interim plan in order to give the districts black voting majorities.

District 2's population is now 65 percent black, and District 3 has a 67 percent black population. By BILL MORRISON Clarion-Ledger Vicluburg Burearj VICKSBURG Warren County voters will go to the polls Tuesday in runoff elections for 11 of the 15 district-level races which are being decided for the first time in eight years. A special election held Nov. 27 was ordered by U.S. Circuit Judge Charles Clark Sept.

20 under a new redisricting plan. Tuesday's runoffs are necessary because the large number of candidates in the special election 79 prevented the leaders in all but four of the 15 races from receiving simple majorities of the vote. All five Board of Supervisor races will be decided Tuesday. A. nme Action sent several iei- ters to Book Mailing Service about your complaint, and you notified us Dec.

1 that you received your books. The company never answered our letters..