Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 27

7Qw Star TribuneThursday April 111991 Never mind my driving question Riverboat gambling called unlikely this year ou like my rffh artwork? director of planning and economic development has nice things to say about Dayton's. He's worked with a lot of retail operations as a national consultant and Dayton's has the best customer service he's ever seen, he said Wednesday in a speech at Landmark Center. Downtown's other megaretailer, Carson Pirie Scott, took a subtle jab from Sprague. "(Carsons) may be very good, too. But they close at 6 p.m., and I work past 6, so I wouldn't know," said Sprague, who's long been an advocate of longer store hours as a way to spur sales.

During the speech, Sprague left his jacket on a chair in the audience. When he returned, his wallet was gone. Fountain dedication Alumni of the late Mechanic Arts High School are planning a June 8 dedication of its marble drinking fountain in the new Minnesota Judicial Center. The high school was closed in 1976 -and was torn down to make room for the judges' palace, next to the Capitol. Gene McDonald, class of IS, Those wacky guys in the water department.

St. Paul Water Utility vans have "How am I driving? Call 298-6888" bumper stickers on the back, but on one of the vans, someone has artfully altered the phone number to 888-6888. Intentional or not, that phone number is for Knight Limousine Service. But Knight probably wants to know how its drivers are doing, too. Pulitzer connection Odd-numbered yean don't bode well for Twin Cities newspapers hoping for major awards.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press won Pulitzer Prizes in 1986 and 1988; the Star Tribune won one in 1990. When this year's awards were announced Tuesday, neither paper had won. But there was a local Pulitzer connection. Mindi Keirnan, the new managing editor for news at the Pioneer Press, edited the series that won the national reporting prize.

The series, by two Gannett News Service reporters, was about hundreds of deaths related to child abuse that go undetected each year because medical examiners don't conduct how do Many are called but few IR leaders show up for Around tho Twin Cities MinneapolisOne man dies, another hurt when car runs light, is broadsided by bus A zu-year-oid Minneapolis man was killed Wednesday morning when the car he was driving apparently went through a red light in south Minneapolis and was struck broadside by a school bus, the Hennepin County medical examiner's office reported. A passenger in the car was critically injured. The bus driver was not injured. The bus wasn't carrying any passengers, police said. Francisco Javier Rodriguez Ayala died shortly after the accident at Hennepin County Medical Center, the medical examiner's office said.

Patrolman Peter Ritschel of the Minneapolis Police Department said the passenger, who had a California identification card and is 34 years old, was in critical but stable MinneapolisMan pleads guilty in car death mitted to pursuing a $7 million 'to $11 million venture that they hope can help spur further downtown development J. Wilson's resolution asks that the Legislature give the city the power approve riverboat gambling and also authorizes the St Paul group, Riverfront Entertainment Partners, to put together a proposal for City Council review within 180 days. Also yesterday, William Bowell, captain and president of the Padelford Packet Boat Co. said that despite believing gambling is a "social ill," he has developed plans for a $12 million boat and has already had St. Paul attorney William Faulkner working at the Legislature on authorizing gambling, i Bowell said his plans call for a 40-foot-long, 60-foot-wide boat, capable of carrying from 2,000 to 3,000 people, about the size of boats now operating in Iowa.

He also insists on offering three- and five-hour cruises to Hastings and back to St Paul. Riverfront Entertainment Partners' is considering a boat that would remain moored near downtown. The partnership views riverboat gambling as an entertainment development linked to downtown. frugality rally unnecessary," said Robert Benke, New Brighton's mayor and president of the league. City officials said their spending has increased only 3.3 percent per capita above the rate of inflation between 1980 and 1988, compared with double-digit increases by counties and schools.

The league is promoting a solution that would give cities a share of the state sales tax instead of annual legis lative appropriations. ting in this state," the legal memorandum says, Popovich disagreed. "Unless something is prohibited in the Constitution, you have the authority to legislate it," he told the committee. Sen. Allan Spear, DFL-Minneapolis, said that even if Popovich is legally correct voters in 1982 believed that they were limiting parimutuel wagering to the racetrack.

To authorize off-track betting without going through another constitutional amendment would be "a certain betrayal of trust of the people who voted for the amendment," he said. The bill was sent to the Finance Committee. A hearing in a House committee on a similar one is expected next week. Gov. Arne Carlson has said he favors legislation that will help Canterbury Downs and the state's horse-breeding industry.

part of the cost of removing diseased elms from private property. It had. assumed any such removal costs exceeding $600, the average removal cost. Dropping the subsidy will save the Park Board about $90,000 a year but will not greatly affect forestry programs, said Dave DeVoto, the city forester. Minneapolis has lost more than half of the estimated 200,000 American elms it had in 1963, when Dutch elm disease was discovered in the city.

Since 1974, Minneapolis has planted more than 163,000 trees of various species to replace the elms. But there still are more than 15,000 vacant on city property where trees could be planted if money were available. It isn't so instead of planting 5,000 trees this year, as DeVoto said he would prefer, about 1,500 will be planted. St Paul also faces potential budget cuts in its forestry program, but the exact amount isn't yet known, said Tom Karl, the city's forestry chief. But regardless of comparisons with other cities and some of the smaller headaches he has encountered with the system, Emerson said the local benefits already are being felt While he was playing racquetball with his wife at a precinct shortly after the system was installed, someone came to the precinct inquiring about some stolen property.

It was a Sunday night and the department's property room was locked. Emerson was asked if he could help. He logged onto the computer and determined that the item in question had been stolen and was part of a larger group of property. "Thanks to the computer, we were able to follow up right away. That's what it's all about efficiency," he said.

Besides, he admitted, his wife, was winning the game. St. Paul officials and business leaders were intrigued Wednesday by the prospect of bringing riverboat gambling ashore downtown, although they acknowledged that such a move is not likely to happen this year. City Council President Bill Wilson said that even if the Legislature cannot grant a city request to approve casino gaming in St Paul this year, he believes that the city will learn enough about riverboat gambling in the next year to act quickly if the Legislature supports it in 1992. Earlier this week, just days after riverboat gambling began in Iowa, Wil- son introduced a resolution on behalf of a downtown St.

Paul group hoping to win approval for a riverboat enterprise this year. The move flushed out a competing bid yesterday from the operators of the Jonathan Padelford a St. Paul riverboat. Legislators say that with a Friday deadline for new bills, and concerns about whether gambling should be expanded in Minnesota, approval would be virtually impossible in the current session. But a group of St Paul businessmen, including a downtown civic leader, Richard Zehring, and developer Sherman Rutzick, said they are com The only good news Dempsey had for local officials was that he might favor granting them more taxing authority.

That would mean that local officials, who are closer to their constituents than are legislators, would have to make the taxing and spending decisions. DFL leaders, on the other hand, promised the municipal officials they'd try to protect state aid to local governments. Municipal officials are aggressively fighting the governor's proposed cuts. They are "unfair and Bets Continued from page IB some solid support Canterbury officials launched an extraordinary lobbying effort this year for the bill. They have hired at least eight lobbyists.

Retired Chief Justice Peter Popovich, who joined the law firm of Briggs and Morgan less than three weeks ago, was hired to testify for Canterbury. He contended that off-track betting does not violate the state Constitution. His legal view was presented to the committee to try to counter a 1989 legal memorandum from the attorney general's office. It says the constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1982 authorized only "on-track parimutuel betting" on horses. By extension, the memorandum contends, off-track betting is prohibited.

"The plain language of the 1982. amendment evidences an intent to limit parimutuel betting in Minnesota to the premises of a racetrack and to prohibit off-track parimutuel bet- Park Board President Neiman said he believes that the group is overreacting to a budget that has not yet been approved. "Our staff feels that these cuts would be within reason," he said. "We've planted more trees in Minneapolis than have been lost since the onslaught of Dutch elm disease, and we certainly want to maintain our young trees." Ufda! cautions that the large elms remaining on city property must be pruned to rid them of the dead wood favored by the beetles that spread Dutch elm disease. Neiman said the Park Board can deal with the insects if their populations increase sharply.

"Our budget for forestry is a flexible document and can be changed to meet such a need," he said. "If beetle populations resurge this summer, the Park Board would have to rely on the City Council's reserve fund" to control the insects. The Park Board this year dropped a program under which it had paid rate, helping to determine what areas of a city may require different programs, tracking crimes such as vandalism and sexual assault from one census tract to another, and discovering trends that could determine budget priorities and program changes. John Stedman, a senior researcher with the Police Executive Research Forum, a research group based in Washington, D.G, that focuses on police issues, said police departments across the country have varying methods of keeping statistics. As a result it would be unfair to compare one city's crimes with another's.

Other factors also become involved, he said. Cities with higher numbers of tourists might have more street crimes such as robberies and purse snatchings. State laws might be different for similar crimes. And, as in Minneapolis, weather may affect crime rates. autopsies.

One of the reporters told USA Today that there were times they nearly gave up on the story, but that an editor's prodding kept them at it That editor was Keirnan. She said, "Not only was it rewarding on a personal level, but I think we may have saved the lives of some children. And that's the important thing." Crosstown Skyway The Skyway News has combined its downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis editions into one, kind of a Newspaper of the Twin Downtowns. Some of the news pages will be zoned, aimed at readers in one city and dropped from the other's city's papers.

And more stories will be of interest to readers in both cities, promises Editor Amy Gage, who lives in and loves St Paul. Let's hope that carries over in the advertising, too. In the April 8 edition, ads for Minneapolis-area businesses outnumbered ads for St Paul-area businesses 22-2. Retailer praise and cons Robert Sprague, St Paul's new condition at Hennepin Cpunty Medical Center. The bus, owned by Ryder Student Transportation, was eastbound on 36th St when it collided with the car, which was northbound on Park Av.S., about 11:05 a.m.

After the collision, both vehicles went into the northeast section of the intersection, striking a retaining wall and a parked pickup truck, Ritschel said. The driver of the bus, a 28-year-old Minneapolis woman, was taken to the Medical Center and released, said Cal Hull, manager of the Ryder Student Transportation terminal in south Minneapolis. The names of the bus driver and the passenger in the car were not released. Crawford's blood alcohol level was 1 .18 of 1 percent A level of more than .10 percent is considered legally intoxicated. Under an unusual plea agreement two other similar counts will be dismissed if Judge Anne McKin-sey sentences him to 30 to 34 months in prison, as the guidelines call for.

But if she places him on probation, he will then plead guilty to all four counts. Sentencing was set for May 28. have occurred as Vaughn claimed. The prosecution alleged that the two had argued before the shooting in the apartment on 10th Av. N.

where they lived. The jury returned the verdict about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday after getting the case about noon Monday. Hennepin County District Judge Dolores Orey will sentence Vaughn on May 2. He faces 25'h years in prison under the sentencing guidelines.

He has been held in jail since the incident in lieu of 100,000 bail. is charged with theft that the settlement was for only J22.5UU and kept the dinerence. Hunter forged, the client's signature to cash the check, the complaint said. In another case, Hunter collected a $6,000 settlement for a client and failed to pay the client his $4,000 portion, the complaint said. In both instances, Hunter failed to advise the clients that his license to practice had been suspended.

reinstated Conroy as chief but ensured that he did not return to work. The agreement also ensured that Conroy would be paid through April 1. He retired April 2. His lawsuit contends that the city has an obligation to pay the legal expenses of city officials in cases where the city attorney cannot represent them because of a conflict of interest Press reports. Arcand Ct.

Peal 'Joe Kimball '42, is responsible for saving the massive fountain and getting it transplanted into the new building. A time capsule from 1 895, the school's first year; will be opened at the dedication. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, an MH grad, was invited to speak but can't attend. 0 Furthermore: There' ve been complaints that the Building and Construction Trades Council is catering to City Council incumbents by making endorsements already for the election in November. All seven incumbents were endorsed, even though filings for office won't open until July 2.

The Science Museum is still selling out weekend shows ot King ot Fire," the volcano show in the Omnitheater. Call ahead for reservations, or go on a weekday. income tax, because you don't have to vote for it," Dempsey told about 200 local leaders of the League of Minnesota Cities who gathered at the Capitol. "You want us to raise sales taxes and income taxes and send it back to you. I'm saying that's not accountability for local spending." Dempsey, IR-New Ulm, also criticized the DFL plan to consider an income tax increase only for those earning more than about $100,000 a year, saying it was an "easy populist attitude to 'stick' that rich person." page IB five strikes occurred in the fall of 1981, due in part to a more liberal right-to-strike law.

And in 1982, more than 2,500 teachers were laid off 5.2 percent of the state's teachers. The statewide ratio of pupils to teachers went up from 1 7.2 to 18. Most districts have reserves, and at last count 289 of the state's 430 districts had balances equaling at least 5 percent of the district's operating funds, meaning that if districts used those reserves, some money for raises might be available. But that could be a dangerous solution, because it would add to financial troubles later. Another possible solution is excess levies, which must be approved by voters.

Excess levies will take effect in some districts for the coming year. But any further levies could not be approved by voters until November and wouldn't be available until the 1992-93 school year. thetic exclamation sometimes used when somebody else is in pain in this case, the 250,000 city-owned trees. Ufda! estimates that each of those trees has an average value of more than $1,000, for a total asset of more than $250 million. Its calculation includes the $600 average cost of removing a large dead tree and the expense of replacing it with a sapling and maintaining that young tree until it reaches maturity.

The group estimates that about 16 percent of the Park Board's total budget goes for forestry programs, and that the board tentatively plans to take 53 percent of its total budget cuts from forestry. The forestry budget is about $6.3 million this year. "Sure, when hard times face us, everything has to be cut" Ufda! says in a letter it has sent to some Minneapolis residents. "But should most of the cuts be taken from the trees which are such an important part of our city environment and which, if lost will never be seen again in our lifetimes?" IB jurisdiction may also be recorded as a stolen car when they are recovered in Minneapolis, further increasing the numbers. Sgt Bud Emerson, one of the brains behind the new system and commander of the department's system development division, said COPRS eventually will improve the efficiency of crime reporting.

The transition from paper to computer-generated reports has been surprisingly smooth, Emerson said, given the notoriously resistant attitude of most police officers toward change. When it is fully operational, the department's COPRS system will allow a case to be monitored by officers on the street through to the county and. city attorneys handling the case in court Advocates say sophisticated computer systems make policing more accu- A Minneapolis man pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of criminal vehicular homicide in the death of a Minneapolis woman in a December car accident Darnell Crawford, 29, of 14 Oak Grove St, admitted he had been drinking and was speeding about 2:20 a.m. on Dec. 30 when his car struck a car driven by Dorothy Daines, 30, of Minneapolis.

She died of multiple injuries suffered in the crash. The accident occurred at 1st Av. S. and 25th St. MinneapolisMan guilty in shooting death State IR leaders have been preaching the gospel of frugality to local government officials, but when it came time to deliver their message in person Wednesday, only one of them stepped forward.

Rep. Terry Dempsey, serving his first term as the House minority leader, readily confronted the issue of Gov. Arne Carlson's recommended cuts of about $639 million for local governments. "It's easy for you to say raise the Schools Continued from A freeze would be very difficult to accept said president Sandra Peterson, of the Minnesota Federation of Teachers. "We haven't mentioned freeze at this point and the reason we haven't is we have anticipated that the governor and Legislature consider education a priority.

They've been saying it for months." But education-oriented legislators haven't managed to translate those statements into more money, said state Rep. Ken Nelson, DFL-Minne-. apolis, chairman of the House education funding subcommittee. Because elementary and secondary schools got a small increase, rather than a cut some legislators thought they were being treated well Both teacher union presidents said teachers in each district must decide how hard to push for raises. A look at the recession of the early 1980s shows no slowdown in the rise of average teacher salaries.

Thirty- Trees Continued from page not devastate the urban forest" He said that if there is a resurgence of Dutch elm disease, the city should be able to provide the money necessary to prevent major tree losses. At issue is the Park Board's tentative plans to slash its 1992 budget for forestry programs, plans that stem directly from Minnesota's overall budget crunch. The city will be getting less state aid this year, and larger cuts could be ahead as the Legislature struggles with a $1.1 billion shortage for the 1992-93 budget period. In preparation, Mayor Don Fraser has directed the Park Board and other city agencies to prepare 1992 budgets that would be 6 percent smaller than this year's. And therein lies the rub.

Svendsen, a former Park Board commissioner and other critics recently formed the Urban Forest Defense Alliance, a group of Minneapolis residents that is closely following the Park Board's budgetmaking process and is fighting for more forestry money. Not coincidental, the new group's acronym, is quite like the Scandinavian sympa Crime Continued from page murder," assured Inspector Sherman Otto, commander of the department's Criminal Investigation Division. Some of the problems may have occurred because victims who were assaulted later died from their injuries. The homicide unit would have the incident classified as a homicide, but -the computer may lag behind, count- -ing it as an aggravated assault The same may be true for the deaths of babies in hospitals. county's -medical examiner may begin an investigation on its own without making a report to police.

While the of- fice will later make a report to police, it could take time to appear in the computer. Police also are correcting the number of auto thefts. They believe some officers may incorrectly record a recovered car as a stolen car, meaning it may be counted twice in the computer. Cars stolen in another, IB A 28-year-old Minneapolis man has been found guilty of second-degree intentional murder for shooting his girlfriend last December. George Vaughn claimed Carmen Brown, 21, had been killed accidentally.

Vaughn called 911 after the shooting and first told officers that Brown had shot herself. He later said the gun fired accidentally when he reached for the gun that Brown was pointing at him. However, experts who' testified at trial said the shooting could not MinneapolisAttorney A Bloomineton attorney has been charged with theft, forgery, swindle and practicing law without a license. James W. Hunter 42, was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court in connection with incidents involving two clients in 1989 and 1990.

In one case, according to the charges. Hunter settled a client's claim in an automobile accident case for $23,500, but told the client St PaulFormer Fire Chief Conroy sues city Former St. Paul Fire Chief Steve Conroy filed suit Wednesday against the city of St Paul seeking reimbursement of $37,000 Conroy said he spent fighting the city's effort to fire him. Attorney Earl Gray represented Conroy in a hearing before an administrative law judge who found in Conroy's favor last June. Conroy and Mayor Jim Scheibel reached an agreement last July that Compiled from staff and Associated.