The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 7

1 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1991 Accent 4 Television Comics The News-Leader To report local news, call 836-1199 SECTION Ozarks firms' defense pacts fall since '88 ZARKS By Keith White Our GNS Capital Bureau WASHINGTON As the U.S. military establishment shrinks in the aftermath of the Cold War, so does its economic impact in the Ozarks. Eagle-Picher, which makes batteries for missile systems, such as the Patriot anti-missile defense, is third with $1.1 million in fiscal 1989 contracts. Over the first nine months of fiscal 1990, though, some of those numbers have dropped significantly. Southwest Mobile Systems has gotten just $13.8 million in Army contracts since last.

October, while Teledyne has gotten $9.1 mil-Please see MILITARYPage 2B defense spending, Department of Defense officials said at their budget briefing earlier this month. Through the first three quarters of fiscal 1990 October 1989 through June 1990 Ozarks companies were awarded only $55.9 million in defense contracts, a pace that could reach about $75 million for the entire fiscal year. These numbers, obtained from the General Services Administration's list of all Department of Defense contracts of $25,000 or more, should be considered minimums since smaller contracts aren't listed. Southwest Mobile Systems of West Plains remains the Ozarks' biggest defense contractor, with its variety of truck trailers, mobile missile launchers and mobile bridging equipment accounting for $32 million in fiscal 1989 contracts. Teledyne, which repairs and maintains jet turbine engines at its Neosho plant, ranks second with $16 million in contracts with the Air Force and Navy during fiscal 1989.

Southwest Missouri companies were FEBRUARY 18-24 awarded defense contracts worth $105 million in fiscal 1989, down from at least $148.7 mil- ion in fiscal year 1988. And the cost and losses of Operation Desert Storm will not stop the general decline in Getting there on time air iraslh) There will be construction adjacent to Kearney Street from West Bypass to Kansas Expressway all week for a street widening project. There will be construction adjacent to Sunset Street from National Avenue to Fremont Avenue all week for a street widening project. Fort Avenue will have one-lane traffic all week as construction occurs beside the street for a City Utilities water line renewal. FZXO' 11 err- i-a Radio station program director dies in Sunday morning wreck Chance to be sOJ hesrd "He wanted to see this concert that we're doing go over real big, and he got the word Friday that it was sold out.

He was just excited that the station could promote an CITIZENS COMMITTEE FOR RESPONSIBLE HEALTH LEGISLATION Tuesday The Citizens Committee for Responsible Health Legislation will meet at 5 p.m. in the PoliceFire Communications Building, 321 E. Chestnut Expressway. MAYOR'S COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Wednesday The Mayor's Commission on Human Rights will Barton meet at 5:30 p.m. in Council Cham By Kathy Oechsle The News-Leader Kevin Allen Barton, program director for radio station KXUS, 97.3 FM, was killed early Sunday when his car ran into a retaining wall and hit a utility pole near the corner of Battlefield Road and Fort Avenue, police said.

Barton known on-air as Kevin Allen apparently was alone when the one-car accident occurred at 2:17 a.m., a Springfield Police Department spokeswoman said. The accident is under investigation, police said. Barton, 33, had worked in radio for several years and had been program director at KXUS since December 1989, station manager Mike Crowder said. He was on the radio from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

weekdays. Jim Kellstrom, vice president of Demaree Media Inc. which owns KXUS, said Barton had helped the station. "The station's ratings have gone up since he's been our program director," he said. "He's just done a good job." Crowder talked about Barton's effective promotion for an upcoming KXUS-sponsored Bad Company and Damn Yankees concert at the Shrine Mosque.

Dan DyerThe News-Leader Teacher Thelma Reid talks with students Kimber- dedication and open house of a new addition to ly Young, 8, left (back to camera), and Pamela Weller Elementary School, 1630 N. Weller Ave. A Young, 6, about class work Sunday during the new library and 13 classrooms were added. Weller expansion has students back studying under one roof event like that and sell it out without any outside help," Crowder said. In 1989, Barton helped promote a fund-raising auction for the Family Violence Center in conjunction with KXUS' "Imagine" concert honoring John Lennon.

Gary Thomas, owner of the Regency Showcase, worked on the auction with Barton. "We made a lot of money at the Lennon auction," Thomas said. "We totally vowed we were going to double it the next time. We're going to do it for Kevin now." Barton leaves his wife, Debra Ann, and 3-month-old daughter, Briana Marie. Funeral services will be announced by Ayre-Goodwin-Lee Funeral Home at Rivermonte.

bers at City Hall, 830 Boonville Ave. SPRINGFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOARD OF EDUCATION Wednesday The Board of Education will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Kraft Administrative Center, 940 N. Jefferson Ave. SPRINGFIELD PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION Thursday The Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7 p.m.

in Council Chambers at City Hall, 830 Boonville Ave. school, built in the mid-1950s, had one other expansion during the 1960s. Ed Payton, school board president, commended taxpayers on providing money for the school's expansion. "We have a community that understands that if we are going to help our kids, we have to reach into our pockets sometimes and come up with the money for a facility like this," he said. By Karla Price The News-Leader Calling it a learning benefit for its students, Springfield Public Schools officials Sunday dedicated a spacious addition to Weller Elementary School.

The addition to the school at 1630 N. Weller Ave. includes a new library, 13 classrooms including a computer room and art room a remodeled kitchen and a new roof, said Principal Sharon 'We have a community that understands that if we are going to help our kids, we have to reach into our pockets sometimes and come up with the money for a facility like Ed Payton School board president $80,000 gift establishes health-care foundation Ozarks headline events Today Springfield City Hall, the Greene County Courthouse, and all state and federal offices will be closed for the observance of Presi dents Day. Springfield Public Schools will be open. Thursday The Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Foundation is aaa Superintendent Paul Hagerty said the Tefft school building would most likely be used in the future for a technology center or a staff development and training center.

Karen Johnson, the school's PTA president, said combining Weller and Tefft will make it more convenient for parents. "You had to drop one off at one school, then run over and drop the other one at the other school," she said. The PTA assisted Weller by helping the bond issue pass, making phones calls and visiting homes before the election, Johnson said. "We tried to support the staff as much as we could," she said. Hardecke.

hiimh "We're proud of this beautiful new facility in our neighborhood," she said. Before the expansion was completed on Jan. 28, overcrowding forced about 100 kindergarten through third-graders to be housed at Tefft School, 1418 E. Pythian St. Construction on the addition began last spring.

Hardecke said with students attending two schools, some teachers had to float from one facility to another to teach classes. In addition, the schools were required to have two secretaries and two custodians. "It just seemed to make good sense to put them in one place," she said. The expansion was funded by a $1.1 million bond issue passed by Springfield voters in 1984. The patient, the late O.G.

Satterlee. The VNA's goal is to raise a total of $100,000 within six months. The foundation is the first of its kind in Springfield, a VNA spokeswoman said. "In the past, our care of the indigent has been minimal due to the lack of funding," said Suzanne Dollar, VNA executive director. "The foundation offers the Springfield health care industry a unique op-Please see VNAPage 2B By Kathleen O'Dell The News-Leader A serious illness in anyone's family can be a financial For an indigent patient, it's devastating.

Home care during recuperation is out of the question. But beginning this week, the Visiting Nurse Association will have a permanent pool of money to pay for home health and hospice care for indigent people in the community. The VNA Foundation was established with a gift of more than $80,000 from a past VNA hospice sponsoring a dinner at 5:30 p.m. in the Student Union at Drury Col lege, 900 N. Benton Ave.

The event will help kick off the 130th Anniver-ary Re-enactment of the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Aug. 9-11. Saturday COMMFEST 8, the eighth annual Communication and Media Career Fair at Drury College will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Shewmaker Communication Center on the Drury campus. Bootheel back to normal after quake that wasn't OZARKS UPDATE Thank you Thank you to a wonderful friend, A.B.

Letterman. During our last ice and snow storm, he cleared our driveway and several other neigh thank you. Meanwhile, the man who predicted the possible quake is laying low. "Dr. Browning doesn't talk to the media anymore," says his wife of 45 years, Florence.

"They were unkind and he did not deserve what they said about him." Speaking from the couple's Albuquerque-area home, Florence Browning dismisses Dec. 3 as "hullabaloo." She says the media misinterpreted Browning's projection. As for what he's working on now: Mum's the word, at least to a reporter. The media circus that invaded New Madrid is now a memory, preserved for history on hours of videotape at the New Madrid museum. Life in New Madrid is back to normal.

Translation: "Things are really slow," Howell says. "We still have a few commemorative T-shirts to sell, though." By Ron Davis Th NEW MADRID Bootheelians don't talk much anymore about the day the earth stood still. But boy, do they remember the party. "People still talk about the 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' party, sure," Mary B. Wilson says from Hap's Bar, site of the Dec.

3 bash celebrating the earthquake that wasn't. New Mexico climatologist Iben Browning projected a 50-50 chance of a major temblor Dec. 3 along the New Madrid Fault. Though debunked by scientists, the projection brought hundreds of reporters to the Bootheel, prompting one wag to say the journalists' combined weight would be enough to trigger a quake. Two-and-a-half months later, the quake scare is forgotten.

So, it seems, are thoughts of preparing for the major quake that scientists predict will eventual- ly strike the area. "We don't hear anybody saying too much about being prepared," says Virginia Howell of the New Madrid Historical Museum. Adds Wilson: "Everybody seems to have settled down." The jugs of water hoarded in case of a quake have been dumped out. "The joke is that there was a big flood not from the quake, but from everyone emptying their jugs," says Sonya Sadler. She lives in Black Oak, just yards from the fault.

She was eight-months pregnant on Dec. 3. In case you're wondering, Johnathon Charles Sadler was born Jan. 6 and is doing just fine, bors driveways. He has been doing this for several years.

Thank you to a wonderful guy. Bill LaHome SPRINGFIELD Send your thanks to "Thank fcz: zkJ? 1 You, The News-Leader, 651 Boon ville, Springfield, Mo. 65801. You must sign your letter and provide Iben Browning Not talking to media a phone number. Saturday" 3-154447 PICK 3 Code Green Alert The blood supply in southwest Missouri is a "Code Green Alert," meaning the blood supply is adequate at this time.

The Red Cross office, at 1211 S. Glenstone will be closed today for Presidents Day, but will reopen Tuesday. OTC open house The Heart of the Ozarks Community Technical College holds an open house at 10 a.m. today for its administrative offices at Cox Medical Center North. The entrance is at 1417 N.

Jefferson Ave. Make Today Count The Make Today Count Circle of Friends a bereavement support group meets at 7 tonight in Room 203 of Mid-America Cancer Center at St. John's Regional Health Center. For more information, call 885-3324. rn, AO..