The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 15

ACROSS THE OZARKS 2B THE NEIGHBORS PAGE 3B DEATHS 4B LIFE TIMES 8B ESSENTIALS 1 0B COMICS 11B Ozarks DOUGLAS COUNTY an sought in alleged abduction Douglas County authorities and Wednesday, December 6, 1995 News-Leader to0 Mm U(S3R7S Poll finds voter support for school bond, tax hike mil. By Martha Carr News-Leader Most Springfield residents feel good about the city's public schools, and that could mean more tax money for the district next year, according to a recent poll. Pollsters Don and Vicki Stanton told school officials Tuesday that Springfield was more receptive to increasing taxes for schools than any district they have surveyed in southwest Missouri in the past few years. "Your teaching staff received one of the highest ratings we've seen," Don Stanton said. "Many Wannenmacher Weiss Legislators were not sympathetic, recalling fierce floor fights over the controversial bill passed by one vote in the House and one in the Senate in 1993.

"Nobody wants to talk about it," said Rep. Philip Wannenmacher, R-Spring-field. "I know I don't want to talk about it. If you want to raise money you're going to have to do it locally." Rep. Connie Murray, also a Springfield Republican, said she supported the bill because the district asked her.

"When we were being lobbied to Convicted killer Robert ONeal Jr. executed at Potosi a fit 4 i' a The Associated Press POTOSI Robert Earl O'Neal a reputed white supremacist who killed a black fellow prison inmate more than a decade ago, was executed by injection early this morning at the Potosi Correctional Center. O'Neal's attorney, Michael J. Gorla, had sought a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court, but it O'Neal was denied without comment in a 9-0 vote Tuesday night.

O'Neal died at 12:17 a.m., prison officials said. On Monday, in an 8-2 vote, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected O'Neal's plea for a delay. O'Neal declined a last meal, said Tim Kniest, a prison spokesman. "He's basically fasting, and that's his By Martha Carr News-Leader Area legislators made no promises Tuesday when Springfield school officials asked them to make changes in a school reform act the lawmakers had been lobbied hard to support in 1993.

Senate Bill 380 the Outstanding Schools Act was meant to equalize funding for Missouri districts, but local school officials have seen a downside. The bill has caused the district's per-pupil funding to stagnate, and state caps on special-education and gifted funding have forced the district to come up with more money than expected for those programs, officials said during a luncheon. "The public is exerting more and more pressure on me and the board to keep doing what we are doing with less," said Conley chief operations officer for Springfield Public Schools. "It's getting more and more difficult to keep us viable with all these things going down." Prevention programs must be funded to end the cycle of vio-lence, drug abuse and poverty. Some people, including AIDS patients, are not physically Bentley able to get offMedicaid and must have benefits protected.

Most important, the state must be flexible and allow local agencies room for trial and error as they implement new programs, said Harold Bengsch, director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department. BBmWWWMle' mifK i vote for Senate Bill 380, we thought it would really help Springfield," she said. "This is really embarrassing for those of us who voted for it." Lawmakers were more receptive to the district's other legislative requests for the 1996 session, which will begin Jan. 3: District officials asked legislators to try to prevent more than $1 million in local railroad and utility taxes from leaving Springfield schools. The Outstanding Schools Act requires that the money be put toward the per-pupil funding of all districts starting next year.

Springfield wants to eliminate mandatory testing of 5-year-olds born between July 1 and Sept. 30 to see if they are ready for kindergarten. School officials want to make it mandatory for juvenile services to tell schools when a student commits a serious criminal violation. Current law gi ves venile services the option to share that information. decision, of course." Gorla claims the trial jury that sentenced O'Neal to death wasn't told that one of the prison guards who testified that he saw the murder had a criminal record of assault.

He said the fact was never disclosed by a prosecutor. The appeals court ruled the information would not have changed the outcome of the trial. O'Neal was the 17th man on Missouri's Death Row to be executed since 1989, and the sixth this year. O'Neal, a reputed member of the Aryan Brotherhood, was convicted of killing Arthur Dade, a fellow inmate, in February 1984 in a prison walkway. Dade was stabbed to death with a homemade ice pick.

Prosecutors disputed O'Neal's self-defense claim. They said it was a "Aryan hit" pulled offby O'Neal and two other inmates of the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. O'Neal, 34, of Joplin, was sentenced to life in prison when he was 18 for murdering a 78-year-old man during a burglary in Strafford. grabbed a handgun and fired at Smith. Police found that man at the home and arrested him on suspicion of first-degree assault after the 4:48 p.m.

shooting. The woman was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault. Smith was taken to St. John's Regional Health Center, where his condition was unavailable Tuesday night. The couple's names were not released Tuesday because formal charges had not been filed.

Neither they nor Smith live at the home. But all three apparently know the homeowner. addressed. And the same thing is going to happen when they go to apply for jobs. These are people who don't know how to maintain a job and to cope with the realities of a job." Jim Harriger, executive director of Victory Mission, said real reform would have to change policy that often makes it more economical for welfare recipients to stay unemployed.

"One of the things that families tell us again and again, especially women, is that they'd love to get a job, but giving up Medicaid is so hard. Especially hen you have children," he said. "That's real reform, that someone could get a job and keep part of these other benefits that help them until they get really established." edited by Alison Parker, 836-1 199 the Missouri Highway Patrol were seeking a Kansas City man on allegations of abducting his 5 year-old daughter from her grandmother's Ava home at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Douglas County Sheriffs Department said. Douglas C.

Sorenson, 36, allegedly entered the home, wearing a woman's wig, assaulted his ex-wife Melinda Meeks, and took his daughter, Gabriella, authorities said; Sorenson fled in a teal-green 1994 Mustang convertible. Meeks said she and Sorenson have joint custody of the girl and Gabriella was to have stayed with her mother through Friday. Sorenson was last seen in eastern Douglas County. He is described as white, 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighing 190 pounds, with red hair, authorities said. Gabriella is about 3 feet 6 inches tall, with brown hair just past her shoulders and brown eyes, her mother said.

At the time of the alleged abduction, the girl was wearing only underpants and a large T-shirt with the words NEW YORK across the front, Meeks said. STRAFFORD Two students jailed in burglary of high school Two Strafford High School students were in the Greene County Jail Tuesday in lieu of $2,500 bail for allegedly burglarizing their school at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, said Strafford Police Chief John Carter. Gilford Meyers, 18, and Jeremiah lBelle, 17, are accused of taking a set of janitor's keys several months before the burglary and using them to get into the schx)l and offices, Carter said. Armed with knives and dressed in military fatigues, they allegedly stole $135 of school funds before they were taken into custody by Stratford and Greene County authorities.

Both face charges of second-degree burglary, the Greene County prosecutor's office said. CAMDEN COUNTY Car overturns, hits trees; man, 86, killed An 86-year-old Camdenton man was killed in a one-car accident Monday on Missouri 5, half a mile north of Iake Road 5-61 in Camden County, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. Elza A. Grantham was northbound when his car ran off the right side of the road on a curve, the patrol said. He overcorrected twice and his car slid down an embankment, overturned twice and hit several trees.

He was ejected from the car. SPRINGFIELD Drury fraternity to raise money for AIDS Project Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at Drury College is sponsoring two activities before the Drury-South-west Baptist University basketball Saturday to raise money for AIDS Project of the Ozarks. A relay race from Drury to Bolivar, where the game will be played, will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Participants will run one mUe and tag the next runner for the 31 miles between the two schools. Pledges for the run may be sent to Lambda Chi Alpha, 1027 N.

Ben ton Springfield, Mo. 65802. WILLARD Police get new officer; two others promoted The Willard Police Department has added a new officer to its staff and promoted two others. Brian Twitchel recently joined the department. He is a graduate of Willard High School and attends classes at Drury College.

Blaine Kennard was promoted to sergeant and Ron Killingsworth was promoted to corporal. Correction Jeffrey Smith's name was misspelled in Tuesday's Life Times section. Regarding a Tuesday story about a political battle over a state veterans cemetery, Rep. James Montgomery, D-Ca-bool, clarifies he might agree to switching a planned site from Mount Vernon to Springfield but not from Cabool. Readers may request a correction at 836-1258.

people were impressed with the increased communication between teachers, students and parents. And they noticed that the ad-ministration is seeking community input into the schools." Springfield Public Schools hired the Stantons in September for $6,000 to find out if the public would support a bond issue without a tax increase for building improvements. The couple operates a governmental polling business out of their home. Don Stanton is chairman of the See POLL, Page 5B Members of the group, which included officials from numerous area community organizations, were resigned to the fact that the federal government will soon give states control over welfare spending. They offered suggestions they said would make welfare reform work in the Ozarks.

Among them: Work requirements for welfare recipients must include assistance for transportation and day care. End the corruption; no more welfare checks for drug addicts and alcoholics. Bullet hits man in back; married pair arrested Chelsea Vieceli lobbies for a big tree (above), but settles for a small one (right) when she and her mother, Dana, go tree shopping Tuesday. Learning to cut one's Christmas tree wishes down to a suitable size From Our Staff You can't blame a girl for trying. Chelsea Vieceli, 9, went first for a really BIG Christmas tree in her search Tuesday through the offerings at the Dean Her Berry and Tree Farm on West Battlefield Road.

Her mother, Dana Vieceli, and grandfather Robert Sooter overruled her first choice. It was a little too big for the family's needs. But she found another from the Dean Iler collection of Scotch pines, noble firs and Fraser firs. Tree seller Russell Dean said he expects to sell between 1,500 and 2,000 trees before Christmas. His company's tree farm also sells cut-your-own trees for about $20 each, he said.

Photos by Mike Wingo Welfare reform can work, service leaders say From Our Staff A Springfield husband and wife were arrested Tuesday evening after another man was shot in the back following an apparent argument with the woman, police said. Injuries to Donald Smith were not believed to be life-threatening, police said. Smith's wife, Judith, said the shooting happened outside a home in the 900 block of South New Avenue after her husband argued with the woman about a car. Judith Smith said the woman began beating her husband before he hit her back. When the woman tripped, her husband allegedly "We will require some experimentation at the local level.

Some things that have never been tried before will have to be tried," he said. "Allow us the flexibility we need rather than rigid guidelines about implementing these programs at the local level." Sister Lorraine Biebel, chief executive officer of The Kitchen, said she thinks some welfare reform programs are simple solutions that ignore deeper concerns. "My concern is you can't approach welfare reform just in the terms of economics and there isn't money available for poor people for substance-abuse treatment, for mental health treatment," she said. "The basic problems aren't being State lawmakers are given suggestions on how to break the chain of dependency. By Paul Donsky News -Leader Welfare reform doesn't have to mean less funding, fewer programs and more hunger and homelessness.

That was the message about 50 community service leaders gave Sen. Roseann Bentley and other state legislators Tuesday night at a public meeting at Columbia Hospital South. If done right, the community leaders said, welfare reform can go a long way toward ending welfare dependency and give those in need a chance to turn their lives around. FOR YOUR INFORMATION Our city editor is Chick Howland, 836-1 170, or fax, 837-1381; page Health screening: A $5 cholesterol screening will be held from 8:30 a m. to 4:30 p.m.

Thursday at the St. John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin, in the Corporate Health Services Office, 2727 McClelland Blvd. Call 625-2264. All abounds: Drury College's Cox Gallery will show "Form and Fire," a ceramics exhibition and sale starting at 7 p.m. Friday and continuing through Dec.

17 at 900 N. Benton Ave. Hours vary; call 873-7239 for more information. Holiday benefit Seymour R-2 school will play host to "Santa's Workshop" from 10 a m. to 8 p.m.

Friday in the Seymour Elementary Gym. Enjoy food, crafts and door prizes. All proceeds go to the school. Call 935-2478..