The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 1

Sports: Bears, Lady Bears win convincingly Inside Newt causes another stir, 9A Springfield jj GOOD MORNING Thursday Jan. 19, 1995 Springfield, Missouri 35 E3 1 jDgitf A wmor kigM baseball team says it will move here in 1997 if all fmandal conditions are met. I- Scott Puryear News-Leader Four months of wooing, wishing and waiting came to an end Wednesday for Springfield's civic leaders. They learned that if certain conditions are met, "play ball" will finally be heard in Springfield. Southern League president Arnold Fielkow announced Wednesday that his league has given conditional approval for the permanent relocation of a Double-A minor league baseball franchise in Springfield in 1997.

The team will be the Dennis Bastien-owned Nashville Xpress. The franchise has been in Nashville on a temporary basis for two years. There it shared a stadium with another minor league team, the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. The interim home for the Xpress for the 1995 and '96 seasons is expected to be announced next week. Sources close to the team said it will be Wilmington, N.C.

For the move to Springfield to become official, several conditions must be met over the next few months. Among them: By Tuesday, the Springfield Professional Baseball Association and Chamber of Commerce must submit this conditional approval to the City Council for acknowledgement and authorization. The Springfield Stadium Authority must be formed and come up with a financing plan for a ballpark and construction schedule to be presented to the Southern League by April 15. The ballpark must have at least 6,800 seats and See XPRESS, Page 6A They're coming, but how will we build it? A stadium for minor-league baseball will cost as much as $19 million. After the Cox family's $3 million land donation and $9.5 million in stadium bill money, the Springfield Stadium Authority must raise the remaining $6.5 million.

Page 6A. In Sports: With the deal done, team owner Dennis Bastien can speak his mind. Page 1C A Bob under News-Leaaer The relocation of the Nashville Xpress to Springfield in 1997 is announced Wednesday by Springfield Professional Baseball Association president Allen Casey. Trying to stay between the ditches M.IPM.W HIM I i i ll ipw Carnahan: New prisons priority Terri Gleich News-Leader JEFFERSON CITY Gov. Mel Carnahan asked the Missouri General Assembly to embark on a $272 million prison construction spending spree Wednesday in his annual State of the State address.

Carnahan called for building two new prisons and adding on to existing facilities to Suicide in city jail prompts review Robert Keyes News-Leader Three times in his last week of life, Jim Miller hinted to police of a death wish. Three times, the solution was the Springfield City Jail. Miller hated jail, his mother said the day her son, alone in his accommodate unprecedented growth in the state's inmate population. "Some people say that keeping dangerous criminals locked up for a longer cell, hanged himself. Miller's death, the first city jail suicide in years, has prompted a complete internal investigation.

His name Carnahan Miller Mike Wingo News-Leader Neither rain nor snow: At the post office annex on South Campbell, Les Thurston of Mid-West Fleet Service puts chains on a postal vehicle at 8:45 Wednesday night in hopes of sparing it the fate of so many other vehicles in the Ozarks. As the snow got deeper, navigating Ozarte roads became more of a cluiUenge. had popped up frequently with police in his last month. Several times a day, police say, he called them or ambulance officials, sometimes from his home, sometimes from a pay phone. The calls usually didn't make much sense he needed help of some sort.

Typically he was drunk. Miller, 43, tried drying out at places such as Sigma House, but he didn't stay long. On Monday, he was arrested there for causing a disturbance. He asked to be admitted to a hospital psychiatric unit but was not. The police report does not explain why he did not receive the help he requested.

So he was taken to the city jail, where the arresting officer observed that Miller showed no signs See SUICIDE, Page 7A time isn't the answer," he said during a 35-minute speech. "Well, let me tell you this. I think it's a very good answer, because it will keep them away from our children and our grandchildren." Carnahan unveiled a $13.2 billion budget for the year beginning July 1. The budget includes: A $36.8 million increase for higher education that includes nearly $3 million more for Southwest Missouri State University and a $1 million boost for Heart of the Ozarks Technical Community College. SMS also is slated to receive $7 million in riverboat gaming money for capital projects, including renovating the Allied Health Building.

Nearly $10 million in income tax relief for self-employed workers who purchase health insurance and families who care for elderly dependents. A $189.6 million increase in basic aid to public schools and programs for students at risk of dropping out. A booming state economy growing at 5.5 percent this year is funding many of Carnahan's initiatives. Riverboat gaming and lottery receipts, which are dedicated to education, also are higher than expected. southwest' Missouri.

Springfield may get a foot of snow, the National Weather Service said. As snow fell Wednesday, local and area law enforcement officers struggled to keep up with calls from motorists stuck in ditches or involved in minor fender-benders. The state patrol reported "numerous slide-offs." "Mostly people are sliding off into ditches," said Sgt. Jim Gil-more of the state patrol. "Just people driving too fast for Lots 0' snow: 10 to 12 inches are expected by midday.

7A Groceries and videos went as quickly as the snow fell. 7A the conditions." The patrol urged motorists to stay off roads unless travel was crucial. "It's sure a nasty night out there," said Inspector Richard See ROADS, Page 7A to be along Interstate 44, the National Weather Service said. Trooper James Simpson of the Missouri Highway Patrol said late Wednesday that traffic had slowed to 35 mph on 1-44. Truck stops were full, he said, of drivers who'd pulled over for the night.

An accumulation of 8 to 10 inches is expected by midday across Dawn Peterson News-Leader The heavy snow that dumped on southwest Missouri on Wednesday kept law enforcement and towing services busy assisting stranded motorists and pulling drivers out of ditches. The areas heaviest-hit with snow Wednesday night appeared Ito rules jury to hear most of O. J. domestic violence evidence The Associated Press to wife beating in the 1989 incident. Legal analysts speculated the ruling would put more pressure on Simpson to testify during the trial, but one of his lawyers said that wasn't necessarily so.

"He always wanted to testify. But there are many things to consider. This doesn't tip the scales one way or the other," lawyer Johnnie Cochran Jr. said. The only evidence Ito barred was Nicole Simpson's statements expressing "motive, intent, plan and identity," Superior Court Judge Lance Ito wrote.

Opening statements initially slated for today were rescheduled for Monday. The evidence Ito admitted includes a wide range of allegations that Simpson beat, slapped and stalked Nicole Simpson, including a 1984 or 1985 baseball bat attack on her car and a 1989 New Year's Day fight that landed Nicole Simpson in the hospital. Simpson pleaded no contest Lawyers' lives as well as Simpson's hang on the outcome of the trial. 10A Ozarkers cringe at the thought of serving on a sequestered jury. 10A fear of Simpson, including a call five days before she was slain to a battered women's shelter hot line complaining that her ex-husband was stalking her.

LOS ANGELES O.J. Simpson's jury will be allowed to hear evidence that he abused Nicole Brown Simpson, including details of a frantic 911 call she made as he broke down her door, the judge ruled Wednesday in a major victory for prosecutors. Most of the domestic violence evidence prosecutors had sought to introduce can be presented in order to prove mm Health care drops from top priority to low priority. 1B Carnahan proposes boosts in capital improvement cash for SMS. 1B LOTTERYL INDBL WEATHER Vol.

U1.I. No. 19 Now LcidiT INSIDE T0PArSJiEWSLJEA.DER bullion HA Ozarks IB Snis 1C Weather 2A Ahhy -II) Classified 5C Omul's 31) Crossword 11) 1 Vaths IH Mai ki'ts KU Movies 21) Ktvord 32 rfA' 21 mm Occasional snow ending after noon with 10 to 12 inches of accumulation expected. 2A PICK 3 7-6-9 SHOWME 9-12-15-21-29 LOTTO 2-27-28-30-38-46 POWERBALL 17-19-28-32-38-5 Life Times: Some of the state-of-the-art special effects in "Star Trek: Voyager" were supervised by Joe Bauer, 33, a former Springf ieldian. 1 Inside: IVople arc without food, hospitals are without medicine and morgues are without caskets as the death toll in the Japanese earthquake tops 4 A CP VWnse kKCYCI.K.

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