The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 4

siiHKVUNtRT-mwsiKH ThoTimv 4-A O. t. 2, W2 to Well-dressed join muddy hunt AP Lanrphoto AUTO for Local and Personal Service and Lower Rates for Safe Drivers Dial 424-1414 AGEHCY Serving Our Area for 34 Years Hi rHC' vm ivSu'Ai ii II A BAUME MERCIER THE INTERNATIONAL TIME STANDARD. 1 1 NEW ORLEANS (AP) A backhoe fttulcd up a hoard of pre-Civil War gold and silver coins from a construction site Thursday, and well-dressed bank employees and bystanders rushed Into the muck to grub lor money. "They was down in the ground in coats ajrid suits and tics like groundhogs," said Cuy Montana, a construction worker at a Eite across the street.

"I was watching bout 45 minutes and people was running from all directions. "It was like Mardi Gras grabbing for iioubloons," said an unemployed young man who ran out of the nearby American Savings Loan to get in on the fun. He refused to give his name, saying he didn't want the owner of the site or the Internal Revenue Service to know he had 5 coins. i Those he scratched and squeezed from smelly clay included quarters made the New Orleans mint in the early 840s, Spanish coins from the middle a 1726 Mexican coin and a large 838 coin bearing the words "Est-Nor-peruano." All were silver. "It was worth getting my shoes full of hud." he said.

Since New Orleans is below sea-level, there's no such thing as a dry construction site. Roy Moulcdous, job superintendent for Gervais F. Favrot the contractor at the site, said there were two 10 inch by 12 inch by 8 inch wooden boxes. They held Jlbout 1,000 coins, he estimated. He said the first was pulled out by a backhoe about 1:30 p.m.

"It broke open and 200 hands got in it," be said. Most of the coins were silver, but a few were gold. I At the Whitney National Bank central office across the street, Frances Kline and other women working in the statement department said about 40 to 50 bank employees ran out to the site. "Even our personnel manager was here," said another Whitney employee, who did not give her name. Mrs.

Kline said she came out with four from the 1840s and one Spanish oin. "It was fun. Something you never do. Once in a lifetime," she said. Television cameras quickly arrived.

"I was down there in the mud, the tamera's were going. I'm saying, 'Don't photograph me here in the mud. My Husband would kill Mrs. Kline said. I Bank guard James Paul Foster said fhat except for himself and other security guards, there weren't too many people i v.

i' sr x. 't i in ii mm A I i Iron worker Harry Lanehart holdr the one coin he ended up with after a backhoe unearthed two cases of the Pre-Civil War coins. But other people disagreed, "I saw one guy who had a workman's glove filled with them," said the young man who was worried about the IRS. And Serio, who got a dozen coins, said construction engineer Dave Estopinal told him that the backhoe operator ended up with most of them. "He jumped off the backhoe, picked the box up and it was like razoo everybody went crazy," Serio said.

No David Estopinal was listed in the New Orleans telephone directory. Some people working nearby did stay aloof from the money madness. "Do you think I'm going over there in that mud? For a coin?" asked Elizabeth Hewitt as she pointed to her striped cloth shoes. "You've got to be kidding. I'm not that money-hungry." "We had everything covered while it was going on," he said.

Not all of the people had to paw through the mud. Construction workers handed some of the coins to people who caught their fancy. Mrs. Kline said Whitney executives told her that a bank had once stood there. That was confirmed by Jack Serio, who owns the building next door.

"This was an old bank one of the oldest banks in the city," he said. "We've owned this building for 30 years. When we first bought it the bank building was here. It wasn't operating just an empty building." Mouledous said he doubted any construction worker got more than a few coins. pn in tne Dank.

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Lady's. $1,600. In 14 karat gold: E. Man'sV $1 Lady's. $1,700.

G. The "RSVP" in 18 karat gold and steel. Mans, $1,600. ordered the cutback under authority granted to him by the state constitution to keep the budget balanced. "The position of the Division of Administration is that revenues of the state have fallen far short of the original projections," Hoffman said.

"The governor ordered the (4.4 percent across the board) cuts to keep the budget down as required by the constitution. "We feel that every agency was treated the same. Items to implement the consent decree were exempted in the executive order." Mrs. Clarence Marie Collier, assistant to Southern President Jesse Stone, asked the committee to rule that the 4.4 percent reduction in general Southern spending would "adversely impact the enhancement of Southern University and negatively impact a violation of the spirit and the letter of the tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People that charged Louisiana with operating a dual system of higher education. Under the decree, the state promised to increase funding to Southern and Grambling State University and increase support for construction of facilities at the black campuses.

Justice Department officials said the increased funding would improve programs at the black schools and thus attract white students. In issuing his cutback order, Treen specifically exempted the $1-4 million Southern enhancement ordered by the decree. But Southern officials said the exempted enhancement money nearly equaled the amount of funds to be lost under the general cutback. The 4.4 percent reduction would trim Southern's general operating budget by $1.1 million. Mike Hoffman, representing the state's Division of Administration, said Treen UI nuiiuiiibUdiiuii, saw ii ecu i BATON ROUGE (UPI) A committee Assigned to monitor a university desegregation court decree asked Gov.

pave Treen Thursday to consider exempting Southern University from a statewide spending cutback and avoid a llowdown in attempts to racially balance Louisiana's colleges, i Members of the Consent Decree Monitoring Committee agreed with leaders of Southern University and said (he budget cutback order issued to all state departments would have a liegative effect on Southern's attempts to fnhance its programs, i However, after hearing Southern complaints at an emergency session Thurs- ay, the committee said the cutback rder posed no legal violation of the court decree. Committee members asked the governor to "reconsider his order in light of the reaction," by Southern officials. The decree ended a decades-old desegregation court battle led by the Na RIDER'S Fine Jewelers Since 1 930 Where the best surprises begin. Pierremont Mall (318) 868-4481 Shreveport South Park Mall Mall St. Vincent Also Baton Rouge Lafayette consent decree.

jBjjjrjjjjBjHHBjngBjjT WEEKEND NTELLI VISION SALE! A ptate mandates closure BATON ROUGE (AP) A Eunice-based oil field J'aste disposal company was put out of business nd fined $16,500 Thursday by the Louisiana Environmental Control Commission. The commission lifted McWhorter and Associates' permit to operate. However, the commission said McWhorter could apply for a new permit, a process that can take fronths. If a new permit is granted, the commission warned that it would be more stringent than the Qne just lifted. The decision came after lengthy hearings into Charges by the state that McWhorter dumped Sxcessive amounts of oil field waste water into rainage areas or bayous in different areas of the tate.

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