The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 1

Sunday August 22, 1993 Metro Richard Baker: makes rounds in visit to Alexandria area. A-11 Sports Darnell Pharr: Vidalia player doesn't let football injury stop him. B-10 Index Advice C-10 Business D-1 Classified D-5 Crossword C-4 Obituaries A-6 Opinions A-14 La. Lottery A-2 Alexandria-Pineville, La. Volume 110-No.

159 75 Cents Features I Roger Long: Winnfield Tr postal worker rj resembles reat-g reat- Xr-uncle. C-7 I I Political museum. C-1 40 pet. rain chance. Highs in low to mid-90s.

Map, Details. A-1 6 Sanity opinion. A-1 1 LSU scrimmage. B-1 Itoattkia lull lauro Ml 1 U.N. rescuers reach Mostar 55,000 near starvation The U.N.

delegation, headed by U.N. Civil Affairs chief Cedric Thornberry, found 55,000 people 30,000 of them displaced living on the city's east side, Sachs said. Bosnian Croats on Friday reneged on promises to allow Thornberry and members of the Spanish battalion to enter the Muslim enclave. Croats and Muslims were allies in the Bosnian war when it began some 17 months ago but they have been locked in bitter fighting over territory for several months. Croats and Serbs are now apparently cooperating in an effort to divide Bosnia along ethnic lines.

Fighting broke out in Mostar May 9 between Bosnian Croat and Bosnian government forces. The Croats, who control access to the city, have refused to allow any relief convoys into the east side since June 15. The U.N. will not send Please see U.N., A-2 SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) U.N. peacekeepers reached trapped Muslims in Mostar for the first time in two months Saturday and found 55,000 people on the verge of starvation amid the city's ruins.

"The population was so desperate that they were not even moved to ask for cigarettes or candy. They only begged for wheat flour," said United Nations High Commission for Refugees spokeswoman Lyndall Sachs. One local official told the U.N. mission without such relief "there are going to be dead in the streets," said Ron Redmond, a UNHCR spokesman in Geneva who had access to the same field report. "This was not much of an exaggeration.

The situation is very bad," Redmond quoted Jerry Hulme, a senior UNHCR official who accompanied the small convoy, including six Spanish armored personnel carriers, as saying. Associated Press Solcika Levi (left), a Bosnian Jew, is com- left Sarajevo in a Jewish convoy Saturday, forted by her friend, Gordana Adamov, after Solcika could not get the paper work to go saying goodbye to her son, Miljnko, 14, as he with her son. No 'super school' in Rapides Superintendent says federal courts rejected idea Please see AT RISK, a related story, A-11 I' --v. a math and science academy for the accelerated student. That's why," Nichols said.

"Some school systems have what is called 'pure academic magnet We do not have that in this area." Peabody Magnet School is a comprehensive high school with all of the athletic and extracurricular activities of any other school. An academic magnet would not have those extras, but rather be entirely Please see SCHOOL, A-6 By Raymond L. Daye Staff reporter Superintendent Allen Nichols says he would like to create a "super school" for whiz kids in Rapides Parish, but federal courts have rejected the idea. The creation of a discipline-oriented Redirection Academy for middle and high school students who have been expelled or put on long-term suspension has prompted some people to ask: Why can't Rapides Parish have a special school for academically advanced students? Nichols said he has tried on three occasions to gain permission to develop a "super school" high school, and all three times the federal courts refused to allow such a school. "People want to know why we don't have Doctors' pay Even some physicians don't agree about it Critical ffflfljltfll Doctors' pay Average net income of doctors, by specialty General family practice $112,000 Peepholes give people advantage over stranger, i A stranger at the door Police offer advice about what to do other specialists.

Until now, such talk has been little more than hospital gossip. But with attention refocused on President Clinton's efforts to reform health care, this could change. Doctors' pay takes up fully 20 percent of the nation's runaway health bill. Since the U.S. public ultimately writes the paychecks, they might reasonably ask: How much does a urologist or pediatrician or pathologist really deserve to make? $100,000 a year? $1 million? An examination of earnings surveys conducted by the American Medical Association shows doctors are well-paid by almost anyone's standards, often impressively so.

Perhaps even more surprising, though, is the broad gap between the highest and the lowest. On the low end are the gener-alists like Koenig and Truitt Please see DOCTORS, A-2 Editor's note Fully 20 percent of the nation's health care bill goes to pay doctors. Now, even some physicians are beginning to ask whether they make too much. In the first of several stories looking at doctors' pay, The Associated Press examines the more-than-comfort-able livings of the nation's healers, a profession where the average pay is $170,000 but some top $1 million a year. This series is part of the project "Critical Condition: U.S.

Health Care in Crisis." By Daniel Q. Haney Associated Press Dr. Carol L. Koenig earned $37,500 last year. Dr.

Timothy S. Truitt made more than $200,000. But they share one money gripe that is being voiced by more and more physicians: Doctors make too much money. Long known for their circle-the-wagons response to outside criticism, doctors have clearly broken ranks over money. Grousing about big bucks is reaching a crescendo among 'Pediatrics $119,000 Psychiatry $128,000 Emergency medicine $1 41 ,000 Internal medicine $150,000 Pathology $198,000 I General surgery $207,000 Anesthesiology $221,000 ObstetricsGynecology $222,000 Radiology $230,000 U.S.

Health Care in Crisis those who feel they don't make them. Internists and family practitioners, in particular, marvel and mutter over the lush paychecks of surgeons, radiologists, heart doctors and AP Source: AMA Parents of Siamese twins Good morning: torn between hope, sorrow for help, prompting a massive manhunt that eventually led to the arrests of two 15-year-old Shreveport youths who are each charged with first-degree murder in the case. The fatal shootings of Phyllis Allbritton, 33, and son, Justin, have stunned Robeline, a small, friendly community where residents generally had been used to keeping their doors unlocked and going out of their way to help those in need. The shootings, because the Allbritton home was apparently chosen at random, have prompted central Loui-sianians to wonder what they would do if a stranger comes to their door. Asked one Robeline resident after the slayings, "Who wouldn't open their doors to two 15-year-olds?" Please see DOOR, A-2 By Kathy Calongne Staff reporter Police say you "have to use your better judgment" if a stranger knocks at your door, and agree that in most cases you should never let him in.

"It's one of those situations where you have to use your better judgment. I would say if your door has a chain lock on it, open it that way so you can get an idea of who you're dealing with. If you don't know them, say, 'No, I can't help Natchitoches Parish Sheriffs Office Chief Deputy Luther Lee advises. If the stranger refuses to leave, call the police immediately. Last week a Robeline woman and her 11-year-old son were slain after they opened their door to two teen-agers who had come to the house asking for a drink of water.

The woman's daughter managed to rush outside the house and call haven't been able to find out why the check bounced. PNC Bank officials said the check wasn't cashed because it required the signatures of both Mayo-Deman and her husband and only Mayo-Deman had signed. The bank said it erred by telling them the check had been bounced for insufficient funds. The couple disagree. "We both signed it, with the account numbers, too," Mayo-Deman said.

life support in intensive care, hospital spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said. In the infant's room sat a crucifix and a favorite clown doll. The Lakebergs, both clad in shorts and T-shirts, appeared overwhelmed and weary at a seven-minute news conference Saturday. The Wheatfield, couple recounted a morning and afternoon of almost unbearable uncertainty about the fate of Angela. They told of their bittersweet feeling when they realized the 5'2-hour operation had succeeded at Amy's expense.

"The doctor gave us this less than 1 percent chance, and here we are with this little baby. Please see PARENTS, A-2 PHILADELPHIA (AP) Alone in a hospital room, the worried parents of two frail babies drifted in and out of sleep, their solitude interrupted nourly with news about their daughters. When Kenneth and Reitha "Joey" Lakeberg couldn't nap, they paced at The Children Hospital of Philadelphia. They waited for the worst. As Friday's surgery began, the Lakebergs were the parents of infant Siamese twins.

When it ended, 7-week-old Amy Lakeberg was dead, sacrificed so sister Angela could receive their shared heart and a chance at life. "I'm proud of both my babies," Mrs. Lakeberg said. Angela was in critical but stable condition Saturday, on IRS check bounces WILKINSBURG, Pa. (AP) If the check had been for anything but a tax refund, Jennifer Mayo-Deman might not have been that surprised when the bank bounced it.

But there was the notice to Mayo-Deman and her husband, Suresh Deman, that their $609.41 check had been returned to the U.S. Treasury Department because of "insufficient funds." "I thought, the government really must be in the red," Mayo-Deman said Friday. I 1 The couple said they have been assured that they'll get their money, although they 15 Sections, 232 Pages Mail Edition 9 Sections In Accordance with U.S. Postal Regulations 5.