The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 28

Alexandria Bailg tmn talk D-8 Tuesday, September 29, 1992 McCrery battles charges Recent list of applications BATON ROUGE (Af) -Hr ElMaRouft HI SI. Cartas Louisiana although his opponent. Democratic Rep. Jerry 47 255 494 147 1,75 1,337 103 223 447 34 31 50 parisD-tomarun 0 asaswr EFtaoana aunianct awK)K f-t6- Itana Emergency Manasamn feervite Agency by mt rjtae gt Owrau ifMmon Sunday, Sent 27: JfflOavn Acadia 31 LatayMt A4m Latourdia Akwuoh 541 Lwmastoa AuunahM Orleans Amytflef 83 PIMutminM Uuwi 10 Powtt Cowhi Camtroa Rw-cto EaMabit I SI. Bernard 5,41 Sal 13 1.705 241 114 385 21 304 Sl.rWKna St.

James 9.J0M St. Landry SI Man 51. Mary SI. Tammany Tangaunoa Terrebonne VemMon Vraininatm Baton Rouge WFekciana Upset about checks FEMA: 1st payment probably only for temporary housing The Associated Press BATON ROUGE In the year of family values. Republican Rep.

Jim McCrery is Deing dogged by the toughest label in his revamped and conservative congressional district homosexual. The rumors resurfaced this month in an article in The Advocate, a national gay magazine. The story said the two-term congressman is gay, quoted men who said they were involved with McCrery and accused him of duplicity in supporting the GOP platform, which opposes gay rights. The Shreveport Times, McCr-ery's hometown newspaper, reported the magazine's charges on Sept. 1 in a front-page article and other newspapers statewide also reported on the claims.

McCrery held a news conference to deny the allegations in the article, "The Outing of a Family Values Congressman: U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery's Double Life." McCrery's wife, Jonette, took umbrage at the suggestion. "To believe that, you'd have to believe I'm a fool and my marriage is a fraud," she said. In 1988, McCrery shook off the charges with little problem when his primary opponent, Robert Briggs, raised the gay issue.

The same year, McCrery angered the gay community when he Said a surgeon general's report on AIDS implied that "abnormal sexual activity" is acceptable. The recent story has cast a shadow over McCrery's re-election bid in one of two incumbent vs. incumbent races in Huckaby, has not mentioned the magazine article. Louisiana could be the first state in which congressional races are decided when it holds its primary Saturday. Under the state's unusual open primary system, candidates for both parties run on the same ballot.

If no candidate gets a simple majority, the top two vote-getters meet in a Nov. 3 runoff. The campaign in the newly drawn 5th Congressional District of northern Louisiana the state lost one seat under the 1990 Census has centered on Huckaby's 88 bad checks at the now-defunct House bank. The eight-term lawmaker recently said he received a letter from the Justice Department clearing him of wrongdoing. Huckaby has criticized McCrery's vote for a congressional pay raise "at a time when we were in a recession." In another incumbent vs.

incumbent race, Republican Reps. Richard Baker and Clyde Holloway are trying to portray the other as less conservative in a redrawn district that includes much of Baton Rouge and a large portion of central Louisiana. Maryland, Montana and Iowa each have an incumbent vs. incumbent race. It took weeks to decide the other Republican vs.

Republican primary contest in Ohio earlier this year. Baker, who is seeking his fourth term, has hit at Hollo-way's attendance record in 1991, the year Holloway ran for governor. "I had hoped Richard Associated Press Rep. Jim McCrery, shown with President Bush when Bush was campaigning in Shreveport last week, is battling allegations that he is homosexual. McCrery denies the allegations.

ban New Orleans. "We're certainly staying out of the 6th District race," said Billy Nungesser, head of the state GOP. The mayor of Alexandria, Democrat Ned Randolph, is also running for the House seat. Randolph could force a runoff although it's unlikely he would finish among the top two, Republican Party leaders said. "I think I've got a good shot at it," said Randolph.

"People in this state are tired of Republican politics." wouldn't mislead the public," said Holloway. "My attendance record since I've been in Congress is excellent." The three-term Holloway has picked up the support of fellow Republican Rep. Bob Livingston although the Louisiana lawmaker has little name recognition in the district. Livingston and Baker have been at odds over federal patronage appointments in Louisiana. "That had nothing to do with my endorsement," said Livingston, who lives in subur rebuild houses and businesses, but has given out $9.3 million, Ms.

Serkes said. The SBA has approved $11 million in loans, and most of the 10,077 people or businesses who have asked about loans haven't even returned their applications, she said. "The SBA has only received back about one-fifth of the applications that have been sent out to people," she said. About 800 loans have been approved, she said. A grant covers only repairs to bring the house up to its condition before the hurricane, Nance noted, while someone who gets an SBA loan can get enough money to improve the house and make it more hurricane-proof.

People whose only car or truck was damaged or destroyed, and who needed the vehicle to get to work, also may get an emergency grant or loan, Nance said. Louisiana's state's public television network, will get a $21,000 check to offset donations lost because Hurricane Andrew interrupted its fund-raising campaign, the National Endowment for the Arts announced Monday. Louisiana Public Broadcasting will use the money to buy major cultural programs such as "Great Performances" or "American Playhouse," and to produce programs reflecting Louisiana's own cultural heritage, the NEA said. BATON ROUGE (AP) Many of Hurricane Andrew's victims in Louisiana are upset by the size of their first federal disaster checks, because they don't realize that more is probably coming, officials said Monday. "We're getting lots of phone calls from people on our hotline, saying, 'Oh, my God, my check is only $492.

I have probably $8,000 or $9,000 worth of damage. That's not going to do me any said Kathryn Serkes, a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "What people aren't doing is looking to see what that check is for. The first check is likely to be a temporary housing check." FEMA said it had given out $15.1 million in temporary housing checks Sunday. That covers more than 23,000 of the 23,063 applications, Ms.

Serkes said. The housing checks provide fast cash for shelter or to make the repairs needed just to make a house livable, said Graham Nance, individual assistance officer in FEMA's Baton Rouge office. After that, he said, people are considered for low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration. If they cannot afford a loan and the SBA rejects their application, FEMA considers them for grants to repair their houses. FEMA is only about one-third of the way through the 20,502 applications for grants to Briefs The death of Midas, a 7-year-old Malinois, remained something of a mystery Monday.

The dog was discovered dead while on a return trip from a national police dog competition in Washington. Dress code dispute METAIRIE (AP) East Jefferson High School senior Tim Campos says school is a place where diverse beliefs should be expressed, not forbidden. He has asked the American Civil Liberties Union to fight the part of the dress code that forbids political statements on clothes. "The school is overstepping their bounds. They're telling us we can't wear what we want, not because it's obscene, but because they don't like it," Campos said.

"We're asking the board to rescind the policy," said Shirley Pedler, ACLU's executive director. "If they don't, we will file for litigation." nrrp wmxwam UWJS ME HDC P3E ESS Chief investigated AMITE (AP) Tickfaw Police Chief Jimmy Sparacello will appear before a grand jury to answer various allegations of mismanagement raised by the state legislative auditor, a prosecutor said Monday. The hearing will be held in a few weeks after prosecutors talk to various witnesses, District Attorney Duncan Kemp said. In a 33-page report, the legislative auditor alleged various mismanagement, including missing funds and traffic tickets and misuse of workers paid through the Job Training Partnership Act, a program funded by the federal government and managed by the state. The report also alleged that Sparacello received state supplemental pay to which he was not entitled.

Marsh loss COCODRIE (AP) Louisiana's marsh loss problem is the nation's problem, because the state's coastal marsh is the breeding ground for seafood caught by all Gulf Coast states, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspectors wer.e told during a survey of the area. Most of the commercially harvested species caught by all of the Gulf Coast states need Louisiana's coastal marsh as part of their life cycles, experts told EPA officials. The EPA group gathered for a briefing at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie, which is still undergoing repairs for damage caused by Hurricane Andrew. Police dog dies SHREVEPORT (AP) Police are mourning another loss in their ranks.

A 2-year-old Belgian Mali-nois, a member of the Shreve-port Police Department's canine "corps, died Sunday night. The dog, named Ceasar, was the second police canine to die in two weeks. Early indications were that Ceasar died of a kidney infection, said Cindy Chad-wick, a police spokeswoman. I FURNISH ONE ROOM OR A HOUSE FULL. Buy $300 worth or Buy $30,000 worth for just $10.00 a month.

The first 12 months is INTEREST FREE and YOU DOfi'T MAKE A PAYMENT TIL 1993 Call today to find out about the many diet plans we have available. From the "Full Fast" to a diet that even the compulsive eater can be successful with; JHAT A DEAL! HURRY IN! Efczstssz? We Have IVAN SMITH It All Weight FURNITURE AND APPLIANCE 7 i1 MANAGEMENT It INSTITUTE 445-8545 Toll Free 1 800-537-4296 3600 Jackson Suite 202 lSPj Dunbar Plaza pj 407 22 1 6 Memorial Dr. Ph. 487-9 Alexandria, LA.