The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 1

T7 Partly Cloudy HIGH LOW low DARE to be different 11 A LSU takes on 'Bama -1 i Specialty Oil buys firm -13A Behind-the-scene star shines -1C 4wR TO fJc ends five GM's month of madness Major events that affect the lives of local General Motors employees have occurred during their five-week layoff. Dec. 18 Shreveport is spared as company announces closure of 21 plants during the next four years. Dec. 19 Big Three automakers unite in strategy to reduce United State's trade deficit.

Dec. 20 Shreveport manager Dave Michels says productivity and cost competitiveness will keep the plant open. Jan. 2 GM's stock rises $2.25 to close at $31.12 12, the highest in a year. Jan.

6 Big Three report worst sales year since 1984, an 11.8 percent decline. Jan. 9 President Bush completes trade mission, saying Japan 20; WORKPLACE By ALISON WATSON The Times Chester Howell is happy to be back at work in the Trim Department at Shreveport's General Motors plant after being laid off for five weeks. How long he'll work until another layoff occurs is anybody's guess. "This is a serious situation.

The national economy is bad, and we in Shreveport are not exempt from it," said Howell, a Bossier City resident who's worked at the Shreveport plant since July 1983. Howell is one of 2,400 hourly workers who returned to work Monday after the longest layoff in the Shreveport plant's 10-year history. "It looks like we'll be OK through January. We may be out again in i I) GSVi A I ri LOUISpV OFFICE day and has announced plans to close 21 plants and lay off 74,000 employees within the next four years. Local GM workers don't expect their plant to close, but layoffs are a fact of life in today's auto industry, said Dennis Keys, who came to Shreveport eight years ago after the Lakewood, GM plant closed.

"You deal with the possibility of layoffs on a day-to-day basis, but it's always better to be at work than idled," he said. Keys, the local union's bargaining chairman, also blames imports for the auto industry troubles. "People need to quit buying foreign products. They're supporting the Japanese economy." See WORKPLACE, Page 2A i i -iTX February. We don't know yet," said Dave Hollis, president of Local 2166 of United Auto Workers, which represents the Shreveport plant's hourly employees.

"Inventory adjustment" closing the local truck assembly plant to give dealers extra time to sell their stock has been a fairly frequent occurrence at most GM plants in the past three years. The company is struggling to retain market share against foreign imports primarily the Japanese, which now hold 33 percent of the U.S. auto and truck market. The nationwide recession has also hurt the American auto industry since people stop buying big-ticket items when money is short, Hollis said. GM is losing about $15 million a Edwin Edwards tells the BATON ROUGE Gov.

fry-' k2 has agreed to buy 20,000 more Times photoNANC EE E. LEWIS -x 1 40s CHANCE OF RAIN: INSIDE mm BIN Brltt RECOVERY: Northwestern State Univeristy's Bill Britt is challenged by the trial and error of recovering from a hunting accident that has left him a paraplegic. Page IB DIPLOMACY: Israel and Palestinians break their procedural deadlock and begin historic negotiations on Palestinian autonomy. Page 2A NEW ALLIANCE: The leader of the Russian legislature calls for the resignation of the government of President Boris Yeltsin, saying it had implemented "unctrolled, anarchic" price reforms. Page 7 A SHOPPING: Muscovites, accustomed to government-regulated prices, are being forced to learn the art of comparison shopping.

Page YUGOSLAVIA: The Vatican recognizes the secessionist republics of Slovenia and Croatia and an official warns that it could threaten the 1 1-day-old cease-fire in Croatia. Page 9A 3 FAMILY: The Louisiana Department of Social Services is out to get parents who skip town to avoid paying child support. The negligent parents are wanted so badly that the state child support office has drawn up a list of its top 10 offenders. PagellA 1 MERGER: Arkla Inc. subsidiary EnScan of Eden Prairie, has merged with Itron Inc.

of Spokane, Wash. Under the merger, Arkla will own 23 percent of the combined companies, which be managed by Itron. Pagel3A CREDIT UNION: Former members of the Caddo Teachers' Association Credit Union will enjoy more conveniences provided by WESLA Federal Credit Union, but the acquisition has put two Caddo employees out of work. Page 13A 1 NUTRITION: A nutritionist says that eating broccoli, green peppers and kidney beans can help you coupe with a 10-hour day, testy boss, whining children and a dirty kitchen floor. Page 2C MOVIE: Equal parts powerful drama and shrill melodrama can be found in the movie Breaking the Silence, at 8 tonight on CBS.

Page6C 1 Business 13A Ann Landers SC Classified SB Sheinwold 5C Comics 4C Sports IB Deaths 12A Television 6C Editorials 1EA Tell The Times 5C Entertainment 3C Weather 18A ARK-LA-TEX U.S. cars per year. Times graphic CITY HALL Council answers call from Telephone fight: Coun-cilmen planning measure to block pending purchase of equipment from competitor. By STACY SULLIVAN The Times Shreveport City Council wants to use the power of the purse to block the pending purchase of a telephone system for City Hall. At a 3 p.m.

meeting today, a measure will be introduced requiring council approval before Mayor Hazel Beard signs a check for new telephone service or equipment. "This should stop them from spending anything until we can figure out what's going on," said Coucilman Keith Hightower, who's led the fight against revamping the City Hall telephone system. Beard's chief administrative officer Newton Bruce has recommended the city purchase $285,000 of Northern Telecom equipment for City Hall and City Hall Annex. He's also signed contracts changing the city's long distance carrier from to Sprint But the Northern Telecom equipment is a direct competitor with systems manufactured at the local plant The proposed purchase sparked a public relations firestorm for Beard. Both Beard and Bruce were out of town Monday and unavailable for comment.

They have estimated that the changes could save the city about $45,000 a year over the present setup. But officials say they were never given the opportunity to bid on the business and could upgrade the present system for about $16,500. Plant spokesman Gregg Trusty said the city could track long distance calls one of the administrations reasons for switching with a personal computer using new call-accounting software. In addition to blocking the new equipment purchase, the council is investigating whether the city can withdraw from the long-distance contracts already signed. Councilmen have also questioned the wisdom of buying new telephone equipment when at least $168,000 is owed on the present system, purchased in 1988 and financed for five years.

Bruce said last week that the present phones would be auctioned off or sold when the new equipment is installed. The Northern Telecom equipment is being negotiated through the state's purchasing system, which allows municipalities to piggyback on state equipment purchases. The setup means the city did not have to request, bids under the state's public bid law. crowd at his inauguration love vouT in sign language. executive order: 4A, a breeze: 4A elect leaders: 5A farewell: 5A beginning: 16A Getting his message across, Gov, Edwards, others move in Gov.

Melinda Schwegmann, six other statewide elected officials and 144 members of the new Louisiana Legislature took ojfiqe Monday in a whirlwind, 18-hour inauguration. Before Edwards took his fourth oath of office, the 69th governor of Louisiana began the day with an 8 a.m. prayer service at historic St. Joseph's Cathedral. Festivities weren't due to end until 2 a.m.

today, after a six-hour inaugural ball and concert at the LSU Assembly Center. The first to take their oaths of office were the 105 members of the House and 39 state senators who convened in their respective chambers in the State Capitol at 10 a.m. statewide officials sworn in were General Richard Ieyoub, D-Lake Treasurer Mary Landrieu, D--Monroe; Secretary of State Fox McKeithen, R-Denham Springs; Insurance Commissioner Jim D-Baton Rouge; Agriculture Commissioner Odom, D-Zachary; and Elections Jerry Fowler, D-Baton Rouge. accessibility lags here Edwin Edwards, Lt. -j Ill the 34th highest rate of infant deaths.

For every 1,000 live births, 12.8 babies die, the same report showed. In Roanoke, where the physician-to-patient ratio is 273.1 per 100,000 people, the infant mortality rate is only 8.4 deaths per 1,000 live births. That places the Roanoke metropolitan area 213th nationwide. Medical workers said the numbers are misleading not all physicians in Shreveport treat patients. Louisiana State University Medical Center employs many doctors who teach or do research full-time, said Dr.

John Waterfallen, a gynecologistobstetrician whose office is at 2219 Line Ave. See SHREVEPORT, Page 6A First Speech Legislators Roemer's Good The other Attorney Charles; State Brown, Bob Commissioner HEALTH Medical By THAO HUA The Times When it comes to health care, plenty isn't enough in Shreveport. Although Shreveport and its surrounding area ranked higher than 251 other metropolitan areas nationwide in health care availability, the area is still short on accessibility, according to a U.S. Census report released in December. In the Shreveport metropolitan area, which includes Bossier City, an average of 274.3 physicians serve every 100,000 people.

That places Shreveport 30th among 281 metropolitan areas nationwide in availability of health care, according to 1991's U.S. Census Bureau state and metropolitan area data book. Statistics were based on 1988, the latest year available for all urban THE SERIES SUNDAY: Counting the ways Caddo-Bossier has changed over the past 10 years. MONDAY: A look at Shreveport's shifting economic fortunes. TODAY: Though Shreveport ranks high in availability of health care, is access to health care really available to those who need it? WEDNESDAY: Caddo-Bossier public school enrollment, on a rollercoaster ride in the '80s, is on the way back up again.

Changing numbers changing lives Teen pregnancy link: 6A Hospitals move south: 6A areas included in the survey. The national average ratio is 241.6 per 100,000 people, according to statistics from the American Medical Association. Compared to other areas with a similar physician-to-patient ratio, Shreveport is far behind in its delivery of health care. The city has.