Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 1

am li r'- tl i V-Wk- -J clmo to DST Near 70 Mostly sunny and unseasonably warm through Monday. High today near 70. Low near 35. Page 2B. FsiBBs I LjjuLiXULKJLedI Schools battle buidsrelts -v- teaching position and at least one elementary aide position; cut 21 percent of the general fund support from high school athletics; and provide no funds for junior high athletic travel or elementary school sport stipends.

"My feeling is people in this community understand what we're up against," Turner said. "But I still feel that students who are going to school now deserve as good an education as kids going to school in good economic times." Turner said his budget will be about 130,000 less than last year. Lewistown voters Tuesday will face a high school levy request of $497,359 and an elementary school request of $565,217. One district particularly hard hit this year is Cut Bank, which is facing a shortfall of more than $850,000 from last year. Superintendent Chris Mattocks attributes $630,000 of this to a loss in net proceeds taxes, due to de hard decisions here on these cuts," says Robert Windel, superintendent of Havre schools.

"We hope the public understands but you have to do what you have to do." And what Havre has to do is eliminate 14 teacher aide positions, cut at least two administrative posts, move the driver education program to summers only, cut athletic budgets and reduce several teaching positions, Windel said. Though faced with a budget reduction of $281,000, Windel said the school district, for the third straight year, will not be able to ask for a levy increase, because of 1-105. The situation in Lewistown is similar. Superintendent Jim Turner says that as in Havre, Lewistown voters will not be faced with an increased levy request. Despite the attempt to hold the line, though, Turner says his district is looking to eliminate an elementary By LINDA CARICABURU Tribune Regional Editor School districts throughout Montana are resorting to employee layoffs, program cuts and elimination of capital improvements as they grapple with budgeting for the coming year.

School trustees and administrators cite several problems: uncertainty as to the level of funding the Legislature will approve, depressed taxable valuations, declining enrollments and the freeze on taxes imposed by Initiative 105. Voters in many districts will be going to the polls Tuesday to approve or reject mill levy requests. Citing the effects of 1-105, which froze property tax levels, most superintendents say they are not asking voters for any more money than last year in the requests. In many cases, this means cutting budgets. "We're making some very tough, clining oil activity.

Mattocks said the district will transfer $425,000 from its reserve fund for operating expenses this year, but that still leaves the school system over $425,000 short. "We're looking at major belt-tightening all the way around," Mattocks said. Nonetheless, he said his district will try not to cut any professional staff at least not this year. "We can do this for one year maybe," he said. "After that, well, I just can't say right now.

But it won't be good." Attrition and reorganization of the non-professional staff should save over extracurricular budgets will be cut by and cutbacks in capital expenditures and maintenance will have to make up the rest of the savings for his district, Mattocks said. See SCHOOLS, 2A 1 Veto of coal-tax reduction imminent 1 res rvJt TriDum Photo by Wayne Arntl HELENA (AP) Gov. Ted Schwinden has said he won't sign a proposed coal-tax reduction bill in its present form, despite pleas from coal-industry supporters. "You're probably going to have to accept something less than you want," Schwinden told members of Save Qur State Friday. Save Our State is a southeastern Montana-based group, which includes coal miners, business people and others who are lobbying on behalf of the coal industry.

The group has spoken in support of the bill, which would reduce the needed in its present form to help the state's failing coal industry and prevent more lost jobs. They said the industry is in bad shape now and cannot wait for the tax rate to drop to 15 percent by 1991. But Schwinden has criticized the incremental tax plan and said it goes too far. He said he doesn't want to shift the tax burden to others or leave the state strapped for revenue. Schwinden suggested he would veto the amendment from the bill and decide by Monday what alternative he will submit to the Legislature.

Woman to hear her own grandchildren Tough sawing Ryan Smock, 13, Troop 26 Beaver Patrol, found a tough log during the "Spring Fever Camporee" bucksawing contest of the Lewis and Clark District Montana Council southwest of Ulm Saturday. Camping Committee member Don Wol-ford is holding the log and Cabe Shipek, 12, was Smock's partner. There were 11 troops, 20 patrols, including 106 boys and 36 adults at the weekend camporee, formerly known as the "Winter Camporee." Schwinden also has the option of vetoing the entire bill. It would take a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to override a veto. A At the IMil Legislature Week in review 1B Speed limit zips along 3B Senate roundup 3B Ag reported axed 3B House cuts $6 million 3B and mother's eggs were placed in a laboratory dish and the fertilized embryos were transplanted in the mother's mother, the newspaper said.

Ferreira-Jorge, 33, a refrigeration engineer, was quoted as saying, "I couldn't be more delighted that my mother-in-law will give birth to my children." IK Business Sect. Classified 1-9D Crossword 2E Farm Ranch Tabloid MetroMontana Sect. Montana Parade Sect. Obituaries, records 2B Opinion 8-9A Perspective 1C Preview Sect. Sports Sect.

TV listings In Preview Tribune telephones: 761-6666 Toll Free: 1-800438-6600 (Montana, outside Great Falls) Your Tribune carrier will be collecting this week. cloud forces 10,000 to flee Minot LONDON (AP) A South Afri-1 can grandmother is pregnant with test-tube triplets belonging to her daughter and son-in-law, according to a British newspaper, The Mail on Sunday. It said Pat Anthony, 48, had agreed to become a surrogate mother and bear her own grandchildren because her daughter and son-in-law, Alcino and Karen Ferreira- number who had left. About half had returned home during the evening, while others were staying with relatives or at emergency shelters, officials said. The fire was brought under control about 4 p.m.

after it was doused with a layer of foam, but it was still smoldering, Kukowski said. The blaze apparently started in a truck parked inside the warehouse, but the exact cause had not been determined, state Fire Marshal Bob Allan said. At the height of the blaze "balls of fire" were shooting more than 40 feet into the air, Ward County Sheriff's of a gift shop. "I am a grandmother who is carrying and will bear her own grandchildren," Mrs. Anthony was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

"They will be very special indeed." It said she is three months' pregnant after undergoing the test-tube operation, known as in vitro fertilization, in a Johannesburg clinic. In the clinic, the father's sperm Gov. George Sinner arrived by helicopter in Minot Saturday afternoon to survey the situation and meet with the City Council. Residents who began to feel nauseated were told to call the hospital, as the emergency rooms were crowded, police Lt. Dennis Smetana said.

Ten or 11 people were treated at Trinity Medical Center and released, a hospital official said. About 10 people were treated at St. Joseph's Hospital, and all but one were released. The condition of the hospitalized person was not immediately known. state's 30 percent coal severance tax to 15 percent by mid-1991.

The House approved an amendment to the bill that would cut the tax to 5 percent on new production exceeding current levels. The I Schwinden tax would rise to 10 percent next year and 15 percent in 1989. Supporters have argued the bill is Jorge, were unable to have more children. The London weekly said Mrs. Fer-reira-Jorge was advised she should have no more children after giving birth to the couple's only child, Alcino Jr.

It said the families live in the village of Tzaneen, 210 miles northeast of Johannesburg, where Mrs. Anthony's husband, Raymond, is owner Lt. Ken Alexander said. Authorities decided shortly after the fire started to let it burn in hopes the hazardous pesticides would be consumed, Vorachek said. Although parathion and malathion are toxic, the fumes were not likely to cause significant health problems, other than respiratory irritation, he said.

The cloud had traveled about 50 miles north into Canada about four hours after the fire started, at 11:05 a.m., he said. Authorities in affected areas were advising residents to stay indoors and shower if they came into contact with the cloud, he said. us anything," she said. "I've been lied to, and the public has been lied to, also. "They did tell us they had learned a lot from our son's case, which really makes me feel great.

I want them to tell me they have found the person who killed my son." Jones again declined to respond to Delnita Davis' claims, other than to say detectives have kept the family informed of almost all developments in the case. Jones also said the initial investigation was "good, damn good," and said the bizarre circumstances surrounding the murder may be the reason for Delnita Davis' displeasure. Morris Davis was delivering pizzas for Howard's Pizza on a cold, snowy night when he was murdered. Police have determined an unknown man ordered a pizza from Howard's West about 9 p.m. April 6, 1985, then broke in the back door of the vacant house and shot the deliveryman when Chemical MINOT, N.D.

(AP) A fire ignited toxic chemicals in an agricultural warehouse Saturday, spewing a black, pungent cloud that injured at least 20 people and forced an estimated 10,000 people to flee their homes. Winds blew the cloud over the middle of the city of 32,800 people and across the Canadian border, 50 miles to the north. At least 20 emergency workers and other people who became ill from the fumes were taken to hospitals, police Sgt. Steve Kukowski said. The Westchem Agricultural Chemicals Inc.

warehouse contained a of Unsolved murder leaves family at odds with police 60-80 types of farm chemicals, the most dangerous of which were the pesticides parathion and malathion, said Mike Vorachek, the state hazardous materials coordinator. Residents in the path of the cloud were advised to leave their homes, Kukowski said. They were directed toward small towns east and west of Minot and to state Highway Department building on the eastern edge of town, Kukowski said. "We did not force them to evacuate, we only asked them to evacuate," he said, adding that the figure 10,000 was a rough guess of the The battleground isn't confined to Great Falls, either. Sen.

John Melcher has been involved from Washington, D.C., and closer to home, Attorney General Mike Greely has had a bit part in the controversy in the form of an investigation into the police department's investigation. Delnita Davis doesn't hesitate in getting to the heart of the matter. "I'm disgusted with the way things are going with the detective division in my son's case," she said recently in the kitchen of her residence at 3619 5th Ave. N. "Great Falls detectives couldn't find a killer if he was standing in front of them." Police Chief Robert Jones, who was in charge of the detective division at the time of the murder, won't reply directly to statements by Delnita Davis.

"I'm not going to hurt any feelings by responding, and as a public official, it's not my place to respond 'I've known since the murder they would never solve this People will never know how you feel about the unsolved murder of a son until it happens Delnita Davis Davis Jr. or criticize a citizen's stance or opinion. She can say whatever she wants," Jones said in a recent interview. "This is hers to live with, but I have to live with it, too, and that's not easy. "But I will say that we have investigated 50 homicides in Great Falls since 1970, and all but three have been solved." Sgt.

David Warrington, the current head of detectives, isn't as diplomatic. "I wish she would accept the fact that we're doing everything in our power to solve this case," he said. "To her, we're the enemy, and that's not right." Delnita Davis contends detectives are keeping important information about the murder from the family, and claims detectives made numerous mistakes in the initial investigation. ''I understand that they can't tell us everything, but they're not telling By TIM ROBY Tribune Staff Writer Two years ago Monday night, Morris Vemon Davis Jr. was gunned down in the doorway of a vacant house at 1015 6th Ave.

NW while delivering a pizza. The brutal murder Davis was shot repeatedly with a weapon remains unsolved, much to the consternation of the Davis family and the Great Falls police detectives assigned to the case. But frustration is about the only thing the two parties have in common. In fact, the two sides have been at odds the past year or so. Delnita Davis, Morris' mother, says detectives nave been keeping the family out in the cold about the two-year investigation, and claims their ineptness is a big reason the murder is still unsolved.

Detectives counter by saying the family of the 23-year-old victim has cast them as the enemy. 'V he arrived around 9:20 p.m. Davis' body was found about an hour later inside the house by another deliveryman. The deliveryman didn't call police, but returned to Howard's West. Two Howard's employees then returned to the house, and another employee called police.

The initial report of the homicide came in at 10:56 p.m., according to police records. to Morris The victim's brother, Clifford Davis, was on duty as an ambulance attendant and was one of the first people to arrive at the murder scene, according to police reports. Clifford Davis went into' shock, police say, and a second ambulance was called to help the brother of the victim. Police reinforcements were See MURDER, SA t-.