Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 9

Monday, September 17, 1984 Great Falls Tribune 9-A Donations ended as part of MPC cuts 7 i BUTTE (AP) The austerity program that Montana Power Co. announced last week will be felt far beyond the company. The company has immediately shut off all charitable and educational contributions. "I know this will hurt many, many places," President Paul Schmechel said when he announced the cutoff in a speech last week. "And it hurts here, too.

"But if we don't cut now, the day may come when there is nothing to offer or to cut. We are talking about survival conditions for Montana Power." Schmechel said Montana Power is losing $250,000 a day, $91 million a year because it is not getting the $96.4 million-a-year increase it requested for electricity. The company has appealed the ruling by the Public Service Commission to the state Supreme Court. Montana Power made charitable contributions of $158,000 in 1981, $166,000 in 1982 and a record $566,000 in 1983. Last year's amount included $300,000 to Energy Share, a statewide program to help low-income consumers pay their winter utility bills.

Company spokesman Dean Conk-lin said Montana Power had budgeted $265,000 for charitable contributions this year and had spent $132,000 of it before Schmechel imposed the freeze. Schmechel said he expects personnel reductions to result in delays in hookups and other services. "We will continue to render reasonably adequate service that is our objective but we'll also be avoiding overtime, and in some areas the work may stack up," he said. Conklin said the company had 2,675 employees as of Aug. 1, with 1,094 of them in Butte.

Operation, distribution of lottery key questions mini, ,1, ir iim A belt wheel blurs with motion as Ray German of Oilmont ad- during Ihe Teton Antique Steam Gas Association's first an-justs the controls on an antique steam tractor. The engine nual show Sunday between Dutton and Choteau. (Tribune was driving a saw blade that was cuying boards from logs Photo by Dan Hollow) Club shows off antique steam engines BILLINGS (AP) Legislators are sure to be asked again in 1985 to create a state lottery for Montana, but the questions of who should run it and how the proceeds should be used are likely to be as hotly debated as whether to have one. Rep. Bob Pavlovich says he and Sen.

Larry Stimatz, both Butte Democrats, met informally with Gov. Ted Schwinden Friday and agreed in general that if a lottery is enacted, either the Department of Revenue or a new department should operate it. "The problem is the disbursement of funds," Pavlovich said. "Everyone wants a part of it." Stimatz says he will sponsor a lottery bill in 1985 as he did in 1983, and it will again propose an appointed commission and a hired director. Local easy listening station changing over to rock today III order.

Lee Revier took his turn picking up bundles of oats and tossing them on the conveyer belt feeding the separator. "I was only 13 or 14 when I was first hired to pitch in Nebraska," Revear said. "I'm 77 now and I still can pitch." Manning the controls at the other end of the operation, on a 1910 Case steam tractor, was Clyde Cor-ley, an old-timer from Geraldine who said he was raised around thrashers outside St. Louis, Mo. Corley was busy stoking the boiler with wood, oiling the maze of moving parts and adjusting the dials to keep the pressure right at 135 pounds.

The association's 30 members spent their Sundays this summer re on Aging is agencies are Karen Erdie and Can-dace Bowman, respectively. Registration for the conference will be held Wednesday and Thursday morning. Among the pre-enference activities Wednesday will be a tour of the Montana Center for the Aged in Lewistown. It will be conducted by Don Ackerman, who is on the staff at the center and also a member of the Fergus County Council on Aging Board. Other pre-conference sessions will deal with grant writing and marketing; informationreferral; long-term care ombudsman training; and financial management and elderly tax credit.

A health screening fair will also be held and several statewide aging organizations will meet. The Governor's Advisory Council have followup." Vision Quest is an Arizona-based program that uses one-on-one therapy to train youngsters for responsibility to society. The agencies hope to obtain an $8,000 grant from the state Youth Justice Council to pay for a part-time liaison person to coordinate treatment programs and monitor a young-er's progress. If they don't get the grant. Meeker plans to assign the job to a new staff member who is to be hired in January.

By DAN HOLLOW Tribune Staff Writer All the neighlrs for miles around and some city folks, too, turned out on a warm fall afternoon Sunday for the Teton Antique Steam Gas Association's first annual threshing show. Ove Larson, who bought his first antique steam engine in 1972, played host to a crowd of about 400 on his farm between Dutton and Choteau. Larson, as was the case with most of the association's other 30 members, grew up on farms when steam engines were in their heyday. "When I was 15 and back in southeast Minnesota, I hauled water for steam engines for a dollar a day," said Larson, who came to Montana in 1956 to farm. "We're here to rekindle the old Governor's By ROBERTA DONOVAN Tribune Correspondent LEWISTOWN "Coming of Age: Health and Independence" is the theme of the 16th annual Governor's Conference on Aging, slated Wednesday thromgh Friday in Lewistown.

Abour550 people from throughout the state are expected to attend. One of the highlights of the conference will be the announcement of the winner of this year's "Senior Citizen of the Year" award. Gov. Ted Schwinden will make the presentation and also deliver an address during the awards banquet Thursday evening. He is expected to discuss aging, health and indepence and will also talk about the next legislative session.

Keynote speaker for the conference will be Bill Pothier of San Fran I flame and to build a fire in the young," said Bill Obernolte, another Minnesotan who moved west in the '50s. Obernolte is president of the antique association, which was formed in January. He explained that the steam engines drove the long belts that powered the separators, which separated the straw from the grain. One younger farmer who has caught the antique bug is Rick Corey, who bought a 1928 Advance Rumely separator five years ago. Sunday was the first time the restored machine had been used since it fell idle in a farmer's field in about 1936, Corey said.

Judging from the steady stream of oats pouring into a truck bed and the storm of straw flying out another chute, everything was in working Conference cisco, Calif. Now retired, he headed a senior center in California for 15 years. He will talk about topics of special interest to senior citizens, such as health care, leisure activities and the promotion of multi-purpose centers. Pothier's talk will be delivered Thursday at 9 a.m. during the opening session of the conference.

Conferees will be welcomed by Stan Rogers of Billings, chairman of the Governor's Advisory Council on Aging, who has been instrumental in planning the conference. Charles Briggs of Helena, state aging coordinator, is responsible for coordinating the conference, which is sponsored jointly by the Area II Agency on Aging in Roundup and the Fergus County Council on Aging in Lewistown. Directors of the two money that pays for room and board. But as the costs rise, they could cut into other special-education funds. Great Falls, a much larger school district, ranked second to Helena with only five out-of-district placements, said Gail Gray, special education coordinator for OPI.

Officials hope to reduce Helena's out-of-district placements by having a coordinator who can closely monitor a youngster who is assigned to a program that spans several agencies. Preliminary meetings this summer focused on identifying the problems, and now the group is ready to see if more can be done locally, keeping the youngsters in Helena and still meeting their needs. "If on a statewide basis through public or private means we couild build up our correctional facilities, Dick (Meeker) and I would be the first to send them there," Bennett said. "I wish to heck we had a Vision Quest in Montana. Then we would Pilots to gather Great Falls Hangar of the Montana Pilots Association has reorganized and plans to meet again today at Fairfield.

A spot landing contest will be held in conjunction with a barbecue. Arrivals should contact operations on 122.8 10 miles out, according to Chip Holt. The barbecue is set for 5:30 p.m., with the contest set for 6:30. An entry fee be charged. The bale operations building at Montana Air National Guard headquarters has been designated the group's permanent meeting place.

Stimatz' bill was killed in the Senate, and a bill by Pavlovich was approved by the House, but too late for the Senate to consider it. Pavlovich's bill also would have established a commission, and both bills would have designated up to 20 percent of the gross proceeds for administration of the lottery. The amount of income from a Montana lottery is a disputed point. The state Budget and Program Planning Office predicts about $5 million for the state. Pavlovich says a study of lotteries in Washington, Colorado and Arizona will give a better idea of what Montana might get.

"We should have some figures to work with in a couple of weeks," he said. "KOOZ was a great station and I know it will be missed by many area listeners," he said. "However, the new station K106 will give us a much better chance to improve our listener ranking in the area." The new format, which boasts more rock music than talk, will begin today, Lockhart said. You're still as cute as a bug in a rug. HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY 1 KJlllfU.tJ.jiJ.

BEAUTIFUL CASKET SPRAYS $0oo ondup JL sj $50 Value (Why Pay More?) Insist On The Best For The Least From EfaVticCiGj 1413 5th Av. No. Phon. 453-1621 ftirtti- nl Hr'-'lit Great Falls will have a new rock radio station today, as KOOZ-FM radio steps out of the elevator to con-Vert from the sound of strings to heavy metal. Since 1977, KOOZ's format has provided area listeners with soft background music.

Bob Lockhart, president and general manager, said the change was made to increase the number of listeners in the area. While Supplies List SPARTUS L.E.D. Alarm Clock With snooze alarm, battery backup. Woodgrain case. 1140-61 Quantities Limited Ish person llllll CIIMIT 900 2Stti Strwt North Qiwl Fall HARDWARE STORES I 8" KSfl OAM storing and installing a steam-driven sawmill on Larson's farm, Obernolte said.

The set-up was finally ready yesterday, with 74-year-old Ray German of Oilmont at the steam engine controls and Ray Ginther of Fairfield feeding logs into the blade. The afternoon also featured plowing demonstrations with antique equipment and a slow race, in which two drivers tried to see who could reach the finish line last. The slow race does not have its roots in the past, Obernolte said. "The farmers only done one thing with them tractors and that was work the hell out of them," he said. With the demonstrations over, the crowd moved to a barn for some fiddle and accordion music.

this week on Aging will meet Wednesday afternoon. A dance is slated at the Lewis-town Senior Citizens Club. Following the opening session Thursday, workshops will be held on familyneighborhood support, community care alternatives, medications and abuse, elder abuse and transportation. Shawn O'Neill of Salt Lake City, Utah, will speak at the Thursday noon luncheon, hosted by the Montana Association of Area Agencies on Aging. She is the director of aging services for the Salt Lake City-County Area and also serves on the National Board of Area Agencies on Aging.

Her talk will deal with the future of services to the elderly as society grows older. During the afternoon general session, John of Helena, head of the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, will speak on "Priorities for People." Afternoon workshop topics include nursing care, stress management, economics of health care, health promotion and employment and volunteerism. A no-host social hour will precede the banquet that evening. The general session Friday morning will include a panel discussion on Social Security, Medicare, and SSIDisability. Later in the moring there will be concurrent sessions on ethics of dignity in dying and senior center health promotion.

The conference will conclude at noon, following a report on legacy legislature by Roberta Nutting, a talk on "Healthy Attitudes" by Bob Lind of the Montana State University Extension Service and closing remarks by Rogers. NOTICES IMPRESSIONS WITH COLOR SAVE $51 Make your appointment before Sept. 20th for most thorough least expensive color analysis In the area. Be knowledgeable about your make up. prints, plaids fabrics before buying for fall.

FREE: Lectures to clubs, business groups conventions. Call: Bertie Struck 452-8430 Agencies working to reduce costs of educating troubled students MEETINGS PUBLIC HELENA (AP) The prospect of a $400,000 bill to educate and rehabilitate 13 troubled youngsters this year has triggered an unprecedented interagency effort in Lewis and Clark County to reduce the costs. "If it works here, it'll save money around the state," said Dick Meeker, Lewis and Clark County probation officer. The effort includes the school district, the county probation office, county commissioners, the state Crime Commission, county Human Services, the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, the state Office of Public Instruction, city commissioners, United Way and the private Casey Family program. The expense stems from the courts ordering troubled youngsters out of the Helena school district, sometimes out of Montana, to specialized treatment centers that can cost an average of $33,000 a year.

"We send them out only when the rest of the resources in the state can't handle them," said District Judge Gordon Bennett, the youth court judge. Most of the youngsters have emotional, family and drug- or alcohol-abuse problems. Last year the educational costs alone for 13 Helena children totaled $57,453, more than any other community in Montana. SRjpaid an additional $323,105 for their room and board. This xear officials expect the educational costs to rise to $75,729.

So far the school district has not had to pay. The money comes from a combination of federal special education funds and state foster-care POSTING BOARD Check Blue Shield 65. Low-cost companion to Medicare. You may enroll from three months before, to three months after, the month in which you turn 65. Same enrollment period as Medicare.

Top-quality DEMO CENTRAL Committee, 7:30 pm. Sept. 17. County Courthouse. Presentation of study commission candidates.

All democrats welcome! THE GREAT FALLS AMERICANS LITTLE LEAGUE Will hold their Annual Meeting for the purpose of election of new board members on September 17th at 7:30 p.m. In the Blue Cross Annex 3360 10th Ave. So. All members ana the general public are invited. coverage reasonable cost.

Call for details. Blue Shield 65 Great Falls: 452-5345 RgittfM Ma BliM SMW Auociation.