Palladium-Item from Richmond, Indiana • Page 1

TO A ABIU TEM A Vol. 147, No. 237 Richmond, Thursday, Sept. 29, 1977 In 3 Sections 46 Pages 20c mcas continue fight to keep rail line open pa 5 TT" "TJ 0 when the lease expires Saturday, and that this would allow Penn-Central to charge new, higher rates. If the line does not remain open, trains heading east to Richmond would have to be rerouted either to West Manchester or Columbus, Ohio, before going back to Richmond, adding either 60 or 200 miles to the trip.

In addition to adding to shipping charges, the movement across a state line would subject the Richmond-bound trains to interstate charges, which are higher than those for intrastate rail movements. rail, will revert back to Penn-Central ownership Oct. 1 upon expiration of the lease. In this case, shippers wanting to keep the line open would have to deal with Penn-Central, not Con-rail. Huffman said that if Penn-Central regains control of the line and doesp't want to resume through service from the west, a Madison group has offered to run a short-line service on the 23-mile stretch, thus connecting the other parts of the route.

Huffman said Madison Railway, which has a short-line operation at Madison, is willing to take over the 23-mile segment, providing current routing and rate schedules on file with the Public Service Commission remain intact. However, Huffman said Conrail will probably want to abandon the current rate schedules WASHINGTON (AP) A government index of future economic trends showed a sharp upturn in August as industries decided to spend more money on their factories, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The index of leading indicators rose eight-tenths of one per cent after increasing two-tenths of a per cent in July and declining two-tenths of a per cent in both June and May. Most encouraging to economists was a rise of three-tenths of a per cent in contracts and orders for plants and equipment. That means industries are building more factories and will be able to turn out more products, possibly leading to more jobs.

Mayor Clifford Dickman and Irving Huffman, general manager of Richmond Power and Light, left Washington on Wednesday night, still trying to figure a way to keep direct rail service serving Richmond from the west after Oct. 1. Dickman and Huffman spent more than three hours with almost 40 representatives of federal agencies and and congressmen in an attempt to stall a decision by Conrail, the federal freight train operator, to drop service on the 23-mile stretch of rail line between Cambridge City and Charlottesville. Huffman said Thursday the Washington nveting revealed a problem of ownership over the rail segment irt question. Huffman said a spokesman for the Penn-Central Railroad trustees claimed at the hearing that the rail line, which is leased by Con- farm bill igns However, the index did not indicate an improved job outlook because the layoff rate was unchanged in August and the average work week declined.

The Commerce Department had reported last month that the index had dropped three months in a row, but it subsequently changed its July figure from a drop of two-tenths of a per cent to an increase of two-tenths. The main reason was improvement in net business formation, another sign of business confidence. Economists have figured that any improvement in the economy will have to come from spending by businesses on new equipment and capital because consumer spending may have reached its peak. Also contributing to the increase this month was a rise of three-tenths of a per cent in building permits and boosts in the money supply, prices of raw materials and liquid assets. Among figures declining were vendor performance and stock prices.

The August increase was the largest since an increase of 1.9 per cent in March. In, the past five years, the biggest rise was a 3.1 per cent jump in June 1975. The index now stands at 131.3, which means business activity is 31.3 per cent stronger than it was in the 1967 base period. Paducah police track down lead in Harmeier case The bill tightens eligibility requirements for families with incomes above the official poverty level, while increasing aid to families with incomes under the poverty level. The $11 billion estimated annual price tag on the bill is about $2 billion more than Carter said he wanted to spend, but he said the bill will lead toward stability for the farm economy and farm programs.

Price support sections of the in which the government guarantees minimum prices farmers can get for their crops, will cost up to $4.4 billion a year and the food stamp program will cost $5.6 billion annually, the administration says. The House completed congression V. C5'' -I- "It fit 4. s-mgV ill! Sept. 12 to the present.

NBC coming? Jackson indicated an NBC crew may be sent to both Cambridge City and the Indiana University campus this weekend. He said the network's news department had become interested in the story from reports of Cambridge City's unusual activity on behalf of the young woman. New directions for that commu-. nity were discussed at a meeting Wednesday night of the campaign's steering committee gathered at the home of JDublin Elementary School principal David Weston. Leaders there made plans for a delegation to distribute posters of Ann in the Paducah area this weekend and also possibly to assist an IU student-Sierra Club search expedition Saturday of the Morgan-Monroe counties forest.

It was noted that seven billboards also will soon appear in the southern Indiana region, two of them donated by the Hoosier Outdoor Advertising firm, and the others paid for from the growing search and reward fund that has been accumulating in the two Cambridge City banks. The committee said it has sent letters of thanks to the several Indiana newspapers that have maintained coverage of the Harmeier story, along with eight television stations in Indianapolis, Dayton and Cincinnati for helping to keep the case on the public's mind. Members of the committee are Marianne and David Weston, Patty and Ben Hersberger, Gary and Carolyn Stearns, John and Kay Miller, Dolly and James Sweet, Donald and Donna Dillon, and Betty and Ernie Alder. Carters WASHINGTON (AP) An $11-billion farm bill that boosts grain farmers' incomes, revamps the federal food stamp program and expands agricultural research was signed Thursday by President Carter. While the bill's food stamp and price support sections will be costly to the taxpayers, specialists say the measure's immediate effect on prices at the supermarket will be minimal.

The bill will renew and revise nearly every statute governing Agriculture Department programs. Carter's signature marks the end of almost three years" work by Congress and two administrations to prepare the bill, which will be in effect for the next four years. Quiet day for fishing postmaster. According to Bosco, Doran wrote that the move will eventually save the Postal Service $300,000, and that a new study would not change anything. "Are aware" "We are aware of the human factor, but other factors are also important we're in a dire financial situation and we'll improve productivity with relocation," Doran was.

quoted as writing. Doran also wrote that the Postal Service hopes to "reduce cost through mechanization while maintaining the present level of service." He explained that fewer employes are needed to handle machine mail because 50 letters can be sorted a minute using the machine, while only 20 can be sorted manually. A spokesman for the local postal union, who asked not to be identified, has argued that the transfers will not save money because no men are losing their jobs and most of the transfers will be working the night shift a shift that pays 10 per cent more than the day shift. The postal workers' contract prevents them from being laid off. But Bosco countered that the 14 clerks going to Muncie (one requested and received a transfer to Dayton) are actually filling positions KF' i k.ivsi:jfis;?tt!!,..;.v..

tinfr im, 1 1 nrfli al action on the compromise version of the bill Sept 16. The Senate approved it Sept 9. Actual spending on crop-related programs depends primarily on the weather in this country and in other major crop-exporting nations. Favorable growing weather, bumper harvests and slow foreign demand for U.S. grains would keep prices low, prompting higher government payments to help farm income keep pace with production costs.

The farm bill will provide a record $1.2 billion in such payments for wheat farmers, who have harvested a surplus-building crop of 2.03 billion bushels this year. -ft-. will be busy changes in mail service. The union spokesman agreed home mail delivery might be earlier, as planned, but that box mail would be delivered later than is now the case. Most box mail is for businesses and institutions.

Although more than half of all box mail comes to the Richmond post office without a box number, clerks already know the numbers, he said. In Muncie, however, box mail with only the street address would be sorted for the appropriate Richmond carrier, who would have to turn it over to the mail sorters for further sorting, thus causing a delay, he said. Bosco denied there would be a delay and said box mail has always been "a problem." The union spokesman charged that the Richmond post office, half of which is already used for storage, will be "empty and wasted" after Oct 8. Two-thirds of the building will not be in use, although utility bills will still be the same, he said. Bosco said the Postal Service is thinking of renting the space to federal agencies.

"Even if we're not able to rent it out that won't have any bearing on the transfers." He said the Postal Service would not reverse the move "just to fill it (the building) up." canal days by Steve Koger) XL I -Jr. tVf this weekend with the annual Hi v. 1 41 By Richard Holden Paducah (Kentucky) police were working to develop slim information Thursday that might lead them to the car that two Indiana witnesses say was bearing a girl matching Ann Harmeier's description the day the Cambridge City woman disappeared. However, bet. J.

W. Cunningham said he had been contacted by Indiana authorities about the car but "we have turned up nothing so far." Meanwhile, the Paducah newspaper and television station were running the story of the missing Indiana University coed with information supplied them by Rev. Rose Taul, who went to Paducah Wednes-day. The Paducah clue came from two service station operators in Paragon, located on Indiana 67 about nine miles from where Miss Harmeier's disabled car was found abandoned on Indiana 37 Sept. 12.

The two claim they serviced an older model car containing six persons, one a girl in a red Indiana T-shirt, about an hour and a half after Miss Harmeier was seen along the roadside. The station's manager, Willard Walt, 57,. said he remembers the car bore Kentucky plates with McCra-cken County printed on them. Paducah is the county seat of McCracken County, located in western Kentucky on the Ohio River. But Indiana State Police Sgt.

Donald Gastineau repeated Thursday that the men's stories were too sketchy for investigators to base an all-out pursuit. "Their stories have been inconsistent with us and with the newspapers," Gastineau said from the Bloomington ISP post. "He cannot positively identify the girl, only that she look similar (to Miss Harmeier). Gastineau said investigators "are not necessarily putting their information down. We're just saying we're following their leads like hundreds of others we have received." The case of Ann Harmeier and the Cambridge City community's personal campaign to find information apparently has attracted network television interest.

NBC correspondent Tom Jackson called the Palladium-Item Thursday morning to ask complete details on the case from Today Partly cloudy Thursday night, cloudy and a chance of rain Friday. Weather details on Page 5. 26 CB Break .25 Area news 3 Classified .26 Comics 31 Dear Abby 9 Editorials 6 Erma Bombeck ...10 Family 8 Medical Advice 9 Other America 7 Other Indiana 23 Sports .....17 TV 31 Weather. 5 Wayne Brock, left, and his brother Tim, of Mt. Healthy Ohio, took advantage of Tuesday's mild weather to fish under the aqueduct in Metamora.

The canal community festival. (Palladium-Item Photo Regional postal director denies transfer delay request By Karen Tucker The U.S. Postal Service's regional director in Chicago has rejected a bid by local postal clerks being transferred for a 90-day delay and a new study a bid that took the form of a letter by U.S. Rep. Phil Sharp (D-Tenth District) and a resolution by Common Council.

Fifteen Richmond postal clerks are scheduled for transfer to the Muncie sectional center Oct 8 along with all of Richmond's incoming mail that can be sorted on Muncie's computerized machine. The clerks say they believe the number being transferred is too high for needs both at Muncie and Richmond and unjustified in terms of financial savings and public service. They thus have worked for a 90-day delay to enable further study of the situation a study they hoped would reduce the number of transfers. The number has already been reduced once from the original 17 to the present 15. But John P.

Doran, Postal Service regional director, explained the transfers of men and mail and rejected any delay in a letter written last week to Sharp's Washington, D.C., office; Charles H. Boswell, Postal Service district manager in Indianapolis, and John Bosco, Muncie opened by retirements. "A delay would prove to be detrimental," he said. "If we waited any longer, we would have to hire others from outside the post office." Bosco said the Postal Service hopes to save money through attrition by not hiring new workers for some positions left open by retirements. He also said the 10 per cent night shift wage differential "is not as much as you might think, because the 10 per cent is only based on the base salary, not on the fringe benefits too." Doesn't know how The union spokesman said, "I don't know how they plan to save money.

I think they're hoping a lot (of transferred clerks) will quit, and then they can hire subs for two or three hours a day. It's a poor way to get rid of people." Rep. Sharp wrote the letter to Doran Sept. 8 "at the urging of local citizens, local officials and postal employes." Common Council passed its resolution Sept 19 after union representatives appeared at an earlier council meeting requesting such action. The union was forced to campaign in an indirect manner because a Postal Service rule forbids employes from actively working for or against J.

W. Russelburg, Postal Service district director for automation services in Indianapolis, said someone from the district office was sent to Muncie "to make sure Bosco didn't overlook anything. We could find nothing wrong. All was above board; everything checked out all right." The American Postal Workers Union regional office in Chicago has charged that most of New Castle's mail, transferred to Muncie two years ago, is still being processed manually. "If that's true, it's not intentional," Russeiburg said.

"The intent is only for machineable mail, including Richmond's, to be transferred." The move of New Castle and Richmond mail to Muncie is part of a nationwide centralization of mail processing in automated sectional centers. The Postal Service believes such centralization will cut processing costs. The U.S. General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C., is presently trying to determine whether this is true. "Centralization has to stop one of these days," said the union spokesman.

"We want to stop the process here before Oct. 8. Once we make the move, they (postal management) won't admit they're wrong.".