The Greenwood Commonwealth from Greenwood, Mississippi • 5

Commonweolth, Greenwood, Friday, April 15, 1988-Page 5 Legislative session moving into final stretch lot of anxiety" among citizens and other lawmakers. When people get wind of a possible compromise, conferees are likely to be overwhelmed with telephone calls, he said. "You don't want a compromise proposal played up in the press," he said. "Your're elected to come down and make a judgment. You should use your best judgment in making these decisionnn without any undue outside interference.

It's going to have to ultimately come out in the public when it's voted on by the entire body anyway." both exempted from the state's open meetings law, subcommittee meetings are normally open to the public. About 75 percent of the time, a conference committee will include the committee chairmen, vice chairmen and subcommittee chairmen who handled the bill in the House and Senate, Ford said. Sometimes a legislator will be appointed because of special expertise in an area or to represent a popular minority viewpoint, he said. Ford said that opening conference committee debate would "create a By AMY GLTMAN Commonwealth Capitol Bureau JACKSON As the 1988 legislative session moves into its final stretch, a number of hotly argued bills are slipping from public sight. Proposals to raise public school teachers' salaries, abolish the state Board of Corrections, and ask voters whether they want a constitutional convention are among those being fought out in closed-door conference committees, a standard part of the legislative process.

"They do get very heated," said House of Representatives Speaker Tim Ford, explaining why he thinks closed conference committee meetings are necessary. "The conferees would like to have the luxury of being able to say what's want a convention to rewrite the state's 1890 charter. However, the House-passed version would bar convention delegates from altering certain existing laws, including a three-fifths legislative vote requirement for tax bills and the present homestead exemption program. The Senate measure did not set any areas off limits to delegates. The two chambers also differed on how the referendum should be worded.

The deadline for conference committee reports to be filed is April 30 for appropriations and revenue bills and May 2 for general bills and constitutional amendments. The session is scheduled to conclude Mav 8. While legislative conference committees and subcommittees are exactly on their minds. It sometimes does get personal. There's a lot of name calling." Conference committees are routinely set up to hammer out a compromise when the Senate and House fail to agree on one version of a bill that both have passed in different forms.

Two of Gov. Ray Mabus' four top legislative priorities raising teacher pay to the Southeastern average and a constitutional referendum are now in conference while a third, the proposed county unit system, appears headed that way. Most appropriations bills wind up in conference so lawmakers can consider them as a group and bring state expenditures in line with anticipated revenues. Here are how the teacher pay and constitution bills look going into conference: Teacher pay: Both House and Senate bills would phase in a $3,700 average teacher pay raise by the 1989-'90 school year but the Senate version delays the raise longer and would cost less. Both bills are watered down versions of Gov.

Ray Mabus' campaign pledge to immediately raise Mississippi teacher salaries to the Southeastern average. Estimated price tags: House version, $92 million in the 1988-'89 fiscal year and $116 million the next year: Senate version, $64.5 million in the first fiscal year and $114 million for 1989-'90. Constitutional referendum: Both House and Senate versions would let voters decide in November if thev lRAstil Attorney convicted of manslaughter www jwmmwmwmmmmMmmmwwmmmmwwmmmmww I Iff I MOBILE, Ala. fAP) A jury bypassed a murder charge against a prominent Mobile attorney and instead convicted him of manslaughter for killing a companion during a night of drinking. The jury deliberated about four hours Thursday.

The manslaughter conviction carries a penalty of two to 10 years in prison. Circuit Judge Braxton Kittrell did not immediately set a sentencing date for Joseph D. Quinlivan who admitted the shooting, but claimed he acted in self-defense. Quinlivan is an assistant city attorney, a part-time job he has held for 10 years, and is a veteran criminal lawyer. He was suspended with pay from his city job pending the outcome of the case.

Quinlivan embraced his wife, and walked out of the courtroom without comment following the verdict. During the four-day trial, Quinlivan testified that he and the victim, Robert DeGarcia, had a drinking party with a third man at DeGarcia's combination sign company and home on Nov. 14. Quinlivat said he and DeGarcia had no argument during the party, but after the third man left, DeGarcia threatened him with a knife. The shooting sent shock waves through the Mobile legal community.

Quinlivan was a close associate of District Attorney Chris Galanos, who steered clear of the case when it first unfolded. "He doesn't understand yet why he had to kill a friend," defense attorney Barry Hess said in closing comments to the jury. In his testimony, Quinlivan described in detail the events of the night he shot DeGarcia. He said the two men and a third man, attorney Joseph Boswell, had spent the night drinking at DeGarcia's business. At one point during the night, Quinlivan testified, the men discussed DeGarcia's knife-throwing ability.

"Joe (Boswell) said, 'Bob can have your throat cut before you can get your gun out of your pocket'," Quinlivan said. DeGarcia, Quinlivan testified, then "flipped" out a pocketknife and held it "close to my throat." "After he put it to my neck, I said, 'A knife is a great defense weapon, but what if a man is coming through a door with a Quinlivan said. He said DeGarcia then began how "proficient" he was with a knife and demonstrated his knife-throwing ability. After Boswell left, Quinlivan decided to leave and DeGarcia returned a gun that Quinlivan had given him earlier in the evening. 11 Billionaric Tax Kvaclers Super rich hotel chain owner, Harry Helmsley and his wife Leona, arrive at the New York State District Attorney's office in Manhattan Thursday to surrender in response to charges of tax evasion.

Judge to hear Nixon motions Nixon reported to jail in Florida last month after being convicted of perjury concerning his dealings with a Hattiesburg businessman. Because Nixon is from Mississippi, other Mississippi judges refused to oversee the appeals process and Rehnquist made what's called an inter-circuit appointment to hear the briefs and motions. Evers, segregationist battle it out on radio WASHINGTON fAP) U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist on Thursday appointed a federal judge from Missouri to hear motions in the case of convicted U.S. District Judge Walter Nixon Jr.

of Ocean Springs. Rehnquist appointed John F. Nangle, chief judge of the eastern district of Missouri, to oversee the Nixon case. Catch all the Sports Action in The Greenwood Commonwealth. "I don't agree with him, but he has the right to come," Evers said of the invitation to Barrett.

Barrett, a New Jersey native whose activities in Mississippi and other states have centered on criticizing blacks and promoting segregation, showed up for Evers' regular program "Community Affairs Forum." Evers had arrived at the studio just prior to air time, extending his hand to his guest. But Barrett declined to take it and told those in the studio: "I'm not here to dignify him. I'm here to defeat him with logic, reason, and the force of the spoken word of truth." JACKSON (AP) The end of a broadcast battle between a self-styled white supremacist and the brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers ended with the promise of a rematch next week. "God was the original segregationist and what God has put asunder, let no man join together," said Jackson attorney Richard Barrett, who couched many of his remarks in Biblical terms. "We are all god's children," responded Fayette Mayor Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers.

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