The Times from Munster, Indiana • 3

pmE THREE The Times. Wednesday. December 28. 1988 A-3 Fod service pact tabled Region digest By PETRALUKE Times Stoff Writer CROWN POINT It'll be business as usual at the Lake County Government Center cafeteria for a while, because documents which might lead to a change in food service aren't ready. Lake County Commissioners tabled action Tuesday on bid specifications when Lake County Attorney John Dull said he was worried about how the bids will be compared once they're submitted.

Dull said the bid specifications were prepared according to how food service operations are run in Marion County. He a month rent or a percentage of the net food sales, whichever was greater. JMK has paid the monthly S250 in rent. JMK's president is John Kostides and its secretary is Mary Kostides. They are the son and wife of George Kostides.

former county court bailiff who now works security at the government center. Commissioners President Ernest Niemeyer, R-Lowell, wants food service put up for bid. Commissioners Steve Corey, D-Hobart, and Rudolph Clay, D-Gary, have said they favor seeking less restrictive proposals. When proposals rather than bids are i 5 rf i Hi h'- No 1 hx Cvv yi. ho ft I hi mi.

Vr 4 i isJ if rl Of A FIRST FROSTY: Amber, 9, Brandi, 10, Cheri, 7, and Eroyn Mae Durr's home on Moss Street in Hammond. The kids are Girtman, 5, build their first snowman at grandmother Willie from Boynton Beach, and had never seen snow. Family finally finds fine friend said it might be difficult to decide which company had the best proposal because some might bid a percentage of food sales, and others may bid a monthly rental Commissioners have been locked in a battle for several weeks over food service operations at the cafeteria, which have run under a contract which expired Feb. 28,1986. JMK Catering and Food Service Operations Inc.

of Merrill ville provides food service at -the cafeteria under the expired contract. Under that contract, the company was to pay the county $250 that an officer had shot while hunting. Pelletier was AWOL after staying ovenfight with the Dentais when he got his orders to return home to Lewiston, Maine. He left them his photo and address. Since that time, Pelletier married, raised a family of five, moved to Calumet City and then to Hammond in 1978.

The Dentai family kept the photo, but they lost Pelletier 's name and address as "they ran from one country to the next, surviving arrest by the Belgian police and finally arriving in the United States. A closeup of that photo appeared on nationwide television on Dec. 21, when Carl Dentai, now a hotel operator in Cheboygan, told his family's story and appealed to the soldier to identify himself. "He wanted to say 'thank said John Joseph, who directed the story for NBC's Unsolved Mysteries program, which airs locally on WM AQ-TV. Dentai's wife, Terezia, died in August 1959.

Daughter Bridget Laramie, who also appeared on the TV program, lives near her father in Whitehall, Mich. Pelletier, a carpenter and former postal service worker who retired last July, wasn't watching the show and hadn't told his siblings about his Army experi Medicare Part beneficiaries will increase 29 percent in 1989. The costs, now deducted from Social Security checks, will rise from $24.70 to S31.90 a month. Jontz said senior citizens have been hit hard two years in a row, as their Part costs rose in 1988 from SI 7.80 to S24.70 a month. Roughly half of the increase in Part payments 84 is intended to help pay for the catastrophic health bill Jontz said.

The rest of the increase is due to a law that says the charge to beneficiaries has to equal 25 percent of the total cost of the Part program. In addition to those costs, Jontz said roughly 40 percent of the Medicare beneficiaries pay income tax and are liable to pay for supplemental income. The payment scale is $22 for every $150 in tax liability. So. if a senior citizen wrote the government a check for $300 in 1988 taxes payable 1989, an extra $44 would be required for the supplemental premium.

Jontz said the average Social Security payment now is about S500 a month. "The bottom line is a lot of seniors are upset about these increases. I am, too," Jontz said. "Medicare is a good program, but these escalating costs threaten the sought, the process is open only to those companies which are notified. When bids are sought, legal advertisements are published which tell the public which goods or services are wanted.

On a questionnaire sent out to members of Lake Criminal Court juries in 1987 and 1988, people were asked to rate seven factors, such as eating facilities at the government center, as either good, adequate or poor. Of the 608 jury members who responded. 29 percent rated the food as good nd 47.4 percent said it was adequate. About 23 percent of those surveyed said the food was poor. No parking during snow means that By MICHAEL J.

RIGG Times Correspondent GRIFFITH Last summer, the Griffith Town Board asked residents to conserve water. In the fall, residents were reminded not to burn leaves. Now it's winter and guess what? People in Griffith are being reminded of a certain ordinance prohibiting parking on the streets posted as snow routes when snowfall exceeds one inch. Trustee Merie Colby made the announcement at Tuesday night's board meeting, warning that vehicles may even be towed to make way for the plows if the ordinance is not obeyed. The same, ordinance provides that "apparently abandoned" vehicles may be impounded and towed.

The towing portion of the law's a little too tough as far as Trustee L.E. Owen is concerned. "We are a small town. People who sleep late or work shift work may not re alize that it has snowed until after the plows have been through." he said. Griffith is very different from a big city like Chicago, he told the board, and.

therefore, its residents shouldn't be expected to be "on call" to move their cars at the first sign of snow. "We should want to see, locally, a human aspect," Owen said. "We must recognize that not everyone will be watching the calendar." Colby responded by saying that 2,000 vehicles could have been ticketed for breaking the ordinance on Monday; none were. He said public works personnel worked for 13 hours Monday, and, if vehicle owners had obeyed the ordinance and moved their cars, the work could have been done in nine or 10 hours. Board president Stanley Dobosz said both views had merit, but "the ordinance is mandatory." Police Chief William Weddell suggested publicizing the ordinance in local newspapers to warn residents that their cars can be towed at the owner's expense.

In the future, temporary warning signs can be put up in the fall and taken down just as the snows begin, he suggested. Weddell said the early temporary signs would allow people plenty of time to get to know the ordinance. Cleaning bids to be redone By PETRALUKE Times Staff Writer CROWN POINT Lake County Commissioners will rebid a contract to clean the Lake County Government Center in 1989. Commissioners had to throw out the only bid they had received Dec. 19 for the cleaning service, because County Attorney John Dull discovered the bid didn't meet all the requirements.

Dull said bid specifications called for each company to submit a bid bond. The lone bidder, Kelley's Cleaning Service of Gary, didn't submit a bid bond. The next round of cleaning bids will be opened Jan. 23, commissioners said Tuesday. Kelley's, which holds the current contract for cleaning the government center, bid 8258,960 to do the work for 1989.

This year, Kelley's has a contract to do the work for $165,420. Commissioners reduced the amount of Kelley's 1988 contract by S480 Tuesday, because the company has failed to perform some of the work specified. Under the 1988 contract. Kelley's is supposed to clean the windows in the government center twice a year. Commissioners had decided to withhold payment of that part of Kelley's contract because it appeared the windows hadn't been cleaned.

The 1988 contract says Kelley's is to be paid $2,160 annually to clean the windows. The owners of Kelley's told Dan Ombac, county superintendent of buildings and grounds, they had done all but the outside windows on the third floor of the administration building. Ombac told commissioners in a letter that John Kelley of Kelley's Cleaning Service had agreed to reduce his contract by $480. For 1989, commissioners have said they'll seek separate bids for window cleaning. The Region Digest includes top news stories from communities in The Times' other, circulation areas.

Illinois SOUTH HOLLAND LOOKS AHEAD: The new year typically marks a time to start anew, but that won't be the case this year for South Holland of-. ficials. They will face in 1989 many unresolved issues of 1988, including the Sunday closing law, home equi-, ty, gun control, 911 emergency telephone service and sewer renovation. The outcome of any of these issues is uncertain, but some -village officials will work for a little more certainty in one upcoming event spring elections. CAL CITY EYES FUTURE: The city's 1989 forecast is stormy until April, probably followed by a brief period of calm with the possibility of more turbulence to come.

The new year starts on the heels of one which was packed full of politics, problems and procrastination. Some of its problems have been solved, but the city's attention will be focused on the council's procrastination concerning the city's $1.7 million budget deficit and the politics of the April municipal election. LOCALS GO TO COLLEGE: The Electoral College is not an ordinary institution of higher education. Nationwide, there were 538 electoral collegians, meeting in state capitols and in the District of Columbia. The 426 Republicans and 112 Democrats each represent a congres- sional district or U.S.

Senate seat. They don't expect wide public recognition, since their names are not on the ballot. Journeying to Springfield to certify the election results were William Scannell of Blue Island, representing the 2nd Congressional District; Delbert Swanson of Oak Lawn, 3rd Congressional District; and Donald Wolsfelt of Montgomery, 4th Congressional District. South Lake MORE GROWTH AHEAD: It sounds a bit like a broken record. Scherervi-lie has logged another year of almost unbelievable construction.

That has been the case for the past couple of years. It's a trend that's expected to carry over to the next year. The town issued more than 600 building permits so far this year. Town Manager Herman Parker said. That surpasses the number issued in 1987.

AIDS EDUCATION BACKED: AIDS education in the community is every bit as important as AIDS education in the classrooms. Case in point: The Valparaiso School Board is willing to spend S500 for an AIDS community education series. "You are dealing with reality that exists in our community today," said Dr. John Poncher, a Valparaiso pediatrician. NEW BOARDS APPOINTED: The Schererville Town Board has gotten a jump on the new year.

It's already made its committee commission appointments for 1989. Those appointed are: Plan Commission Don Mansfield, four year term; Richard Krame, Robert Volkman and -Veronica Green, one year terms; Board of Zoning Appeals Paul Muller, four year term; Park Board Daniel Jordan, four year term; Drainage Board Charles Childs and Ronald Green, one year terms; Police Commission Theodore Cichocki, three year term. The town staff consists of Robin Kasper, planning coordinator; Robin Thiel, recording secretary: Eugene Poston, supervisor, public works; Ben Kellar, supervisor, special project; Joseph Govert, building inspector; Dale Rudd, electrical inspector; Brad Matthews, plumbing inspector; and George Michels. emergency medical technician. By SANDRA GUY Times Staff Writer HAMMOND An Army private far from home took pity on a Hungarian family fleeing Communist takeover in the waning days of World War II, so he took their daughter to a children's Christmas party.

His generosity began a 43-year remembrance that will be renewed today in Hammond, bringing the former soldier and the family together for the first time since the war. Philippe Pelletier, 63, of 15 Webb was 19 when he met the Dentai family in Lintz, Austria, a city occupied by the U.S. Army. The Dentais and other Hungarian refugees were living in boxcars near the base where Pelletier was stationed with the 89th Infantry Division's Signal Corps. Their daughter, Bridget, who was then about 5 years old, caught Pelletier 's eye.

"She was such a beautiful child," he said in an interview Tuesday, recalling how she kept warm during the winter of 1945 by wearing an old fur coat and hat. "I took a liking to her and the family." After taking Bridget to her first Christmas party, Pelletier began bringing the family food, cigarettes, K-rations and meat from two large bucks Times photo by Michoel Zafakowski ence. He had told only his wife, Lucille. But his sister, Cecile, who lives in Hartford, and his brother-in-law from Maine were watching, and they recognized his photo. Pelletier said his sister was so excited she called the toll-free telephone number given at the end of the show to identify her brother.

She also called Pelletier and their brother, who lives in California. "Who would think 43 years later?" said a still-surprised Pelletier in an accent that denotes his French-Canadian heritage. "Once in a while I would think of them. But there was no way to tell where they were." Today's reunion is being arranged by staff members of Unsolved Mysteries, who won't let the two families talk to each other until the big moment. Joseph said Pelletier convinced them he was authentic when he called the program and answered certain questions designed to trip up impostors.

"This all happened so fast. It's pretty amazing from our point of view," Joseph said, adding that it's ironic the families live in bordering states. The reunion will air as an update of the original story, and is tentatively set for the Jan. 11 program. The show airs at 7 p.m.

act taxes purpose for which Medicare was intended." Jontz said the costs seniors are paying for Medicare coverage, for example, now exceed what they paid for health care before the program was As a member of the Select Committee on Aging, Jontz said he plans to sponsor legislation to eliminate the 25 percent requirement and to cap the Part premiums at the cost of living. Part benefits, which are to take effect in 1990, will also put a cap on out-of-pocket expenses. The cap will be $1,370. In 1991, prescription drug benefits also take effect, and coverage will eventually reach 80 percent of the costs. Jontz said beneficiaries shouldn't have been socked for the costs of the bill.

"I think there will be a very large outcry of concern about these increased premiums," Jontz said, concern that will cause Congress to re-examine this." If Congress re-examines the bill, Jontz said he would like to see that longterm custodial care is provided. This care would be used in particular for people confined to nursing homes, and for families who use all their financial resources for disabled people or disabled children. Jontz blasts health By DEBRA GRUSZECKI Times Staff Writer CROWN POINT U.S. Rep. Jim Jontz, criticized the government Tuesday for tax changes that make senior citizens bear the brunt of a new catastrophic health care bill.

Jontz vowed he will take steps to fine tune the bill after he's sworn in for a second term Tuesday. The claim came just hours after Jontz listened to complaints at a gathering of senior citizens in Cedar Lake. The Medicare Catastrophic Protection Act, passed in 1987, was written to protect the elderly from a financial catastrophe because of an illness. While its intent is good. Jontz said it has driven up Medicare costs for elderly people with crimped pocket books.

The increase is also not in line with a 4 percent cost of living increase that senior citizens will see in their Social Security benefits beginning Jan. 1. Here'swhy: The legislation sets up Medicare coverage beginning 1989 up to 365 days a year after an annual first-day payment, pegged at S564. is paid. Before, a series of lower deductibles were required.

To help pay tor it. premiums for.