The Times from Munster, Indiana • 6

SUNDAY JULY 12, 1998 An edition of The Times serving Schererville, Dyer and St John TRI-TOWN FINAL 17 BUSINESS Waste Management-USA Waste merger could mean higher prices Although analysts say customers will see little differences for now, trash-hauling prices could rise as competition dwindles. F-l NATION 'Unknown soldier' laid to rest Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns for 14 years, was laid to rest Saturday near his home in St Louis. A-3 6 LOCAL Upstream salmon mark creek restoration WEATHER Lake Erie's $600,000 project is beginning to see results after-two years of planning and planting. For the first time in 20 years, salmon were swimming upstream in Sand Creek.

B-l LIFESTYLES Death of a star VU professor Bruce Hrivnak is using the Hubble telescope i to unlock the secrets of "dying stars." E-l SPOUTS Winning is everything The White Sox aren't just trying to develop A. Falling for fad diets 1 JlIMIiEgl Losing weight A great summer day with warm temperatures and sunny skies. Fun report, MO 8465 a foundation for the future as they requires exercise approach their worst season since 1989. and eating well not "miracle Believe it or not, the focus will be winning baseball games. C-l measures." E-12 WrfV www.thetimesonline.com Newsstand: $1.75 11 SECTIONS, 162 PAGES Bimcich wants his salary doubled i p.

But a change in the law might reduce his annual income and compensation for all state sheriffs Commissioner at center of allegations that phone deal was the result of an illegal pact BY ROBIN BIESEN Times Staff Writer CROWN POINT County Sheriff John Bun-" cich wants the county to pay him nearly doublS his current salary next year and then some. fey BY JOE CARROLL Times Staff Writer Two phone company executives say they paid $1,000 cash to Commissioner Rudolph Clay in exchange for pay phone contracts at the Gary and East Chicago courthouses. In addition, they say they were promised future help in obtaining phone contracts in the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point and at lakefront casinos. The arrangement, hammered out during a November 1996 meeting in the Olympia Fields office of a business associate of Clay, also required the commissioner to evict a competitor's pay phones from Clay vehemently denied the allegations and said he c'ouldn't recall ever meeting with Richard Dunne, the phone company executive who says he put at least $1,000 in cash into Clay's hand. "This is a defaming, malicious, viperism lie," Clay said when asked last week about the payoff allegations.

However, Clay's business associate in the deal wrote a receipt for the transaction. And during the same meeting at which Dunne says he gave the cash to Clay, the commissioner signed the contracts handing the Gary and East Chicago courthouse pay phone business over to RCD Pay Phones, the Illinois-based independent telecommunications firm owned by Richard and Catherine Dunne. See PHONES, A-7 Buncich has submitted a request for $90,000 in regular pay next year, not counting the discretionary funds that put another $75,000 to $100,000 per year into Buncich's pocket and make him the highest paid elected official in the county. This year Buncich will be paid $46,000 in salary from the county general fundi A change in the law effective Jan. 1, 1999, could put a crimp in Buncich's income as well as that of sheriffs throughout the state.

The law change, the result of successful lobbying by the Association of Indiana Counties, allows John Buncich Wants the county to pay him nearly double his current salary of $46,000 next year ZBIGNIEW BZDAK THE TIMES Richard Dunne of RCD Pay Phones puts a company placard on a new pay phone. "We had to pay our way in," Dunne said, describing how he obtained a contract to Install pay phones in government buildings. county offices, the executives told The Times. THE MEETING November 26, 1996 As a "middleman" between RCD Pay Phones co-owner property owners and pay phone operators, MAGGIE RICHARD DUNNE, who wanted to get his phones into Gary and TAYLOR says she arranged Commissioner RUDOLPH CLAY. a meeting with East Chicago courthouses, and the Lake County Council to divert the income Buncich currently receives in tax warrant proceeds into the county general fund to help pay for such things as running the jail In 1997, Buncich received $75,008 from the See SALARY, A-6 Part of Hart to be closed off in Dyer Railroad work will include replacing crossing signal and gates.

THE ALLEGATION Dunne says he handed Clay AT LEAST $1,000 IN CASH for the phone contracts. Dunne says he insisted on a receipt from Taylor. That receipt, shown at left, includes a $500 BONUS Dunne says the $500 was part of the cash he gave Clay, but Taylor says it was a bonus to her for "doing a good job." rcn or THE DOCUMENTS -TUB1 The SAiS4 I II Clay's signature and different dates BY KURT WEISS Times Correspondent 1 DYER Traffic problems caused by a Sheffield Avenue reconstruction project won't ease any time soon. A section of Hart Street between Matteson and Keilman streets will be closed for seven to 10 days beginning Monday for reconstruction of a railroad crossing located just north of Indi Maggie Taylor 'Spa fTF-J i i Bonus" I JmM sVrST Dunne says the $500 "bonus" and an additional $500 to $700 in cash was a payoff he was required to thai Richard Dunne says Clay signed this contract at the meeting at Taylor's office. (Clay also confirmed his signature when shown the slip.) But when Catherine Dunne sent the contract to Ameritech to show her company had sole rights to pay phone space in the Gary courthouse, she says Ameritech sent the contract back claiming they could not decipher Clay's signature.

As a result, Catherine Dunne said she printed Clay's name and official title beside his signature. She says the "12-20-96" indicates the date on which Dunne made that annotation. Tri State Communications owner Maggie Taylor confirmed she wrote and signed this receipt from a meeting with Dunne and Clay. Taylor and Clay both work for LCI, the longdistance carrier that handles all longdistance calls at the Lake County Government Center. give to Clay in exchange for phone contracts.

Taylor says the bonus went to her, not the commissioner. Clay, however, INSIDE A map shows the detour route in Dyer during the Sheffield Av- enue reconstruction of the crossing. A-4 ana Street. Hart connects to Sheffield, where work has been under way for more than a year Elgin Joliet Eastern Railway Co. sent a letter to the town last month confirming the work, which will include resurfacing the road and replacing the crossing signals and gates.

Traffic during the construction period will be rerouted alone Matteson said he has no recollection of ever meeting with Dunne at Taylor's office. I INVALID CONTRACTS west to Lake Street, south to Keilman and east to Hart. The town plans to add stop signs and increase police support along Lake Street to encourage motorists not to use the road as an alternate to Lake County officials are now declaring this and a separate contract with another pay phone operator invalid because the agreements were never discussed or voted on in a public meeting, never re ceived the signature of a second commissioner as required under state law and were never filed with the commissioners' purchasing agent, as required under county code. TIMES GRAPHIC BY KEVIN POORTINGA AND EPHA GOOD U.S. 30 during the construction period.

Zoning Administrator Rick Eberly said the See DYER, A-6 INDEX More on A-2 The Times is printed with soy color inks, exclusively on recycled paper. Family B-12 Horoscopes Ell Movies E-4 i Obituaries Opinion D-2 Sports C-l Advice Ell Bridge H-4 Classifieds Crossword (Newsday) Ell Crossword (Classified) G-10 Community B-13 "08956J00175'.