Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 9

ka More news in Section Sunday Lincoin, Journal Sept. 6, and 1981 Star SECTION State records audited Crude oil es escaping taxation By Thomas A. Fogarty The state tax on a barrel of Nebraska crude oil, measured in pennies only five years ago, has risen to more than $1 because of escalating energy costs and a recent tax rate increase. Rising with the revenue is concern that at least some severance tax on the state's oil production isn't being paid. For the second time in three years, the office of State Auditor Ray A.C.

Johnson reported recently that a comparison of Oil and Gas Conservation Commission production records and Revenue Department tax records indicated that an undetermined amount of oil has escaped taxation. The severance tax is levied on the price of oil at the wellhead and remitted monthly to the state Department of Revenue by the buyer or seller. Julia Peralez, an accountant in Johnson's office, said it is impossible to establish how much oil went untaxed without a complete review of production and tax records. "We do know that some tax wasn't paid, and there were probably more instances in addition to what was tested," she said. "Our concern is that there's potential for a considerable amount each year to avoid taxation." Officials of the Revenue Department and the oil and gas commission say there i is no reason to believe that severance taxpayers as a group are any more lax than those who pay other types of taxes.

Nor is there a need, as the auditor suggests, for special measures to assure payment, they say. The report, which was based on an audit of the oil and gas commission for a two-year period ending June 30, states that a review of four oil leases indicates that Silver- Haired Unicam vote higher Forty-two percent more people voted this year in Silver-Haired Unicameral elections than in 1980, project Director Genie Gupta said. She said 6,267 senior citizens voted on Aug. 25. District winners and their hometowns: 1 Galdyce Koeppel, Auburn 2 Walter Burns, Nebraska City 3 Clara Hughes, Gretna George Carlow, Omaha 5 Hariett (Betty) Watson, Omaha 6 Jacqueline Abel, Omaha 7 Frank Janiak, Omaha 8 Marion Harrig, Omaha 9 Leonard Powers, Omaha 10 Phyllis Stewart, Omaha 11 Rowena Moore, Omaha Helen Morgan, Omaha 13 Robert Floyd Sealock, Omaha 14 Lena Buckles, Omaha 15 Fred Petersen, Fremont 16 Lora Blankenbeckler, Lyons 17 Estella Jackson, South Sioux City 18 Arnold Meyer, West Point 19 Eva Gartner, Crofton 20 James Parmelee, Omaha Charles Whitney, Norfolk 22 Jean Johnson, Columbus 23 Roy Johnston, Yutan 24 Ruth Dahms, Seward 25 Robert Anthes, Lincoln Maurice McAvoy, Lincoln 27 Emogene Moor, Lincoln 28 Arletta Aronson, Lincoln 29 Robert Palme, Lincoln 30 Alvin Boettcher, Fairbury 31 Jack Parisot, Omaha 32 Stephen Songster, Exeter 33 John Keeney, Hastings 34 Charles Widman, Central City 35 Ralph Doud, Grand Island 36 William Leppin, Kearney 37 Greta Svendsen, Nelson 38 Robert Brinkley, Alma 39 C.

G. Hillyer, Holdrege 40 Louis Klasna, Spencer 41 Harriet McFadden, Loup City 42 Geraldine Pflaum, North Platte 43 Gwyneth Tyler, Ainsworth 44 Ruth Naylor, Imperial 45 Harry Romanoff, Bellevue 46 Verona Grieves, Lincoln 47 Salma Hammond, Bushnell 48 Marianne Putman, Mitchell 49 Herbert Place, Chadron Driver was dead of heart failure before accident A 51-year-old Lincoln man died, apparently of heart failure, Saturday afternoon shortly before his pickup truck hit a car, then struck a building near the intersection of South 40th and A streets Saturday afternoon, according to authorities. Witnesses told police that Floyd Davis 1438 Trelawney Drive, slumped over the wheel of his pickup as it turned from 40th onto A Street, a police spokesman said. The pickup struck a car, then traveled another 100 feet and hit a building occupied by the Pershing School of Dance at 4009 A the spokesman said. The occupants of the car were not injured.

Davis was alone in the truck. A sheriff's spokesman said a preliminary autopsy indicated the cause of death was heart failure. Davis was manager of administrative services with State Farm Insurance in Lincoln. He is survived by his wife, Patricia; a son, Todd, Lincoln; two daughters, Mrs. Michael (Jacqueline) Morgan, Towanda, Sandra, Lincoln; a brother, Lewis, Zionsville, four sisters, Mrs.

Marvin (Merlyn) Borden, Peru, Mrs. Buford (Harriet) Byers, Mrs. Cecil (Ireba) Horn, Mrs. Keith (Freda) McMillian, all of Lafayette, and a granddaughter, Traci Morgan. Funeral arrangements are pending at Wadlow's Mortuary.

about 25,500 barrels of crude probably went untaxed. Partly out of concern over that report, the 1980 LegSixfold increase islature clarified in state statute that responsibility for collection of the tax rests with the Revenue DepartThe severance tax on that quantity at the relatively ment rather than with the oil and gas commission. cheap oil prices that prevailed at the time taxes were Attorney General Paul Douglas, in an Aug. 25 opindue would have been about $3,000 to $5,000, commission ion sought by Roberts, reiterated that the Revenue DeDirector Paul Roberts estimated. partment is responsible for collection and policing of A sixfold increase in the price of crude oil and a severance tax payments.

higher tax rate would make the tax on the same quan- Officials agreed that whatever the volume of oil tity many times higher today, he said. goes untaxed, its potential value to the state is increasThe audit report recommended that a system be es- ing. tablished to ensure that all taxes are paid. But Tom The 1981 Legislature increased the severance tax Gillaspie, director of the tax policy division, said cur- rate on gas and oil to 3 percent of the wholesale price rent methods are adequate and no new procedures are of crude oil from wells that produce more than 10 barscheduled to be implemented. rels a day.

For smaller wells, the rate continues at 2 percent. Gillaspie said about 60 firms are liable for the sever- Levied on the quickly rising price of the commodity, ance tax, and there's nothing to indicate any particular the tax is generating ever increasing amounts of reveproblems in the area. The Revenue Department has nue. audited some firms that pay the tax and discovered no The price for Nebraska crude is about $34 a barrel, problems, he said. which at the 3 percent severance tax rate generates Roberts agrees that collection of the tax presents no about $1.02.

particular problem. Since creation of the commission In 1976, when it sold for about $8 a barrel, the tax in 1959, Roberts said, it has audited three or four com- was about 16 cents. plete years of production and tax records. Even without an increase in oil production, which is Never has it found more than a discrep- holding steady at about 6 million barrels a year, the ancy between the volume produced and the volume on severance tax on oil and gas is expected to raise bewhich the tax was paid, Roberts said. "The cost of the tween $12 million and $18 million during 1985, according audits probably cost us more than the amount of taxes to legislative staff estimates.

in question," he said. The figure compares with the $1 million collected in Most cases of unpaid tax apparently are oversights, 1975. Roberts said, adding that he is unaware of any in- In addition to hiking the tax rate, the 1981 Legislastances of fraud. ture also dedicated revenue from the tax to energy A state auditor's report issued in 1978 indicated that conservation projects, including school weatherization there was no assurance that tax had been paid on programs. The revenue had gone to the barrels during a three-month test period.

ally established permanent school trust fund. State a agencies vary in achieving their affirmative action goals STAFF PHOTO. Joe Hartley and his great-grandchildren (from left), Kelli, Josh and Jamie Watts, are among four generations planning to attend a ceremony at the Shelly grave. Cook ceremony to note War of 1812 vet's grave By Dean Terrill State Bureau COOK "Robert Shelly, born May 3, 1793, died Nov. 17, 1881.3 Though the monument is one of the oldest in the Cook cemetery, it, has gotten no particular notice through the years.

Shelly's descendants say it's about time that it should. So four generations will be gathering here next Sunday at the state's only known grave of a veteran of the War of 1812. The 1:30 p.m. ceremony culminates years of research, mainly by the family of his great-great-granddaughter, Lucile Brown Hartley of Lincoln. Mrs.

Hartley and her daughter, Phyllis Joan (Jody) Geschwender, also of Lincoln, are members of the National Society United States Daughters of 1812. The organization supplied the bronze marker that is to be dedicated. Being settled "Because of their great age, there were very few 1812 veterans who ventured to this area when it was being settled," Mrs. Geschwender said. She noted that the observance was timed for the centennial of the ex-soldier's death.

Shelly, 88, and the oldest resident of Johnson County when he died, was 65 when he came west to make his home with his daughter and son-in-law, Sarah Ann and James Brown. He was among the first settlers buried in what was then called the Brown Burial Ground. Research by Mrs. Hartley's husband, Joe H. some of it dating to 1940 when he published an ambitious family history verified that Shelly was a private in the Connecticut Militia.

His tales of the war helped earn him a creditable reputation as "an accomplished story teller." 'Noble form' "Your noble form, your ingenious fingers and your interesting stories will be remembered for years to come," read part of an 1881 newspaper obituary apparently written by a family member. One of the Hartleys' proudest possessions, incidentally, is a flat-top desk Shelly owned. The antique is thought to date to about 1855. According to Hartley, retired public relations director for Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Shelly kept his 12 grandchildren both "shod and amused" through the woodworking and cobbler trades he had practiced as a younger man. He made toys as well as shoes for the youngsters.

Grandchildren Some of those same grandchildren, by the way, now lie in the family graves surrounding Shelly's. Four generations already are buried in the cemetery and the Hartleys and some of their four children own lots. Of the approximately 70 descendants notified of Sunday's ceremony, more than half have indicated that they will be present. That includes three of Shelly's great great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren: Josh, Jamie and Kelli Watts of Lincoln. Their mother is Kim Hartley Watts, one of several grandchildren of the Joe Hartleys.

Also participating in the ceremony will be Cook's American Legion Post By Mitchel Benson When Don Young applied for a job at the state Department of Agriculture 16 years ago, affirmative action meant nothing more than doing what you thought was right. The Agriculture Department needed a dairy plant inspector, and Young considered his 18 years' experience at a dairy bottling plant in Holdrege as a solid credential. True, other applicants could offer two strong hands. Young had only one and needed to strap a hook to his right arm, a reminder of a farm accident when he was younger. But that shouldn't matter, he thought.

It didn't. "I guess I never looked at it like I was too handicapped," Young said in a recent interview. "To some extent, I guess, but I never gave up. I knew it was just that way." For 16 years, Young, now 61, has worked the same job for the medium-size state agency. He is one of 14 handicapped individuals among the department's 151 employees.

Handicapped people are one of the protected groups, with women and blacks, Hispanics and other minorities, for which state law requires equal treatment in hiring and promotion within state government. The 14 employees at the Agriculture Department represent 9 percent of the department's staff, while the number of handicapped in the total state work force is about 7 percent. In bureaucratic jargon, that means the Agriculture Department is "overutilizing" the state's handicapped work force. At the same time, a department report filed with the Don Young state Affirmative Action Office Don Young a "slight underutilization" of Hispanics, a "proper of women (although not in the higher-ranking job and a "gross underutilization" of blacks. Agriculture Department is one of more than 20 state required to file quarterly and annual reports on their action plans.

The first annual update reports were Mandatory program The plans and reports are the result of a mandatory affirmative action program for state employees that Gov. Charles Thone recommended and the Legislature passed in 1979. The program, which officially took effect Jan. 1, 1980, requires equal treatment of employees and potential employees regardless of sex, race, religion, national origin, age and mental and physical handicaps. It's hard to say whether the affirmative action program has increased the number of handicapped employees at the Agriculture Department.

Due to a clerical error, the department recorded no handicapped employees in its July 1980 report, an obvious mistake. Young at first said he does not think an affirmative action program, at least for handicapped workers, "is too necessary." But, he added, "I guess it's real good, because there are so many jobs that handicapped persons have trouble getting into. It's real good that the state would go along with something like that." He said he believes handicapped people have more difficulty finding jobs now than they did when he landed his present job. The Department of Labor is one agency that has shown substantial changes since the state affirmative action program took effect. Of the 135 employees added to its roster in the past year, 101 were women.

Women have outnumbered men at the department both years. Women Perhaps more significant is that the number of women in administrative positions has increased from 22 to 35, and the number in professional positions has increased from 123 to 276. There are five more black administrators and two fewer blacks in professional positions, compared with last year, and two more Hispanic administrators and four more Hispanic professionals than last year. The Department of Revenue, which had 40 more employees this July than last, split that increase equally between men and women. Women also increased in numbers at the executive, managerial, administrative and professional levels.

The number of black, Hispanic and handicapped employees was virtually constant. Another agency, the Department of Administrative Services, increased staff but decreased the number of women employed. DAS has increased by three, but the number of women has decreased by 12 to 199. DAS has increased the number of women in professional positions, from 29 to 34, and has recorded a gain in black (from six to nine) and Hispanic (from two to four) employees. Almost half the agencies required to file reports indicated in quarterly statements late last year that Thone's hiring freeze for state employees was hampering affirmative action.

More than 600 positions were eliminated in the first year of the freeze, from July 1, 1980, to June 30, 1981. Hiring freeze Affirmative Action Administrator Carol Walker said at the time it was too early to draw any conclusions. A sampling of the first veal any agencies who attributed to the hiring freeze. But some could raise that question. For example: annual update reports did not reaffirmative action problems figures submitted by agencies The Agriculture Department reported six fewer employees this year than last, including two fewer women.

The number of black and Hispanic employees remained the same. Department of Motor Vehicles has 20 fewer employees than last year, including a drop of eight women, two ethnic minorities and two handicapped employees. But the department's 14 handicapped employees rank it with the Agriculture Department as one of those state agencies that is benefiting from the handicapped work force. The Nebraska State Patrol employed 508 people as of July 1 this year, eight fewer than last year at that time. The patrol has acknowledged: a need to recruit more female and minority employees, but it lost five women.

The number of black, Hispanic and handicapped employees remains about the same. Robert Shelly was in the Connecticut Militia during the War of 1812. STAFF PHOTO Shelly's gravestone is one of the oldest in the Cook cemetery. 360, the Fire Birds Drum and Bugle Corps of Lincoln and state officers of the daughters of 1812. The Methodist Church women of Cook will serve refreshments.

Incidentally, Shelly's soldiering long had been forgotten in the community until the ceremony was announced. Even longtime president of the Cook Cemetery Association, Ray Mannschreck, was unaware of the distinction. "I've been looking after the cemetery records for years, but this was news to me," said the retired hardwareman. "I don't think even one person around here now knew about Shelly." indicates utilization" categories) The agencies affirmative due in Missing Iowa boy found unharmed LAKE PARK, Iowa (AP) The rural Lake Park boy who had been missing since Thursday was found late Saturday night by a man who was guided by a psychic's map. Justin Stahly had been the subject of an intense aroundthe-clock search since he was missed around noon Thursday.

George DeGrow of Lake Park found the boy in a a a a a a a a field south of his parents' farm home. Lake Park is in northwest Iowa near the Minnesota border. DeGrow, who was searching alone, said he was guided to the site by a map provided by a psychic. DeGrow discovered the boy about 9:50 p.m., when the tot began talking to him, asking for his parents. The search had been called off for the night just a short time earlier.

Authorities reported that Justin apparently had walked through the entire field adjacent to the farm house and climbed a fence to reach the other field. He was in a Dickinson County hospital Saturday night, reportedly eating a Popsicle. His discovery came just hours after his father, Jeff Stahly, told reporters that if his son wasn't found by today, the search would be called off permanently. During the news conference at his home, the tearful father said, "If we do not come up with anything, the decision has been made that Justin will no longer be with us." More than 3,000 volunteers, two psychics and a tracking dog aided in the search. A German shepherd named Sir Joe, which has a national reputation for trailing, was flown in from St.

Louis but had been unable to turn up any clues. Radio station KICD in Spencer broadcast an appeal for donations to help pay the cost of bringing the dog into the search. The station reported pledges totaled nearly $16,000 by early Saturday. Thousands of volunteers combed the corn and soybean fields row by row numerous times. But the search had stopped at the fence Justin climbed over.

Searchers had thought Justin was too small to climb over the fence. They dismantled farm machinery the boy might have been trapped in, probed all the wells and cisterns in the area and scanned all the buildings around without finding a trace of Justin. They looked for Justin on foot, on horseback and from two airplanes and a helicopter equipped with a heatsensing device. Two psychics were consulted. Dickinson County Civil Defense Director Lynn Wallace, who coordinated the effort, had said all along that he was certain the boy was somewhere on the Stahly farm or that of a neighbor..