The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • 9

006 a More Important Exclusive News NEWS News News Res Moines Sunday Register Copyright, and 1970, Tribune Des Meines Register Des Moines, Iowa, Sunday Morning, March 29, 1970 Local News Section Company THE PROPERTY TAX HODGEPODGE DEPLORE USE OF COACHES AS TEACHERS Lack of Training in Subjects Cited By Jerry Knight WALTER Many Iowa high school pupils are learning about American government from teachers who know more about the SplitT than the split ticket. Their economics teacher is apt to be more familiar with an E.R.A. (earned run average) than WALTER the G.N.P. RUNDELL (gross a tional product). And their American history teacher may be as likely to remember an end run in the Blue-Gray Game as Bull Run in the Civil War.

Only one-seventh of the government and economics teachers in Iowa high schools have degrees in either field, reports the State Department of Public Instruction. Teaching government and economics were twice as many physical education majors (166) as political scientists (62) and five times more P.E. graduates than economies majors (32). Only 42 per cent of the history teachers were history majors in college. Cause for Concern The small portion of teachers with major college training in these areas and the large contingent of coaches is cause for concern to educators like Dr.

Walter Rundell, head of the department of history at Iowa State University. History, Rundell points out, provides "the background on which the present and the future are based." He said many high school students aren't learning the lessons of history because the lessons are SO poorly taught. "The usual assumption is that one needs no special background to teach history, only to be able to keep a few pages ahead in the text," he lamented. It is not merely an Iowa problem, but a nationwide one, said Rundell, who before coming to I.S.U. last fall, worked for the American Historical Association on improving the quality of history teaching.

Little Training The basic principles of American government are likewise often taught by teachers with little professional training in government, added Dr. Clair Keller, who supervises student teachers in government and history at Iowa State. More than 100 school districts in the state don't have a single history major on their faculty, said Eldert Groenendyk of the department of public instruction's statistical division. He said the 235 smallest school districts in Iowa have only 131 history majors between them. Groenendyk's figures show there are 860 teachers in the state teaching American government or economics, which are often taught together.

Only 62 of these teachers were government or political science majors and only 32 were economics majors, but 166 COACHESPlease turn to Page Three Studded Tires Illegal Apr. 1 Studded tires will be illegal, for use on state highways beginning Wednesday, Apr. 1. Public Safety Commissioner Jack M. Fulton said the only exceptions allowed by Iowa law apply to school buses and fire department emergency apparatus, which may use the metal-studded tires at any time of the year.

Studded tires were legalized in Iowa three years ago. LEASING OF GRAY'S LAKE IS ASSAILED Oppose Deal With Water Skiers A proposal to lease Gray's Lake to a private water skiing group this summer "is in absolute conflict" with the wishes of the Chamber of Commerce, Jack H. Wesenberg, general secretary of the chamber, said Saturday. The chamber and the federal government are splitting the $615,000 cost of buying the lake for the city. The proposal to lease the lake to Ski Hawks, violates conditions imposed by both the federal government and the chamber.

Wesenbergs said that the chamber proposed buying the lake for the city as early as 1966 in a letter to the mayor of PICTURE: Page 4 Des Moines. The first letter stated as a condition of the offer that the lake be used as a public park. The Ski Hawk proposal would limit the lake's use on weekends and holidays this year to 60 boaters buying dock space for a $200 seasonal rent. Others could use the lake during the week for a $5 charge. Wesenberg said the chamber wants to see power boats banned from the lake.

"It should be left in a rough state with only sailboating and canoeing. The park board should make arrangements to put in trails and clean up the area for park use," he said. Tom Quick, a member of the park board, said he and other board members will oppose the Ski Hawk proposal. "We need an over -all plan," Quick said. "If we let them build docks in there, that's it.

Once something gets built, it usually stays." Quick also favors banning power boats from the lake. Chamber members, city councilmen and park board members will meet at 2 p.m. Monday in the Armory Auditorium at E. First and Des Moines streets to discuss the Ski Hawk proposal. JACK WESENBERG Chilly Weather Stays in State Iowa gradually warmed up Saturday after record-breaking lows in the morning, but temperatures remained well below seasonal normals throughout the day.

In the southwest, high readings were in the lower 40s while the northeast and extreme north sections only had temperatures in the mid-20s. Skies were mostly clear in the west and south and partly sunny northeast. For a Good Night's Sleep REGISTER PHOTO BY LARRY NEIBERGALL Easter in Bloom Mrs. Franklin Weymiller, left, and Mrs. Robert Leppert arrange Easter lilies, tulips and azaleas on the altar of the United Methodist Church in Lansing while the Rev.

A. W. Ebert, pastor, goes over his Easter sermon in background. The recently-merged church, consisting of members of Presbyterian and Methodist churches, will observe its first Easter Sunday today. STORY: Page 8-S.

LEONARD WOLF, Time Cruel to lowa Hotel 44, DIES IN D.C. By Frank Lloyd Wright WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) Leonard G. Wolf, 44, executive director of the American Freedom from Hunger Foundation and a former De ratic U.S. congressman from Iowa, died of cancer Saturday at the as hi ngton Hospital Center.

LEONARD Mr. Wolf, WOLF whose Iowa home was at Elka' der, was elected to Congress in 1958. He served a two-year term and was defeated in a bid for re-election. A native of Mazomanie, Mr. Wolf received a bachelor's degree in agriculture economics from the University of Wisconsin.

He served in the Pacific with the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1968 he was appointed executive director of the American Freedom from Hunger Foundation, which is the American link in the worldwide Freedom from Hunger Campaign, providing information to the American public concerning world food needs. Mr. Wolf was responsible for the direction of the Agency for International Development's War on Hunger in Latin America.

Under a presidential appointment he directed the Food for Peace program in Brazil- between 1961 and 1965, after which he was the co-ordinator for the child feeding program for all of Latin America. In 1967, Mr. Wolf was called to India to co-ordinate famine relief activities following the worst droughts in that country's history. Surviving are his wife, Marilyn Margaret; a son, Steven Michael, 19; two daughters, Ann Marilyn, 16, and Jennifer Elizabeth, 12, and four sisters and three brothers. Services will be at Mazomanie, Wis.

Early Asked The State to "promote There was the new law making a lot Iowa state treasury. In fact, Gov. Clyde L. Herring said state store customers should be charged only enough to cover the wholesale cost of liquor plus operating expenses of the state Liquor By George Mills of Iowa started opening state temperance" and to "control no thought when was written of take his of money for the questions sion. Profit From Bread Liquor The late Gov.

Herring's original ideas about operating "noprofit" state liquor stores were never adopted. Bernard Manley of Mason City, a former merchant, was flatly opposed. Manley, one of the three original state liquor commissioners, maintained it was not right to allow the sale of liquor at cost when bread the "staff of life" was sold at profit. Today "temperance" and "control" have taken a back seat in the business of the 198 state monopoly liquor stores. The Iowa Senate last week voted to reduce the controls by allowing some private sale of liquor by the bottle in smaller towns.

This bill has gone to the House. The principal reason for exlistence of the state liquor stores now is to provide close to $16 million a year in revenue for state and local treasuries. Without liquor profits the Iowa governing bodies would have to raise taxes. The original strict limits on the sale of liquor in Iowa have all but disappeared. Now all a person has to do to buy liquor by the bottle or by, the case is fill out an unsigned order in a state store, pay his money, Law Temperance liquor stores in 1934 the liquor traffic." liquor and leave.

No asked. Contrast this with the 1934 situation: Then a customer first had to procure a liquor permit book issued in his name for $1 a year. Purchases Listed Each time he bought liquor the purchase was recorded in the permit book, listing the kind and quantity of liquor, the price and the date. All that information was kept to prevent an Iowan from purchasing too much liquor, either to drink himself or to dispose of illegally. Actually, many used their permit books as memo pads.

Others objected to the system because they were embarrassed to have their liquor purchases known to others when they lost their permit books. Buying even one case of liquor was forbidden unless the purchaser could prove it was needed for a special occasion such as a wedding. Sale of liquor the drink forbidden. The saloon boy was "never" going to come back. The state store system did not put the bootlegger out of business, as hoped.

He often continued to get his supplies of alcoholic' beverages from outside the state, which was and is contrary to law, and he obtained a lot of liquor permit books. These books were purchased for relatives and friends, but liquor they bought was for the bootlegger. The law required that the liquor permit be canceled if the holder was convicted of driving while intoxicated. Also, the permit was revoked if the custom- LIQUORPlease turn to Page Four CLYDE HERRING Control CLYDE Over the Coffee. Service With little yellow things that say 'Stop' every SO often.

You A Smile can send a telegram, can't you?" AST WEEK was Pony ExL press Rider Week and, "Oh, sure, I can send one. It's getting it delivered that's with a characteristic sense of the problem. They like to the appropriate, the nation do it by telephone, which celebrated by staging a post- puts you right back where al strike. you started." Nothing elaborate, "How about a special delivyou ery letter?" understand, just a haphazard work stoppage that "We got one just the other gave Richard (The Presi- day. It was postmarked last dent) Nixon a chance to July." call out the troops, thereby "Who was it from?" raising the possibility of a "The Post Office.

They new stamp wanted to remind us to commemorative use "Join the Army and Be the code to zip speed up a Scab," or something like delivery." that. The remarkable aspect of the strike was that it didn't seem to interfere with mail service. The service was slow before the strike and during the strike, and it's slow now. One suspects that the postal employes went back to work not so much out of fear of punishment but because they were afraid the soldiers would improve the service. The ineptitude of the postal department is not unique, of course.

All elements of our communications network telegraph, air travel, telephones seem to be grinding to a halt. Our system has become so technologically sophisticated that it is on the verge of collapse. TE THE TREND continues, business executives will be playing out scenes like this: A corporation president calls out to his secretary, "Get me New York, quick!" "Have you flipped your cork?" she answers. "I can't even get. you on the waiting list for a dial tone." "We'd better send a telegram, then.

This is urgent." "You mean a telegram, like Western Union?" "Yes. You know, those HIGH IN SOME IOWA CITIES, LOW IN OTHERS Industry Seen As Key Factor By Jon Van Iowans living in different parts of the state pay vastly different property taxes for roughly equal services, a survey of tax millage rates in Iowa shows. A $20,000 home in Urbandale or Ottumwa will cost its owner about $800 in taxes this year to support schools, city and county government. The same home in Fort Madison would only cost about $500 in taxes this year. Despite the.

lower taxes in Fort Madison, teacher salaries there start at $6,500 a year compared to $6,600 in Urbandale and $6,400 in Ottumwa. Tax Base The difference is largely accounted for by what accountants call "tax base" how many industries and businesses in a community help homeowners pay for schools and local government. Fort Madison School Supt. Arthur C. Hansen says Fort Madison has low taxes because of new industries moving into the area and old industries expanding.

Last year Fort Madison homeowners paid about $95 for every $1,000 worth of property valuation on their house 95.190 mills. This year the rate dropped to 92.978 mills largely because of new and expanded industry. There are more people paying for local government, SO each of them pays at a lower rate than before. In Ottumwa things are just the opposite. Last year the rate was 141.721 mills, and this year it's up to 148.454 mills.

"It's anybody's guess what's going to happen," Bob Stamp, the finance manager for Ottumwa schools says. The city's largest taxpayer and employer John Morrell Co. is scheduled to shut down operations. "We need more industry to help with our taxes," Stamp said. "We've had a problem before.

The Morrell situation just compounds it." Mull Solution In Urbandale, with a millage rate of 152.339 this year, there MILLAGEPlease turn to Page Three By Stephen Seplow MASON only hotel Wright. If your luxurious, room with (Register Staff Writer) CITY, IA For $3 a night, still standing in America taste runs to the more The you can get a single Clarence shower for $7 or a it in 1945. double with bath for $11. But you've got to hurry, because only 14 of the 45 rooms at the Park Inn Hotel come with bath. "The Park Inn," raved the Mason City Globe Gazette in reporting the on Sept.

10, 1910, whether in the or sleepery, or Mason City DES MOINES Miles 200 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT hotel's opening "is a model, domain of eatery perhaps, to be! more correct, cuisine and comfort." Today, the Park Inn, which stands just south of Central Park, has deteriorated to the point that many Mason City residents say, "Don't stay there." Its stately exterior is marred by gaudy signs advertising "Pabst Blue Ribbon," "Cocktails," "Lounge," and "Cafe." The lounge is a large, not very inviting tavern, with a circular bar and dance floor. The cafe's menu features 69-cent specials. The lobby is like a penny arcade, cluttered with pinball machines and a popcorn maker. Still striking, however, are the overhanging roof and the second-floor porch that protrudes over the street. Vantage Point In the summer, says Marie Nicewarmer, who has been cleaning rooms at the Park Inn for seven years, the elderly men who rent rooms by the month "sit on the porch and watch the parades from there." you can stay here in the designed by Frank Lloyd hotel is now owned by Ellingson, who bought Some townspeople, including Mayor Thomas Jolas, say they wish some organization would buy and restore it.

"It still really has possibilities," says Dr. James McCoy, an orthopedic surgeon here who has written about the hotel and its history in The Prairie City Review Quarterly. He believes the building could probably be used profitably as a museum or cultural center. If the Park Inn's present is less than glorious and future is at best a hopeful possibility, its past is fascinating. Wright in Wisconsin That history, according to Dr.

McCoy's account, dates to 1902, when J. E. E. Markley, a director of City National Bank, sent his daughter to the Hillside Home School in Hillside, Wis. Much of Wright's early work was done in Hillside and Wright's mother helped run the school.

It was on a visit to Hillside HOTELPlease turn to Page Three Keep the Storm Siren Off! (The Register's lowa News Service) KINGSLEY, IA. Town officials have installed double locks on the fire station doors here to assure townspeople a good night's rest. A week ago pranksters en- or Jim Watkins said. "Whoever tered the unlocked fire station turned it on was somebody who and turned on the new storm knows the ropes they went warning siren, through the station to the conwaking just Kingsley trol panel. about everyone "It was.

the trick of some in town at 2:30 DES MOINESS pranksters I don't like it, a.m. .200 though. It could destroy Miles "It was on people's confidence in our about five minutes before we storm alert system," Watkins got around to shut it off," I said. Engagement Ring TOM QUICK COULD WE send a special courier by plane?" "Possibly, but the last one we sent hasn't come back yet. He set out for Boston but the airport was fogged in, so he was rerouted to Syracuse.

The plane he caught out of there was hijacked by an Eskimo and taken to Greenland. That's the last we heard of him." "We'll send a messenger by bus if we have to." "Good. I'll have a man get in line right now. With luck he'll be able to buy a ticket by next Thursday." "Miss Ampersand, there must be a way to get this message through. The future of the company depends upon it." "There is one way." "How?" "I happen to know an over-the-road truck driver who will deliver messages to New York.

All you have to do is write it on a $100 bill. He pauses at a New Jersey rest stop and transmits it by semaphore to an accomplice, who then delivers it personally." "Great! When can he take it?" "As soon as the Teamsters strike is over." -Donald Kaul A spectator at a drive-in theater here Saturday night somehow manipulated a flexible-band ring onto the steering wheel of his car and could not remove it. His finger was still inside the ring. Despite on-the-spot efforts of police, Dale Stover, 18, of 1211 Amos st. could not get loose.

Police removed the steering wheel and took Stover to a nearby service station where the steering wheel was cut. Authorities said Stover suffered a swollen finger. Knoxville G.I. Dies in Vietnam KNOXVILLE, IA. (AP)-The parents of Army Pfc.

John W. Sams, 21, of Knoxville, have been notified of their son's death in Vietnam. Mr. and Mrs. John W.

Sams said Saturday the Defense Department told them their son was killed in action Mar. 21. Other details were not immediately available. Council Topic: 1969 City Audit The Des Moines City Council is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday in City Hall at E.

First and Locust streets. One item to be considered is the 1969 city audit which criticizes Municipal Court Clerk Russell Lundgren's management practices and calls for total reorganization of his office..