Messenger-Inquirer from Owensboro, Kentucky • 1

fM I 1 1 Weather ELECTION CHALLENGE State Rep. Mike Weaver of Radcliff campaigns to unseat incumbent 2nd District congressman10 WILDCATS FALL No. 7 Kentucky loses to Iowa, 67-63, in Guardians Classic semifinalsIB Mostly cloudy and cool; high 43 'Tragic incident': U.S. soldiers mistakenly kill at least 3 Iraqi civilians4A 1 WJ Mes SENGER-J1 NQUffiER Vol. 131 No.

326 owensboro Tuesday, NOVEMBER 22, 2005 www.messenger-inquirer.com tody finds support for stadii Downtown indoor arena gets less enthusiasm The Spcrtscenter "isn't very competitive for the sports and entertainment events that are out in the market right now. Because of its age, because of its size, it's very limited on what it can do." David Stone Leib Group LLC pared to other markets," Stone said. Owensboro is also "skewed towards an older population" compared to other sports cities, Stone said. While an arena would have more uses than a baseball stadium, 60 percent of the 420 residents who responded to a survey indicated more interest in baseball than other sports, and 35 percent said they were definitely interested in having a baseball team in the city. By comparison, 46 percent said they were interested in a hockey team, and 19 percent expressed a definite interest, while See StadiumPage 2A By James Mayse Messenger-Inquirer A market study prepared to examine the feasibility of a downtown arena and baseball stadium indicates the Owensboro region could support a minor league baseball franchise.

In a presentation Monday for city and county officials, David Stone, senior consultant for the Leib Group LLC, said survey results indicate there is enough interest in an Owensboro baseball team to support a franchise. There appeared to be less support for building a downtown indoor arena. The city and county each contributed to the $66,400 arena study and $7,000 each for the baseball stadium study. The remaining $10,000 for the baseball study came from Bring Back Baseball, a group advocating bringing a Frontier League team to the city. The Leib Group study examined the possibility of bringing a minor league hockey team to the proposed arena Compared to other cities that have Central Hockey League teams, the Owensboro area would be the second smallest The region also has lower average incomes than about two-thirds of Central Hockey League cities and of most cities with a Frontier League baseball team.

This is a relatively small market com Auto industry, Detroit at new low i I Jjft GM cutting 30,000 jobs, closing plants By Sarah A. Webster Detroit Free Press DETROIT The Motor City is facing a fearful holiday season after three of the auto industry's biggest companies announced nearly 60,000 job cuts in the past week, with more to follow. After months of bad economic news, mostly about the auto industry, there is a sense that this gritty town is humbled and weary, dreading the tough times ahead and searching its soul: Where did we go wrong? What does the future hold? Where is the light at the end of this godforsaken tunnel? Many workers don't yet know whether they'll keep or lose their jobs, fueling an anxiety that is sure to taint Thanksgiving and other year-end holidays. "We're all worried. Everybody is worried," Robert Paulk, 58, an hourly worker at General Motor's Warren Tech Center, said Monday.

The Novi, resident supports two teenagers and a wife. "You can't help but think about it" Just a few hours earlier, GM said it would stop production at 12 plants and cut 30,000 hourly jobs in North America by the end of 2008. Another 2,500 salaried jobs at GM are in the crosshairs. The backdrop for this announcement was bleak i i CTa .1 IB 1 Jtsmn i tfjrJ i mm- Associatea Press A man walks Monday near a picture of the Chevrolet SSR at the Motors Corp. announced Monday that the Craft Centre, which has Craft Centre in Lansing, where the vehicle is made, General an estimated 400 workers, and other plants will be shut down.

enough, with several of Michi- that will cost workers their job dented since World War II, Uni- emotionally painful, none of this is gan's largest companies most or take a bite out of their pay versity of Michigan economists new in Detroit. To the contrary, in the automotive sector and benefits. Michigan will suf- said. A strike at Delphi Corp. if become exhaustingly old.

already in bankruptcy or in the fer a sixth straight year of job may also be brewing. midst of restructuring efforts losses in 2006, a string unprece- While this is economically and See AutoPage 4A RWRA board approves rate hike Average customer would see 22 jump By Ryan Garrett Messenger-Inquirer The average Regional Water Resource Agency residential customer would see a 22 percent increase in the monthly bill by July 2007, and minimum users would see a much more drastic hike if a review board follows the agency's wishes. The two-step plan the sewer agency's board approved Monday would raise rates from $2.77 per 1,000 gallons to $3.57 by July 2007. The 5-2 vote came after about Yh hours of discussion. In April, rates would rise to $3.30 per 1,000 gallons, a 53-cent increase.

A 27-cent increase would follow in July 2007. The average monthly bill, now $13.33, would be $15.59 in April and $16.26 in July 2007, assuming a projected continued decline in usage. The rate would actually increase by about 29 percent, but bills are expected to show only a 22 percent increase because of the drop in usage. In the past 13 years, RWRA customers have cut back their usage an average of 1.8 percent per year, Lexington-based Quest Engineers said in a comprehensive RWRA rate analysis. Although most users would see a 22 percent increase in their bills, minimum users would find a much larger hike.

RWRA plans to boost the minimum monthly charge from 2,244 gallons to 3,000 gallons, a 34 percent increase before the new rates are considered. That would make the minimum bill $10.71 in July 2007, compared to $6.23 today, a 72 percent jump. The spike would more equitably spread the flat cost of operating the sewer system, board Chairman George Stuart said. "The other customer is still subsidizing the low-usage customers for the expense of maintaining that line," Stuart said. The minimum is below that of many other sewer agencies, Stuart said.

The plan is now being forwarded to the Rate Review Board, which is comprised of members of Daviess Fiscal Court and the Owensboro City Commission, for final approval. The initial hike in April essentially combines the first two increases from an earlier three-step plan. Under the previous plan, a January increase would have been followed by one in July before the final one the next year. Local government officials were concerned about an increase this winter with heating costs expected to be high, RWRA officials said. With a larger increase in April, the agency still will meet its financial requirements this fiscal year, they said.

The plan came from Quest's See RWRAPage 2A INDEX Woman will be reunited with photo Astrology5C Markets4B Classified Movies3D 3-6D Opinion5A Comics5B Records2C Dear Abby2D Television3D Tornado-blown image shows her late father on World War II ship By David) Blackburn Messenger-Inquirer The tornado in Earlington on Nov. 15 didn't just blow down Susan Jones' childhood home. It picked up a picture Jones took on a special day she shared with her late father, Arthur Garland, and deposited it about 40 miles away in northeastern Daviess County. The July 2003 picture shows her smiling, wheelchair-bound father on the deck of the LST 325 as it was moored in Evans-ville. It was the same boat that transported her father, an Army artillery man, during World War II's D-Day.

The picture landed in the Bon Harbor area, where Charles Harrison of Ebach Street in Owensboro found it Wednesday while deer hunting. A photo showing Harrison holding the picture appeared with a story about area storm damage in Thursday's Messenger-Inquirer. On Friday, Jones' lifelong friend and fellow Earlington native Jan Carlton and her husband, Rob, spotted the Messenger-Inquirer photo and called Jones about 10:30 p.m. "We thought something was wrong with the phone ringing that late," Jones said Monday in a telephone interview from her Hanson home. See PhotoPage 2A 4 Robert Bruck, Messenger-Inquirer Charles Harrison displays the picture he found while deer hunting Wednesday in the Bon Harbor area.

Brad Johnson solid at quarterback as Minnesota beats Green Bay with last-second FG1B Koppel approaches final 'Nightline' deadline i Printed soy ink couple late in the afternoon as he waits for the muse to appear and they begin to sweat "Ted puts off writing his copy until the very last second," executive producer Tom Bettag says. "He has the -slowest muse we've ever seen. If we put a cookie in front of him, it seems to help." The sugar-fueled Koppel, 65, anchors his final "Nightline" tonight, bringing to a close a stellar run of. 25 years with the late-night newsmagazine he helped launch, as well as his 42-year career at ABC. It may also signal the end of serious, long-form journalism in late-night broadcast television.

With NBC's Jay Leno and CBS's David Letterman drawing younger, advertiser-friendly viewers, ABC's See Koppel Page 4A Tonight's show will be last at ABC for longtime anchor By Gail Shister Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON Ted Koppel will work for cookies. Not ordinary cookies, of course. Apricot-granola biscuits, from Starbucks. "Nightline" staffers slip him a 6III5721111111 Ted Koppel.