The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 134

ItwtHtffl THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN The State Newspaper Since 1907 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1998 50 PAGES 25C a I Cohen Warns Congress He'll Mothball Bases Districts Seek to Restore Millages Crowded Ballot Blamed for February Defeat By Mark A. Hutchison Staff Writer ROLAND Administrators at two Sequoyah County school districts think a less crowded ballot will lead to passage Tuesday of critical mill levies that failed in February. The two districts, Roland and Liberty, are the only two districts that failed to pass levies this year, state Education Department officials said. "I think I just took it for granted. I didn't get out and beat the bush By Lisa Hoffman Scrlpp Howard Nw Scrvlc WASHINGTON Defense Secretary William Cohen on Thursday raised for the first time the possibility of moth-balling military bases if Congress does not agree to shut more down.

Although it would be unpleasant, Cohen said, he could choose to let some bases go to seed by withholding funds for re pairs and upkeep, thus freeing up money for critically needed new weapons and equipment. He said he would be reluctant to take such steps, citing the morale and other problems that would cause in the installations and nearby communities. Even so, Cohen told reporters, "I could recommend that we simply start moving toward es like I should have," Liberty School Superintendent Jeff Ransom said. "A bunch of people didn't know what the issues were. A lot of people had no idea what a millage was, and there were a lot of people who didn't vote.

"Since then, we've registered about 85 people to vote and we've explained the thing." Liberty has about 320 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. School district patrons Feb. 10 voted down all three millages by margins of 35, 19 and 18 votes. what might be called mothballlng certain facilities." His threat came as he released a report to Congress that showed the four rounds of base closings so far will save taxpayers $25 billion by 2003 and already have made up for the civilian jobs lost in some communities when they shut down. The report, along with Cohen's warning about School districts have three chances to pass millages.

A mill is one-tenth of a cent, or $1 for every $1,000 in assessed property value. The Oklahoma Constitution provides that voters annually consider property tax levies of 20 mills. Those are divided into a 10-mill local support levy, a 5-mill building levy and a 5-mill emergency levy. School millage collections are matched by the state. Roland school district patrons See LEVIES, Page 2 William Cohen mothballing bases, represented the latest volley in the Pentagon's battle to convince Congress that it must bite the bullet and close more facilities one of the most political-See BASES, Page 2 Chalking the Walk Federal Help Searchers For Rancher Confounded Sought to Save Tulsa's Water Mayor Raises Animal Waste Issue By Ron Jackson Staff Writer CHEYENNE Where is Leonard Dirickson? And who is the bearded stranger he last was seen with on the morning of March 14? Was Dirickson abducted, or did the 39-year-old Strong City man leave on his own? If so, why would he leave his 16-year-old son a son whom neighbors and relatives said he adored and vanish without a trace? Or is Dirickson even alive? These questions and a flood of others have continued to haunt law enforcement officials since Dirickson first was reported missing March 15.

Since then, the Roger Mills County Sheriffs Department has received hundreds of leads and found hundreds of deadends. "We have as much now as we did the first day he was reported missing," Roger Mills County Sheriff Joe Hay said. "Now the calls are starting to dwindle down." Hay, his deputies and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation have chased every lead. Yet Dirickson's strange disappearance has become only more embedded in mystery. More questions have led to more questions.

Hay feels as though he's chasing a ghost. "With most investigations, you usually have a place to start," Hay said. "We don't even know where to start with this one." Dirickson was last seen by his son, See MISSING, Page 10 Staff Photo by Paul B. Southertand Classen School for Advanced Studies junior Gabe Friedman, 17, works from a photograph of a school friend to create a portrait at the University of Science and Arts in Chickasha on Thursday for the Montmartre Festival. The annual sidewalk art contest was sponsored by the school's art department, and featured high school, college and other artists using chalk and charcoal for putting their contemporary ideas down on concrete.

Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, who had to cope with water pollution that led to large fish kills in a state river last also called for federal intervention. Large corporations facing tough regulations in one state, he said, can simply move to another, more accommodating state. Last month, the EPA announced a draft strategy for dealing with animal waste run-off, pro posing that the country's biggest feedlots get per mits for waste manage ment. The EPA, which worked with the USDA and livestock industries to develop the proposals under the Clean Water Act, now is taking public comment.

Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has authored legislation that would be even more strict than, the EPA's approach. The Clinton administration and industry representatives voiced opposition to it Thursday. Craig Cox, an acting undersecretary at the USDA, said Harkin's bill would make the agriculture department into regulatory agency and strain its resources. "In short, we do nol have the resources to dc the job that we think is out there," Cox said.

Robert Perciasepe, ar EPA assistant administrator, said no one agen See WASTE, Page 10 By Chris Casteel Washington Bureau WASHINGTON Tulsa Mayor Susan Savage wants the federal government to help protect her city's water from animal waste pollution. And the federal government wants to help. It just hasn't figured out how. But Congress and two federal agencies are working on it, and members of the Senate Agriculture Committee heard that states and "livestock industries are going to have to play a role, too. States such as Oklahoma, where large hog and poultry operations have been proliferating and creating thousands of tons of animal waste, have a patchwork of state regulations for waste disposal.

And Savage told the Senate panel that one state can have only a limited effect on pollution if a neighboring state also is contributing to the problem. In Tulsa's case, the problem is the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed, which crosses the Arkansas border and is surrounded by poultry producers. A study three years ago showed Lake Eucha, Tulsa's primary water source, is threatened by algae growth created when poultry waste applied to the ground gets into in the lake through run-off. The resulting Two Apply for Human-Animal Patent Susan Savage phosphorous in the water creates excessive nutrients, causes odor and taste problems, can kill fish and, eventually, the lake, Savage said. Tulsa has worked with the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S.

Department of Agriculture, the state Legislature and various state agencies, the industries and numerous others on voluntary efforts to understand and address the problem. And, Savage said, the Legislature is working on new mandatory requirements for waste disposal. But she said the federal government is an essential partner. "If Arkansas does not address the degradation of the watershed with similar vigor, the work undertaken in Oklahoma will be greatly diminished." In Tulsa's case, she said, "with a watershed covering two states, a comprehensive approach is not just a goal but a necessity." WASHINGTON (Reuters) A biologist and a social activist said Thursday they had teamed in a patent application for creating, a being that would be part human and part animal. But rather than seeking to make such a creature, they said they wanted to stop anyone else from doing it.

"This is going to raise one of the great social and constitutional issues of all time can a human embryo be claimed as intellectual property?" Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, said. Rifkin, a writer and economist who has battled granting patents on living tilings, and Stuart. Newman, a cellular biologist at New York Medical College in Valhalla, said they wanted to spark a debate on the issue. "It's going to force the patent office to deal with some uncomfortable questions," Newman, who helped found the Council for Responsible Genetics, told the Washington Post. The patent they have applied for describes a technique for mixing human cells with the cells of an animal perhaps a chimpanzee, which is closely related genetically to humans.

Rifkin said a human-pig mix might be seen as useful for organ transplants, as pigs have already been experimented with for animal-to-human transplants. They want to patent the process from beginning to end from the test tube, to creation of any embryo, to its implantation in a surrogate mother and possible birth. "We are claiming a patent on the process and all the living products, so that means that any human-animal composite, any new human-animal chimera (created by the process de scribed in the patent), that would be our intellectual property," Rifkin said in a telephone interview. "This will be the test case." A similar method was used decades ago to make a "geep," an animal that was part-sheep and part-goat. Other such animals, known as chimeras, technically already exist.

Mice, rabbits, sheep and cows have been genetically engineered to carry human genes for making products ranging from alpha anti-trypsin, used to treat cystic fibrosis, to lactoferrin, See WORD, Page 2 Inside Confusion Prevails At Town Hearing On Police Firings Weatherline Call 478-3377 for local reports, forecasts. Partly cloudy skies are expected across the state today, with high temperatures in the upper 50s to low 70s. Page 22 Oil 18 Public Records 22 Sports 22-28 TV Log 14 3 Sections Delivery Service 478-7171 Former Sheriff Apologizes At Sentencing By Anthony Thornton Staff Writer MUSKOGEE Former Sequoyah County Sheriff Teddy Eubanks tearfully apologized Thursday before being sentenced to 41 months in prison for soliciting a $10,000 bribe. His sentence was the minimum under federal guidelines. Eubanks pleaded guilty in November to a money laundering charge and admitted he solicited the bribe from an undercover FBI agent posing as a bookie.

The agent told Eubanks during a sting that he wanted to establish sports betting in Sallisaw for an organized crime family from Kansas City. The bribe took place at Eubanks' home Sept. 26, 1996, two weeks before he announced his resignation as sheriff. At the time, Eubanks said he was taking a higher-paying job at a car dealership in Fort Smith, Ark. Assistant U.S.

Attorney Joe Wilson said See SENTENCE, Page 2 Index Ann Landers 15 Billy Graham 15 Bridge 40 Business 17-21 Classified 29-41 Comics 42 Crossword 40 Dear Abby 15 Editorial 4 Fashion 15 Horoscope 15 Markets 17, 19-21 Obituaries 22, 29-30 Want Ads 475-3000 Other Calls 475-3311 hearing be open to the public. Hutchinson wanted his in private, but it didn't proceed. "It was a personnel matter. Those are confidential," town attorney Larry Moore said. "It protects the employee.

Even though they want to waive that right, we were not going to waive our right to keep it confidential." Pease's attorney, Mark Thetford, said he was surprised. He said Bliss agreed the hearing could be open, if the employees wanted it. "Any type of closing was a privilege we had," Thetford said. "We were willing to waive the fact See FIRINGS, Page 2 By Mark A. Hutchison Staff Writer FORT GIBSON People who showed up Thursday to learn details of a secret investigation that led to the firing of the police chief and two officers walked away more confused.

That included attorneys in the case. A crowd showed up for a post-termination hearing scheduled for former Chief Raymond Pease and officers Tom Benge and Juston Hutchinson. William H. Bliss, a former district judge from Tahlequah, was the hearing officer. But Fort Gibson's attorneys balked when Pease and Benge asked the Entire contents copyright 1998, The Oklahoma Publishing Box 25125, Oklahoma City, OK 73125, Vol.

107, No. 76. The Oklahoman is available daily on The Oklahoman Online at www.oklahoman.com. Prayer for Today WE pray, Lord, strengthen our faith and deepen our patience as we await what we cannot see. Thank You for keeping our faith from growing dim.

Amen. Worried Oklahoma City police Sgt. Jerry Flowers displays one of the dolls left in area schools recently by a person using the name "Cybercop." Officials say Cybercop has left written material in public places warning about the dangers of "cyberkenetic" radio waves. Story, Page 10..