Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • 1

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VA layoffs loom S.D r. A (LP Journal photo by Johnny Sundby Doris Marie Strom, wife of ailing Mayor Ed McLaughlin, speaks to the large crowd gathered Thursday afternoon for the ground-breaking festivities for The Journey, a 200-foot square museum that will house five area historical collections embracing geology, prehistoric eras, Indian and pioneer man. At left, Lakota singer Travis Harden sings a prayer song during the program. 3 yW A By Paul Sloca Associated Press Writer SIOUX FALLS South Dakota is one of the top five states in per-capita political pork barrel spending, according to a Washington, D.C.-based government watchdog group. Citizens Against Government Waste, in its 1996 "Congressional Pig Book Summary," lists South Dakota as one of its winners of this year's pork barrel derby.

According to statistics compiled by the group, South Dakota received $18.07 per person based on the eight appropriations bills that have passed in Congress. The national per-capita average was $5.96. Overall, South Dakota ranked 37th in total spending at almost $13.3 million. Last year, the state ranked 42nd, down two spots from 1994. Hawaii was tops in per-capita pork projects, the group said.

"South Dako-tans shouldn't be surprised because both your senators are very Daschle influential," said Dave Williams, one of the authors of the book. Williams said he couldn't prove conclusively that either Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, or Sen. Larry Pressler, helped push the pork through Congress, but he said some things were implied. For instance, Williams said, a $2.7 million appropriation for construction at the Animal Resources Wing at South Dakota State University was not requested in the president's budget but was added in the Senate through the Agriculture Committee. Williams noted that Daschle serves on the committee and is a graduate of SDSU.

"You can kind of put this thing together," Williams said. Two South Dakota projects tar- 20 years in the making, museum nears reality and pioneer man. The hourlong ground-breaking ceremony paid homage to both Lakota and Christian spirituality. Speakers also made references to the many economic and educational benefits of the new museum, while thanking the armies of people who helped bring the museum to fruition. "It's been a journey that's been long," said Sid Goss, museum director, noting that work toward a museum began 20 years ago.

See Journey on page A2 By Bill Harlan Journal Staff Writer The Department of Veterans Affairs may lay off 10,000 workers next year, and some of those layoffs could come in South Dakota, according to a VA hospital director here. The Washington Post reported the possibility of the layoffs Wednesday, after briefings with VA officials in Washington. The Post said the layoffs could include doctors and nurses, and the story also said some VA workers could be furloughed later this year. Peter Henry, director of the Fort Meade VA Medical Center at Sturgis, said there would be no VA layoffs in South Dakota in fiscal 1996, which ends Sept. 30.

But Henry added, "I'm worried about 1997." Henry also is acting director of the Hot Springs VA Medical Center. Sen. Larry Pressler, this week criticized President Clinton's seven-year plan to balance the budget, saying it cut too much from the VA budget for health care. "The proposed Clinton budget is a disaster for South Dakota veterans," he said. Pressler said the Clinton plan provides $5.8 billion less for veterans health care than the Republican plan over the next seven years.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Pressler had previously voted for a Senate bill that would have provided even less money for health care than the president's plan. "It's amazing to me Sen. Pressler would take after the president when' Sen. Pressler's own record leaves him quite vulnerable," Daschle said. Daschle also said Republican proposals for fiscal 1996 and 1997 for VA health care called for less spending than Clinton's plan.

Clinton's seven-year balanced budget plan includes $39.3 billion for the entire VA this year, which is $1 billion more than the budget Congress has approved for 1996. Clinton's 1997 VA budget includes $17 billion for medical care, which is $500 million more than in fiscal 1996. Henry said he hadn't seen the See VA on page A2 GOODMORNING Outside Cloudy: Today will be cloudy with highs around 50 and a 20 percent chance of rain. Winds will be from the southeast at 10 to 20 mph. Skies will remain mostly cloudy overnight with lows in the mid-30s.

Saturday will be mostly cloudy with highs in the mid-40s and a 20 percent chance of rain or snow. See map and details on page C1. Index 4 sections People A2 Opinion A4 Markets A6 Local B1 Obituaries B2 Sports B4-6 Classified ads C2-8 Weekend D1-6 Comics D4-5 TVHills notebook D6 geted by the group were construction of barracks and other buildings at Camp Rapid in Rapid City at more than $2.6 million, and the construction of a support complex at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City. Daschle was angry about the group's claims. Congressional delegations must fight for things important to their constituents, he said.

"I take full responsibility, or shared responsibility, with the other members of the delegation in achieving what we have to ensure that these investments continue to be made in our state and elsewhere," Daschle said Thursday. Daschle said he was familiar with Citizens Against Government Waste and held no stock in its assessments. "They ridiculed our state, and it's what I expect from a right-wing crazy group like them," Daschle said. "They should be called Citizens Against Government." Williams also said $150,000 for the first phase of Pressler a Bureau of Reclamation project on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation was added in a conference committee. Williams said those committees, designed to help bring together House and Senate versions of a bill, are not meant to be a place where things are added to legislation.

"It's the sneakiest way of doing things," Williams said. South Dakota is just now starting to get money that in the past would have been out of reach, Pressler said. "South Dakota is at the bottom of every list as far as getting our fair share," he said. "We're just starting, Daschle and to get some of the money that other states have gotten for a long time." Pressler called the pig book "misleading." Journal photo by Johnny Sundby Now, twice a week, the students arrive at Stevens at 7 a.m. two hours early.

In the school commons, they set up shop selling doughnuts, breakfast muffins, juice, coffee and other treats. Only 26 children in the world are afflicted with progeria. The goal is See Progeria on page A2 rag Students open hearts to victims of progeria go to school within 50 miles of the museum. More than 100 people, mostly tourism, business and community leaders, crammed together inside a wind-whipped, white tent at the site. Outside, green stakes with pink ribbons marked the future corners of the building.

The 200-foot square museum will be placed on an earthen mound raised 7 feet above the site at New York and Third streets. The Journey will house five area historical collections embracing geology, prehistoric eras, Indian Journal photo by Denis Ross Fox star Bart Simpson greets visitors at the KEVN studio Thursday. dine said, adding later that he hopes to maintain a good working relationship with the network. An NBC spokesman laughed when asked about a special deal to deliver over-the-air Olympics coverage on KEVN. "We're a whole network, and we have a whole network's woith of said the spokesman.

"It's very rare that we contract for just one event." Perhaps the most telling demonstration of the tension surrounding the network switch can be seen in a KEVN promotional spot in which the station's weatherman simulates a clay pigeon shoot and repeatedly blows the NBC peacock out of the air with shotgun blasts. The NBC spokesman said the network will try to deliver over-the-air See KEVN on page A2 By Mark Andersen Journal Staff Writer The Journey museum came home Thursday to the sandy brown soil along New York Street. Dignitaries holding 25 gold-painted shovels broke through the topsoil to officially begin museum construction. Joining them was Daniel Under-baggage from Herb Ham's fourth-grade class at General Beadle Elementary SchooL Daniel was thereto represent the 37,000 children who KEVN ready for switch to Fox More local programming promised after July 17 switch. By Denise Ross Journal Staff Writer Black Hills residents hoping to watch television coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympics probably won't be able to do it on KEVN-TV.

The local NBC affiliate has been purchased by Blackstar, a limited-liability company owned 20 percent by the Fox Broadcasting Co. KEVN's contract with NBC expires July 17, but details of the switch to Fox programming are still being hammered out at KEVN. The 1996 Summer Olympic Games take place in Atlanta July 19-Aug. 4 and will be broadcast by NBC. Executives from Fox's Los Angeles headquarters joined Blackstar's top two officers at a Thursday press conference where they said KEVN will air more local programming after the switch.

KEVN and Blackstar officials said they are still hoping to negotiate a deal with NBC for Olympics coverage and other programming in order to have an "orderly transition." Blackstar's founder and CEO, John Oxendine, expressed some frustration with the NBC negotiations. "They said, 'If you're not going to be with NBC, then we're not going to be NBC made it very clear they saw us as a competitor," Oxen- Proceeds from fund-raiser will help pay for Black Hills vacation. By Erin Andersen Journal Staff Writer It is hard for Stevens High School freshman Jamie Hillier to comprehend that in her short life, she already has outlived most children afflicted with progeria, a rare disease that ages the body 10 years for every one lived. Her classmate Julie Fredericksen can't imagine what it's like for a child to look in the mirror and see More fund-raising activities planned Page B3 the face of an age-ravaged dying person staring back. The frightening images, coupled with gratitude for their own health, serve as the motivation for Hillier, Fredericksen and 13 of their school-mates to make what is left of these children's lives a little bit better with a seven-day visit to the Black Hills this summer.

Most of the students had never heard of progeria before language Stevens High School students from left, back row: Lindsey McRae, Julie Fredericksen, teacher Mary Ann Johnson (in yellow), Erin Sanborn, and front row from left: Amanda Patton, Jamie Hillier and Michelle Schneider have spent three mornings selling baked goods at school to raise money for the children with progeria who will visit the Black Hills this summer. arts teacher Mary Ann Johnson put out a schoolwide public service announcement and a plea for help in raising the $80,000 needed by the Black Hills Chapter of the Sunshine Foundation to fund the organization's 15th annual Progeria Reunion scheduled for the Black Hills from June 21-28..