Longview Daily News from Longview, Washington • 13

Records C2 I Northwest C3 Classified C4 Area News SECTION Wednesday. February 4. 1987 The Daily News Help Warehouse in trouble after Reagan defers funds By Jeannie Kever The Daily News Help Warehouse, which gave more than $500,000 worth of food to the needy last year, is facing a shaky financial future. The agency, an arm of the Lower Columbia Community Action Council, has been told it won't get any money to cover the costs of distributing surplus commodities mainly cheese, butter and rice after April 1. Congress appropriated the money, which amounts to $20,572 a year for Help Warehouse, as part of the Department of Agriculture's budget.

But President Reagan decided instead to use the money for pay raises and retirement costs for agriculture department employees, said Gail Wells, Help Warehouse director. A federal court challenge to Reagan's decision has been filed, and Congress is taking action too. The Senate already has passed a bill blocking Reagan's reassignment of the money, and a similar bill is pending in the House. Traditionally, Congress appropriates about $50 million each year to pay for distributing surplus commodities to the nation's needy. The commodities are free, but social service agencies have to pay for picking them up and storing them, as well as related costs such as utilities and salaries.

But Reagan recently deferred about $29 million of the distribution funding. Unless Congress overrides the deferral, social service agencies such as Help Warehouse will be in trouble. And even if both the House and the Senate override the deferral, Reagan could veto it. The president's proposed 1988 budget doesn't include the $50 million in distribution costs. In the meantime, Help Warehouse and similar agencies are in limbo.

Wells was notified in a Jan. 21 letter that her program will receive 29 percent less than previously promised free. "So $20,000 (in distribution costs) isn't very much money when you consider the volume of food," she said. "We're talking truckloads." The funding cuts also threaten the existence of the state's Donable Foods program, which provides surplus commodities to Help Warehouse, Wells said. But if the state program folds, she said, Help Warehouse will try to get commodities from other places, including the East Coast.

That, however, would increase transportation costs. In addition to distributing commodities to the needy, Help Warehouse is the state-sanctioned distributor for local food banks. The agency receives nearly $14,000 in state grants for that task, and that monev isn't in jeopardy. This year's budget also includes about $20,000 from donations and fund-raising activities, and Wells said the agency will try to garner more donations if the distribution funding is cut. $3,651 instead of more than $5,000 for the first three months of 1987.

Beginning April 1, there won't be any money for distribution costs unless Congress overrides the deferral and Reagan doesn't veto that action. The threat has Wells worried. She will cope with the 29 percent cut, she said. "I'm not sure how, but I'm not as concerned about that as the situation as of April. We can deal with the (29 percent cut) if we have to.

And we have to." She is urging people to write their congressmen to ask that the funding be restored. But even if it isn't, Wells said, Help Warehouse will find a way to stay open. The $20,572 for distribution costs amounts to 22 percent of Help Warehouse's annual cash budget. In addition, the agency receives about $658,000 worth of donated food and volunteer labor, Wells said. In 1986, Help Warehouse distributed 542,598 pounds of food to 14,931 people in Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties.

That's S503.785 worth of food that needy residents got 1 in illi3i Daily News pholo by Ted Nan Buffeted bridge water in November. The state Highway Department is working on a design for a new center pier. said Paul Giaver, Wahkiakum County engineer and public works director. Giaver said repair costs are High water last weekend didn't cause problems for the historic covered bridge over the Grays River in Wahkiakum County, but the bridge remains closed due to damage to its center pier caused by high due to damage to its center pier caused by high estimated at about $150,000. Work to repair the bridge probably won't begin until July or August, when the river is at its lowest, til July or August, when the river is at its lowest.

Legislators balk at paying for dam fish trap By Faye Kaeele like an elephant gun right now." and is scheduled to end in 1988. The Daily News Tne hill, sponsored by Sen. Joe Tanner, D- Sarah Deatherage, director of the Cowlitz Coun- Ridgefield, would give the state Game Depart- ty Department of Community Development, OLYMPIA Even though the state agreed last ment $300,000 to operate the trap. Action on the bill reminded the committee members of a contract OLYMPIA Even though the state agreed last ment $300,000 to operate the trap. Action on the bill Man armed with bottle robs store A man who concealed his face with tape and carried a broken wine bottle as a weapon disappeared early today after robbing Holt's Market at 464 Oregon Way.

Longview police said the robber took an undisclosed sum of money from the convenience store, as well as the purse of the woman clerk he held up. The incident was reported at The clerk, a Longview woman, told police she was cleaning the front door of the store when the robber approached and pushed the door open, almost knocking her over. She said he grabbed her by the hair on the back of her head, forced her to accompany him to a cash register and demanded that she open the till. At one point he smashed the broken bottle on the counter, breaking off more glass. He also held the jagged bottle to her throat on one occasion, police were told.

She said the robber had his right hand covered with a black sock, and held the bottle in his left hand. After using the covered hand to remove money from the till, the man took the clerk's purse and fled from the store. The clerk was alone when the holdup took place, investigators said. Police were told the robber's forehead and nose were covered with what appeared to be masking tape that may have had cloth material beneath it. The clerk said he was white, appeared to be in his mid- to late 20s, stood 5-feet-6 to 5-feet-8 and weighed about 145 pounds.

He wore blue jeans, a light grey sweat shirt and white shoes. Police sealed off the area and conducted a search with the help of a tracking dog, but the robber was not found. NBC to film story of local amnesiac A television crew for Unsolved Mysteries, an NBC special, will be here late Friday afternoon to tape a segment about Longview's amnesia victim, Kyra Cook. Much of Kyra's memory remains blank five months after she turned up at the Cowlitz County Hall of Justice asking what date and year it was. She had received a bump on the head that her mother believes was caused by a midday mugging at R.A.

Long Park. Kyra, a student at Lower Columbia College, suffers from total episodic amnesia, which means she recalls how to solve math problems but doesn't remember the first 18 years of her life. The crew will be at the St. John's Hospital emergency room from 4 to 6 p.m. to shoot a re-enactment of the girl's arrival, evaluation and treatment, said Joan LeMieux, hospital spokeswoman.

Narrated by Raymond Burr, the show is tentatively scheduled to air in March, she said. signed in April 1986 between the Army Corps of was delayed until the question of how much the state would be responsible for in future bienniums could be researched. The $2 million fish trap is part of the $56.5 illion sediment dam project on the Toutle River. The dam will catch volcanic sediment that otherwise would wash downstream and clog the Cowlitz River. About 300 to 400 salmon and steelhead a year would be collected and trucked upstream past the dam to continue their journey to spawning grounds.

Construction on the dam will begin this spring year to pay for operating a fish trap on the Toutle River, legislators Tuesday balked at a bill that provides money for the trap. At a Senate Natural Resources Committee hearing Tuesday, senators voiced reluctance to foot the $300,000 bill for operating the trap over the next two years. They asked for assurances that the state will not have to pay considerably more than that in the future. "We've kind of got a gun to our heads, and I'm not nuts about a ratification that requires the state to pay for its operation," said Sen. Dan McDonald, R-Bellevue.

"It started out as a pistol, but it looks Engineers and state Department of emergency Management. The state agreed to pay for running and maintaining the trap. Sen. Lois Stratton, D-Spokane, wondered what agency would operate the fish trap if game-fish responsibilities were transferred from the Department of Game to the Department Fisheries, as another bill currently in the Legislature proposes. Kurt Smitch of the Fisheries Department said his department has no objections to the fish trap bill.

Voters OK some levies for schools By Michael Yantis The Daily News Castle Rock, Naselle and Ocean Beach voters approved school levies Tuesday, giving those school districts a chance to continue programs already in place. But the Toledo levy, which would have paid for some additional programs and raised property taxes slightly, failed. Kalama voters approved a $3 million bond issue to remodel the high school, while Woodland voters rejected one for $2.5 million to build a new elementary school and remodel other buildings. Ocean Beach voters passed a $550,000 levy after failing to pass a levy twice last year. "We were sitting on pins and needles last night, but we're feeling great this morning," said an elated Jack Williams, school board chairman.

"We've turned the corner on some of the problems here, and we will be getting better and better. The levy got a 65.5 percent "yes" vote, with 1,115 voters approving and 584 voting no. It will add $1.83 in tax to each $1,000 of assessed property value. Williams said the vote shows the community is regaining confidence in the district. He said voters "have a greater appreciation that the school board, school administrators and school teachers are pulling together to make things better." But the financially beleaguered district isn't out of the trouble yet.

With no 1986 levy money, it ran out of property tax funds in December and won't see any from this levy until April of 1988. Planning a budget for the 1987-88 school year will be tougher than planning this year's was, Williams said. Interim Superintendent Guy Glenn agreed, saying the district will have to do some "budget tightrope walking." But the levy approval "makes it a lot easier to buckle down and figure how to get there," Glenn said. "There's a light at the end of the tunnel." Both men said the district hasn't decided if it will have to look at other ways to get funds before the levy money arrives. That didn't dampen their spirits, however.

Tuesday's vote, Glenn said, "is just another sign of a turnaround in attitude, morale and confidence. Certainly (voters) are going to give the district and the board a chance to run the place." In other communities: Castle Rock residents voted 63.8 percent in favor of a $432,000 levy that would raise the property tax from $2.80 to $2.98 per $1,000 property value. The money will go to extracurricular activities, school supplies and salaries for some teachers and other staff members. Eighty percent of the Naselle voters voted "yes" on a $190,000 levy. The money will go to maintenance work at all three schools and pay for school equipment, transportation and extracurricular activities.

Only 42 percent of the 613 Toledo voters voted for the district's $305,000 levy. It would have paid for a girls' softball program, supported other programs, increased coaches' salaries, bought equipment and boosted the district's cash reserves. Acting interim Superintendent George Eisentrout said he didn't know if the levy would be resubmitted later this year. With 70-percent voter approval of Kalama's $2.98 million bond issue, the district will start building an addition to the high school this summer, Superintendent Mai Swanson said. The following summer, workers will remodel the rest of the high school.

In Woodland, the school district failed for a second time to pass a $2.5 million bond issue that would have paid for a new elementary school and remodeling of the district's other schools. Elementary school principal Kerry Quorn said he doesn't know if the district will make another try at the bond issue, but his school still needs roof repairs and a new heating system, among other things. It would be less expensive to build a new school, he said. Grade Street will be wide arterial to mall BEGIN 1 It PROJECT I Vl. iMjUl 1 gjy By Dell Burner The Daily News Five years after the people of Kelso voted to pay $860,000 for the project, the city is ready to ring the Three Rivers Mall with wider, smoother streets.

The City Council moved Tuesday night to call for bids on a job to transform narrow, bumpy Grade Street on the mall's southwest flank into a streamlined four-lane strip. Work to rebuild that street and redesign three others that lead up to it Fourth Avenue, Oak Street and 13th Avenue is expected to start in March and be done by July. The cost of construction will be paid for by property owners of Kelso, whose tax bills will rise about 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, and Price Development the firm building the mall with eyes on an August opening. Because of the drop in interest rates, Kelso property owners will be paying less for the city's portion of the project than originally projected. Voters approved a bond issue in 1982 thinking it would raise taxes by 65 cents per $1,000.

But because the 20-year bonds were not sold until last year, the 5tt percent interest rate cut the levy rate by more than half. "This is the kind of project that is delightful," said Public Works Director Sid Klein, who for the first time in years won't have state and federal agencies looking over his shoulder: "We don't have to get down on our knees for anyone from the government." Klein's work table has been piled high for weeks with the blueprints and paper work to prepare for bidding, which he expects to attract strong competition. Grade Street will be widened to 44 feet for part of a three-quarter-mile stretch between Oak Street and the Coweeman River Bridge, and to 48 feet in front of the mall. It will be trimmed on both sides with sidewalks, curbs with wheelchair ramps and 36 spun aluminum street lights. Entrances to side streets will be widened and redesigned.

The project will create a path for traffic onto Grade Street by rounding a corner off a city parking lot at Fourth Avenue and Oak Street and changing a block of Oak Street from there to Grade Street to a one-way arterial. It will allow a two-lane flow of vehicles to cruise, unimpeded by stop lights, from Allen Street to the mall's southwest entrance, Klein said. Another change in traffic patterns will block vehicles from entering Vine Street from Grade Street, although motorists will be able to go from Vine to Grade. The city plans to install a special device to halt Shock waves used against kidney stones Two Longview urologists, Drs. Thomas Tossberg and Patrick Maginn, are using special equipment at a Portland hospital to treat kidney stones by a new method called shock-wave lithotripsy.

The process requires equipment that is available at Holladay Park Hospital in Portland, the two physicians say. Lithotripsy, one of a growing number of surgical treatments that do not require an operation, breaks up kidney stones using shock waves that travel through a water bath in which the patient is immersed. Tossberg recently received training in lithotripsy at Wake Forest University's Bowman-Gray Medical School in Winston-Salem, N.C. freeway. On Tuesday, the council accepted the donation of a 60-foot triangle of land from the Kelso Elks Lodge so it can soften a sharp turn onto Ash Street from the new and wider Grade Street.

"We greatly appreciate that," Klein said. Meanwhile, the state Department of Transportation is gearing up to let bids on a four-lane entrance into the mall from Allen Street near Burger King. Klein showed blueprints of the entrance to the council Tuesday for the first time. Grade Street traffic when emergency vehicles from the Fire District 2 station on Vine Street go out. By agreement, Price Development Co.

will foot the cost of the Grade Street work between Ash Street and the Coweeman River Bridge, where it fronts the mall. Near the south end of Grade Street, 13th Avenue will be extended northward to cut under Interstate 5 and give drivers a route from areas east of the 1.