Kenosha News from Kenosha, Wisconsin • 1

How cold is it? Check wind chill page 2 By KAY JONES Sun Writer first it's been the slips and fails strained backs and hearts that come with snow and ice Now as temperatures plummet below zero emergency rooms are expecting frostbite cases Neither Kenosha hospital has so far reported any frostbite case but emergency room personnel know that with tonight's forecasted temperatures of minus 10 to minus 15 frostbitten fingers and toes will be coming in predicted high is 10 above Three fires Wednesday were blamed on cold weather A Somers family escaped injury Thursday afternoon In a house fire believed caused when they tried to thaw frozen pipes The house was extensively dam-aged An overheated wood-burning stove that Ignited flamable insulation caused about $50 damage later that afternoon to the garage of Diane Amlerson 10718 122ncj St Pleasant Prairie Elbow Room tavern was damaged by a fire Thursday morning started when electricity was turned on to a hot plate left plugged in under a mattress in an unoccupied apartment As temperatures fell Wisconsin Natural Gas Co exceeded its contract with its supplier for the 24 hours from noon Wednesday to noon Thursday It used 433125 decatherms (a decatherm is a heat content measurement roughy equivalent to 1000 cubic feet or 1 million BTUs) 24793 decatherms above its normal dally contract of 406332 That figure is still below the 1981 high of 486300 decatherms used Jan 2 of last year There is no fear of a shortage The supplier has promised the gas company adequate supplies for any demand The Low Income Energy Assistance Program has emergency money immediately available for people who run out of fuel or need furnace repair and who meet the income limits of the program The telephone number is 656-6533 Robert Simmons director of the assistance program said his office has not had an unusual number of calls about two to four a day for this aid The program also pffers a seasonal assistance program to pay fuel bills He said about 20 to 25 people a day have been applying but because of programming problems In Madison checks for this partof the program have not yet arrived He expects the first payments to be here next week The most common wfeather-re-lated health problems showing up at local emergency rooms so far this winter have been slips and Mrs Daugherty said the junior high-age crowd has introduced bike riding as an Innovation on sledding courses This she said is creating some unusual dangers for both bikers and sledders when a biker loses control i Strained backs and more dangerously strained hearts from overexertion in shoveling snow and pushing cars also has been a problem She recommended that anyone with medical problems avoid shoveling snow in 'Sub-zero temperatures People also shouldn't try to shovel snow immediately after a heavy meal or after drinking heavily because of the added strain to the heart WNtlHWIiimiiHiHi M'WnNHApiikd I ill Hi ii'in 4 falls on the ice leading to any- thing from a sprain to a fracture Sandra Daugherty nursing pervisor at St hospital said there have been a number of injuries from pushing cars She said people have come in with injured hands and legs when they became pinned between vehicles or against a building trying to push an unwieldy car out of a snowbank Fun also can be dangerous 25 a copy Home delivered $155 Weekly Kenosha Wis Friday January Corrected assessments By BARBARA HENKEL Staff Writer New assessment notices correct- ing a computer error were sent to owners of 7313 city parcels Thursday night Of these 3356 assessments have been decreased and 3957 increased from the values given in notices serft Dec 23 Mayor John Bllottl at a press conference this morning said the net affect of the differences offset each so that the tax rate need not be changed He and Acting County Assessor Steven Schwalko said the differences between the Dec 23 notices and the new ones range from $5 to Outside story Cloudy tonight with a chance tor light snow or flurries Lows 16 to II below Partly cloudy and continued very cold Saturday Highs sere to I above Winds north to northwest II to 21 mph to- night Chance for snow percent tonight Sunrise Sat- urday 7:21 sunset 4:27 high I low -2 Noon temperature today II who receive a corrected notice in the next few days can assume their Dec 23 assessment is correct Bllottl and Schwalko said Anyone with questions about their assessment should contact the assessor's office in the Courthouse to make an appointment to discuss their assessment witH an appaiser they said Those who have a new lower valuation and who have already paid their taxes will receive a refund check Those who have a new lower valuation and haven't paid their' taxes yet will have the decrease deducted from their first installment payment due Feb 2 if they are paying by the installment plan or when the full amount is due March 1 if paying in full Those with new higher valuations will have until Aug 2 to pay the additional tax Letters from the city revising the 1981 tax and giving instructions on how to pay or receive a refund will be sent next week to those with changed assessments Schwalko said the computer error was discovered Dec 28 the first day the Courthouse was officially open after the tax assessment notices were mailed Dec 23 He said city" property owners called to complain about assessments that differed from those the had on file The error was made public Dec 30 A meeting was held Tuesday between city and county officials to decide how to rectify the error Bilotti put a tight lid on anyone commenting on the meeting until the joint press conference this morning "The consensus was that there were enough questions We wanted everything to be in black and white 8 1982 several thousands of dollars of assessed value A difference of $3000 in assessed value would mean a savings or additional tax of $5893 depending on whether the Dec 23 assessment was $3000 too high or too low City property owners west of 39th Avenue or north of 45th Street may have received inaccurate assessment notices in December On the assessment notices to the left of the parcel number is a two-digit number indicating the book the parcel is recorded in Some but not all parcels in books 02 03 07 08 10 and 11 were issued incorrect tax bills Dec 23 Persons with property with parcel numbers in the above named books Inside story Area Newt- 24 Church News I Classified 21-27 Comics 16 Deaths 11 Editorials 4 Financial News 22 Horizon 71 Local News 11-14 Sports 1111 TV movies 1111 Youth News 17 Warzon said "I find the opinion shocking" Warzon said he won't know what ramifications it may have for other retirees and employees until he sees a copy of the full decision In their suit Desris and Konrad claimed they were denied equal protection afforded by the 14th Amendment 'because they were forced to retire at age 60 when other firefighters hired before 1948 could remain on the job until they reached 65 The different retirement ages arose because firefighters hired before Jan 1 1948 belong to one pension plan while those after that date belong to another Evans ruled in favor of the suit on denial of equal protection He denied as moot a claim under the Age Discrimination and Employment Act Before 1979 the act exempted from mandatory retirement age restrictions employees belonging to bona fide pension plans That exemption has since been eliminated 4 mailed so there would be no Bilotti said this morning Asked If the news from meeting was delayed in an attempt to defuse public criticism Bilotti said "Oh no no The criticism was already there The intent of this mayor was for everybody to put forth their input" Bilotti took advantage of the press conference to read a prepared statement that said he will with state officials to learn what can be done to assure that next year the assessment roll is delivered as prescribed by state law He said the county could be penalized by losing some state funding of the assessing office His statement said "In view of what has transpired in the lasNwo weeks with the reassessment program I say fix it or change it The problems of the last several days have absolutely convinced me that changes are necessary regarding the current countywide assessing system I believe this change must provide for local municipalities like Kenosha to have a voice and input in the reassessment process in seeing that deadlines are met in providing a reassessment roll in a timely manner" Normally the city receives the assessment roll from the assessor in early August Tax payments based on that roll are usually mailed the first week of December In other years taxpayers have received new assessment notices around May 1 and any complaints have been adjusted prior to the assessment roll going to the city City Clerk-Treasurer Gail Pro-carione said a ballpark estimate is that taxes on between 5000 and 7000 parcels of the 23000 in the city were paid the final days of 1981 EUGENE DORFF leave after six term to organize their said Dorff He said "There is no one on the horizon now that I would but he rule out an endorsement in the future Mayor John Bllottl said Dorff i dedicated many long years of term Dorff seek another Retired firefighters win suit against city By BARBARA HENKEL Staff Writer A former opponent of retiring 64th District State Rep Eugene Dorff D-Kenosba said today he will campaign for Dorffs Assembly post John Antaramian 26 6565 Pershing Blvd said today no question" try for the 65th assembly district post Antaramian unsuccessfully challenged Dorff in the 1980 Democratic primary "I announced after the primary that run again and I am" be said learned a lot through that and I think I have a good chance to County Board Chairman Ranald Frederick Is another possible contender "Obviously 1 would talp a strong look at running for this position" he said jOn Dec 31 Dorff will complete his sixth consecutive term His district includes Pleasant Prairie and most of the city south of 60th Street and west of the Chicago and North Western tracks He was first elected in 1970 "I want to spend some time with my family and said Dorff He wants more time to see his first grandchild a granddaughter in Eau Claire who will be 2 in March announcing early like this will giye potential candidates time given himself on his last contest Guttormsen said not sure what my position is" regarding run1 ning again Asked if the last election had anything to do with his decision to leave the Capitol Dorff said way I've been in tougher battles before both in other elections and in the Assembly I know my district" Dorff has served on the Assembly's Excise and Fees Committee since 1973 and has been its chairman since 1975 He is also serving on the Financial Institutions and Transportation Committees Before being elected to the Assembly Dorff served on City Council for three terms from 1964 to 1970 After the November 1980 election Dorff closed his campaign account Asked at the time If that foreshadowed any future plans of not running Dorff said no Dorff who will be 52 this February has been a sheet metal worker at American Motors Corp for nearly 20 years He said he plans to continue' working there He said he will not be a lame duck representative always voted my conscience and I don't intend to shirk my responslblllties said Dorff He said he hopes to help get some bills in the works off of the ground ir service to the public I am sorry to see Assemblyman Dorff leave the political scene but at the same time 1 uiderstand his reasons for making this decision and I wish him and his wife well" Frederick said "As board chnir- man I can say Assemblyman Dorff has always worked with us to make the county's concerns known at the state In his last election Dorff was challenged in the Democratic primary by Antaramian an assistant drug store manager Dorff defeated Antaramian and in the general election faced Republican Norman Gut-tormsen 4423 Wilson Road semi-retired bowling lanes operator Both Antaramian now 26 and Guttormsen now 61 made what appeared to be strong showings for political newcomers In the primary Antaramian racked up 4093 votes to 4289 Dorff at the time dismissed thb narrow margin of victory to a larger Republican crossover Guttormsen said that while he made what was probably a good showing for his first bid for office "I thought if ever there was an opportunity to unseat a Democratic incumbent that was the time The trend seemed to be for more conservative Because of the mixed renews he's 1 A federal court has declared that two Kenosha firefighters' rights were violated when they were forced to retire at age 60 The city has been ordered to pay them a little more than three back pay The decision in an age discrimination case brought by John Desris now 65 and Leo Konrad now 64 was made Thursday by Federal Judge Terence Evans In Milwaukee The pair were fired by the city in 1977 when they reached the age of 60 City Attorney James Conway said that City Council will have to decide if it will appeal the matter further He said he has always felt the city had a strong case but an appeal will be expensive decision awards Desris back pay from Jan 1 1977 through April 15 1980 and to Feb 20 1980 for Konrad The city Is also to pay the two the additional pension money they would have received had they worked until 1980 City Personnel Director James na.