The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 14

413 The News and Observer Raleigh NC Tuesday April 101990 State p- 413s The News and Observer Raleigh NC Tuesday April 101990 4 hospitals to seek special Medicare payment Briefly ern North Carolina plan to ask Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan to make exceptions and to grant them the special status Administrators from the four facilities all in adjoining counties and representatives of the state Hospital Association spoke to a congressional panel last week about the financial shortfalls facing rural hospitals The effort to change the Medicare status represents a new tactic on the part of the state's rural hospitals to win higher federal payments The Medicare program which pays for health care for the elderly reimburses rural hospitals at a lower rate than their urban counterparts arguing that rural facilities have lower costs However rural hospitals designated "sole community hospitals" receive the special and lawmakers last year asked the Department of Health and Human Services to begin studying a possible three-year phase-out of the two-tier payment system Although some costs in rural areas are lower rural hospitals can't buy supplies in bulk at a discount or perform complicated procedures that bring in higher Medicare payments Ms Barnett said In addition rural hospitals often compete with urban facilities for scarce nurses and health professionals she said Mr Petit said competition for staff was a particular problem for his facility which is about a 50-minute drive from both Fayetteville and Wilmington "The professionals can commute into these communities to work but the poor and the elderly can't drive to them to get carb" he said miles in size "We feel in our minds that we are sole community hospitals" he said "In the case of my county we don't have any four-lane roads" Mr Petit said the change in status would mean an additional $125000 for his hospital enough to put the budget back in the black For Duplin General Hospital a 101-bed facility in Kenansville the change in status would mean an additional $400000 a year administrator Richard Harrell said The facility lost $236000 on Medicare services last year The ultimate goal of rural hospitals nationwide is to have Medicare pay them the same as large urban facilities said Barbara A Barnett of the hospital association That effort has gained momentum in Congress in recent years In North Carolina 75 rural hospitals more than half the state's total are paid 75 per cent less than their urban counterparts The increased Medicare rate for sole community hospitals is designed to bolster hospitals in rural areas where travel to another facility can be difficult and in an emergency life threatening Many of the hospitals qualifying for the status provide essential services to nearby residents but struggle financially because they don't treat a high volume of patients Although they are within 35 miles of another facility the four North Carolina facilities seeking the designation are the only hospitals in their respective counties said Leo A Petit Jr the director of the 62-bed Bladen County Hospital in Elizabethtown And each county is more than 800 square Rocky Mount sewage alterations proposed By TINKER READY Staff writer Four North Carolina hospitals say they should qualify for a special Medicare payment rate for isolated rural facilities even though technically they are ineligible for the program Medicare makes extra payments to "sole community hospitals" that are at least 35 miles from another hospital and that offer the only inpatient services in isolated areas The four hospitals Bladen County Hospital Pender Memorial Hospital Sampson Memorial Hospital and Duplin General Hospital are within 35 miles of another facility but each is the only hospital in its county No hospitals in the state qualify for the extra payments but the four facilities in sprawling East The Rev Sam Johnson arrives at 1 i 1 1 '-'t I i Alf i 4 "'4 3L i 4ii :4 ic" i ::74: -4et''' 4 -1 t- 3 0" A '3' 'S i i '4: ''i''''': '1'4' 1 i' 4 ic': 1't'' 4" 44 4:: 0 tif-4''''' ''A 4 "s'': '-t PO: ''''4 "11' 4 -1 A0'-' ''q A C' -1: i- -I ti: '4k 1': :1: 'i3- :61 rk 4- K-- jr -0 1 HA-z ii" -'J 0''' i 3 4 1 't ''t 3' 4) I '111' 4 4 5 i 1 1 ::1:::::: (::: i It '''4 tii: 4: o401 ''E 'r "1- i i'' ''''4'' 4i': 4 0' Pl The Associated Press ROCKY MOUNT Rocky Mount would be allowed to pump more wastewater into the Tar River but would be required to do a better job of treating the sewage under a draft permit sent to the city Monday In a letter to William Batchelor Rocky Mount city manager the state Division of Environmental Management called for modifications to the city's discharge permit The proposal presented by the state would increase the amount of wastewater discharged by the plant but would tighten the pollution limits The city has diverted more than 25 billion gallons of untreated sewage and industrial waste around its treatment plant since 1985 largely because water from storms quickly overwhelms the 8-year-old plant's treatment capacity Rocky Mount is in the process of making improvements to solve the problem but has been forbidden from connecting any more homes or businesses to sewer lines in the meantime The draft permit would allow the plant to discharge 21 million gallons of treated sewage a day said Steve Tedder head of the water quality section of the Division of Environmental Management The plant now is permitted The Associated Press the Federal Courthouse in Charlotte with his wife Joyce Dortch testifies in perjury trial of ex-PTI pastor State Bank collects money to help crime victim WINSTON-SALEM A North Carolina bank has set up an account to accept donations for a Rural Hall woman who was abducted March 22 shot in the face assaulted and left for dead near Fayetteville Sharon Robinson a spokesman for First Union National Bank in Winston-Salem said donations could be made at any First Union branch She said the money should be specified for the Phoebe Cooper fund Ms Cooper was outside a Rural Hall branch of First Union when she was abducted and was wounded with a shotgun "We've been touched by the amount of people calling and expressing concern and wanting to make donations on her behalf" said Ms Cooper's sister Jane Mann She said that Ms Cooper had undergone reconstructive surgery last week and that doctors were optimistic about Ms Cooper's recovery Rocky Point company recalls sausage links WASHINGTON The Fender Packing Co of Rocky Point NC has recalled 5000 lbs of sausage links distributed to grocery stores in North Carolina and South Carolina because the sausages were found to contain sulfites Sulfites compounds that contain sulfur dioxide are used as food preservatives in canned goods and wine But if used in fresh foods sulfites can cause severe allergic reactions especially in people with asthma according to Jim Green a spokesman for the US Department of Agriculture The contaminated sausage links are packed in foam trays carrying a red and white label "Fender's Pork Sausage" Company officials have requested that buyers return the packages to stores where they were bought Film crew is looking for Kennedy look-alike ROCKY MOUNT If you have thick chestnut-colored hair blue eyes and a toothy grin you might have a job as a John Kennedy look-alike The casting director of the movie "Love Field" which is being filmed in Wilson Raleigh and Rocky Mount is looking for someone to re-enact Kennedy's arrival at Love Field the airport in Dallas where Air Force One landed on Nov 22 1963 the Goldsboro News-Argus reported Monday The movie chronicles the journey of a woman played by actress Michelle Pfeiffer from Dallas on the day of Kennedy's assassination to Washington for the president's funeral Greensboro police note resurgence of LSD use GREENSBORO LSD a widely used drug in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States is making a comeback according to law enforcement officials The hallucinogenic drug is slowly becoming popular again especially among teenagers and college students officers said "LSD is making a small resurgence" said Sgt Bill Barnes of the Greensboro Police Department's vice and narcotics squad "In 1989 we seized 70336 doses of LSD That has a street value of $275610 That's enough to get half the people in Greensboro high" Pfafftown man kills his wife then himself WINSTON-SALEM A Pfaff-town man apparently shot his wife of 37 years to death and then killed himself a Forsyth County sheriff's spokesman said Deputies early Saturday found Thomas Everett Paul Marshall 56 and Jane Abigail Stout Marshall 65 dead of gunshot wounds Detective MC Shepherd said "We are still checking out why but evidently Mr Marshall shot his wife and then himself" Detective Shepherd said Mr Marshall had been shot with a shotgun and his wife was shot with a pistol Baby grandma share birthday to the minute GASTONIA Ethel Trotter and her newborn grandson may make the next edition of Ripley's Believe It Or Not Mark Hines of Stanley was born at 2:46 pm March 26 exactly 57 years after the birth of his grandmother Mrs Trotter "I knew if it went overnight he'd be born on my mother's birthday" Janet Hines Mark's mother said "I didn't realize until the next day when mother called me it was 57 years to the minute" From staff and wire reports The Associated Press 20 suspended 1 arrested in Southeast High fight 1 I 47 leii04 2 4ik A A 111111MV r' 04:: A 1: 0 (90rz kf'''' il to discharge 14 million gallons a day But the new permit would require the treated wastewater to be cleaner than it is now The state will accept comments on the draft from the city of Rocky Mount and from other interested parties until June 29 when the proposal is scheduled to take effect Mr Tedder said Mr Batchelor said Monday he had not seen what the state was proposing "It's a total shock" he told the Daily Reflector of Greenville "We had no prior information that anything was coming" The city manager said Rocky Mount had discussed permit modifications with the state but had not prepared for any specific changes Conservation groups called for the changes in the permit earlier this year pointing to repeated violations of environmental standards and what they described as a lax attitude toward enforcement by the state "This is the action that we had requested from the state" said Dave Mc Naught executive director of the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation Rocky Mount officials have said the current renovations are ahead of schedule The plant will be able to treat 21 million gallons of sewage per day when the renovations are completed The confrontation apparently stemmed from a long-standing rivalry between the two communities he said "It was more or less a community thing" he said "We have had a few incidents over the past few weeks The rivalry goes back quite some time" He said a parent had called him Sunday night and warned that there might be a problem Monday morning He said he and other staff members had made a "visual search" of students and school buses when they arrived at the high school Monday Mr Allen said he had discovered a loaded 357-caliber Magnum revolver hidden in one of the seats on a bus The sheriff's department later charged Keitha Lamont Whitaker 17 of Enfield with carrying a weapon onto the school campus The student was released into the custody of his parents About the time the weapon was discovered Mr Allen said about 20 students started fighting in the cafeteria area Treatment of Animals based its arguments on a few companies that do not care for animals properly In Asheville tourism and development officials and some city council members have said they think a carriage service would bring another element of Interest to downtown Asheville "We've made a concentrated effort for several years to enhance the downtown area both by physical design and atmosphere" said Wilhelmina Bratton a city council member "To me this is part of a continuing process to add spice to Asheville" "This is not being done without a lot of care and attention" she said Mr Fleming who has managed a horse-and-carriage service in Charleston wants to start as soon as possible in Asheville with three 10-passenger carriages drawn by teams of Belgian draft horses OOP CHARLOTTE A former PTL executive testified Monday that the Rev Sam Johnson had known when he loaned the executive $10000 that the money would be used to keep quiet Jim Bakker's sexual tryst with a church secretary Testifying for the prosecution in Mr Johnson's perjury trial in federal court Richard Dortch said he had explained the scandal during a 1984 meeting with Mr Johnson and former Bakker aide David Taggart "1 defined to him all of the allegations Jessica Hahn the former church secretary was making" Mr Dortch said "She alleged she was kidnapped assaulted and done great bodily harm and that Jim Bakker had raped her" Mr Dortch was granted a furlough from prison to testify against Mr Johnson the former PTL pastor who is charged with lying to the federal grand jury that indicted Mr Bakker Mr Johnson repeatedly told the panel he couldn't remember where he got the money to loan Mr Dortch Mr Dortch testified that Mr Johnson had put together the $10000 by using missionary funds and his own cash Under questioning by Assistant US Attorney Max Cogburn Mr Dortch said he had turned to Mr Johnson for help when he received several threatening letters from Ms Hahn in 1984 "Sam Johnson was someone I knew 1 could ask for the money and that he would keep it in a confidential way" he said Mr Johnson said he would get the money for Mr Dortch and they discussed methods of repayment Mr Dortch said Mr Dortch said Mr Johnson had delivered $10000 in cash to him in an envelope Mr Dortch added The Associated Press Former PTL associate Richard Dortch who is testifying against Mr Johnson arrives at the courthouse with his wife Mildred $2000 of his own money to that amount and sent it by courier to New York to deliver to Ms Hahn Mr Johnson 50 is the third minister to face prison after a 16-month federal grand jury investigation into Mr Bakker and into the PTL television ministry Mr Bakker is serving 45 years at a Minnesota prison after being convicted in October of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy Mr Dortch is serving eight years in prison He pleaded guilty in August to mail and wire fraud and conspiracy If convicted of all 12 counts of perjury Mr Johnson could receive up to five years in prison and a $250000 fine From our correspondent HALIFAX A dispute between Halifax County high school students from Enfield and Scotland Neck erupted in violence Monday morning at Southeast Halifax High School near Halifax Halifax County Sheriff ML Stallings said some students from the two communities who took part in a confrontation Sunday afternoon in Scotland Neck apparently continued it on the school campus beginning about 8:30 Monday morning Twenty students were suspended from school after the fighting One student was arrested for carrying a loaded pistol and several fistfights later broke out in the school cafeteria Another whose identity was not released was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for minor injuries Clifton Allen of Scotland Neck the high school principal said officials were unsure about the exact cause of the altercation Evans a spokesman for the group "We feel city streets are no place for horses" The organization thinks that horses are mistreated when they are made to trudge around hot city streets with a load of tourists in the summertime Ms Evans said Horses also can pose a potential hazard to themselves and to people when mixed with automobile and pedestrian traffic she said The Charleston SC man who wants to launch the buggy service however said the animal-rights group was carrying Its views too far "I think they believe any time you use an animal to the benefit of people or to the profit of people or to the pleasure of people it's cruel" Robert Fleming said "I disagree I think I'm going to make money off it maybe and they get upset at that" As to the cruelty charges he said People for the Ethical Asheville debates carriage plan Condo owners trying to hold shifting sands By JULIE POWERS RIVES Staff writer Some animal-rights activists want a proposal for a horse-andcarriage tour service in Asheville put out to pasture but supporters say the cries of cruelty are horse manure The two factions are expected to spark a lively debate tonight when the Asheville City Council considers clearing a legal path for horse-drawn carriages in the mountain city The council could pass a necessary ordinance immediately or delay a decision until its next meeting People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals a Washington-based group is leading a pro test in the Buncombe County city as part of its nationwide opposition to horses on urban roadways "We feel horses should be in green pastures not in the mid die of traffic" said Striol ter at Fort Fisher wrote a letter to the state Division of Coastal Management opposing the move A groin is a short low wall extending from the beach to the ocean used to trap sand and to stop erosion The NC Coastal Resources Commission banned groins and other hard erosion control structures in 1985 in the belief that although they may control erosion in a limited area they tend to worsen erosion nearby They also tend to block public access to the beach The question is whether the commission's rules might allow a sandbag groin that is "temporary" in the case of The Riggings request two years Officials at the Division of Coastal Management office in Raleigh will make a decision on the request by May 1 said Tere Barrett a coastal field representative for the division's Wrightsville Beach office Kure Beach residents ask for sandbag wall The Associated Press WILMINGTON A group of Kure Beach condominium owners wants to build a temporary wall of sandbags to stop erosion but a coastal engineer says the plan only may make the problem worse The Riggings Homeowners Association has applied to the Division of Coastal Management for a permit to build a 130-foot-long sandbag groin to stop the Atlantic Ocean from washing sand away from the front of the property "We don't expect it to be approved" said Robert Steele the manager of The Riggings a 48- unit condominium complex The Homeowners Association is pessimistic because Spencer Rogers Jr a coastal engineer for the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Cen.