Omaha World-Herald from Omaha, Nebraska • 9

The World Herald on the Web MAHAjCOM Sfflotld Hcrald Midlands DEATHS 10 BUSINESS 14 MORE MIDLANDS NEWS 17 TUESDAY JULY 11 2000 OilSOWBHiSSSSKi Have a News Tip? Call 1 888 OWH TIPS PAGE 9 1 Michael 1 Kelly Omahans Play Carnegie Hall Sergei Rachmaninoff the composer once conducted violinist ritz Kreisler in one of the greatest music venues Alas during the middle of a sonata Kreisler lost his place "Where are he whispered Said Rachmaninoff: Carnegie ifty one Omaha area singers led by Jackson and Almeda Berkey never lost their place when they performed recently and they certainly knew where thev were at the famed concert hall at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City Even for the Berkeys who have performed internationally this was a career highlight Carnegie Hall which opened in 1891 has seen the greats Peter llich Tchaikovsky Benny Goodman Judy Garland the Beatles Isaac Stern and many more about all those Almeda said a feeling that you can almost breathe in the air and somehow take in the atmosphere of those On June 26 she conducted the 55 member New England Symphonic Ensemble and a 155 voice choir in the New York debut of Jackson ollow The piece has been performed for about 15 years in Omaha most recently in April at St Cecilia Cathedral In New York the Omaha Cantata Choir joined choirs from other states to sing the 40 minute work recounting the Passion of Jesus Christ Paul Tranisi of Omaha narrated and soprano Catherine Vouk who has wowed Omaha audiences as Mary Magdalene did the same at Carnegie After long and grueling rehearsals Almeda Berkey said she nervous at her Carnegie Hall debut mainly because she had so muclion her mind Jackson played the piano "We had worked really she said was difficult making all the choirs sound like one The performance drew a standing ovation and cheers Said Almeda: was thrilling to have people in a pretty discerning audience passing positive judgment on your In addition to their own work the Berkeys have performed for years with Chip Mannheim Steamroller The Carnegie Hall invitation resulted from talks that began about three years ago with Peter Tiboris director of the Carnegie Hall Series 2000 Last Time? Another thrilling kind of music returns Monday to Omaha but it might be for the last time The 23rd annual Drums Across the Midlands a precision marching and musical competition between drum and bugle corps from across the country begins at 7:30 pm at the University of Nebraska at Omaha's football stadium or years Omaha had its own corps the Railmen which disbanded several sears ago But the Railmen organization has continued to sponsor competition Chris Allen a UNO assistant professor and president of the Railmen said crowds peaked at about 3000 but fell last year to 1100 A turnout of 1800 to 2000 probably would be needed to encourage future Omaha competitions A drum and bugle corps is a brass band extremely well rehearsed playing with a tremendous amount of power music is crisp and Allen said visual display on the field the drills and movement the color guard Hags and rifle teams are all Nitpicky judges walk amid the marchers looking for imperfections About 500 performers up to age 21 will play in Omaha for corps based in Massachusetts Illinois Pennsylvania Iowa Wisconsin and Washington state An Omaha Central High student Eric Ben Salah son of Salah and Mary Ben Salah will perform with the Colts from Dubuque Iowa Tickets (951 5540) are S18 and $16 the day of the show $2 less in advance Sad Note Irish tenor rank Patterson who sang before presidents and the pope charmed Omaha audiences a few times most recently in September at the Joslyn Art Witherspoon Concert Hall Known as Golden Patterson was to have sung in May at the funeral of Cardinal John O'Connor in New York but became ill The singer died June 10 from a brain tumor He was61 His recitals included a light classical repertory and Irish ballads He sold out 6000 seat Radio City Music Hall and said he never tired of singing School Boards Take Up Budgets Elkhorn proposes a higher property tax rate while District 66 and Bellevue plan to lower their levies BYERINGRACE and MELISSA MATCZAK WORLD HERALD STA WRITERS Elkhorn school officials on Monday examined a budget proposal for the next school year that calls for a 98 percent increase in spending and a 3 cent increase in the property tax rate The District 66 and Bellevue school boards also discussed budget proposals Monday for the 2000 01 school year Unlike "Elkhorn those school districts plan to lower their total tax rates In Elkhorn plans call increasing spending by 98 percent from about $157 million last year to about $172 million Driving the proposed spending1 increases are added costs such as all day kindergarten at each of the district's four elementary schools a new alternative education program at Elkhorn High School pay raises for teachers and higher energy expenses An additional cost is the opening of the new Spring Ridge Elementary School this fall To help cover costs and offset a 48 percent drop in state aid the Elkhorn district plans to increase the total property tax levy from $123 to $126 per $100 of assessed valuation and to use $350000 in cash reserves trving to be frugal with this" Assistant Superintendent Steve Baker said trying to do all of this by holding the levy down as much as Baker pointed to the previous efforts to reduce the total property tax levy from $193 five years ago to $123 this year making per pupil spending one of the lowest in the Omaha metropolitan area With the 3 cent increase the owner of a house valued for tax purposes at $100000 that was not reassessed would pay about $30 more in school taxes However because property valuations increased in the Elkhorn district many residents could pay higher school taxes A preliminary budget for District 66 calls for the tax rate to drop about 2 cents to $127 per $100 of assessed valuation General fund spending would increase about 75 percent to $412 million Reasons for the increase include paving for nine additional teachers and boosting teacher pay The extra teachers are needed to help reduce class sizes at the middle school and high school Assistant Superinten dent Al Inzerello said The District 66 schx)l board earlier this year agreed to increase starting Arena Costs Lurk in Sewers Other Unseen Places SOLID OLD TUNNEL: Mark Olson city maintenance supervisor checks a main sewer that runs underneath the Union Pacific rail yard I A pH JOHNSONTHE WORLD HERALD Site Preparation 18 of Total BY ROBERT DORR WORLD HERALD STA WRITER In a boxcar size tunnel at the Union Pacific rail yard site of future convention center arena four experts in sewer construction trudged through 18 inches of smelly flowing sewage one day last winter They shined powerful lights at concrete walls nearly 100 years old looking for telltale cracks and other signs of deterioration They find any The sewers had been solidly built and were still sound were so relieved to find the sewers in such good said Hank Vieregger a City of Omaha engineer or convention center arena planners that finding ended one of the uncertainties that can drive up the cost of construction on an old site with multiple unknowns In this case costs could have increased by several million dollars if two main sewer lines had needed major repairs or replacement said Greg Peterson a city planner One line was built between 1900 and 1910 the other in the 1930s is a very large very complex Peterson said Convention Center Arena Site Preparation Costs "WS i Demolition grading $9077000 Sewers 9834000 Streets 7651000 Parking lots 9633000 ssSource City Omaha Planning Peparttnengg Infrastructure specialists have studied the rail yard and its potential difficulties for months and some problems are being resolved One is the removal of environmental contaminants After more than a century of railroad industrial use some of the soil at the rail yard contains unacceptable levels of lead asbestos and diesel Utilities 2807000 Engineering testing 4777000 Bridge I 48Q ramps 6845000 Total $50624000 fuel Union Pacific is responsible for the cleanup and is proceeding under a plan that has been approved by federal and state authorities The railroad expects to complete most of the cleanup bv Sept 1 An Abbott Drive viaduct stands where the convention center arena will be built The viaduct is coming down and will be gone by mid September So far preparation of the site directly northeast of downtown Omaha is going smoothly planners say But it cheap City planners project site infrastructure costs at $506 million or 18 percent of the convention center overall cost of $281 million Omaha voters approved a $198 million bond issue in May to provide the public financing for preparing the site and building the center Nearly all the rest will come from $75 million in private donations The city expects the center to be finished in late 2003 Assembling the land for the new convention center arena is more complicated than buying a cornfield on the outskirts Most of the site has a single owner Union Pacific The City of Omaha will pay the railroad $113 million for 105 acres The purchase will become final this fall The city will buy 10 additional acres mostly along the southwest edge from eight property owners City officials find one of those owners Countv records show See INRASTRUCTURE Page 12 110 Year Old Woman Took Life in Stride Niece Says BY KIMBERLY SWEET WORLD HERALD STA WRITER Atkinson Neb If there is a secret to living a long life Mabelle Bauman knew it The 1 10 year old Atkinson resident died Saturday less than two weeks before her 1 1 1th birthday No cause of death was immediately apparent or the most part Bauman's health was good said her niece Delores Pacha I think she just wore Pacha said Two of Bauman's nieces Pacha and Kathleen Steinhauser said their attitude was the key to her lengthy life one to worry a Steinhauser said took life in Pacha said her aunt was never sick and never in the hospital Jim Thorson a gerontology expert at the University of Nebraska at Omaha said the Mr Be 1 odds of living to Mabelle Bauman age are extremely small lived to a surprisingly old he said a very rare Thorson said no one officially keeps data to determine who the oldest per son in Nebraska is But Bauman's nieces said they believe that their aunt could have been the state's oldest resi dent Pacha said her aunt died while spending time with her nieces at a local nursing home where Bauman lived for the last five years of her life knew we were there on Satur day afternoon" Pacha said just put her head to the side and fell The youngest of her family Bauman never married or had children Born on a farm near Atkinson she grew up and decided to go to secretarial school in remont Pacha said wanted a she said Bauman's first job was in Omaha in the old Woodmen of the World build ing at 14th and arnam Streets around 1908 Pacha said Bauman worked for a federal judge in Seattle for about three months But for most of her life she lived and worked in Atkinson Even though she had no children Bauman always had a home full of nieces and nephews her relatives said alwavs went to her home" Pa cha said spent a lot of tune there over the Bauman's funeral will be at 10 am Wednesday at St Joseph Catholic Church in Atkinson teacher pay by nearly 10 percent to stay competitive amid the state's growing teacher shortage A projected increase of about 14 percent in property valuations and use of cash reserves would enable the district to lower its tax rate even though the general fund is increasing The district plans to use 1 cent of the 22 cents per $100 valuation that voters authorized to exceed the state spending lid of $110 Using just one penny shows that the district taking advantage of the extra taxing authority approved by voters said District 66 Superintendent 1 Ken Bird said from the beginning only use what we have he i See SCHOOLS Page 12 Overhaul 1 Working Police Say But one critic of the Omaha reorganization says he is 1 unimpressed with talk of faster response times BY KAR SPENCI 4 WORLD HERALD STA WRITER Omaha police say reorganizing their department has helped officers respond to emergencies faster but one community leader gave the changes mixed reviews In March the average response time was the quickest in recent history 4 minutes and 31 seconds said Sgt Dan Cisar a police spokesman In the same month last year the response time averaged 5 minutes and 9 seconds according to statistics released Monday Response tunes improved this year even as the number of 911 calls increased In March 2000 21064 people called 911 an increase of 8 percent Police Chief Don Carey credits a department reorganization that started in early March with the intention of getting more officers on the street I keep Omaha safe and provide only the highest standards of police senices we felt it was critical to improve our efficiency by reallocating our resources and Carey said in a press release The most controversial change was dissolving the Metro Unit a team of 23 i officers focusing on gangs and drugs Twelve of those officers moved to patrol duties to help handle calls and the remainder shifted to other special assignments Community leaders criticized the decision when it was announced in the spring and again in June when several Latino leaders held a press conference to air concerns about increasing violence in south Omaha Police administrators say the responsibility for gang suppression now has been given to all officers i But Ben Salazar who organized last month's press conference impressed almost sounds said Salazar the publisher of Nuestro See POLICE Page 12 I i Humidity Heat Add Up To Danger i BY KIMBERLY SWEET WORLD HERALD STA WRITER The high temperatures that strolled into eastern Nebraska last week haven't broken any records yet and are onlv a little above normal officials say I But combine typical summer temperatures with high levels of humidity and you've got an oppressive combination been the scenario in Omaha and areas of eastern Nebraska and southwestern Iowa where humidity and heat have combined to make the heat index hit between 100 and 105 during the last few davs said John Pollack of the National Weather i Service in Valley The index readings prompted the Nebraska Health and Human Services System to issue a heat alert for areas of eastern Nebraska Officials in the department are urging people at risk for heat related illnesses to take extra care in the hot weather The alert applies to all the areas in the state where the high index readings have taken hold said Marla Augustine of the Health and Human Services Svstem Pollack said the temperatures in the area have been in the high 80s to low 90s making it hot for Julv but not See WEATHER Page12.