Banner Graphic, Volume 10, Number 145, Greencastle, Putnam County, 22 February 1980 — Page 3

Revised plan has no chance in Senate?

Fate of gas tax still questionable

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The House and Senate resume attempts today to reach a compromise on a gasoline tax to provide more money for highway repair, but appear no closer to an agreement than they were a day ago. The House-Senate panel attempting to hammer out the agreement faces a potential deadline of noon today to reach agreement unless the House agrees to suspend rules so the measure could be considered either late today or early next week The panel met until late Thursday night. Rep. Thomas D. Coleman. RNew Castle, presented a revised plan, similar to that passed by the House earlier this month, but Senate President Pro Tern Martin K. Edwards, R-New Castle, said the measure stands no chance of passing in the Senate. “It seems to me the constitution says this bill has to pass two successive houses. Passing the same house twice doesn’t make it law,” said Edwards. The latest Coleman plan would retain almost all the features of the original House bill, but would give the Legislature greater control over the spending of the extra dollars to be raised by a gasoline tax increase. It would also give the state’s 92 counties the option to raise auto excise taxes and impose truck taxes to raise more road money, a proposal Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lawrence M Borst, R-Indianapolis, wants in the road bill. Under the plan, the existing eight-cents-a-gallon state gasoline tax would be replaced by six cents plus a 4 percent tax on price, a move which would result in an immediate twocents-a-gallon tax increase. If taxes went up two cents, a motorist using 20 gallons of gasoline a week would pay an extra $20.80 in gasoline taxes a year. Under the Coleman plan, the gasoline tax would go up a penny for each 25-cent increase in the price of gasoline. The proposal would provide about $lO million a year in general tax dollars for mass transit. The bill that passed the Senate would replace the existing tax with an 8 percent tax on price, which would result in little, if any, increase in the tax initially but would allow the tax to rise more sharply than the House version as gasoline prices increase. The Senate bill provided that no matter how fast prices rise, the tax could go no higher than 12 cents a gallon this year, 14 cen-

Hoosier first woman to die in Air Force program DOVER, Okla. (AP) The fatal crash of an Indiana student pilot whose jet trainer plummeted into a rye field will be investigated by the Air Force Accident Investigation Board, officials say. Capt. Margaret Joganic, 30, Lake Station, Ind.„ was the first woman to die in the Air Force’s undergraduate pilot training program, a Vance Air Force Base spokesman said Thursday. Witnesses said her T-37 flight trainer from the base circled, banked sharply and fell to the ground after exploding 20 to 50 feet in the air shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday. The jet “exploded just before it hit or when it hit, it was that close,” said rancher Loren Pollard. “It was just a huge ball of fire. It shook the earth.” “The plane just disintegrated,” said Pollard. “There wasn’t any piece big enough that you couldn’t carry it away.” Miss Joganic, who had been in training since Sept. 20,1979, was on a routine training mission. Within seven flights of completion of the T-37 phase of the program, she had logged 65.6 flying hours and was to graduate in August.

Defense aided

WINAMAC, Ind. (AP) - The admission of Ford Motor Co.’s $7 million conviction for falsifying statements to the federal government breathed new life into the state’s case against the automaker, say prosecutors in Ford’s reckless homicide trial. "The admission of this document maintains the momentum that started with Ford’s defense,” Prosecutor Michael A. Cosentino told reporters Thursday before the trial recessed for the weekend. “Our case gets stronger and

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stronger as the defense continues. The longer this trial goes, the better I feel.” Over defense objections, Pulaski Circuit Judge Harold R. Staffeldt admitted a government copy of Ford’s 1973 conviction on 350 violations of the Clean Air Act. Staffeldt said although the clean air tase was unrelated to allegations that the Pinto was recklessly designed, it could reflect on the credibility of defense documents in the current trial.

ts a gallon next year and 16 cents a gallon in 1982. The maximum 16-cent-a-gallon tax would be applied only if gas prices hit $2 a gallon. The Senate bill also provided fewer dollars for local highways than the House bill and would not allow bonding, except for five southern Indiana counties, or any property tax increases. The five counties which could bond would be Vanderburgh, Posey, Spencer, Gibson and Warrick. The Legislature’s money men also began a line-by-line review of the Senate and House versions of the budget bill. Much of the negotiating was held up to await an agreement on the gasoline tax and highway finance legislation. Borst said no final agreement would be reached on the budget bill until the highway issue is resolved because some general tax dollars will have to be given for road repair if the gasoline tax plan isn’t approved. The House budget called for $65 million in appropriations for a variety of projects around the state and inflation-fighting pay raises for state employees, university personnel and public school teachers. The budget, as it emerged from the Senate, was S2B million lighter, with most of the construction programs cut from it. The $37 million bill is almast the same as the budget approved by the House Ways and Means Committee. A bill reorganizing the state’s transportation agencies into departments of highways and transportation surfaced in a conference committee dealing with legislation to expand the flexibility of the Indiana Toll Road Commission’s authority to bond. In its final version, the bill exempted the Indiana Port Commission from the reorganization. Two bills giving the Environmental Management Board authority over hazardous wastes were sent to conference committees. The Senate bill was amended in the House to ban new construction of nuclear power plants after August of this year unless a disposal had been found for the radioactive waste. The conference committee, headed by Sen. John M. Guy, RMonticello, cut out the nuclear waste language and restored the bill to its original form, giving the board authority over regulation and disposal of hazardous wastes.

Brighton won't seek nomination TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) Former Terre Haute Mayor William J. Brighton said Thursday he decided against seeking the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. Brighton said a week ago he was considering trying for the bid. However, he said Thursday he talked with numerous state Democrats and decided the problems in which he was involved while mayor could hamper the party in the fall elections. While mayor, Brighton was charged with official misconduct involving patronage funds, but a judge dismissed the charges. Also during his administration, Brighton’s fire chief was tried and acquitted of federal and state corruption charges. Brighton said his troubles were caused by rival politicians angry because he shut down prostitution and gambling rackets.

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Staff cuts, closings to finance pay raise

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)Staff cuts and school closings are anticipated to provide funds for a 5 percent pay raise and other benefits Indianapolis teachers received in an arbitor’s decision, said Superintendent Karl R. Kalp. The raise, retroactive to last Oct. 5, was less than half what teachers had sought after a month-long strike last f&ll that was the second-longest school walkout in Indiana history. The arbitrator’s decision, announced Thursday, also limited the contract to one year, raising the possibility of a renewal in the dispute next fall. Kalp said teacher contract talks will begin on March 5 and that he hoped they “would be peaceful, harmonious and solicitious.” In a letter to Lillian M. Davis, president of the Indianapolis Board of School Commissioners, chief negotiator S.R. Born said nearly $2.9 million in needed to comply with the decisions of arbitor Richard L. Kanner. It was the first time since collective bargaining rights were extended to teachers

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in 1973 that both sides agreed to binding arbitration to settle a strike. State law, which prohibits teacher strikes, makes no provision for resolving bargaining deadlocks. The arbitrator from the American Arbitration Association, chose the school system’s proposal on 19 of the 25 issues presented to him. i Kalp would not say what type of cuts were anticipated, but a task force has been studying the closing of one high school and seven or eight elementary schools. He estimated those cuts would save about $1.75 annually. When asked about other economy measures, Kalp said, “The answer is obvious. We’ll have to cut down staff.” The teachers had proposed a 9 percent base pay raise effective last Oct. 1 and a 4 percent increase effective Jan. 21. The school board offer called for a 5 percent base pay raise retroactive to Oct. 5, plus a SSOO flat bonus to each of the approximately 3,400 teachers.

February 22, 1960, The Putnam County Banner Graphic

Regional energy plan proposed HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) - Garbage from four Indiana and seven Kentucky counties would provide regional energy and profit if a plan proposed this week becomes reality. Ron Dobson, director of Operation Community Pride here, explained the plan at a “resource recovery seminar” this week. Dobson said he hoped the seminar would be the first step in a move where county officials would set aside their border rivalry. He hopes the officials will join in producing 1 a program that would turn area ga rba ge-i n to-energy. After hearing about the plan, area officials named a regiortal task force to look into possible recycling programs. Regional cooperation could lead to construction of a central station where recyclable castoffs could be sorted and sold, Dobson explained. He added that leftover garbage could be burned with coal to generate steam and electricity. Construction of such a station would be expensive, Dobson said. However, he predicted it could prove cheaper than the purchase and upkeep of new landfill stations for all area communities.