Banner Graphic, Volume 13, Number 89, Greencastle, Putnam County, 20 December 1982 — Page 2

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The Putnam County Banner-Graphic, December 20,1982

Conference committee refuses funds for MX

WASHINGTON (AP) - A House-Senate conference committee has dealt a blow to President Reagan’s defense build-up by refusing to approve production of the MX missile, the new nuclear weapon Reagan says is “absolutely essential.” The panel left $2.5 billion for MX research and development in the stopgap funding bill it approved Sunday night, but said most of that money can’t be spent until both houses of Congress approve a basing plan. White House spokesman Peter Roussel said the decision to eliminate S9BB million for production of the first five missiles “might complicate” Reagan’s decision on whether to the sign or veto the bill after approval by Congress. Reagan wants to build 100 MX

Five killed as ferries collide off English port

HARWICH, England (AP) Two loaded ferries collided in a raging night storm off this English port, killing at least five people and sinking one of the vessels in the icy North Sea. police and rescuers said early today. They said another person was presumed dead from the Sunday night smashup, which flung some people into the frigid, gale-whipped water. Helicop-

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Knowing a good thing when she sees it, Arr Otten of Anaheim, Calif., holds .two of the SIOO coupons clipped from the Yellow Pages for discounts on a new or .used car. When she presented 84 of the coupons, which do not state that there is a

Banner-Graphic "It Waves For All” USPS 142-020) Consolidation of The Daily Banner Established 1850 The Herald The Daily Graphic Established 1883 Telephone 653-5151 Published daily except Sundays and holidays by LuMar Newspapers. Inc. at 100 North Jackson St., Greencastle. Indiana 46135. Entered in the Post Office at Greencastle, Indiana, as 2nd class mail matter under Act of March 7,1878. Subscription Rates Pei Week, by carrier ‘1 00 Per Month, by motor route ‘4.55 Mall Subscription Rates R.R.in Rest of Restol Putnam County Indiana U.S.A. 3 Months *13.80 '14.15 '17.25 6 Months '27.60 '28.30 ‘34.50 1 Year *55.20 '56.60 '69.00 Mail subscriptions payable in advance . . . not accepted in town and where motor route service is available. Member of the Associated Press The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use lor republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper.

weapons, which he renamed the “Peacekeeper,” and deploy them in 100 “super-hardened” silos in a “dense' - pack" formation near Cheyenne, Wyo. The MX proposal includes a compromise that permits construction of substantial numbers of the missiles for research and development. Those weapons could later be used for deployment if Congress approves a basing mode, said Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. The proposal approved on a voice vote directs Reagan to send Congress a basing plan after next March 1 and requires approval by both houses within 45 days after that. It bans flight testing, which the Pentagon had wanted to begin next month. The compromise “is not what the administration wants, but it’s as good as they could have gotten” in view of the 245-176

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ters, tugs and other vessels pulled 64 people to safety following the collision between the 4,263-ton European Gateway and 3,514-ton Speedlink Vanguard. Survivors said many were unable to find lifejackets on the European Gateway or crew members to guide them to liferafts. Flares fired by rescuers over the heaving water lit up Har-

1983'much better year'

By LOUISE COOK Associated Press Writer Would-be homebuyers will have a better chance to turn their dreams into reality next year, but young people looking for that first house will still have a hard time finding one they can afford. That’s the forecast from James W. Christian, chief economist for the U.S. League of Savings Institutions. Christian described 1982 as “pretty bloody all the way through. Not an especially good time for homebuyers. ’ ’ He said 1983 will be “a much

House vote two weeks ago against MX production, said Stevens as he agreed to the proposal offered by Rep. Joseph Addabbo, D-N.Y. Reagan called that vote “a grave mistake” and accused the House of “sleepwalking into the future.” Unless it was reversed, Reagan said, the House decision “will seriously set back our efforts to protect the nation’s security.” But the missile faced strong Senate opposition, too, and Reagan agreed to a compromise proposed by senior Republican senators to retain the production money, but bar it from being spent until Congress approves a basing mode. That compromise won 56-42 Senate approval last week.

wich and the surrounding countryside throughout the search in what one rescuer called “a bloody awful night.” Chief Superintendent Mike Humberston of Essex County police said all the casualties came from the European Gateway. The ferry capsized and sank in shallow water about 30 minutes after the collision two miles offshore. Harwich is about 75 miles northeast of Lon-

limit on horn many may be used at one time, the dealer refused to deliver the car. Mrs. Otten, however, has not given up and has hired a lawyer to help win her claim of false advertising. (AP Wirephoto).

Housing market gains predicted

better year for housing,” but warned: “It’s not going to be vintage.” Christian said there is a “strong probability that you’re going to see interest rates remain down” throughout next year. He said mortgage rates generally should be about 12 percent “a pretty significant improvement” over this year when rates have averaged about 16 percent. The monthly payment on a $50,000, 30-year mortgage at 16 percent is $672.50; the monthly payment on the same mortgage at 12 percent is $514.50 a

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California officials have rejected parole a fifth time for Susan Atkins, who admitted stabbing actress Sharon Tate to death in the Manson family murders. Chino parole officials said the 34-year-old inmate still lacks judgment, as evidenced by her September 1981 marriage to "virtual con man" Donald "Flash" Laisure. (AP Wirephoto).

don. A spokesman for the European Gateway’s owners, the shipping firm Townsend Thoresen, said the vessel had left nearby Felixstowe 15 minutes before to sail to the Dutch city Rotterdam with 34 truck drivers and 36 crew aboard. Police said there were no casualties among anybody aboard the other ferrv. Colin

Sales tax means cash register nuisance

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Cash register adjustors are expected to greet the new year ringing up overtime, converting machines to fit the new state sales tax, Indiana’s sales tax will be raised from 4 to 5 percent, effective Jan. 1. “The cost to the retailer is quite great,’’ said Grant Monahan, president of the Indiana Retail Council. Adjusting cash registers by New Year’s Day could cost large chain stores between

Lame-duck Deckard formally

charged with drunk driving

MOUNT VERNON, Ind. (AP) Rep. Joel Deckard, who wrecked his car a month before losing the general election, is scheduled to be arraigned next month on charges of drunken driving and refusing to take a blood-alcohol test. The Republican lost his Nov. 2 bid for a third Congressional term to Bloomington Mayor Frank X. McCloskey. Deckard drove off a rural Posey County road early Oct. 7 and crashed into a tree and a ditch. A Posey County sheriff’s deputy cited Deckard that day for drunken driving and said the congressman refused to submit to a test to determine the

savings of over $l5O. Christian said that there is still “an enormous affordability gap for that heart of the market” people in their late 20s and early 30s looking for a first house. The median income for that group is expected to be about $22,000 in 1983, he said. The “affordable” hoiise for someone in that category assuming alO percent down payment and an interest rate of 12V 2 percent is about $50,000, below the current median house price of over $65,000. Christian also said the

Crowford, shipping and port manager for Sealink UK Ltd., said the Speedlink Vanguard was carrying a crew of 28 and no passengers. Sealink U K Ltd. is owned by state-run British Rail which runs the nation’s railroad network. Sealink in turn owns Northern Coasters Ltd. which owns the Speedlink Vanguard. No tourists were believed to have been aboard either vessel.

SIO,OOO and $15,000, Monahan said. Retailers can t pass along cash register adjustment costs to customers. Gov Robert D. Orr signed the sales tax increase into law on Thursday as part of a $lB billion package aimed at wiping out a June 30 deficit projected to top $452 million. Monahan says the transition won’t be so bad for stores with their own computer system, but stores that lease their registers and depend on company sendee representatives may find the

alcoholic content in his blood. The drunken driving charge is a misdemeanor on first offense and carries a penalty of up to one year in jail, a SI,OOO fine and loss of a driver’s license for two years. Refusal to take a bloodalcohol test could result in the loss of a driver's license for a year. Special Prosecutor Joseph R. Koenig of Bartholomew County filed formal charges late last Friday in Posey County Court. The special prosecutor said last week that the investigation had moved slowly because no chemical evidence of the alcoholic content in Deckard’s

general economic health of the nation will have an important impact on the housing market. This year, he said, “People said, ‘Holy smoke. The guy down the street is unemployed. I’m not going to buy anything big right now.’ “Until consumer confidence starts to pick up ... People are going to stay where they are. They’re not going to make those new commitments until the future of the economy looks a little clearer.” Leonard Shane, chairman of the U.S. league and chairman of Mercury Savings of Huntington

Spending bill to Congress for vote

WASHINGTON (AP) - Faced with President Reagan’s veto threats and the prospect of a government shutdown, congressional negotiators have eliminated billions of dollars in aid for the jobless from an emergency spending bill. But while the conferees went along with the president on jobs provisions, they dealt another blow to his plans for the MX missile by refusing to approve S9BB million to buy the first five weapons. Congressional leaders predicted the full House and Senate would ratify the compromise stopgap money bill today and send it to the White House. Reagan’s signature would resume the flow of money to much of the federal government and remove the last major obstacle to the adjournment of a weary lame-duck 97th Congress. White House spokesman Peter Roussel said Sunday night, “the president will wait and see what the bill looks like when it comes down here to him” in its final form. But he added that a stipulation restricting the use of $2.5 billion in MX research and development money until Congress approves a basing system for the weapon “might complicate things.” Major departments and agencies technically ran out of money at midnight Friday, leaving the government in financial limbo over the weekend while legislators fashioned the compromise bill. The White House Office of Management and Budget advised federal employees to report to work as usual this morning to await a decision on whether they would be sent home. Senate Republican Whip Ted Stevens of Alaska, one of the conferees, acknowledged “it’s going to be very difficult for the president to sign it. But I hope he will sign it.” Stevens, who predicted Senate ratification, added. “I expect to join in a request that he (Reagan) sign it.” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jamie Whitten, D-Miss., the chief House negotiator, predicted passage in that chamber saying, “We have the support of the House leaders.” Also included in the measure is a more than $9,100 pay raise for members of the House of Representatives, a provision opposed by many

going a bit rougher. “They (the servicemen) can’t be everywhere at once,” he said. Monahan says some stores will wind up calculating the tax by hand and using other stopgap measures until the registers can be switched. The Indiana Department of Revenue and the retail council are preparing charts that will be mailed to stores to help in the transition. Thomas D. Cox, retail district manager for National Cash

blood was available due to a mixup at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville where Deckard was taken after the accident. “I was trying to be very careful and thorough,” Koenig said. Koenig said that his workload as Bartholomew County prosecutor also had slowed down the probe. Deckard was not present when the charges were filed, but a summons was issued, ordering him to appear for an initial hearing at 1 p.m. (CST) Jan. 26 in Posey County Court, Koenig said. Koenig said fie did not talk with Deckard about the filing of the charges,

Beach, Calif., was, like Christian, cautiously optimistic. And, like Christian, he said a lot will depend on the recession and government economic policies. He said it was “impossible to predict interest rates,” but said that “whatever movement there is will be far more moderate than we’ve seen during the last couple years.” Shane said the high unemployment rate means “there will be fewer people in a position to consider any kind of major purchase.

House members. Senators, meanwhile, would continue receiving theic current salary $60,662, but with no limit on outside income. Outside income in the House is limited to 30 percent of a member’s annual salary. Democratic leaders in the House, pointing to the nation’s 10.8 percent unemployment rate, attached a $5.4 billion package of about 40 provisions for public works jobs and other aid for the unemployed to the version of the measure that chamber originally passed. The Senate did not go as far, attaching a less ambitious package providing $1.2 billion for public works jobs. Reagan mounted a public campaign against the jobs provisions, including a declaration during a nationally broadcast radio interview Saturday that “I cannot sign that bill. I will have to veto if it contains these various amounts (for jobs) that have been suggested.” The president argued the jobs plans were “a pork barrel.” Negotiators for the House and Senate said Sunday they wanted to leave the jobs money in the bill, but with Christmas approaching, agreement that a veto would be sustained, legislators becoming restive with marathon sessions and the prospect of a government shutdown, there was no choice. “It’s just a case of recognizing the obvious. There is nothing to be gained. A veto already has been announced,” Whitten said. “I don’t think the president leaves us any choice,” Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn., agreed. Whitten said the removal of the jobs provision was not linked in any way to the deletion of funding for the MX missile. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Mark O. Hatfield, R-Ore., said he would attempt to persuade Reagan to include money for public works jobs when he submits his budget to Congress early next year. Meanwhile, the negotiators provided an additional $25 million for retraining workers ; displaced by new technology, and SIOO million in energy assistance for the poor. In the conferees agreed 10-1 restore money for the controversial Clinch-' River breeder reactor in Tennessee but barred * use of the money for project construction. The conferees began work on the com- ; promise even before the Senate vote 63-31 Sunday afternoon to approve its own version .

Register’s Indianapolis division, says his firm’s entire staff of service representatives, programmers and sales crew will be used for conversions. “There is no way that we have enough people to get to them all,” even with overtime, Cox said. Cox said that his firm will be giving its customers instructions on how to do the conversions. He would like to talk 90 percent of the stores into doing the conversions them-

State taxpayers pay double for special tax session By JAN CARROLL Associated Press Writer INDlANAPOLIS (AP) cost Indiana taxpayers about SIO,OOO a day for the Legislature to be in special session to pass the biggest tax increase in state history. But according to Senate President Pro Tern Robert D. Garton, there’s a silver lining in that fiscal cloud: it could have been a lot more expensive. The reason is the timing of the special session, occuring as it did during the holiday hiatus of the 61-day regular session. In addition to their $9,600 annual salary, legislators get a daily expense allowance known as “per diem,” a Latin phrase that roughly translated means “per day.” While the Legislature is in session, the lawmakers get SSO a day seven days a week. In the interim period between the November organization day and the January reconvening day, they collect $12.50 a day for six days a week. When Gov. Robert D. Orr called the legislators into special session, that triggered the higher SSO per diem. Since they were already budgeted to get $12.50 a day, Garton, RColumbus, figures the special session only cost an extra $37.50 per legislator per day. That doesn’t count the extra expense, estimated by Garton to be about $3,500-$4,000 a day, of calling in temporary staff, including telephone operators, doormen and the like. But unlike the legislators, the staff isn’t paid on the weekends when they aren’t working. The lawmakers were entitled to the SSO per diem from Dec. 6, when the special session began, through Dec. 16, when it ended. The total for those 11 days for 150 legislators is $82,500. The bill probably won’t be that high, because for most of the special session, there were only 99 members of the House while Gary Democrats played the legislative version of musical chairs. Carolyn Mosby gave up her House seat and moved to the Senate, filling the vacancy left by Katie Hall, another Gary Democrat, when she was elected to Congress. Earline Rogers, the president of the Gary City Council, was elected Dec. 11 to succeed Mrs. Mosby in the House.

selves. But even if the service workers earn overtime, they’ll find less of it in their paycheck after Jan. 1. Part of the tax package approved by the Legislature defers state spending. Another part boosts income tax from 1.9 percent to 3 percent. The Indiana General Assembly spent the last week and a half in special session considering the tax-increase proposals.