Banner Graphic, Volume 13, Number 103, Greencastle, Putnam County, 7 January 1983 — Page 3
Before undoing state tax Orr says he'd favor deferral rollbacks
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Although he is “leery" of of taking revenue forecasts as gospel, a healthy portion of Gov. Robert D. Orr’s 1983 legislative package includes proposals to boost spending. Last month, the General Assembly met in special session to approve a $l.B billion financial package, which included raising the state sales tax from 4 to 5 percent, raising the individual income tax from 1.9 to 3 percent, halting the scheduled phaseout of the corporate gross income tax, and a combination of deferrals that change the timetable by which the state pays local governments and schools. So far, Orr has publicly spoken of a sl2 million education package “which will set the tone for the future” and a $121.5 million economic development package which he plans to put before the Indiana General Assembly when he gives his State of the State address next Wednesday. Orr said the state also needs about S6O million in capital improvements funds to improve the corrections system and comply with federal court orders to reduce the population at the Indiana State Reformatory at Pendleton and the Indiana State Prison at Michigan City. “I think we’re going to see Indiana come forth with the finest correction system that any state in the nation can have,” Orr said. Orr commented Thursday during the taping of the weekly television program, “Report from the Statehouse.” . “I know we need to have an improvement in
Bill aids adoptees' record search
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Adopted children would find it easier to learn the identity of their natural parents after they reach age 18, under a bill introduced by Sen. David Nicholson, D-Richmond. The measure was among 39 bills filed Thursday in the Indiana Senate. Nicholson’s bill would require county clerks, welfare departments and child placement agencies to disclose to the adopted person or his relatives, upon request, the identity of his biological parents. Besides the adopted child, people who would be eligible to get this information are his adoptive parents; his adoptive brothers and sisters; his
'Dead' woman can tell computer tales
INDIANAPOLIS - An 80-year-old woman is resting comfortably today in a local hospital waiting to be brought back to life by a Social Security system that cut off her benefits and declared her dead. Mrs. Lucille Shute says she’s been notified that a computer error in the local Social Security office declared her dead and that she may have to wait more than a month to receive checks she was entitled to for the last two months. On Dec. 3, Mrs. Shute’s
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education. I know we need to have an improvement in salary levels for state personnel,” Orr said. “We have an economic development program which is absolutely essential and needs to be closely tied in with our educational approach.” Orr said his address next week will also include other topics. “If I didn’t have one or two surprises there wouldn’t be much reason in giving that speech, would there?” The latest revenue predictions forecast almost a $123 million surplus by June 30, 1984 and a $403 million surplus by June 30,1985. Orr said Thursday that he and State Budget Director Judy Palmer are “leery of taking it (a revenue forecast) as gospel” because “revenues are very difficult to predict in conditions of economic turmoil. “The economic clouds are very murkv in-
biological brothers and sisters; his biological aunts and uncles and his biological first cousins. Nicholson’s bill also would require a new birth certificate to be issued after a person is adopted. The new certificate would indicate that the parents listed there are the adoptive parents. Sen. John Bushemi. D-Gary, is sponsoring a bill that would require gas and electric utilities to offer subsidized “lifeline” rates. The Public Service Commission would have to set the minimum volume of natural gas and electricity needed by a household. Utilities would have to charge reduced rates for that basic block of service.
daughter inquired at the local Social Security office about her mother’s December check. Helen Shute said the office told her it could not locate her mother’s name on the eligibility list and would put out a tracer. On Jan. 3, the Shute placed a second inquiry after not heering about the first check or receiving the January check. They say they were notified this week that Lucile Shute’s name had been “killed” from the computer list as belonging to a dead person.
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state
The minimum volume, under the bill, would be enough to supply water heating, space heating, lighting, cooking and food refrigeration. The cost of providing the subsidized “lifeline” rates would be borne by residential customers who use more electricity and natural gas than the minimum amounts. On the other end of the utility costs spectrum. Sen. John M. Guy, R-Monticello, has a bill that would allow small telephone companies to set their own rates, with their customers’ approval, instead of going through the Public Service Commission. The measure would apply to telephone com-
The local office also told them it would be between 20 t 0,45 days before the error could be corrected and they could receive a check. Mrs. Shute has appealed to her congressman, Rep. Andrew Jacobs Jr. and an aide to the Democrat said she has contacted Social Security to see if the family can receive its money quicker. Mrs. Shute lives with Helen and another daughter, on a marginal income that consists of Helen's salary and the Social Security. They say they’ve
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deed,” Orr said. If the economy turned around, Orr said he’d favor several steps before rolling back the tax increases enacted in December. It would be only fair to first undo the $230 million in delayed property tax replacement payments that hit schools and local government, Orr said. “That money should be rolled back again to the way it had previously been handled, if we’re going to act in a fair and straight up basis,” he said. The General Assembly under the Orr administration has enacted a rainy day fund, to deposit money when the state is in good economic health, but so far, the recessionplagued state hasn't put any money in it. Orr wants to change that. “I think that it’s timely to make sure that the rainy day money actually goes into the rainy day fund,” Orr said.
panies with less than 10,000 customers. Other bills filed Thursday would: —Allow businesses to display their signs or logos along interstate highways. —Require trappers to put their names on their traps. —Give tax credits for people who make buildings accessible to the handicapped. —Require the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to issue placards which authorize a vehicle to park in a handicapped parking place. —Raise the wage standards used to compute workmen's compensation benefits and occupational disease benefits.
fallen two months behind on electric bills and also need the money for Mrs. Shute’s life insurance premiums. “Mama, she’s old,” Helen Shute said, adding that her mother had been hospitalized on Tuesday for an “undisclosed ailment.” “She doesn't understand any of these things.” Helen Shute said. “All she can say is Why me? Why does this happen to me? Where are my checks.”
“I would think we might easily be able to devote S3OO million of what is supposed to be a S4OO million surplus to getting things back on the proper kind of course and saving the taxpayers money rather than just spending some of it.” The governor said that lack of unity by mayors and county councils is part of the reason the state has failed to enact a comprehensive local option tax. Orr blasted Democratic legislators who suggested the state needed to add at least $lB million to the federal block grant program for uses such as social services. “It is not really all that necessary,” Orr said. “It sounds good. It’s politically attractive.” Orr said the state was “doing a good job in the social services area.” As an example, Orr said the Department of Mental Health used about $7 million allocated for administration to patient care instead. Orr said taxpayers want the government to save money, not spend it, but he said he would look at issues such as emergency heat if the need for additional funds arose. “Everything that has been advanced by Democrats in the Legislature since before the special session has been designed to spend more money. They weren’t of any help whatsoever in enacting the nessary tax. Only one voted in favor of that, which in a sense in my opinion is not in concert with their constitutional oath. Balancing the budget, having no debt is part of their responsibility as well.”
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An open window at the Cypress-Black Bayou Recreation Center near Shreveport, La., drew a couple of curious visitors recently. The two doe apparently decided to check out the center after being released from a large fenced area at the facility. (AP Wirephotoi.
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January 7,1983, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic
Legislators urge halt to media election projections INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Indiana House doesn’t like the idea of radio and television networks telling people who won the election before the polls have closed. By voice vote Thursday, the lawmakers appealed to Congress to do something to prevent the electronic news media from projecting winners of elections before the polls are closed in every state. The action came during another light workday for the Legislature. Both houses are scheduled to meet briefly today before adjourning for the weekend. Rep. Edward Cook, D-Plymouth. the sponsor of the resolution, complained that early projections of elections discourage people from voting. The problem is particularly acute in Indiana, he said, where portions of the state are in different time zones. Because of the time difference, polls in 12 southwestern and northwestern Indiana counties remain open an hour after polls have closed in the other 80 counties. Cook said he heard of people who were waiting in line to vote when they learned that a winner had been projected in a race they were interested in and as a result, they just went home without voting. “This state of affairs is not conducive to fair elections or good government,” the resolution said. Cook conceded later that curbing the power of the electronic media to make projections could amount to unlawful prior restraint on the exercise of First Amendment rights. “But at the same time, I feel the electronic media has an obligation not only to the citizens of the state of Indiana but to the nation as a whole not to interfere with the electoral process by these early projections,” he said. Across the hall, the Senate approved a resolution in memory of the late LaPorte Mayor A.J. Rumely. The 71-year-old died on Thanksgiving after being shot by an intruder on Memorial Day. “It’s something that can happen to any one of us in public life,” said Sen. Dennis Neary, D-Michigan City, who described Rumely as a “gentleman, scholar and true politician. “He was not afraid to speak out and he was not afraid to stand up,” Neary said. In the only other legislative action Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee considered a bill that would make criminals liable to pay punitive damages to their victims as well as spend time in jail. The committee is expected to take more testimony next week. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mitchell V. Harper. R-New Haven, said Indiana is the only state in the country that prevents victims from seeking punitive damages in civil suits against their assailants if the offender could also be subject to criminal prosecution for the conduct. “This provides an incentive for crime victims to seek compensation when the criminal justice system fails,” Harper said. -r"7 Richard Good, executive director of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Association, endorsed the bill, saying “it would be a form of private prosecution. It would give victims another forum to be recompensed. ” The bill brought out a flock of representatives from the insurance industry, led by Charles Van Arsdel of the Insurance Institute of Indiana. Although they conceded that the bill wouldn’t affect insurance companies because no firm writes policies to cover criminal activity, they still urged its defeat. The insurance men said they opposed the bill because they don’t like punitive damages, period.
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