Banner Graphic, Volume 18, Number 62, Greencastle, Putnam County, 18 November 1987 — Page 3

state

Legislators pass education bill on organization day

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - ndiana lawmakers have taken a seven-week break after hurriedly passing an emergency measure that will allow Hoosier schools to get their full share of state tuition support in December. The House and Senate completed their organization day activities in about 90 minutes Tuesday and adjourned until Jan. 4. IN A RARE MOVE for a day normally devoted to ceremony, both chambers suspended their rules to approve a bill that will allow Indiana schools to receive on Dec. 1 the full amount of tuition support money the Legislature has previously appropriated for that distribution cycle. Lawmakers voted 98-0 in the House and 50-0 in the Senate to approve House Bill 1001, which now goes to Gov. Robert D. Orr for his signature. The Legislature voted last spring to appropriate additional money to make up the difference between an earlier state tuition support appropriation based on projected enrollment figures for 1986-87 and actual needs based on real enrollment figures. However, Rep. Brad Fox, RRome City, said lawmakers forgot to change language in a previously approved law that set a cap on how much could be spent for tuition support. THE MEASURE approved Tuesday amends that language and will prevent the December distribution of school aid from being $12.5 million less than lawmakers had intended. “In an attempt to be perfect politicians, is there any way we could blame this on a computer?” Rep. B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, asked Fox during floor discussion. Bauer, a co-sponsor of the bill with Fox, later acknowledged that the mistake “was an inadvertent error” made in the rush to complete legislative business last spring. Also on Tuesday, House Speaker Paul S. Mannweiler surprised Democrats by calling in his opening day address for a bipartisan public-private task force to study state bureaucracy and recommend ways to improve efficiency. “CLEARLY STATE government today is more responsive and more efficient than it was even one

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or two decades ago, but still waste remains,” said Mannweiler. “And it may be hard for the bureaucrats to swallow, but as of today, I consider all of them fair game,” he said. After his speech, Mannweiler said he hopes the commission can be made up primarily of private businessmen with expertise in management. He said he hopes to have a report from the commission by late 1988 or early 1989 so the next session of the Legislature can act on the panel’s recommendations. The commission could use some of the existing staff of the Legislature’s Sunset Evaluation Committee, Mannweiler said. MANNWEILER denied that the proposal was intended to disarm Secretary of State B. Evan Bayh’s continued criticism of waste in government. Bayh is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor. “He’s talked a lot about it, but I’ve never really seen any specifics” from Bayh, said Mannweiler. “We’re looking at more systemic things on an organizational level,” he said. House Minority Leader Michael K. Phillips, D-Boonville, said legislative Democrats knew nothing in advance about the proposal but would be happy to help the commission. “Government efficiency and waste are always issues of concern,” said Phillips. “It is somewhat unusual that this is being done through the Legislature instead of the chief executive of this state.” In his speech, Mannweiler also told House members he believes they should use the 30-day session only to pass emergency legislation. OTHER PROPOSALS can wait until the 61-day legislative session of 1989, he said. “Without question, it is again time to return to the original intent of short sessions,” he said. “It is time we live within our own rules, to deal with critical legislation and critical legislation only.” He said the Legislature should be cautious about spending because of uncertainty created by recent upheavals in the stock market and possible cuts in federal aid resulting from attempts to trim the federal budget deficit.

Verdict upheld in chaise lounge suit

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) A Vigo County woman who received permanent injuries when her new $13.88 chaise lounge collapsed beneath her deserves the $485,000 damage judgment against the store that sold her the chair, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled. In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the appeals panel affirmed the decision instructing Kroger Co. to pay the award to Jacqueline Presnell, 49, of Terre Haute. “We conclude the verdict was not excessive and is supported by the evidence regarding Presnell’s injuries, medical treatment and expenses, pain and suffering, loss of future wages and the permanent 30 percent impairment of a

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woman who was working and supporting herself as well as leading an active physical personal life before her injuries,” Judge Stanley B. Miller wrote for the court. SHE SUED KROGER and won after the chaise lounge she purchased at the company’s Terre Haute supermarket collapsed under her on her cement patio the night of May 5, 1980 the same day she bought the chair. Presnell developed neck, spine, back and shoulder problems that caused a partial permanent disability, according to court records. Kroger argued that Presnell misused the product by failing to put the legs of the chair into proper position before sitting down on it.

November 18,1987 THE BANNERGRAPHIC

The dangers inherent in using the chair were obvious and thus Kroger had no obligation to include a warning with the product, the company argued. ON APPEAL, KROGER argued unsuccessfully that there was insufficient evidence to support the 1985 Vigo Superior Court verdict and that the trial court erred in overruling Kroger’s objections to testimony by Presnell’s expert witness. The jury awarded Presnell $320,931.53 for lost future wages and $164,068.47 for pain and suffering. She had worked as a mail sorter at Columbia Records before the accident, according to court records.