Banner Graphic, Volume 18, Number 132, Greencastle, Putnam County, 11 February 1988 — Page 2

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State gas tax gets three-cent boost

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Hoosier motorists would get new and improved highways by paying 3 cents more for each gallon of gasoline under a proposal approved by the Sen ne Finance Committee. Sen. Lawrence M. Borst, R-In-said his amendment to House Bill 1230 would raise about S3OO million during the first four years. H.B. 1230, which also sets out regulations for fuel tax audits, was sent to the full Senate on a 9-4 vote Wednesday. Borst’s amendment would raise the state tax on gasoline from 14 cents to 17 cents beginning April 1. During the first two years, all of the revenue from the 3-cent increase would go to a state highway road construction and improvement fund. After that, two-thirds of the new revenue would be used to fund state highway construction and the remaining third would be dedicated to local street and road projects. Borst said the state raises about

Bayh, Mutz clash on road policies

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Republican Lt. Gov. John M. Mutz claims Democratic Secretary of State B. Evan Bayh’s highway program would produce “more paper, not pavement” The two candidates for governor squared off in the highway funding debate Wednesday as Bayh traveled the state to promote his proposal and the Senate Finance Committee approved a 3-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax increase. Gov. Robert D. Orr and Mutz hailed the committee’s action as the

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$25 million from each 1-cent increase in the tax on gasoline. As a result, the state Department of Highways would receive an estimated $75 million for state projects in each of the first two years and SSO million annually thereafter. HIGHWAY FUNDING has been one of Gov. Robert D. Orr’s legislative priorities this year, and he has criticized the Indiana House of Representatives for rejecting a proposal that would have added 1 cent to the gasoline tax and permitted bond issues to finance highway projects. Sen. Morris H. Mills, R-In-dianapolis, told the finance panel Wednesday that the highway department has plans for up to $1 billion worth of highway projects. “Our present funds make that almost an exercise in futility,” he said. Mills said he would prefer the state increase the gasoline tax rather than authorize bond issues to

first step toward reviving highway funding as a legislative issue. BAYH SAID HE couldn’t support a gasoline tax increase endorsed by a Senate committee unless the proposal was tied to efficiency improvements and other changes he endorses. Bayh, who is running against former Kokomo Mayor Stephen J. Daily for the Democratic nomination, conducted news conferences around the state to propose his own highway plan, which would delay any new revenue-raising measures

help fund highway needs. “PAY AS YOU go funding in the long run, I think, is a lot cheaper,” he said. However, Borst’s amendment calls for an interim study committee to look at whether the state should consider bonding as an alternative. The committee would have to issue a report on its findings by Dec. 1. Sen. Michael E. Gery, D-West Lafayette, said members of his caucus have varying opinions about how funds should be raised to meet highway needs. However, he said he believes the caucus would support a proposal that excluded the bonding option and included provisions to earmark funding for local improvements. Gery also said he would study whether special fuels should be included in the tax increase now proposed under H.B. 1230. Borst estimated that if special fuels such as diesel fuels, kerosene, and distillates were included, the

until an efficiency study, internal audit and long-range plan are completed within the Department of Highways. “If their only solution to the problem is to rush in and raise taxes, that’s not a solution to the problem,” Bayh said of the Republicans. Bayh and Senate Minority Leader Frank L. O’Bannon, DCorydon, said they would be willing to listen to Republican arguments for a gasoline tax increase, provided the GOP considers Democratic concerns. “WE’RE WILLING to keep the door open and meet them halfway,” said Bayh, adding that improving roads would be one of his top priorities if elected governor. “But until they get away from this crisis management atmosphere I think the cart’s before the horse.” He claimed the Orr-Mutz administration hasn’t done enough the last seven years to improve Indiana’s roads and is trying to change that now to give Mutz’s campaign a boost. Mutz and Orr both fired back at Bayh that his proposed program does nothing to improve Indiana’s roads now. Mutz, holding up an empty bun at a news conference in his Statehouse office, said: “I hate to quote one of their own, but where’s the beef?” Former Vice President Walter Mondale asked the same question of Gary Hart during the 1984 Democratic presidential primary season. MUTZ SAID HE agrees that efficiency improvements should be a highway priority, but said they would make only “a drop in the bucket” in the amount of total highway funding needed. Orr called Bayh’s proposal “a plan of inaction, not action. It does

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state would raise an additional $5 million for every 1-cent increase. In other action Wednesday, the finance panel voted 11-0 for a bill that would increase the state tax on diesel fuel from 15 cents to 16 cents per gallon, raise the fuel surcharge for commercial ducks from 8 cents to 10 cents and increase truck registration fees. H.B. 1226 originally would have lowered the interstate speed limit from 65 mph to 55 for vehicles weighing more than 24,000 pounds. However, the committee approved an amendment by Sen. Joseph V. Corcoran, R-Seymour, that would allow buses to retain the higher speed limit. H.B. 1226 was introduced as a way of replacing revenue from the SSO truck decal tax that was declared unconstitutional by the Indiana Tax Court That tax raised approximately $26 million annually.

not build one mile of road, replace one bridge or build one bypass. Their plan is not a solution for this legislative session.” Orr said the Department of Highways already has a long-range plan in place and has compiled a list of projects that are both needed and wanted by local communities. Mutz said he was pleased to see a highway bill moving again after defeat in the House late last month of the Orr-Mutz proposal to issue bonds to finance highway projects. Mutz said he still supports bonding and predicted the proposal offered by Sen. Lawrence M. Borst, R-Indianapolis, would be changed before the session of the General Assembly ends. O’BANNON, WHO is running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Bayh, predicted the bonding proposal is dead for the current session. Borst also said reviving the bonding proposal is problematic, adding, “I don’t see very much support in either caucus in the Senate for bonding.” O’Bannon said some Democrats in the Senate might support the gasoline tax increase if they were assured local governments’ road needs wouldn’t be ignored as the state increases its share of highway funding. One Democrat, Sen. Michael E. Gery, D-West Lafayette, voted in favor of the gasoline tax proposal during the Senate Finance hearing. House Minority Leader Michael K. Phillips, D-Boonville, said members of his caucus similar assurances. Under the proposal approved Wednesday by the Senate committee, all of the estimated $75 million in new revenue from the tax increase would go to the state for the first two years.

Hudnut makes good on bet with Cleveland mayor

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Mayor George Voinovich of Cleveland collected a football bet from Indianapolis Mayor William H. Hudnut by taking home a historic brick from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But Ron Meyer, coach of the Indianapolis Colts team that lost to the Cleveland Browns in the NFL’s AFC East divisional playoffs 38-21 Jan. 9, vowed Wednesday to return to Cleveland next season and retrieve the brick. “We’re going to let you borrow this brick,” Meyer said. AS PART OF the bet, Voinovich also got to fly the flag of the Cleveland Grand Prix over the City-County Building. He also took home five pounds of White River catfish. Hudnut expressed pain in paying the bet. But Voinovich pointed out, “I didn’t call him to make the bet.” About 40 people gathered as Hudnut, sporting a Colts cap, jacket and button, said, “I will lead a small pilgrimage to the city-county flag poles to raise this illustrious flag. Alright, George, this is very painful, but we’ll be glad to do it.” Hudnut and Voinovich hoisted the flag as Meyer asked, “Are you going to hang it upside down?” Hudnut offered Voinovich a

Utility commission okays

rate decrease for Wabash Valley REMC members

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Rural electric membership cooperatives that belong to the Wabash Valley Power Association can offer discounted rates to spur economic development in their service territories, the Utility Regulatory Commission has ruled. The commission also ruled Wednesday that REMCs in Warren and Henry counties can reduce their rates. Economic development rates are discounted rates offered to attract large industrial customers and to encourage more complete use of a utility’s facilities. THE LOWER rates are available only for a new customer or additional usage by a current largevolume customer. The special rates expire after three years. The commission previously had approved economic development rates for large utilities. “We find once gain that rates of-

Retriever saves boy from death in frozen pond

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) A golden retriever helped save his young master from an icy lake and then stood by as rescuers worked to revive the boy. “We’ll have to find a nice steak bone for him,” Glenn A. Henderson said of the dog, Merle, who stuck with Henderson’s 10-year-old son, Sam, until a rescue team could pull the boy from the lake just west of Evansville. “THE FUNNY thing is he stayed right there (after the boy was puiled from the water),” Henderson said. “They took Sam inside, and they were getting his clothes off and had covered him up to keep him warm, and Merle stayed right there outside the door and didn’t go home until we left” The dog broke through the ice while trying to retrieve a stick Sam had thrown, and the boy fell into the water while trying to save his pet, Henderson said. “Merle was behind him, pushing him toward the ice (after the boy fell in), nudg-

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Colts’ sweatshirt to wear while he raised the flag. “We don’t want you to catch cold,” he said. “I WANTED TO leave it up for 10 seconds,” Hudnut said of the flag. “But George thought that wouldn’t be fair, so we’ll leave it up for the day.” The Speedway brick is dated 1909, the year the oval opened. Voinovich said he would display the brick at Cleveland’s race track. “We’re going to make a big deal out of it,” Voinovich said. If the Colts had won, Voinovich had promised Hudnut five pounds of Lake Erie walleyed pike and a pail of iron ore from a Cleveland steel mill. Voinovich called the moment bittersweet for Indianapolis, recalling a time when the city had no football team, and congratulated the Colts on making it to the playoffs. “As time goes on, you’re going to have Colts fever like we have Browns fever,” said Voinovich. Hudnut presented Meyer a certificate of honorary citizenship to Indianapolis and congratulated him on a “really great season.” Meyer led the Colts to a 9-6 season, the team’s best record since moving to Indiana from Baltimore in 1984.

sered by utilities having access to sufficient capacity to attract new loads and designed to recover the incremental costs of serving such new loads are in the public interest,” the commission said in its order. Wabash Valley generates and purchases electricity and then sells it to 24 member cooperatives, including 22 in Indiana, one in Michigan and one in Ohio. IN A RECENT dispute over who will provide power to the Sub-aru-Isuzu bar and truck plant near Lafayette, representatives of REMCs said they would be put at a competitive disadvantage against investor-owned utilities if the commission failed to authorize economic development rates for the cooperatives. A final order is still pending in Subaru-Isuzu territorial dispute between Public Service Indiana and Tipmont REMC.

ing him and keeping him up, and Sam was holding onto him,” Henderson said of the two-year-old, 65pound dog. A neighbor heard the boy’s cries for help and called the Perry Township Volunteer Fire Department as the pair struggled in the water about dusk Tuesday. “THE WHOLE time it looked like the dog was behind him, pushing him into the ice,” said Geoff L. Rupe, medical officer for the fire department “We’ve never had anything quite like this. Once we got Sam into the boat the only thing he said was, ‘Get my dog.’ ” The youngster was treated for hypothermia at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville and released Wednesday. Henderson said Sam and the dog played together often, and the boy later said he thought Merle was in trouble when the animal went into the water. The golden retriever was unhurt by the icy plunge and made his own way to shore. The boy and his dog were reunited at home Wednesday and the youngster was to return to school later in the week. “We’re going to try to relax. Sam can have what he wants today, whatever he wants to eat,” Henderson said. “Much to his dislike he’s got some homework to do.”

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