Banner Graphic, Volume 20, Number 166, Greencastle, Putnam County, 20 March 1990 — Page 2

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THE BANNERGRAPHIC March 20,1990

Navy’s main electronics research facility will move to Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - ndiana has taken a step toward becoming a high-technology center with the relocation of the U.S. Navy’s primary electronics research center, Sen. Dan Coats said. Coats, R-Ind., said the Electronics Manufacturing Productivity Facility now located in China Lake, Calif., will attract other hightechnology businesses from around the country to a planned technology park in downtown Indianapolis. “THIS SENDS A SIGNAL that the Midwest has the capability to engage in high technology research,” Coats said at a news conference. “It establishes a research base that will attract others to our city and our state.” “The EMPF will initially bring approximately 100 jobs and an annual budget of $5 million to the city,” said Roger Blondin, deputy director of the Product Integrity Assurance Dept, at the Naval Avionics Center in Indianapolis.

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SEN. DAN COATS A Midwest hi-tech center “It will act as a magnet. It can be a catalyst for the continued growth and development of Indiana’s electronics’ industry,” Blondin said.

THE EMPF WILL work closely with NAC and the Naval Weapons Support Center in Crane, Ind., which together are responsible for 95 percent of the Navy’s electronics development, Coats said at a news conference Monday. The EMPF tests manufacturing processes, develops new materials and new manufacturing technology, and documents findings in electronics manufacturing technology research. “Not all of these are electronic secrets,” Coats said. “Many are shared with and developed with private industry.” THE MOVE COMES in the midst of severe cutbacks in the defense budget proposed by Defense Secretary Richard Cheney, but Coats said funding for the EMPF is secure. “We will see cutbacks in many areas, but I don’t believe we’ll see cutbacks in research and development. That’s the focus of the

defense department of the ’9os, and we may even see increases in funding in that area,” he said. “The funding will be part of the fiscal year 1991 budget and I don’t anticipate any problems at all in obtaining funding.” The center will use three parcels of land near the canal in downtown Indianapolis, one owned jointly by the city and Browning Investments Inc., an Indianapolis real estate holding company which will help develop the area, and two owned jointly by the city and Indianapolis Power & Light, officials said. THE LAND WILL BE given to the facility, but the price of that and other economic incentives had not been determined, officials said. The land is adjacent to the Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis campus and the center will work closely with the university, officials said. Engineers and technicians employed at the EMPF will be able to continue graduate studies there, professors will be invited to do joint research, and students will have the chance to study at the center, officials said. CITY ENGINEERS have already taken samples of the land and groundbreaking is expected in April, officials said. The facility could be complete by September, Coats said. The California site is too remote to allow easy access to the many businesses wanting to visit, Coats said. The 40,000-square-foot facility is the first step in establishing the Near North Technology Transfer Center, a $6.5 million project, Coats said. State and local officials said last month Indianapolis was the leading contender for the center. Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett 111 signed a letter Monday formally relocating the center.

Audit reveals state should repay $546,000 in misspent JTPA funds

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - ndiana misspent $545,810 in job training funds at two Japaneseowned plants and should refund the money, a federal audit claims. U.S. Labor Department auditors announced Monday that the funds were intended to benefit disadvantaged people but were used instead to “subsidize normal business startup costs.” THE FUNDS, provided by the Job Training Partnership Act, were BannerGrapMc (USPS 142-020) Consolidation of The Doßy Banoor EataMtoked IMO TkoHoroM TkoDoßyßrafMc EatAHohotf UM Tolopteooo M3-BIU BoMMod dofly oxooyt Booday ood Hoddoyo by BanooiOrapNc, 100. at 100 Nott* Jackson St, Brooneaatlo, IN 482 M. SooonMaoa post ago paM at BtoaacaaOa, IN. POSIMMTER: Bond address ckaagaa to na BaaaorSrapblc, P.O. Box SOB, STMOcastto, IN 4SIM SebaertpUoo Ratoa Per Wook, by cantor *1.40 Per Wook, by motor recto "Ml MaH SabaoripUoa Rotas RJt. la Neat of Mat «* Putnam Coaety todlm>a U.S.*. 1 Moirtka *2OJO "20.70 *22.24 0 Months *17.00 "M4O *42.10 1 VOSS *71.40 *71.00 "54.70 Mail payable to advaaeo—aot accepted to town aad whore motor roots aer vleo la avaßabto. The Aoeodatod Preoa to oat Mod oxctaafroly to the see tor ropobllcattoa of ail the local news printed to thia aewspapor.

Shhh! It’s a Secret Not Immigration, the FBI, the IRS, the courts, the military, welfare agencies—not even the President of the United States—can see your census answers. It’s against the law. And all census workers take an oath to keep your answers confidential. Answer the Census. It Counts for More Than You Think! CENSUS ’9O

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Survey shows IPL has lowest electric rates, NIPSCO the highest

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Customers of Indianapolis Power & Light Co. pay the lowest electric rates in the state, according to a national study of residential electric bills. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ 11th annual study of winter electric bills shows Indiana bills varying greatly, with northern Indiana residents paying the most. MOST HOOSIERS PAY less than the national median of 7.3 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh) based on a monthly usage of 1,000 kwh. The median is half-way between the highest and lowest cost. Of the 187 utilities surveyed, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. reported the 15 th highest electritity costs. The next most expensive Indiana utility, Public Service Indiana, ranked 103rd. IPL ranked 149th. Rankings were based on the costs of 1,000 kwh. The study showed IPL customers paid 6 cents per kilowatt hour for 1,000 kwh of power from December 1988 to February 1989, compared with 10 cents per kwh by NIPSCO’s residential customers. That translates into monthly bills that are 67 percent higher for the same amount of power over a winter. PSI CUSTOMERS paid an average 6.72 cents per kilowatt

intended to provide special training for economically disadvantaged, handicapped, single parents or others who have barriers to employment Instead, at the Subaru-Isuzu Automotive plant at Lafayette and the Arvin-Sango plant at Madison, “affected groups were not given consideration over and above the normal procedures for hiring,” the audit report said. Labor Department auditors believe the workers would have been hired without JTPA assistance. THE REPORT, issued by Gerald W. Peterson, an assistant inspector general for audit, recommends the state return at least $523,648 used to examine, hire and train workers at Subaru-Isuzu, and at least $22,162 used to train workers at Arvin-Sango. Roberts T. Jones, assistant secretary in charge of job training, will make the final decision on whether the state should reimburse the federal government. According to the audit, the funds were spent to hire 500 people at Subaru-Isuzu before there was any tabulation of whether any of the workers were eligible under JTPA regulations. The Labor Department

Prison guards to boycott lottery over bargaining bill

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) Some union members and state employees say they will join a boycott by state prison guards of the Indiana Lottery. The boycott was sparked by guards protesting the Legislature’s failure to pass a collective bargaining bill. “WE KNOW THAT’S not going to break the lottery,” said Roger Cooper, president of a chapter of the Indiana State Employees Association at the Michigan City prison. “It’s simply going to emphasize how that money could be used to help state employees.” About 25 people, including union members and state agency employees, attended a meeting staged Monday night to draw attention to the boycott Those attending voted unanimously to discontinue buying lottery tickets. PRISON EMPLOYEES, whose pay starts at about $14,000 a year, were particularly upset when the legislative session ended without bargaining legislation, said Cooper

hour for 1,000 kwh of power from December 1988 to February 1989, according to utility spokeswoman Pam Chapman. There are many reasons rates differ so much, regulators say. Those include the utility’s debt and interest rates, ages of power plants, type and cost of fuel used to power the plants and environment regulations imposed upon the plants. “It’s a mix of so many things,” said Wendy Weathers, principal electric engineer for the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. NIPSCO HAS TWO plants in Lake and Porter counties, which, like neighboring Chicago, do not meet federal air quality standards. Therefore, NIPSCO’s plants must meet higher environmental standards, which add to the cost of electricity. “It’s because of the environmental controls we’ve had to install in the ’7os and ’Bos,” NIPSCO spokeswoman Christine Combs said of the utility’s high rates. Also, at 11 units, NIPSCO also uses low-sulfur, which is imported from Wyoming and costs more than high-sulfur coal from southern Indiana. ‘T’HE BIG COST in electricity is what you’re paying for your fuel,” Combs said, adding that NIPSCO actually has reduced its

rates by renegotiating its coal contracts.

believes between 46 and 77 workers actually were eligible. AT ARVIN-SANGO the money was spent to train 22 workers who were eligible for JTPA. However, their training was no different from that received by other workers, the audit says. Spokesmen for both companies said Monday they had no reason to believe the funds were spent inappropriately. In the formal response to the audit by the Indiana Department of Employment and Training Services, which coordinates use of JTPA funds, executive director Douglas J. Roof said the current administration of Gov. Evan Bayh “inherited the situation” from the previous administration of former Gov. Robert Orr, and would not have approved the Subaru-Isuzu project. HOWEVER, ROOF said, the state maintains that “eligible JTPA participants did receive training.” Subaru-Isuzu began producing Subaru cars and Isuzu trucks at its Tippecanoe County plant last October. Production of automotive parts began two years ago at the Arvin-Sango plant, owned by Arvin Industries of Columbus and Sango Co. of Japan.

and prison Sgt. Randy Berleen. “Every legislator I talked to promised a collective bargaining bill,” Berleen said. The nearly 200 prison workers who belong to ISE A Chapter 108 wanted some means short of a strike to show their anger, said Cooper, who teaches auto mechanics at the prison. “We kicked around a million ideas, but this one came out and it seemed like a pretty fair idea,” said Berleen, a 10-year veteran guard who says he’s spent $lO to S2O weekly on lottery tickets. THE AMERICAN Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees decided against participating in the boycott, according to spokesman Joe Lawrence. “The response this union makes will be felt in ballot boxes across the state in November,” Lawrence said. Cooper said prison guards want • Gov. Evan Bayh to institute collec- • tive bargaining by executive order, an option the governor has not ruled out. “It’s our only shot.”