The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 9

The News-Leader ACROSS THE OZARKS Monday. April 27. 1987 3B BARRY COUNTY Elementary students to give concert PURDY A concert featuring Purdy elementary school students will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Purdy High School Gymnasium. The concert, known as "Spring Fling" will include a performance by the fifth and sixth grade band and songs performed by all elementary school students.

The band is under the direction of Charles Bowman and the singers are under the direction of Shiela Young. Troopers said a car driven by Merrill Fishbum. 60, struck nearly head-on a car driven by Harold Brewer. 56. Pittsburg.

Troopers said Brewer was attempting to make a left turn in front of Fishbum and the two vehicles collided. LAWRENCE COUNTY Panel seeks theme for fall event MOUNT VERNON Steering committee members for Lawrence County's Apple Butter Makin' Days say they are looking for ideas for a theme for this year's event that will take place Oct. 9 and 10. Scott Sifferman has been named general chairman for this year's event, which is the 21st annual celebration. PHELPS COUNTY Arraignment set for stabbing suspect ROLLA A 1 8-year old Newburg man charged with the fatal stabbing Feb.

16 of another Newburg resident is scheduled to be arraigned May 4 in Phelps County Circuit Court. Robert James Walters is accused of stabbing Man-ford C. Jones a number of times in the victim's car southwest of Rolla. CEDAR COUNTY Town named bicentennial community ELDORADO SPRINGS Eldorado Springs has been named as a "Designated Bicentennial Community by the commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution." Officials in Eldorado Springs say they are looking for ideas for activities to celebrate locally the 200th anniversary of the Constitution. fiM- Alt If tilif I M'" r.

tmmM WEBSTER COUNTY DOUGLAS COUNTY Ava chamber names new director AVA The Ava Area Chamber of Commerce has named J.G. Heinlein as its executive director. Heinlein, who becomes the first executive director of Ava's chamber of commerce, is a retired Ava businessman. He also serves on the Ava Board of Aldermen. In a related development, the chamber of commerce rented office space near the Douglas County Sheriffs Department.

'Sun' day fun Sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s Sunday afternoon brought big crowds to Lindenlure in Christian County. More than 100 sun and water lovers splashed each other while cooling off in the spring heat. Today's weather is expected to bring more sunny skies and warm temperatures. Kindergarten registration scheduled ROGERSVILLE Registration and screening for kindergarten students in the Logan-Rogersville School District will be June 1-3 at the elementary school. Students must be 5 years old before July 1 to be eligible for school in the 1987-88 school year.

Parents should call 881-2947 after May 1 for an appointment. DALLAS COUNTY Buffalo Days features craft exhibitors BUFFALO Craft exhibitors from throughout southwest Missouri will be at Buffalo Days this Saturday, event officials said. Other events include a 10-kilometer run, a Happy Baby contest in which a "Mini-Miss" and "Mini-Master" will be chosen, a watermelon eating contest, baseball throwing contests and turtle races. Festivities will begin at 9 a.m. on the town square.

Mike WingoThe News-Leader 1 WRIGHT COUNTY Mansfield school officials to return MANSFIELD All four administrators will return to the Mansfield School District for the 1987-88 school year. They are Robert Perry, superintendent; David Brouse, elementary principal; Gene Garrison, high school principal, and Merlin Miller, special education director. The Mansfield Board of Education offered them one-year contracts for the upcoming school year. To report news across the Ozarks, call The News-Leader regional editor at 836-1260. blood drive from 1 to 5 p.m.

Tuesday. Competition among various campus organizatins has been arranged to increase blood drive participa-' tion. Trophies will be given to the sorority, fraternity and residence hall with the most number of donations. Anyone between ages 17 and 68 and in good health can participate if they weigh at least 110 pounds. HICKORY COUNTY Pittsburg residents hurt in collision Two Pittsburg residents were seriously injured Sunday when their car collided with a pickup on Missouri 64, one mile south of Pittsburg, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.

GREENE COUNTY SMS to sponsor blood drive, contest Southwest Missouri State University will sponsor a Inmate's freedom surprises lawmaker Sponsor envisioned early-release act mainly for 1st offenders Early-retirement plan draws high interest fs The Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. One of the sponsors of the Emergency Powers Act under which the state Correction Board has released inmates early said he never thought that a four-time offender such as Larry Dean Robertson would be freed under the program. Robertson, 28, faces a capital murder charge for the stabbing death Tuesday of Laverne "Ber-nie" Sanderlin, 67, of Dumas. The inmate was released Monday, after serving part of a sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm, following a 1980 Mississippi conviction for aggravated assault. State Sen.

Jerry Bookout, D-Jonesboro, a co-sponsor of the legislation under which Robertson was released, said Friday he had envisioned the measure as one "primarily for first offenders or non-violent offenders." "But the thing we're forgetting is that that individual would have been released in two months with- out the act," he said of Robertson. The act allows early release to relieve crowded conditions in the prison system. Bookout said he now realizes that an inmate convicted of murder would be eligible for early release under the act. But he said the Correction Department had generally done a good job in not releasing violent offenders early. Class 1 and Class 2 inmates those who have good work records and behaved well in the prison system are the only ones eligible for early release.

An inmate's crime has no bearing on the classification he can earn. The Correction Department said 120 inmates were released from prison Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the first three days under the early-release program implemented after the Emergency Powers Act was invoked by the Correction Board the previous week. Fifty-eight of the early-release inmates were discharged because they were within 90 days or less of their discharge dates, when they would otherwise have completed their sentences, according to Correction Department figures, while 62 inmates were released on early paroles. None of those released early had been convicted of first-degree murder or rape, the department said, though several were eligible under the act. Department spokesman David White confirmed that violent offenders were generally being screened out.

Bookout said he wouldn't object to an amendment to the Emergency Powers Act proposed by state Rep. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, that would bar early release of those convicted of first-degree murder, rape, kidnapping or aggravated robbery. Also barred from early release under Glover's proposal would be an inmate who had, been imprisoned more than once, in any state or federal prison. state employees retire early. The state will save money by not replacing employees who retire early or filling positions now held by long-time, higher-paid employees with lower-paid employees.

State agencies must get the approval of the governor's office to fill positions vacated by early retirements. Early-retirement benefits would vary among employees. The variations will be in salary and length of service and will depend on whether the employee participates in the state's contributory or noncontrib-utory retirement plan. But Hall's staff provided some examples: A 20-year employee now making $22,000 a year ordinarily would get a $540 pension check after retiring. But that could be as much as $736 a month under the early-retirement program.

Under one option, the worker could receive a one-time retirement bonus of The Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. It's too early to say if the state will save the $5 'million annually that was projected when the Legislature approved a new early-retirement option for state employees. However, the state's top retirement system official says interest is high. Kie D. Hall, state Public Employment Retirement System executive director, said last week that visits to the PERS office nearly quadrupled in March, when lawmakers approved the new option.

There were 86 visits to the office in January, Hall said, and 88 in February. But in March, he said, the number jumped to 341, a pace that is still holding up in April. Gov. Bill Clinton, who suggested the program, had estimated the program could save the state about $5 million a year. But Clinton and his aides added that the actual savings will depend on how many Bill Clinton Program can save $5 million $2,200 and a regular monthly check of $660.

A 30-year, upper-level employee making $58,000 annually would normally get $2,151 a month upon retirement, but early-retirement incentives could increase that pension check to $2,742 monthly, or $2,511 a month after receiving a one-time bonus of $5,000. Tempers flare over group's use of funds 'Any organization has problems when members don't agree with what the board is doing. We can't take up any little issue. To tell you the truth, I really don't care about Elena Hanggi national ACORN president -v. The Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

Some members of the Association of Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now say they weren't allowed to appear before the national ACORN board to protest the export of funds raised in Arkansas. "We thought all members could attend all meetings," ACORN state chairman Dorothy Perkins said at a news conference Saturday after she and others were denied entrance to the board meeting of the national group. But John Reed, vice president of the national group, based at New Orleans, said only two voting delegates from each of 26 states with ACORN chapters were allowed to attend the meeting held at a Little Rock motel. Elena Hanggi of Little Rock, national ACORN president, could not be reached for comment. Reed dismissed the matter as an internal state problem.

"Any organization has problems when members don't agree with what the board is doing," he said. "We can't take up any little issue. To tell you the truth, I really don't care about it." Perkins and John Mass, chairman of the Pulaski County ACORN chapter, said money donated at Little Rock had gone into the national group's general funds and wasn't being spent in Arkansas. The money at issue, they said, included $38,000 for a voter-registration program, half of a $10,000 grant from Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co. for employment of an ACORN representative on utility matters, and part of $150,000 from the City of Little Rock for a housing program.

"We feel that since this money was donated to the city of Little Rock to help housing here that the money should have stayed in the city of Little Rock," Mass said. He and Perkins said local ACORN offi cials don't have access to the funds. Perkins said she thought another reason she was barred from the board meeting was her intendion to bring up Hanggi's status. The national president is also serving as a paid ACORN employee in violation of the organization's bylaws, Perkins said. Ozarks accent Real men don't buy women's underwear.

At least, not If anybody's watching. Which Is why Lila Williams started Panry-of-the-Month. Ozarks Vice President George Bush re-dedlcates the bandstand at Central Park Town Square In Mountain Grove. The original dedication was by Woodrow Wilson's vice-president 70 years ago. Reporters kept from sessions of white supremacy meeting Sports Southwest Missouri State has made the decision to go to an artificial turf on Its football field.

We'll take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of artificial turfs and what one could mean for programs at SMS. The Associated Press EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. Most reporters were barred Saturday from sessions of a Christian Patriotic Conference that prompted the mayor of this Ozarks resort town to put together a counterrally. Police said there were no confrontations or incidents of violence. Only Mary Jean Sell, editor of the Eureka Springs Times-Echo, was allowed to attend speeches during morning sessions.

"The talk he gave you could have heard in any Sunday school in any denomination church in the coun of the Eureka Springs-based Christian Research organization and conference coordinator, told a reporter for the Arkansas Gazette last week that he and other reporters would not be allowed to attend the conference because of lies the media had spread about the Identity movement. Also barred was the Harrison Daily Times. Koch said Saturday that turnout for the conference had been good. About 50 protesters against the Identity conference, some wearing armbands with slashmarks drawn through swastikas, gathered for about an hour Saturday morning to listen to brief speeches. she said of one speaker, whom she didn't identify.

But she wasn't allowed to attend an afternoon speech by Ed Udey, recently released from prison for his part in harboring tax protester Gordon Kahl, who died in a 1983 shootout with authorities in northeastern Arkansas. The conference was attended by about 45 believers in the Christian Identity movement, whiqh teaches that whites are the true children of Israel as described in the Bible and Jews and other minorities are descendants of Satan. Most of those in attendance were elderly residents of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. "Sell said other speeches dealt with the threat of communism, the evils of coveting and stealing. There were general references to the federal government getting away from the Constitution and the Bible, she said.

"I haven't heard anything like 'white is she said. Appearances by Identity minister Dan Gaymen of Schell City, and Mary Lent, former secretary to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wisc, were canceled, Sell said. Illness was cited as the reason, she said. Gerda Koch, 85-year-old director The News-Leader For home delivery call 836-1 1 22 or 1 -800-492-4803.