Newport Mercury And Weekly News (Newspaper) - October 28, 1977, Newport, Rhode Island And Weekly News NEWPORT RHODE 28 1977 20 CENTS Society head favors tax on ENTRANCE THROUGH GATE 10 of Naval Education and Training Center off Highway has been permanently closed because of reduced number of sentries stirring Ire of NETC employees who say hey now must go through Gale 17 near Naval Underwater Systems Command entrance Dally News Monday October 24 Monday October U A five per cent lax on admissions to all types of would be tax most acceptable to the Preservation Society of Newport County Executive Director Daniel said today Our support would be on whether it was a uniformed lax law lhat doesn't single out certain kinds of businesses because of their tax said Porter The Preservation Society is a non-profit tax-exempt organization Porter favors a lax on all admission tickets including those for movie and other performances not Just those for tax-exempt organizations like the society Asks more facts EPA stalls LNG p h Monday October 24 The liquefied natural gas terminal for Prudence Island should be eloin U.S Environmental Protection Agency EPA told the Federal Power Commission FPC last week until necessary environmental dala is provided In a letter to FPC secretary Kenneth Plumb EPA regional administrator William R Adams Jr said the final en- statement prepared on the project does not provide sufficient data to justify the decision that Prudence Island in Maine are environmentally acceptable The EPA the en- acceptability of project based on information provided in the environmental impact the ter said urging the FPC not to make its final decision until that is made available The FPC docs not need EPA approval lo order the LNG terminal be buill on the south end of Prudence Island But he EPA could appeal such an order lo dent's Council on Environmental Quality In his letter Adams said thai a supplemental environmental impact menl be prepared should Prudence be chosen as Die site for the project originally proposed by Tenneco for Canada The FPC slaff lasl said Prudence was a superior sile lo both the Maine and Canadian The com- mission itself is not lo make a decision until the end of the year Adams said the major deficiency in the present impact statement is the lack of substantive concerning siting of the LNG This is the same point Island made in testimony before commission last PERSONS WHO ORDINARILY 10 at Naval Education and Training Center today found entrance padlocked because of a matter of adjusting to reduced number of according to NETC commander Capt Howard N Kay Employees at NETC are circulating petitions against move Charles H Parker Monday October 24 1977 surplus helps School deficit cut by third is being undertaken lo determine the unfunded of to the Tuesday October 25 A school deficit that had reached mil lion has been reduced to li 11 le more I ha n million according to an annual financial audit of the city The audit prepared by Stephen G Campos a certified public accountant in Bristol says the city finished the fiscal year June 30 with a surplus of and the School finished with a surplus of The school surplus is the first surplus fdr School Department since 1973 ding to a summary of school operations in the financial report The summary shows in all but three of the past 10 years for school tions and says the deficit reached million by the close of the 1976 fiscal year That deficit threatened to close schools early last year until the cily Council made a special appropriation to continue school operations and established a deficit tion program Under deficit reduction program the city will appropriate to the each year until it is paid off The city also applied the school surplus to the surplus and a miscalculation the auditors found in the size of original deficit had reduced the deficit to as of lasl June 30 according lo financial Another will be applied this year which will bring the deficit to by next June The financial does nol include an the unfunded liability for the police and fire pensions which have been in past al more than million The pension systems are on a basis and an actuarial city The audit shows that the cily received during the past fiscal year and spent The School Department received and spent In a letter sending the report to the cily Council Cily Manager Paul A ner said the report contains a good in- of what is happening lo property taxes in community The indicator is the ratio of current tax levy to the true markel value of taxable properly The current ratio is 3.1 percent which is same as the lax levy in 1965 and This means that taxes have only increased at the rate that inflation in housing costs is reflected in the assessed lax rolls Layoffs affect hundreds Shipbuilders idled Wednesday October 26 A General Dynamics spokesman today lhat several hundred ple from Island and Jamestown would be directly affected by 700 planned layoffs at Quonset Point's Electric Boal facility but said that no exact figures are available on how many EB workers live on the islands Joseph Wornom General Dynamics spokesman in said the layoffs began yesterday at would continue approximalely workers are dismissed He said these ple helped develop plans for the and Trident submarines Rhode Island is bracing for un- employment aftershock expected from the layoffs bul full of thai shock will nol be felt for at least a said Peler J Cormell chief of public relations and for the stale of Employment Security officials al Quonset by telephone and told them the locations and hours of DES of- fices throughout the state We offered them our placement as well as out un- employment benefit services he said Wornom said that P Takis Veliotis who look over as the general the EB Division Monday has issued a statement which links the layoffs lo streamlining of EB facilities with an eye toward in- creasing productivity He added the layoffs were in the best in- of U.S Navy and themselves General the move had anything Navy contractor more submarines which General Dynamics lost lo a Virginia builder last month The company has been trying lo get Navy to pay million for cost overruns in building 18 submarines originally expected to cost million each but now estimated locost more lhan million Asked if had anything to do with the Wornom said Of course the two are interrelated but would nol elaborate Veliotis has slated Ihal there is a possibility will be hired back William Lockwood Chamber of Commerce director said yesterday the southern area will become economic area of the country if all of the scheduled EB layoffs take place James Stanley chamber of commerce president in Norwich Conn 15 miles away said Norwich residents are on the Groton division's payroll of and is no way he knows of finding work in area Slanley said he is praying to God all of layoffs won't be carried out Veliotis flew to Washington for an emergency meeling with Sen Abraham Sen Lowell I Rep Christopher Dodd Hep Edward P Beard Sen Claiborne Pell and Sen John who the area said yesterday he was angry lie was not told of the layoffs in advance I was not forewarned about this and 1 consider Ihal lo be negligent This is a drastic action and I would like lo know il every was taken Beard said lam shocked at aslap in face in Island About one-third of workers at the yard are Island dents The layoffs were an abrupt about face by Eli which had complained for months il could nol find enough help of- had launched a massive recruiting which included job training and special to the from remote areas Anthony DeGregory who led the member Metal Trades Council in longest blue-collar in EB history in 1975 said It will be a severe blow lo the people The ones who would go are the unskilled workers ilt is expected to issue his preliminary on the Nov 2 wilh the full ommission deciding two months after month and in legal briefs after the hearings We cannol agree with the staff's con- tention lhat sufficient was provided on the environmental impacts associated wilh a terminal at the letter says Specifically Adams said terminal's potential on air and water were nol analyzed in were the dredging requirement Nor were the impacts of pipelines from Prudence Island discussed Adams said He said no studies were made of the emissions of nitrous and sodium oxides from the plant that would be build alongside the tanker terminal to turn the liquefied natural gas back into gas for pipeline Adams said studies of the present water quality necessary to assess the potential impact from the minal were not made nor were they done for the numerous river and crossings for the pipeline FPC administrative law judge Nahum Lilt is exp decision on commission due users of power Monday October 24 The state Public Utilities Commission today ordered Newport Electric Corp lo refund lo its customers The order also calls for the company to include In the refund interest accrued at a rate of 9 percent to the dale of the refund Newport had filed wilh the PUC an application for a decrease in its rates tolls and charges The decrease Is at- to a reduction in he cost of power purchased from its wholesale supplier the Electric Co in Massachusetts The refunds lo customers will be based on their usage over the period April 1976 to June 1977 The PUC said company agreed that refunds would be paid to customers who paid the original charges lhan being credited to future bills During hearings on the refunds Newport noted Ihal a greal deal of work would be involved to locate customers who had moved The company told the sion that once a customer has discontinued service the records are removed from computer and retrieval of would have to bedone manually Under the procedure existing customers would receive a crediton bills The company said refund checks would be mailed lo the last known address of who had service it was estimated lhat 10.000 customers had moved since refund period The commission requested that com- pany report back periodically lo PUC on ils in implementing the refund procedure The commission also asked lhat company afler making reasonable forl lo locate customers to whom refunds arc due file an accounting of the not refunded Holiday goes unobserved The federal version of Veterans Day unobserved today by local veterans organizations who will hold off on their ceremonies he traditional Nov 11 dale All federal offices were closed as Uncle Sam observed the holiday for lasl lime The federal government next year will return lo celebrating the holiday on Nov II Today was not a holiday in Rhode Island and most stales Only Hawaii Utah and Washington D C observed today as Veterans Day With exception of Rhode Island all other stales will observe the holiday Nov 11 Independent Litlle Rhody will observe day all by itself Nov 7 Leo G DuTilly past senior president of United Veterans Council and der of Newport American Legion said local groups will not observe stale holiday Local instead will observe the Nov 1 1 dale he said The traditional date marks the end of World War I on the I Ith hour of the of Attempts to impose a tax have surfaced for more lhan four years Last February slate Sen Charles G Thomas introduced legislation in Senale that would allow the to collect a 10 per cent lax on any fees charged or donation sought for lies owned by business tions Sen Thomas said today the is not dead but is being held up in House Finance Committee He refused to com- ment on the legislation The Senate proved the lax in March by a vote The suggested 10 per cent tax is high for an said ter The society expects the lax issue lo resurface in General Assembly We will be most surprised if it doesn't added About would have been raised on society's admissions for 1976 with the 5 per cent tax Ticket revenue totaled million The lax however would not affect the society's budget for operating ils six Bellevue Avenue mansions Hunter House No bus terminal on Washington Street and Green in Portsmouth The possibility remains that a ticket price would discourage at a lime when most of New England's historical sights are experiencing a decrease in attendance according to ter Tlie society however expects a 10 per cent attendance increase over lasl year's The more money n person has lo jay you're lowering the chances thai lie will said Porter Many historical organizations have increased their cial problems by raising admission while attendance has declined he added The society is loving reluctantly the possibility of increasing prices said We're nervous near Is we want lo increase fee We hope we have too but inflation is rising rapidly he added Newport is missing revenue tourism and il be a relief to the taxpayers lo have the income the question is applying it uniformly u all Agency object Tuesday October 25 The Redevelopment Agency last night voled unanimously against converting the former Bonanza Bus station lo a tenance garage for Last week the stale said thai it wanted the city the station and land with Community Development Funds The cily Council is expected to vole on the request tomorrow The agency also voted in favor of the concept of the Broadway plan prepared for it by Simpson Associates of this city and Economics Research Associates of Boston Members said should give the area first priority for development Agency member M Thomas Perrotti said ihal a bus maintenance garage could be pul somewhere else on the island and thai such a use at former bus terminal would be bad for area The garage would be lax free and cause congestion and pollution in the he said The annual lax revenue from the properly is about member Fred R Alofsin also noted that the lax rate would go up if the slate took over the property and thai such an action would inhibit proper ment of area According to the Simpson plan the terminal should be converted to a police The plan calls for closing Street lo through traffic The price of property is estimated al Because of ils to other cily offices good access to both Broadway and West Broadway size and location in an above crime the should be made inlo a station report said The plan also calls for making the Paramount Block a area willi demolition of some buildings for parking Cost of the Is expected lo lie The plan recommended that the building now owned by agency lias excellent potential for reuse as a model ale sized supermarket with an 85 to parking lot on the building's east side The plan seeks more on West Broadway by improving the intersections at West Broadway and and Broadway at Equality Park Wesl change traffic directions on improve traffic direction signs and increase parking on Broadway south of Marlborough Police deny they dra feet on Tuesday October 25 The Newport Fraternal Order of Police today criticized a statement by the city manager that the FOP is about new crime lighting programs William L Amaral president of FOP lodge the use of civilian police dispatchers and said lhat despite the addition of 10 men lo the police force the force is below full said the FOP supported of police tactical squad and he FOP had opposed the abolition of the lac squad when it was disbanded three years ago Those were referred toby Cily Manager Paul A Steinbrenner in explaining the police response lo increased crime during 1976 He said he hoped lo make other changes in the department and added Quite frankly Fraternal Older of Police has been less than enthusiastic about new programs Amaral said the FOP expressed strong disappointment with remark and said it lor him lo say thai We simply haven't seen any new programs he said Let us loudly express to you citizen and taxpayer Ihal we in Fraternal der of Police arc wholeheartedly fur any program that will stop deter or reduce crime in any way shape or form Amaral said He said the police would applaud any con- program lhat is practical anil safe He said the use of civilian has riot proved lo be a lo crime nur does it help citizen who calls the police KILLED LAST NIGHT by loose household dogs at Naval Underwater Systems Center land is this yearling doc being held by Richard Jackson Jackson and his fellow Department ol Natural game warden Dave Tyler said NUSC guard saw two Huskies and Shepherds in area where dead doe was found this morning They said dogs led caling animal while it still was alive Officers expressed fear that domestic dogs once they have tasted blood will be back for more Edward October 21
