Waterloo Courier Cedar Falls (Newspaper) - February 13, 1985, Waterloo, Iowa WEDNESDAY Comics C6 Iowa STRESS COPING UNI professor Ann Vernon offers ad- vice and a seminar on how to help your children cope with the stress of ing up in the 1980s See FEATURES C1 LETTER DAY Two West Waterloo football players and a Cedar Falls High volleyball player are among UNI recruits See SPORTS page B1 COACH DIES Nick Colasanto an accomplished di- rector who became famous as the lovable bartender Coach on dies of a heart attack GRIEVANCE Grievance proceedings concerning the firing of a former Cresco police officer have into arbitration See NE IOWA A9 Waterloo WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 13 1985 36 PAGES 4 SECTIONS 1985 Waterloo Courier Falls Record Complex tax laws upset even the IRS f WASHINGTON AP Revenue Service admits to having made mistakes in some of the 53 million taxpayer questions it answered last year but puts part of the blame on a complex tax system If ever a law cried out for reform this is IRS Assistant Commissioner Stanley Goldberg told reporters Tuesday I don't think either man or beast can master he added pointing to a stack of volumes required to explain the changes Congress made only in 1984 Meantime he conceded some of the part-time and full-time employees who answer questions by telephone or at IRS walk-in offices going to make mistakes THEY ARE doing a very difficult Goldberg said Unfortunately it is impossible to do it perfectly A taxpayer who relies on erroneous IRS advice in filling out a tax return is subject to the same interest and penalties as if the wrong answer had been provided by a private accountant Goldberg admitted to being defensive about a Wall Street Journal survey that asked fairly routine questions of IRS offices and received some incorrect answers Seventeen offices and four questions were involved in the survey and the Journal said no single question was answered correctly by all five offices to which it was put On two questions four of five responses were correct The IRS is dismayed and not a little with such results Goldberg said We don't like to see it but we know it happens One of the Journal questions asked five IRS offices about a credit for owners of diesel cars which was enacted in 1984 The one-time credit is available for owners of certain diesel-powered cars and light trucks of 1978 or later vintage The newspaper said agents in Richmond Denver Indianapolis and Milwaukee had the right answer The Boston office said incorrectly that the credit was available only for business vehicles We try to hire the brightest people we can find to answer the telephones during the peak tax season Goldberg said adding that the time people receive the same training as do time employees We particularly train them that when you don't know the answer for sake please don't guess Refer it to a more qualified Goldberg added He said employees are told you get no demerits for saying Til have to find out Second he said the assisters are trained not to give snap answers You've got to know all the circumstances surrounding the Goldberg said After having done all those things we continue to make errors ly we probably will continue But overall he said they typically do a fairly good job IN FACT the IRS claims it probably provided correct answers to 95 percent of the 53 million questions it was asked last year But only about 22 million of those questions were technical ones involving taxes the remainder were clerical queries involving the status of a refund or an account Goldberg noted that about 41 percent of payers feel the need to ask the IRS other professionals or friends for help in filling out their returns Despite the occasional wrong answer Goldberg said taxpayers should con- to call us He recommended IRS Publication 17 Your Federal Income as a valuable guide for answering many taxpayer questions It may be obtained free from any IRS office or by calling the telephone number listed in the instructions accompanying your tax form Adviser may be flown in to study air service needs Evans sees reasonable chance of Deere submitting Army bids By ED ADCOCK Staff Deere Co has a reasonable chance of being allowed to submit bids to sell the Army engines for trucks according to Rep Cooper Evans Caterpillar is certainly able to bid we would like to see that John Deere will be able to bid as the Grundy Center Republican said Tuesday during a tour of Deere's Engine Works here Evans said he talked with the secretary of the Army in charge of procurement about the possibility of letting Deere submit bids on trucks which the Department of Defense wants over the next three years The main obstacle is an Army specification that the engines have been used in tions according to Evans So far only a few experimental Deere en- gines have been used in those he said Evans said the Army wants en- gines with demonstrated success in trucks operated on roads and ways They'd feel more comfortable if John Deere engines had 10 million hours of use on the he said Evans also mentioned two other potential markets for John Deere engines He said Deere is ing in a development program with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration investigating the use of the company's rotary engines as general aviation engines The SI million in the program should be increased to million but Evans said the tough budgetary times probably would prevent the expenditure The Marine Corps is looking for engines for its tanks Evans added Bids for that project will be let in 1986 he said Evans toured the Engine Works at the invitation of its Employee Participation Team The team sent letters to Evans Sens Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin Gov ry Branstad and President Ronald Reagan with invitations to discuss the products the facility tures Grassley has scheduled a visit and the offices of Reagan and Branstad responded to the letters The team consists of wage and salaried employees and was formed to improve tions through all levels of the com- pany according to Gary Cowell manager of employee participation He said the Engine Works was the first Deere facility to take part in the program Team member Barb McGovern said one of the members got the idea of writing the president and other legislators from the incident in which heart recipient William Schroeder talked to Reagan and received action on his Social Security problems She said the team is interested in doing something to make use of the excess capacity of the Engine Works due to reduced sales Increasing sales and markets is a big she said By STEVE SALATO Staff Writer A professional consultant may be hired to determine if air service is lacking in Waterloo The Waterloo Municipal Airport Commission may hear a proposal next month from a representative of Edward MacNeal Associates of ne Pa which specializes in air service consulting work Roy Bud Jamesen Waterloo di- rector of tion said ing a com- mission ing Tuesday he has been in touch with the firm After the meeting Jamesen said there is con- cern among citizens about the level of air service here So we want to address that con- cern and if it's real we should attempt to correct those Jamesen said He noted that a consultant would determine whether the airport is meeting the public's demands on air service whether fare structures here are reasonable and whether the frequency of flights is good enough Jamesen said he thought it would take about six months for such a study to be done The sooner we do it the sooner we'll know whether we have our fair share of air Jamesen said A consultant would interpret in economic terms any deficiencies perceived in air service here Jamesen said Jamesen who started his job here in January after serving in a similar post in Cedar Rapids said in an earlier interview he isn't satisfied with the number of people boarding planes in Waterloo He noted at that time a determination must be made to see if people are being served adequately Passengers boarding planes here should number closer to than to the customers reported in 1984 Jamesen has said Because the population in the Waterloo area is about half that of the Cedar Rapids area passenger boardings here should be about half those in Cedar Rapids Jamesen reasoned Passenger boardings in Cedar Rapids will number about in 1985 he said Compared to the same month a year ago passenger boardings at the Waterloo airport in January were down about 1 percent according to figures presented at Tuesday's com- mission hearing Jamesen has said he believes the five airlines serving the city is pretty good number He said he certainly would agree to try to attract another major air carrier tb Waterloo if enough data can be gathered to support such a request He has said he doesn't think the low passenger boardings here are at- tributable to the airport's physical facilities Retail sales inch higher Staff photo by Ed Adcock Jim Barth right engine test cell operator at the John Deere Engine Works explains engine testing procedures to Rep Cooper Evans during a tour of the facility Tuesday WASHINGTON AP Retail sales held back by record cold weather in much of the country still managed an increase of 0.7 percent in January despite sharp declines at department and clothing stores the federal government reported today The Commerce Department said sales climbed to a seasonally ad- justed total of billion last month following a 0.5 percent drop in December Much of the gain was attributed to a strong increase in auto sales which rose 4 percent in January It was the fourth month out of the last five in which auto sales have advanced Auto sales in were 7.1 cent higher than a year ago But sales at clothing stores ped 5.1 percent in January the gest decline since October 1967 Sales at larger department stores were also off a sharp 5 percent The report said both declines may have been caused by the record cold during the month Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige commenting on the report termed the gain very good and said that the trend upward in con- sumer purchases means further growth in domestic production and jobs during the coming year ever private analysts were not as impressed with the January figures Sandra Shaber an economist with Chase Econometrics said the gain was entirely due to the increase in auto sales Without that jump over- all sales would have dropped 0.1 percent last month Consumer demand is not going to grow like it did last she said But I think we will see moderate expansion The weakness at apparel and de- stores contributed to a 0.2 decline in sales of all nondurable goods items not expected to last at least three years Sales of durable goods led by the surge hi auto purchases were up 2.5 percent in January over the ber level Battery thief at least followed etiquette rules By CINDY KRANZ Stiff Writer CEDAR FALLS Matt and Barb Miller of Cedar Falls are getting a charge out of the thief who stole their car battery and later returned it with a note of Their 1978 model car was parked outside their home at E 18th St when the theft occurred Matt tried to start the car Tuesday afternoon but it wouldn't budge He soon discovered that the battery was missing and reported the theft to the police Miller took another car to work It was about p.m when his wife was awakened by the sound of a car outside their home Curiosity got the best of her so she bundled up to check the vehicle The thief had returned the battery to the car and left a thank-you note on the windshield I'm amazed he didn't hook it back up for Barb Miller said I had to call my husband at work and I said Are you sitting You're not going to believe this We even got a thank you she said The Millers have been racking their brains try ing to figure out if it was a prank Barb said We even called friends and family that we think might have played a practical joke but they said it wasn t their idea of a joke It had to be a total stranger Fahd's Washington visit fit for a king WASHINGTON AP It was the stuff of fairy an Arabian king a young prince gifts of gold and jewels and enough symbols of wealth and power to capture even the attention of calloused official ington Washington is jaded to power ens of presidents and prime mini- sters and heads of state revolve through the White House every year But Saudi Arabian King Fahd's visit this week gave the capital city a glimpse of sheik chic a look at one of the wealthiest and most exotic monarchies in the world The king's entourage booked the entire Hotel for its day stay The hotel's IK rooms usually rent at a single rate of to 1235 a night Among the king's gifts to dent and Nancy Reagan were a gold pitcher and tray set a woven gold evening bag with Mrs Reagan's initials in diamonds King Fahd and a small enameled egg that ed to reveal the Saudi seal and the presidential seal surrounded by diamonds The king will host a lavish party for about 600 of his closest American friends tonight at the Marriott hotel ballroom which will be de- with hundreds of palms and water fountains to resemble a desert oasis e The king's delegation included no women a reflection of female sub- in Arabian society And there was no alcohol which is ly forbidden by the Muslim religion They're exotic the flowing es They're people out of a different setting America historically has been rather fascinated with said one Washingtonian with ex- Arab dealings The desert kingdom while not ranking among the world's largest countries is one of the Its per capita income in 1963 was mated at compared to in the United States The nation's riches come from oil Saudi Arabia controls an estimated of the world's crude oil reserves Fahd's five-day official state visit the first by a Saudi monarch since his brother Faisal met with dent Nixon in 1971 reflected his standing as a world leader He met twice privately with Reagan and whisked former Presidents Carter and Ford into Washington via charter plane for meetings Fahd dressed in a black was the guest of honor Monday night at a state where his son Abdul Aziz charmed actress Sigourney Weaver with his enthusiasm about a uled visit Thursday to Disney World in Florida The king's party tonight is bis farewell to Washington The creation of an Arabian night has been in the planning for months from the huge royal seal made of flowers displayed behind the king's table to an oasis of hundreds of palm trees and water fountains The evening begins with traditional Middle Eastern such as stuffed grape leaves and ends with petits four served in chocolate boxes stamped with the royal seal
