Waterloo Courier (Newspaper) - January 5, 1995, Waterloo, Iowa 1 California firm helping city attract Micron Sports 22 Iowa has no trouble handing No 21 ranked Indiana WATERLOO FALLS A i Lifestyles Cl 50 cents 42 pages 6 sections Thursday January 1994 movie record ii Falls Iowa First Column Corruption case changes New Orleans reputation City rocked by scandal involving police linked to murder and cocaine ring By LARRY COPELAND Knight-Ridder Newspapers EW ORLEANS This city's relaxed easygoing attitude long ago earned it the nickname the Big Easy But its laid-back demeanor historically has served as a facade behind which lurked another New Orleans of pistol duels and brutal slavery of pant crime and ethnic feuding of illegal drugs and political corruption The latest and most chilling chapter of corruption here involves a charge that a police officer masterminded the execution of a woman who dared to complain about him Kim Groves a mother of three was slain just after filing a posedly confidential brutality complaint against the officer The scandal didn't stop there The accusation against Officer Len Davis prompted the FBI to abandon a widespread undercover investigation into a ing operation in which uniformed officers guarded stocked cocaine The who ran that Officer Len Davis authorities say Because of the investigation by a federal task force of 60 agents negotiations for the hit were captured on tape Last month Davis and eight other officers were charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine and with using a firearm during the commission of a crime They are accused of accepting nearly in payments then showing up in uniform to stand guard over more than 130 kilograms of cocaine Davis say FBI officials organized the guard detail Planning a hit Hours before Groves was killed ties say Davis dialed a beeper number belonging to Paul Cool Hardy a local drug kingpin accused as the triggerman The tape catches Davis dialing and mumbling I can get P to come do that whore now and then we handle the thirty In the local police lexicon a thirty is a homicide Later according to the transcript of a phone call contained in the complaint Davis gave Hardy a description of A black coat with faded jeans with big bleach stains or the front of em and the bitch brown-skinned with light brown eyes I got the phone on and the radio After it's done go straight uptown and call me After Groves was killed Davis and Hardy were recorded again this time joking about the hit U.S Attorney Eddie Jordan Jr said FBI agents involved in the undercover probe were pulled out before they had gathered enough evidence on 15 to 20 other targeted officers The operation was brought to a halt in November as a result of the concern we had for the safety of the agents and the safety of the Jordan said Ultimately I hope the case will restore people's faith in law enforcement That might take some doing History of problems Corruption and brutality have long been See NEW ORLEANS I page A3 Weather Complete weather D1 Friday Periods of Low 20 Index A2 Private firm lists jail operation cost savings i A By TIM JAMISON Courier Staff Writer A Tennessee jail management company said it can save taxpayers at least million in the first year by operating the new Black Hawk under contract Corrections Corporation of ica delivered a proposal to the ty Board of Supervisors Wednesday offering to run the hew jail for between million to million It is expected to cost the county Sheriff Kubik counters with possible cost cuts A3 million next year to operate the jail according to budget submitted by Sheriff Mike Kubik and the building maintenance department That cost includes ing 100 jail beds vacant for half of the fiscal year Wow that certainly is ing to said Supervisor Jack Roehr after seeing the CCA compare and sheriff an opportunity to see what he can up with before we make a decision regarding CCA is the largest for- profit private corrections ment firm operating 27 facilities and inmate beds in the ed States Australia Puerto Rico and England Newly elected supervisor Sonia Johannsen asked CCA to make a proposal County after she about taxpayers ability staffing costs at the new jail The current asking for the jail of million is expected to jump to more than million after July 1 It looks to me like there's going to be well better than million ings with Johannsen said The proposal looks good enough that it's important for us to move ahead and actually do a request for Power surge Work play mark takeover of Congress Nussle pleased with first day AP PHOTO the Power Rangers Wednesday on Capitol Hill The Rangers were Invited to entertain the children of congressional members who attended the swearing in of the 104th Congress WASHINGTON AP A frantic first day of floor votes and revelry behind them Republicans dominating Congress are out to show President Clinton and Democrats they are serious about their quest to reshape government Leaders of both parties planned to meet with Clinton at the White House today a day after a jubilant GOP assumed control of the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years But even before ing the president top Republicans from both chambers made their intentions clear New Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole promised spending slashes lower taxes and an end to laws that impose and other costly ments and local ments without the money to pay for them Reining in our government will be my mandate and I hope it will Gingrich appreciates symbolism of post D2 Democrats not leaving majority status quietly 02 be the purpose and principal accomplishment of the 104th Dole said shortly after lawmakers kicked off their year's business Wednesday In an emotional House Rep Newt Gingrich capped his rise from a nettlesome bencher to House speaker and renewed his party's promise that the GOP would stage votes on an agenda that included tax and fare cuts an package and a balanced budget amendment We were hired to do a job and we have to start today to prove we'll do he told his colleagues By KEVIN POTTER Courier Staff Writer Congressman Jim Nussle says he could probably find something to be critical about during Republicans transition to power in the U.S House but he'd really have to search When I visualized opening day this was what I said Nussle a can from Manchester who resents Northeast Iowa Nussle was in charge of ensuring that the GOP took over power in the House on Wednesday under cratic control since the hower administration out a hitch He said it appears he his job The team worked very well It was a good game plan and everyone executed Nussle said Even Democrats privately minutes after a rousing greeting from fellow Republicans chanting Newt Newt Newt Their grueling opening day which ly is brief and ceremonial began at noon and lasted just under 14 hours In the chair at the closing gavel See CONGRESS I page A3 proposals from other companies proposal lists price ranges based on the daily cost per inmate The company can provide security services at the jail for to per day per inmate or all vices for to per day Dividing next year's proposed jail budget by 272 inmates would yield a daily cost of more than per inmate under the county's ment of the jail See JAIL I page A3 Stamp to honor Monroe WASHINGTON AP Actress Marilyn Monroe will grace a U.S postage stamp this year with the design being officially unveiled today at Planet Hollywood in New York Anna Strasberg director of the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute was joining Postmaster General Marvin Runyon for the morning ceremonies The Monroe stamp will be the first in a series honoring legends of Hollywood postal officials said The date and place for release of the arid details of how many are to be printed were to be announced at the ceremony The stamp carries reproduction of Monroe's signature and artwork based on a movie star image that post office publicity describes as epitomizing the explosive tion of talent and vulnerable beauty that continues to enrapture America and the world The Monroe stamp image was not released in December when other planned 1995 issued were disclosed because the design had not been completed officials said Other stamps planned this year whose designs are not yet available include American comic strips Texas statehood and women's frage AP PHOTO The U.S Postal Service Is unveil ing a postage stamp commemorating actress Marilyn Monroe today the Zebra gone but not forgotten Courtesy photo By ELIZABETH BLOOM Courier Staff Writer CEDAR FALLS Ron Dornath didn't expect people would notice when they couldn't spot his striped pet in its pen along Highway 218 I've had several people stop ask what happened to said Dornath who keeps a number of exotic animals on his property north of Cedar Falls But perhaps none caused more motorists to do a take over the years than Zeke an African zebra quietly ping grass amid a background of Iowa com They won't have the tion any more Just before Christmas Dornath found the animal dead in his pen He's still not sure what Zeke to Two nights before he was pushing me around trying to get some of the feed like he always Dornath said He wasn't as aggressive the next night but he rubbed me and wanted to be petted He seemed fine otherwise Zeke's absence has been noticed People have shown up at door asking about the missing zebra Strangers used to stop when he was alive too trying to pet or feed the zebra It led Dornath this past summer to move Zeke to another pasture High He was a friendly animal but he was getting too much he said Dornath had picked up Zeke at an exotic animal auction in Missouri six years ago He was a full-grown gelding that according to his former owners had a reputation for guzzling beer and eating hotdogs offered by students from a nearby high school I had heard that zebras were pretty ornery Dornath said But he was real gentle He estimates Zeke was about five years old when he got him which made him about 11 when he died Dornath has considered approaching some New ford breeders about a foal they recently had who is ironically named Zeke But he doubts he can afford the infant zebra He's not sure about trying for another adult either Zeke was pretty unusual nath said He was pretty much a pet I was kind of fond of him And Zeke won't be com- gone Though he acknowledges it may be strange to some Dornath plans to nave the head mounted and a rug made from the hide You get attached to he said You know how it is just like family when you lose one it's hard
