Waterloo Courier (Newspaper) - August 28, 2002, Waterloo, Iowa Panthers open against Wayne State Thursday v Augustus for complete open Cunningham school holding open house METRO A8 County contract rules studied I Minority contractors take their case before board of supervisors Martin just asking some questions KINNEY Courier Business Editor What's fair on one side of on the other Martin Culpepper believes The president of the Cedar Valley Minority Contractors Association took his group's cause across Mulberry Tuesday from City Hall to the Black Hawk County Courthouse Culpepper a Waterloo electrical contractor appeared before the county supervisors Tuesday to ask for information on the ty's policies and goals on making sure business es are included contract work He made similar requests of city officials over the past year and a half They have all the answers to this I Culpepper said of county I'm calling anybody guilty or blaming body I'm just asking some tions I hope I get them Culpepper handed supervisors a list requesting information H The county's policy to ensure minority participation in county its policy on out- sourcing county work to outside contractors and why there is not a central list of vendors who are available and qualified to perform various kinds of county work Whether there is a compliance officer to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations regarding participation by ity business enterprises The percentage and dollar year of Black Hawk County work performed by ity contractors and number of those contracts B The percentage of contract work on county roads in county buildings and specifically in the See CONTRACTORS page A5 DAN Courier Photo Editor Waterloo firefighters Mike Dufel left and Tony McGrane extinguish hot spots after a fire destroyed this house overnight on Silver Lake Drive Details page Bl group charged with reducing the number of judicial districts in state By Courier Des Moines Bureau DES MOINES Months after failing to win Statehouse support for its plans to remake Iowa's court system the Iowa Supreme Court announced Tuesday it is handing the touchy reorganization issue to a task force The committee including county officials court employees lawyers judges and others is charged with crafting a plan to reduce the number of judicial districts which currently stands at eight Court officials argue downsizing would lead to ed budget savings The Legislature which has not altered judicial districts since 1972 would have the final say on any The creation of this study committee will provide an opportunity for input from the public and others who have a stake in the justice in said Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Louis Lavorato Des Moines businessman David Oman and Judge David Remley Anamosa chief judge of the Sixth Judicial District are chairs Lawmakers directed the court to form the committee after a political tug-of-war ended in a draw Last fall Lavorato unveiled a restructuring plan that would have closed or consolidated dozens of ty clerk of court offices many in rural Iowa That plan tow loud pointed See COURTS page A6 Paroles soar as state curbs expansion of prison system DES MOINES AP The Iowa Board of Parole awarded a record paroles from Iowa prison ing the last fiscal year up 623 from a year earlier as state officials bled to curb the growth of Iowa's crowded prison system That 21 percent increase for the 12 months ending June 30 was the largest percent increase in a decade the Des Moines Register reported in a copyright story today I would like the public to know that we are not risking public safety when we look at these cases We are doing everything within power to make sure that the violent ers stay exactly where they in Board Chairwoman Elizabeth said said that the board has revised some of its criteria for releasing nonviolent ers The changes included granting earlier releases from prison to certain inmates convicted of such crimes as drug possession drunken driving forgery and prostitution she said On Tuesday Iowa's nine prisons held inmates which was 21 cent over the rated capacity of The Department of Corrections budget however has been reduced to about a cut of about of weak state revenue See PAROLE page A6 CharLee Shepherd Toddler M 21 girl killed by family pit bull in back yard OTTUMWA AP A pit bull mauled and killed a toddler in her back yard in Ottumwa Police Lt Mike McDonough said the body of CharLee Shepherd was found in a dog pen at her family's home shortly after 7 Tuesday It's out of the house but how she got out or what time or what led to the attack we don't know McDonough said McDonough said the girl's father for CharLee inside the house when he was alerted by a neighbor who had seen the girl's body in the pen Two pit bills owned by Richard and Darcy Shepherd have been at their request McDonough said The gate to the pen was open and the dogs were outside the pen but on chains he said One of the chains was secured inside the pen and the other outside of it The back yard is enclosed by a fence McDonough said It's believed only one dog attacked but it's not known which one McDonough said An autopsy on the girl is scheduled for Wednesday in Des Moines Joyce Graham who lives two houses away said her daughter heard ing from Shepherd's yard Graham said she ran outside and saw Richard Shepherd running with his daughter in his arms He was screaming and crying help her help she said She said the girl had been bitten in the face Graham who has seven children said they frequently played in the Shepherds yard around the dogs If you would have said that dog could have bit someone I would have called you a she said It was a good family dog She said the girl's parents are good hardworking who love their children That's the Graham said He worked days She worked nights See MAULED page A5 Starving Zambia won't accept genetically altered U.S grain 9 The dying eat leaves as government won't release free U.S corn Los Angeles Times waiting for seven hours under the sizzling African sun John hoped to fill his with free corn stored in here But an aid official told and about 200 other hungry men women and dren that he could no longer dis- Mbute the corn because the Zambian government had ruled that the genetically modified grain was not safe for them Please give us the ed an elderly blind man wearing a threadbare shirt We don't care if it is poisonous because we are dying anyway Many Zambians in rural areas have resorted to eating twigs and even poisonous berries and nuts to cope with the worst food crisis decade hitting southern Africa Still their refuses to accept tions of genetically modified corn that the United Nations and other aid agencies say could help ease the suffering of about 2.5 million Zambians The United States Nations and humanitarian groups insist the corn is safe and identical to grain consumed daily by people in the United States Canada and other countries But Zambian officials say they fear the corn poses health risks to their citizens We would rather starve than get something said Zambian President Levy who declared a food emergency here three months ago Privately aid officials say the Zambian government is looking a gift horse in the mouth The Bush administration has dispatched to Zambia its top aid official US Agency for International Development Administrator Andrew to persuade to accept the food Today is expected to meet in Lusaka the Zambian capital I'm going to tell him he needs to reverse that said in a telephone interview It's endangering people's lives and we're going to have massive losses of life if this policy remains in place A savage confluence of events drought bad governance and disease means about 13 million people in six southern Africa See ZAMBIA page A5 AP PHOTO Children at a compound near the Zambian capital Lusaka Cipher as C3 i Comics B 06 i Daily Record a C2 Iowa H A3 Markets a DS A a A2 a D4 Classified a Crossword C3 r Horoscopes a C4 Lifestyles a B4 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