Daily Tribune, The (Newspaper) - July 15, 1976, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin Mondale chosen by Carter as running mate NEW YORK AP Presidential dictate Jimmy Carter acted today to complete the Democratic ticket by designating Sen Walter F Mandate as his choice for the vice presidential nomination Carter's decision will be ratified at closing session of the Democratic National Convention Asked why he had settled on Mondale Carter said he had found a remarkable com- between his stands on the issues and my own Mondale described Carter as an mon man terribly gifted committed ex- ready but above all a good man and I'm proud and honored to be a part of this team Carter kept bis choice a secret until the ment a few minutes after 10 EOT when he strode into the Royal Ballroom of the Americana Hotel to make his announcement It was the only suspenseful moment in a convention that belonged totally to the man from Plains Ga whose capture of the nomination the night before represented one of the most remarkable coups in American political history About an hour before Carter left his suite for the press conference he received a tele- phone call from President Ford who is fighting to be the Republican nominee whom Carter will run According to White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen Ford told Carter he hoped the campaign could be conducted on a high level and I look forward to a good contest this fall The vice presidential selection process was drawn out over 30 days during which Carter said be changed his mind three times This has been as you can weil imagine one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make he told the news conference But I have absolutely no doubt that this is the right decision Carter called the Minnesota senator the best person to lead this country if something should happen to me He added that dale has a very clear concept of what the presidency should be Mondale arrived at the Americana during Carter's news conference He was by his wife Joan Carter said Mondale had suffered from mild hypertension but that since he has been taking medication he has had no problem Carter said Mondale's medical records had been examined by a doctor and they showed nothing unusual for a man With his wife at his side Mondale joined Carter at the ballroom podium and said I am proud and honored to be a part of this team Asked about his trip to Plains where be was interviewed by Carter Mondale said they had a long talk about the role of the vice president in a Carter administration I was not interested in a ceremonial THE DAILY TRIBUNE INFORMING THE Sixty-Second 18537 SOUTH WOOD COUNTY AREA OF WISCONSIN Wisconsin Rapids Wisconsin 54494 Thursday July 15 1976 14 Pages Plus Supplement and union reach tentative wage accord A tentative agreement on a 1976 contract has been reached between Wisconsin Rapids Water and Light and negotiators for Local 1147 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Robert Dickinson Water and Light general manager said today Dickinson declined saying what the terms of the settlement are because the tentative accord must still be acted on in open session of the commission July 28 but the agreement is reportedly on a 9.7 per cent wage increase The local and the commission agreed earlier to forego discussion of language and fringe benefits for a discussion of strictly wages for 1976 Negotiations began last October with the union requesting a 15 per cent wage increase plus language and fringe items The sion at that time offered no definite wage in- crease and its own set of language change requests An offer of 9.5 per cent was reportedly ed down last week by the union Negotiations on a 1977 contract between the commission and the local are an- to begin within two or three months Bl bomber funding approved by Ford WASHINGTON AP President Ford has signed a billion that authorizes production of the Bl bomber and earmarks a record billion to expand the Navy's fleet In signing the measure Wednesday Ford criticized Congress both for rejecting a number of essential defense programs and for funding other programs he said were not needed at this time Ford also signed two other major spending on Wednesday One appropriates billion in fiscal 1977 for the Treasury ment Postal Service General Services Ad- ministration the Civil Service Commission and the Executive Office of the President The other earmarks billion in 1977 for the State Justice and Commerce ments the federal judiciary the Small Business Administration and the U.S mation Agency The huge mits spending billion for the first three operating models of the Bl bomber provided Congress appropriates the money in a future The also eliminated a one per cent kicker in cost-of-living increases in an- for military retirees The Associated Press reported last year that the designed to keep federal pensions in step with inflation actually propels them ahead and gives federal retirees billions of extra dollars at taxpayer expense AP calculations showed the un- intended bonus for federal retirees including the military could cost taxpayers billion or more by 1990 Postal efficiency plan loses interim battle WASHINGTON AP A labor ar- ruling may lead to the death of a plan designed to save the financially ailing Postal Service hundreds of millions of dollars each year by improving employe This is an outstanding said Mozart G Rauier attorney for the letter carriers union which contends the ciency plan amounts to a speed-up But James P Conway senior assistant postmaster general for labor relations said that this is just an interim award We're not at ail pessimistic about the eventual out- come The Postal Service has estimated the plan could save it million per year The ruling came in a dispute over a program first tested in Kokomo Ind in which computers were used to redraw ery routes to insure that every mailman has eight hours of work per day Arbitrator Sylvester Garrett agreed with the union that the Kokomo plan as in Portland Ore requires letter carriers to work too much Postal and union officials agreed to submit the plan to arbitration after the union its legality Garrett is expected to issue a more thorough opinion of the plan later The Postal Service lost a record billion the last fiscal year and expects to lose lion more in the coming fiscal year unless it wins new federal subsidies Postal officials devised the plan to cut labor costs which are 86 per cent of the postal budget Postal Service lawyer Eugene B Granof has estimated the plan would cut the number of letter carriers by from the present 200.000 without hurting service saving close to million per year Union president James Rademacher said postal management wants to reduce the work force by expanding overtime That way they don't have to pay fringe benefits to as many he said After eight months of the plan in Portland it is unreasonable to continue to require in- dividual carriers to work more than eight hours per day repetitively where this is likely to have an adverse impact on their Garrett said Ahh cooler at It rained this morning thanks to a cold front that today is pushing out the hot weather of Wednesday The cold front was expected to reduce temperatures as much as 20 degrees as it moved southeast across the state Skies are partly cloudy behind the front Lows tonight are expected to plunge between the upper 40s and upper 50s in con- trast to a low last night of 67 degrees ed at midnight It was 63 degrees at today While Madison recorded a record high Wednesday of 99 degrees Wisconsin Rapids high was 90 degrees under partly cloudy skies A thunderstorm brought Racine strong winds hail and 1.02 inches of rain late Wednesday afternoon but 2 inch at post the senator said I was pleased to see he plans to use his vice president in a broad range of responsibilities I am determined to put major on the bead of the vice president Carter told the news conference Mondale said he expects Carter to be dent for eight years I'm not taking this job with the expectation of becoming president he added Two years ago Mondale made an ex- ploratory run at the presidency but dropped the idea when he failed to generate widespread support Carter said that in the last few days 1 have had very serious allegations made against the six senators on his final list but that DO evidence was found to support the charges 1 don't know of anything that would have been embarrassing about the he said After the delegates ratify Carter's choice of Mondale they will hear acceptance speeches from the two nominees and then adjourn They will leave Madison Square Garden more united than they have been in years and hopeful of regaining control of the White House after eight years of Republican ad- ministrations Since the last primary elections on June 8 there was no doubt who the Democratic nominee would be See Mondale profile story on Page 5 Disaster training exercise held A disaster training exercise was held at the Mid-State Technical Institute St campus Wednesday evening with patients routed to Riverview Hospital Above Dr Louis Pfeiffer Nekoosa and medical Mrs Jeanette Wolcott 1260 E Grand Ave examine Andrea Fritz 13 440 20th Ave S at the Riverview triage area Grand Rapids firefighter Joe Welling 1920 St S left bandages Hubert 14 Rt 3 Wisconsin Rapids whose simulated in- jury is a metal wound Tribune Photos Disaster exercise termed a success Milwaukee was the most recorded anywhere else in the state Highs are expected in the 70s Friday through Monday with lows predicted for the upper 40s or mid 50s A chance of showers is forecast for Saturday and Monday Record or near record demands for were recorded in some communities in Wisconsin Wednesday as persons tried to beat the heat with air conditioners Besides numerous grass fires two barn fires were at- to spontaneous combustion due to the heat and dry conditions at Shiocton and Manitowoc A severe storm left 24.000 homes without electricity in Chicago suburbs and hail the size of golf balls broke windows at Mt Rushmore during the night If a disaster can be a success a successful disaster took place at Mid-State Technical St campus Wednesday Thirty tornado victims were recovered from the campus and given simulated ment at Riverview Hospital during the an- disaster exercise Officials both afield and at the hospital ed the training probably the most successful ever in some ways The training is planned each year by the Wood County Emergency Government office and Donald Sleeter director here and in North Wood County to test the responses of emergency services Participating in Wednesday evening's cise were Riverview Grand Rapids and Wisconsin Rapids police and fire departments Wisconsin Rapids auxiliary police Biron Volunteer Fire Department Wood County Sheriff's Department Red Cross emergency government and Boy Scouts from Wisconsin Rapids and the town of Remington Total participants involved other than those normally on duty totaled about 120 cording to the agencies involved with the largest groups including the 30 to 50 medical persons 30 Boy Scouts 20 Grand Rapids firefighters and 12 Red Cross food committee workers Past disaster exercises have simulated plane crashes school bus accidents and in- explosions The training began in 1965 My idea of a disaster plan is to try to organize chaos said James Kirk Riverview director of nursing In the sense of ing the effort it went fairly smoothly he said According to Kirk We learned a lot from it We'll make some revisions in our plan because of what we learned yesterday It was a good Sleeter said I feel that it brought out a number of important points that we were concerned with Red Cross instructors for the first time were called to the scene to help a physician determine wounds and set priorities for transporting persons to the hospital The training exercise began aj 5 p.m AH patients were at Riverview by p.m in the class two more than 20 persons dis- aster Radio traffic was controlled primarily by the sheriff's department Seven CB radio operators helped in the training exercise The Red Cross served refreshments to the volunteers at the Mid-State campus while Riverview Hospital employes fed victims The Grand Rapids Volunteer Fire ment took its truck with medical equipment aboard to the scene and also took two fire trucks just in case a fire broke out someplace else said Fire Chief Maynard Keuntjes We felt here that the emergency care of the simulated patients was tremendous Sleeter said A similar exercise is planned for the Marshfield area next Wednesday There the exercise will be much larger because it takes more patients to tax the Marshfield medical facilities according to Sleeter 3.1 per cent hike proposed in Nekoosa school budget A million proposed 1976-77 budget will be presented to Nekoosa School District residents at the district's July 26 annual meeting Proposed spending is or 3.1 per cent more than was spent during the fiscal year ending June 30 The budget was highlighted Wednesday night by the school board with 12 of Nekoosa plus towns of Rome Saratoga Port Edwards and Armenia in the second annual review session for government officials With anticipated receipts from all other sources plus the application of 892 cash on hand from the reserve fund the amount to be raised through property taxes is The cash balance will be at The proposed levy is or 31.9 per cent more than was collected last year Municipal shares of the levy will be based on state valuations to be announced in fall The board is anticipating an overall 20 per cent increase in the district's valuation ed on an estimated 1976 valuation of 960 the proposed tax rate is per of equalized valuation The rate is more than last year's final rate When the state's higher than expected valuations were announced last year's rate was reduced slightly from the rate announced at the annual meeting Board President Wayne Freeman ed the representatives the rate could be ad- justed up or down this fall depending on the valuations Such an adjustment does the amount of money needed for school dis- expenditures however As a result of changes in the State Uniform Accounting System some categories of the budget reflect large increases and a few show decreases The largest increase is in instruction and is the result of increased salaries granted under a two-year master teachers contract plus changes in accounting The for this category is or 13.3 per cent more than was spent last year This category is about 50 per cent of the total expenditures The proposed operation category is or 10.1 per cent more than was spent last fiscal year This category includes utilities and district officials concede it con- tains many unknowns The proposed fixed charges are or 9.3 per cent more than the last fiscal year This category includes ment contributions Social Security payments plus liability property and employe in- surance premiums Other categories with differences in parenthesis Administration down health services up transportation up maintenance down debt service down capital outlay operational up Capital outlay up community service up food service up special education up and federal programs down Board members said there is sufficient money in the budget to cover the increased Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic tion and kindergarten entrance exam fees if the electorate wants the board to pay the higher costs The issue will be presented at the annual meeting Some representatives asked if the board en- visioned a building program District Administrator Douglas Hunter sakl he doesn't foresee a building program for four to five years Existing facilities can be utilized through scheduling he said ad- ding We're comfortable in the tary middle and high schools Hunter said about 540 to 550 students are expected to in the ninth through 12th grades this fall There were 480 during the last school year he said Freeman said the high school was built for 650 students He said he believes the building will reach its capacity in three to four years Clerk Jerome Nash said some areas such as band shop and auditorium are at capacity now Hunter said the long-term high school bonds will be paid in 1984 The proposed budget contains principal and bond interest for past high school tion The last four classroom additions to the elementary school will be paid in four more years Hunter said The budget contains a principal payment for this line item Hunter said there's a possibility of another bus run being needed in the town of Rome The two or three buses that have been serving that area have been at capacity he said
