Yuma Daily Sun, The (Newspaper) - June 24, 1977, Yuma, Arizona SUN Issue Year and ARIZONA SUN 15 Cents Yumo Arizona Fri 24 1977 Telephone SENTINEL Issue Year annex feud refueled By CYNTHIA LANCASTER The Yuma Daily Sun A drive to remove El signatures from city annexation petitions has been labeled successful by subdivision resident Wagar The effort meanwhile has brought accusations from both Wagar and City Councilman John Underbill that the other is presenting less than the truth in the annexation dispute Wagar is representing El homeowners in a pending Yuma Superior Court lawsuit against the city in an effort to stop annexation proceedings El is part of a larger area the city wants to annex For the past week Wagar has been circulating a letter to subdivision residents The letter explains how residents can keep themselves from being counted as a on city annexation petitions It is too late for anyone who has signed the petition to remove his or her name However a recent court ruling allows the spouse to sign an affidavit removing his or her half of the community property from the petition Annexation can occur only when persons representing more than half of the area's assessed valuation agree to it If enough spouses refuse to let their property be counted the could miss the requirement That happened recently in a court test of the Engler Estates subdivision The El residents fighting annexation hope to use the same tactic Wagar said in a week's time he has obtained about 30 affidavits representing some worth of assessed valuation It's been very he said I've been getting calls every day In his letter to residents Wagar estimates annexation will cost residents from a year in city taxes alone He said other expenses such as repaying an improvement district would also add coats Counting rising school taxes and other factors he estimated costs would go up about a month Those figures are rejected by Councilman Underbill prime mover behind annexation efforts and the city's annexation spokesman It gripes me when everybody cuses me of lying to see those kinds of he said There is no way it will cost that much He agreed newly annexed residents would have city taxes to pay But he argued that other costs to residents such as garbage collection and fire protection would be The net total for an average resident would be a savings of a month he claimed In El even with all possible improvements added in there would be a net increase of about a month he said He also took exception to a claim by Wagar that an improvement district would be put into effect immediately He said improvements will be done only if residents want them In any case it would take at least a year and a half before a district could be formed he said Wagar disputed figures and said his were the more accurate That's where Mr Underbill and I he said Most of the people down here disagree There is a feeling that he has been lying to us As an example Wagar claimed fire protection rates go down only after improvements have been made Scouts killer hunted LOCUST GROVE Okla AP A posse fanned out over the rugged countryside today in the search for the man suspected of killing three Girl Scouts st a summer camp The searchers found a recently discarded brown fatigue jacket and T- shirt this morning but there no im- mediate link between the clothing and a man who was spotted Thursday ning from a cave with a gun in each hand Local authorities were joined by state police sharpshooters off-duty policemen from Tulsa and other towns and 150 civilian volunteers States can spend tax dollars on parochial schools WELCOME GOVERNOR Gov Castro receives a standing greeting from legionnaires as he walks to the podium last night His HEARS CASTRO speech on the role of the justice system was received with frequent applause by the group New criminal code improves Arizona's system of justice BY TERRYL ROSS The Arizona's system of justice has been significantly improved by the adoption of its new criminal code according to Gov Raul Castro Speaking at the state convention of the American Legion here last night Castro in State Sen Jones Osborn of Yuma for getting the code adopted Castro a judge told a nearly full hall at Donkersley Post 19 that there will now be more uniform sentencing of criminals in Arizona The punishment is now suited to the crime rather than to the person who committed the he said ex- plaining that too often in the past the person of high social status received better treatment than someone lower on the social ladder We must recognize that the person who commits a white-collar crime is not exempt from he em- The man at the top should get the same penalty as the man at the bottom The justice system must have three elements he told those at the opening night of the convention which ends Sunday He said those elements are swift justice equality of justice and firmness mixed with compassion He said that some citizens have reacted angrily and sometimes I think overreacted to what they consider a breakdown in law and order But the governor noted this fear of chaos and disintegration of society was a mistake Constant change is one aspect of a democratic society it is always readjusting Castro concluded by telling the If we are to take care of society today we must have pride in ourselves and foremost in our try WASHINGTON AP The Supreme Court today gave states broad new authority to spend tax dollars in providing aid to parochial school pupils The court in a series of opinions that no new ground said states can spend money for books and certain educational services but cannot finance field trips or lend parochial schools equipment such as maps and audio-visual aids The decision although only a partial defeat for Ohio residents who challenged a state law allowing ex- for all such aid is a significant departure from recent Supreme Court rulings on the Con- requirement of separation of church and state Legislation passed by the Ohio Legislature in 1975 lends up to million worth of materials and services over the next two years to students in private schools most of them run by religious organizations The decision seems to give states a limited way to circumvent the Supreme Court's past decisions the use of taxpayer dollars for most forms of aid to private schools Specifically the court approved these forms of state aid to parochial speech and hearing services conducted on parochial school grounds guidance and remedial services at sites lacking the pervasively sectarian atmosphere of the schools The court would not allow however these forms of loan of equipment to students an action the court said inescapably had the primary effect of providing a direct and substantial advancement of the sectarian enterprise Ohio officials had hoped to get around a previous Supreme Court ruling that banned states from giving educational equipment to parochial schools or their students by loaning it The court said that would not be allowed because the equipment could be used for religious purposes or transportation aid for field trips because the parochial schools and not their students would control the timing and frequency of such trips This would be the court said an direct aid to sectarian education Listing their separate reasons in 65 pages of opinions the nine justices split five different ways on the con- of such aid A majority of six justices ruled that and academic testing are allowed by the Constitution Justices William J Brennan Thurgood Marshall and John Paul Stevens dissented The court voted with only Brennan opposed that aid for diagnostic testing is allowed and split with Brennan and Marshall dissenting in deciding that aid for therapy off parochial school grounds is permissible Another split occurred when the justices voted that the lending of equipment such as maps and charts is unconstitutional Chief Justice Warren E Burger and Justices Byron R White and William H Rehnquist dissented On field trips Powell joined those three members of the court in dissent A majority ruled that aid for field trips was unconstitutional also Opponents of the Ohio law had argued that it attempts to avoid the restrictions of past court rulings via a few simple which produce slight technical differences in the wording of a1 law but little meaningful change from the results already prohibited They called the law in end run around previous court rulings against the establishment of religion Ohio Atty Gen William J Brown defended the law arguing that it did not cause excessive governmental entanglement with religion and had the secular purpose of helping schoolchildren In 1975 in a Pennsylvania case the Supreme Court struck down a state law letting tax monies be spent for speech and hearing therapy provided parochial students on the grounds of their schools s decision means that such aid can be made available by the state If the therapists meet and work with the children off school grounds in a nonsecular atmosphere Rattlesnakes stuck on Road Twenty-six dead rattlesnakes were found on between In- 8 and Gold Rock Ranch Winterhaven deputies reported yesterday Deputies said the snakes were trapped in the oil on the section of the road Deputies explained in the summertime it is so hot that road oil gets watery in the daytime At night when the weather cools the oil thickens Deputies said the snakes crawled onto the road in the evening and the next morning were trapped in the oil Lawyers uncomfortable about checking workers sex lives WASHINGTON AP Four Justice Department lawyers are in the touchy business of deciding when an employe's sex life heaps disgrace on the department They say they're somewhat un- comfortable with the chore because they're not fond of poking around in the private lives of some of their fellow workers The four lawyers are in the ment's Office of Professional Responsibility formed about 18 months ago to investigate allegations of misconduct against department employes The director Michael Shaheen and his staff act as ment watchdogs to ensure that allegations are investigated objectively and that wrongdoers are punished The department has about employes including those in the 94 U.S at- offices across the country The office was designed to deal with such serious misconduct as violations of citizens rights harassment of witnesses and misuse of government money The accusations flowed in by the dozens and seven of them turned out to What's your O V question The weather High yesterday Low this morning Temperature 1 1 today High today Low tonight High tomorrow Relative humidity 11 Average high this date Average iow this date Forecast for Yoma and 105 76 near 107 mid 70s near 107 103 74 Sunny days through Saturday and a little warmer clear and mild tonight Sunset Sunrise Why are all the signals in Yuma Wouldn't a standard set be easier to Wouldn't that also cure the confusion that causes accidents at the oddball combinations no one has ever seen anywhere else in the Confused City Engineer Don Peterson said all the city signals are basically the same it's the synchronization or phasing of the arrows that is different The reason he said is that each signal is programmed to control the type of traffic load at a particular intersection He said the type of phasing that works well at one intersection might not at another For instance the turn setup that controls the 4th Avenue and Street intersection would not work well at 24th Street and Arizona Avenue According to Peterson maintenance of the signals is not a problem since they basically operate the same He also said the type of signals used in Yuma are common throughout the nation involve personal morals offenses as Shaheen delicately put it in his recent annual report to the attorney general These complaints raised some of the more troublesome questions we encountered this he wrote Recognizing that department at- must adhere to the strictest standards of professional integrity and competence the office nevertheless agonized over what standards to apply to matters involving aberrant sexual conduct This question is made more difficult when the conduct is relatively private The report said three of the allegations were found to be true and led to admonishment for the attorneys involved One case is still open Accusations in the other cases were not substantiated In an interview Shaheen declined to elaborate on details of the accusations or to identify those involved He said the sexual duct that would warrant punishment would be whether it was open and notorious whether it can be used to compromise the department employe whether it reflects adversely on the department This could include homosexual relationships and extramarital affairs or a man and a woman living together without being married if such arrangements became a matter of public scandal he said But any of those relationships conducted with propriety and discretion would be unlikely to prompt an inquiry he added good evening Yuma ATTY -GEN BABBITT tells Island farmers he is continuing the fight for ownership and prospects are good 3 BOYS CLUB honors its supporters and prepares to expand its facilities Page 10 nation THE HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS Committee its support for a gas-guzzler tax that would become effective with 1979 model cars Page 2 THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE says it will test laetrile on cancer patients who have exhausted all other hope Page 3 THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE says Spiro T Agnew owes in back taxes and penalties on his 1973 income tax return Page 6 world THE NEW ISRAELI GOVERNMENT will not give up all of the West Bank or allow a Palestinian state there Page 2 RELATIONS BETWEEN the United States and Soviet Union are strained says Secretary of State Cyrus Vance Page 2 EIGHT CHILEANS begin a hunger strike at the Geneva headquarters of the International Red Cross Page 3 sports TEXAS RANGERS have their third manager of the week Page 11 Accent on 7 18
