The Courier from Waterloo, Iowa • 18

curitr Sunday December 10, 1995 Briefs lurvey: Schools collecting illegal service fees but said he expects the City Council to accept the settlement on Monday, "It's a settlement that's very favor-able to the city," the mayor said at his weekly news conference. "It's a settlement that's acceptable to my vantage point. "I don't see anything in the agreement any councilman will have strong objections to," he said. JOSHA's Jerry Skcrs confirmed Friday his agency has made the city an oiler, but would not disclose details. An agreement would end the city's dispute with 10SIIA, which started in June when the agency levied a students from low-income families.

This fall, the education department examined the fees charged by 30 districts across the state. Using that sampling, the department estimated that schools will collect $1 1.9 million in fees authorized by law. Already, schools are waiving $1.9 million in fees, the survey found. Proposed rules which would apply only to course offerings or related activities would mean $1.6 million more in fees would be waived in the state's 384 districts. The Department of Education has scheduled hearings on the proposed fee-waiver rules.

The meetings will be Jan. 26 in Des Moines, Feb. 1 in Cedar Rapids and Feb. 9 in Fort Dodge. If approved, the rules would take effect in the 1996-97 school year.

By The Associated Press and Courier Staff Millions of dollars collected by schools including the Waterloo Community School District to pay for bands, athletics, advanced classes and other services are apparently illegal. A survey by the Iowa Department of Education estimates that the state's public schools will charge about $20 million in fees this year. More than $6 million of those fees are not specifically authorized under Iowa law. "It all gets back to what is the definition of a tuition-free education," said Ann Molis, the education department's legislative liaison. Iowa law authorizes schools to charge fees in six areas, including textbooks and school supplies.

Many course-related fees are not allowed. Neither are fees for such extracurricular activities as basketball or band, according to a 1993 Iowa attorney general's opinion. Still, schools are charging the fees and nobody has challenged them. Waterloo schools superintendent Arlis Swartzendruber acknowledged the district collects fees not defined in the law, "We collect some, but I don't know which ones exactly," he said. "But I do know that in comparison to many districts around the state, we don't have as many fees or a fee structure as high as many other districts." A committee in Waterloo is working on a fee structure for next year, Swartzendruber said.

The education department's survey could delay the committee's proposal to the board. Gaylord Tryon, executive director 1 of School Administrators of Iowa, said, "Schools are only charging these fees to help offset the cost of the activities being provided. If schools quit charging a towel fee, for example, students would have to bring their own from home. If schools stopped charging for upper-level courses, he said, they might have to drop the courses. The department says fees vary widely from district to district.

They can even vary between schools within districts. "Some schools charge a postage fee to send report cards home," Molis said. Department officials are trying to avoid a battle with districts over what can and cannot be charged. Their first priority is to establish fee waivers for DNR issues permit to Canadian steel company Veterans of USS Iowa selling beer to save ship 8 til in accidents near Cravsff ordsvil'a CRAWFORDSVILLE (AP) Eight people died in two separate but -related accidents in Washington County on Saturday, the sheriff's office said. The first accident happened on U.S.

Highway 218 near Craw-fordsville. A semi hit a motor home, killing seven people. When officials re-routed traffic on to Washington County road G-6W, another person died when a pickup truck went into a ditch. No other details were immediately available. Five C.3 in trsl'ar fir En eastern Louisa County GRAND VIEW (AP) Five pie died early Saturday in a trailer fire in Louisa County in eastern Iowa.

A nursing supervisor at the Burlington Medical Center, where the victims were taken, confirmed the deaths. The fire was reported shortly before 4:30 a.m. at a trailer located in eastern Louisa County, near Grandview or about 10 miles south of Muscatine. The nursing supervisor said she did not think there were any survivors. The state fire marshal's office is helping in the investigation.

No other details were immediately available. lyiadiapc'ls womsn luMod in truck crash BURLINGTON (AP) Virginia Evelyn Heitmeier, 69, of Mediapolis died after her pickup went out of control about 9 a.m. Friday, seven miles north of Burlington on Iowa 99, the Des Moines County sheriff's department reported. The woman was driving her southbound pickup when it went off the highway and landed on its top. Heitmeier was taken to Burlington Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

ft2ayon OsifS over Terra blast may near $24,000 fine gainst the fire depart--ment for shortcomings in its response to the deadly Dec 13 explosion at the Port Neal plant Four workers died. Soap factory inmat falls at clean getaway. ANAMOSA (AP) An inmate is under lock and key in his cell after trying to escape by crawling into a box while working at the prison's soap factory. William Perry Lancaster apparently had crawled into the box at the Iowa Men's Reformatory on Thursday. The box then was covered with plastic and taken to a reformatory warehouse.

Workers found Lancaster after they noticed something unusual about the box and opened it to investigate. "He was in pretty bad shape," Warden John Ault said. Ault said Lancaster, 24, who is serving time for four counts of first-degree robbery, will be charged with attempted escape. Lancaster and nine other inmates who work at the soap-making unit remained in lockup status Friday. Branstad embarks cn trip to South Africa DES MOINES (AP) Gov.

Terry Branstad has left for a weeklong trip to Africa to explore economic development opportunities. "International markets are extremely important to Iowa," not only in agriculture but also in manufacturing, Branstad spokeswoman Christina Martin said. She said it was too early to say which Iowa industries or companies have the best business prospects in South Africa, which has emerged from international isolation after shedding its policy of apartheid, or racial segregation. Branstad and four other governors from Guam, WLsconsin, Mississippi and Nevada will be calling on government officials and business leaders in. South Africa.

turning the ship into a museum. The 24-ounce bottles sell for $5, with $1 going toward the "Save Our Ship" fund. The beer is sold over the counter only in Iowa and Virginia. However, people can call an 800 number and order it, Cartwright said. He has brought back cases of the beer for sale in Indiana.

The Iowa, known as "the Big christened at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Aug. 27, 1942. She was used during World War II and then decommissioned. She was recommissioned during the Korean War, then sealed again. When President Ronald Reagan was building up the Navy in 1984, the Iowa was recommissioned again, with missiles being placed on her large deck.

The ship was decommissioned in October 1990. Last January, the Navy announced the Iowa would not be used again. Two cities have shown interest in harboring the ship as a museum: Norfolk, and Charleston, S.C. Norfolk officials have said the veterans association must come up with $3 million to turn the ship into a museum, with the city kicking in another $3 million. Charleston officials have said the veterans would have to come up with the entire $6 million.

Editor's Note: S.O.S. Amber Ale can be ordered by calling LAPORTE, Ind. (AP) The way Bob Cartwright sees it, he's just doing an old friend a favor. Ten years ago, Cartwright was a sailor aboard the USS Iowa. He had a drinking problem, but the pride he found in his Navy service as a boatswain's mate helped stop his destructive behavior.

"It was good for me to be on board that ship," said Cartwright, who served from 1985-88. "The Iowa helped save my life by instilling a certain amount of pride in me. The irony is, 10 years latcii trying to repay the. favor by selling alcohol." He became upset when he found out earlier this year that the Navy had decided to scrap the Iowa, which was built during World War II and was decommissioned in 1990, the year after an on-board explosion killed 47 crewmen off the coast of Puerto Rico, "It is the most powerful, beautiful, magnificent ship ever built," Cartwright said. "They'll never make them like that again.

It is a very special ship." He and members of the USS Iowa Veterans Association are trying to save the Iowa by selling bottles of S.O.S. Amber Ale, brewed by Kevin Rice, a micro-brewer from Adel, Iowa. Rice is not a veteran of the Iowa. Proceeds from sale of the beer, whose bottles feature a special USS Iowa label, will go toward the cost of The Associated Press A decision Friday by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to allow a Canadian steel company to draw huge amounts of water from an aquifer in eastern Iowa frightened but didn't surprise neighbors of the plant. "Oh my God," said Jane Reed, who lives near the $375 million plant being built near Montpelier by Ipsco Steel Co.

of Regina, Saskatchewan. The three-year permit allows Ipsco to extract 841 million gallons annually 1,600 gallons per minute from six wells connected to the Silurian aquifer, which serves communities in both Iowa and Illinois. The company, which will bring 350 jobs to the area when it opens sometime next summer, also is seeking a wastewater discharge permit. "One isn't necessarily linked to the other, but at this point, I'd probably say we'll probably be issuing a wastewater discharge permit," said Al Stokes, administrator of the agency's environmental protection division. The decision will likely be made next week, possibly Wednesday, he said.

"We're going through it, double-checking the numbers and taking a look at what's appropriate to protect the environment," Stokes said. "It'll be a go," Reed predicted. "It's all cut and dried. I don't think they care." Reed and dozens of her neighbors are afraid Ipsco will draw down the aquifer, affecting their own wells, along with having concerns about contamination. Stokes said there is "ample water to allocate to the industry and there is ample water to supply area businesses and residents." Neighbors also believe the DNR is undermanned to properly monitor wastewater discharge, which they fear will pollute area tributaries and creek beds that run through Wild Cat Den State Park to the Mississippi River.

"We fully intend to comply with all of the requirements of the permit," said Ipsco senior vice president Bob Rzonca. Neighbors have been skeptical of the project all along, especially when Ipsco decided to draw water from the aquifer instead of sticking to its initial plan of using the Mississippi for its water source. They note that obtaining a federal permit to use the Mississippi was a much bigger obstacle than getting permission from the state, which gave Ipsco $73 million in incentives to build the plant in Muscatine County. The DNR was supposed to have ruled on Ipsco 's permits last week but delayed it. "I think they stalled it just to try and look good.

With the kind of media coverage, they had to stall it," Reed said. "The DNR has never been on the side of the residents here." Stokes says the skepticism is unfounded. i "Our job is to make sure we protect environment, that we protect the natural resources and we're doing our job," he said. SIOUX CITY (AP) The city and the Iowa Occupational Health and Safety Administration have come to an agreement on the appeal of fines slapped on the Sioux City Fire Department following the deadly Terra explosion, Mayor Bob Scott said Friday. Scott would not give any details, Sunset 4:37 p.m.

Last Quarter Dec. 15 First Quarter Dec. 28 Weather New Moon Dec. 22 Full Moon Jan. 4 Sunrise Monday 7:29 a.m.

urn 11 Yesterday's high temperature, low temperature and today's outlook. The AccuWeather forecast for noon, Sunday. Dec. 1 0. I MINNESOTA a I Bands separate high temperature zones tor the day.

Today fclinn. St; Paul WISCONSIN SOUTH DAKOTA -1-9 clr Mostly sunny and cold. High: 10-15 Sioux Falls Milwaukee 71-7 cdy Waterloo 9 Des Moines 71-2 clr Chicago 4 -4 clr. Tonight (Hi m-1 criy -Trii 1 Mostly cloudy. MISSOURI KANSAS Kansas City 10-2 coy St.

Louis 164 clr Is! FRONTS: COLO WARM STATIONARY 1995 AccuWaather. Inc. E3 El EZ3E3SiHQ HIGH LOW SHOWERS FlAIN T-STOHMS FLURHIES SNOW ICE SUNNY PI CLOUDY CLOUDY Monday Record temps Cloudy. Indianapolis 10 -1 .05 clr. Jackson, Miss.

38 34 .60 clr Jacksonville 68 51 .08 clr Juneau 14-4 sn Kansas City 10 -2 cdy Las Vegas 64 40 cdy Little Rock 29 18 .01 dr Los Angeles 72 53 clr Louisville 32 14 .03 clr Lubbock 32 12 clr Memphis 24 21 .10 clr Miami Beach 83 74 cdy Midland-Odessa 35 20 clr Milwaukee 1 -5 .03 dr Mpls-StPaul -1-9 .02 clr Nashville 31 17 .03 clr New Orleans 50 45 .18 clr New York City 36 29 .44 cdy Norfolk.Va. 52 41 .59 clr North Platte 27-6 cdy Oklahoma City 26 13 Omaha -1 cdy Orlando 81 60 cdy Philadelphia 36 29 .46 clr Phoenix 74 46 clr Pittsburgh 34 14 .01 sn Portland, Maine 25 13 .36 dr Portland.Ore. 33 30 .46 Providence 35 22 .58 Clr Raleigh-Durham 47 34 .81 clr Rapid City 18 -15 cdy Reno 60 30 cdy Richmond 39 32 .56 clr Sacramento 56 49 cdy St Louis 16 4 clr Salt Lake City 53 31 clr San Antonio 45 36 clr San Diego 67 54 dr San.Francisco 60 52 cdy San Juan.P.R. 86 75 .18 cdy Santa Fe 50 14 clr St Ste Marie 20 2 1.67 sn Seattle 36 32 ,41 Shreveport 38 31 clr Sioux Falls 7 -7 cdy Spokane 14 .06 cdy Syracuse 34 18 .06 sn Tarnpa-St Ptrsbg 78 62 cdy Topeka 12 1 cdy Tucson 75 42 clr Tulsa 25 10 clr Washmgton.D.C. 41 31 .28 clr Wichita 23 4 clr Wilkes-Barre 32 25 .12 cdy 35 28 .40 cdy High Low 58 29 1979 1919 -Ida -OS Ob 10 20s 30s 40s SOs 60s 70s 80s SOS lOOs 11 OS High: teens Low: 0-10 Waterloo temps Saturday 7 a.m.

-5 1 p.m. 3 3 p.m. 4 5 p.m. 3 7 p.m. 2 High low Precipitation (inches) Yesterday trace Since Jan.

1 29.49 Since 1st of month .14 Normal for month 1.3 Outlook 214 Year ago clr :07 clr .01 clr sn .30 clr .03 clr .23 clr clr clr cdy cdy 25 cdy .01 clr clr .02 clr clr clr Chance of light snow Tuesday and Wednesday, with highs near 20, lows near 10. Today Cheyenne 38 1 Temperatures indicate Saturday's high and Chicago 4 -4 overnight low to 6:32 p.m.CST. Cincinnati 15 7 Hi Lo Pro Otlk Cleveland 6 6 Albany.N.Y. 26 15 24 Cdy Columbia.S.C. 45 37 Albuquerque 55 25 clr Columbus.Ohio 30 9 Arnarillo 31 6 clr Concord.N.H.

24 13 Anchorage 10 1 clr Oallas-R Worth 31 19 Asheville 41 31 .64 dr Dayton 10 1 Atlanta 37 35 .12 clr Denver 36 1 Atlantic City 49 30 .46 clr Des Moines 7 -3 42 36 clr Detroit 21 21 Baltimore 41 31 .25 clr Dtiluth 5-14 Billings 17 1 sn El Paso 57 31 Birmingham 46 36 .99 clr Evansville 15 3 Bismarck 12-12 cdy Fairbanks -12 -22 Boise 33 27 .05 cdy Fargo -3-13 Boston 42 21 .36 clr Flagstaff 55 21 Brownsville 61 49 clr Grand Rapids 6 4 Buffalo 32 22 .19 sn Great Falls 20 -6 Burlington.Vt. 24 7 .07 cdy Greensboro.N.C. 45 32 Casper' 36 -7 clr Hartford Spgftd 29 20 Charleston.S.C. 52 43 clr Helena 6 -20 Charleston.W.Va. 32 32 .04 Clr Honolulu 89 78 Charlotte.N.C.

48 34 .30 clr Houston 49 40 mi wu For around-the- (Weather tips and info Knight-Ridder Newspapers There are many different kinds of lightning, but probably the most unusual type is ball lightning. Very few people have been treated to this spectacular phenomenon, and there are few pictures to prove its existence. Apparently, balls of fire the size of a Softball or larger are shot out from a thunderstorm. The fireballs usually vanish upon impact with the ground, but in some cases, they reportedly have danced around, bouncing throuqh windows and doors. clr sn .21 Today clock forecasts, call Mjnimal 3-4 Low sn .53 clr .48 clr sn cdy 29 clr 5-6 Moderate' 74 High 10 Very High CITYUNEat235-7000, category 2000 (touch-tone phones only).

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