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Show Local Monday Morning Section H January 13, 1986 Page 1 Social Services Budget Cuts Hurt Poor, Says Advocate By Carol Sisco recipients must wait another six months and then live on that amount Tribune Staff Writer social services budget for an entire year, Mr. Angus said. A'proposed Now a family of three gets $376 a that decreases for the first time in many years means "there are people month plus food stamps and a family of four lives on $439. out there who are going to be Advocates are pleased about the ing," the states social services directwo percent increase but think at tor thinks. least 5.5 percent is necessary "simply Community advocates say the governors budget proposal ignores one to stay even with where people were last July," said Ms. Fisher who lists vital need. grant levels as one of five budget prieduThe governors three "Es of orities for low income people. cation, economic development and "The two percent is not adequate," excellence fail to talk about tial services, Utah Issues Director ' she added. "Dont make the poorest people suffer for the situation the Irene Fisher thinks. state is in. three-legged like a on were "Its Approximately $500,000 would be stool (hats missing one leg, she said. necessary to fund the 5.5 percent in"We have education and economic crease, she said. development but no essential serThe state has approximately 39,000 vices. The Legislature's Social Services and Health Appropriations Subcommittee will be considering a $251,287,900 budget for social services, down 0.2 percent from last year, when it convenes Wednesday, Social Services Director Norman G. Angus said. An additional $12,541,800 for the state Division of Youth Corrections will be considered in the CorChurch of Jesus Christ of Latterrections Appropriations Subcommit-day Saints President Ezra tee. Taft Benson Sunday "continued "Last month our community recogin improved condition in the nized the needs of the poor when they LDS Hospital Cardiac Care Unit after he fainted while speaking responded to Sub for Santa and the food pantries, Ms. Fisher said. "But to his son on the telephone Saturpeople are hungry after Christmas day. day and they cant pay their utilities Church Spokesman Jerry Cain January. hill said the PresiShe doesnt think the proposed buddent Benson was up and walkget addresses those needs. ing around his hospital room While many of his initial recomSunday. Mr. Cahill said doctors are still unsure as to the cause of mendations were eliminated, Mr. Anthe church leaders fainting spell. gus said the budget is the best posA number of tests have been run sible in such a tight money year. but the results are not yet availlute federal the Its government, able, he said. he said. Everybody wants to balance Mr. Cahill said President Benthe budget but no one wants to reduce son rested comfortably Saturday spending. This is going to be a real status quo year. night and was visited by his wife Flora, and other family memMr. the overall decrease, Despite bers. He listened to the Mormon Angus said the governors proposed Tabernacle Choirs weekly radio does few a have budget highlights. broadcast Sunday morning. We have a two percent increase Mr. Cahill said the man orfor public assistance grants, he said. dained as prophet, seer and reve-latOf course whatever inflation is of the worlds 5.8 million above two percent will leave people Mormons likely will remain in taking it on the chin. the hospital for at least one more The two percent raise doesnt take day. effect until July 1, meaning welfare LDS Leader Improving In Hospital people on welfare, including 26,000 children, Ms. Fisher noted. s of the people on welfare are children, she said. "We need to recognize their basic survival needs and make sure we are not jeopardizing children by depriving them in their formative years. Social services would get $676,000 in workload increases despite the overall drop in funds, according to the governors budget figures. They include $156,000 for treatment of sexual abuse, $100,000 for a youth services group home for children too difficult to handle in foster care, a $125,000 increase in the Division of Services to the Handicapped for one group home and transportation and $100,000 for initial treatment of youth with alcohol or drug problems, Mr. Angus said. Other increases not related to direct services include funds for maintenance of a management information system and starting an employee incentive program. Beginning last summer advocates met with the Department of Social Services to determine what the needs were, Ms. Fisher said. Two-third- Real legitimate community needs included raising welfare grant levels, addressing the problem of retrospective budgeting, utility costs, spouse abuse and raising stipends for the Emergency Work Program, she said. The department agreed that many of those were problems in their initial budgeting process, Ms. Fisher said, but when it came to a crunch almost none were addressed in the governors recommended budget. Social services department recommendations that were cut from the governors budget include $200,000 providing additional service for the chronically mentally ill, Mr. Angus said. Other cuts included $200,000 for the retrospective budgeting problem, he said. Welfare recipients who work but dont earn enough to leave the welfare rolls receive grants based on income earned two months earlier, the director explained. No provision is made to increase grants immediately if a recipient loses her job. The states 39,000 welfare recipients will probably be hurt most by the governors proposed budget, Ms. Fisher said. Utahs Panels Have History of Poor Success Rates Publicity, Inexperienced Lawyers Hamper Grand Juries, Says Professor By Paul Roily Tribune Staff Writer The special grand jury that will be called soon by 3rd District Court judges is the first in Salt Lake County in 11 years, and while the recent history of grand juries in Utah indicates a poor success record, there have been reasons for that, a University of Utah law professor says. much-publicize- d Law professor Ronald Boyce, who is also a U.S. magistrate, part-tim- e was asked by The Tribune to explain how the grand jury works, since the special citizens panel will be chosen to investigate alleged wrongdoing in the Salt Lake County Attorneys Office and at Utah Power & Light Co. He said grand juries, from about 1958 to about 1980, have had a poor record in terms of the percentage of convictions to indictments returned, but there are several theories about why that has occurred. One reason, he said, is there is frequently a lot of public brouhaha about their work, so they may be pushed into handing down indictments just to justify their existence. Another reason, Mr. Boyce said, is that sometimes the attorneys hired by the grand jury have not been people with backgrounds in criminal law, although they have been competent attorneys. The result, he said, is they approach a criminal matter from the perspective of civil law and have not been sensitive enough to the requirement of establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Boyce said the jury will be chosen from voter lists just as juries in normal court proceedings are picked. But in this case, the jurors will be chosen by the presiding judge, probably 3rd District Judge Philip R. Fishier, without input from adversary attorneys. Once the jury is seated, the panel is seven-memb- given the narrow agenda of what they are to investigate, which has already been decided upon by the judges. In this case, the jury is to look just at specific allegations relating to the County Attorneys Office and UP&L. The jury then employs special counsel to advise the panel and a special investigator to help gather evidence. In the past, the jury normally has hired two attorneys, one Republican Add Fuel to Utahs Notoriety Shell Companies Provide Fertile Field for Fraud Editor's Note: Utahs reputation as the stock fraud capital of the country has not enhanced been by promoters manipulating "shell" companies for fast money. In Part 2 of Guy Boultons analysis of the state's penny stock market, he tells how shell games work. By Guy Boulton Tribune Staff Writer Its called the shell game, consists of merging a public company with a private company, and can be a profitable little business for stock promoters. Shells are dormant public companies that have no or few assets. They are public companies that failed. And Utah is littered with this business equivalent of life after death. Most mergers of public companies are legal and many of the penny stock success stories are the result of a public company merging with a pri- vate company. The promoter will receive a finder's fee from the private company and the stockholders formerly d worthless stock has value. What is illegal, however, is when the shell is controlled by a promoter through other people called nominees, says an attorney who has defended several stock promoters This is called a box job because the stock promoter has cornered the outstanding shares of the public company. The company is worth more to a private company the more control the promoter has of the stock, says new-foun- Mark Griffin, a brokerdealer analyst for the state Division of Securities. An ad for a clean shell wih a Utah addresses appears occasionally in the classifieds of national business publications, Mr. Griffin says. The term clean shell means the stock promoter controls most or all of the free trading stock of the publ;o company. The greater the amount of control, the greater the value of the shell, says a source who has done several mergers. Its a lot cleaner deal. You dont have to deal with the public. Ive had people tell me of promoters who brag of companies with 300 stockholders and they control all the stock. Mr. Griffin says. This is stock fraud if the ownership :s not disclosed, the attorney says. A person who controls more than 10 jvrcont of a company has a control-Se- e B-Column 6 and one Democrat, as the special counsel, Mr. Boyce said. I wouldnt be surprised if they did it that way this time. The judges can make recommendations to the jury as to which counsel to hire, and the County Attorneys Office, as well as the L tah Attorney Generals Office normally would have input into the hiring of special counsel, the professor said. But this time I suspect there wont be input from those two offices, he added. The County Attorneys Office will be precluded from participating in selecting special counsel, because that office is a target of the investigation. There has also been speculation that the Attorney Generals Office will be precluded because of the past political closeness between Salt Lake County Attorney Ted Cannon and Utah Attorney General David Wilkinson. Once the counsel and investigators are chosen, Mr. Boyce said, their salaries are negotiated and then paid by the state through the Attorney Gener- als Office. The grand-jur- y proceedings are absolutely secret, Mr. Boyce said. The witnesses testify before the pan-Se- e Column 4 B-- The Boos Rise to the Rafters Abuse and Bruises Are All Part of Hockey Referees Daily Life By Cathy Free Tribune Staff Writer Hey, bimbo! Learn to play hockey, chump! What do ya think this is, man peewee hockey? Get a haircut, ref! Get some glasses! Are you baaaaaa-lind- ? The crowd was booing Lance Rob- erts once again. Two men with bellies three sizes too big for their pants took off their cowboy hats and slapped them wildly against their chairs. Hey, moron! Hey, dumbo! Take off Get a new job, the baaaaa-lindfolchump! Get a new jooooobbbb!" The fans were frothing at the mouth, and their beer was frothing, too. T f Lance Roberts, right, takes a lot of abuse as a hockey referee, but he always has the lbun Stott Photo by W !c H last word. His decision is final although half the fans in the stands will disagree. t (jon Penalty, Salt Lake!" said the antwo minutes nouncer. "Number 19 in the box for holding1 The boos rose to the Salt Palace rafters like the aroma of old tennis shoes. Lance Roberts looked up and grinned. He was having a good time in Salt Lake City. The crowd hated him. He was first hissed at in 1972 in his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, when he was called on to referee a hockey game instead of play in it. He was only 14 years old and couldnt hiss back. o Since then, Lance has grown the boos, hisses and catcalls in fact, he rather likes them. accus-tomed't- It shows the fans are watching the game, he says. It shows theyre paying attention. Hell, I dont even notice the boos anymore. I mean, Ive got a job to do, you know? And what a job it is. Lance has been a hockey referee for 14 of his 28 years and has seen broken wrists, broken fingers, broken arms and broken records. He has had pucks hit him in the See B-Column 1 |
