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> TUESDAY Dec. 3,1996 © 1996, Battle Creek Enquirer 35C WEATHER •Tonight: Cloudy, with a few flurries. Low, mid-20s. , •Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. High, mid-30s. / I OB HOLIDAY ON PARADE £ 7 « & • imim 4 FRANK BOYD/THE ENQUIRER Michelle Kemper of Jack- son tries to keep her chil- dren; Kaitlin and Kyle, warm during Marshall's Christmas parade. More photos, 3A. mm NEWSLINE CONSUMERISM Procter & Gamble may cut coupons CINCINNATI - Procter & Gamble Co., one of the nation's largest advertisers, is trying to cut costs by reducing, and possibly eliminating, coupons for its house- hold and health goods. 'We believe they are an inher- ently wasteful product," said com- pany spokesman Elizabeth Moore. P&G's products include Folger's coffee. Pampers diapers. Tide laundry detergent and Charmin bathroom tissue. Moore said research has shown consumers prefer everyday low prices on groceries to coupons. SCIENCE Scientists discover ice on the moon WASHINGTON - The dream that humans someday may live on the moon has taken a giant leap forward now that scientists say they've found frozen water deep inside a lunar crater. The Pentagon said Monday that the Clementine spacecraft located a small lake-sized mass of ice in a giant crater near the south pole of the moon, which long had been thought to be bone dry. The discovery of water on the moon increases chances that humans in the future may be able to take up residence on the lunar surface. DEATHS Donald E. Archambeau Jack Armintrout Aneita M. Atkinson Lucinda K Baker Robert A. Collins Mary E. Coon Elizabeth D. Cousins Labertia Earns Lauretta A. Gahm Margaret E. Gasser Elizabeth M. Henry Charles B. Hitchcock Kathryn O. Holmes Charles W. Littlefield Raymond E. McGandy Donald C. Miller Katie M. Page Mary Jane McCaslin Smith Willie M. SL George Albert F. Stone Georgia Lee Stout . Bernice Wright •ON 4A: Obituaries INSIDE Ann Landers 9A Classified .8-9B Comics 7B Lifestyle 10A Local 2rAA Lottery 2A Movies 4B Opinion .7A Shorts V. .1-4B Television 9A LIFESTYLE: Artistic lamps shed light on Hanukkah's significance/1 OA SPORTS: Gull Lake, Bronson, St. Philip in quarterfinals/IB Battle Creek ENQUIRER A GANNETT NEWSPAPER FOCUS: ENVIRONMENT AND CLASSROOMS SCOTT ERSKINE/THE ENQUIRER Greg Dunn makes his point during Monday's meeting concerning environmental problems at Minges Brook Elementary School. School-odor aftermath: How many got sick? Minges Brook parents seek answers on fungi problem • On 2A: Answers to your questions. PATRICIA MAHER The Enquirer Some Minges Brook parents still have questions about the he5th of their children's school building. They've heard the environmental engineer's pre- liminary report on air problems at Minges Brook Elementary. And they've had a chance to question school officials and environmental experts. But they still wonder if all the information is there. Thafs why school officials met with about 100 resi- dents in a question-and-answer session Monday at Territorial School. Parents had numerous concerns, ranging from the test results to how long Minges Brook will be closed. Several of those who attended the meeting said they want to know how many people actually became sick when fungi caused an unusual odor at Minges Brook Elementary School in mid-November, forcing officials to close the school and move classes to First Wesleyan Church. SCOn ERSKINE/THE ENQUIRER Penny Osborne, with daughter Abby at her side, Please see MINGES, 2A concentrates on the presentation. Caregiver held in man's slaying TRACE CHRISTENSON The Enquirer A woman caring for an 80-year- old Emmett Township man has been charged with his murder. Sharon K Zachary, 31, of Battle Creek, was arrested Monday on charges of murder, felony murder and armed robbery in the April 26 death of Robert Rogers. She was to be arraigned in Calhoun County District Court today and faces up to life in prison if convicted on all charges. Rogers was beaten to death in his home at 1015 S. Raymond Road. Emmett Township Police said Zachary, a suspect the day after the murder, was arrested after 3,000 hours of investigation. Police said more people might be charged in the case. "We are saying she was involved," Assistant Prosecutor David Wallace said. Emmett Township Public Safety Director Murray Switzer said Zachary was caring for Rogers, who had failing sight, at die time of his death. She and her husband were buy- ing a house from Rogers at 931 S. Raymond Road, Switzer said. Rogers had been staying at the Zachary house. A woman who answered the phone at the Zachary house Monday night said only, "no com ment," and hung up. Ten days after the murder, town- ship police, with assistance from the Michigan State Police, recov- ered a pipe in a pond behind Rogers' house. Switzer said DNA tests showed it was used to kill Rogers. Police also recovered more than $100,000 in cash from Rogers' home. He had been robbed sever- al times before the murder. Wallace said Zachary .was named in Rogers' will, which is being contested by Rogers' son in Probate Court Detectives, divers, pilots and investigators from state crime lab- oratory in Lansing assisted in the investigation, LL Michael Nofs of the Michigan State Police Post at Batde Creek said. Study: County kids in trouble Lack of programs, parents are blamed VINCENT DELGADO The Enquirer Rose Ann Makowski has taught scores of teen-age mothers for more than 25 years. Now she teaches their babies. "Ifs a cycle. Starting about 10 years ago. I starting seeing the pregnant children of the parents I had helped years before," said Makowski, an instructor for the Calhoun Area Technical Center's Alternative Education for Pregnant and Parenting Teens Program.. What Makowski may be seeing is part of an alarming statewide trend thafs showing up in the status of Fed jobs are up for grabs B.C. among 7 sites under consideration for 400 new positions BILL MILLER The Enquirer The winds of anxiety are blowing once more around the Battle Creek Federal Center and its 1,430 employ- ees. A Defense Department plan to cen- tralize cataloging operations for the four service branches could bring 400 new jobs here - or take away hun- dreds. "If we win, it's marvelous; if we lose, we lose our shirts," said Jim Hettinger, president of Battle Creek Unlimited, the city's marketing arm now lobbying the Pentagon to put the centralized operation here. Battle Creek is among seven sites being considered, according to Defense officials, Hettinger and Local 1626 of the American Federation of Government Employees. At a meeting next week, the Pentagon will narrow that to several cities and then make site visits before a final choice is made in February, federal officials said. The center would bring about 400 additional jobs, Hettinger said, in the $40,000 to $50,000 salary range. Battle Creek's chances of landing the center are good for several rea- sons, Hettinger said, but it faces strong opposition from Columbus, Ohio, and Philadelphia, The scenario is painfully similar to the 1993 and 1995 base-closure rounds that Federal Center agencies escaped through an intense commu- nity lobbying effort . A decision to centralize cataloging elsewhere would impact all 310 employees of the U.S. Air Force Cataloging and Standardization Center, and many of the 460 employ- ees of the Defense Logistics Services Center, a related agency that manages defense data. Employees buffeted by several years of job insecurity refused to talk about it Monday or, like Jim Wise, said they weren't worried. "There's a lot of things up in the A BRIEF HISTORY • May 1995: Federal Center agen- cies escape Pentagon's second and final base-closure list. • Fall 1995: Federal Center agen- cies remain on the job despite a wide- spread government shutdown forced by a budget battle between Congress and President Clinton. • December 1995: Congress sus- pends plans to privatize the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service as. part of the fiscal-year 1996 budget. • M y 1996: Battle Creek is one of four sites considered for a centralized Gvilian Personnel Services Center, whkh could bring 200 jobs, U.S. Rep. Nkk Smith announces. No decision has been made. • December 1996: Battle Creek is among seven sites considered for a cen- tralized Defense Department cataloging center. • Spring 1997: A $25 million ren- ovation of Federal Center, owned by the U.S. General Services Administration, is to be completed. air," said Wise, a DLSC computer spe- cialist "But I'm excited as far as die cooperation that everyone in the Federal Center plus the community is giving the effort We did away with (the base-closure threat), so lefs see if we can get this one, too, I'd say." WHAT IFS ABOUT Federal Center spokespeople con- firmed that Battle Creek is one of Please see FED CENTER, 5A CARING FOR KIDS New numbers from Kids Count in Michigan 1996 show that parents are having a more difficult time caring for their children. The numbers are more severe in Calhoun County. 1) More children are havina children. The teen bkth rate (ages 1S-17) is increasing. 'Numbers per 1,000. 2) More children are not being cared for by their parents. The out of home child care rate is increasing. 36.3 115 'Numbers per 1,000. 4.6 66 Michigan Caliovfi Comity 3) More dddren are poor. In Calhoun County, a third more children (ages 0-17) are living below the poverty line. Statistics are in percentage foraij k ' ^ 'C 5.7 6.0 | Michigan ,7 - 4 22.7 ,7 - 4 i & SOURCE; 1996 KIDS COUNT IN MICHIGAN Calhoun County's children. Ifs not a pretty picture. According to die annual Kids Count in Michigan report, Calhoun County's children are in trouble. And ifs not that they are doing anything wrong. Ifs their parents. The figures show marked increases in teen pregnancies (up 20 percent), verified cases of abuse or neglect (up 20 percent) and the number of chil- dren being cared for by someone other than parents (up 30 percent). > JASON R. BENNfTT/THE ENQUIREX Those in'the trenches are not sur- prised. tt If s because there is a lack of pro- grams designed to teach young chil- dren, both male and female, to make good choices," said Mary Frisby, community-services operations man- ager at the Community Action Agency. Leslie McCarley is executive direc- tor of Calhoun County's Communities Please see KIDS, 2A
