The Times from Munster, Indiana • 26

Congressman angered over inaugural snub Page B-2 Life Times explores area happenings Page B-4 Ae sor to pay Lake Central officials say goodbye to board members Lake County Commissioners to pay other $65,000 to settle wrongful firing suit ST. JOHN Words of praise were given to outgoing Lake Central School Board members Debra Phelps and William Michael Klaus-man during their last board meeting Monday. ByPETRALUKE Times Staff Writer CROWN POINT Lake County Assessor Peter Benjamin will have to dip into his office budget to pay $10,000 of the $75,000 settlement of a lawsuit filed by a former employee. That deal was threshed out Dec. 15 during a closed-door session attended by Lake County Commissioners, Benjamin and their lawyers.

County Attorney John Dull said Tuesday that Benjamin had recom- satory damages and $5,000 in punitive damages. That verdict and award were overturned in December 1991 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, which ruled Rodovich had erred when he refused to instruct the jury that state law prohibits county officials and em ployees from signing, submitting or apj proving false mileage claims. Benjamin maintained Kovacich was fired for his practice of listing the Lake County Government Center in Crown See ASSESSOR, Page B-2 Phelps, who served on the board for seven years, lost her bid for re-election Nov. 3.

Klausman, who did not seek re mended commissioners accept the division of payments to George Kovacich, who was fired from the assessor's office in March 1987. The remaining $65,000 will come out of the commissioners' budget. Kovacich sued Benjamin in U.S. District Court, Hammond, alleging he had been fired for political reasons and because of his age. A jury ruled in August 1990 that Kovacich, a supporter of former County Assessor Michael Jankovich, had been fired for his political affiliations.

U.S. Magistrate Andrew Rodovich awarded Kovacich $75,000 in compen- election, was a board member for 12 years. Superintendent Thomas Roman displayed a mock front page of The Times with the headline "Klausman Changes Mind To Remain On Board Debra Phelps Follows Suit." He also presented plaques of appre ciation to the outgoing board IF LimWICW Schererville resident Donald Kraw- czyk, seated in the audience, also thanked Phelps and Klausman for 48 years after kamikaze attack, vet may get Navy Cross By BOB BROWN Times Staff Writer s. ARY-TheJapan- ese kamikaze their years of service. "I'm sure the community has appreciated your efforts," he said.

Dyer resident Brenda Weirs invited them to sit with her in the audience from now on. Police pension board approves benefits for lieutenant's family ST. JOHN The St. John Police Pension Board on Monday agreed to pay survivor benefits to Lt. Thomas Miller's family.

Miller succumbed to cancer last month at age 40. His wife and three children will receive compensation through the 1925 pension fund. According to provisions in the fund, Miller's wife, Mary Lou, will receive $3,000 for funeral expenses. She will also get $797.70 per month until her death. Each of Miller's three children will receive $265.90 per month until they are 18 years old.

Clerk-Treasurer Judith Companik said this is the first time the town's pension fund has been used. piuiimieLiiig inward his anti-aircraft battery is as vivid now for AlonzoA. Swann County I amends insurer pacts By PETRA LUKE Times Staff Writer CROWN POINT Lake County Commissioners now will have to notify two companies a year in advance if they intend to cancel their contracts for administering county insurance programs. Lake County Attorney John Dull said Group Employee Benefits Administrators Inc. and Water-field Insurance Agency Inc.

had rejected amendments to their agreements that commissioners signed Dec. 8. Dull told commissioners Tuesday that they first needed to rescind the Dec. 8 amendments before acting on the new amendments. GEBA administers county employees' medical, dental, life, disability, workman's compensation and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act insurance! claims.

Waterfield administers the! county's self-insured property liability and casualty program. The Dec. 8 amendments called for earlier agreements to be extended through Dec. 31, 1993, and said postage costs would be covered by the fees the county will pay the two companies during the next year. The amendments also gave the county and commissioners the opportunity to cancel the contracts with a 60-day written notice.

Commissioners Rudolph Clay, D-Gary, and Steve Corey, D-Ho-bart, rescinded the Dec. 8 amendments and approved the new amendments Tuesday. Under the new amendments, the county has to pay for postage, and either side must give one year's written notice if it wants to cancel the contracts. The contracts remain extended through Dec. 31, 1993.

Both sets of amendments assigned the rights and obligations of Elmer Layden as agent for the county's self-insured property liability and casualty program under an agreement signed April 27, 1987, to Waterfield Insurance Agency Inc. Waterfield bought the Elmer F. Layden Insurance Agency on May 1, 1991, according to letters Dull received from Russ Fisher, branch manager of the Ohio Casu- See COUNTY, Page B-2 1 i 7 A fm-L Vh i a Jr. as it was on Oct 29, 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Swann, then 19, had been in church aboard the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid when the alarm sounded for general quarters.

He rushed to his 20mm anti-aircraft gun, one of six that made up Gun Tub 10, which stood out on the ship because of its unprecedented all-black crew. One Japanese suicide plane had penetrated the Naval picket and screen of air cover and was bearing down on the Intrepid as it steamed north of the Philippines. While other gunnery crews abandoned their posts, Swann and his 20 mates stood their ground. They shot off one wing and the tail before the plane slammed into the battery, Swann said. Nine of the 21 men in the gun tub were killed.

Seven others, including Swann, were wounded. Swann, a steward's mate first class, was hit by shrapnel and burned in the fiery explosion. "I would say that is the most vivid memory that I have and that's a day I will never forget," Swann, 67, said Tuesday. Forty-eight years later, the Gary resident finally has been told he deserves the Navy Cross that he has long contended was taken away from him and five others because of racial discrimination. U.S.

District Court Judge Rudy Lozano last week ordered Secretary of the Navy William Garrett to award Swann the Navy Cross, the service's highest honor. He said records and news accounts showed the six men had been awarded the Navy Cross, only See BRAVERY, Page B-2 Coffee to make toll road travel easier on holiday eves on the Indiana East-West Toll Road will be made a little easier with complimentary cups of coffee offered at several of the service plazas on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Hardee's, Arby's and the Marriott which operates Bob's Big Boy, Popeye's Fried Chicken and Dunkin Donuts for the toll road, will provide coffee from 3 p.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday and from 3 p.m.

Dec. 31 to 7 a.m. Jan. 1. i The coffee is an annual tradition to promote safe driving and prevent people from taking part in the other toll road holiday tradition extra state trooper patrols.

Save the Dunes Council appeal set for prehearing conference A conference has been set for the Save the Dunes Council's appeal of a state permit for a soil treatment plant in Portage. The council is arguing the proposed plant needs a solid waste permit, in addition to an air permit, from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The conference has been set for 10 a.m. (EST) Jan. 12 in Indianapolis at IDEM's offices.

The Save the Dunes Council has requested that the conference be held in Northwest Indiana. The appeal will be heard by Administrative Law Judge James Garrettson. A solid waste permit would require the company, SONAS Soil Resource Recovery to meet additional requirements under Indiana law, such as disclosures under the "good character" law and a needs determination. EPA extends comment period on lakewide management plan Environmental Protection Agency has extended the public comment period on the Lake Michigan lakewide management plan until Jan. 8.

The plan establishes a ranking system for priority lake pollutants and establishes goals for cleaning up the lake. It is the first management plan among the five Great Lakes. All comments should be addressed to Jeanette Morris-Collins, Environmental Protection Assistant, U.S. EPA Region 5 (WQ-16J), 77 W. Jackson, Chicago 60604.

Times photo by Rob Brown Alonzo A. Swann with the Bronze Star and Purple Heart he was awarded after World War II, finally has been told he deserves the Navy Cross, the service's highest honor. Dispute over assistant chiefs pay delays Dyer salary measure School officials to change traffic flow at Protsman By PENNY GLOVER Times Correspondent ST. JOHN School officials hope changing the traffic pattern at Protsman Elementary School will allow cars and buses to move more safely around the building. The new traffic pattern should be in place early next year.

Protsman Principal Bruce Schooler discussed the problem Monday with the Lake Central school Board, describing the one-way streets and low concrete barriers around the school at 1121 Harrison Ave. Protsman's enrollment is about 470. Of that, 274 students are bused and 157 walk or are dropped off in the morning. In the afternoon, 163 students walk home or are picked up, he said. Schooler said the concrete barriers make navigating the turns almost impossible, especially in bad weather.

He also said it is impossible to plow snow from around the barriers. See SCHOOL, Page B-2 assistant chiefs salary in mid-November from the Police Commission, which said the omission of the $38,000 was an oversight by the chief. Kapitan, who was appointed assistant chief in September 1991, makes sergeant's pay of $32,240. The chief can fill the assistant chiefs slot with an officer of any rank. Hawrot's motion to exclude the $38,000 from the salary ordinance was defeated 3-2, and a majority of the council then approved the ordinance including Kapitan's pay.

Because the vote was not unanimous, the council must vote on the salary ordinance again before the end of the year. Kapitan, D-2nd, said Hawrot knew he See DISPUTE, Page B-2 By TRACY HAYHURST Times Staff Writer DYER Opposition to the salary for assistant police chief, a job now held by Town Council President Michael Kapitan, forced several votes on the 1993 salary ordinance and delayed its approval Tuesday. Councilman Dennis Hawrot, D-lst, wanted to approve the salaries except for the assistant chiefs pay of $38,000. He said he thinks the $6,600 raise that Kapitan would receive could be spent better elsewhere in the Police Department. He also objected to the amount because it was not in Chief Charles Thompson's original budget.

The council received a request for an.