Cost Council's new rules hit

by St. Mary's
the old Phase HI regulations," the letter says. Listed are five major objections to the proposed regulations. They are: T h a t the proposals limit the freedojn and ability of hospitals to im-, prove efficiency. T h a t the proposals are in conflict with other regulations currently being, imposed on hospitals. T h a t the proposals incorrectly assume t h a t THE PROPOSED regu- hospitals can dictate palations are "even more tient length of s t a y to severe and confusing than physicians. T h a t no o t h e r segment of the economy is held to such stringent and unreasonable controls. .That 'the proposals are inequitable for hospiWEDNESDAY, DEC. 26, 1973SEG. B, PAGE 1 tals as a whole. Sister W i l f r e d , commenting on the proposed regulations, said: "We don't believe that the. destruction of a sys tern is the best way to improve it." By BEN ZINSER Medical-Science Editor St. Mary's Hospital of Long Beach has officially protested the Cost of Living Council's proposed Phase IV regulations for the hcallh-care f i e l d , charging that they' would "inequitable and fiscally unsound." A letter to John T. Dunlop, council director, was signed by f o u r hospital executives. In a separate cover letter to legislators, Sister M a r y W i l f r e d , h o s p i t a l p r e s i d e n t , expressed the fear that if the proposed regulations are enacted, "the high q u a l i t y of patient-care practices in most of the nation's hospitals will be p l a c e d in i m m e d i a t e peril." The letter to the council director is signed by Sister W i l f r e d and D r . Thomas L. Buhl, chief of staff; John D. Williams, executive vice president; and Joan G. Wilson, vice president of finance.

PXESS-TELEGRAM

,000 reward for maniac killer of young men

By JOHN SHEEHAN Staff Writer One year ago today Seal Beach police found the strangled, fully clothed body of a 20-year-old Camp Pcndlelon Marine dumped alongside the Seventh Street offramp from the San Diego Freeway. T h e youth, later identified as Edward Daniel Moore, was the first of five victims believed murdered by the same person a homicidal maniac .who scattered the five bodies, some of them dismembered or sexually mutilated, across a two-county area. Seal Beach police searched in vain for a suspect or a motive and had almost dismissed the case when "John Doe No. 16" was found Feb. 6 in Wilmington. The unidentified man had been strangled. His nude body was found on the Terminal Island Freeway about a quarter-mile south of Pacific Coast Highway. The second victim was described as between 18 and 20 years of age, about 5-foot-8 and about.fl3B. pounds.''He had be'eh dead about'24 hours when a passing truck driver spotted the body. On April 14, a still unidentified young man was found inide and castrated near a Seal Beach bar that formerly catered to homosexuals. The bar has since changed hands several times and.now caters'to a "straight" clientele. . . ; Southland gays panicked there was no doubt in their minds that the killer was preying on their own kind, luring attractive young men, who 'apparently were never missed, to their deaths. , Homicide investigators worked incessantly trying Jo turn up a clue to the killer's identity. Newsmen spent their free lime joining the hunt, prowling bars, bistros and back alleys to discover a motive. Everything came up blank. But a pattern emerged when the locations of the grisly finds were plotted on a map. The killer seemed to be working within a six-mile radius of the intersection of Seventh Street and Redondo Avenue. A shot-in-the-dark hunch, to be sure, but as good as any of the other theories put forward. ! Especially when the fourth victim turned up less than 100 feel from that same intersection on April 22. "JOHN DOE NO. 52," as he would come to be known, arrived in hits and pieces. His right leg, arms and torso were found in a green plastic trash bag in the rear of a supermarket. His left leg was found three days later in another trash hag in Sunset Beach, near another gay bar. The victim's head rolled out of a similar trash bag the following day in a Carson paper processing plant, where it had been part of a load of garbagetraced back to the supermarket at Seventh Street and Redondo Avenue: Six Southland police agencies called a summit conference April 27, four hours after the head was found. They pooled their resources and asked the public's help in identifying any of the victims. As Sgt. Dan Co'oke, ofjhe Los Angeles Police Dept. said, "Four young men could not die such barbaric deaths without someone, somewhere, seeing something." ' .

THE LETTER to the Cost of Living Council director listed a number of alternative recommendations. These included: Recognition that physicians have the freedom to practice medicine in a manner they consider best for their patients. --Standardization of all billing forms and information required to process claims. This alone would reduce the personnel required in the business office by half. Streamlining of Medicare and Medi-Cal regulations to eliminate much of the duplication,, p a p e r work, red tape, audits and staff required to administer such a program. P r e v e n t i o n of unnecessary duplication of services w i t h i n a community and within each, hospital. . . . , . . ' . , .. ; /4.,-^rPrev'entioh of the need for doctors to. oyerdia g n o s e , overhospitali/e and overtreat because of their fear of large malpractice suits. E s t a b l i s h m e n t of quality subacute-care institutions to care for the aged; who require maintenance care at a higher level than that available at existing nursing homes. E n c o u r a g e m e n t of establishment of m o r e outpatient clinics and provision of reimbursement for their services. At p r e s e n t , insurance coverage and physician practices prevent greater use of such outpatient services. ST. MARY'S charged that the regulations' are "not even consistent with the objectives of the Economic Stabilization Act, which was created to stabilize the economy, reduce inflation and control prices and wages. "The, act was not intended to redesign the health-care delivery system by creating such unr e a s o n a b l e regulations which threaten the very survival of our nation's hospitals." M a r s h a l l J. Kandell, director of St. M a r y ' s Hospital's department of community relations, said t h a t more t h a n ' 1,000 hospitals across the nation have objected to the proposed regulations. He said St. Mary's will hold a luncheon discussion meeting for local legislators on Jan. 4.

A new toy, a boat ride that's Yule

Christmas day meant different things to different folks in Long Beach. Like most youngsters, however, the boy at top left wanted to try out his new toys. And the Ocean Boulevard sidewalk in the peninsula area seemed as good a place as any. And the whisper of a breeze puffing a nylon sail answered the Yuletide wishes of some. Meanwhile, the fellow at lower right seemed in no danger of being disturbedbearded-gentlemen with back packs will be in little demand for the next llmonths or so.
Staff Photos by BOB SHUMWAY
andCUHTJOHNSON

Copper penny going way of silver

By KOBEKT GOHE Staff writer R e m e m b e r w h e n the quarter had the reassuring feel of solid silver? And the dime? Now the solid copper penny is about to go the same way. The U:S. Senate passed a bill last week, proposed by the Treasury Department, to mint pennies of 96 per cent aluminum alloy. The 12th district of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, the district t h a t serves Southern California and parts of Nevada and Arizona, has begun keeping a wary eye out for a possible shortage of the old copper penny once the jingling staple of every child's b a n k account. - Federal b a n k i n g officials in the Southland have indicated they expect a run on pennies as. the bill nears passage in' the House. "We arc aware of the potential problem," said Jack Lucy, an assistant quota of pennies, Lucy vice president of the re- warned, the order won't serve bank, "and we are be filled. ''We don't want to go taking a position that we are not going to honor any through that sterile exerclearly speculative cise for the sake of a few coin collectors," Lucy orders." Lucy explained t h a t said., referring to the fact each major bank in he that if additional supplies area has a central branch of pennies are required, that disperses cash. Each they will have to be truckof the main branches gets ed in from (he Denver its cash from the federal mint. reserve office in Los AnTHE M O V E to alumigeles. If the banks ask for num pennies first came more than their normal about when the price of copper rose from 50 cents to $1 per pound this year. The treasury told the Senate t h a t w h e n . t h e price of copper reaches $1.20 the metal in the penny will be worth more than the cent itself, and people will v e r y likely begin hoarding them to melt the pennies down. Copper is expected to reach the record price early in 1974, the Treasury said, pionting out that 36 other n a t i o n s use aluminum coins. Speaking of a possible shortage of the old pennies, Lucy said, "I expected itit happened with quarters and dimes: "We're taking a firm stand this time," he added. "We'll take a close look at the bank, and if they can't demonstrate a real need, we'll have to decline the order." A telephone survey of Southland banks and savings and loans showed t h a t while none w e r e presently suffering any shortage of pennies, the managers usually agreed with Lucy's prediction of a potential run on the copper cent The energy shortage may make it difficult for mint trucks to get gas for the trip f r o m Denver, Lucy said, and the re serve bank wouldn't want wasteful extra trips anyway; Lucy said the bank was not'yet rationing pennies and that "the mint has plenty and we have plenty."

.POLICE CONFERRED, concurred, and still drew a blank on killer, motive or next potential victim. The killer struck again in Seal Beach on July 30. The strangled, fully clothed body of Ronnie Jean Weibe, 21, was found in a clump of bushes along the southbound ramp (o the San Diego Freeway at Seventh Streetless than a quarter-mile from where the f i r s t , victim was discovered. Police understand little more today than when Moore's body was found a year ago. Secret Witness will pay $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of this mass murderer. If you have such information, call Secret Witness at 436-2526 from 8 a,m. to midnight on weekdays, or from 3 to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Or write to: Secret Witness, P.O. Box 67, Long Beach, Calif., 90801..

11 of LBSU staff win study grants

Eleven professors at Long Beach State University have been awarded g r a n t s totaling $180,839 for research and special projects for next year. The largest grant went to Dr. Murray C. Daily, director of the Southern California Ocean Studies C o n s o r t i u m , who got $116,000 from the Department of the Interior's Bu re a ii of Land M a n a g e ment.

Mary Ellis Carlton

Deadline Thursday for city election filings

D e a d l i n e for filing nomination forms for the March 5 municipal elections in several Southland cities will be noon Thursday. Among the Los Angeles communities lhat will be electing city councilmcn A change in stale law and, in some cases other which goes into effect municipal officers, will be Jan. 1 will move the elecArtcsia, Bellflower, Car- tion date for. all general son, Gardena, Hawaiian Gardens, L a k e w o o d , law cities and some charL o m i t a , Lymvood, Nor- ter cities to the March 5 walk, Paramount and Sig- date instead of the former time in April. nal Hill.

Mary will return Thursday