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SECTION 2 - PAGE 1 - PLAINDEALER - FRIDAY. JUNE II, 1W4 State news Seat belts save both lives, dollars By United Press International URBANA -- At least 200 lives would be saved if only 60 percent of Illinois motorists and their passengers wore seat belts, a University of Illinois professor has estimated. Rudolf Mortimer, professor of health and safety education, said an additional 52,000 fewer in­ dividuals would suffer injuries and billions of dollars could be saved with that kind of com­ pliance. Mortimer, who has conducted research on traffic safety and studied the effects of seat belt laws and safety education pro­ grams in the United States and in foreign countries for the past 20 years, did not address the con­ stitutional issues of the proposal. Legislation (HB 2800) pending in the Illinois General Assembly would require drivers and their front-seat passengers to wear seat belts. The House passed the bill May 16 by a 61-46 vote. The Senate Transportation Committee voted Thursday to send the bill to the Senate floor. If given final approval, Illinois would be the first state to require safety belts be used by everyone riding in the front seat. Mortimer used data on deaths and injuries before and after drivers in several countries were required to wear safety belts to estimate the potential impact of a seat belt law in Illinois. , His estimates were based on 1983 state fatality totals. Those figures show 1,073 occupants of motor vehicles killed and 141,000 injured in traffic accidents. Mor­ timer said he also assumed that 12 percent of the drivers who now use belts would continue to do so. The research showed the lives < at least 200 drivers and their> passengers would be saved in Il­ linois if only three-fifths of motor , vehicle drivers and passengei obeyed the law. If compliant reached 80 percent, about fewer people would die, and 1vith 100 percent, it would be 375 fewer deaths. The numbers of individuals sav­ ed from serious injury if they buckled up would be much larger, Mortimer said. He estimated during a year with 60 percent compliance, 52,000 fewer people would be injured. With 80 percent compliance, 73,700 would escape serious injury and with 100 percent the total would be 96,000. X "No one * knows how much money the law might save, but the total musttoe in the billions," Mor­ timer said. "For injuries alone, passing the bill might well save at least half a billion dollars a year in medical costs." Pickups, vans eligible for plates too National news vanity license By United Press International SPRINGFIELD - Secretary of State Jim Edgar said this week a new program, sparked by the popularity of vanity license plates for cars, will allow pickup truck and van owners to get personaliz­ ed plates in mid-August. Edgar said the cost of the per­ sonalized license tags for truck and van owners will be the same as for cars -- $75 for the first year and $10 for each subsequent year, in addition to the $48 annual vehi­ cle registration fee. v He said a lottery will be held at the Illinois State Fair in mid- August for the pick of the plates. About 800,000 trucks and vans in the state are eligible under the program, which allows only vehicles with type "B" plates to apply for vanity plates, Edgar said. He said the deadline for writ­ ten requests to his office is July 31. "We think this will be a popular program," Edgar said. Under the program, vanity plates already issued for cars can be used by trucks, he said. Edgar estimated that about 5,000 truck and van plates will sell the first year, which would generate $375,000 for the state's Road Fund. "The program will pay for itself," he said. Since the vanity plate program for cars began in 1979, the state has issued 78,000 such plates, Edgar said. Good Samaritan comes to offer more than companionship aid of Alton-area school U mm T^in n n TM4A«M«41AM A1 1* SV 1 \ MI F Vt lnPP NNVIA By Lidia Wasowicz UPI Science Writer SAN FRANCISCO - In addition to helping the lonely or disabled, pets have been shown to aid heart attack victims in recovering, hypertension sufferers to lower their blood pressure -- and even certain hardened criminals to reform, a panel of scientists reported Tuesday. "Although the use of pets as aids to the handicapped goes back to 800 A.D. and pets are the No. 1 in­ vestment of Americans, who spend $5 billion each year on animals, the scientific study of the human-animal bond and its ef­ fects is a very new field," said veterinarian frames Harris, Oakland, Calif. Heavy rains make farmers plant again By United Press International Heavy rains during May washed out parts of some corn fields in western and eastern Illinois, pro­ mpting farmers to replant por­ tions of their fields. £#cess rain also led to«oioe deterioration of the state's winter wheat crop. A production report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Monday projected the state's wheat crop at 67.32 million bushels, compared to the 70.38- million-bushel crop estimated in May. The average yield dropped from 46 bushels an acre estimated in May to 44 this month, according to the report issued Monday. "The major problem was too much rain during May, and April too," said crop statistician John Unger in Springfield. "The cool weather didn't help much either." Unger said he doesn't expect the winter wheat harvest to begin un­ til around July 1. A weekly crop report issued by the Illinois Crop Reporting Service in Springfield said 95 percent of the crop was headed and 3 percent had started to turn yellow. The wheat was rated in 8 per­ cent excellent condition, 55 per­ cent good, 34 percent fair and 3 percent poor. The weekly report on corn and soybean conditions said 6 percent of the com crop had to be replanted. In a normal year, Unger said that figure is between 3 to 5 percent. The replanting was primarily done in west-central and east- central Illinois, Unger said." "We're not talking about plan­ ting entire fields," Unger said. "The replanting was done in low areas of fields where the water washed out seed. It was replanting on a spot basis." The report said corn planting in Illinois was 97 percent complete and soybean planting was 82 per­ cent finished as of Sunday. SEE US FOR YOUR MOTORCYCLE I BOAf INSURANCE! •QUICK SERVICE •PULL COVERAGE AT GOOD RATES •EASY PAYMENT PLAN AVAILABLE CALL BILL JOHNSON AT 385-3000 INSURANCE, grnmn ASCNCV 12OT N. GREEN ST McHENRY, H 4O0SO i subsidiary of McHwiry Savings 4 AIL INSURANCE ^ANDF|NAIKI£AS«Jgg£ Harris headed the pet sym­ posium presented at the 65th an­ nual meeting of the Pacific Divi­ sion of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "When the first paper on 'dog as co-therapist' was presented in 1966, the researcher was laughed at in unison," said psychologist Aline Kidd of MUls College, Oakland. "Recently, scientists have been looking at the role of pets and coming up with some in­ teresting observations." A 1980 study of heart attack vic­ tims found pets had "significant impact" on the survival rates one year later, said animal researcher Peter Messeni, Vernon, Calif. Two other studies of people suf­ fering from high blood pressure reported "significant reduction in blood pressure in the presence of a pet," he said. "One theory says pets provide Westerners -- who shun touching each other, except during sex -- with acceptable touchable ob­ jects. Touching has been shown to have positive therapeutic values. Other theories say since pets can sense danger, petting a contented dog who is at ease puts the owner at ease." A program at Purdy Treatment Center for Women in Gig, Wash., has turned "some of the toughest women prisoners into real softies after they were given dogs to train for the disabled," said Leo Bustad, dean emeritus and pro­ fessor at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University. One inmate came into the max­ imum security prison as "incor­ rigible, arrogant, refusing to get along," Bustad said in an inter­ view. "After training dogs for the blind and disabled, she is changed completely. Pets can be real humanizers as well as compa­ nions and helpers." Although it's too early to tell about lasting effects, "the few prisoners who were in the pro­ gram and have been released so far have not gotten into trouble and, in fact, have jobs in animal care," Bustad said. "At Lima State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Ohio, prisoners were told they could get a pet bird if they behaved. The violence rate went down 90 per­ cent." By United Press International ALTON -- A Madison County businessman donated $100,000 to Marquette High School because he believes in the school's traditions and wants to see them continue, the president of the school board said Tuesday. Sister Betty Bourgeois, the president of the school board, said she is thrilled about the good Samaritan's gift and that the money will go toward establishing scholarships and a school trust fund. She said the anonymous donor told her he was donating the money to the school because he wanted to free the private school from money worries. "The man offered the money for a beginning to a trust fund to carry on the traditions (of the school) with less anxiety from year to year," Sister Bourgeois said. Although the school has no out­ door campus or private practice facilities, the teams have still managed to fair well in competi­ tions, she said. "The baseball team is state champion and we have no baseball diamond." Sister Bourgeois said. "I don't know if it is too much of a hindrance, but they get around it and make due with public facilities available." Sister Bourgeois said the gift' came after the school's tennis championship this year, and less than a week after the school took the state baseball championship. 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