Banner Graphic, Volume 14, Number 145, Greencastle, Putnam County, 24 February 1984 — Page 2

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The Putnam County Banner-Graphic, February 24,1984

'Help 116V6V CaiTl6 Gang rape of New Bedford woman 'nopart of my business'

(c) 1984 The Baltimore Sun FALL RIVER, Mass. On a Sunday afternoon last March, a 21-year-old woman celebrated her daughter’s birthday with family and friends, but by the day’s end, she had been raped repeatedly on the pool table of a neighborhood bar where she had stopped to buy cigarettes while several men “were cheering like at a baseball game” and urging her attackers on, prosecutors said here Thursday. When the attack ended, she fled the bar and, standing partially clothed in the street, stopped a passing truck. Shaking and crying, she clutched one of the truck’s passengers and sob-

Love has been described as a ride on the merry-go-around of romance, and that's probably just what Suzanne Condon and Michael Cast felt as they warmed to each other on an ideal pre-spring day in Topeka, Kan. (AP Wirephoto).

Missouri town living in terror after mayor's murder WEAUBLEAU, Mo. (AP) Two city councilmen say they got death threats just a day after the mayor was found killed by a high-powered rifle, and one admitted, “I’ve got butterflies in my stomach right now. ” Curtis Bailey and Henry Jerki said Thursday that they received the telephoned threats Wednesday, a day after Bailey found Mayor Ollie Cooper lying face down in a pool of blood at Cooper’s farm. The mayor’s death followed a year of violence and threats against the city council that have left some lawmakers in this small southwest Missouri town frightened and angry. The caller Wednesday told each of the men, “You’re next.” Cooper, Bailey and Jerki were all up for re-election in April. Two other council members were not threatened. Hickory County Sheriff William V. Kennedy said Thursday that he was not treating the threats as serious. “I think they’re cranks,” he said. But Bailey, 69, said, “I haven’t slept all night. I’ve got butterflies in my stomach right now.’ ’ “At night I pull the shades and I don’t know whether I’m going to be shot at through the window or what,” said Bailey’s wife, Irene. “This town is about to scare me to death.” Jerki said he was puzzled but not frightened by the threat. “I’m not worried. I’ve been shot at in World War II why should this scare me?” he said. “I don’t know what it’s all about.” Last year, someone threw sticks of dynamite onto the lawns of Jerki, Bailey and another council member, Claude Davenport, Bailey said. Attached were notes warning: “Get out. You’re in trouble,” he said. The source was never found. And other violent incidents occurred: Two shots were fired at Cooper’s pickup truck last summer, and a horse, two bulls and a calf on his farm were killed. Bailey, who said he was Cooper’s best friend, found the body of the 68-year-old mayor at his 500-acre farm Tuesday afternoon, after Cooper’s worried wife called to say he had never come home for lunch. The death initially was believed to be accidental. Cooper was using a hay hook to move bales of hay when he died, and Hickory County Coroner Robert R. Boiler initially concluded he had suffered a heart attack and fallen on the sharp tool, causing a wound in his neck. Autopsy results Thursday showed Cooper had been shot in the back and left hip with a high-powered .30-caliber rifle from a distance of about 30 feet.

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bed, “I’ve been raped by a group of men at that bar,” said Raymond Veary, an assistant district attorney. The day was March 6, 1983. The bar was Big Dan’s, a scruffy tavern now closed in the North End of New Bedford. And the three men who stopped the pickup truck on that darkened street “were the first and only three people who helped” the victim that night, Veary said. With that, Bristol County prosecutors opened one of two trials being held in a turn-of-the-century gothic court house in this southeastern Massachusetts milltown, 15 miles from the site of the alleged rape.

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Deckard returns to testify against Poling

WASHINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Lawyers for Michael Poling are following the successful defense strategy of Poling’s codefendant in the rape-slaying of a 15-year-old Linton girl. Their effort Thursday was to try to transfer blame. Christopher Deckard was acquitted Jan. 25 of killing Cindy Lou Mason. Deckard and Poling, both 17 of Jasonville, were arrested in San Francisco July 25. Deckard testified Thursday in Daviess Circuit Court Miss Mason went to an abandoned Greene County farmhouse with Poling when Deckard heard five or six gunshots while waiting outside in his car.

In an emotionally charged speech, Veary outlined the events prosecutors say took place at Big Dan’s tavern an incident that polarized the seaport town of New Bedford last year, enraged its Por-tuguese-American community, mobilized the city’s women and gained national attention. Both trials opened Thursday after an extended search for jurors that took two and a half weeks and brought 600 candidates to the courtroom. The case was divided into two trials to avoid statements by defendants that could incriminate other defendants. Veary is prosecuting Daniel Silvia and Joseph Viera, both

AM A expected to ask for freeze on all doctors' fees

CHICAGO (AP) - The American Medical Association’s call for doctors to help heal the nation’s economy by freezing their fees for a year drew objections from some physicians, but the AMA chairman predicted 85 percent would comply. Saying doctors have a responsibility to aid in the economic recovery, the AMA’s 12member board of trustees voted unanimously Thursday to mail letters to the nation’s 390,000 doctors involved in patient care, urging them to refrain from raising fees for one year. “Among the major concerns that people have is the cost of medical care,” said Dr. Joseph F. Boyle, the AMA’s presidentelect. “We believe that doctors have the same concerns as their patients and will share in all the sacrifices that are necessary to keep the economy strong. ” Doctors will be asked to begin the freeze immediately, said AMA president Dr. Frank J.

Mystery lingers in crimeless briefing papers caper

WASHINGTON (AP) - Neither the Justice Department nor congressional investigators can solve the mystery of how President Jimmy Carter’s debate briefing papers wound up in Ronald Reagan’s campaign in 1980, but the department says no crime was involved in the transfer. The Justice Department closed its eight-month investigation Thursday, admitting in a three-page report that it was not able to determine

Deckard testified after Miss Mason’s mother and sister said they took the girl to a carnival in Linton the night of her death, where she was last seen with Poling and Deckard. In his opening statement, defense attorney John Kesler II called Deckard the more likely killer and said, “Poling was just a child. He had barely turned 17.” He told jurors he would call witnesses who would testify Poling was a student council member and model student at Shakamak High School, with no previous arrest record. “This doesn’t sound like the profile of a murderer, ” he said. He noted the alleged murder weapons and car used by the

27, in the afternoon trial, and his colleague, Robert J. Kane, is presenting the state’s case against Victor Raposo, John Cordeiro, Jose Medeiros and Virgilio Medeiros. The latter two are not related. All six are charged with aggravated rape. The state must prove that the woman was forced to engage in sexual intercourse or other sex acts against her will. Thursday, about 50 people attended the trials, which were broadcast live by a local cable television station. In his opening statement, Veary told the 12-man, 4-woman jury that the victim is a mother of two children, unmarried but

Jirka Jr. They will also be urged to consider the financial circumstances of their patients especially the unemployed, the uninsured and those covered by Medicare and to reduce or waive fees when warranted, he said. About 20 percent of the nation’s $325 billion annual health care bill is made up of doctors' fees, with hospital costs accounting for most of the rest. Two decades ago, the doctors’ share was about 27 percent, said Dr. John J. Coury Jr., chairman of the AMA board. Some initial reactions were positive. “Something like that would be quite appropriate,” said Dr. Charles Hatcher Jr., chief of cardiac surgery at Emory University’s clinic in suburban Atlanta. “Certainly, if it would help the economy, it would help us all a short-term sacrifice for a long-term gain.” However, Dr. George Brumley, interim dean of

who transferred the briefing material and some White House documents to the Reagan camp before the crucial Oct. 28,1980, Reagan-Carter debate. The department concluded there was “no credible evidence that the transfer violated any criminal law” and found no evidence of “any plan or conspiracy by Reagan election officials to obtain the Carter briefing materials or any other confidential, internal Carter documents.”

youths belonged to Deckard and questioned the credibility of Deckard’s testimony. Deckard told police after his arrest that Poling apparently killed the girl and he fled with him out of fright Greene County Deputy Prosecutor Robert Miller said he would introduce a confession Poling made to San Francisco police in which he reportedly said he killed Miss Mason after she refused to have sex with him. The girl’s nude body had numerous slash marks indicating her clothes had been cut off with a knife as she struggled from room to room before the shooting, Miller said

living with the father. After putting the children to bed that evening, she went for cigarettes to a nearby discount store and a market, both of which were closed. Then she stopped at Big Dan’s, a bar she had not entered before that night. Veary said she got change for cigarettes and decided to stay for a drink, chatting with a woman at the bar whom she did not know. Soon after that woman left, Veary said, the victim decided to leave, too. As she walked to the door, the prosecutor said, she was followed by two men whom she had watched playing pool and by two other men. “They had

Emory University Medical School, emphasized that physicians’ fees are not the only factors responsible for the spiraling cost of health care. “I’m sure the physicians would be interested in considering it at the same time that all other health care costs are being considered to carry their share of the responsibility,” he said. “In 1983, for the first time in a period of almost five years, physicians’ fees went up faster than the all-items (consumer price) index,” said Boyle. Fees rose 6.4 percent last year, compared with the consumer price index rise of 3.8 percent, he said. The AMA made a similar appeal in 1978, according to Dr. James H. Sammons, AMA executive vice president. Doctors responded widely to that request, with figures indicating that fees increased at a slower rate than the consumer price index for the years 1978-80.

All documents gathered by the FBI were turned over to a House subcommittee headed by Rep. Donald J. Albosta, DMich., whose panel is writing a report on its own investigation of the episode. All the FBI interview and laboratory reports were also made available to the subcommittee, the department said. But House sources, who declined to be named, have said the Albosta probe also came up dry in efforts to identify the per-

At a hearing where Kesler asked that Poling’s statements to police be withheld for technical reasons, Poling denied intending to admit guilt. Poling sat calmly in silence during testimony as an overflow audience of more than 100 spectators lined the walls of the courtroom. Deckard said he asked Miss Mason to ride with him and Poling from the carnival to the uncompeted farmhouse, a teenagers’ hangout known as “the stonehouse.” He said he went in and looked around with her while Poling waited in the car, where Deckard said he had left a 357Magnum pistol in the glovebox

her pinned in,” Veary told the jury. The bartender, Carlos Machado, heard a bang as if something hit the floor, Veary said. He stood on an ice chest to see, “and he saw that man,” Veary said, spinning around to point to one of the defendants, “Daniel Silvia, that man, Daniel Silvia on top of her.” Despite the victim’s screams for “help that never came,” Veary said. Silvia and Viera dragged her to the pool table and raped her while “the men at the bar were cheering like at a baseball game.” When Machado, the bartender, climbed over the bar to

Gentlemen end debate; Democrats in N.H. push

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) Democratic campaign rivals are beginning their final push for next week’s New Hampshire primary after a gentlemanly debate in which the pack left presidential front-runner Walter F. Mondale free to continue a non-stop attack on President Reagan. “Mr. Reagan, whether its Lebanon or arms control or the budget deficit or whatever, is a president who is not providing ... leadership. I will do so,” Mondale declared Thursday night in the 90-minute televised debate. “I know what I’m doing ... I would know what I’m doing the first day and I would take charge.” It was the final eight-way candidate confrontation before New Hampshire’s voters deliver the first primary verdict next Tuesday. There was plenty of goodnatured kidding, and even a self-deprecating remark or two, such as when Sen. John Glenn conceded he was “dull but not boring.” Former South Dakota Sen. George McGovern sparked laughter with his explanation that he would agree to serve as vice president. “I don’t have a job now,” he said. “Not only that but my apartment burned down last May. I don’t even have a place to live. I need help,” he said. For the most part, there were none of the sharp attacks against Mondale that characterized

son or persons who may have been responsible for the transfer. Asked why the department did not continue until it had found out how the papers were transferred, Justice Department spokesman Tom DeCair replied, “We’re not an ethics agency.” He said the department’s responsibility ended when it determined there was no crime. The department said that, without evidence of theft,

and a knife. They returned to the car, he said, and Poling went in with Miss Mason. Asked by Miller if he heard anything, Deckard said, “I guess some shots, that’s what it sounded like.” Giving details only in response to Miller’s questions, Deckard said he met Poling about halfway down the path to the house and, “I asked him where Cindy was.” Asked what Poling answered, Deckard said, “He didn’t say too much. He just said, ‘Let’s go.’ ” Deckard never said he was aware that the girl had been shot.

get to the telephone, the prosecutor said, Virgilio Medeiros put up his hand and said, "Where you going? What are you doing?” The bartender returned to the bar, took a dime from cash register, gave it to another patron with the telephone number of police, Veary said. (Police said after the attack that the patron dialed a wrong number and did not try again.) Kane, in the morning trial, offered an account similar to Veary’s. But he quoted Virgilio Mederios as saying, when asked why he did nothing to stop the attack: “It’s no part of my business.” Witness Robert J. Silva said

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WALTER MONDALE ‘I would take charge'

earlier debates in New Hampshire and lowa. That left him free to continue his assault against the president, an approach he has taken since his overwhelming victory in Monday’s lowa caucuses. “That government is out to lunch and we can’t tolerate that,” he said after the debate, which was sponsored by the League of Women Voters. “I promise to defeat Ronald Reagan and provide presidential leadership,” Mondale said. Mondale is favored to win the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday and even one of his rivals, Sen. Ernest Hollings of

neither federal laws against the theft of government property nor local theft laws had been violated. It said since none of the material was classified, no federal secrecy laws were violated. And it said that without evidence of a conspiracy by the Reagan camp to get the documents, federal election laws were not violated. DeCair said that despite inconsistent statements by top Reagan appointees about the

Legislator wins another battle INDIANAPOLIS (AP) State Rep. Ken Snider, DDeckard, who started a come-back boxing career at 37, has captured his third professional fight. Snider won on a third round TKO Thursday night to remain unbeaten in his pro career. He stunned Kenny Willis, 25, of Indianapolis, one minute into the round. Willis brought a 6-3 record into the fight. Among the crowd at the packed house at the Indianapolis Athletic Center were three dozen of Snider’s legislative colleagues and Statehouse officials, including House Speaker J. Roberts Dailey, R-Muncie; House Minority Leader Michael K. Phillips, D-Boonville; and Kendall W. Cochran, executive assistant to Gov. Robert D. Qrr. Snider knocked out Mike Bell in the third round of his second fight last month. Snider made his professional debut in November with a unanimous decision over Billy Doyle in Terre Haute.

he and two friends, Daniel and Michael O’Neil, were driving near the bar shortly before midnight on March 6 when he saw “a woman in the middle of the street, with one sock on, a jacket and nothing underneath.” They stopped the truck, and she approached them, he said. “She was hysterical,” he went on. “She said, ‘l’ve been raped; I’ve been tortured for four hours. The woman was turned over to police, who returned with her to the bar, according to New Bedford policeman, Ronald M. Doyon. He said he saw four of the defendants still in Big Dan’s and found near the door of the bar a pair of jeans and a shoe.

South Carolina, says a strong victory for the former vice president would all but wrap up the nomination.

But Hollings and sue others in the race used their part of the debate to appeal directly to New Hampshire’s voters. “The idea that what was cast in lowa is irreversible is nonsense,” said Glenn, hoping to end a slide that has challenged his claim to be Mondale’s principal opponent. Glenn came in fifth in lowa with less than 4 percent support. Sen. Alan Cranston of California, his campaign struggling after a weak fourth-place finish in lowa, tried to win back the nuclear freeze vote that apparently slipped away on Monday. “If you vote for me, the message will be unmistakably clear ... that the president of the United States do all he can to end the chance of war,” he said. Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado is trying to capitalize on his surprising second-place finish in lowa. “At the risk of attacking,” he said, Mondale should be the candidate if the party wants old ideas. Former Florida Gov. Reubin Askew has said he might consider withdrawing from the race if he finishes below fourth on Tuesday. But he said no matter who wins, “we’re going to leave San Francisco united.” The party nominating convention will be held in San Francisco next summer.

materials, no polygraph tests were administered because “there were no legally significant inconsistencies.” The department concluded the Reagan camp got a rough draft of foreign policy briefing material prepared for Carter and of briefing material prepared for Vice President Walter Mondale in anticipation of a debate with Reagan’s running mate, George Bush. That debate never took place.