Banner Graphic, Volume 15, Number 245, Greencastle, Putnam County, 11 June 1985 — Page 3

Church asked to reaffirm its abortion stance INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Presbyterian Church (USA) is being asked to renew its pro-choice position on abortion while stressing that abortion shouldn’t be chosen “for convenience or to ease embarrassment." The recommendation from the church’s Committee on Justice and the Rights of Persons is scheduled for a vote tonight during the Presbyterians’ 197th General Assembly. “To say pro-choice is not to say proabortion,” said the Rev. Douglas W. Oldenburg of the Mecklenburg Presbytery in Charlotte, N.C., the committee’s moderator. “I think that’s an important distinction for people to make. We believe a woman should have a choice. That does not mean that we believe she ought to have an abortion.” The committee report recommends that the church reaffirm its 1983 policy statement on abortion and that no new study of the subject be undertaken. The 1983 policy statement is that “a personal moral choice” to have an abortion can, in some cases, “be considered a responsible choice within a Christian ethical framework.” Oldenburg said that the report acknowledges the deep concern in the church over the abortion issue. “We are affirming that abortion must not be used as a means of birth control. We are disturbed by abortions that seeem to be chosen for convenience or to ease embarrassment,” Oldenburg said in an interview Monday. The report had the overwhelming support from committee members selected at random from the assembly, with only seven dissenters among the 57 members who voted, he said. Oldenburg said he hopes that church members who advocated a more conservative position on abortion “will see that we have listened and that we do affirm with them that abortion should not be used as birth control.”

It's no Kentucky joke, gas cheaper on the other side

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Gas station operators in southern Indiana are worried about losing customers now that the state’s higher gas tax makes fuel 9 cents per gallon cheaper in Kentucky. “I know it’s going to hurt us, but it’s hard to tell how much yet,” said Charles Brennan, who owns the Skyway Shell station on U.S. 41. Indiana’s gas tax increased by 2.9 cents per gallon June 1. Hoosiers are now paying 14 cents in state gas tax per gallon, along with a 5-percent sales tax. Kentucky’s gas tax is 10 cents per gallon, and there is no sales tax on gasoline. “I don’t know about other people, but I would drive across the river...,” said Don Johnstone, president of the Indiana Automotive Service Association. Johnstone said his group lobbied to have the tax increase reduced by one-

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Congressman John Myers (R-7th), center, confers with Indiana native astronauts Don Williams, left, Lafayette, and Charles Walker of Bedford during a visit by the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery to

Wininger sentencing set for June 20

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Sentencing was set for June 20 for a Bloomington woman convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the fatal assault of her boyfriend with a bowling ball. Monroe Superior Court Judge John G. Baker took under advisement Monday a defense motion to release Glendon Wininger, 41, on bond. She was convicted of dropping a 14-pound bowling ball on the head of Stephen Detmer as he slept Jan 4 in the apartment they shared. Detmer, 37, died the next day in an Indianapolis hospital. Ms. Wininger, who had been charged with murder, was found guilty of the lesser offense Saturday morning.

third from what Gov. Robert Orr had proposed. “Our main argument was that the increase could put some people in southern Indiana out of business,” Johnstone said. Some area dealers say they have already noticed a decrease in business. “This is our busy time of year, but business hasn’t really picked up like it should by now,” said Patricia Lee, who manages the Windmill station on U.S. 41. “I’ve had a lot of people ask why our gas is so much higher,” she said. The price difference would hurt mainly those stations along highways, station owners said. “It hasn’t affected our business,” said Vince Oberhausen, owner of a neighborhood station in Evansville. “I don’t think the price difference is enough yet to take business away.”

Washington, D.C., last week. Williams and Walker and other members of the crew briefed congressmen on the medical, agricultural and scientific experiments conducted in space.

Voluntary manslaughter carries a prison term of 6-20 years, but defense attorney Priscilla Seaborg said Monday she would ask Baker to suspend the sentence. Detmer’s former wife, meanwhile, was frustrated and angry with Baker’s decision not to allow her to testify in the trial. “I believe if the jury had been allowed to hear my story of the way Steve beat me and controlled my life with terror they would have at least decided on involuntary rather than voluntary manslaughter,” said Diane Forbes. Baker ruled that the testimony of Mrs. Forbes was inadmissible evidence because Glendon Wininger did not know of

Judge pleads guilty to drunk charge INDIANAPOLIS (AP) A Marion Superior Court judge was fined $2lO and received a 178-day suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving. Special Judge John C. Mowrer also suspended Thomas E. Alsip’s drivers license for 90 days and put him on probation for one year. The sentence was recommended in a plea agreement Monday with Jane Spencer Craney, a special prosecutor in the case. Mowrer and Mrs. Craney, who is prosecutor in Morgan County, were selected for the case after Marion County Prosecutor Stephen Goldsmith and judge Taylor Baker disqualified themselves. Alsip was arrested Feb. 1 as he drove north on Interstate 65 in Indianapolis, only a few blocks from his home. Indianapolis police officer Thomas Holt said the judge refused to take a field sobriety test, but submitted to a breath test that showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .24 percent.

the beatings Detmer had given his former wife. Outside the presence of the jury, Mrs. Forbes told the court she divorced Detmer in the late 1970 s because she feared for her life. She said that after she tried to leave Detmer he pursued her and stole her clothes and property from a motel room where she had fled. Mrs Forbes said she later moved to California. The Monroe Superior Court jury deliberated more than 10 hours before finding Ms. Wininger guilty of voluntary manslaughter. She has been held without bail since her arrest on Jan. 5.

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Gary enraged over child drownings

GARY, Ind. (AP) A municipal swimming pool will open as scheduled later this month, despite outrage over the deaths of five children who drowned while desperately trying to claw out of the slimecoated pool. The five youngsters apparently sneaked into the pool Sunday night to catch frogs and were found dead a short time later, officials said. “You could see the marks where they were clawing and scraping” the algaecovered pool, said Lake County Coroner Daniel D. Thomas. There also were marks on the bottom showing the children’s struggles in trying to walk on the slimy bottom, he said, adding that the pool contained more than 5 feet of water. Four pairs of shoes were found near the water’s edge. Mayor Richard G. Hatcher issued a statement Monday, expressing his “sadness and shock at hearing of the tragic loss of these five young lives.” Gary parks director Ed Chalko said Monday the pool will open on June 24, despite shock and anger expressed by neighbors. “Fisher Pool Deathtrap,” said a sign that someone put on the fence surrounding the pool. Also erected were seven crosses, for the children who have died in the pool since 1978. The crosses were removed by the city. The four girls and one boy, from 6 to 13

June 11,1985, The Putnam County Banner-Graphic

years old and all related, died Sunday, seven years after two children died in the Fisher Park pool under similar circumstances, according to officials. “We petitioned downtown (city hall) to do something. That pool wasn’t drained, and it was such easy access,” said Don Williams, a friend of the victims’ family. “And they did nothing.” Neighborhood residents said park officials pumped out the pool Monday morning, after the residents threatened to stay on the premises until the water was removed. Chalko said security measures were set up after the 1978 deaths to prevent further tragedy. “That’s why we blocked up all the entranceways. That’s why we checked the barbed wire, checked the fences,” he said. He added, however, “I don’t know of anything that’s childproof.” Peter Candiano, a deputy coroner, identified the victims as Linda Britton. 13, and her sister, Ossie Britton, 12; Edward Thigpen, 10, and his sister, London Thigpen, 6, cousins of the Brittons, all of Gary; and Jacqueline Sharp, 40, of Momence, 111., an aunt of the Brittons. Burns theorized one of the children may have slid into the water in the pool’s deep end, and the other children may have died trying to rescue that child. “They probably slid in and couldn’t get out,” he said.

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