The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 1

niTnTriMiT a rmir 1 A Combined Communications Newspaper FINAL EDITIONPRICE 60CHOME DELIVERY: $2.60 A MONTH Bond ay New Beverly Report Cites Aluminum Wirini el 1, 170 cloudy; BY MARVIN BEARD Enquirer Reporter A federal agency that investigated the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire said Saturday that an aluminum-to-copper wire connection could have caused the fire that claimed 165 lives. The report by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission marked the first time that any agency investigating the fire has pinpointed aluminum wiring as a possible cause of the fire. U.S. Rep.

Thomas A. Luken, D-Ohio, who released the report, said it "suggests the fire was due to a violation of the law." He suggest TODAY TOMORROW Today will be partly cloudy with a high temperature in the mid 60s. will be clear and cool tonitrht and copy of the report, and therefore could not comment on it, "but this document will be plugged into my investigation, and taken into consideration." Dunn said the previous grand jury has been discharged, but that he could, if he wished, recommend that another be convened. The decision then would be up to a judge. Gov.

Carroll could not be reached for comment. The presence of aluminum wiring at the Beverly Hills was first pointed out by attorneys in civil suits who sued major aluminum manufacturers. Legal documents in the civil litigation also recently charged that the fire was caused by a malfunctioning electrical device in the basement. i Stanley Chesley, an attorney for the counsel's plaintiff's committee, said Saturday: "We are very pleased with tHe thoroughness and intensity in which the Consumer Prodcut Safety Commission got into the investigation of the Beverly Hills fire," Chesley said. "We feel strongly it needed this investigation by a well recognized independent federal agency because of the complicated issues in the case," he said.

Lexington lawyer who was named special prosecutor in August to look into aspects of the fire, Including the special Campbell County grand Jury report. In the introduction to its report, the commission said: the commission's investigators have concluded that a possible failure of a neutral wire connection together with wiring deficiencies found in the electrical system could have caused this tragic fire." The report said there were six aluminum wire to copper wire connections at a pull box near the air conditioning unit in the basement. IN OTHER words, Luken said, someone apparently had connected aluminum and copper wiring together, which, he said, is a violation of the fire code. "If this had been corrected prior to the fire, 165 lives could have been saved," he said. Unlike the new report, neither the Kentucky State Police report nor the report of the National Fire Protection Association specifically mentioned aluminum wiring, although both detailed numerous wiring violations.

But the federal report did agree with previous reports in other areas, and was couched in probable and conditional terms. It said in its conclusion: "Wiring deficiencies found in the system in conjunction with a possible inadvertent ground path through the building structure could have provided an unnotlceable but dangerous electric current if the neutral wire feeding the second floor subpanel failed." The federal commission, which Luken said is an agency "Involved in many areas, including fires," looked into Beverly Hllls-speclfically into aluminum wiring at Beverly Hills at the request of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, of which Luken is a member. THE SUBCOMMITTEE held hearings in Cincinnati last year on the fire. Luken emphasized he was not attempting to ascribe blame, or pinpoint a culprit, nor did the commission. The commission's report said this: "Because of the massive destruction which occurred, it is extremely difficult to determine with evidentiary precision the exact cause of the fire." DUNN, THE special prosecutor, said Saturday he had not received Luken's letter ed another grand Jury review the newly with a low in the mid 40s.

Monday it will be sunny with a high in the mid 70s. Chance of rain is near zero today and tonight. Weather map and details on Pace A-6. released findings. A PREVIOUS special Campbell County grand Jury that looked into the Beverly Hills fire returned no indictments.

"I believe a more thorough review of the smile evidence collected to date is warranted," TV football fan savs he'd rpflllv like to help his wife around the Luken said. "Unfortunately, this information was not available when the grand Jury investigating the fire was sitting nouse over the weekend, but there's only so much time between halves. Luken sent copies of the report to Ken tucky Gov. Julian Carroll and to Cecil Dunn, a metro Reporter Garv Sullivan takes a look close-up at sheltered 5 -'T'. workshops for the handicapped.

The first of three parts is on Page B-l. Gall Convicted Of Murder; Death Penalty Possible nation Union pickets who shut down the nation's rail transportation system go back to work under a court order. Page A-6. Palestinians Mving In Israeli- occupied Arab territories tell the U.S. they want PLO participation in peace talks.

Page A-4. spins Ohio State and Notre Dame are among the winners while Cincinnati's Bearcats, Kentucky and Indiana are losers In college football games. Miami's Redskins and Dayton battle to a tie. See Section C. I 1 If 1 I ocy If MLh v.

SfiESSAr-? rEstosrsnts case. Casts of tires which failed to identify Gall's car as being at the murder scene near Walton, the absence of blood on Gall's car seat and a negroid hair found on her body were among them. "Maybe she was shot with two different guns two different bullets," Zevely said. He didn't pursue the theory. During the trial, Gall had charged Kentucky State Police (KSP) Detective Charles Seay with firing a shot into Lisa's body.

MATHIS LIKENED the defense strategy to that of an octopus, which escapes from danger by clouding the water with a black fluid from its "ink bag." "They're putting out the ink bag," Mathis said. "We can make her killer pay within the bounds of the law. Let the verdict fit the crime." Mathis also referred to videotaped testimony given the Jury Saturday from Dr. Lee R. Chutkow, Louisville psychiatrist.

Chutkow referred to Gall's apparent loss of memory concerning three hours during the morning of April 5 as "feigned amnesia." Gall had promised to talk to Dr. Chutkow on May 5 while under the influence of a tranquillizer which might allow him to recall those three hours, Mathis said. BUT GALL appeared in Dr. Chutkow's office, under the apparent impression he was a prisoner of war and that the psychiatrist was his Vietnamese captor, Mathis said. The prosecutor said this was a subterfuge to avoid telling what he knew.

"You've observed him the past two weeks," Mathis told the jury. "Can you listen to him and not think he's a. bright individual who knows where he's going? He's smarter than me, and probably smarter than you." The prosecutor pointed out that his client-Lisa wasn't sitting in the courtroom while Gall was. "Don't allow yourself to be hoodwinked by the defense of insanity," Mathis said. He theorized that Gall murdered Lisa after raping her on the front seat of his car.

"I believe he killed her because she did something no one else did," Mathis said. THAT "SOMETHING" could have been a threat to identify him to authorities through his car or In some other fashion, Mathis said. BY BOB FOGARTY Enquirer Reporter A Boone Circuit Court Jury convicted Eugene Gall Jr. Saturday of murdering Cincinnati schoolgirl Lisa Jansen, 12, last April 5. The Jury of eight men and four women deliberated less than VA hours after hearing Commonwealth's Attorney Bill Mathis plead, "Remember the young girl lying in a cemetery somewhere in Ohio." Gall, the 32-year-old Hillsboro, Ohio, man who took charge of his own defense while the jury was being selected, showed no expression when Judge Sam Neace read the Jury's verdict, signed by foreman Jack Turner, a Boone County High School counselor.

The same Jury, still sequestered, will return Monday morning to hear testimony aimed at guiding it toward a recommendation for punishment. The trial began September 19. POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS resulting from the presentence hearing are the death penalty, Imprisonment for a minimum of 20 years or imprisonment for life. Boone Circuit Judge Sam Neace is not required to follow the Jury's recommendation. He said Saturday that, if the testimony and arguments are completed at a reasonable hour Monday, the jury immediately will begin deliberation on selecting a penalty.

While hearing Mathis' plead with the jury to ignore testimony of a psychiatrist and a psychologist who said Gall was an incurable paranoid schizophrenic, the defendant-turned-lawyer slumped in his chair in the courtroom. His chin descended toward his chest, and his eyelids drooped. THROUGHOUT MOST of the trial Gall had remained alert. Even when Public Defender Will Zevely questioned witnesses, he scribbled notes and conferred with Zevely and assistant John Berger on the questioning. Zevely in his closing argument pointed to Gall's taking charge of his own defense as a sample of the "grandiosity" referred to in medical testimony as cart of a schizophrenic personality.

The public defender also pointed to what he called inconsistencies in the Commonwealth's October is National Restaurant Month, a time to pay tribute to people in all facets of the lood service Industry. Throughout the year, they provide us with culinary delights as well as hours of entertainment. Be sura to save your copy of The Enquirer's biannual Restaurant Dining Guide magazine, in your paper today. Dozens of restaurants in Greater Cincinnati are listed in an effort to make your decisions of where to dine a little easier. people today The battered wife gets lots of attention and sympatny.

tsut what about the battering husband? Page H-l. Unquirer Photo BY DAN DRY DEPUTY BRINGS convicted Eugene Gall Jr. to court house after recess. at heme It's time to get your house and yard ready for winter. Advice and hints aplenty.

Page G-l. Celeste Proposes School Finance Plan Dostsiess Interest rates on bank loans have gone through the roof, but that hasn't stopped business expansion or borrowing. The crunch may be near, though, as banks are up against their ceilings, Page D-l. Republican Gov. James A.

Rhodes because they changed almost daily. Rhodes' program, he said, would increase local property taxes and shows "an abdication of the state's responsibility to meet its constitutional needs." "We will have an education plan that will 'reduce property taxes for a majority of Ohioans in this state," he said of his own plan. Although he would not say how much more in state taxes his own program would cost Ohioans, he asked teachers of Rhodes' program, "Do you believe that Jim Rhodes can solve our school crisis and no one is going to pay one cent?" RHODES HAS said he will pump another $1.1 billion in new state funds toward education over the next four years without a state tax increase. Celeste and other Democrats maintain, however, the plan depends on the passage of approximately $1 billion in new property tax levies at the local level. Celeste said it will cost no more under either program to meet the state's constitutional obligation.

The difference, he said, is in how the state meets its obligation. however, Celeste said he would not back away from his previous statements. Celeste's plan, in general, calls for abolishing the state's present "equal yield formula" for distributing state funds to education. The formula already has been declared unconstitutional by two courts in the state. Celeste would replace that formula with a "basic student allocation formula" which he maintains would meet the constitutional requirements for the state providing a "thorough and efficient" school system.

Secondly, Celeste says the commission will devise ways to maintain an efficient and cost-effective system of education, identifying opportunities for saving dollars while preserving local control. THE PROGRAM hinges on creation of a new statewide education fund which Celeste says would provide real property tax relief to "a majority of Ohioans." The 40-year-old lieutenant governor would not say, however, from where the revenues for the fund would come, other than from "state sources. He did not place a price tag on his program, saying he was reluctant to use revenue and cost figures supplied by incumbent BY STEVE WILSON Columbus Bureau Chief COLUMBUS, Ohio-Democratic gubernatorial contender Richard F. Celeste proposed an education financing plan Saturday that he says would reduce property taxes for most Ohioans and shift the burden of financing schools to the state. While Celeste said his own preference is to rely on the state income tax for growth funds to help finance the plan, his announcement did not mention an increase in state taxes.

He said he would appoint a commission if he is elected to "hammer out options" with a report due back to the general assembly by early January. Pending legislative approval, Celeste said he would place his plan on the ballot in the June 5 primary elections. CELESTE, WITH this announcement, seemed to withdraw from earlier statements in which he more directly moved toward an increase in the state personal and corporate income taxes to finance education and hold the line on local property taxes. In a press conference following his address to more than 1000 teachers attending a rally here, entertainment The music may sound great when you're sitting in the audience, but to most of the musicians making the sounds it's still noise. Page F-1.

1 1 in nor opinion President Carter has much to do if he wants to increase U.S. exports. Editorial, Page 1-2. index Sixteen Sections, 138th Year, No. 175 Cardinals Set Dates For Funeral, Conclave EDGAR BERGEN shown with his Charlie McCarthy.

Edgar Bergen Dies In His Sleep At 75 LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP)-Edgar Bergen, who brought life to a wooden dummy named Charlie McCarthy, died in his sleep Saturday at the age of 75. Less than two weeks ago, Bergen announced that he and McCarthy, a top-hatted, monocled dummy, were quitting show business after a 56-year partnership. Their last act was to have been at the new Palace Theater in Cincinnati, beginning on States at the funeral, the White House said Saturday. In his last document, the text of which was released Saturday by the Vatican, Pope John Paul said he longed for "the most blessed life" in eternity after "the short and often arduous earthly pilgrimage." It was a letter in Latin sent Thursday to an East German on a catafalque at the main altar.

It will be open to public viewing again beginning today at 7 a.m. The funeral Mass Wednesday will be said outdoors on the basilica's broad steps, the site of the requiem for Pope Paul VI on August 12 and of the 65-year-old John Paul's Installation as 263rd pontiff of the 700-million-mem-ber church just four weeks ago. Vice President Mondale will represent the United WORLD NEWS A AREA NEWS SPORTS BUSINESS NEWS CLASSIFIED NOW AT HOME PEOPLE TODAY COMMENTARY Abby Jumble H-14 Action Line H-2 Lang H-l ArtBks F-9-11 Maslowski L-4 Betty Beale H-10 Peale Birthdays F-12 Pets t7 Brady Black 1-3 Races C-14 Bridge H-14 Radio Brumtield 1-3 Reader Editor L-2 Camera F-15 Sheen Crossword i14 Seib K-2 Deaths StampsCoins D-8 ESP H-8 Sullivan C-l Luke Feck BO Travel L-6-10 Gallup ReportU3 Weikel B-l Garden H-13 When A Boy AA-5 Horoscope M05 Word Game H-15 VATICAN CITY AP)-Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, so soon brought back for the somber ritual and challenging task of papal succession, on Saturday set the funeral of Pope John Paul I for Wednesday and the conclave to elect a new pontiff for October 14. As the cardinals met in the Apostolic Palace, a line of mourners in tears, prayers or reverent silence filed past the body of Pope John Paul as it lay in state three floors below in the palace's Clementine Hall. Tens of thousands waited outside in St.

Peter's Square to pay their last respects to the simple, humble and smiling pope they had hardly gotten to know before his death late Thursday of a heart attack. At 6 p.m., the body was carried by 12 pallbearers from the palace to St. Peter's Basilica in a procession of 20 red-robed cardinals led by a priest carrying a cross and two others holding candles. The pallbearers were flanked by Swiss guards. The Sistine Chapel choir sang psalms.

The crowd applauded. INSIDE THE basilica, the body was placed 2 Men Killed In Head-On Auto Collision December 5. At the close of their engagement, Bergen was to retire and McCarthy was to go to the Smithsonian Institution. A spokesman for Caesar's Palace Hotel here said Bergen died at about noon Saturday. The cause of death was not determined.

Bergen was to have played Caesar's until October 11. On September 21, Bergen and his Irrepressible wooden partner met reporters in Los Angeles to announce the end of their careers. "How can you retire," the dummy asked Bergen, "when you haven't worked since you met me?" When asked why he planned to retire, Bergen said: "Because I get tired of working and saving money and sharing it with those who didn't." about 40. Both were dead at the scene, authorities said. Fire and rescue units were on the scene, near the Beechmont Levee, for about an hour following the accident.

Officers said one of the cars crossed the center line, striking the other head-on. Further details were not available late Saturday. Two men were killed in a head-on automobile collision that occurred about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, on the Beechmont Avenue overpass above Eastern Avenue, Cincinnati police said. Identification of the victims was not immediately available.

Police said both men were alone in their cars at the time of the crash. One man was described as about 60 years of age, the other I 0.