The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 22

C-2 THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Monday, July 26, 1982 Despite Probes, Mystery Still Shrouds Slaying I INSPECTOR CLARENCE Pennington, chief of Clermont County sheriff's detectives, said Clermont County Coroner Nick Capurro determined the gunshot wounds were made by a .38 caliber weapon. Shortly after the body was found, some police said they heard a police broadcast of a description of Gilbert's van which said four men, possibly armed, might be in It. The van was found abandoned Monday afternoon, May 24, in Adams County. Pennington said at the time robbery was probably the motive for the crime. He insisted he did not know of any broadcast about the possibility of four armed men having been in Gilbert's van.

CAPURRO FOUND that Gilbert had not been dead more than 10 hours before his body was discovered. It appears he was slain about 6 a.m. Sunday. A resident who called deputies that Sunday to report what turned out to be Gilbert's van parked off the side of Ebenezer Road, near Ellsberry, north of Aberdeen, said it had been there for at least a day. It had been reported to Adams County deputies at 3 p.m.

Sunday, but they had trouble finding it based on the first set of directions, tle and caring with people, Gilbert was so widely known that an estimated 500 persons attended visitation hours at the funeral home in Bethel. Those who knew the friendliness of the man find It difficult to accept that he was a murder victim. Don Howerton, manager of the appliance repair office where Gilbert worked with 30 other technicians, has said, "I don't know anyone who would want to do him any harm." BECAUSE OF his skills as a repairman, he operated out of his Hamersville farm home, taking repair assignments in the Brown and Clermont counties area by phone or radio. The firm provided him a work truck and parts, although he also had his own van, a 1979 cream over brown Ford. Gilbert was last seen by his family at 8:30 a.m.

Saturday, May 22, when he left home in his van to make a service call. The family filed a missing person report at 10 a.m. Sunday with the Brown County sheriff's office. The victim had two gunshot wounds in the back as well as injuries from a beating. Investigators said they found no marks that would indicate he had been tied up.

BY ROBERT AA. ELKINS Enquirer Reporter GEORGETOWN, Ohio-It has been two months since a youth mowing a lawn on Swope Road south of Bethel, Ohio, discovered the nude, bullet-punctured body of Permon E. "Gene" Gilbert In a ditch. The investigation that began at 6:20 p.m. May 23 is still being pursued by deputies of Clermont County Sheriff John Van Camp, in whose county the body was found.

The case also Is being probed by deputies of Brown County Sheriff John Wesseler, Georgetown, but a deputy with Adams County Sheriff Louis Fulton, West Union, said their part of the investigation is completed. Gilbert's van was discovered in Adams County and he lived in Brown County. ONE OF the investigators, who preferred not to be named, said leads continue to come In, but no arrests have been made. The 46-year-old Gilbert, a native of Bethel, but a resident of the Hamersville area In Brown County, was a skilled repairman for a large General Electric appliance repair office In Cincinnati. Described as large in stature but gen said Sheriff Fulton.

The van, found locked, contained no sign that Gilbert was shot or beaten in or near the vehicle, Pennington said. It had not been wiped clean of fingerprints, but held no strange fingerprints. It did not contain the victim's clothing, Pennington said. Nothing seems to have been taken from his whose contents included tools. The only money found In it was two old silver dollars in a tool tray.

PENNINGTON SAID Gilbert was last seen alive at Clyde's Super Valu supermarket on Forest Avenue in Maysville, where he bought a pack of cigarettes at 1:06 p.m. Saturday, May 22. He had left his home at 8:30 a.m. to make a service call in Aberdeen. Pennington said he had completed the call.

"It's amazing how many people knew the man," Pennington said after noting that a supermarket employee recognized him in Maysville. She did not notice whether he was using the van at the time. The Clermont County detective chief said, "until I can prove otherwise" he would have to stick with his theory that the motive was robbery. The victim's "work KIPO CONTINUED FROM PAGE D-l Residents of Kipling, in the spirit of Rudyard Kipling himself, are fighting back with ferocity. They've collected petitions with 160 signatures against the name change.

The avenue contains 88 separate addresses, including houses, apartments, the hospital, a convent and an doctor's office building. HUTFLES, A retired librarian, wants to believe her street is named for Britain's jingoistic 19th-century poet and writer, Rudyard Kipling. "I often quote the one line about his aunt who never married as an 'ungathered But that may not be the case. The street was once called Cary Road, but became Kipling in 1912, shortly after Cincinnati annexed Mount Airy. There is a Cary Avenue in College Hill.

"I keep mean Wood Chip Lady's Doings Woman, 53, Held In Husband's Death A 53-year-old Evanston woman was being held Sunday In the stabbing death of her husband. The Incident, police said, occurred following a domestic argument. Homicide Sgt. Tom Obersch-mldt said Georgia L. Person was charged with voluntary manslaughter In the death of her 49-year-old husband, Lester T.

Person. Police said Person was a ca- eer man In the U.S. Marine Corps. The stabbing took place about 30 a.m. Sunday at the couple's esidence, 3552 Idlewild Ave.

Oberschmidt said Person was stabbed with a knife numerous lmes. Mrs. Person was being held Sunday in the Community Correc- institution. Don't buy an air conditioner until you compare these Intrigue Nosy Once upon a time there was a fellow who drove home from work on a familiar route, and every evening when he passed a certain house he could see a man whacking a boy on the head with a big loaf of French bread. Now the scene bothered the passerby considerably.

In fact, he thought it was about the weirdest thing he'd ever encountered. He was the type of guy who minded his own business, but the outrageousness of the whole thing began to prey on his mind. He thought about it day and night and it had an affect on his Job and his home life. He tried to forget the picture of the man hitting the boy with a loaf of bread, but he couldn't get it out of his thoughts. He even attempted taking a roundabout way home, but the absurdity of the situation somehow always drew him back to the same street.

ONE DAY he passed the house, and in spite of himself, took a look. This time he really did a double take, because there was the man and the boy, but the adult was hitting the youngster on the head with a cake. This was finally the last straw for the motorist. He Jumped out of his car, ran up to the house and beat on the door. "What in the name of heaven is going on here?" he shouted as the man answered the door.

"Every day I pass by and you're hitting this child with a loaf of bread, and today it's with a cake!" said the enraged motorist. "Naturally," explained the man in the house, "it's his birthday." That far out, of course, but how many times have you regularly passed a place and seen something intriguing or mystifying? You'd like to know what it's all about, but short of going up and knocking on the door, there doesn't seem to be a way of satisfying your curiosity. For a good while I've been noticing a house in Fort Thomas with a big pile of wood chips in the rront yard, sometimes the pile gets smaller, but then It's larger again. "The Wood Chip Lady lives there," an acquaintance once told me. WELL, REPORTERS have an excuse for being nosy, so Sunday I contacted the resident of the house.

It turned out that she's a delightful lady named Mary Bartlow, and the wood chips are mulch for her garden. clcallis" M.G. Spalding, Taught School Margarethe Geisler Spalding, 85, died Sunday in Bethesda Scarlet Oaks. Mrs. Spalding, a lifelong resi dent of Clifton, had been an ele mentary teacher in Cincinnati Public Schools.

She was a member of the first graduating class of Hughes High bcnool in 1914, and also was gradu ated from the University of Cin cinnatl. She was a board member of the Greater Cincinnati Tree Council and a member of the following organizations: Cincinnati Women's Club, the Salvation Army Emergency Home Auxiliary, the Cincinnati Beautiful Commission, the Cincinnati Historical Society, the Greater Cincinnati Girl Scouts Council, the May Festival Choir and the Wildflower Preservation Society. Mrs. Spalding was also a member or St. John's Unitarian Church, Clifton.

She is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Carol S. Nagel, of Cincinnati; a sister, Sylvia G. Swartz, and two grandchildren. Visitation will be one hour prior to a memorial service at 11 a.m.

Tuesday at the Spring Grove Mausoleum. The Anderson, Baiter and Sahnd Funeral Home, Clifton, is handling the arrangements. Memorial donations may be made to the Greater Cincinnati Tree Council, 950 Eden Park Cincinnati 45202, or the donor's favorite charity. Clarence E. Shipley, 73, of Anderson Township, died Sunday at Jewish Hospital.

Mr. Shipley was a retired principal of Allison Street Elementary School, Norwood, and had taught for 45 years In schools in Brown and Adams counties. He was a member of the New Harmony Masonic Lodge in Mount Orab, Ohio. He is survived by his wife, Frances; a son, John Shipley, Madisonvllle; and a brother, Edmund Shipley, West Union, Ohio. Visitation will be 5-9 p.m.

Tuesday at T.P. White and Sons Funeral Home, Mount Washington. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at Spring Grove Mausoleum Chapel. Burial will be in Spring Grove Cemetery.

Anna Christine Knox, 76, of Price Hill, died Friday at General Hospital. Mrs. Knox, of Price is survived by a daughter, Jean Shingle-ton, also of Price Hill. Visitation will be 5-8 p.m. today at Lafferty's Funeral Home, West Union, Ohio.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. Burial will be in the Manchester Cemetery, Manchester, Ohio. Elmer J. Heheman, 70, of Price Hill, died Saturday in St.

Francis-St. George Hospital. 1 Mr. Heheman had held various positions at Aufdemkampe Hardware Co. and was a member of the men's society at St.

Lawrence Church. He is survived by his wife, Hilda; a son, James daughter, Mrs. Mary Ann Hines, of Walton, and a sister, Mrs. Norma Oe-strtcher, Delhi Township. Mass of Christian Burial will be at noon today at St.

Lawrence Church, 3623 Warsaw Price Hill. Burial, St. Joseph Cemetery, Eighth and Seton Price Hill. Anna Maria Wackenthaler Trester, 66, of Price Hill, died Friday at Good Samaritan Hospi-, tal. Mrs.

Trester was a former Cincinnati public school teacher and also taught the handicapped. She was also a former social worker. She retired in 1957. She is survived by her husband, Frederick S. Trester.

Funeral services were held Sunday at the Elden A. Good Funeral Home, 2620 Erie Ave. Burial will be today in Spring Grove Cemetery. Norwood Hikes Pay For Police, Firefighters NORWOOD-An Inequity in the city's starting pay scale is expected to be corrected when city council meets at 7:30 p.m. today in city hall.

Eighteen police officers and firefighters hired during the past two years while the city was under a fiscal emergency were given reduced starting salaries in an effort to reduce long-term payroll costs. However, council neglected to make the lower starting salaries apply to all city Jobs because officials did not expect to hire new employees in other departments. When five sanitation workers were hired April 15 at the higher starting salary, police and fire unions complained. In a special meeting Friday, council raised police and fire starting salaries from $12,500 to $14,300, the pay levels before the fiscal emergency. Walnut Hills Man Drowns In Pool A Walnut Hills man died Sunday morning after fire officials found his body in an apartment complex pool, 3040 Groesbeck Road, District 3 fire officials said.

Glno Weatherton, 27, was taken to General Hospital at 1 a.m. He died 45 minutes later, fire officials said. 1 Williamson Passer sby It's quite a garden undertaking. Mrs. Bartlow has been terracing and mulching a steep hillside back yard a little bit at a time, In what she termed "a fork-and-spoon method." A tree trimmer brings her the chips, and the City of Fort Thomas has also provided leaves in the fall, she said.

I'm not the only one, I learned, who has been curious about the pile of chips. Passersby stop every so often to find out what she's doing, and sometimes they ask for chips for their own use, Mrs. Bartlow said. Last winter Mrs. Bartlow was witness to a touching scene that's even more of an interesting conversation piece than her wood chip pile and garden.

Some stray dogs took up residency in the wooded ravine behind her home; and in a hollow tree, a finale gave birth to two puppies. THE OLDER dogs, who apparently foraged for food on their own, would move a distance away and watch when Mrs. Bartlow brought food to the little canines. She watched them play like animals In the wild, and eventually she was able to catch them to pet and feed. She brought one puppy to the house, and suddenly the parent dogs and the other puppy disappeared.

The fate of those dogs worries her considerably, and she hopes that somehow they found homes or continued to sustain themselves. She wonders how people can Just abandon animals to fend for themselves. The puppy Mrs. Bartlow rescued now belongs to her nephew, and weighs more than 50 pounds. It seems to be a "police dog," she said.

There's nearly always an interesting story or two behind those unusual things which catch your eye. At the risk of being told to mind your own business, It might be worth your while to stop sometime soon and satisfy your curiosity. Maybe you'll even be invited to a birthday celebration. COCKTAIL HOURS 1 1:30 to 1:30 4 PM to 7 PM Mon. thru FRI.

In Our Dining Room CLARENCE PENNINGTON keeps robbery theory wallet" as well as his clothing have not yet been found. A Brown County deputy involved in the investigation said Gilbert apparently used two wallets, his own and another for work. His own wallet and his watch were found at home. The other, which contained his driver's license and payments for appliance repairs, is missing. ing to go back and see If there was councilman named Kipling," Hutfles said.

Street name changes are a relatively uncommon occurrence in the city. The best-known recent change occurred in 1977 when the West End's Lincoln Park Drive became Ezzard Charles Drive, in honor of the famous boxer. Since then, according to Mark Parker of the city's house numbering division, there's been only one other change of a street. Last month, Bracken Road in West' wood became Gobel Avenue. That was not done to honor a famous comedian.

An apartment building owner, believing would-1 be tenants avoided his street, wanted the change to pep up his rentals, Parker said. "BRACKEN HAS a Parker said. "He pressured the Westwood Civic Association to re-; quest (the change) to temporarily alleviate the blight on the community." I American Heating Air Conditioning Co. 2284 Quebec Road Cincinnati, Ohio 45214 471-2115 Crane Heating Air Conditioning Inc. 24 Clay Street St.

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