The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 13

EDITOR: JAMES P. DELANEY, 389-1003 THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER MONDAY, MARCH 24, 19S8, SECTION Weikel columnB-2 Man found deadB-2 Jehovah's Witnesses gatherB-3 Doctor faces contempt chargeB-4 Woman dies in crashB-4 State news, obituariesB-5 NLO worker's isappearance ruled a death wm cJnZ A( 5.1 4.ii. i 1, i K-F' I if, -J I h. vfc si yy I'll I I ii If fc'j jjh i' fel I 'i'llil I The Cincinnati EnquirerJim Callaway The Kentucky State University Choir performs in Sunday's fifth annual direction of Carl Smith, won the festival in 1983. Morgan State University American Negro Spiritual Festival at Music Hall.

The KSU choir, under the won Sunday's competition. 1,300 degrees. The furnace is so hot a human body would have been virtually consumed by it, according to papers filed in the case. The furnace was shut down and searched after Bocks' disappearance and in it were found the keys to Bocks' tool box, metal eyelets and toe plates from a pair of boots, other metal bits and a few bone fragments, the documents said. "There is no doubt in my mind that Bocks died as a result of his entrance into the Nusal Vat," Rueger said.

"How he entered this vat is conjecture, but we know that he could not survive once he entered the vat. The vat certainly was a specific peril." Ohio law ordinarily requires five years to elapse after a person's disappearance before that person can be declared legally dead, unless it can be shown that the person was exposed to a specific peril of death at the beginning of absence. The family's lawsuit sought to have that five-year limit waived so they could gain earlier access to Bocks' benefits. The children, An-' thony Paul. 20, Casey Lynn, 17 and Matthew Payton, 15, live with their mother, Carline, in Williamsburg, Ohio, family attorney Leo Breslin said.

Bocks divorced his wife several years before his disappearance. No one in Bocks' immediate family could be reached for comment Sunday. "(Bocks) was not seen since 5 a.m." that June day, said the decision, which explained that Bocks was first missed by a co-worker when he failed to show up to go home at the conclusion of the third shift. Unless the decision is appealed, the family now can pursue settlements with several defendants named in the lawsuit. Defendants include Allstate Life Insurance Credit Life Insurance National Lead of Ohio and the Workmen's Compensation Bureau of Ohio.

The defendants opposed the suit, arguing that the evidence of Bocks' death wasn't conclusive. BY J. FRAZIER SMITH The Cincinnati Enquirer In the eyes of the probate court, David A. Bocks, the man who disappeared 22 months ago while working at the former NLO (National Lead of Ohio) Inc. plant in Fernald, is dead.

The ruling by Hamilton County Probate Court Judge Melvin G. Rueger earlier this month frees Bocks' three children to collect the estate of their father, who purportedly vanished on June 19, 1984. The worker's children filed suit in probate court in July, 1984 to have Bocks declared dead so they could collect benefits that include insurance claims and Social Security. Hamilton County sheriffs investigators have believed that Bocks, a 39-year-old pipefitter at the plant, fell, jumped or was pushed into a salt oven at the Fernald plant sometime during his a.m. shift there.

Sunday, Chief Deputy Victor Carrelli said the sheriff's department concurs in Rueger's decision. Although the coroner's office has never issued a death certificate for Bocks because there was no physical evidence, Carrelli said the case is closed unless new information is received. "We have never determined what actually happened to him," Carrelli said of Bocks. "We really aren't doing any more investigating on him." Carrelli said he'd have to agree with Rueger's decision because "we could never say it. We felt all the time (Bocks) was in (the vat).

We did the investigation. It's not up to us to rule on (cause of death)." "I conclude that, Bocks is dead and that he met his death in the Nusal Vat at NLO, on June 19, 1984," Rueger said in his decision. "This to me, is the only reasonable inference that can be determined" from depositions and exhibits filed in the case. The oven at the uranium processing plant is a large tank of molten salt heated to more than Dintuai i esu Black choral groups compete to raise funds for youth was going on," said Nikki Giovanni, internationally renowned poet and honorary festival chairman. In the years following the Civil War, the spirituals were kept alive by the 12-member Jubilee Singers from Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn.

After touring the country, the group went to England, where their music received high praise. "They just put tuxedos on and took (the spirituals) from the fields to the concert stage to show the viability of it." said Giovanni, a Fisk graduate. The group was later endowed by Queen Victoria of England and the money was used to build Fisk University's Jubilee Hall in the mid 1800s. (Please see SPIRITUAL, Page B-3) such factors as phonation, style, articulation and pitch. The groups performed many of the traditional spirituals, including "There's a Balm In Gilead" and "Yonder Come Day." The Morgan State University choir, under the direction of Dr.

Nathan Carter, won the competition and the first prize $2,000 check. The remaining groups received $1,000 each. As slaves, blacks found both relaxation and spiritual strength by singing such songs as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel." The vocal therapy later developed as a means for the slaves to communicate secret information without the slave master's knowledge. "Ultimately, slave masters began to forbid the spirituals because they didn't know what BY TONY PUGH The Cincinnati Enquirer On Sunday, choral groups from four black universities lit up Music Hall with their performance in the fifth annual American Negro Spiritual Festival. Sponsored by the Human Involvement Project Inc.

(HIP), the festival is a fund-raiser and cultural event designed to preserve the history of one of American music's greatest stories. Dr. William Warfield, professor of music and chairman of the voice division of the University of Illinois, was a member of the Sunday festival's three-judge panel. He said the participating choirs from Jackson State, Kentucky State, -Morgan State and Wilberforce universities rated on a 100-point system based on Super hunk Town is divided pver monaster Demolition plan protested 'V A 1 ii Firefighters battle rash of grass fires BY JIM CALHOUN The Cincinnati Enquirer Brittle dry grass and brush ignited and kept firefighters all over Northern Kentucky busy Sunday as they worked to contain a rash of fires fanned by the wind. Most of Sunday afternoon and into the evening, firefighters were at the scene of at least seven separate grass fires scattered across Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties.

Most were brought under control within an hour after discovery, and there were no injuries. "(The winds) are not terribly high," said Sal Pawlak, specialist at the National Weather Service office at Greater Cincinnati International Airport, near Hebron, Ky. "They've been averaging from the west and northwest at 15 mph. I did have one gust (at 4:08 p.m.) about 28 mph." The first fire of the day was reported at 1 p.m. on Stevens Branch Road, in Campbell County south of Alexandria.

About three acres of woods and fields caught fire. It took 45 minutes for Alexandria volunteers to bring it under control. That fire was followed at 2:15 p.m. by another on Parkers Grove Road in Kenton County, south of Morning View. About IVi acres burned, according to the Piner-Fiskburg Volunteer Fire Department.

Within half an hour, Point Pleasant volunteers responded to Dolwick Drive and Interstate 275 in Boone County to another grass fire. At 3:15 p.m., the Covington department was called to put out a blaze about 100 yards long and 200 feet wide along a hillside on Center Street. It took nearly 45 minutes to gain control. In Elsmere, volunteers had to go about 100 yards along railroad tracks near Short Bedinger Street to fight yet another grass fire at 3:40 p.m. After dark, fires broke out in wooded areas of southern Kenton County.

One was in the 6000 block of Taylor Mill Road. Kenton Volunteer Fire Department crews were on the scene at the south end of the Visalia Bridge for a fire late Sunday night. 'You just use brooms, rakes and shovels and keep going after it," Alexandria Volunteer Fire Chief Al Lederer described the strategy to fighting them. Origins of the fires were hknown. "Maybe someone will be going along the street and flip a cigarette down;" Explained Chief Robert Landrum, of Elsmere Volunteer Fire Department.

the property and sell it to a developer, but they have agreed to abide by use restrictions of the church and the Indianapolis Archdiocese and pay current maintenance costs, Hofstetter said. The entire town of Oldenburg is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, but the monastery is owned by the Catholic Church and can legally be demolished. Preservationists claim they have the support of nearly half the 400 parish families in the church, but only five guests attended a late February church council meeting to discuss the issue. And few others have come forward to protest the razing, said William Leising, parish council president. A church survey of parishioners showed 50 are not concerned with the monastery's fate, 25 want it torn down, and 25 want it preserved, Leising said.

"Some have even offered to buy the dynamite to blow it up just to get this settled," Leising said. "It's a shame to have to tear it down but we're just going to have to settle this once and for all." Ron Koch, OPA member and parishioner, said of 150 responses to an OPA survey of parishioners, 76 want it preserved. "It's a shame, but this situation is kind of splitting the town up," Koch said. Preservationists say their pleas to church representatives have fallen on deaf ears, and church officials remain adamant about destroying the structurally sound building. James Touhy, attorney repre- (Please see MONASTERY, Page B-3) BY JANET C.

WETZEL The Cincinnati Enquirer OLDENBURG, Ind A controversy over whether the old Catholic monastery should be preserved or demolished has split this tiny German town. The 92-year-old historic struc-- ture is slated for demolition June 1 "unless preservationists can come tup with a use proposal approved by -the Holy Family Church before an April 1 deadline. The situation arose about seven years ago when the property was vacated by the Order of Franciscan Priests. It became a hotly debated issue last March when the church was granted a demolition permit for the monastery by the Oldenburg Town Board. A cry of protest rang out from preservationists and some parishioners.

Their appeal of the permit is still pending before the Franklin County Circuit Court. When the Rev. Gabriel Buesch-er took over the parish in August, 1985, he agreed to forestall the razing to give preservationists time to find a suitable use. "Tearing it down would be a fitting April Fool joke on the whole "state of Indiana," said Richard Hof-stetter, an Indianapolis attorney "who donates his time to the Oldenburg Preservation Association (OPA) to help save the building. He also a member of the India- napolis Historic Preservation Commission (IHPC).

OPA, IPHC and Historic Land- mark Foundation of Indiana mem-" bers want the historic monastery s'aVed, but church representatives contend saving it is not feasible. Preservationists want to buy 1 ir. The Cincinnati EnquirerGlenn Hartong Chris Klein, 19, of Western Hills does a little bit of flexing at the 46th annual Mr. Cincinnati, Ms Mr. Teen-Age Cincinnati Bodybuilding Championships held at Taft High School Saturday.

Klein won first place in the Mr. Teen-Age Cincinnati contest. He cbmpeted against other 18- and 19-year-old bodybuilders from Hamilton County..