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The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 17

Location:
Cincinnati, Ohio
Issue Date:
Page:
17
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1993 SECTION VIO NEWS: 768-8600 "It's spooky at night knowing there's somebody out there or could be somebody out there." Howard Wilkinson I Politics Yes, really: Luken woos Towiis of waiting, watc keg 1 "i (ST At i I 1' I i i weary Powers, 55, and two brothers, James, 40, and Marlin, 33, in and around the house. Les Kessen, president of Napoleon State Bank, can't recall anything that's shaken the community of about 250 residents as much as the Hardebeck slayings. "It's just got everybody on edge until it's settled; until we know really what happened," Kessen said. Last week Hardebeck's brother, Bill, helped police search. He also issued a statement asking his brother to surrender.

"A lot of people think he's still alive and out in the woods," said Terry Harmeyer, who lives about 3 miles east of Napoleon. Since the murders, it's no longer unusual to see scores of police cars cruise the roads or to hear helicopters buzzing above the houses and barns. (Please see NAPOLEON, Page BID, i whIM'. N'SVC-VvV' ill BY BETH MENGE The Cincinnati Enquirer NAPOLEON, Ind. Residents of the bucolic Indiana communities of Napoleon and Millhousen remain stunned and on edge nearly 12 days after the killing of five members of a local family.

"The town is basically in shock," said Toni Collins, who lives in Millhousen. "You read about it in the papers, but you don't think it would ever happen locally." The locals usually spend this time of year talking over the state of their soybeans and corn, or the prospects of the Jac-Den-Del High School football team. Now they talk about George Hardebeck, a man who had lived among them all of his 31 years and who now is accused of gunning down five members of his family. In the days after the killings, neighbors helped search for the unemployed recluse who hunted squirrel and rabbit in the woods near his home. But he seems to have disap peared, swallowed up somehow by the surrounding woods and corn.

'Its spooky at night knowing there's somebody out there or could be somebody out there," said Jossie Johnson, who lives two miles from the house where the slayings occurred. Police have received a lot of tips but no confirmed sightings of Hardebeck or his tan Ford Escort station wagon. On Saturday the Indiana State Police at Versailles responded to two reported sightings. Both turned out to be newspaper deliv-erymen. "These poor guys here they are, just out trying to make a buck," said Sgt.

Jess Westmeyer. "People are still a little bit panicky." Last week police and volunteers combed the fields, forests, hillsides and creeks that surround the tan brick ranch house on Millhousen Road where the bodies were found. The home lies midway between Napoleon and Millhousen. The calm around the Hardebeck house belied the tragedy of the previous week. While police turned the family garage into a command post, they asked people to stay away from the house and its tidy yard where two beagles dozed under a Ford pickup and where well-cared-for roses, grapes and tomatoes grew.

Police suspect Hardebeck used a smaii-canDer weapon sometime in the evening Aug. 24 to shoot his mother, Martha, 73, sister, Betty Powers, 41, brother-in-law Virgil Japanese students keep busy Saturday classes put lessons in native tongue 7 mm 31 ABOVE: Law enforcement officials and others take a moment to confer during last week's massive search for slayings suspect George Hardebeck, at left. Police and volunteers Wednesday combed the fields, forests, hillsides and creeks that surround the Hardebeck home on Millhousen Road where the bodies were found. LEFT: At the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in nearby Millhousen, flowers mark the grave of one of the slaying victims. Last week more than 300 people attended services for the five' victims.

The Cincinnati EnquirerGlenn Hartong V4jtikiimit 4wk UJ" big business The big-business types on Fourth Street have had one deuce of a time electing Republicans to carry water for them on Cincinnati City Council in recent years. This year, though, they don't have to worry about it. They've got Tom Luken. Luken the erstwhile Democratic Party chairman, congressman and now council candidate has been nuzzling up to everyone from Carl Lindner on down in hopes of finding deep pockets to bankroll his campaign. At the same time, the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council which has supported Luken in congressional and city council campaigns since Lyndon John- Luken son was presi dent suddenly decided last week not to offer Luken an endorsement this fall.

Mainly, the labor unions blame Luken for helping push U.S. Rep. David Mann off the Democratic ranch and into the anti-Clinton camp, and they don't like Luken's cozying up to big business to build his campaign coffers. "I would not treat my friends like that," Luken said Friday, offering to debate Dan Radford, AFL-CIO executive secretary-treasurer, at Monday's Labor Day picnic. Luken was in a high dudgeon over the snub from organized labor, but he concedes that he has "many friends, some of whom are in business." Those friends who are in business, realists that they are, see little hope of electing a Republican majority this fall, no matter how hard they shake the money tree.

So Luken who plans on being the next mayor is the next best thing. But money talks; all else walks. So Luken will be giving members of the business crowd an opportu nity to put their money where their mouths are by paying $125 each ($1,250 for a table) to have a box of Wheaties with Luken at a Sept. 27 fund-raising breakfast. Luken, it seems, has struck the right tone for the Republican crowd, with his complaint that city council as currently constituted lacks leadership and vision.

"Return Luken; Restore Leadership, "the invitation to Luken's breakfast affair reads, inviting questions about why Luken thinks leadership needs restoration since his fellow Democrats have held the majority at City Hall the past two years. It's probably safe to say that Dwight Tillery and Radford won't be buying tables for this event. Dash for cash Last time around, the political parties and candidates spent an ag gregate $1.9 million on the Cincin nati City Council campaign; this time around, it is not unreasonable to expect that figure to surge well over $2 million. One has to wonder how there can be that many people with that much money to burn. So, too, does Nick Vehr, the Re publican councilman.

Vehr set the all-time record for campaign spending in a council campaign two years ago with a whopping $160,135. It didn't keep him from losing, though, and the GOP appointed him to the first council vacancy of 1992. Vehr's campaign finance committee reads like a Who's Whooi the Cincinnati Business Committee. But in 1993, those fellows have been busy raising great piles of money for Rob Portman con-' gressional campaign and Ohio Gov. George Voinovich's re-election ef fort about $1.3 million between the two of them.

As a result, pickings have been slim for Vehr and other Republican candidates. The pockets, it seems, are deep, but not bottomless. Howard Wilkinson covers politics for The Enquirer. Hts column ap KM United Way hopes folks dig deeper than last year a 4 I i From left, third-graders Takanori Kitagawa, Katsu Umehara and Yo Motsou read aloud in Japanese while their teacher, Setsuko Mihard, listens. even after lowering expectations.

"Hopefully, we'll come up with a realistic (goal), one the community can be proud of," said Dwane R. Houser, this year's campaign chairman, and chairman and chief executive officer of Community Mutual Blue Cross Blue Shield. Because the campaign is employee-driven more than 74 of the money raised is pledged by employees and executives of Greater Cincinnati companies having fewer employees at some companies means asking them "to dig a little deeper" and contribute to United Way, Houser said. "With the lack of confidence in the economy, that's a harder sell," he added. (Please see UNITED WAY, Page B8) starts at noon area are part of the festivities.

Expected crowds of 550,000 al- so will spill onto the surrounding hillsides in both states. Looking for something to do today? Among more than three dozen events are Lincoln Heights' festival, which continues from 1 to 10 p.m.; Alexandria's Fair and Horse Show; and Terrace Park's Sports Night, which begins at 4 p.m. with soccer, basketball, golf and other contests. Riverfest information, B3 Community events, closings, B10 BY LEW MOORES The Cincinnati Enquirer With the downsizing of companies, a soft economy and an anticipated greater federal tax bite for some, this year's United Way campaign workers will ask contributors to be even more generous as pledge cards are handed out at area companies. The goal for this year's campaign won't be announced until Tuesday, but last year for the first time in 19 years the goal was not reached.

The economy was blamed when United Way's goal of collecting $43.4 million fell short by still, United Way officials took some solace in the fact that other United Way campaigns around the country fared far worse Riverfest fun The Cincinnati Enquirer The countdown to Riverfest continues: one more day until the fun, food and fireworks. Though the ToyotaWEBN Fireworks won't begin till 9:05 p.m. Monday, 100 concession stands open and 15 bands begin performing at noon Monday as part of the free fest on both sides of the river. In Ohio, the party stretches from the Bicentennial Commons west to the Public Landing. In Kentucky, Newport's Riverboat Row, floodwall and James Taylor Park and Covington's Riverfront BY TANYA ALBERT The Cincinnati Enquirer Blackboards were covered with Japanese characters, student textbooks were written in Japanese and the teachers spoke only Japanese with their students Saturday morning at Northern Kentucky University.

And the students understood every bit of it. About 230 students, from kindergarten to high school, attend a full day at Japanese Language School of Greater Cincinnati at the university every Saturday. Most students are the sons and daughters of Japanese businessmen who have been assigned to work in the area for a few years. "They come here (to school) to maintain the ability to read, write, speak and calculate in the Japanese language for when they go back there," said Makiko Lea, a secretary at the school. The school, which served 33 students when it opened at Mount Auburn Church in October, 1975, moved to the University of Cincinnati in June, 1984, and moved to NKU this June.

The school is funded through tuition, which varies from $55 to $70 a month, depending on the gfde. the 45 Saturday sessions a year The Cincinnati EnquirerPhaedra Singelis "They take books home every day," she said. "They always carry a heavy backpack." Kitagawa, like many other students in his class, looks forward to his traditional Japanese lunch on Saturdays. Mothers pack lunch-boxes that usually include a rice roll, a vegetable such as green beans, deep-fried shrimp or another type of fish or meat, tea and chopsticks. The school employs 19 teachers, some who were teachers in Japan.

About half of the teachers are Japanese students attending UC or NKU, Lea said. "I like my kids to communicate well with Japanese, American or any other nationalities," said teacher Ken Sugiura, 23, a senior at NKU from Japan. "When they go to American school, many kids lose their Japanese culture. focus on math and Japanese language and culture. Younger students receive report cards on the same grading system used in Japan a 1-10 number system, 10 being the highest, Principal Akira Matsuba said.

Older children are graded with symbols, a double circle being the highest, a circle satisfactory and a triangle indicating the student must try harder. Saturday classes often provide a bigger challenge to students than the American classes they attend during the week, students said. Takanori Kitagawa, a third-grader who has been in Cincinnati for about four months, said he does homework from Japanese Language School Monday through Friday. "It's hard," the 9-year-old said. But the homework is typical of what the students would be doing ifi! they were attending school Japan, Lea said.

This is a good way for them to keep up with Japan." pears on Sundays..

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