The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 17

EDITOR: KERRY KLUMPE 369-1003 the Cincinnati enquirer SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 1991 SECTION MO jUIETIROSOTE 5" It I Camilla in i- "Kind act may have meant death 1 vvarr ck If 'ti- Authorities believe Daron was first victim in killing spree BY SHEILA MCLAUGHLIN The Cincinnati Enquirer i II fl i bV. Joseph Daron Jr. was a man of ii)Daron disappears Feb. 10 compassion, say those who knew him. 11 Ji UlnHii iF- Suspect in slaying A frequent volunteer at the SeattleTacoma, Wn.

Used Daron's VISA credit card I First Baptist Church of Milford, Seen at beach with Daron frequently took time to help Hfciii i I' 'i I r-i nn fc5 r-i nn fcy. ouinrie, reu. when he was needed, no matter how busy he was, said associate pastor Joe Demarest. day, John Fautenberry has been held by authorities in Juneau, Alaska, on $1 million bond. They have charged him in the homicide of a silver miner there.

Those authorities said Fautenberry has told them he killed Daron. Police have said they will question Fautenberry about at least two other killings. "It's been my theory all along that Daron was on his way home from dropping off the kids when he picked up Fautenberry hitchhiking," Sgt. Cliff Rowland, of the (Please see FAUTENBERRY, Page B-2) Fautenberry liked parties, Page B-3 Area serial killers, Page B-3 That quality may have led to Daron's death, say police. Police believe Daron, of Miami Ogden, Utah Ug) 'ornf S.

Laramie, Wyo. Cincinnati Cheyenne, Wyo. Township in Clermont County, stopped on Feb. 17 to pick up a hitchhiker. John Fautenberry, above, left a cross-country trail with Joseph Daron's credit card.

Authorities are studying possible links between Fautenberry and slayings in at least 4 states. Police believe the hitchhiker was John Fautenberry, and Daron's death was the first in a deadly cross-country odyssey. Since Mon Tne Cincinnati EnquirerBrenda Gfannan 2nd East End meeting erupts Council president resigns City must deal with issue of birth control Dr. Walter Bowers can answer to many titles physician, humanitarian, role model and now, the appointee-who-wasn't. It became official a few days ago when Cincinnati City Council confirmed Mayor David Mann's selections for the board of health.

Although Bowers, a 43-year-old obstetriciangynecologist, had been recommended for that duty, his name was dropped from the list of candidates after Mann learned that he has performed abortions. The mayor explained that he would not pick anyone who has a visible allegiance to either side of the matter. "Abortion," he said, "is an issue that does not belong on the board of health." It was a curious remark, considering that abortion is a legal, medical procedure, one that affects the lives of many of the people the board serves. So where does it belong the board of education, the board of park commissioners? How about the art museum board, a position Bowers was offered as a consolation prize? Obscured by a label The mayor was probably referring to all the baggage that comes with abortion deepening debate, demonstrations, political heat. In Cincinnati, in particular, it is a very uncomfortable subject.

Bowers was doomed as soon as the title abortionist got strung around his neck. It obscured all else. The fact is, he is a respected Mount Auburn physician, a member of the citycounty AIDS task force, an authority on teen pregnancy, a man who has traveled to Ethiopia to help deliver medicine to people in need and a role model in the black community. In 1986 when Bowers served on the Mayor's Task Force on Teen-age Pregnancy he spoke forcefully about his experience treating adolescents. He still does.

"We just put our heads in the sand with teen-age pregnancy," he said. "Kids are having sex. We can't shy away from that. We need in-school clinics. We need day-care centers for the children of young mothers who want to continue their education.

And we need to address the root problems of economics and housing. Kids need recreational experiences other than having sex in the alleys." Extraordinary times p'i i i 4sr' Urn- iliv' i 7 1 I if "mrl- --a. 1 miniums along the East End's Ohio River frontage. The final version of the city's plan, which must be approved by city council, will be unveiled May 11. Vice Mayor Peter Strauss said Saturday that poor people are victimized when rental units are allowed to deteriorate and eventually are condemned forcing the tenants out.

At least 20 families have been evicted from East End apartments in the past two weeks most of them after the city condemned their buildings. Others were evicted by their landlords, who Beatty said feared the city would condemn their property and force them to pay to relocate their tenants. Dave Edwards of the Cincinnati Building Department said inspectors are not going door-to-door condemning East End buildings. "We're not Gestapo," he said. "What we're trying to do is make sure people have decent, safe and sanitary housing." The Building Department does inspections only on buildings being remodeled or if a complaint is filed, Edwards said.

Some residents accused landlords of anonymously calling in complaints on their own buildings to get tenants out. Walter Sanders, 82, who's lived in the East End since 1913, got a standing ovation at the end of the meeting when he told residents to stand together and quit bickering. BY KEVIN O'HANLON The Cincinnati Enquirer Another meeting to discuss the plight of poor people in Cincinnati's East End dissolved into shouting and name calling Saturday as residents accused the city and developers of trying to push them out. "This group is the most devious group I've seen in my life," said Howard Beatty, 2713 Eastern referring to city officials and some members of the East End Area Community Council. About 50 people showed up at LeBlond Community Center on Eastern Avenue for a special meeting to discuss city building code enforcement and tenants' legal rights regarding a flurry of recent evictions.

A meeting March 16 to discuss the city's plan to revitalize the neighborhood also became confrontational. Patrick Ormond, president of the East End council, announced his resignation Saturday. Some members of the audience accused Ormond, a Realtor, of secretly working with developers. "I'm completely insulted by people that say I don't care and haven't done enough," he said. Ormond said his resignation is effective June 4.

Supporters of the city's plan to build low-income housing among existing buildings say infighting among residents plays into the hands of those developers who want only to build upscale condo Under ordinary circumstances, passing up Bowers for the board of health would amount to a snub. But these are not ordinary circumstances. A month ago when Michael Ritchey, head of the city's sexually transmitted diseases center, turned in his annual re port, the stunning news was not just a dramatic upswing in cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and AIDS. It was the ages of many of those affected. Consider gonorrhea, which increased 31 in Southwestern Ohio and is now at a nine-year high.

Patients had all sorts of backgrounds and lifestyles. What they had The Cincinnati EnquirerGary Landers Resident Bill Christ, standing, speaks at an East End Community Council meeting Saturday morning. Cincinnati council member Dwight Tillery, left, and Vice Mayor Peter Strauss, right, listen. in common was their youth. These are kids, people in their 20s, who are refusing to practice safe sex," Ritchey said.

Yet we are doing all we have ever done to reach them and more. Newport prosecutions hurt clubs, owner says Other vital statistics reveal more prob lems with youth. Cincinnati teen-age pregnancy rate 51 per 1,000 live births is higher than either the state or national average. So is its infant mortality Prostitution links 'like twisting knife in me' rate (12.2 per which experts link to teen-age pregnancy since very young women are the least likely to seek prena chil tal care. Unavoidable controversy the first (cases) to come up under the new ordinance," he said.

"Every strip bar has had arrests and convictions for prostitution." Goetz said he likes Lee and recalled a conversation with her 13 years ago. "She said any business can control prostitution and if an owner says he can't, it's untrue," he recalled. "If it was untrue then, it still BY ANN JOHNSTON HAAS The Cincinnati Enquirer Armina Lee runs a family business. Her mom is a partner and co-worker. Husband Roger greets th Several sisters and nieces help out, too.

"It's a family-oriented" place, Lee insists about the Brass Mule, one of the strip clubs along Newport's Monmouth Street that perpetuate tlV ill 1 Yet it must be remembered that this is the city whose council would not support health clinics in schools. The outcry from dren grew up knowing they never had to be ashamed of what I do." Armina Lee people opposed to birth-control informa tion was too strong. That was nearly five years ago. 1 Now times are more stressed for Cin cinnati. The board of health could profit both from the front-line experience of Bowers and from his candor.

To pass him lfk up wasn't just a snub, but a shame. That doesn't mean the board's three new members won't provide good leader ship. The mayor insists that they will. Thev are: Dr. Susan Montauk, a family practice physician at the University of Cincinnati; Linda Nixon, an employee of UC's department of internal medicine; and the city's sin-and-skin tradition.

She said it hurts when the club, and its sister club across the street, the Brass Bull, are linked to prostitution a link that closed the Brass Bull in January for six months. Tears well in Lee's eyes when she recalls the hearing where city commissioners labeled her club a "house of prostitution." "I felt violated as a human being," Lee said. "When I know in my heart I never allowed (prostitution), hearing that was like twisting a knife in me." She wonders about recent prostitution convictions after her clubs operated for years without problems. "I haven't changed anything," Lee said. "Was I just lucky?" Newport Mayor Steve Goetz said the city wasn't singling out any one club.

"It just happened the (Brass Bull) was one of is, uoetz said. Lee was in her 20s when she and her brother, VanCe Raleigh, opened the original Brass Mule in 1973 at Third and Monmouth streets. It was the go-go dancer era, with a strip act booked occasional- iy. Before then, Lee had been a substitute teacher in Newport public schools. That was possible then, she said, although she had not graduated from Eastern Kentucky University, which she attended after Newport High School.

She took over the club which moved to the 600 block of Monmouth when her brother was killed in a street shootout in Newport in 1973. Circumstances of the shooting, which also left a second man dead, remain a mystery, Lee said. "My brother was my father's image," she said. Her father died when she was 6 months old, leaving his wife, Bess, and four Tne Cincinnati EnquirerJoanne Rim lawyer Mark Silbersack, a longtime com munity leader. But a disquieting truth remains: The board of health has always been a light Armina Lee, who runs the Brass Mule in Newport, says city prosecutions threaten the viability of her "family-oriented" business.

other children. Kentucky health department; another is "Vance always worked hard," Lee said, pastor of a Baptist church in Newport. KIT- 1 I 1 i.1 ...1 1 1 ti ning rod for disagreement. Maybe that just the nature of health issues. Or Cincin nati.

It wont go away by appointing neneipeamymuiner.wiiuwurKeumuie thp ministpr krothpr sounds people who are beyond controversy. Con-troversies must be faced with courage. old Mills (cafeteria) for $25 a week. She funny," Lee said, "but it's not a problem. was too proud to accept welfare.

Over the years, her sisters have worked He knows what 1 da Camilla Warrick's column appears on for her. One brother is with the Northern (Please see LEE, Page B-4) Sunday. dsn.