The Daily Herald du lieu suivant : Chicago, Illinois • Page 9

i 9 iyotJ trend continues as split nears BUSINESS F1 Wednesday, January 3,1996 7 Sections 50 Gents WEATHER Very cold Partly cloudy and cold today with a high in the 20s. Northeast winds 10 to 20 mph. Tonight, partly cloudy. Low 5 to 10. Thursday, snow likely and very cold with a high of 15 to 20 and a low between zero and 5 above.

Chance of snow 60 percent. SUBURBAN NEWS Train death A teenage boy was killed Tuesday afternoon while attempting to outrun an oncoming Union Pacific freight train in downtown Wheaton Page 7. Nebraska's Lawrence Phillips scores the first of his three touchdowns. Nebraska romps No. 1 Nebraska defended its national championship with a 62-24 rout of No.

2 Florida hi a battle of college football's only undefeated teams in the Fiesta Bowl Section 2. Conqueror of poles Frostbite ended Borge Ous- land's solo cross-Antarctic trek, but it did not chill his pride in being the first to reach both the North and South Poles alone Page 2. Aggressive troops U.S. commanders say they won't negotiate for permission to pass through checkpoints or to move troops and supplies in Bosnia, a policy that worries their allies Page 3. SUBURBAN LIVING Guess who's 50? Yep, the baby boom generation is hitting that big 5-0.

The 76 million Americans that swiveled the Hula Hoop, fought the sexual revolution and served in Vietnam have reshaped America with their style, their tastes and their sheer numbers Section 3. Close look at deadly rail crossing Pena flies in for Fox River Grove hearings BY JILL JANOV Daily Herald Staff Writer U.S. Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena hopes a public hearing today on rail crossing safety will instigate cooperation and communication between agencies a factor some say could have prevented the tragic crash in Fox River Grove. This and. other unresolved questions about rail-crossing safety were raised by the Oct.

25 bus and train crash in Fox River Grove and will be the focus of the daylong public hearing in Chicago near O'Hare International Airport. Pena also has plans to visit the Elgin police search for suspect in bank robbery BY DAVID DUSCHENE Daily Herald Staff Writer The cavalier attitude displayed by a man who robbed an Elgin bank of $11,680 last week could help police arrest him soon, Deputy Elgin Police Chief Jim Burns said Tuesday. Burns said surveillance cameras at the NBD Bank, 304 S. McLean got several clear pictures of the robber, who police believe is David A. Newcombe, 34, whose last known address was in Chicago.

A federal magistrate in Chicago issued a warrant late Tuesday for Newcombe's arrest. Burns said police 'and federal investigators aren't certain where Newcombe is hiding, although they believe he has remained in the Chicago area. "We liked him very early on as a suspect, and we have superb photos of him from the bank," Burns said. "We know where he went, we know what he did. He was not being secretive about the fact that he had come into a lot of money." Burns said the bank robber apparently wasn't concerned about the surveillance cameras inside the bank when he held up a teller at around 2:10 p.m.

Thursday. "He walks hi the bank, threatens a teller (that) he has a gun, gets the money and then leaves the bank very calmly," Burns said. "His actions may have led us to him." Now, Burns said the authorities need help from the public in tracking Newcombe down. He is approximately 6 feet 4 inches tall, 190 pounds with black hair, brown eyes, a shaved head and a goatee. Anybody who has information about Newcombe should call Elgin Detective Greg Welter at (708) 9316054 or FBI Special Agent Bruce Harfordat (708) 505-5755.

U.S. Magistrate Arlander Keys issued a warrant that will allow police to arrest Newcombe without bond, Burns said. site of the tragedy that prompted federal officials to establish the Federal Grade-Crossing Safety Task Force conducting today's hearing. "My hope is that our hearing in Chicago will help shed important light on the kinds of steps that we should be taking," Pena said Tuesday. "And how communities, railroads, local, state and federal authorities can all work better together to ensure that another accident like Fox River Grove never occurs again." Before the hearing, Pena will visit Fox River Grove to meet for 30 minutes with the village president, a trustee, the police chief, the fire chief and the Crystal Lake High School District 155 board president.

"It shows Secretary Pena's concern," said Fox River Grove Trustee Lawrence Eckel. "It shows he has some questions he wants answered. Otherwise, he wouldn't be making the trip to Fox River Grove." Village officials will tell Pena they believe the answer is a reduction in train speed from 70 to 50 mph a request they first made following the tragedy and repeated after a Nov. 15 incident in which a Metra train traveling at 45 mph was able to make an emergency stop for a vehicle stuck on the A TRAGEDY WAITING TO HAPPEN tracks at another crossing at Fox River Grove. They will argue that slower trains in populated areas could prevent accidents by allowing engineers more time to react to people or vehicles blocking the tracks.

"We're hoping Mr. Pena sees the same thing we see," said Fox River Grove Trustee Michael Kunz. "You can't have trains going through faster than traffic. We're not set up for high-speed trains where people can walk around gates and come See SAFETY on Page 4 Budget battle persists President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore met with Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, left, and House Speaker Newt Gingrich Tuesday to discuss the budget impasse. AP Photo Senate votes to end shutdown Clinton pleased, but House GOP may block move Reuters WASHINGTON The Senate passed a bill Tuesday to reopen the government, putting pressure on the House where Republicans oppose ending an 18- day partial shutdown until a long-term budget deal is reached.

"People have been gone from their jobs long enough," said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, front-runner for the Republican party's nomination to face President Canton in November's presidential election. "Enough is enough." At the White House later, Clinton met senior congressional leaders for more than three hours in an effort to reach agreement on a measure to balance the budget in 2002. They agreed to resume talks this afternoon. As the meeting began, Clinton told reporters: "I want to compliment the Senate on voting to reopen the government today for the next several days while we attempt to finalize this, and I hope the House will follow suit." Coming up short Bruce and Surayyah Wallace, a Waukegan couple, have been hit doubly hard by the partial government shutdown. Both employees of the North Chicago VA Medical Center, the Wallaces collected paychecks Tuesday that were less than half their usual amount.

But as thousands like the Wallaces struggle to make due, the legislators who are deadlocked over the budget continue to take home full paychecks. Daily Herald Kent Kriegshauser SEE STORY ON PAGE 7 U.S. Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena flew into O'Hare Tuesday night. Daily Herald Zars Man gets 18 years for shooting Elgin officer BY DAVID DUSCHENE Daily Herald Staff Writer Adrian V. Arreola Adrian V.

Arreola could have been sent to prison for 100 years Tuesday, if not for some help from the Elgin police officer he shot last March. Arreola, 20, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery with a firearm while his mother sat sobbing in Judge James T. Doyle's courtroom. In return for the plea, Arreola avoided a trial on more serious charges that he attempted to. murder Elgin officer Robert Christ after a March 9 gang-related fight outside Taqueria La Tremenda, 481 Bluff City Blvd.

Judge Doyle said he agreed to the plea agreement only after having a lengthy, heart-to-heart conversation with Christ, who told the judge he would be satisfied with the 18- year sentence. Doyle called Christ a hero and a role model, but he said he would have preferred a harsher sentence. "I think you are a person who ought to be put away for the rest of your life," Doyle told Arreola. "You better have learned your lesson, because I think you have gotten the break of the century on this case." While Christ said he is angry that Arreola shot him, he believes Arreola will be punished fairly by spending 18 years in jail. "I don't think it was a hard decision on my part (to accept the-plea agreement)," Christ said later.

"It would have been nice to see him get more time, but 18 years is more than ample." Timothy K. Mahoney, Arreola's attorney, said his client could get out of jail in a little more than eight years if he behaves well hi prison. Mahoney said Arreola told him he was sorry for the shooting and was prepared for the sentence. But Arreola's family, which includes his mother and 12 broth- See SENTENCE on Page 4 Robert Christ Body found oh Duchossois farm identified after 6 years BY JAMES KMBERLY AND ERIC KROL DaUy Herald Staff Writers In the six years since the skeleton of a teenage boy was unearthed on the grounds of. Richard L.

Duchossois' Barrington Hills farm, the mystery of how the boy died has haunted McHenry County authorities. "People usually don't bury somebody in the back yard unless there's some kind of foul play involved," said Coroner Marlene Lantz. i But not knowing who the boy was or how long he had been buried before plumbers discovered his shallow grave kept McHenry County Sheriffs Police from open- ing a full-blown criminal investigation into the death. All that changed last summer, though, when one man's determination to reunite the Barrington High School class of 1964 provided investigators with the clue they had been waiting for. And now McHenry County Sheriff's Police are expected to announce today that they have identified the skeletal remains as those of 16-year-old John "Butch" Edmond Masters.

Sources close the investigation said police believe that Masters was killed in July or August of 1964, a few months after graduating from Barrington High School. Police have been talking to the boy's eople usually don't bury somebody In the backyard unless there's some kind of foul play involved." Marlene Lantz, McHenry County coroner father. The man, who is currently living out of state, told investigators that the boy's death was an accident The family rented an apartment at the Hill 'N' Dale Farm off Spring Creek road before Duchossois bought it hi 1968. The man told police that Masters fell down a flight of stairs during a heated argument the two of them were having, said McHenry County State's Assistant Attorney G. Terence Nader.

But the man did not explain why the boy's body was buried in the yard rather than turned over to police, Nader said. Nader said prosecutors intend to present what they know about the boy's death to a grand jury later this month. It will be up to the grand jury to decide whether the boy's death was an accident or a homicide, Nader said. Police opened their investigation into Masters' death after receiving a tip from Masters' former classmate, Thomas C. Branstrader.

Branstrader, who is now a Mount Prospect criminal defense attorney, said he wrote to McHenry County authorities after learning that Masters' family had not heard from him hi years. Police were able to positively identify Masters by matching DNA extracted from a tooth with blood samples taken from Masters' mother, sister and brother. The skeleton provided no clues as to what caused Masters' death..