The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 12

2MTIIE DES MOINES REGISTER Wednesday, February 7, 1990 DOOO WELtt'Ttw IhHW 1 IMUWHlllOTM Boy's disappearance in '82 haunts mother Veteran Lake City teacher suspended after accusation By SCOTT KOENEMAN By FRANK SANTIAGO A veteran Lake City teacher bat been suspended with pay pending a school district investigation into a parent's complaint. Lake City Superintendent Vernard Keerbs said. Keerbs said Robert Core, athletic director and social studies teacher was suspended after the district received a complaint from a parent ic the Lohrville school district, which shares teachers with the Lake Citj district. Keerbs would not describe the complaint But Calhoun County Attorney Dave Gidel said he has been contacted by several people. Including children "7 av if somewhere between the mallboi and the front door and practically drug myself into the house because it was such a shock," she said.

Gosch, in an interview after the broadcast said it wasn't known if the letter was authentic. She said there were details in the letter that indicated the writer had some familiarity with the family. She said she didn't know how the writer could have gotten that information. "No Choice" On the broadcast Gosch explained how she has coped with the loss of her son. "In a word, I don't know," she said.

"We don't have a choice. When something like this happens to you, you go on. You pick up and do what you possibly can." She said family and friends raised $400,000, much of it through candy bar sales, to find the boy. "This has put a tremendous strain on everyone. My husband and I con who claim that Core has tied np children who visited his borne.

Gidel said no criminal violations were discovered when his office investigated. "We have gone to the limit we can, and we have not found anything," he said. "We are aware of the allegations and are ready to investigate any information that the school district is ready to bring to us." Some of the allegations have been anonymous, Gidel said, but "we have talked to several non-anonymous tie-ees." "It seems he had a really good relationship with the kids," Gidel said. "It wasn't necessarily the kind of relationship parents would have wanted." We are still prepared to follow all the leads. If somebody has got some information, we would certainly like them to run it by us," he said.

Core said in an interview that his troubles involved a disagreement with parents. "It's a dispute between me and some parents," he said. "But it's nothing of a criminal nature." Lake City School Board President Edward DeVries said he had limited information on the allegations. Keerbs is to Investigate and present his findings to the school board for action. With her son missing for more than seven years, Noreen Gosch said Tuesday she remains haunted by the fear of never knowing what happened to him.

"If Johnny is still alive, I want to know. If he's not, if his life has been taken, it would be a comfort to know," she said on the nationally syndicated Joan Rivers Show. "We could then step into what we call the grievance process. We are not permitted that Yes, I would like a resolution." Appearing with two other women to discuss coping with tragedy, Gosch said the case continues to baffle authorities. The youngster, then 12, disappeared Sept 5, 1982, while delivering the Des Moines Sunday Register near his West Des Moines home.

Another Sundav Register carrier, Eugene Martin, 13, vanished Aug. 12, 1984, from his route in a south Des Moines neighborhood. No Leads Investigators have uncovered no information to indicate what might have happened to the two boys or if the abductions were connected. Gosch said in the television show that she had turned over to investigators a two-page letter she received on Valentine's Day in 1988, purported to be sent by her son. "It had mistakes in typing and Oyster Hour! HjtmJtMf tknmylt JnJaif .5 7 p.m 25 ea.

95' ea. Jumbo Cocktail Shrimp Wit 8TH STREET SEAFOOD BAR GRILL 12G1 8th Street, West Des Moines sider Johnny to be the true victim. Many times when something happens to you or in your family you tend to internalize this and say, 'Why does this happened to me, You cannot do that id this kind of case. If you do that, you begin to lose your energy. I don't mean to say you don't feel bad.

You feel horrible." When she lectured on missing children a few years ago, Gosch said she was approached by a woman who said, "It has been three years. Why don't you stop looking for him? He's probably dead anyway." "I stood there and for once in my life I didn't have anything to say. I gripped the podium and I thought, 'Oh, God, please help me. I can't even Geography quiz kids spelling. It said, Til never be permitted to return home.

They've cut my hair. They've dyed my hair. I look dif Mil 1 111. a Do I know the answer? Whew, I do! responds Jeff Goode to a question, and to his friend Charles Rooker, at the preliminary roud of the national geography bee Tuesday at Harding Middle School. Both seventh-graders were among 19 stadeats who advanced to the final round of Harding's quit, which will be Thursday.

Fifty-five stadents competed Tuesday. The state final will be March 30, and the national contest will be May 23-24 In Washington, D.C. The geography bee, sponsored by the National Geographic Society, is for fourth- through eighth-graders. ferent Please don't ever forget It was signed, 'Love, your son Johnny Hoodoo' "We'd never received a piece of ev idence like this ever. I fell apart ,1 ttu tacho! 5 opto Monroe board to sue over sharing pact DR.

CRAVEN I I DENTISTS PC I PLUS By PATRICK BEACH MONROE, IA. The Monroe School Board Tuesday night voted to sue the Prairie City School Board for its attempt to end a sharing agreement between the two districts. In a special meeting that at times more closely resem ONE DAY SERVICE ocsMomcs 1457 Km Way 3821 Merte Hoy Bd 244-6632 276-3046 MASON CfTV SIOUX CITT 27 Point Vehicle Inspection FRIDAY, Feb. 9th CALL FOR RESERVATION HICKMAN ROAD AT 1-35 1-80 1625 S. Federal 1010PircSt 515-423-4445 712-258-5494 CEDAft RAPIDS 315EAvnuN.W.

319-362-7037 bled a call to arms, the board unanimously moved to take the Prairie City board to court over its Jan. 31 decision to sever the sharing contract, which has been in place since 1987. After the five-member board agreed to the action, it re elected the four school board members who oppose sharing. "I'm sorry and please accept my apologies," said Gayle Woods. "Prairie City cannot remain a hard-headed cucumber in the pickle barrel of life forever, but it will try." Jeanne Overton accused Prairie City's board of "behavior my kids would get taken to the wood shed for." The Prairie City board voted to sever the agreement in an effort to keep class sizes small and protect it from having the will of the larger Monroe school imposed upon it As it stands, sharing between the two schools will end June 30.

The Monroe board claims the action by its counterpart in Prairie City is tantamount to a breach of contract, since the agreement was scheduled to last until June 1991. Prairie City officials see the issue not so much as the severance of a contract as the decision not to renew one, citing the agreement's clause that calls for an annual review of the sharing program. ceived a standing ovation from the more than 200 people assembled. Holmes Oldsmobile Holmes Honda Holmes Downtown Service Residents said the controversy was distracting to both NO ONE CJJYWSTHl NEWS LIKE THE DES MOINES REGISTER. To subsaibt.

call 284-8311. communities. 253-3014 253-3073 253-3100 "This isn't about kids," said Cliff Current, a Monroe res ident and parent whose wife teaches in Prairie City. "It's a power struggle over there." Some Prairie City residents expressed regret at having 1 VALENTINE TEDDY BEAR'S! EACH BEAR HAS ITS OWN T-SHIRTS WITH ASSORTED FRIENDSHIP EXPRESSIONS! 5 ONLY EACH HURRY! SUPPLY IS 1 I -MAGW5? fTZjUT Unci. FEBRUARY COMBO MEAL DEAL! 14 lb.

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