The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 3

Saturday, January 16, 1988 THE DES MOINES REGISTER 3A IOWA NEWS BOB NANDELLThe Register DATELINE IOWA Successful love angel: 'Pure and wholesome' Morphine found in baby's blood, but tests flawed llllllli ill maw 1 'A 1 7 'I 'n i.imiiiiiif X. rMstmn Jogging memory of warmth With a revitalized sun melting ice on the sidewalk and temperatures near 40, a noontime jogger splishes and splats past the Des Moines Botanical Center Friday, enjoying the break in winter's siege. STORY: IA. Popcorn pioneer Quinn dies of aneurysm at 61 By WILLIAM RYBERG Of The Register's Davenport Bureau MILAN, ILL. Pamala St.

Charles was having a busy day at the former home of Mother Maria and the Angels of Love. Hustler magazine called. So did a Cleveland radio station. No, St. Charles told Hustler, she wouldn't pose nude for a photo layout for money.

"I'm a pure and wholesome girl," she said, "I don't think posing nude would be in keeping with my image." Yes, she told WWWE radio, she was willing to give her side of the angels story on a radio talk show heard in 38 states and half of Canada. The pace has quickened for St. Charles since she was charged in federal indictments for her role in an operation built around a fantasy paradise inhabited by nude young women called "love angels." The mythical angels are out of business, but St. Charles isn't. "National Story" Young, attractive and articulate, she has emerged the most visible character in the saga.

"It's a national story," said Allan MacDonell, Hustler articles editor. Still in the fantasy trade, St. Charles has become an entrepreneur, author and fictionalized heroine of a series of "romantic fantasy" stories. "They're very tame," said St. Charles.

No four-letter words. No graphic sex. Photographs of St. Charles, in glamourous poses but fully clothed, accompany the stories. St.

Charles, 24, of Rock Island, 111., and Donald and Esther Lowry of Bet-tendorf, were indicted in December on mail fraud charges and other counts by a federal grand jury in Illinois. Lowry, 58, insists the now-defunct operation he headed, Col International, or the Church of Love, merely provided lonely men with harmless fantasies for entertainment. Federal prosecutors say the business defrauded 31,000 men of millions of dollars with false promises. New facilities and bigger staff at Eldora urged By THOMAS A. FOGARTY Register Staff Writer The Eldora State Training School needs new facilities and a much larger staff, says a report issued Fri day.

The report by a committee domi nated by private citizens recom mends that the Legislature approve a five-year, 15.6 million building program at the school. The report also recommends the Legislature spend $1.3 million annually to double the number of youth workers at the school. "Our primary interest now is to get some money into the school, said Lynn Vorbrich, an Iowa Power and Light Co. executive and chairman of the committee. Here are some highlights from the report on the 120-year-old juvenile correctional institution: "The staffing level at the school is not safe for either students or staff," the report says.

During prime time for rehabilitation programs evenings and weekends the ratio of students to staff is 15-to-l. The report recommends an increase of 60 youth workers to lower the ratio to 5-to-l. "The committee has serious con cerns about the adequacy of the physical plant," the report says. Thirty or more boys are housed in open dormitory rooms, a situation that Vorbrich called demeaning. It makes it more difficult to deal with behavioral problems and is in conflict with the institutional goal of improving students' self images.

The report calls for remodeling two living units and building five more units. It also calls for new school and recreation buildings. An evaluation and classification center, such as the one for adult convicts at the state prison hospital in Oakdale, should be established for juvenile offenders. Rather than leaving the decision on who goes to Eldora to juvenile judges, as is the case now, professionals should determine which offenders should go to the school and which of them should be sent to residential programs. Bill Reichardt.

a Des Moines cloth ier and member of the committee. said the need for professional evaluation of young offenders is the sinele most important recommendation in the report. It absolutely essential to turn the program around." said Reichardt. Previous evaluations of the school by professionals from outside the institution indicate that too many children are sent to Eldora when their problems could be better addressed in less restrictive settings. "They all agree two-thirds of the kids up there don't belong there," Reichardt said.

The report also recommends more attention be given to drug and alcohol abuse problems among the youths. The report is a draft, but commit tee members said no substantive changes in the final report are likely. By DEBORA WILEY Of The Register's Cedar Rapids Bureau CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. Blood tests done at a St. Paul, laboratory were flawed, but the results still indicated morphine was present in the blood of a 2-month-old boy who died here last year, the lab's director testified Friday.

But two expert witnesses, testifying for the boy's parents, accused in his death, said the skewed results didn't prove anything and more tests should have been conducted. The testimony took place during a 3V2-hour hearing before District Judge Thomas Koehler in the case against John Michael Richmond, 34, and his wife Karen Lee Richmond, 27, of Cedar Rapids. The couple faces child endangerment charges in Linn County District Court in connection with the death of their son, Michael Lee Richmond. The infant's death on April 25 was at first attributed to sudden infant death syndrome, which mysteriously kills babies. After a five-month investigation, the parents were charged on Sept.

22 with child endangerment, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Officials accused the couple of using the drug heroin to quiet the fussy child. Officials believe a quantity of heroin was a source of the morphine. In a press conference last fall, the Richmonds said they believe their son had a fatal reaction from a vaccination for diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus that the baby received two days before he died. Kingsley Labrosse, laboratory director for Medtox Laboratories Inc.

of St. Paul, told in his testimony of a series of problems that have plagued the case. Labrosse said the blood arrived at the lab marked as a clinical, not forensic, specimen. Forensic specimens used in criminal cases are given more extensive testing and are kept in a locked refrigerator. Part of a forensic specimen is also reserved for possible future testing, but all of the blood marked as coming from the Richmond child was used in the initial tests.

Labrosse also said he made an error in calculating the standards against which the tests would be measured. "There is morphine present but we can't ascertain the actual amount," he said. fwijtstcr, A GANNETT NEWSPAPER Published Mondav through Saturday DES MOINES REGISTER AND TRIBUNE COMPANY 715 Locust Street Des Moines, la. 5030? Vol. 139 No.

177 January 16, 1988 Telephone and Service Directory To subscribe or to report a circulation service problem, please call (515) 284-8311 Or. toll-free 1-800-532-1573 To purchase classified advertising, please call (5151284-8141 Or, toll-free 1-800-532-1585 To reach news offices, please call: Des Moines (5151284-8065 Ames i515232-2383 Cedar Rapids 1319)365-7404 Davenport (319)326-2662 IowaGty (319)351-6527 Waterloo 319 233-2018 Washington, (202- 347-9111 General business phone 515 284-8000 Officers and Department Heads CHARLESC EDWARDS JR. President and Publisher (515) 284-8041 JAMES P. GANNON Editor (515)284-8502 FALA B0LZNER Operations Director (515) 284-8085 DIANE GLASS Marketing Services Director (515) 284-8281 JOHNM.MIKSICH Circulation Director (515) 284-8310 HENRYC. PHILLIPS Advertising Director (515) 284-8070 SUSANA.

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50304-0957. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use or reproduction of all local news printed In this newspaper. SENFCO AUTO CENTER Only in Des Moines Time Intensity Commitment irozoa SUBARU AUTO CENTER Acres Acres of New Used Cars Trucks 4x4 Cars Trucks 9060 Hickman Rd. sJllllO UnmnfiiiP'ii rifiiai HQ uD Woman accused of using roommate's money card The Register's Iowa Newt Servlrn DUBUQUE, IA. A University of Dubuque student faces charges of first decree theft after she alleeedlv used her roommate's bank card to obtain more than $9,000, Dubuque ponce said rndav.

Maggie Koh, 20, is accused of using Serena Quee Lan Tan's automatic teller card in SeDtember and Novem ber before Tan realized the card was missing, assistant police chief Terry Lambert said the money has been recovered. Secret Service checks phony money incidents The Register's Iowa News Servira CRESTON, IA. The U.S. Secret Service is investigating an alleged at tempt to pass counterfeit $100 bills at two treston business places Thurs day. U.S.

Attorney Chris Hagen in Des Moines retused comment Friday be cause of an on-going investigation." Kirby Hutchison of Omaha, area Se cret Service chief, was in Des Moines Friday, but did not return Dhone calls Managers at the Hv-Vee erocerv store and the Sernett's department store, where the incidents occurred, would not comment. Kanawha farmer slips, falls in hog house, dies KANAWHA, IA. (AP) A Kana wha farmer died Friday after falling in a hog house. Richard Katuin, 50, of rural Kana wha died when he slipped and hit his head on a wooden partition, breaking his neck, Dr. Stephen Bolton, Hancock County medical examiner, said.

Monroe woman doing well after kidney transplant The Register's Iowa News Service MONROE, IA. A Monroe woman was in good condition Friday at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines after she received a kidney trom her mother in a transplant operation Tuesday. Lisa Sille, 20, received the kidney from her mother, Roberta Kinart, also of Monroe. Sille has had kidney problems since she was six months old, Kinart said, One kidney was removed when she was 4, and several months ago her family learned that the remaining kidney was functioning at 10 percent of its capacity. Former pilot acquitted of filing false documents The Register's Iowa News Service CEDAR RAPIDS, IA.

A former official for the defunct American Central Airlines of Dubuque was ac quitted in U.S. District Court Friday on five counts of filing false documents with a government agency. Michael D. Bedford was acquitted Friday of filing false flight training and testing certificates with the Civil Aeronautics Board. The jury of eight men and four women was unable to reach a decision on the sixth charge and a mistrial was declared.

The U.S. attorney's office will decide whether to try Bedford again on the sixth charge. Oakland coach faces firing for mishandling scuffle OAKLAND, IA. (AP) A hearing will be held Monday to determine whether suspended coach Marvin Thompson will be fired because of a fight at Oakland High School. Thompson, who has coached football at Oakland for nine years, was suspended by Superintendent Johnny Smith, who has recommended that Thompson be fired.

The parents of junior high school student Mark Jeppesen claim Thompson mishandled a fight between two junior high students that apparently broke out after a dodge ball game during a physical education class. Jeppesen, who was not involved in the original fight, approached Thompson, believing that the coach didn't handle the situation properly, Michael D'Angelo, the school's attorney, said. Jeppesen then tried to kick Thompson in the groin, but Thompson trapped the boy's leg between his thighs and grabbed the boy's leg, Thompson's attorney said. Jeppesen lost his balance and fell. Class 3A, A school bands compete in state contests The Register's Iowa News Service BOONE, IA.

Young musicians from around the state will compete Saturday in the Iowa High School Music Association's seventh annual Swing Choir Jazz Band State Contest for Class 3A and A schools. Competition will be held at Cherokee, Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, Sumner, Southwestern Community College in Creston and at Lone Tree. Contests begin at about 8:30 a.m. and conclude at about 5 p.m. By BRETT CHASE Register Staff Writer Kenneth E.

Quinn, 61, the Lake View man who funneled Iowa popcorn to people around the world, died Wednesday of an aneurysm in Edina, Minn. "Everyone in the business knew Kenny Quinn," said Arthur Vogel of Hamburg, the president of Vogel Popcorn Co. and a competitor of Quinn Popcorn Co. for many years. "He was aggressive," Vogel said.

"He was always going out and getting business. He certainly was a factor in the popcorn business." Quinn built his family's farm into a prosperous popcorn business. In its 40 years of operation, it became one of the world's largest producers of hybrid popcorn seed. Quinn began the business by raising seed corn while attending Iowa State University, where he graduated in 1949, said his son, Bruce. Quinn later began processing the seed himself in the 1950s, his son said, and in the 1970s, Quinn expanded the business to concentrate on export sales, building a modern processing plant in the Sac County town of Lake View.

By the early 1980s, two-thirds of the Quinn Popcorn Co. business was overseas in more than 20 countries. I LI KENNETH E. QUINN Pamala St. Charles Six-page fantasy dates Operating out of Lowry's old headquarters, St.

Charles, Lowry's former chief assistant, has created the American Association of Single Persons. She says it's patterned after Lowry's operation and he's an unpaid adviser. She's buying Lowry's printing equipment and has invited his 13,000 former members to join her association. St. Charles is the sole female lead, a "wholesome, girl-next-door type," in a series of "old-fashioned romantic fantasy" stories.

A Quad City native with experience in advertising, St. Charles says she does the writing, working 12- to 15-hour days in her wood-paneled office. She's written a dozen six-page "fantasy date with Pamala" pamphlets with titles like "Fantasy in a Phone Booth," and "Our Winter Adventure." A passage from "The Picnic:" "Our kisses became more fiery, our caresses became more passionate Then the earth shook and the sky exploded and screams of ecstasy pierced the stillness of the forest." Daily Letters For a $10 weekly fee, St. Charles' members can get a letter each business day filled with what St. Charles describes as chit-chat, fantasies and hints for improving self-confidence.

There's also a by-mail lonely hearts club for men and women and a monthly newsletter. In Peoria, L. Lee Smith, an assistant U.S. attorney, said St. Charles' current operation is not under investigation.

Prosecutors allege that the old operation duped men into believing they were sending money to real "love angels," although none existed. The defendants deny any wrongdoing. Interest in the case remains high. St. Charles said she's been contacted by two book publishers and a TV movie operation about rights to the love angels story.

But St. Charles says she also feels her reputation has been harmed by the publicity. Some East Coast news papers have dubbed her "Paradise Pamala." St. Charles has gone on the offen sive, calling area newspapers and ra dio and television stations to publicly proclaim that she and the Lowrys are innocent and that she is a business woman. lowan's body burned in trunk By TOM SUK Register Staff Writer A body found in the trunk of a burning car in Indiana last week was identified Friday as that of a Sioux City man.

Francis Perrin III, 19, was identified by using dental records and some personal effects found in the car, a spokesman for the Indiana State Patrol said. Firefighters found the body in the trunk of a car which was discovered burning Jan. 9 in a rural area about 9 miles from the northwestern Indiana town of Morocco, authorities said. Employees of a truck stop in Kankakee, 111., are the last persons known to have seen Perrin, as he walked toward Interstate Highway 57 two hours before the burning car was discovered. Investigators said the truck stop is about 30 miles from where the car was found.

The owner of the car, an Indiana man whom authorities would not identify, has been reported missing. Frank Perrin of Sioux City said his son had gone to Chicago on personal business and was hitch-hiking home when he disappeared. Perrin said his son called less than an hour before the burning car was discovered, but did not indicate that he was having any trouble. "If he did I certainly would have cued in on it and he would be home now," the elder Perrin said. Perrin said his son grew up in Ohio and had been living with him in Sioux City for only the past five months.

Francis Perrin was employed by the John Morrell his father said. CORRECTIONS CLARIFICATIONS The Register strives for accuracy and fairness. Errors in our news columns wn be corrected In Nils space. Readers who believe the paper has erred may request a correction by phoning the of fice of the editor (S151 24-1502. Quinn won a U.S.

Department of Commerce award in 1984 for excellence in export sales, and in 1985 he was named the Iowa Small Business Exporter of the Year by the U.S Small Business Administration. But just five months later, financial problems brought on by the trou bled farm economy in general, and a depressed popcorn market in particular, had forced Quinn's company into bankruptcy. Quinn had spent the past two years working with his daughter, Kay, who managed World Popcorn Traders, a small wholesale popcorn business in the Minneapolis, Bruce Quinn said. Quinn's funeral will be at 2 p.m. today at St.

Joseph's Catholic Church in Wall Lake. He is survived by his wife, Lorraine; two sons, Bruce of Palo Alto, and Jon of Des Moines; his daughter, Kay of Edina; and his mother, Leona Quinn of Lake View. Salvation Army fire blamed on short in electric cord The Register's Iowa News Service FORT MADISON, IA. A fire that destroyed the Salvation Army store here late last Sunday was caused by a short in the electric cord of a digital clock, Fire Chief Steve Etka said. An investigative team determined the short circuit sparked the fire, which spread from the office and engulfed the building, Etka said.

mahask'a Fremont county -I neancii 3 WJlA 34V ics for four years and we've grown close. With Eddyville, we don't get a chance to slowly meet them and get to know them." A petition signed by about 75 students opposing the Eddyville sharing agreement was presented to the school board, said Oakie. Board members met with the students Thursday. Two public hearings on the sharing agreement have been held, said McCaulley. The Fremont and Eddyville boards will meet and vote separately Jan.

25. McCaulley said some students had attended the public hearings and a few had spoken against the proposal. Those students who stayed away from classes Friday face one-day suspensions, he said. I lJf IntqlnAOQ 1 P8JHH EE PLA in. I SO Mvwuimn Eg 1 1 WAPELLO COUNTY jj Fremont students riled by plan to merge schools By AMY DUNCAN Register Staff Writer Ten Fremont High School students, who would rather share classes with Hedrick than with Eddyville as proposed by school officials, face suspensions for boycotting classes Friday in protest of the plan.

The Fremont school board is sched uled to vote Jan. 25 on a proposed agreement with the Eddyville district. The agreement calls for sending Fremont students to Eddyville High School beginning with the 1988-89 school year. But the protesting students say they prefer to share classes with the Hedrick school district. We have more friends at He drick," said freshman Holly She-phard.

"We get along better with them." Fremont Superintendent Randall McCaulley said over the past three years the district has been consider ing various sharing arrangements with Hedrick, Eddyville and Oska-loosa. Hedrick and Fremont have shared athletic programs for about four years, he said. That would end if the sharing with Eddyville is approved. "It's not that we don want to go to Eddyville," said Blaine Oakie, a ju nior and student body vice president. It's that if we have to share we want to go to Hedrick.

We've shared athlet- i.