The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 15

Joice ftimes over private dub with naked dancers By GUNE RAFFKNSPERGER JOICE, IA. About a year ago one of the running disputes hereabouts was whether the go-go danrers at Charles Gerhart Jolt place were wearing (enough to cover ISMO NIS them under the law on nudity. There's no dispute Gerhart. who runs the place, said he always has taken care of renewing it. Gerhart said heretofore such a request was automatic, and in fact.

Gerhart claims, such renewals were i usually done with a signature and not in any formal council meeting. John Greve, the Joice town attorney, denies such a procedure ever was followed. Greve said in this particular case Gerhart tried to bypass the council to get a permit from the state beer and liquor control department Greve said Gerhart was told he needed council approval and that when the council informed Gerhart there would be a public hearing on the request he did not file for renewal. Endorsements So, said Greve, the permit was not i denied at first. It simply expired I because Gerhart did not seek renewal.

Then Gerhart sought a new permit, and this time endorsements from the sheriff, county attorney, fire liquor on credit and allowing public indecent exposure. Civil Artioo Gerhart said a magistrate found him guilty on a couple of the charges. But, said Gerhart, the same magistrate, acting In a separate matter as a private attorney, filed a civil action against him in reference to a mortgage payment. Gerhart said he has filed a complaint with the Iowa Bar Association in that matter. Ccrhart said sheriff's officers came to his tavern another time to serve papers in a tax matter, and in the course of the visit, Gerhart said, he was roughed up and then arrested.

He said one of the officers jabbed him in the ear with a ball-point pen. Sheriff Stoffregen said be recalls that Gerhart was charged with resisting an officer on one occasion, but he does not recall any incident involving a ball-point pen. Last summer, when the liquor permit for the C. Lounge Restaurant came up for renewal, Gerhart said, he spoke to Mayor Don Borey about it. The permit actually is in the name of Gerhart's wife, Penelope, but Anonson has a different story.

Anonson said the town welcomed the tavern and eating place but soured on It when the food served was below par and the drinks served were above average In water content. In any case, by about the start of 1982m Gerhart decided go-go dancers were needed to boost sales. Anonson said It wasn't long until complaints reached local officials that dancers were not properly covered, and the sheriff was notified. Gerhart was arrested In late February by Sheriff Charles Stoffre-gen on a charge of allowing public indecent exposure. When the case went to court, testimony showed that an undercover law officer from another county was the chief witness against Gerhart.

A jury found Gerhart guilty. He was fined $1,000 and given a suspended jail sentence. Gerhart said he has had other brushes with law officers. Once, he said, two plainclothes officers visited his place and later returned with uniformed officers who filed several charges against him, Including selling have to have It," aid Anonson, who runs a service station in town. "I don't think most people would mind the dancing If It was done under the it was not, and that was why he lost his liquor license.

Since then, It's gone from bad to worse." In the worse category, as far as Anonson Is concerned, Is the type of individual Gerhart's club attracts. "It's not the best when you see someone urinating in the middle of the street," aaid Anonson. Gerhart, 47, scoffs at such Ulk. "I have law enforcement people who are members here and also city council members from other towns who are members," he said. Gerhart, who bad operated the Rice Lake Country Club at Like Mills for several years, bought Joice's only tavern In 1979 and shortly afterward expanded It to include a restaurant.

Gerhart said his business was good for a time, then dwindled. "A few local people got drunk In here and made asses of themselves, so they started going out of town," Is the way Gerhart remembers the cause of the business slump. "CC. Lounge Restaurant." bring their own beer to the place. They store it In a cooler and fetch It themselves while watching the dancers.

Business Hours With the business not having a liquor license, law officers cannot enforce laws about what dancers have to wear. They can't enforce business hours, either. "To my knowledge we can't do anything with him," said Phil Norland, Worth County attorney. Norland's office did successfully prosecute Gerhart last spring or a charge that he allowed "indecent exposure" by permitting dancers to appear without the legally necessary covering on their bodies. But that arrest and conviction came when Gerhart operated a tavern where he sold beer and hard liquor.

"I'm as legal as the day Is long." said Gerhart recently. "I wouldn't even sell my mother anything to drink In here, except a soft drink. All I'm doing Is conducting a business." Perhaps, but it Is one that grates on the nerves of many In the town of about 240 people. "It's a shame we now. Barry Anonson, member of the Joice town council, says he's told the women dancers don't even wear a smile.

And Ccrhart, who used to hotly argue that the dancers were legally covered, now shrugs and says, "We have totally nude dancers." Ordinarily, such an admission would be a virtual Invitation to law officers to come barging Into Gerhart's place armed with arrest warrants and padlocks. That's not going to happen, at least not right, away. The reason is that Gerhart has stymied law officers by changing what was a public tavern and restaurant Into what is now a private club. The key aspect of Gerhart's club appears to be the fact that he does not have a liquor license. People who Join the club, called JOICE Please turn to Page 4li SECTION Dcslllomcs Simbay ftccftstcr UW CimW mi.

01 MMnrt RmiKr na Trtkwnt January 2, 1983 EGISTEH PHOTO BV JtFf SMAW I-miii -I, Mm i yf cvc Iowa family escapes in plane crash Parents, three children stuck in frozen swamp -aW JV --t Five lovans die on roads over holiday Ankeny man hits truck on Dcs Moines street 7 By DANIEL PEDERSEN RttMr Still wrltar It was the end of 1982, the end of the holidays, the end of an Iowa farm, family's Christmas vacation to mi, CarntMlo Florida. And when their plane's only engine died and the craft headed down. 1 des moines looked like the end of everything. 'isV'' U5 "You think of dying." says Esther Kregel of those crashing moments under New Year's Eve darkness in a 6 southwestern Wisconsin forest. "That's about all.

I could see the i treetops going bang, bang, bang, just slicing off. I "And I was wondering who would survive and. if it was me, how I'd get the children out." j' In the end, after a fiery explosion and a tramp through frozen marshes, Esther Kregel, husband John and their three children all would get out. Somehow, they escaped with only minor bumps and bruises and were safe and mostly sound Saturday afternoon in their home near the northeast Iowa town of Garnavillo. But 20 miles to the south and just across the Mississippi River, their single-engine, six-passenger Cessna sat in a federal wildlife refuge near Cassville, a charred hulk with a twisted wing, according to local au- thorities.

The craft gave testimony of how close the Kregels themselves had come to destruction. 1 They had started out Friday I morning from St. Petersburg, where they had spent their second consecutive Christmas with Canadian relatives, sunning on the beach and forgetting the early bite of winter. The family stopped over in Mobile, ISU student's 'Animal Factory' irks neighbors By ELIZABETH FLANSBURG RrtMr Staff WrtHf Five Iowans have been killed over the holiday weekend on Iowa highways and roads. A 28-year-old Ankeny man died late Friday when be lost control of his car, hit a safety island and crashed into a pickup truck.

Des Moines police reported that Stephen Eugene Carpenter was dead on arrival at Iowa Methodist Medical Center. The truck driver, who police did not Identify, was treated for bruises and released from the hospital. Police said Carpenter was northbound on Fleur Drive and speeding when he lost control of his car, hit the median and became airborne. The car crashed into the truck, which was southbound on Fleur. Two people were killed and two were seriously injured in Fayette County early Saturday morning when two cars collided one mile east of Terry Einck, 23, and Debra Ameling.

16, both of Waucoma, died In the crash. Julie Doubek, 16, of Fort Atkinson was in critical condition in a Waterloo hospital Saturday night. John Tomasek, 20, of Waucoma was admitted to a New Hampton hospital and is listed in fair condition. Iowa State Patrol troopers said Einck's pickup truck was stopped sideways in the westbound lane of a Fayette County blacktop road. Authorities said Tomasek was driving west and struck Einck's pickup truck.

Tomasek's car went into a ditch and rolled into a farm field. At the time of the accident, Einck and his passengers, Ameling and Doubek, were standing on the side of the road and were hit by Tomasek's Einck's hazard lights were on, officials said. A 22-year-old Cresco man was killed early Saturday morning when he was thrown from the car he was riding in. Howard County sheriff's officials identified the man as Dannie Lee Mclntyre. Authorities said Steven Brian Flugge, 21, of rural Lime Springs was the driver of the car.

Flugge was southbound on a county road about three miles north of Cresco when he lost control of the car, which ran into a ditch and rolled down an embankment, throwing Mclntyre out. He was pronounced dead at the Howard County Hospital in Cresco. Flugge is listed in good condition there with neck and shoulder injuries. A 20-year-old Diagonal man was killed Friday about 7 p.m. when he lost control of the car he was driving and rolled into a ditch.

Iowa State Patrol officers identified the man as Ronny Wayne Garner. Officials said Garner was northbound on Highway 66 about one mile north of Highway 2 when he lost control of the car. a dryer motor and a truck smog pump. He hopes his fish business will pick up and talks of starting a tropical fish hobby club. "I don't know about people sometimes," he muttered as he checked his fish.

"I mean, rabbits don't stink. Chickens really don't stink either. It's not like having a hog confinement in your back yard. "You should be able to do what you want and still respect your neighbors. Sometimes I just think people stick their nose where it doesn't belong." many people, Clark said, the raising of rabbits and chickens for food might increase.

"Now, I know you can have rabbits," he said. "I think maybe there is some federal law about that, something they made during the war time about letting you have victory gardens, raising your own food." With his rabbits and chickens gone, Clark said, he has more time to seek peace and quiet among his fish. His basement hideaway is filled with aquariums, their water heated by an old gas stove and air pumped through them by a contraption he made from CRASH Please turn to Page 5B Anger flares as Gosch hunt drags By BARBARA MUSFELDT RttHtar Crmnditf AMES, IA. Michael Clark doesn't get it He just wants to lead a simple, problem-free life. All he wants, he said recently, is to live in his old house near downtown Ames and fix it up a little when he has the time and money.

He wants to take care of his animals, feed his 600 tropical fish and study for a degree in veterinary medicine at Iowa State University. But it wasn't to be, he said. Enter the problems, multiplying like rabbits. He had to get rid of his rabbits. He had to get rid of his chickens.

The three springer spaniels belonging to his roommate had to go. But even though he got rid of the chickens and rabbits a source of food for the struggling vet student the problems remain. Their coops and hutches still clutter his front yard, which borders on two of Ames' busier streets. They are, to some of his neighbors, an eyesore. The neighbors want them gone.

"You can't make me," is Clark's reply to the neighbors. "At least I don't think they can. And I for sure don't think they should be able to." Legally, nobody made Clark get rid of his rabbits and chickens. There is nothing in Ames' ordinances that forbids keeping chickens or rabbits as yard residents, or horses, sheep, lions or other animals, for that matter. Several Complaints It's neighbors, Clark said quietly and firmly, that made life difficult for the rabbits, the chickens and, subsequently, for him.

City officials report several complaints about the house Clark named "Animal Factory." Ames City Manager Steve Schainker said the matter of keeping animals on residential property was being passed to the city Planning and Zoning Commission. Clark opposes an ordinance change that would restrict animals in residential areas. "I mean, don't you think it should be my right to do what I want with my own yard?" he asked. Clark bought the old brown house about a year ago. If residents of the older neighborhood think his yard is cluttered, they should see the inside of the house.

The 21-year-old student rents the upper half of the house to three other people. He shares the bottom half with two roommates, some guinea pigs, gerbils, 600 tropical fish in 65 gurgling tanks, a stuffed green frog named Kermit, a stuffed camel resting under a Christmas tree, more fish including Doris, a local bullhead and some pigeons that drop in occasionally by way of the aging roof. Pet Store Clark's "Animal Factory" is legally named the Animal Factory. He has a pet store license that allows him to sell fish from his collection, which has grown from one aquarium and a hobby in the last two years. He said he might rename the place now that the rabbits and chickens are gone.

"I didn't really want to get rid of all of them," Clark said, "although I didn't have time for the rabbits, and the chickens weren't laying eggs for some reason." Clark said he thinks a parking dispute with a neighbor may have started his problems, which brought city animal control and sanitation officials to his door to inspect the Animal Factory and its residents. They didn't find any violations. Noise Meter The springer spaniels left this fall after their barks proved too loud on the -police noise meter and their owner was cited for disturbing the peace. Clark said he has heard that some neighbors are trying to get the city to make him clean up his yard. But he's not budging unless he finds somebody interested in buying a coop or a hutch.

Clark said that he is a good neighbor and that he has painted two sides of his house and probably will paint more when he can. "If somebody told me this place is an eyesore I'd say, 'Hey, you want to fix up my house, pay the bills to do it, go With tough economic ames facing stone unturned," said Callaghan. "I guess it's like someone who has terminal cancer. They're going to try everything, including things that are experimental, to get results." Investigations Clash The private search has collided in a bang with the official one. The Gosches say police have bugged their phones and they are being followed.

"That's crazy," responds West Des Moines Police Chief Orval Cooney, who heads the official investigation. The Gosches charge that West Des Moines police are incompetent, that they "have done despicable things to us." Among those things was a statement to the couple that they were among the people police checked out as suspects in the early stages of the investigation. They later were told they no longer were regarded as suspects. The Gosches say the police have botched the investigation. Case in point: The Gosches say investigators have never bothered to search Johnny Gosch's room thoroughly, looking for leads such as notes and hair samples.

The Gosches say police did not bother to lift fingerprint samples of the youngster from his room and do not have prints to GOSCH By FRANK SANTIAGO Rtahtor Staff wmr There's no hesitation, no timidity in Noreen Gosch's voice: "I want my boy and I don't care what I have to do to get him back." She inhales deeply, and then, with a faint quaver in her voice that hints of painful months past, she sighs, "What price would you put on your child? What is his life worth to you? To us it's everything." About four months ago, on a mild Sept. 5 morning, Johnny Gosch, the 12-year-old son of Noreen and John Gosch, vanished while he was preparing to deliver the Des Moines Sunday Register in West Des Moines. After scores of leads, many of them painfully weak, the disappearance of the youngster, whose 13th birthday has come and gone, remains baffling. Next week, even more mystery will be heaped upon the case. Police are expected to announce that a man who the Gosches claim has vital information about their son, is not involved.

Authorities will say they believe he was in Texas at the time. "This guy is a flake" who changed his story several times under interrogation, says one of ficer. Not Convinced But the Gosches, anticipating the announcement, are not convinced. They maintain that the man has an important role in the disappearance and even told Noreen Gosch that he really don't give a damn what Noreen Gosch has to say. I really don't give a damn what she thinks.

I'm interested in the boy and what we can do to find him. I'm kind of sick of her." Police Chief Orval Cooney gave Johnny a ride to Atlantic the day he disappeared. It has become an unusual search and perhaps an unprecedented one in Iowa. The Gosches have sidestepped police and are conducting their own private investigation, pouring in thousands of dollars for private detectives to poke around in places like New York and the Southwest for their son. "It's not unheard of to see people getting involved like this, but it is unusual," says John Callaghan, director of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy at Camp Dodge and a 27-year FBI veteran.

"Families who are very emotionally involved are not going to leave any IOWA BOY Please turn to Page 4B Chuck Offenburger is on vacation..