The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 16

V'W 4B DesMoines Sunday Register! August 30, 1992 family GOSCH ankle scar described by Bonacci, never had been released. West Des Moines police have not interviewed Bonacci, "It wasn't that we didn't check out what he was saying," says West Des Moines Police Lt. Gerry Scott. "We interviewed family members to determine if there was anything that he was saying that was remotely connected to the case and we just couldn't find anything." Scott says the FBI claims Bonacci is not a credible witness. Noreen Gosch says the grieving process never ends.

"Even after 10 years when I hear that a body has been found or something like that my heart turns over. You think, 'Is this But nothing happens. Then it starts all over again." The 24-year-old Bonacci is to be released in October after serving time for sexually abusing a minor. He provided elaborate stories of drug use, sex and violence to investigators probing the collapse in Omaha of the Franklin Community Federal Credit Union. A grand jury labeled Bonacci, said to have multiple personalities, "a pathetic figure." The Gosches believe Bonacci and his story that their son was taken for pornographers, driven to a house in Sioux City, then to Colorado and to a fate where his personality and appearance have been dramatically changed.

Bonacci has provided descriptions of their son that only a person involved could furnish, the Gosches say. Some information, such as an They have sold candy bars, had bake sales and garage sales to raise more than $100,000 for private investigators and handbills and posters. They have cashed insurance policies and emptied their savings to continue the search. "We had resigned ourselves to the fact that Johnny was dead and that we would go to our graves not knowing what happened. All of a sudden the name Paul Bonacci came out of nowhere and we had the truth.

There were things that he said he could not know" without having been involved with Johnny's abduction. Bonacci is an inmate at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln who claims he participated in the abduction. His story got wide publicity a year ago. Says her husband, "We kept going because we loved our son and we've wanted to find him." One poignant point is the family's porch light. It was kept on at all times to be a beacon should Johnny return.

The bulb has burned out and hasn't been replaced. Another note: Johnny's upstairs bedroom, kept untouched for years, has been cleared and is used as an office-storage area. "Divorces among parents of abducted children are pretty high. This is horribly damaging to all members, and it takes different forms and aberrations," says Rabun. Sitting in their living room, a few blocks from the sidewalk where their son's wagon was found with its bundles of undelivered newspapers, the Gosches have beaten the odds.

"You have a set of parents who are still together and who haven't totally destroyed themselves over the situation," John Gosch says. The Gosches have two grown children, one male, the other female, but they insist that their identities be kept confidential. "I don't think we could have done much more. We weren't trained policemen. We just did what we thought was right.

We got the word out and we started searching," Noreen Gosch says. The family successfully campaigned for legislation to have police move quickly on missing children cases. They have appeared on national television, at forums and in national magazines speaking for children and warning about the threat of abductions. Continued from Page IB window for successfully finding a stranger-abducted child plateaus up to one year. After that it's pretty much like falling off a cliff.

It doesn't go to zero but gets pretty close," he says. Noreen Gosch says of the long search, "It's an earthquake that goes on for years. It doesn't leave you. It has trashed our lives. "Would we do it all over again? Probably.

Are we sick of it? Definitely. Do we want a life? Yes. It would help us so much if we can put this to rest." She quickly adds, "So many, many people sent us letters and their kind wishes. It has helped keep us going." 7 I A mm is I I -1 I i BRIEF FOLDERS TWO DOCKETS 312 List 1.55 MMMl J-RIKQ BINDERS MEAD POCKET AND PRONG PORTFOLIOS 2 pockets and 3 pronq portfolios, 9-12" 11" assorted colors Pack of a No. 346 5 rPf 7 fit SAUCER COMPUTER CENTER 28" 23-12" With six shelves, monitor shelf.

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Women, you see, we have a right with men. Write it in the amendment, vote yes." They might not rhyme, but the words to this song by Des Moines singer Marchelle Jackson evoked cheers Saturday from a couple of hundred participants in the "Walk for Women's Equality" in downtown Des Moines. Jackson opened a rally that preceded a march through downtown to the Capitol. Participants carried signs and balloons and chanted slogans in support of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Iowa Constitution, which will be on the ballot in November. According to a pamphlet from the Women's Equality Campaign, which sponsored the event, the amendment would include women in the constitution, which now guarantees only that "all men are free and equal and have certain inalienable rights." Supporters say the amendment would help prevent discrimination against women.

Opponents say it is unnecessary and may be used to promote abortion rights or those of homosexuals. State Sen. Elaine Szymoniak, D-Des Moines, expressed dismay at that kind of interpretation. "It's so simple, so clear, so right," she said. "It's incredible that people can twist it around to something else." Recent Drake University graduate Missy Peterson tried to motivate young people at the rally.

She said only 20 percent of people ages 18-24 voted in the 1990 elections. "I don't get it," she said. "This is our future on the line." State Rep. Linda Beatty, D-Indian-ola, said the amendment is needed because child-care workers, most of whom are women, are making less money than parking attendants. That made sense to participants such as Dorothy Campbell of Des Moines, whose grandchildren held a sign that read, "African-American Women for ERA." Campbell, is unemployed, said she's interested in what the amendment may do to help women get jobs and wages equal to men.

Jann Freed, a teacher at Central College in Pella, and her husband, John Fisher, a Des Moines stockbroker, took their 3-year-old twin boys and their 6-year-old son to the rally. Fisher said he was first aware of the amendment proposal a week ago when Freed bought a T-shirt with a message about ERA. He said he attended the rally to support his wife. Freed had something else in mind. "My goal in life is to make my three feminist boys into feminist men," she said, Charter might see new vote CHARTER Continued from Page IB meeting with a few members of the commission next week "to see whether there's any point in calling another commission meeting." Those backing another vote have until Thursday, the deadline to call a referendum this year, to pass a proposal.

Efforts to move Polk County from its present form of government to a commonwealth system have cost various groups supporting the concept nearly $500,000 in the past three years. Not everyone is eager to give a proposal a third try. Commission member Nancy Stil-lians said lobbying efforts have picked up again, but she "doesn't see what's going to be gained. "There's nothing closer to my heart than reform of Polk County government, but this little baby isn't the mechanism." BICCRYSTAL STIC PENS Transparent ball pen with medium point Pack of 10. Blue 436-014 Black 436-022 List 3.90 double ooflnr Z' rtNULS 1-ring.

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