The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 19

ftcguitcr RANDY EVANS, MttroIow editor, 515-284-8065 I fy! (Des Moines) j- ti il 1 k. Ml 4 Thursday, May 16, 1991 WARREN TAYLORTh Remitter DATELINE IOWA las 'in to gauge the 'presidential waters' in 7 iL Lawyer links two slayings at apartments 11 ill i riffs Waterloo woman dies in crash with DOT truck Ttw RtvHtw't ki Nwi Strvtct By DAVID YEPSEN RMtfer Still WrHtr U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin plans a June trip to New Hampshire to test the waters for a presidential bid. New Hampshire holds the nation's first presidential OSCEOLA, IA.

A Waterloo woman died Wednesday morning 1 when the car in which she was a pas senger struck an Iowa Department of transportation maintenance truck BDOui Zft miles south of here. Leatric Robinson, 42, died in the primary, and Harkin confirmed in an interview he will be the keynote speaker at a fund-raising dinner for a Democratic legislative leader there. He said the trip would be part of his decision-making process about a run. "I'm not out saying I want to run for president. I'm out saying this is what I believe.

These are the values I believe in. This is what Democrats ought to be talking about. This is what Democrats ought to take to the American people," Harkin said. accident Iowa State Patrol officials paid Robinson was in the passenger TOM HARKIN peat of her car, which was being driv en bv J.T. Tinnev.

69. also of VI at pr too. The car slammed into the back of slow-moving DOT truck driven by Donald Driskill, 53, of Murray, offi cials said. Tinnev was taken to Iowa Method Mi "I want to see if the message resonates and I want to see if the messenger resonates, and people will let me know if I do," he said. Also Wednesday, Harkin said that although his con ist Medical Center in Des Moines, where he was in fair condition Wednesday, officials said.

Driskill was not seriously hurt. The accident sideration of a presidential bid might hurt the impor is unaer investigation. Elsewhere: i A Dunkerton teen-ager died and his twin brother was injured early By CHRIS OSHER RteMw Stall Wrffw A man accused of beating his girlfriend to death is innocent, and the woman's death may be connected to another slaying that occurred in the same apartment complex last week, the man's lawyer said Wednesday. The lawyer, John Wellman, made the comments during opening statements in the first-degree murder trial of Roger Pegram. Pegram, 33, is on trial for the death of his live-in girlfriend, Maria Schu-ler, 41, whose bruised body was found early Dec.

19 on the floor of her apartment at the Landmark South complex, located at 200 Dickman Avenue. Wellman said Schuler's death was similar to the death last week of Lana Anderson, 43, the manager of the Landmark South apartments. Anderson's body was found Friday in the apartment next door to where Schuler's body was found, Wellman said. He said both women died from blows to the head. Pegram has been jailed while awaiting trial.

Assistant Polk County Attorney Nan Horvat did not mention Anderson's death during her opening statements. In an interview later, Horvat said the two slayings "were not related in any way." She added that Anderson had been scheduled as a minor witness in Pe-gram's trial, but her testimony had been excluded as irrelevant and hearsay. Horvat said Anderson was not a central witness to the case. Horvat had asked District Judge Ray Hanrahan to postpone Pegram's trial and to bar Wellman from talking about Anderson's slaying, but the judge overruled her motions. Horvat told the jurors that Pegram had beaten Schuler in October of 1 990 Wednesday in a one-car accident, au thorities said.

Justin Lahmann. 18. was nro nounced dead at the scene and his brother, Jason, was flown to a Water EL 3 I 1 I "4 mmt tt if loo hospital for treatment and later was released, the Black Hawk County Sheriff Department said. The accident, which was under in vestigation, occurred at an intersec tion of two county roads near Dewar Ottumwa firm closed after chemical spill Lana Anderson Was to testify in murder case and that on several occasions he pulled Schuler's hair violently. Horvat said that on one occasion Pegram poured gasoline on Schuler's face.

Horvat said she would introduce as evidence blood found on Pegram's pants leg and a sock that came from Schuler. Wellman said his client was not present when the fatal beating occurred. On the night of the slaying, Pegram went to a strip bar, left a note at an old girlfriend's house and went to another friend's house, Wellman said. "We're going to show you Roger Pegram was not there, that he could not have been there," Wellman said. Th Ragnlar Back home OTTUMWA, IA.

(AP) Everco Industrial Co. was closed and eight employees were treated at a hospital after a chemical spill Wednesday. The employees were treated and released after inhaling fumes from Above, soldiers of the 1034th Quartermaster Company of the Iowa National Guard wave from trucks as they travel toward Camp Dodge north of Johnston Wednesday. Below, Tara Knight kisses her 17-month-old daughter Madison Sconiers at the welcoming ceremony. Knight and her husband, Woodrow "Woody" Sconiers, served together in Saudi Arabia.

the spill, officials said. Arlo Albers, Everco's operational manager, said an employee was mov' tance of the Iowa caucuses, there are other ways for Iowans to express themselves on the national scene," such as helping him in his campaign. State Democratic party leaders believe a Harkin candidacy will eliminate the significance of the Iowa caucuses. The importance of those events as an early presidential test was diminished in 1988 after the winners of the caucuses Senators Robert Dole of Kansas and and Richard Gephardt of Missouri were knocked out of the race less than a month after their victories in Iowa. A Harkin candidacy would give some candidates a reason to bypass Iowa and concede the state to the favorite son, party leaders have said.

They reason that with an Iowan in the race, the caucuses would not be an early test of how candidates stack up against each other. Decision by Labor Day Harkin said some Democratic candidates are going to bypass Iowa anyway. "I did not sit down with a slide rule and say what's the calculus of running for president" Harkin said. "If Iowans know me at all, they know I feel deeply about some things and I'm willing to head Into the wind. If this thing doesn't materialize, I'm still going to be here for five years.

"I've not set a timetable" for deciding on a run, Harkin said. "I think by July I'll have a fairly good sense of whether people like my message or the messenger. At the latest, the decision will have to be made by Labor Day." If Harkin got out of the race by Labor Day, it would still provide an opportunity for other candidates to develop campaigns in Iowa. Last Year's Topics Harkin said: "I'm going to ask Iowans to understand the things I talked about in my campaign last year about the fundamental values I was raised with hard work, individual responsibility, of taking care of family, strong community, of having a care and concern for those less fortunate I believe these are the kind of values people want to hear from us because they the basic values most Americans have. "They need someone to tell them in forceful, dynamic terms what those values are and how those values can lead us forward in America," he said.

"I'm going to go out there and push that message." He will speak at a testimonial dinner for Mary Chambers, the minority leader of the New Hampshire House of Delegates. Harkin is scheduled to address a gathering of the California AFL-CIO this weekend. California Democratic officials are considering holding a March primary or caucus shortly after the New Hampshire primary in 1992. He has also given speeches in West Virginia, New York, Maine, Florida, Virginia, the District of Columbia and Illinois. ing a barrel containing a mixture of nitric and phosphoric acid when the 1 Drake Vnl versify Campus Unlvtnrty Av.

1 rw.L. Ill wrn, uiim UfaM inn Supreme Court partially roins vicious-dog law lr Proposed apartments TV Drakt Point Apt. it r-k-Ma All Drak Li I jnvu Knapp plans 4th apartment in Drake area By PERRY BEEMAN RliMr Stiff Wrtttr Des Moines developer William Knapp is planning his fourth apartment building in a booming area near Iowa Women's Archives benefits to tune of $1.5 million in art sale Drake University. Construction on the $1.1 million building, which will have 24 two-bedroom apartments, should begin within two months, Knapp said. The apart- bottom fell out shortly before noon.

Nitric acid is used to dissolve and clean metals, and it can cause lung irritation. If breathed long enough, it can be fatal. Everco's 360 employees were evacuated for the day. The firm makes heaters, air conditioners, compressors, brake lines and power-steering equipment for cars. Police won't charge woman who shot her friend Prom TtM Rfottttfi WittrlM Burtaw WATERLOO, IA.

Authorities have decided not to file charges against a Waterloo woman who fatally shot a friend after he sneaked into her home. Theodore Kidd, 45, died Dec. 15 after he was shot in the chest by Seno-ria Adams, 38. The Black Hawk County attorney's office said Kidd had told Adams he was going to Kansas City for a few days, but she later saw a man in her darkened kitchen, and when he refused to respond to her questioning, she shot him, not knowing it was Kidd. Adams said she had been asleep when awakened by someone at her front door.

She refused to let him in, but he kept trying to distract her. Moments later, she saw the intruder in her kitchen, the county attorney's office said. Investigators said Kidd and three other people schemed to distract Adams to allow him to enter the house to rob her. Mississippi Belle II to start cruising in June Cram TM RatHtw'i dwmtrl BurMM CLINTON, IA. The Mississippi Belle II riverboat casino, a 500-pas-senger paddlewheeler, will begin its summer cruise schedule June 15, its owner, Robert's River Rides of Dubuque, announced Wednesday.

The Belle, formerly a dinner-excursion boat, is undergoing a $2.2 million renovation at a shipyard in Florida. Body found in river was Cedar Rapids man Pram TM RtctaMft Ctdw RmMi Bwmh CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. A body found in the Cedar River near Sutliff on May 4 has been identified as William Shockley, 30, of Cedar Rapids. The death was ruled a suicide. Shockley died Feb.

23 of drowning and hypothermia, State Medical Examiner Thomas Bennett said. Shock-ley had talked of suicide the night before he jumped from the 12th Avenue bridge in Cedar Rapids about 3:15 a.m. Police saw the man hanging from the bridge's outside rail but he Jumped Into the freezing river before they reached him. d- ments, which have mJk not been named vet. Jt By FRANK SANTIAGO RMlsttr Staff Writer The Iowa Supreme Court Wednesday pulled a few teeth out of Des Moines' ordinance restricting pit bull mmammmmmm terriers, but MiinnriiP c'tv officials oUrtimC say the law still PA MOT contains enough IfUUllI authority to deal with the controversial dogs.

The ordinance was contested by some Des Moines dog owners, Including a group called Responsible Dog Owners of Iowa, who claimed the restrictions were too broad and, therefore, unconstitutional. Their complaint was directed at the law's definition of a vicious dog. The owners said they cannot tell from reading the law which dogs are vicious and are regulated by the ordinance and which are not. The court agreed that some definitions in the ordinance are too broad. But the justices left much of the law intact.

While the ordinance properly identified as vicious some breeds, including the American pit bull, it also had "generic" descriptions of pit bulls that raised questions, the court said. For example, the court said, one section refers to "any other breed commonly known as pit bull." That description Is open to broad interpretation, the justices said. "This language does leave a reader of ordinary intelligence confused about the breadth of the ordinance's coverage," the court said in its ruling. With the unconstitutional sections taken out, "the remaining portions can be given effect and wili still fulfill the legislative intent to protect the public from dangerous dogs," the ruling added. Des Moines City Attorney Roger Nowadzky said, "Basically, this has little impact." He added, "The ordinance still allows you to consider the dog a pit bull as long as the characteristics are dominant.

If there is any doubt about the dog, it won't be Impounded." Des Moines lawyer James Waters, who represented the dog owners, said he was disappointed with the court ruling. "I own a Doberman and I'm one idi will be constructed at the northwest WILLIAM KNAPP VM- LV-il By CHARLES BULLARD Of TM Rhtir'i lwi City Rutmu The future of the proposed Iowa Women's Archives at the University of Iowa was assured Wednesday night when a painting by Frida Kahlo, Mexico's most famous female artist, sold at Christie's auction house in New York City for $1.63 million. The painting, "Self-Portrait with Loose Hair," donated by Louise Noun of Des Moines, brought the highest price ever paid for a work by a Latin American artist. The bidding started at $800,000 and it took only two to three minutes for auctioneer Christopher Burge, the president of Christie's, to sell the painting. The University of Iowa Foundation will receive $1.5 million from the sale, which was greeted by applause from the 300 to 400 people who jammed the auction room at Christie's.

Christie's commission is $150,000. The buyer of the Kahlo, who was in the room, was not Identified. A spokeswoman for Christie's said the man was a private buyer from Mexico. "I feel great," Noun said after the auction results were reported to her by telephone. "I'm delighted It sold and I'm delighted the money is going to be put to such good use.

I think Frida Kahlo probably would have been pleased, too." Said Mary Louise Smith, who is Kahlo. The New York Times reported she paid $85,000 for it. Either way, the oil on Masonite soared in value during the 1980s art boom. Because pop star Madonna is a collector of Kahlos, "Self-Portrait with Loose Hair" was offered to her for $2 million. She reportedly countered with an offer of $1.1 million, which was below the $1.5 million minimum set by Noun.

The auction was attended by Elizabeth Rawlings, wife of University of Iowa President Hunter Rawlings; by Elizabeth Leach, wife of U.S. Rep. Jim Leach; and by Darrell Wy-rick, president of the University of Iowa Foundation, among others. Noun stayed in Des Moines to attend a dinner party. "At 83 years old, trekking around the country takes a lot of energy, and those auctions are over so fast," she explained.

In 1990, Noun transferred ownership of the painting to the Chrysalis Foundation, a charitable foundation she established to benefit Iowa women. The foundation decided to donate the proceeds from the sale of the painting to the University of Iowa Foundation to establish the Iowa Women's Archives. The of I Foundation is attempting to raise another $500,000 to complete the $2 million to $2.5 million project, which will provide a repository for the history of Iowa women. corner of 24th Street and Drake Park Avenue, he said. The location is just south of the Drake Inn hotel, which Knapp built, and is near several of Knapp's other projects, including the Drake Pointe and Drake Court apartment buildings and the Drake Diner restaurant.

Joining Knapp in the project are investors who helped finance the Drake Pointe and Old Main apartment buildings and the Civic Center Court apartments downtown. "This is another step in the revital-ization of the Drake area," said Knapp, a member of the university's board of governors. Knapp had planned to use the site for an addition to the Drake Inn. However, he decided to build apartments instead because of the loss of apartments in the Drake area to make room for new buildings the school is planning. With rents of $450 to $550 a month, Knapp said, the new apartments should be attractive to two or three students who want to live together and share the cosU.

That has been the case with Knapp's other nearby apartment KNAPP Please turn to rage 6M The painting "Self-Portrait with Loose Hair" by Frida Kahlo. helping Noun bead the fund drive: "I Just really am so thrilled. I think everyone is happy all around." If the final bid had been less than $1.5 million, the painting would have been withdrawn and the financing for the women's archives would have been thrown into doubt. Noun, 83, who has been collecting art since her graduate student days in 1930, acquired the painting in 1983. Noun said she traded a painting by American artist Arthur Dove for the ot in tennis shoes away from being on DOGS Please turn to Page AAA a.4AAA,jAA a t(t a a a a a a.