The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 2

2A THE PES MOINES REGISTER Wednesday, April 10, 1991 uuM MMim RANDY EVANS, Iowa mwi editor, 515-284-S065 Thief pays up, but store owner wants her arrested DATEUflE lOVA Reserve unit homecoming slated Friday By JENNIFER GARNER IOWA CITY, IA. A guilty thief, trying to clear her conscience, sent an apology and $15 Saturday to the owner of a used clothing store in Iowa City. The store owner said she was glad to get the money back, but still called the police. Melissa Williams, owner of the Second Act, received an anonymous letter and money Saturday from a woman who said she switched price tags on two suits so she could pay less money. The suits were similar, but one cost $15 and one $30.

The woman apparently switched the tags and paid half price for the more expensive suit The woman wrote that when she purchased the suit March 30, she owed several thousand dollars in bills and didn't want to pay double for a similar suit. "I have finally cleared my conscience and paid your store the right amount of money," the letter said. The letter was unsigned but there was a Missouri return address, which had been partially covered. The postmark was from Rock Island, 111., Williams said. Williams said the employee who sold the suit didn't remember the woman, but Williams called the police when she received the letter.

"I think It's Important for things like that to be reported to the police," she said, noting that she wants customers to know the store takes theft seriously and will prosecute. Reporting such incidents hopefully will deter shoplifters from coming to her store, she added. Williams said she was pleased that the woman tried to correct what she had done but said she felt there was a certain element of unfinished business. "I have ambivalent feelings about it I'm glad she did what she felt she needed to do to clear her conscience," Williams said. HARRY SAUMERTTht Rwlitw By WILLIAM PETROSKI RejMo)f Sldf Wrtfvr Marines from a Des Moines-based reserve unit that served in the Persian Gulf War will be returning to Iowa Friday for a reunion with their families and a parade through the city's streets.

Members of Company 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment are scheduled to land at the Des Moines airport at 9:45 a.m., where they will be met at the Iowa Air National Guard terminal by friends and family. Gov. Terry Branstad will speak during a short ceremony. The unit will have 125 Marines coming home, plus 11 Naval Reserve medical corpsmen from Des Moines who accompanied them to Saudi Arabia. Only authorized vehicles will be permitted at the Air National Guard base.

Families and friends of the Marines who wish to greet them have been asked to meet at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center at Fort Des Moines between 7:30 and 9 a.m. and transportation will be provided, said Capt Thomas Spence, a Marine official In Des Moines. After the ceremony at the airport, Marines will board trucks for a parade through the city at 11 a.m. Spence said the public is being encouraged to stand along the route to welcome the Marines. The parade is expected to last about an hour.

The parade will proceed north along Fleur Drive, east on Locust Street and then south on Southwest Ninth Street to Fort Des Moines. Company was called to active duty Nov. 30 and arrived In Saudi Arabia Jan. 1. Spence said the homecoming is especially significant because the local Marines were recently named the best combat unit In the 4th Marine Division for the third consecutive year.

They are the first combat-arms soldiers from Iowa to return from the Persian Gulf War. Two Army Reserve units from Fort Des Moines that returned last week performed support roles providing medical services. Also expected to return soon are about 130 members of Battery, 2nd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, a Marine Corps Reserve artillery unit from Waterloo. Those Marines are expected to fly from Saudi Arabia to Camp Lejeune, N.C., sometime between Thursday and Sunday, said Capt. Richard Schafer In Waterloo.

Schafer said he hopes the Waterloo Marines can return to Iowa April 20, but that date Is not final. 3ff I 'fJrt h.itrjm- tksmrsm Waterloo school board approves health clinic Pram Th Rtttolft WaXrlM tunaii WATERLOO, IA. A controversial school-based health clinic was unanimously approved Monday night by the Waterloo school board. The clinic is opposed by anti-abortion activists who charge that the facility will dispense contraceptives, promote abortions and erode parental influence and responsibility for their children. Backers of the proposed clinic at the Expo Alternative High School contend that it is needed because many young people in Waterloo aren't receiving necessary health care.

Education and counseling at the clinic could prevent unwanted pregnancies that ultimately cost taxpayers large sums of money, they contend. The clinic, financed by an $83,000 federal grant, will be operated by the Black Hawk County Health Department in space provided by the school district. Fort Madison man killed when car hits utility pole FORT MADISON, IA. (AP) A Fort Madison man died Tuesday when his car struck a utility pole, the Des Moines County sheriff's department said. Walter L.

Reaves, 42, crossed the center line and hit a pole on a road south of Burlington, officials said. Hampton police chief takes leave of absence Ttw ffjHtert tewt Nwt Strvtct HAMPTON, IA. Hampton's police chief has taken a voluntary, 30-day paid leave of absence "to work out personal problems," Hampton Mayor Howard Werner said Tuesday. Werner would not comment further. Police Chief Seldon "Bud" Nelson confirmed the leave of absence, but would not comment on it.

Woman charted in theftj hit victim with bath scale Th RtdtMr'i Imti Nwt terete BURLINGTON, IA. A woman was charged with first-degree burglary after hitting another woman with a bathroom scale early Monday, police said. Teresa Lena Wilson, 20, of Burlington was arrested along with Freddie Lee Millsap, 27, of Des Moines for breaking Into the home of Renee Loh-mann, 23, of Burlington, police said. In the burglary, Wilson beat Loh-mann with her fists and then with the scale, police said. Lohmann was treated at Burlington Medical Center for a cut on her head and released, officials said.

Police believe a possible motive for the burglary wis Wilson's belief that Lohmann had spread rumors about her. During the incident, a purse with more than $100 was taken and later recovered with the money missing, police said. Dubuque would recruit minority families to city DUBUQUE, IA. (AP) The Dubuque Human Rights Commission unanimously accepted a task force's plan to recruit, relocate and Incorporate about 100 minority families into the community by 1995. The plan was approved Monday after a presentation by members of the task force.

The plan will be presented to the Dubuque City Council for its endorsement before July 1. Katie Mulholland, a task force member, said the plan will help Dubuque by bringing "social and economic benefits from Interracial harmony." The plan addresses job needs, housing, social and consumer services, conflict resolution, community education and other factors needed to attract and retain minority families and businesses. The document also calls for the hiring of a minority coordinator to work with government officials, business people and community groups to help These eggs aren't meant for McMuffins This duck might have found a better place to sit on its eggs Tuesday than Just outside a McDonald's restau rant In Iowa City. The evergreen bush sits on patio i outside tne McDonald at Sycamore Mall and Is surrounded by parking lots. -5- hmmwmt foe jtlSCiJI Longtime Mason City librarian Punke dies low therapies offer hope for infertile pcoplo By KRISHNA CAMPBELL Rft fitter Staff Writer Alma Punke, who cultivated a love of reading in generations of northern Iowa youths during 24 years as children's librarian at the Mason City Public Library, died of a heart ailment Monday afternoon.

She was 86. Punke was children's librarian from 1927 to 1934 and again from 1953 until 1970. She took a 19-year hiatus from the Job to raise her own family. Marie Colby of Mason City, head of adult circulation at the library, said she worked as Punke's assistant for some time and said Punke "had a heart of gold" and was wonderful with children. "She was a marvelous person just wonderful," Colby said.

"She was always good with children Shovel," a big hit with the children. Madelyn Walls, who worked at the library from 1948 to 1988 and retired as assistant director, said she grew up with Punke as the children's librarian and later worked with her. She said she remembers Punke as a helpful and caring librarian who Inspired children to learn. "She always had a special book that she thought you might like. You always did like those books, and that led you to wanting more books by that author," Walls said.

"The library was a source of just Joy and fun and learning, but you didn't know you were learning." Punke was a lifelong member of the Clear Lake United Methodist and enjoyed children, and they enjoyed being around her." For a number of years, Punke was the Storybook Lady on a locally produced program called "Bart's Clubhouse," a children's variety show on the station KGLO In Mason City. Children would watch Punke and Colby on the show and then see her at the library, which added to her popularity with them, Colby said. "They'd see you on TV and In their eyes you were really a hero, someone to be admired," she said. Bartley Curran of Mason City, creator of "Bart's Clubhouse," said Punke would select the books to read on the show. He said one of her favorites was "Mike Mulligan's Steam Church and taught junior high Sunday school there for 14 years.

In 1934 she married Gus Punke and lived in Clear Lake until 1945, when they moved to a farm north of town. She is survived by her husband; two sons, David of Nevada and Joel of Clear Lake; three grandsons; and a granddaughter. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the United Methodist Church in Clear Lake. Visitation will be after 3 p.m.

Thursday at the Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel In Clear Lake and one hour prior to the service at the church Friday. The family suggested memorials In Punke's name be made to the charity of the donor's choice. By TOM CARNEY Rwtetof Staff Writer Despite many advances in helping women get pregnant, more than one in six cases of Infertility is unexplained, a University of Iowa fertility specialist told a Des Moines audience Tuesday. However, even unexplained infertility can be treated with the host of relatively new therapies, Dr. Frederick Chapter, a professor In the of I's Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, said at a conference on newborn care.

Those therapies Include GIFT, or gamete Intrafallopian transfer, in which the retrieved woman's ovum or egg and the man's sperm are placed separately Into the woman's fallopian tube for fertilization; and PROST, or pronuclear stage transfer, which involves retrieving the ovum in its microscopic stage and fertilizing it in the laboratory and then replacing it into the end of the fallopian tube to continue growth. Major obstacles to pregnancy, Chapler said In bis presentation, "Infertility: Old Causes, New Cures," Include low sperm counts, cervical mucous that blocks sperm progress, blocked fallopian tubes and failure to ovulate. Physicians use a variety of meth Psychic again called in to aid search for Johnny Gosch By FRANK SANTIAGO I the Des Moines Sunday Register. "Whether the Information comes from her or a suspect or a witness we have never found, we will do whatever we can with that information," said Scott. "I've got no problems dealing with lt and I hope and pray lt is successful." Scott said Alexander had been recommended by the Gosch family and police agreed to include her In the investigation.

Noreen and John Gosch appeared together with Alexander and other clairvoyants In March at a a taping of the "Geraldo" television show. The couple and parents of other missing children had been called together by host Geraldo Rivera to discuss the abductions. The psychics offered their theories about what happened to the children. Alexander told the Gosches that their son was dead and that the remains might be near a gravel pit and railroad bridge not too far from West Des Moines. Noreen Gosch said Tuesday that she had mixed feelings about psy chics.

She said that some clairvoyants had "good track records" and she in eluded Alexander In the group. Reached at her home, Alexander, who claimed she gained her psychic abilities In 1966 after being struck by lightning, said her powers "were impressions, like intuition, a woman's intuition." "There is no space and there is no time. There's just always," she said. She claimed to have located hundreds of missing people. She said she doesn't go with investigators on searches because there are too many visual distractions.

"We are hoping we can at least get something that they can work on," she said. Almost two years after Gosch wu abducted, Eugene Martin, 13, who also was delivering the Des Moines Sunday Register, was reported missing near his home In south Des Moines, about seven miles from where Gosch was last seen. Police have been unable to link the two cases or find a trace of either youngster. Police will get help from a psychic Saturday to find newspaper carrier Johnny Gosch, who hasn't been seen for more than eight years. "All things are possible," said West Des Moines police Lt.

Gerry Scott, who has been in charge of the Investigation. Scott said Greta Alexander, an Illinois woman who claims to have found hundreds of missing people, will give her "impressions" to steer investigators to a site she says could reveal what happened to the youngster. It is the second time Alexander has been involved in the case. She led officers well beyond the city into southwest Iowa In the early days of the Investigation, but the search turned up nothing. Alexander will be sitting In her Delavan, 111., home talking to Investigators over a mobile phope as the investigators ride through the Iowa countryside.

She is expected to describe various landmarks and locales to the officers, who will begin the search at 42nd i ods to overcome the obstacles, he said. Among the best known is in vitro fertilization, popularly known as production of "test-tube babies." The procedure involves stimulating ovulation by medication so that multiple ova are produced. The ova are taken from the woman and sperm from the man, and the fertilized ova are allowed to grow to a four-cell to eight-cell stage in a laboratory dish before placing them into the uterus for final stages of prenatal growth. Other factors in infertility are age and, perhaps, tension, said Chapler. Tension can be helped by stress management Older women can use donor ova.

guide the plan. Nashua man dies of burns suffered In chemical spill Frtwi Tht Rojtslfs WstertM ftWMU NASHUA, IA. A Nashua man died Monday in Iowa City from burns received Feb. 24 when nitrogen and sulfur dioxide escaped from a storage tank at the Solvay Animal Health Inc. plant In Charles City where he was working.

Jack Eckenrod, 61, died In the accident. Poisonous fumes from the chemical spill forced a brief evacuation of a few homes near the Solvay plant on the west edge of Charles City. 1 Johnny Gosch Missing since 1982 Street and Marcourt Lane in West Des Moines. Gosch, who was 12, Is believed to have been abducted from that corner Sept 5, 1982, when he was delivering.