The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 26

P'" i he lies moines Register Friday, Fkbrvary 3, 1 995 "ACES Life Behind Bars Excessive Use of Alcohol Bittersweet Speech is convicted A farewell to Iowa GityJ by Rawlings Iowa board suspends license of pathologist in death of woman urors were not told that he had previously served 1 1 By CHARLES BULLARD Ot Tiik Rk Ii City Bi kk.m- years in prison in the death Of a Fort Madison teen. Iowa City, la. University of Iowa President Hunter Rawlings, who will become president of Cornell By DEBORA WILEY Of' Webster City, la. Ruben Gar- who served 1 1 years in prison for 1978 slaying, will be sentenced to University on July 1, bade farewell to community leaders in a bittersweet speech here Thursday. "This is a very poignant time for me," Rawlings spend the rest of problem and intends to enter a treatment program.

He resigned Jan. 1 as medical examiner. Therkildsen formerly worked at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll. He said he hasn't worked there since Sept.

6. The board summarily suspended Therkildsen's license, meaning that he can't practice medicine until a hearing, set for March 1, is held. The board imposes summary suspensions only when it finds that a doctor's continued practice would constitute an immediate threat to public health or safety. Among the board's charges is that over the past several months Therkildsen appeared for work at hospitals and clinics with a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. On Dec.

20, while in his office during normal business hours, the board's order says, he provided a witnessed urine sample to a board investigator that his life behind bars after being Dr. David H. Therkildsen of Carroll says he intends to enter a treatment program. By TOM CARNEY Register Staff Writer The Iowa Board of Medical Examiners has suspended the medical license of a Carroll pathologist it accused of being intoxicated at death scenes while acting as county medical examiner. The board's complaint says that on several occasions between July and December of last year, Dr.

David H. Therkildsen's excessive use of alcohol made him "unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety." Therkildsen, 41, said the board's charges are "pretty much factually true." He said he has an alcohol i if told members of Iowa City service convicted Thursday of a 1993 murder. I Garza, 32, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death clubs. Rawlings verdict as vindication for families of both Garza's murder victims. "I couldn't be happier if I won the lottery," said Jacobson.

"Not only did my family get our justice but so did the second family. I'm sorry it took a second family to get their justice." Jacobson is also related to the rape victim, who is now 14. "I'm sure she's going to be a lot better when she hears this," said Jacobson. "She's a very strong girl." The jury also found Garza guilty of two counts of third-degree sexual abuse. The girl testified that Garza had taken her from the Marion apartment she shared with him and Vega and raped her twice in a wooded area of Cedar Rapids and once back at the apartment Garza dropped her off at in Center Point before fleeing the area.

He was caught nine months later in Texas. Jacobson said she worried that the circumstantial evidence linking Garza to her mother's stabbing death might not convince the jury. "I'm happy my mom got her justice," she said. The case was moved to Hamilton County in order to ensure that an impartial jury could be chosen, but it received widespread attention as the first Class A felony case tried since the "new" courthouse was built here 17 years ago. Judge David Remley, who presided over the 1 1-day case, set sentencing for March 10.

"It's going to be Cornell vost tfSue Ellen Vega, showed an excessive level of alcohol in his system. Also, while serving as county medical examiner, the board charges, Therkildsen arrived at several death scenes while "in the opinion of experienced law enforcement officials and emergency medical personnel, either intoxicated or impaired by the use of alcohol." The board's order says Therkildsen also quit a substance-abuse treatment program without completing it and without the approval of the program's staff In a separate complaint, the board charges Therkildsen with falsely answering several questions on a 1989 application for an Iowa medical license. The complaint says he falsely answered "no" to questions about whether he had ever been censured by any hospital where he worked or trained, had ever been addicted to or abused alcohol, or had ever been charged with a felony or misdemeanor. The board's complaint says Therkildsen was suspended in January 1989 from the pathology residency training program at St. Joseph Hospital in Omaha because of his alcohol abuse and subsequently entered an alcohol treatment program there.

It also says Therkildsen on separate occasions was charged with petty theft, shoplifting and auto theft in Wyoming and with driving while intoxicated in South Dakota. His answers, says the complaint, "constitute fraud in procuring a Garza 46, his house mate in Marion, Found guilty jdnapping of a 13-year-old relative Vega's. Both carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The kidnapping charge involved sexual assault of the girL I Jurors were not told of Garza's 1979 conviction of second-degree murder. Garza, then 17, was found toilty of beating 14-year-old Carlene $tevens of Fort Madison to death with a brick.

He served 11 years in rison before his release. Vega's daughter, Maryanne Jacob-son of Center Point, rejoiced at the Opera recital Tm; Rk lm Nrws Skrhck Grinnell, la. Wolfgang Holz-mair, an acclaimed recitalist and opera singer, will perform songs by German and French composers at 8 p.m. Feb. 10 at Herrick Chapel on the Grinnell College campus.

The public is invited to attend the free event. Clark appointed Tiik Rkukstkk's Iowa NkwsSkkvkt. Davenport, la. Jeffrey Clark has been named environmental health and safety training specialist for the Eastern Iowa Community College District. As well as providing training, he will offer technical assistance to business and industry in environmental health and safety.

Reuse the news. Please recycle your Des Moines Register after you've finished reading it. hard to leave here," he said. "I think that goes without saying, but we'll take a part of this community with us when we go." Rawlings, who has headed the University of Iowa for nearly seven years, received a standing Year of Transition He said 1995 will be a year of transition for the of but it "is in very strong condition" and will successfully weather the change. "It's ready to move forward under new leadership," he said.

Rawlings praised the 22-member presidential search committee, which held its first meeting Wednesday evening. "The search committee is very, very strong and I expect them to do their work quite successfully and expeditiously," he said. Rawlings said he and his wife, Elizabeth, "have been very happy indeed in this community." Since the December announcement of his decision to resign to become president of the Ivy League school in Ithaca, N.Y., Rawlings said he and Elizabeth have experienced many emotions. "But we have clearly been changed and deepened by our experience here," he said. He added: "We have many positive reflections on the character of this community and of this state." Sees Stability Rawlings said Iowa City is a place of great stability.

"Over the generations I think it is clear that that stability has given an enormous bedrock of strength to this community," he said. But Rawlings said Iowa City also is a place that accepts change and new people from different backgrounds. "I urge you to consider that another important aspect of this community, making sure that you remain open to that kind of change and those new kinds of people with different experience and different backgrounds," he said. "They too add tremendously to the Iowa City-Coralville community and give it a great strength as well." "She's calling to say she couldn't miss out on the Winter Sale at Redeker's in Boone and we should start without her." Bus 'students' get a few hints CLASS Continued, from Page 1M car major damage on days like last Friday, when freezing rain caused hundreds of vehicles to crash, he adds. Irene Sheaf fer, 59, of 5801 Vista Drive, West Des Moines, came because she noticed buses in her neighborhood for the first time recently.

"I have a fairly new car and I could cut down on my mileage and gas" by taking the bus to work at the Jessie M. Parker Building near the Capitol downtown, Sheaf fer says. More lessons from Hillien "Please be at a bus-stop sign, not at a snow-removal sign." "If you have a question, ask it, but don't carry on an entire conversation. We're trying to keep a 40-foot bus on the road." "You only paid for one seat, not two. Do not put your bag on the seat next to you." A bus "is not a recreation hall.

I don't expect you to be playing basketball. I may ask you to leave the bus." If a late bus makes you tardy for work and the boss is mad ask your supervisor to call the bus agency for an explanation of the problem. Have trouble stepping onto the bus? Many are made to "kneel down," using hydraulics to drop the front of the bus so the first step is nearly down to the curb. Redeker's Winter Sale. Recliners.

Sofas. Dinettes. Tl Occasional Tables. Entertainment Centers. Si Accessories.

31 Bedding. Living Rooms. on Rooms. Chairs. Sleepers.

Wmm Dining On the south edge of Boone near Hiway 30 Children's theater Tiik Rh iisti k's Ii Nkws Skkvick Decorah, la. A professional children's theater company will per-. form "The Diary of Anne Frank" at ,7 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Luther College Center for Faith and Life.

The pep formance by Stage One: Louisville Children's Theatre is the annual family event of the Luther College Stage series. Tickets are $7 for adults, $4 for students and senior Open Monday through Saturday 9 to 5.. Thursday evenings until Home planning assistance by competent designers at no extra charge. No charge for our 60 day payment plan. Or use our convenient monthly payment plan if you wish; Visa, MasterCard or Discover.

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