St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 6

6A ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1987 Gorbachev Invitation Unlikely Killings 4 A i ii inn AP joined 79 other members of Congress in asking Reagan to find a less formal setting. An appearance before a joint meeting is an honor usually reserved for visiting foreign allies. Fitzwater said that the goal of the administration was "having the Soviets talk to the Congress about the ratification process" for the Intermediate Nuclear Force treaty, which Gorbachev and Reagan are expected to sign during the summit meeting. The administration got "very strong indications from the leaders in the Senate that they want to talk to the general secretary about the agreement as they prepare for the ratification process," Fitzwater said.

Aides to House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, reported earlier this week that "a White House liaison officer" had requested that Gorbachev be invited to address a joint meeting of Congress. Washington. In announcing the Geneva talks, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said Thursday, "There is no crisis." He said Shultz had asked Shevardnadze to meet with him and that the Soviet "readily agreed." Redman added, "The chances are no doubt very good that the agreement will be wrapped up." Two key verification issues remain unresolved. One deals with data on Soviet missiles. The other involves inspection of U.S.

and Soviet facilities to guard against cheating. Funke's attorney, Martin J. Hadi-can, spoke of his client's years of service in the community, describing him as "a caring individual" who had suffered "mental anguish" since his arrest. He asked for a sentence "tempered with logic and saturated with mercy." "Jim does suffer from an affliction, an affliction that can be treated," Ha-dican said. "This Is not a predator lurking in the dark to take advantage of young boys." Bishop Edward J.

O'Donnell, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, said in a prepared statement Friday that Funke's crimes had compromised his priesthood and hurt the Roman Catholic Church. "Today, the Archdiocese of St. Louis is very sad and hurt. Today, we are reminded that young people have been harmed by a person of trust, a priest," O'Donnell said.

"We pray for all victims of abuse, we pray for Father Funke and we pray that the com-' munity and the church in St. Louis will never be confronted with a situation like this again." county clerks and election boards across Missouri to mark a letter by the name of anyone who asks for a Democratic primary ballot. The marking would be made on the cards voters sign when they show up at polling places or on computer lists there. The record would be kept only for one year, Bloch said. No marking would be made for anyone asking for the Republican primary ballot, nor for anyone who wishes to stay out of the party primaries altogether and to vote only on nonpartisan issues.

Some areas of the state, including St. Louis, will have nonpartisan issues decided at the same election. The rule would apply only to the presidential primary and not to the election In August at which party nominees for other federal and state offices are selected. From page one Ina. On Friday, authorities refused to disclose the cause of death for Russell Keith Dardeen, who also was known by his middle name.

But Dr. Richard Garretson, the coroner in Jefferson County, 111., said that Keith Dardeen had died from causes "totally different" from those that killed his family. Garretson said Keith Dardeen had not been beaten. Robert Lewis, coroner for Franklin County, 111., said Keith Dardeen had died of a massive brain injury. Lewis said the deaths of the family members were "as brutal a murder as I've seen in 12 or 13 years." Lewis said that Keith Dardeen had clearly been murdered.

Lewis declined to discuss details of the injuries. "We're playing our cards pretty close right now," he said. Lewis said that Keith Dardeen had been dead 12 to 48 hours when his body was found at 5:50 p.m. Thursday. "It's very difficult to determine time of death in a case like this," he said.

Dardeen's body was found by hunters in a cornfield just south of the boundary that separates Jefferson and Franklin counties in Illinois. The cornfield is on County Line Road, about six-tenths of a mile west of Illinois Route 37, Lewis said. Garretson said, "It looks very much like he was killed elsewhere and dumped there." Garretson said it was possible Keith Dardeen was not slain with the family. Lloyd Ray Settle, the Dardeens' landlord, said he had heard reports that the husband had been shot once in the chest and three times in the head. The Jefferson County Sheriffs department, the Franklin County Sheriffs Department and the Illinois State Police are working together on the case.

Investigators are being particularly tight-lipped, which has caused rumors to spread in Ina, a rural town of 460 residents. There has been intense speculation that the Dardeen family was mutilated by Satan-worshipers, because of ongoing rumors about devil worship elsewhere in Jefferson County. Garretson denied rumors that Keith Dardeen had been castrated and that Elaine Dardeen's fetus had been cut out of her body. Garretson said the circumstances surrounding the baby's birth and death were still unclear. Elaine Dardeen may have given birth during the beating or shortly thereafter, he said.

The cause of the baby's death also has not been determined, Garretson said. Jefferson County Sheriff Bob D. Pitchford said Friday that he had no. clues and no suspects. "The only thing we can do right now is like we're doing.

We're interviewing people that visited the Dardeens and who knew them from work," Pitchford said. He refused to say whether any sort of murder weapon had been recovered. The Mount Vernon Register-News reported with a red headline that a bloody baseball bat had been found in the home. "We are waiting for the public to start calling, which they will," Pitchford said. He said the family's reputation "in the community as far as we can find out is outstanding." Keith Dardeen was employed by the water system of the Rend Lake Conservancy District.

Elaine Dardeen had worked part time at an office supply store in nearby Mount Vernon, 111. Claudia Johnson, owner of C.J.'s New and Used Store in Ina, said that the family had attended the last two 42Wx38H bookcase WASHINGTON (AP President Ronald Reagan has all but ruled out the. ideaof inviting Soviet General Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev to be the first communist leader to address Congress Reagan said Friday that he had ieer requested such an appearance. Reagan said, "There was talk of it, yes, but no request ever did come This never originated with us at all." Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, suggested that instead of appearing" before a joint meeting of Congress, Gorbachev be allowed 10 or 15 minutes on U.S.

television and that Reagan be allowed to make a -similar appearance on state-owned Soviet television. The appearances would occur during Gorbachev's visit to Washington Dec. 7-10. After the proposal for such an invitation was disclosed Monday, Repub Arms From page one test ban treaty in 1963 to stop nuclear explosions in the air, space or sea. But underground tests continue.

All five nations that have acknowledged the production of nuclear weapons the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China have carried out nuclear tests this year. The United States has set off at Priest From page one I've done." The victims were students and former students of DuBourg, in south St. Louis. Some of the incidents took place at Funke's rectory at St. Berna-dette Church in Lemay.

Jerome B. Robben, 45, another former DuBourg teacher, was arrested with; Funke in October 1985. He is serving a six-year prison term for involvement with the same victims. Robben pleaded guilty on counts of sodomy and deviate sexual assault and on of promoting child pornography. St.

Louis Circuit Judge. Thomas W. Challis said he would review Robben's sentence next week and consider releasing him from prison and granting him probation. But Funke will do his time, Corri-gan said. "I think you are very fortunate that the state has more mercy than I do," Corrigan told Funke.

From page one mary be recorded by name. She said the national party had refused to approve the state plan unless some change was made to ensure that people who vote in Missouri's Republican primary could not participate in the Democratic caucuses later in the selection process. Under Missouri's new procedures, voters will decide in the primary which presidential candidates will get the votes of Missouri delegates. But the actual delegates will be chosen at local, regional and state party caucuses and conventions. Carpenter, who chaired a state Democratic panel on delegate rules, said the group wasn't happy with the public-record requirement.

"This was no Missourian's idea," she said, referring to the national directive. Carpenter said the state party had considered various alternatives of meeting the national party requirement. One avenue, she said, could have been to ask the Legislature to pass a law requiring voters who want to participate in the March primary to reg Primary lican members of Congress threat ened to walk out if Gorbachev appeared in the House. Seeking to head off the revolt, White House spokesman Marlin Fitz-water announced that "there probably is a better forum" than a joint meeting of Congress. Dole said a television address would not bestow on Gorbachev the same honor as speaking in the House chamber but would allow the Soviet leader to communicate with the American people.

"The fact is that there are two superpowers on this Earth, and the better we can communicate and understand each other's views, the better off all of us probably will be," Dole said. The idea of inviting Gorbachev to address Congress was dealt a severe blow Thursday when House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel, least 12 test explosions this year. The Soviet Union has detonated at least 10 blasts since Feb. 26.

Shultz Denies Snag In Washington, Shultz denied Friday that negotiations with the Soviets to ban medium-range nuclear weapons were snagged. He said he would meet Monday and Tuesday in Geneva with Shevardnadze to try to clear away an "immense amount of detail" before next month's summit meeting in The judge said Funke had betrayed the years of respect he had enjoyed in the community as a teacher and priest. He accused Funke of targeting slow students who were too scared or ignorant to resist his advances. Corrigan and Al Johnson, the prosecutor in the case, both said that if Funke had indeed been molested by a priest in the St. Louis area, he had an obligation to identify that priest to authorities.

Johnson also noted that police had seized from Funke's rectory "a large amount of pornography," including a homemade notebook containing several dozen sexual photographs of young boys. Johnson said Funke had refused to help authorities identify those boys. Authorities said Funke had paid the boys he was involved with and had threatened them with bad grades if they refused to cooperate. Johnson said one boy had been recovering from drug and alcohol problems when Funke befriended him. "The first thing Mr.

Funke did was offer that boy a beer," Johnson said. ister in advance as Democrats or Republicans. In the end, Carpenter said, the group decided on requiring a public record of individuals' party choice as the method easiest to implement and having "the least impact on privacy." Selck, the Republican state chairman, also complained that the new rule would give the state Democratic Party free access to a ready-made list of Democratic-leaning voters that they could use in campaign work in later state elections. "I think it is inappropriate to use government facilities to develop a voter list," Selck said. "We asked for no such favors." Missouri Republican officials have bragged in recent years that their own voter lists culled through expensive phone bank and mail efforts are superior to those compiled by the more poorly financed state Democratic organization.

Carpenter denied that the Democratic Party had any such motive. Moreover, she said she doubted that the lists would be very valuable because many political independents will be voting in each party's primary. Bloch said Blunt planned to ask Russell Keith Dardeen with his Peter Sean, 3. community Halloween costume parties and won both times for best costumes. Last year, the family dressed up as Wizard of Oz characters.

"This year, it was Ghostbusters," Johnson said. Elaine Dardeen visited Johnson's, store regularly. "If I could say anything that really summed up this family, they were a nice couple," Johnson said. The family's death has shaken the community and drawn it closer together, Johnson said. "When it happens right here, everybody just starts taking care of everybody else." Jefferson County has had more than its share of murders.

Pitchford said 14 bodies have been found in the county in the last two years. Three murder cases, including the Dardeens', remain unsolved, he said. The Dardeens' trailer, a wood-tone and beige single-wide trailer, appeared undisturbed Friday. Two black dogs huddled in the cold in a backyard pen. A Dodge pickup was in the driveway, and a few books inside the trailer were seen scattered about the living room.

Settle said that he has been in the trailer but that he had not been allowed into the area where the killings took place, which he guessed to be a bedroom. Settle and his wife, JoAnn, said they were close to the Dardeens, who had moved into the trailer about 14 months ago. The families' children used to play together. "We saw, I guess, less of him because of that miserable swing shift he was on," said Lloyd Settle. Settle said he found nothing missing on the grounds around the Dardeens" home.

"I wouldn't say I was scared, but I kept my eyes open," he said. JoAnn Settle added, "There's obviously an uneasiness." Lloyd Settle said he had heard somebody must have had a grudge against the family, "but I discount Oak entertainment center GLASS CURIOS wife, Ruby Elaine, and their son that." He explained that Keith Dardeen told him about an incident at work with a fellow employee about a year ago, but Settle called it minor. "I feel we're a victim of this mobile society," Settle said, talking of the busy highways, 1-57 and Illinois Route 37, which border the east and west sides of Ina. "I don't hold any hope that we'll ever find out who did it." At a catfish restaurant just across the Franklin County line, employees talked about all the rumors that surrounded the killings. "We've got a nut, that's what we've got," said a woman who refused to give her name out of fear.

The woman said she didn't know the Dardeens well but "they seemed like the people you'd want to babysit your kids." Betty Dardeen of Mount 111., a relative of the couple, said, "We" just can't figure this out. Everybody loved Keith and Elaine." "If you know them, you just can't imagine that they would have any enemies. They were very sweet kids. I' don't know what they could possibly do to cause anyone to want to hurt them." Betty Dardeen said that Elaine Dardeen had moved about a year ago' to Ina to join her husband. Keith Dardeen had gone through a special training program for his job with the water system, Betty Dardeen said.

Keith had grown up in Mount Carmel; Elaine is from Albion, 111. This story includes some information contributed by Pam Schaeffer of the Post-Dispatch staff. Reader's Advocate Readers with questions, comments or complaints relating to the Post-Dispatch are invited to get in touch with Sue Ann Wood, the Reader's Advocate. Letters may be addressed to her at the Post-Dispatch, 900 North Tucker Boulevard, St Louis, 63101. FIFTY STYLES ADIUSTABLE SHELVES PULLOUT SHELVES CLASS DOORS ROLLERS WALL UNITS FINISHED FROM $179 Ml1111- OAK ICE BOX Perfect for End Table or Night Stan Special $59Jj THANKSGIVING to 84H 42Wx84H ADJUSTABLE reran SHELVES OAK LOCKS PLATE RAIL ROPE TWIST MIRROR BACK WOOD BACK CLAWFEET LARGE SELECTION frf bH FROM ill $79 SOLID TOP TABLES 36" ROUND $189 42" ROUND $209 DROP LEAF $239 ALL FINISHED Finished FROM $199 MANCHESTER 8 l- SW CORNER 1-270 MANCHESTER RD.

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