The Republic from Columbus, Indiana • Page 1

Teem found Son enjoys rack legacy not guilty Jeff O'Connor talks of jthe dad he never knew off miirdei cn fcM By John Ketzenberger The Republic NORTH VERNON Jeff O'Connor was an infant the day his father raced from the pole position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 30 years ago. North Vernon's own Pat O'Connor, an Irishman held in high regard by everyone he came into contact with, was rapidly soaring to auto racing's zenith. A year later, he was a favorite of many to win the race. The younger O'Connor has been going to the race regularly since 1975. It's in his blood.

"I TEND TO GET a little. emotional at the start of the race," said Jeff. O'Connor. "It's my memoriam to dad." His father's meteoric dash that began with sprint cars on area tracks ended on the third turn at the brickyard. The front row drivers in the 1958 race, Ed Dick Rathmann and Jimmy Reece, sped out of formation during the parade laps of the classic and were bulling around the other cars still in formation at break-neck speed when the green flag fell.

The cars safely cleared turns one and two, but as Elisian poured it on to pass Rathmann going into three, he spun out, forcing Rathmann into the wall with him. The spin sparked a 15-car chain-reaction crash. BEFORE HE COULD slow down, O'Connor struck Reece's left rear tire, sending him airborne. His Sumar Special racer did a barrel-roll about six feet off the ground before slamming down on its top. It skidded several feet before rolling back onto its wheels and bursting into flames.

O'Connor's lifeless body was covered while still in the car's cockpit and the wreckage was taken off the track so the race could continue. For a time, Jeff O'Connor studied the films and pictures of Special Speedway edition In Sports A.J. Foyt, his favorite Foyt was a rookie at Indy the year Pat O'Connor was killed. Foyt mentions the elder O'Connor in his book and credits him with helping him through his rookie season. "BUT I JUST can't go, up to A.J.

and say, 'Hi, I'm Jeff O'Connor, Pat O'Connor's son." Jeff O'Connor is 30. He feels the desire to see the peripheral landscape blur while his body, wrapped in a screaming machine, hurtles around a track. He also feels the legacy of his father. He heard his voice for the first time he could remember just a few weeks ago in a taped, interview, but he feels the kinship. What he knows of his father is from his mother, newspaper clippings and film.

"I'd like to be (racing)," he said. "But out respect for mother, I just stayed out of it. There are obviously a lot of memories." HE STILL HAS a voracious appetite for speed and vicariously lives it during the month of May in Indianapolis. "One time, the race (See SPEED, Back Page of Section) The Republic photo by John Ketzenberger Jeff O'Connor, son of North Vernon racing great Pat O'Connor, kneels beside his father's grave in Vernon Cemetery. More than 1,500 people attended his father's funeral after he was killed in the 1958 Indy 500.

points out the motel his father once owned that is now a rival car dealer's shop. The sign out front still has a miniature sprint car resembling his father's on it. I He isn't, howevwraping his fa. ther's legacy. "I'm too shy to take advantage of it," he said, which may be one reason he's never met Toll at 25 in Texas twister Jl iffjh i By Susan Ehlers The Republic.

Charles D. Giles was freed, from a guarded Bartholomew County Jail Friday evening after a Superior Court jury acquitted him of murder in the September 1986 shotgun shooting of David Burch. The courtroom became a mixture of emotion when the jury's verdict was announced after less than three hours of deliberation. Many of the eight women and four men who served on the panel were tearful as they were escorted outside by sheriff's depu CHARLES D. GILES ties; GILES, 18, WHO convinced the jury during the four-day trial that he shot Burch in his own defense, spent nine months in the Bartholomew County Jail waiting for his case to be heard.

Jail officials said he said little and showed no emotion when he was released to family members at 7:10 p.m. Police arrested and charged him with, murder after he acknowledged shooting Burch, a former South Decatur High School basketball standout, at the intersection of Ninth and Chestnut streets in Columbus. Richard Donnelly, Giles's court-appointed attorney, called Giles and only one other witness to the stand Thursday. A WHEN ASKED BY Donnelly if he intended to kill Burch when he pulled the trigger, he answered that The Republic photo by John Sheckler assistance in breaking the cycle of poverty. O'Connor said 46 people called her office, following information meetings which were held througlv out the community.

Of that 37 people at te.nded "non-' threatening" initial interviews, she. said. "We talked about'-what they needed," she said. "We asked who cared for their children. We asked about housing." THE 37 ALSO were assigned initial tasks todetermine.

"their motivation and commitment." Those tasksA included contacting social service and education programs which might help participants. O'Connor said that during second interviews, she and a project board member spoke to the clients about i he did not and was only reacting to fears of being beaten by Burch and three companions. The four were pursuing Giles down the street in the early morning hours of Sept. 2 following an earlier encounter with him at Burch's Ninth Street apartment. In closing arguments delivered late Friday, Donnelly said undisputed evidence was offered, some by the state's own witnesses, that Giles had reason to believe he would be harmed.

"The state's own witnesses said my client must have believed he was in some danger. Three witnesses (to the shooting) have said my client would reasonably have believed he was going to get beaten up," said Donnelly. IN INDIANA, a person is justified in using deadly force against another only if he believes that force is necessary to prevent serious bodily injury to himself or another person. Jeff Burch, brother of the victim, and Reul Pedigo, both eyewitnesses to the shooting, testified that they, led by David Burch, followed Giles at a "fast-walk," stopping and starting as Giles pointed the gun at them, warning he would shoot. Just prior to the shooting, Jeff Burch, who" was closest to his brother, said Giles turned his.

back as if to walk away and Burch took some quick steps toward him. THAT PROMPTED Giles to turn and say, "I'll shoot." Burch stopped and answered, "Go ahead," and Giles did, according to testimony from Jeff Burch. Bartholomew County Prosecutor (See GILES, Back Page of Section) It will still be 55 on local roads By Joseph B. Gill The Republic Indiana State Police 65, Bartholomew County Sheriff's Department 55. That's not a basketball score.

It's the respective speed limits those two law enforcement agencies will be enforcing come June 1. State police officials said Wednesday their officers will be strictly enforcing the new 65-mph interstate highway which become effective June 1. COUNTY SHERIFF Rick Hill said today his officers, with the help of a federal grant, will be cracking down on motorists who ignore the 55-mph speed limit on roads other than the interstate. Hill said a $15,500 grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be used starting with the Memorial Day weekend to enforce the 55-mph limit on main roads throughout Bartholomew The money will help pay overtime hours for off-duty officers to run radar. Hill reminded drivers that the speed limit on major roadways other than rural interstates will remain at 55 rnph.

the initial tasks. "We also asked about what changes people would like to make in the she said. "We asked that because we want the community to grow and change along with the people in the program," said Susan Ingmire, chairman of the project's advisory board. THE ADVISORY board then spent more than five hours selecting 18 participants for the program. "We based our decisions on ned, motivation, age and on the clients having a realistic program," O'Connor said.

She added that age became an issue because the program is targeted at people between the ages of 18 and 54. She said the Area Agency on Aging serves many (See PROJECT, Back Page ot Section) his father's accident, trying to find out whom to blame. "I harbored bad feelings for a long time," he said. "They took somebody away from me that I never got to know." HE'S GOTTEN over the harsh feelings and is enjoying the legacy his father left behind. He proudly back to us," Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike Cox said in Austin.

RED CROSS volunteers from Midland, Abilene and Odessa rushed to the town. Sue Jones of the Midland Red Cross said her crew was taking "cots, blankets, ice food and we're headed out probably in the next 10 minutes." "There's no shelter left, except for part of a she said. "They're begging for shelter. They're begging for blankets. They're begging for water.

They have people going into shock, so they need the blankets. They've just been devastated." When the tornado struck, the community center, a small, cinder-block building, was crowded with children and parents attending a graduation ceremony in the federally funded Head Start program for disadvantaged youths, said Ed Krevit, chief of police in Pecos, 30 miles north of Saragosa. "IT WAS A BIG room filled with children and parents," Krevit said. "I believe most of the people in the town were, there tonight. It had a concrete roof that apparently collapsed.

We don't know how many are trapped, but it's a bunch." 1 Index Eima Classifieds B8-1 2 Conies B13 Dear Abby Vf B7 Entertainment. B7 Markets AtO Obituar.es B1 2 Outdoors B6 Religion A6-'7 Sports B1-5 1987 The Republic USPS 4620 8000 Low in mid 50s Race Day: Sunny and pleasant High around 80 reigns United Press International SARAGOSA, Texas (UPI) A tornado devastated the west Texas town of Saragosa Friday night, killing 25 people and trapping parents and children in the rubble of a community center that collapsed during a pre-school graduation ceremony, authorities said. At least 64 people were injured, officials said, and police and firefighters were searching the concrete wreckage of the community center for survivors. "THE TOWN IS GONE," an unidentified amateur radio operator said. The tornado struck Saragosa at 8:42 p.m., knocking out power and phone service.

"The word we got was that the whole downtown was flattened," Odessa Fire Department Assistant Chief James Wiggs said. "There are a bunch of people trapped." Ambulances and helicopters from surrounding communities were en route to the town of 185 residents about 130 miles east of El Paso, and doctors and nurses were called in from other cities to help treat the injured. "Our DPS office in Pecos now is reporting 25 dead. That's what our officers on the scene are reporting Weather The final 15 minutes of school on Friday was to await the final 10-second countdown to a wild party for seniors at Columbus East their last day of school. To celebrate, they High School.

Traditionally, seniors are put tore their notebooks into confetti, had water- into the large open area used for study halls gun fights, and threw each other into the air. Project helps people help themselves By David Baumann The Republic Eighteen Columbus residents with needs ranging from job training to child care have been selected for the first class of Project belt- i Participants, selected following a detailed selection process, will be given up to two years to achieve goals which program organizers hope will lead to independence from welfare programs. THAT SELECTION process included two interviews, according to Nancy O'Connor, coordinator of the program, which is operated out of the city's Community Development of the city's Partnership for Prog-Department. ress-Focus 2000. It was established Project Self-Sufficiency, funded by city officials as an effort to select by local foundations, is a task force well-motivated people who needed Data, Page A13 Today.

'Partly cloudy High in upper 70s Tonight. Clearing.