The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 18

Cavaliers win 2nd in a row Page C1 George Carlin A comic comes of age Things to do this weekend 4 Page D1 Page D3 Akroi ACON JOU Copyright 1982. Beacon Journal Pubtisriirg Co Thursday, February 4, 1982 Ohio's complete newspaper ii 20 cen Suicide rulings put pressure on coroners 4 "Unless they have hard, substantial evidence to prove otherwise, most companies would rather pay the claim," said Michael Murphy, Akron brokerage manager for Occidental Life and past president of the Akron Life Underwriters Association. "We have never challenged a coroner," said Linda Riffelmacher, vice president and chief underwriter for Summit National Life. "It's almost like batting your head against the wall. The man has already made a decision and put it in writing.

I think to myself, what See SUICIDE, page A8 causes insurance companies to pay a small fortune in "accidental death" benefits to a victim's survivors. And there is very little the losing party can do if it disagrees. Only a third of the people who kill themselves leave notes, according to national experts. Nonetheless, some coroners require absolute proof when suicide is the question. It is not a popular conclusion.

Stark County's chief deputy coroner, Hart N. Guonjian who did autopsies and made rulings for former coroner Gus S. Shaheen said he would not By Marilynn Marchione and John Kostrzewa Beacon Journal staff writers You can jump off a bridge, take an overdose of pills, shoot yourself or inhale deadly carbon monoxide fumes. But unless you leave a note saying you intended to kill yourself or there is other undeniable evidence that you did coroners in some counties of Ohio are not likely to rule suicide. In no instance does a coroner have more power than when he rules on potential suicides.

A suicide ruling can block the deceased's beneficiaries from collecting rule suicide without a specific death note, talk of suicide or evidence that the victim had an incurable disease. And Medina County coroner Andrew J. Karson appears to take a similar stance. Police there point to two cases they say were clear-cut, obvious suicides that Karson ruled accidental, saying there was no evidence the victims took their own lives. Regardless of how much evidence is available to contradict the coroner's conclusion, the losing side has very little hope of appeal.

As a consequence, few try. thousands of dollars in insurance. On the other hand, a ruling of accidental or undetermined death often Gmarc Ismen JbattJle snow tummmwrn Hji.u,ii; mmimm.m.immrmS"w."i "tv vwu a imiww Zlj i Sv? I 'if i4 inNW 0 liio 1.I Toledo Zjj Sfcw Akron I fjLima COUNTIES DECLARED SNOW EMERGENCIES Dayton Cincinnati From staff and wire reports Ohio National Guard troops Were sent to northwestern Ohio after the area was hit with 10 more inches of snow Wednesday. Snow emergencies were declared in Williams, Fulton, Defiance, Henry, Putnam, Van Wert and Mercer counties, limiting travel to emergencies. Guardsmen were helping remove snow in northwestern Ohio, which had not yet recovered from 10 inches of snow that fell over the weekend.

The Akron area got mostly rain from the new storm that swept into the state Wednesday morning. Nearly a half-inch of rain and a trace of snow were recorded at Akron-Canton Airport. But falling temperatures iced many roads, and driving was hazardous during the night. The westbound lanes of the Akron Expressway's east leg, between Mogadore Road and the central interchange, were closed for a time Wednesday night because of ice and blowing snow. Area police reported numerous fender-bender auto accidents, but no serious injuries.

THE STORM was blamed for one death. In Cincinnati, Louise Brown, 50, of suburban Lincoln wmmmm mmmmmwmmmmm mm mm Beocon Journof Heights, died when her car skid- ded on an icy bridge on Ohio 4 and plunged into rain-swollen Mill Creek Wednesday. Fire department scuba divers recovered her body five hours later in 15 feet of water. The car had washed 200 feet downstream. Police said sleet was falling on the metal-grid bridge when the car skidded.

National Weather Service forecaster Bob Paddock said northwestern Ohio was plagued with blowing and drifting snow. "There are drifts that go out of sight," he said. The Williams County town of Stryker reported 20 inches of See GUARD, page A9 mmmmmmmmmmMsMm plIlliM Associated Press FIREFIGHTER Gene Carson's hairdo and ver fireman, came by the icy wig as the face by an Arctic cold front. The front mustache look as though they might have spray from water being poured onto a flam- dropped temperatures to below zero over-been carved by Michelangelo. Carson, a Den- ing condominium was frozen on his head and night in Colorado.

JFK secretly taped White House visitors Martin Chapman, 'Mr. dies five days before retirement By Bob Woodward and Patrick E. Tyler Washington Post WASHINGTON President John F. Kennedy secretly recorded about 600 of his White House meetings and telephone conversations during the last 16 months of his presidency apparently without the knowledge of other participants. It has been known for several years that Kennedy recorded some meetings and phone conversations from his White House days but the extent of the record-ings, the names of the participants and the subject matters have never been disclosed.

A 29-page log obtained by the Washington Post from the Kennedy Library in Boston shows the recordings were made from July 1962 until November 1963, the month Kennedy was assassinated. The tapes contain a vast amount of unreleased informa- See JFK, page A9 By Diane Paparone and Tom Ryan Beacon Journal staff writers The Dag will fly at half-staff today and Friday at Garfield High School. Principal Martin O. Chapman died Wednesday, one day before his 60th birthday and five days before his retirement was to begin. "Martin Chapman had no peers in the Akron school system," said Superintendent Conrad Ott.

"No one will ever quite fit his mold we looked up to him in more ways than one. Trying to replace him will be like trying to grow a giant redwood tree overnight." "Mr. Garfield," as Mr. Chapman was known around the school, graduated from Garfield and bad been its principal since 1973. "HE WAS the only black administrator in Akron to serve as a principal at an elementary, junior high and senior high level," Ott said.

His friends said that of his 35 years in education, those spent at Garfield were certainly among his happiest. "He was a model administrator, a personal friend and a confidant," Ott said. "He advised me often on problems at Garfield and throughout the system. "He was a great sports supporter and called himself 'The Big He would remain standing in front of the student See GARFIELD'S, page All a tuw Martin O. Chapman Educator 35 years Pac-Man meets its match Video game gets female counterpart Pilots discussed icing before fatal jet crash INSIDE Action Line D14 Ann Landers Dll Business B6 to 12 City and Region Bl to 4 Classified CIO to 16 Comics D14, 15 Deaths C8, 9 Editorials, Commentary 5 Fran Murphey B2 Lottery Page 2 Movies D6 Polly Paffilas D9 CI to 7 TV D8 Weekend guide D5 Weather Partly cloudy tonight and Friday.

Low tonight near 10. High Friday around 26. Full report on Page 2. Chuckle A man is as young as he feels after trying to prove it. Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES Adam had Eve, Antony his Cleopatra, Batman his Batwoman.

And now the king of the video games, Pac-Man, has a queen, Ms. Pac-Man. The first lady of video games made her debut Wednesday. Ms. Pac-Man is expected to begin appearing in video arcades during the next few weeks.

If you win at Ms. Pac-Man by wiping out two or more mazes of yellow dots on the video screen, she rewards you with a three-act cartoon. Like Hollywood lovers of yore, Mr. and Ms. Pac-Man meet and fall in love in the first cartoon, chase each other across the screen in the second, and for the finale, entitled Junior, a stork presents the happy couple with a Pac-Baby.

Is it a boy or a girl? Ah, that's a question that can't be answered yet. Not even with a fat roll of quarters and a fast set of fingers. that there was some, but took off anyway, one source said. About 30 seconds after takeoff, the plane crashed. Co-pilot Roger Alan Pettit's final words were, "We're going down, Larry," according to one source, and pilot Larry Wheaton responded: "I know it." Then came the sound of impact as the jet struck the 14th Street Bridge at about 150 mph.

Pettit, Wheaton and 72 other people aboard were killed, along with four people on the bridge. WEDNESDAY night, officials at the National Transportation Safety Board, which is heading the investigation, declined to See AIRLINER'S, page A9 By John Burgess and Donglas B. Feaver Washington Post WASHINGTON The cockpit voice tape from the Air Florida jetliner that crashed into the Potomac River three weeks ago strongly suggests that the pilots took off even though they knew that ice or snow on the plane's wings, sources close to the investigation said Wednesday. Preliminary transcripts show that the pilot and co-pilot commented to each other repeatedly on the heavy snow falling on Jan. 13 as they taxied to the runway.

Their words suggest that at one point they peered out cockpit windows specifically to check for ice or snow on their wings, noted.