The Morning News from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 30

C2 The Morning News, Wilmington, Wednesday, July 1,1981 robe reportedly fails to find fraud in board vote investigaion did not turn up any illegal activities, Clark said Gebelein "mentionned something like that that's the way he looks at it." Zebley said charges of voting irregularities and fraudulent voting "can be substantiated." Zebley said there were 74 improper ballots cast. However, Daniel won by 1 15 votes. The 74 irregular votes cited by Zebley, if confirmed by the Justice Department report, would not change the outcome of the election. Zebley said he determined that 40 persons not living in the election district cast ballots, that 24 persons who voted did not live at the address they listed on their voting cards, that three persons apparently voted twice, and that the addresses listed by seven voters did not exist. announce them at a press conference this morning.

Daniel, meanwhile, says he expects to take the oath of office tonight at a meeting of the Christina School Board, formerly District III. Gebelein discussed the results of his office's almost four-week-long investigation at a 45-minute meeting in his office Tuesday morning with the principal participants in the dispute. One source said that Gebelein replied "no" when asked during the meeting if the investigation uncovered any voter fraud, conspiracy or other illegal activity. Two other persons at the session confirmed Gebelein's answer. The allegations of voter fraud were raised on the day of the election by Everett Wilson, deputy administrative director for the Department of Elections.

Gebelein's investigation involved not only the allegations of election irregularties, but also Wilson's own activities. Daniel had asked Gebelein to investigate Wilson's activities on May 16. Daniel was angered by statements about alleged fraud that Daniel said Wilson made before the polls closed. Daniel's election gave a majority of seats on the school board to black school board members, and some black officials charged that it was the election of a black majority that spurred the controversy. Wilson had no comment when asked if Gebelein's investigation upheld his May 16 allegations of vote fraud.

Also present at the session was William H. By VTHAN GORENSTEIN Staff writer A state Justice Department probe into alleged voter fraud during the Christina School Board elections did not turn up any evidence of wrongdoing, according to sources who met Tuesday with Attorney General Richard S. Gebelein. Gebelein launched the probe after an election official charged that there were a "substantial number of fraudulent votes" cast during the May 16 balloting. Alfred I.

Daniel, who won the election, two state legislators and a parents' group had called for an investigation into various aspects of the election. Gebelein refused to comment on his findings Tuesday, but is expected to formally Clark, the incumbent school board member defeated by Daniel. Clark, who with others concerned about the election had a volunteer investigator look into the alleged irregularities, said he planned to take no further action. While the investigator, former firefighter John P. Zebley, said in a report that charges of "irregularities, fraudulent voting and criminal offenses can be substantiated," Clark did not endorse Zebley's conclusions.

"I have not seen John's hard data," Clark said. "I have no opinion or conclusion yet." Clark said, "As far as I'm concerned Mr. Daniel has won the election I plan no further action now or in the future. I think it's important that the school district get off to a good start." Asked if Gebelein said Tuesday that his Delay in spraying caterpillars leaves Alapocas leafless mi csnni iff 1 mini si I 0 'SH fv McCloskey jury out for a 2nd day By TOM GREER Staff writer For the second day the Superior Court jury trying Michael T. McCloskey for first-degree murder was unable to reach a verdict and spent Tuesday night sequestered in hotel rooms.

At 10:10 p.m. Judge Andrew D. Christie sent the jury to the Radis-son Wilmington Hotel, halting again deliberations in which the judge has answered three notes sent out by the eight men and four women. The jurors' first note Monday asked that they be allowed to visit the American Legion Stahl Post 30 in Wilmington Manor, site of the' Feb. 28 fatal knifing of Henry Gerard.

McCloskey, a part-time bartender and social member of the post on East Jackson Avenue, admitted on the witness stand that he slashed to death the 59-year-old Gerard, a post member and part-time custodian, when Gerard surprised him as he was committing a burglary at the clubhouse. Before Christie answered the jury's request, it sent out a second note, asking to hear all the transcripts of testimony that McCloskey gave last Thursday. Christie denied the first request, saying that duplication of the lighting and other conditions in the clubhouse at the time of the killing would be practically impossible. The judge did grant the second request, and McCloskey's full testimony was read to the jury Tuesday afternoon by court reporter Betty Gleason. In its third request, the jury asked Tuesday night whether a homicide could be considered first-degree murder if the perpetrator's intent to kill occurred after the attack had started.

For the crime to be first-degree murder, Christie told them, there must be intent at the time the act is done. By MARGARET KIRK Staff writer The trees stand naked in Alapocas Woods, the forest's once dark, cool canopy of leaves replaced by a graveyard of limbs that cast skeletal silhouettes against the sky. It is as though winter has intruded early in the 110-acre New Castle County parkland and woods, but no frost or cold is to blame. It is the work of the gypsy moth. On June 19, the county paid nearly $3,000 to spray and kill what remained of the area's gypsy moth caterpillars, those brown, hairy pests that devour the leaves of their favorite oak, willow and birch trees and then selectively feed on the foliage of maples, hickorys and pines.

But experts contend that the county wasted the money. They argue that the county should have sprayed in mid-May, when the caterpillars were first eating, to prevent or minimize the defoliation. Citizens in the adjacent, prosperous Alapocas residential neighborhood, off Augustine Cut-off just north of the Wilmington city limit, and representatives from private tree-care businesses said last week that they warned the county about the problem early this year, but nothing was done until this month. A University of Delaware professor, who specializes in the habits of small creatures, said the late spraying may have caused more harm than good. "Spraying late is actually very harmful," said Dale F.

Bray, a university entomologist, explaining that the chemicals used in the spray probably killed more of the area's natural predators than the stubborn caterpillars. "It could add to the problem." County officials in the Department of Parks and Recreation do not deny that spraying earlier would have killed more caterpillars and possibly prevented the extreme loss of leaves. Department Director Donald Burawski said last week that "though we knew there would be a problem, we did not ihink it would be as severe as it ended up being." Foresters predicted last year and again in May that this spring's gypsy moth attack could be devastating in certain Delaware communities, including northern New Castle County. Burawski noted in April in his budget presentation to the County Council that the gypsy moth problem was being monitored in Alapocas Woods, but he said then that "no spraying program is planned due to the high cost of helicopter spraying and chemicals." Once the seriousness of the problem was called to his attention and he visited the area, however, Burawski said he requested that the administration declare the area "an emergency situation" and pay for the spraying. The money was quickly approved, and the county hired a private company to bring in chemicals and spray the 110 acres bounded by Alapocas Drive and Edgewood Road.

The total operation cost $2,640. William DeCarme the county's forestry supervisor, said he alerted Burawski to the problem early this spring, "but nothing happened." DeCarme said he couldn't spray sooner because "I didn't have the money." But DeCarme defended the administration's decision to spray, late. On June 19, he said, caterpillars were still eating leaves on the ground and in the trees. "You could hear them chewing," one of DeCarme's assistants recalled. "Based on the amount of feeding that I saw, the good from spraying overrode the bad," DeCarme said.

Russell E. Carlson, an arborist at Bartlett Tree Experts, agreed that the June 19 spraying killed "a fairly substantial" number of caterpillars. But Carlson argued that the caterpillars, which hatch in mid-April, should be sprayed around May 10 when they first start eating. Younger caterpillars eat only at night; fully grown caterpillars, which mature, in mid-June, eat non-stop until they enter the pupa stage and wrap themselves in hard brown casings. Several weeks later, adult gypsy moths will emerge.

Carlson agreed with Bray that spraying later with stronger chemicals could "kill off natural predators or controls that could kill the gypsy moths." So the cycle continues. The female gypsy moth deposits her eggs, which will hatch next spring as caterpillars. The Alapocas Woods will soon be green again as the trees grow new leaves. But anytime a tree has to produce leaves twice in one season, Carlson said, the tree is weakened and more susceptible to disease. "If the county doesn't get in and spray early next year, it could lose a lot of trees," he said.

DeCarme said the county has "all intentions of conducting a full spray program early next year." With a little help on the hose from his Iriend, 4-year-old Frankie Smith washes his father's car at his home along Gilpin Avenue. His helper is 10-year-old John McDowell. (Staff photo by Leo S. Child's play Man held in attack on woman Man indicted in 2 holdups A New Jersey man already charged in several other bank robberies was indicted by a federal grand jury in Wilmington on Tuesday in two holdups at the First National Bank of Wilmington's branch in the Crossroads Shopping Center near New Castle. Douglas H.

Correll, 22, is charged with two counts of armed robbery in holdups at the bank Jan. 5 and March 25. The FBI is seeking the identity of another man who participated in the January robbery. The bank was robbed of $8,583 in the January incident and $7,132 in the second incident. A portion of the money taken in the second robbery was recovered in the parking lot outside the bank, according to a spokesman for the FBI's Wilmington office.

The spokesman said Correll, who is formerly of Glassboro, N.J., is in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, awaiting trial on charges stemming from several New Jersey holdups. silverware, has been recovered, police said. Davis was released under $6,000 bail pending trial. Canadian, New Zealand prime ministers to visit Associated Press LOS ANGELES Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Tru-. deau will visit Washington July 10 to confer with President Reagan on' the agenda for the Ottawa summit of seven nations, the White House has announced.

The White House also announced that Robert D. Muldoon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, has accepted an invitation to meet with Reagan in Washington July 24. Police report Wilmington police are investigating a burglary at the Colonial TV Appliance store, 1709 Lancaster in which $7,900 worth of appliances were taken. The theft was discovered about 8 Monday morning, police said. The thieves carted away televisions, tape recorders, some film equipment, and other items, police said.

Road, Nottingham Green, was strolling with the dog at 9:30 Monday night when a car driven by Steven T. Statler, 18, of the same block, jumped the curb and hit him, police said. Statler lost control of the car because he was looking for the headlight dimmer switch at the time, police said. Clark suffered multiple injuries, including a broken nose and a compound fracture of the lower right leg. He was listed in good condition Tuesday in the Delaware Division.

No charges were filed. Prisoner stabbed twice during incident in cell Jeffery A. Berry, 19, of the 100 block of E. 36th is being held in the city jail under $20,000 bail for allegedly terrorizing an elderly Wilmington woman in her home two weeks ago. Wilmington police said Mary McNulty, 75, of the 3600 block of West was sleeping about 4 a.m.

on June 10 when a barking dog awakened her. She and her daughter Marie McNulty, 47, got up and were confronted by a man standing in the darkness. The man took a purse with $3 inside, and some silverware, hit the elderly woman in the back with his knee, and ran away. Police said he had pried open a living room window to get inside. Detectives said they arrested Berry Monday night and charged' him with burglary and theft.

A Newark man remained hospitalized on Tuesday after being hit by a car while walking his dog, according to Newark police. The victim, William B. Clark, 64, of the 200 block of Cheltenham Appoquinimink board, teachers OK mediation Michael Davis, 18, of the 1700 block of Delpenn Road, Afton, was arrested by New Castle County Police on Monday and charged with three counts of burglary. Police said Davis allegedly broke into homes in Chalfonte, Arden and Northwood since April. None of the loot, $11,000 worth of jewelry and son's indictment on a charge of attempted murder, police said.

Robinson has been placed in solitary confinement. Guards have not found the weapon. Phillips is serving a prison term for a 1980 burglary at a Milford dentist's office. The length of his term was unavailable Tuesday night. Robinson was sent to Delaware Correctional Center in 1975 for his part in the shooting and robbery of a Wilmington restaurant owner while he and two accomplices were on weekend passes from the Delaware Youth Center in Dover.

Since entering the prison, Robinson also has had two more years, added to his term after being convicted in 1980 of assault in a detention facility, and he pleaded guilty in February to another assault. The state dropped his prostcution for rioting at the prison in 1977 for lack of evidence. SMYRNA Troy L. Phillips, a Delaware Correctional Center inmate who formerly lived in Mil-ford, is in the prison infirmary recovering from two stab wounds after an incident Sunday morning in the prison near Smyrna. State police said Phillips, 30, was apparently stabbed about 11:45 a.m.

by another prisoner, George L. Robinson, 23, formerly of the 600 block of N. Van Buren Wilmington, in a cell of the maximum-security building. The two had been talking in the cell for about 15 minutes, police' said, when the assailant apparently' pulled a home-made knife from his sleeve and lunged at Phillips, stabbing him in the left arm and chest. Phillips was taken to Kent General Hospital, Dover, where he was treated and released to the prison infirmary, police said.

Authorities intend to seek Robin Newark Bureau The 10-month-old impasse over a new contract for teachers in the Appoquinimink School District has come a step closer to being resolved. The teachers and the school board have agreed on a three-member mediation team after unsuccessful attempts to do so for the last five months. The board and the teachers association each selected one member Monday, who approved the third member of the team, a federal mediator. According to Richard R. Nabb, president of the Appoquinimink Association, the board's choice was Charles A.

LeGates a former mayor of Dover and fire chief of Dover Air Force Base who is currently a state employee. The teachers' representative will be William W. Hutchinson, a Capital School District teacher and former president of the Capital Education Association. Harvey A. Young, a professional mediator, was assigned to the case by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and approved by LeGates and Hutchinson.

The mediation team will go to the' table on July 9 to try to resolve a dispute over pay and benefits. have been working with out a contract since the beginning of the last school year. Henry C. Harper said that once a pay increase has been agreed upon by both sides, they will negotiate whether that pay scale will be retroactive to September. Suit claims toaster caused house fire factured" by General Electric.

American Parts, of 3311 Old Capital Trail, is accused of negligence in repair work done on the toaster several days before the fire. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington by Wilmington attorneys William F. Taylor and Craig A. Karsnitz.

A couple whose house was heavily damaged by a fire in April 1980 has filed a $20,000 lawsuit against General Electric and American Parts Inc. The couple, Ronald and Jane Cutler, claim that the fire was caused by a toaster that had been "negligently and defectively manu.