The Morning News from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 1

The Morning News Wilmington, Delaware 1st timrwti Thursday. Aug. 26; 1982 Weather, B2 Record, B4 Obituaries, 67 Classified, B8 BTOOTfi)Qln)(e SECTION inhte In tho region Kent arrested in slaying Suspect accused of robbing contractor, dumping body. shooting death of Regis Thomas Donahue, 38, of Mount Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Forrester said. Donahue, a self-employed contractor in business with his two brothers, was doing roofing work in the Dover area, Forrester said.

Donahue was last seen alive about 1 a.m. last Thursday near Garrison's Lake, Forrester said. Donahue's body was found in a field by a farmer driving a tractor along a rural road in a wildlife preserve off Maryland 291 near the Delaware-Maryland boundary about 11 a.m. that day. Lt.

Lamonte Cooke, a spokesman for the Kent County, sheriff, said the body was fully clothed but ter said. There was blood in the vehicle, and investigators believe. Donahue was killed while riding in the vehicle somewhere along Kent 127 in Delaware, between U.S. 13 and the Maryland border. Forrester said investigators began tracing Donahue's move-, ments from the time he finished work that Wednesday evening and came up with Mahan as being the last man seen with him near the lake.

Donahue had spent a couple of hours the night of Aug. 18 in the Fairways Inn, a bar that features topless dancers on U.S. 13 near See SLAYING B5 By JERRY HAGER Staff reporter A Clayton-area man was arrested by the state police Wednesday and charged with killing a suburban Pittsburgh contractor last week, taking his money and dumping his body on a rural road near Milling-ton, Md. Thomas Lee 22, was charged with first-degree murder, robbery and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony and sent to the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna without bail, police spokesman Sgt. Joseph Forrester said.

Mahan was charged with the had no wallet, identity papers or money on it. Donahue had been shot in the head with a single blast from a shotgun, a spokeswoman from the Baltimore County, medical examiner's office said. Donahue's brothers filed a missing persons report with the Delaware police when he didn't return to' their room at a Dover motel Thursday. Forrester said he didn't know the name of the motel. The brothers identified the body through a tattoo of a panther on Donahue's arm, Cooke said.

On Saturday, state police found Donahue's pickup truck at Augustine Beach, about 30 miles east of where the body was found, Forres Brandywine eyed as energy source Lewes-Rehoboth Canal to be reopened LEWES The Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, between Rehoboth Bay and the proposed Savannah Road Bridge, will be reopened to boat traffic Saturday even though the scheduled move of the old Delaware 1 drawbridge from Rehoboth to Lewes has not been completed. The canal was closed to boat traffic from Aug. until Wednesday so that barges could move the old drawbridge to Lewes. But East Coast Salvage the Camden, N.J., contractor that was to move the drawbridge, was unable to get all of its equipment on site in time to complete the move, said Paul A. Welsh, a Transportation Department spokesman.

The U.S. Coast Guard has requested that the canal be reopened to boat traffic through Sept. 12, Welsh said. A new closing date has not been set. Delaware lottery introduces new game The Delaware lottery has a new instant game and a bonus for playing the game.

Ralph F. Batch, lottery director, said that 52 bonus prizes of $500 will be awarded in the lottery's Cash Box Instant Game, which begins Tuesday. Players scratch off six prize amounts on the ticket. If any three match, players win from $1 to $5,000. The players then rub off a bonus section which uncovers a five-digit bonus number.

If the number matches one of 10 bonus numbers posted where the tickets are sold, the player wins $500. Md. teens get around higher drinking age GLEN BURNIE, Md. Although a newly-implemented law raised Maryland's legal drinking age from 18 to 21, many teenagers in the state have apparently found ways to keep drinking, the head of the Motor Vehicle Administration said Wednesday. At a news conference in this Baltimore suburb, William Bricker, administrator of the MVA, said young people apparently have begun either renting or borrowing birth certificates from older people.

He said the young people then bring the birth certificates to the MVA and obtain fraudulent duplicate driver's license and use those documents to purchase alcoholic beverages. Bricker said a computer check showed that 1,400 young drivers between 18 and 24 have sought duplicate driver's licenses since May. Although many of those appear to be legitimate, Bricker said some drivers have sought as many as five duplicate driving permits in less than four months. Fallen tree knocks out Greenville's power Electrical power to several hundred Greenville-area homes was blacked out for nearly an hour Wednesday when a falling tree knocked out a main power circuit. According to Rick Hofmann, spokesman for Delmarva Power Light the power went out at 3:36 p.m.

and was restored by 4:30 p.m. The outage affected between 300 and 400 homes in the Greenville area, Hofmann said. "A tree fell on the service lines, and it blew a main circuit," Hofmann said. "We rerouted the power, and corrected the problem." Decomposed body found in locked trunk FREDERICK, Md. -r Police in this western Maryland city have asked the state medical examiner for help in identifying a decomposed body found in a locked trunk in Frederick County.

Frederick Police Chief Richard Aston said the leaf and debris-covered trunk containing the body was found Tuesday evening by a couple searching for mushrooms in the Frederick watershed area of Gambrill Mountain. Police said the body was so badly decomposed that it was impossible to determine age or sex. Ashton said police also had not been able to determine cause of death. Compiled from dispatches i Vt Some see it as the wave of the future By NATHAN GORENSTEIN Staff reporter The muddy waters of the Brandywine River will someday produce cheap, pollution-free energy for the city of Wilmington. Or so some hope.

Others harbor doubt, but no one knows for sure. James M. Baker, though, wants to find out. Baker, a city councilman, convened his "Future Development Committee" Wednesday to look into the question. While he concedes that the amount of energy that could be produced by a hydroelectric generator may light and heat no more than a couple of government buildings in the city, Baker wants to know whether the benefits would exceed the costs.

After all, Baker says, it's that much irreplaceable fossil fuel that will be saved. The councilman may be going against the flow. Alternatives to oil, coal or nuclear energy have received little attention recently as world oil supplies have exceeded consumption, producing a glut that has lowered prices. Combined with changing federal policies that have de-empha-sized conservation and alternative energy development, windmills, solar cells and water power aren't receiving much attention. Engineers from the Du Pont for example, were expected to attend Baker's meeting with rough data they have compiled about the Brandywine River.

But the Du Pont representatives failed to show up for the discussion. That is somewhat ironic in that the Du Pont Co. was founded on the banks of the Brandywine River, whose waters were used to power the gunpow- Old Du Pont powder mills along the Brandywine once tapped the river for energy. Campaign notes representatives were tied up on company business, the only tech- nical advice at Wednesday's" meeting was provided by William G. Turner, the commissioner of public works, who confirmed that the volume of water carried by the river varies sharply accord- -ing to the time of year and level of precipitation.

The problem that creates was cited by Delmarva spokesman Richard G. Hofmann. "We've looked at it before, but according our development peo-. pie the flow in summer is not sufficient to be much benefit to us. We are a summer peak company." "That's for our particular pur- pose.

This is not to say that somebody with, say, an apartment complex might not be able to do something," Hofmann said. part of a museum exhibit in 1976. It can produce up to 350 kilowatts. Depending on power demand and the fluctuations of the Brandywine River, the generator has provided between 43 and 81 percent of the electric energy consumed by the foundation on a yearly basis, Heacock said. Excess energy produced at night is purchased by Delmarva Power, but the rate paid "is not as much as the power we have to buy to make up our power deficit," Heacock said.

The pay-back period when the museum will earn back through savings the money spent on installation is unknown. The generator was installed as a museum exhibit, so money was spent on items the city would not be concerned with, Heacock said. Without the Du Pont whose der mills that gave the company its start in the 1800s. Du Pont should know about the river and electricity also, however. The only working hydroelectric generator on the Brandywine River is run by the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation and is located on the site of one installed in 1899 by Alfred I.

du Pont, the member of the family who was in large part responsible for turning the gunpowder company into today's chemical giant. Du Pont brought electric power to Delaware, and used the power produced by the generator for the company's gunpowder works, a number of homes and St. Joseph's Church. Walter J. Heacock, general director of the foundation, said the generator was installed as 3 Pagans convicted of weapons counts By LINDA K.

HARRIS Staff reporter Three men whom state police identified as Pagan motorcycle sang members were convicted Wednesday of weapon charges stemming from an incident last November at a service station on the Kirkwood Highway. A fourth co-defendant did not show up for the non-jury Superior Court trial, presided over by Judge Albert J. Stif tel. Arthur C. Irelan, 38, of Patrician Terrace Apartments; Albert T.

She- and asked them to clear out about 10 Pagans that had gathered there. Deputy Attorney General Alan B. Levin asked Rhoades what he was thinking about when he drove up to the gas station. Rhoades responded, "Caution and safety," because Pagans are "known to be hazardous to police officers." Rhoades said that when he saw one man duck down inside the gas station office, he "became apprehensive and unsnapped my weapon and put my hand on it." Rhoades and another officer, Cpl. Lester C.

Robinson, testified that several weeks before the gas station incident occurred, FBI agent Butch Heiden had conducted a' briefing at Troop 6 and advised troopers about various aspects of the biker club including its involvement with drugs and where some members lived and worked. Heiden had told troopers that the FBI is concerned about an increase in the number of Pagans and added that "they were getting Robinson said. The troopers also said they; See PAGANS B5 manski, 29, of Elm Street, Mill Creek Trailer Park; and Craig W. Frederick, 38, of Craigtown Road, Port Deposit, were found guilty of carrying concealed deadly weapons while with a group of 10 men whom police described as Pagans that had congregated Nov. 13 at the Three-J's Tire Service Center.

Delaware State Police Trooper William Rhoades testified that he was sent to the gas station in the 3000 block of Kirkwood Highway about 2:45 a.m. Rhoades said the manager had called state police New Castle County: Margo Ewing Bane to run Margo Ewing Bane, Miss Delaware of 1969, will be the Republican candidate for New Castle County prothonotary against Democratic incumbent George J. Fisher of Wilmington. Bane, 32, was recruited by the Republican Party to fill a space on its ticket. Although the deadline for candidates to file was July 30, the parties have until Sept.

1 to find candidates for vacant spots. The prothonotary is the clerk of Superior Court and serves a four-year term. The salary is $20,500 a year. Bane's name often is mentioned as the Miss Delaware whom people remember. She is the owner of a small business, Image Workshop, offering confidence-building workshops for women.

Although she has never run for political office, she has been a Republican "as long as I've been voting" and has been a volunteer worker for the party. She knows that the prothonotary's job isn't the most eye-catching in the county, and she jokes, "I'd like to bring the prothonotary to life. I'd like to teach people how to spell it and how to say it." It's pro-THON-otary. Bane and her husband William Warren Bane III, who works for Allied Container live in Hyde Park. She is a graduate of Thomas McKean High School and the University of Delaware.

When told about Bane's candidacy, Fisher, 67, said he thought his eight years of experience in the job entitle him to re-election. State Senate: Democratic hopeful makes plea Democratic challenger H. Lewis Walton- III says he should be elected to the state Senate because Sen. John H. Arnold, R-Mill Creek, has not been responsive to his constituents.

Walton said Arnold doesn't always return telephone calls, doesn't sponsor many bills and has done a poor job as the minority whip in the Senate. Arnold demonstrated his unresponsiveness with his vote against legislation for a nuclear arms freeze referendum on the November ballot, Walton said. The legislation passed the Democratic-controlled Senate but was killed in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. Arnold said he is running on his record and believes his service to constituents has been good. "He'll have to convince the voters of my district that I'm not responsive.

I have returned every phone call," he said, adding he also has mailboxes for suggestions throughout the district, has taken surveys and distributes newsletters. "I'm not out there to set a record sponsoring bills," Arnold added. As a member of the minority party in the Senate, Arnold said he frequently can be more effective by persuading a member of the Democratic majority to sponsor a bill, while he signs on as a co-sponsor. State House: Cockroach complaints are issue The complaint about the cockroaches was raised during a campaign appearance by Sylvia J. Mack, who is challenging Rep.

Al O. Plant, D-Wilmington East, in the Sept. 1 1 primary. Mack says she was making a campaign appearance at the See CAMPAIGN NOTES B3 Cyclist hits police car after high-speed chase traffic counts, was also pursued by 1 Delaware state and New Castle County police. The chase ended when the man's car spun out and stalled at an underpass.

Thornton said the officers' involved in the Corder chase wee both experienced, one with 12 years of service, the other with four. He added that the chase was rdu-. tinely reviewed for its appropriateness. Corder was listed in stable condition at St. Francis Hospital with a dislocated hip.

Newark police charged him with speeding and violating a traffic signal. When the officer attempted to stop Corder, the motorcyclist took off, eventually reaching a speed of 70 mph on Paper Mill Road before he turned around in a parking lot to return to the road where he collided with a stopped police car, Thornton said. Thornton said that except for the portion on Paper Mill Road the speeds of the pursuit were not high. "He was going through parking lots and over grassy areas; there were a lot of turns," he said. "On North Chapel there's a dog-leg turn to Annabella where there's a dead end.

That's a pretty confined area." Thornton said the chase was justified and the situation was not "life threatening" since the cars maintained low speeds and there were relatively few cars on the road at that hour. "If someone takes off there's usually a reason," he said. "We can't get in a position of avoiding highspeed chases or everyone will know we're not going to chase and then everyone will evade us." Wednesday's chase was the second this month for Newark police. On Aug. 5, around 5:30 a.m., a 23-year-old man led police on a chase through the city and the Mil-ford Crossroads area after originally fleeing from Cecil County police in Maryland.

The man, who was eventually charged with 21 By ROLF RYKKEN Staff reporter A young Newark man on a motorcycle who fled a police car at speeds approaching 70 mph collided with a second police car after he attempted to double back to evade the first one early Wednesday morning, Newark Police said yesterday. The 1 a.m. chase, which lasted several blocks, began when a Newark police officer allegedly saw George Corder, 19, of the 600 block of Lehigh Road, Park Place Apartments, run a red light on North1 Chapel Street, according to Newark Police Lt. Larry Thornton..