Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 172

10 Section 2 Chicago Tribune, Wednesday. December 2. 1998 NW SW MC METRO STATE 2 Wheaton execs face U.S. fraud indictments Masses remember school fire victims i ji i loaays pupus iace wx J. 1 TTJ'Vi I Tribune photo by Chuck Berman Kay Tedesco (from left), Mary Kosek, Donna Laterza and Judi Lynn, relatives of victims or survivors of the Our Lady of the Angels School fire, attend a commemorative mass Tuesday.

AmTel Communication Systems. In what prosecutors described as a classic Ponzi scheme, some of the money from new investors went to pay older investors to keep them from realizing the fraud, authorities said. The two guaranteed annual returns in excess of 12 percent to entice investors, the charges alleged. In addition to buying the 40-foot luxury boat, Lunic was also accused of wire transferring $400,000 in investor funds to cover his gambling tab at Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas. Holmberg, 34, and Lunic, 39, both of Wheaton, were initially charged in a criminal complaint in September.

Lunic was named Tuesday in all 15 counts of the indictment, while Holmberg was named in 7 counts. "Mr. Holmberg has been cooperating with the authorities, and he expects to continue his cooperation," said his attorney, Jeffrey Stone. Lunic's lawyer was unavailable for comment. Lunic, a Serbian national, remains in custody, while Holmberg was released on electronic monitors after his father posted property valued at $323,000 as bond.

By Matt O'Connor Tribune Staff Writer Two business executives were indicted Tuesday in a multimillion-dollar fraud and accused of lavishly spending investor funds on cars, planes, residences, gambling and a luxury boat named "Never Enough." Both defendants were also charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly trying to hire an undercover FBI agent posing as a tough guy to abduct and intimidate a former employee so he wouldn't cooperate with authorities. The indictment charged Scott Holmberg and Slobodan "Dan" Lunic with defrauding thousands of investors from around the country of millions of dollars by marketing pay telephones as an investment opportunity. The problem was that they sold thousands more phones than their companies actually owned, the 15-count indictment alleged. The government has seized more than $11 million from bank accounts and other assets of their companies First Commercial Management Group, PayTel Communications Systems, Cap-Tel Maintenance Systems and church somehow seems to help. On Tuesday, survivors like Laterza and relatives of the victims joined hundreds of others at St.

Francis of AssisiOur Lady of the Angels Church to commemorate the tragedy. Laterza attended a mass for the children now attending the school. In the evening, the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago marked the anniversary with a mass celebrated by Cardinal Francis George. The cardinal prayed for eternal rest of the children and adults who died and asked God to comfort those who remained. "To all here this evening who lost someone in the great fire, who went through it and lost a part of their life because of it, I offer condolences," the cardinal said.

'To all of you who had the courage to bring about change, who found good out of evil, I offer my thanks." After George spoke, the names of the victims were read and a candle was lighted for each. As the names echoed throughout the church, people wept, closed their eyes and prayed silently. And as the listing of the victims continued, the toll of the fire was felt The earlier mass was primarily for the school's children and was celebrated by Bishop Edwin Conway, who graduated from the 'new set of dangers By Julie Deardorff 'Tridunk Staff Writer Exactly 40 years after surviving the horrific fire at Our Lady of the Angels School, Donna Laterza down the steps of the very same church where she had been given shelter from the deadly smoke and Dames. Sirens blared in the distance in the West Humboldt Park neighbor- (, hood, triggering her memory as she left the afternoon mass said for the anniversary of the fire that killed 92 of her classmates and three nuns on a cold December day. She inhaled deeply.

"It smells just like the fire out here," she said to her mother. "And there are sirens. Isn't that weird? i Don't you smell smoke?" Life has gone on for Laterza and the other survivors, but they carry them scars that may never completely heal. Laterza, an 8th grader at the time of the fire, said she is still afraid of the smell of smoke and always looks for exit signs. She must be sure windows can be opened, she said.

But revisiting the old neighbor-" hood, the rebuilt school and the more crime," said Rev. Nicholas Desmond, pastor of St. Francis of AssisiOur Lady of the Angels parish. Our Lady of the Angels School Principal Carol Fendt said that though it's important to remember the school's history of tragedy, a greater concern is the school's future. Enrollment has declined by about 40 pupils since last year, Fendt said.

Only about one-fifth of the children are Catholic. Two other Catholic schools on the West Side closed last year, she said. If these trends continue, she said, the institution that survived fire 40 years ago could face the threat of closure not because of any physical threat, but because of social change. This, she said, "gives a sense of where we are now, today." school 50 years ago. Conway said the children who attend Our Lady of the Angels School face completely different dangers than their counterparts faced 40 years ago: crime, AIDS, gangs and drugs.

At the time of the fire, the school was a 2l2-story brick-and-wood structure at Iowa Street and Avers Avenue. The neighborhood was bustling with mainly Italian, Irish and Polish residents, and the school was packed with 1,668 students. After the fire, the school was rebuilt as a memorial to the victims, but it now has only 130 students, from preschool through 8th grade, and educates mostly black and Hispanic children. "Poverty has increased here. And there is Your source for all services.

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Edgar aides say it would save money by replacing highly paid senior staffers with younger, cheaper workers. It could allow Ryan, also a Republican, more freedom to hire and assign employees, observers said. But, at the same time, the state would "lose a lot of experience to any retirement package," said Dave Urbanek, a spokesman for the incoming governor. The developments did little to Personal Network also available at these authorized dealers: it" hi X(j 9 (I) 0) 1 feuloJ ARLINGTON HEIGHTS North American Paging 847 392-1200 BENSENVILLE Premier Paging 630 860-0022 BERWVN Tele-Tron True Value. Inc.

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Under one early-retirement plan under discussion, a 55-year-old employee could retire five years early by paying in advance half the amount of money the state would have contributed on his behalf to the retirement fund during those five years. Some state officials, meanwhile, have raised concerns about the negative impact on the day-to-day operations of state government should thousands of middle managers decide to leave at once. George Ryan may share those concerns. Indeed, the IF YOU THOUGHT NO ROAMING AND NO LONG DISTANCE CHARGES WERE YOUR ONLY REWARDS FOR SIGNING UP WITH DIGITAL ONE RATE; THINK AGAIN. SRIDGEVIEW SSS General Merchandise.

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The Highway Improvement Task Force sidestepped calling for a higher statewide gas tax but suggested one option to help counties raise money for road projects would be to allow more of them to impose their own motor fuel taxes. Further options would pump $260' million a year raised by an existing sales tax on motor fuel purchases into transportation projects rather than into the state's general fund, reduce the state's die-sel fuel tax, give a bigger share of state transportation fund dollars to Cook and its collar counties and increase bonding authority for mass transit programs. The task force also submitted for senators to consider completing the long-discussed idea of issuing new license plates statewide a program that would cost from $35 million to $40 million-over three years. the states $1 billion-plus transportation program. It's all within your reach.

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