The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 682

B12 SUNDAY, JULY 19, 1992 VC LOS ANGELES TIMES Los Angeles County News Man's Disappearance Leaves Police Mystified Investigations: After Thomas Roche vanished in 1991, someone wrote a note claiming to have killed him. No body has been found. letter arrived at the Rogers Street apartment he shared with his girlfriend, Barbara Rondeau. It was addressed "To the family of Thomas Roche" and contained a driver's license, credit card and a piece of jewelry belonging to the missing man. Rondeau read the two-page letter on the apartment steps near her mailbox, collapsing in tears before calling police.

The writer described meeting Roche at a topless bar and planning to "quickly and efficiently" kill him after luring him to a prearranged meeting. "He fell for it and we arranged to meet on Friday the 13th," the letter said. "I must assure you that it was neat and quick. I do not think he suffered at all." Police have not disclosed all of the Please see DISAPPEAR, B17 one who killed Tom Roche." More than 10 months later, Roche remains unaccounted for. As time goes by, police are considering the letter as a possibly authentic note from a killer who wrote of a need to kill that he found difficult to control after serving in Vietnam.

"Either this is a legitimate disappearance and the person who wrote the letter had something to do with it, or Tom Roche disappeared on his own and had it done to cover his tracks," Detective Cliff G. Thieme said. "The more time goes by, the more credence I have to give to the authenticity of the letter. I have to look more strongly on the possibility that he may be dead." Six days after Roche disappeared, the Believing that his Sept. 13, 1991, disappearance might be temporary, Burbank police held the report for a few days while waiting for Roche to show up as do most people whom loved ones have reported missing.

But Roche did not turn up. Instead, a letter surfaced from a person professing to be his killer. And case No. 91-10270 took on a unique light. "I am suffering a great deal of guilt right now about what I have done and I feel it is necessary to write about it for my sake and yours," begins the unsigned letter mailed to Roche's apartment.

"You don't know me and hopefully you never will but I am the By MICHAEL CONNELLY TIMES STAFF WRITER At first, case No. 91-10270 seemed like any of the dozens of missing person reports that come to police agencies in Southern California every week: Thomas Richard Roche was missing, having left his apartment without telling his longtime girlfriend and with only the clothes he was wearing. The 37-year-old machinist's new job and bank accounts were left behind. So, too, was his beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Thomas Richard Roche CSUN Students Dial for Dollars to Save Courses LAIUIYBESSEL Los Angeles Tlmca Students in the Pre-College Enrichment Academy at USC Imagine themselves at their college graduation as teacher Tom Adams paces.

Students working in the CSUN development office spend five or six nights a week in a high-tech phone room talking to alumni and parents who are reached through a computerized dialing system that has information on 70,000 individuals. When someone answers, the computer transfers the call instantly to student solicitors along with information on a computer screen that includes, for alumni, their graduation date, area of study and whether a person has given money in the past. "I've raised $30,665 since October," said Gena Dearing, 23, a liberal studies graduate. "The computer even called my own phone one night. But I didn't pledge.

I work here; that's my pledge." Students have bonus incentives, as well. They earn 1 of pledges greater than $100, up to $500, and $8 for pledges of $1,000. The students working the campaign said they hear a lot about the tough times being suffered by recent CSUN graduates who cannot find work. "Sometimes half the people on a night will say they can't get a job," said Ryan Ehsan, 19, a political science major. Even so, "most of the people who say they will talk to you will pledge," Ehsan said.

The average donation from alumni last year was about $111, CSUN officials said. Even though total donations are up, the average alumni gift has fallen from $140 the previous year, a change campus officials attribute to the recession. The bleak state budget picture has also changed fund-raising tactics. Pleas are no longer just for educational extras, but for basics such as teacher salaries to save classes. "Right now, we're not trying to raise money for future planning or endowments or educational enhancements but money to return some classes," said Sandra Klasky, a CSUN graduate hired by the campus School of Education to raise funds.

"And to be honest, Please see CSUN, B24 Education: Alumni, parents and others are pressed for donations to supplement the shrinking state subsidy. By SAM ENRIQUEZ TIMES STAFF WRITER At a time when California state universities are facing unprecedented budget cuts in the millions of dollars, a small group of Cal State Northridge students are hustling to get some of it back: $10, $20, $100 at a time. Like many other public schools, CSUN is starting slowly to raise private funds now that the state has become a stingy benefactor. But much of the fund-raising work is not being done at black-tie dinners, silent auctions or over drinks after the Big Game. It is being done by students in jeans and tennis shoes working the phones.

"We can't do anything about what happens in Sacramento, but we're doing the best we can right here," said Roy Vincent, 28, a religious studies major and campaign worker. Vincent and his 29 student colleagues, who make $6.50 an hour, are among those on the front lines of an increasingly desperate effort to persuade alumni, parents and just about anybody with deep pockets to supplement the school's dwindling state subsidy. They are also one of the bright stars in the CSUN fund-raising effort, which has been plagued in recent years by a lack of ty interest, little contact with alumni and investment losses. With no relief in sight to the state budget woes, the fund-raising efforts this summer have taken on a new importance. Gov.

Pete Wilson has called for an 11 cut to the California State University system. At CSUN, that would result in layoffs of more than one -third of the CSUN faculty and force the cancellation of hundreds of classes. USC Dream Team Pre-College Academy Turns Average 7th-Graders Into Scholars in 6 Years homework done on time and are in danger of slipping through the cracks. "Our focus is on the average student," Fleming said, "because our premise is we can take an average student, and in six years render that student a scholar." With an operating budget of $168,000 a year, the academy accepts about 60 new students annually, Fleming said. The youngsters are treated like star pupils.

Called scholars instead of students, they are asked for their opinions on weighty issues, ranging from the Democratic National Convention to the death penalty, and they are expected to complete every bit of the mounds of homework they carry home each night. At the end of the program, if the students meet USC's admission standards they will receive a four-year scholarship to the university an offer worth about $34,000 a year to the class of 1996-97, at current Please see USC, BID The academy is the core component of the Neighborhood Academic Initiative, a university-sponsored effort that provides programs and services to the mostly working-class families living in the neighborhoods around USC. The novel program selects seventh-graders from James Foshay and John Adams junior high schools in South Los Angeles for a six-year program that teaches them self-esteem, respect for others and the academic skills necessary to get into college and succeed there, said program director James C. Fleming. These are not gifted students who earn straight A's and make the honor roll, said Fleming, who developed the program at the behest of university officials concerned about increasing the enrollment of African -Americans and Latinos.

They are average students those who receive mediocre grades, do not always get their By CHARISSE JONES TIMES STAFF WRITER At USC, a group of children who have grown up in the college's shadow gather six mornings a week to learn how to speak in public, how to make decisions and how to manage their time. But first, they learn to dream. Carlos Morataya, 13, who as a young child watched students toting backpacks on USC's campus, sees himself becoming one of them. Jasmine Tigolo, a 12-year-old girl once too shy to raise her hand in class, wants to study to become a veterinarian. And Trunnell Powell, 13, who preferred being class clown to school scholar, aspires to be the first of his siblings to attend USC.

As students in the university's year-old Pre-College Enrichment Academy, their aspirations once so distant are closer to becoming a reality. Riots Shape Birthday Celebration Parties: A Beverly Hills businesswoman marks her 50th year and invites South L.A. residents to share the fun. TONYA A. EVATT ForTheTimes because of what happened to him.

I would like for it not to keep happening to other mothers, sisters and brothers. The pain is unbearable. It hurts you so bad you don't want anybody to feel that way." That Rumph, 61, and Jaffe would ever meet, they say, is a testament to the good that has emerged from the destruction of the riots. Jaffe read about the center in a newspaper story several weeks after the uprising, and like many others, offered to help. Peggy Gottlieb, also of Beverly Hills, donated $10,000 so that the cramped center could expand into the storefront next door, which for years had housed the Rumph family's storage and moving business.

Next week, 25 children from the center will spend four days in San Luis Obispo, courtesy of John Ko-ger, an African-American businessman there. On Saturday, Jaffe donated a seven-seat van to the center for field trips, and dozens of her friends, following Jaffe's request, contributed thousands of dollars instead of buying her gifts. The soft-spoken Rumph, her fist stuffed with checks, and several volunteers could barely control Jaffe, her face painted as a clown, "and I said I didn't want a big party this year, that I wanted to do something to help. This feels better than any piece of jewelry around my neck." The gathering was held at the Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center, home to a small after-school learning program tucked behind a wall of security bars a short walk from riot-torn Manchester Boulevard.

The storefront operation was founded three years ago by Woo-ten's mother, Myrtle Faye Rumph, after Wooten was killed In a drive-by shooting. The center has been struggling since the beginning, operating on a shoestring budget and depending almost entirely on volunteer help and an abundance of optimism to keep it afloat. Rumph was heartbroken by her son's murder, but she turned aside calls for revenge from angry relatives, opting instead to sell her house, pay off her debts and devote herself to keeping young African-Americans out of trouble. "I am not doing this for my son. There is nothing I can do for him now," said Rumph, whose son was 35 when he died.

"I am doing it By DEAN E. MURPHY TIMES STAFF WRITER Shirley Jaffe lives in Beverly Hills, drives a Jaguar and owns a clothing manufacturing business. When her birthday rolls around, she typically invites her closest friends to a posh Westside restaurant or heads to an exotic island with her husband. Not on Saturday. Jaffe celebrated her 50th birthday near the corner of 91st Street and Western Avenue in South Los Angeles.

At least half of her 125 or so guests were poor and middle-class African -Americans, many of whom had never met someone from Beverly Hills. The others were mostly well-to-do Anglo Westslders, many equally ignorant of their neighborsto the south. "My husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday," said Shirley Jaffe, in clown makeup, Myrtle Faye Rumph and children of the Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center, i previous 2V4 years," said Rick Holland, Wooten's cousin, who was among those calling for retaliation after the drive-by shooting. "It shows the proper decision was made.

We wouldn't be here right now if we had taken the violent route." Jaffe hired several security guards and provided valet parking, but some friends were still too o. afraid to come. Her videotaped invitation included clips from a Please see PARTY, B19 their excitement in the graffiti-strewn alley behind the center, where Jaffe had set up tables and chairs and hired a disc jockey to play rap and other music. "We've gotten more assistance In the last three months than in the.