The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 1

-7 Hij In IT Lifo hectic fer. Water Patrol Recipe for catfish fajitas 1991 deer season announced See PACE 3D FWJ GUIBS 70 AHEA LAKES1 AFFORDABLE TRAVEL: Penny pinchers' trips for tough timesUSA WEEKEND A Gannett Newspaper SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, SUNDAY, MAY 26, 1991 $1.50 3 TODAY The News-Leader $6 MILLION MANSION ffiir tariff Charges open up 'big case' concerning activities inside Peacock's massage parlors Visitors get both no, yes to sauna sex 1 a Bob LinderThe News-Leader The Robert Plaster home on Table Rock Lake Is built on five levels and covers 28,000 square feet. Bzaiicer builds state's costliest house By Robert Keyes 40 The News-Leader It is, as a federal prosecutor says, "a pretty big case" one ultimately involving whether a Springfield massage parlor is a house of prostitution or a legitimate business owned by a couple who give freely to charity. Until recent developments, the massage parlor for several years operated outside the purview of local police: Greene County Sheriff John Pierpont says his agency hasn't investigated whether the Tokyo Sauna is peddling sex for money, despite tips that it might be doing that. If the courts eventually determine that the sauna is a brothel, it's not because of its outside looks.

Except for its dark glass, the one-story building at 3827 N. Glenstone Ave. almost looks like a convenience store: A sign advertises 24-hour service, a window sticker invites credit-card users while another sticker shows support for a law enforcement organization. It's in such obscurity that the Tokyo Sauna where a 45-minute massage could cost $150 operated until last month. Then, a federal grand jury indicted its owners, James and Chung Peacock, on charges of income tax evasion nd conspiracy to induce women into prostitution.

More charges were added Friday against the Peacocks, who pleaded innocent. Interviews conducted over the past month by The News-Leader show clashing viewpoints of the Peacocks: Are they philanthropists who help support Amerasian immigrants, or are they using charity as a veil to sell sex? The Peacocks are known for "doing good deeds silently" in their Tacoma, Korean community. But the indictments raised questions of a connection between the couple's ownership of massage parlors that employ only Asian women and their non-profit American Korean Family Association. Chung Peacock, 52, denies any tie between the parlors and the three-year-old association, which provides Amerasian women and their Please see PEACOCKSPage 7A By Robert Keyes and Willard Woods The News-Leader A masseuse, dressed in a cream-colored, silk negligee unlocks the door of the Tokyo Sauna. "You been here before?" she asks.

Another masseuse sits on the floor wearing shorts and a loose-fitting T-shirt. The front room of the massage parlor, located where North Glenstone Avenue intersects with Valley Mill Road, looks well-lived in, with a console television and VCR, a couch, coffee table and worn carpet- ing. Down the back hallway are sever- al small bedrooms with red lights. One has a picture of kittens on the wall. There are boxes and boxes of tissue paper stacked beneath a table.

The air is heavy with the smell of potpourri and peach. Federal prosecutors say this is a house of prostitution that has brought in sometimes more than $1,000 a day. The owners, James and Chung Peacock, have pleaded innocent to charges of evading income taxes and inducing women to engage in prostitution. The parlor offers only massages, Chung Peacock says. Visits on different nights by two reporters could support both arguments.

One reporter was offered sex for $80. The other received a massage and sauna for $150 and wa9 asked to sign a form saying he had not engaged in sex. Chung Peacock, through her attorney, declined com-' ment about the visits. Greene County Sheriff John Pierpont says his office has never investigated the parlor or two others like it in the county despite tips or complaints of prostitution. "The complaints we get are usual-Please see SAUNAPage 7A Palace shines with glass, marble room suites, said the project's architect, Dennis Spencer.

Called the "Evergreen Crystal Palace" by Spencer and Plaster's "monument to himself' by some Stone County residents the house sits on a rocky bluff 200 feet above Table Rock Lake near Kimberling City. Stone County Assessor Allen Berkstresser By Sara B. Hansen The News-Leader Every day the Table Rock Lake Kimberling City Chamber of Commerce receives calls asking when the new hotel on the bluff will open. But the five-level, green glass and marble structure won't ever open to the public. It's a private home and corporate retreat owned by Robert Plaster, founder and chief executive officer of Empire Gas, the Stone County Assessor's office said last week.

With a construction price tag of about $6 million almost 100 times the value of the average lake-area home it's apparently the most expensive home ever built in Missouri. The building has an garage with space for 14 cars. It includes four offices, 12 guest suites and two master-bed garage with parking space for 14 cars. Helicopter landing pad. Activity room with televisions, pool tables and card tables.

Pistol range. Outdoor swimming pool and health spa. Computer game room. Two master bedroom suites and 12 guest suites. Quarters for a live-in'caretaker.

Atrium with fountain. Corporate office for Plaster, and three smaller adjacent offices. Elevator. Green marble staircase. Sara B.

Hansen Architect Dennis Spencer said the Evergreen Crystal Palace is unlike anything else he's designed. The five-split-level structure on a bluff overlooking Table Rock Lake appears similar to the Empire Bank Building at 3333 S. National which Spencer also designed. Both buildings look blue and are about the same size. But the $3 million, Empire Bank building is covered in metallic panels.

The $6 million Crystal Palace's exterior is mostly glass. Its interior features green glass, green marble and brass, he said. Crystal Palace highlights: Plaster said the house is listed in his records as being owned by Robert Plaster Trust. Repeated efforts to reach Plaster for comment for this story were Please see PLASTERPage 7A Who's to blame for recession? Take your pick Warm weather, scant chance of rain expected this holiday Recessions since 19603 A Alan Greenspan In 1988 and 1989, the central bank was pursuing a tight-credit policy. The idea was that high interest rates would dampen demand enough to cool inflationary pressures without tipping the country into a recession.

Greenspan's critics contend the central bank worried about inflation too much and kept interest rates too high for too long, triggering the downturn. Proponents of the Fed theory claimed support when the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official arbiter of when recessions begin and end, selected July 1990 as the starting month for the downturn. That was the month before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. "It is entirely possible that we would have only had a slowdown and not a recession had the Please see RECESSIONPage 8A By Martin Crutsinger The Associated Press WASHINGTON The 1990-91 recession was caused by: (a) Alan Greenspan. (b) Saddam Hussein.

(c) the credit crunch. (d) the end of the Cold War. (e) the 1981 and 1986 tax laws. (f) all of the above. Each of those factors, and some even more disparate, are being advanced as culprits in the country's first economic slump in eight years.

In Washington, fixing blame for the recession isn't just an academic exercise. The issue is certain to arise in next year's presidential campaign. It could also be a factor in determining whether Greenspan keeps his job as chairman of the Federal Reserve. In addition, some people champion one cause Kimberling Marina 13 Boat Dock at Kimberling City said all 155 camp sites run by the business were full, as well as 20 spots in an overflow area. "Last year, it happened once all year long," he said.

The marina also was doing a big business in boat rentals. Boaters he'd talked to said there were not "tons" of people on the lake, "but there's quite a few people out there," he said. "So far everyone has been first-of-the-year cordial," he said. "It's been a good holiday so far." From Our Staff Warm weather today and Monday should help what lakes-area businesses say already has been a good Memorial Day weekend. Today should be partly sunny with the temperatures in the mid-to upper 80s, the National Weather Service says.

Partly cloudy skies are predicted for Memorial Day along with widely scattered thunder-showers. The high will be in the upper 80s, with a 20 percent chance of rain in the forecast Randy Swanson of the Port of over another to promote their own ideas ranging from cutting the tax on capital gains to overhauling the banking system as ways to get out of the recession. Most economists would pick the "all of the above" answer. They argue that recessions seldom have a single cause. But those who single out a villain advance these arguments: Saddam Hussein Iraq's invasion of Kuwait sent world oil prices soaring, making inflation worse and cutting into purchasing power.

Worried American consumers abruptly stopped spending and the recession was under way. Inside today 0k Mild Partly cloudy and mild. High in the mid-80s. Winds south 5 to 15 mph. Partly cloudy tonight, low in the low 60s.

Opening reception An opening reception for Donna Willoughby, whose works will be on display at the Backstage Gallery of the Electric Dinner Theatre, will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today at the theater, 217 S. Glenstone Ave. Willoughby specializes in oils and watercolors.

Accent1F ClassifiedSE Cross word2F Dear Abby2F Deaths2B Home1C Horoscope2F Insight58 Livestock3E MarketsIE Movie clock6F Opinion6B Ozarks1B Real Estate4C Sports10 Time off 30 Weddmgs3-4, Wortd2A' Camping Surveys say the camping industry is the winner and leisure travel the loser as vacationers are staying close to home this summer. 7 Below 20 if (f Chance of showers Today's weather, Page2A. Vol. 101. No.

146, '1991. The News-Leader.