Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 13

Morgan Nimble jewel thieves get loot at absentees School about as expected Burglars removed two 12 by 34-inch glass window panes from a second story skylight to gain entrance to a downtown jewelry store Christmas Eve and left with $45,000 worth of jewelry, including a diamond heart necklace. Lansing Police detective Ray Warner said today that the thieves also took 30 wedding rings, 30 or 40 chain bracelets, 60 io 75 chain necklaces and 15 to 20 butane lighters from Morgan's Jewelers at 121 S. day about the theft. DeMott said today he remained with police until after 3 a.m. and there was some concern the burglar or burglars might still be in the store then.

DeMott told police the loot was valued at about $45,000. The Polly Prim Beauty Shop, next door at 119 4 S. Washington, also was broken into, but apparently nothing was taken, police said Washington. THE THIEVES broke into the building from a second story skylight, stepped on a wall clock and telephone terminal to get to a workbench on the second floor and then went to the main floor jewelry store Wflrner sflid Leland K. DeMott, manager of the store, went downtown when police notified him 10:15 p.m.

Molt Section I rm TT The State Wednesday, December 26, 1979, Lansing, Michigan Michigan NewsOState Government Thanksgiving, he said he thinks a "lot of the children are pooped they probably stayed up late." He's expecting attendance to climb tomorrow and Friday. Maple Grove and Pleasant Grove elementaries are also re- porting 40 percent-plus absences today. "It's not going as well as we'd like," said Pleasant Grove principal Gerald Marquardt. But Maple Grove's 46 percent rate is "about what we expected because it's sort of like the day after Christmas and I think a lot of people are just tak- ing a little extra vacation," said principal Mark Burkholder. CLYDE CARNEGIE, principal of Walter French Junior High met the buses this morning and says conditions appear to be "normal." "The kids' attitude was fairly good," he noticed.

"We all talked about the day and things seemed very positive. I think junior high school kids mostly got clothes for Christmas and they watned to show them off so things are prretty positive." Dave Diedrich, assistant princi- pal at Gardner Junior High, said he had no firm idea of attendance, but "it's down." It seems to be down at Everett High School, too. Principal Frank Troop said this morning appeared that "something over 50 percent" of the students were in school, a lower figure than he expected. Don Johnson; principal of Eastern School, visited several classrooms this morning and says "it's normal." Dale Metts at Sexton agreed. By TRUDY WESTFALL Staff Writer If it hadn't been for Lansing's 31-day teachers' strike in September and October, schools would have been home today with their new Christmas gifts.

But, alas, today was just another school day. Formal attendance figures were still rolling into Lansing school district offices this afternoon but official estimates so far for both students and teachers seem to indicate it's "business pretty much as expected." Area officials were "expecting" about a 20 percent absent rate this day after Christmas based on attendance figures taken the Friday after Thanksgiving Day. "WE EXPECT abouf the same," said John Marrs, public information director, himself absent from work today with a "doozy" of a cold. "That would be my guess right now. "I think we had a pretty good" measure the day after Thanksgiving," he added.

"Our absent rate was about double (that of an ordinary day)." Lansing School's usual two-week winter vacation was shortened to just Christmas Eve and Day and New Year's Eve and Day this year to make up for days lost in the 31-day teachers' strike this fall. There was concern that some parents may have decided to let their children take an "unofficial" holiday today to recuperate from the Christmas festivities. ELLIOT TYLER, principal of AveriHEIementary, would agree with that. With a 62 percent attendance rate, down 10 percent from I ijoa VW iWjr dents Area aca claim 3 victims J4 JLt hi.m i4iiiii.lli.iii.i.iKiiilf?M Staff Photo by NORRIS INGELL5 A year later, George Sinadinos appreciates mementos of accident Sinadinos still pursuing dreams This year's Christmas far different than last year's holiday rain storm and suggested the driver's vision could have been obscured by the headlights of other traffic. Ms.

Simmons was not held. INGHAM COUNTY Sheriff's Officers said the Stover youth was alone in his car when it swerved into the northbound lane while headed south, moving into the path of the other car driven by Sharon Chick, 17, of 180 Haslett Road, Haslett. She was taken to Sparrow Hospital for treatment of head injuries and was in fair condition Monday. A passenger in the Chick car, Karen Im-hof 17, of 891 Gulick Road, Haslett, also was injured and was in good condition today at Sparrow. Deputies said Stover was pronounced dead at the scene.

State Police said a Detroit couple and their 2-year-old son were killed on the state's highways during the four-day Christmas holiday. Pamela May Patton; 30; her husband, Harvey William Patton, 30; and their son, Scott, died in a.m. collision Tuesday at Telegraph and Five Mile roads in Redford Township near Detroit. Police said their car wis hit by another driven by a 19-year-ofd man who ran a red light. Officers would not release the man's name but aid he had been drinking.

Evidence will be given to the Wayne County prosecutor for a decision on whether the man would be charged, police added. Nationally, traffic accidents claimed -642 lives during the 102-hour holiday period, from 6 p.m Friday toi midnight Tuesday. The National Safety Council had predicted as many as 550 persdns would die in traffic accidents this Cnristmas. Last year, 454 persons were Iqlled over a three-day Christmas holiday A multiple fatal accident oniMonday killed Jack Richard Lehr, 44, bf Bliss-field, and Janice Lehr, 15, at tie intersection of Michigan 52 andVHowell Highway in Adrian Township, A 6-year old Lansing girl, a retired Ionia County farmer, and a Williams-ton youth were among 19 people killed in Michigan traffic accidents during the four-day Christmas holiday. Danika Thompson, 6, of 401 Leslie, was "just happy with Christmas" when she was running across Michigan Avenue and was struck by a car and fatally injured Christmas Eve, a Lansing Police officer said today.

THE ACCIDENT occurred when Danika and four older children attempted to cross Michigan in the 2600 block, west of the expressway near the Frandor Square shopping center. The children were going from the north to the south side of the street. Officer Richard Hinman of the Lansing Police traffic follow-up detail, said that two children had crossed the street when Danika crossed. She was running and didn't stop or look either way, according to one child, Hinman said. A witness said the car didn't appear to be going very fast.

The driver, Bruce Alan Bettinghaus, 19, of 318 N. Fairview, told police he never saw the child until the time of the impact. Bettinghaus also said visibility was poor because it was raining heavily. NO TICKETS or charges were filed, Hinman said. The mid-Michigan victims were Clarence Rudd, 72, who died in a Grand Rapids hospital Tuesday of injuries suffered when he was struck by a car while crossing Jourdan Road north of Grand River in the Saranac area, and Peter Stover, 16, of 3420 Zimmer Road, Williamstown Township, killed instantly about 11 p.m.

Christmas Eve when his car was involved in a collision with another vehicle on Zimmer north of Sherwood Road. Michigan State Police at the Ionia Post said Rudd was struck shortly after 6 p.m. by a car driven by Gail Simmons, 28, of rural Ionia. Troopers said the elderly man was crossing from his barn to his home in a blustery, beating And he is scheduled to return to the hospital Jan. 13.

He has a triple hernia at the site of his incision which has to be repaired. The surgery will keep him off his feet for several weeks. HE PLANS TO keep busy while recuperating, however, and will devote time to "carving out a little thing in aloe farming" and managing his new restaurant, The Snuggery, and his other restaurant, the Knight Cap, which he has owned several years in the downtown Lansing he loves "We just took a dream because we believe in downtown Lansing; I've been downtown all my life," Sinadinos said and related how he and his wife (his high school sweetheart), Charlotte, worked together to open "The Snuggery" at 307 S. Grand in October. "I grew up a mile from all my businesses," commented Sinadinos who has been described by friends as a plucky tough but kind kid.

"MY FATHER HAD a bar at the comer of Washington and Michigan until 1959. 1 grew up living upstairs above a bar and restaurant with a lot of people always around. "I sold newspapers all over the place The State Journal, Detroit Free Press. Sunday was opportunity day. I used to sell papers after church." By MILLICENT LANE Staff Writer "It bums in my heart how fortunate I was," George Sinadinos said.

His Christmas lights are on a tree this year instead of a helicopter hovering over his head after his freak auto accident. And the plucky Lansing restaurateur is at home with his family instead of in a hospital bed. GRIM REMINDERS of that accident last year a chrome-plated pipe, a "Believe It or Not" Ripley drawing, and newspaper articles now are decorations in Sinadinos' downtown cafe and saloon, "The Snuggery." The two-inch wide pipe was part of the 24-foot top rail of a cyclone fence that crashed through the front window of his car in the middle of the night the day before Christmas last year. The rail pierced his midsection, passed within an inch of his heart and his spine, skewered him to the car seat, went through the back and finally lodged against a rear fender of his car. Paramedics, police and firemen worked two hours, under helicopter lights, to cut the rail in front and in back of him and to remove him from the car.

It was the second serious auto accident in three years for Sinadinos who will be 33 years old Dec. 31. Describing his "little thing in aloe farming," he explained that aloe is the gelatinous material from a cactus-like plant grown on farms Texas and in Central America. There's been a "big surge of aloe use in cosmetics," Sinadinos said, I The plant takes three years to Sinadinos has to clear and cultivate nisi land before he begins to grow aloe on the 25 acres he will farm in Central America. HIS WIFE KINDLED his exuberancy in this project after he left Sparrow Hospjital earlier this year to complete recovering from; his freak accident.

His 1974 accident hospitaliied him seven weeks with brain hemorrhages, a bnoken pelvis and a torn bladder. Friends still tell him it was "unbelievable" and "miraculous" that he survived the accident last year. His father-in-law, a tool and: dye maker at Oldsmobile, chrome-plated the pipe him. "Most people think it's very intferesting," said Sinadinos who calls it "an inanimate object." "The Ripley thing," he said "N(jt many people are in Ripley's, you know especially those living." And George Sinadinos is most certainly living, following through on a dream because he doesn't want to say, "I wish I'd done that." I Concluded on page B-2 1 Cash and its complications ft. AAV TTDu (ID on EMd (n Ccs top news story of 1979 Finally, in the fall as cold weather again approaches, cut the stake in pieces and use in your fireplace on a chilly evening.

Your Christmas tree need not have its life limited to a couple of weeks in December. Using a little imagination, you can extend the joy that the tree brings all through the year. t. Terry Jones, an Amtrak agent at the East Lansing station since September, 1974, has been mentioned several times in this column for his fine acts of public service to train passengers. Now, we've lost Terry.

He transferred to the Amtrak station at Las Vegas, Nev. Terry, who has relatives in Las Vegas, was delighted at the "transfer." But, we'll miss him here. His friends can write him at Amtrak, Union Plaza Hotel, Las Vegas. a natural bird feeder. Put in a spot where the whole family cjan enjoy the show that will follow fof the rest of the winter.

Collect several of the neighbors' abandoned trees and form a protective grove that will be welcomed by winter bird residents as a warm haven from cold winds. Trees placed strategically in the snow can function as a snow fence or wind screen to tprotect less plants during the worst winter weather. Or, use the parts of the tree. Remove the branches and use them as a protective covering on your perennial bed of rose bushes or lay them over loose mulch to keep it in place. When spring arrives the branches can be shredded and the material used as mulch for acid-loving plants.

The trunk with the branches removed can be used for staking various garden plants. By JIM HOUGH Adam and LeRoy Schaefer of Fowler recently stopped at a Lansing gasoline station for gas. They pulled up to the pump but noticed the attendant was up on a ladder working on a sign. The attendant yelled down at them, saying: "Sorry, we're closed for a price change." Wow, zowie and three shazams. If gas stations closed each time they changed the price, when would they ever be open? If you are one of those folks who take down the Christmas tree and toss it out for the trash pickup, you may be interested in the following advice from Consumer News Service.

A single tree stuck in the snow or propped against a fence and hung with suet, seed containers and chunks of peanut butter will provide By DAVID FOX Associated Press Writer Money was the top story of 1979 losing it, getting it and striking for it. The financial trauma suffered by Chrysler Corp. ranked as the No. 1 story in Michigan for the year in a poll of Michigan Associated Press editors and broadcasters. The sales slump, and resulting layoffs, in the auto industry as a whole was named second Third were contract settlements, without a strike, between the United Auto Workers union and the Big Three carmakers.

MICHIGAN EDITORS and news directors tied in their choice for the No. 4 story of the year statewide teacher strikes and Detroit's selection as host city for the 1980 Republican National Convention. Toxic chemical problems that continue to plague Michigan, Wayne County's money troubles, blockades by striking independent truck the continuing Indian fishing dispute and the huge fine levied against Consumers Power Co. round out the state's top ten stories. Chrysler's economic plight was nothing new, but gained greater interest as the year progressed.

In 1978, the automaker lost $207 million. As 1979 began, Chrysler predicted it would break even for the year. It now says it will lose $1.07 billion in 1979. FOUR DAYS before Christmas, Congress approved a $1.5 billion loan guarantee package for Chrysler, the nation's 10th largest Industrial corporation. Loans de-.

pend upon the automaker raising $2 billion on its own, including $462.5 million in contract concessions from its unionized employees. Chairman Lee A. Iacocca said the legislation would revitalize what he called "the new Chrysler." When Chrysler negotiated its new UAW contract, union members granted the ailing company (203 million in concessions, included in the recently passed federal loan guarantees. The union had agreed to exempt Chrysler as its strike target during the its contract, talks Instead, it chose General Motors Corp. Discussions with the Big Three began in July.

By the end of September, the union had reached': an agreement with GM and Fbrd Motor followed by Chrysler in October. i UAW WORKERS had struck the target company every contract year since 1964. But in 1979, there was no strike, a change from the norm that editors and news directors felt was the No. 3 story of the year. Second in the survey was the decline in sales and profits in the entire auto industry, which some analysts said led to the non-strike settlements.

Sales were strong at the beginning of the year. But by November, sales of U.S.-made cars had declined by 22 percent With production and sales at their lowest figure since the 1974-75 recession, indefinite layoffs had risen to more than 141,000 toward year's end. Concluded on page B-2.