Springfield Leader and Press from Springfield, Missouri • 1

Local Sports- mmm Good Life Benefits of body wraps challenged SMS, 4 Xi P- a Adjustments net county $22,000 crucial I Th SpringfcsM vO -si -i f-j fJ Member of the Gannett Group 25 SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, MONDAY EVENING. JANUARY 4, 1982 1982 Springfield Newspapers Inc 1 8 Pages, Three Sections Worst of storm misses city ft I fVp I Vl Elvis This is the second In a series of stories on Elvis Presley. The series will continue in The Leader By Joe Tedino The Leader Press If you went to Kansas City for New Year's, give a cheer for having to return to work this morning. While Springfield and surrounding communities were hit with a trace of snow, Kansas City was trounced with up to 11 inches, according to the National Weather Service here. In fact, much of.

northern and central Missouri received a considerable amount of snow during a winter storm that had promised bad weather for the Ozarks but didn't deliver. Gary Johnson, National Weather Service A slight, chance of snow is forecast for the latter part of the week, with highs in 'the 30s and 40s Wednesday and Thursday and lows in the 20s, Johnson said. It is too soon to tell exactly how much snow to expect later this week, he added. If anyone can be thankful the city was denied a hearty snowfall, it is the folks at City Utilities, who today were still investigating the cause of a power failure that left, about 20,000 homes without power Sunday morning. The problem is believed to have been caused by a faulty transformer at the Mill Street substation on the city's east side, said CU spokesman Ernie DeCamp.

The transformer failed and caused fuses specialist at Springfield Regional Airport, said the Springfield area received "only a trace of snow" in the storm that brought sleet and freezing temperatures to other parts of southwest Missouri. The low temperature this morning of 25 coupled with 30 mph winds produced a wind chill index of minus 10 degrees, Johnson said. Snow flurries began at 2:20 a.m. today and ended just before 5 a.m., he said. The outlook for tonight calls for partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the low-to middle 20s with light southern winds, Johnson said.

Tuesday was expected to be much the same with highs in the mid-40s, he said. at several substations to blow put The domino effect that occurred as a result of the transformer failure blacked out some 20,000 homes and other buildings for up to 2lz hours Sunday. The power was restored for a majority of affected homes within 43 minutes, De-Camp said. The main power lines were merely switched to other substations, he i added. DeCamp said the transformer may have to be sent off for repairs, but the problem is not likely to further dirsupt service.

"In the meantime, customers would bo--tice no change in the level of service," De Camp said, because power is being fed through other substations." Elvis fed needs for shelter, escape in Las Vegas suite In his later years, when Elvis Presley landed at Las Vegas for his semiannual engagement there, he would leave his personal four-engine jet airliner and be whisked by limousine to his 30th-floor penthouse in the Las Vegas Hilton, In the second of six excerpts from his new biography, "Elvish Albert Goldman brings readers into the palatial but dark and chill Presley suite, and introduces the King as he spends a mind-. boggling but typical arrival night in his desert empire Husband arraigned in burning death By Barbara Clauser The Leader Press An unemployed laborer, accused of the fiery killing of his wife, was arraigned today before As- sociate Circuit Judge Don Clough on a second-degree murder charge. Lafayette Junior Thomas, 37, of 219 S. Broadway, was jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail pending preliminary hearing next Monday. C.

1 an- on the basis of a juvenile court petition, Greene County Juvenile Services Director Tom Mountjoy said. Some of the children witnessed the events, which included (he burning of the back porch of their home, but they were not injured. Two of the children are in foster care, and three are in a group home pending a juvenile court ruling on custody. A parent can make a decision concerning transfer of custody, Mountjoy said, but the situation is different when the remaining parent is accused of killing the other parent. A juvenile judge will determine the suitable placement for the children, which could be with relatives, Mountjoy said.

"We lean very heavily toward relative placement for common-sense reasons," Mountjoy said, "but it's a situation where we cannot automatically do that kind of thing." A witness told police three of the children screamed, after fleeing from the house, "Daddy shot at our house and Mamma is on fire." Virgil King said he was taking his evening walk about 4:45 p.m. when the three youngsters ran toward him. He took them to a neighbor's house and asked the bor to call the city's 911 emergency line. A crowd of at least 75 persons watched as paramedics administered emergency treatment to Mrs. Thomas, who was across the street when police and firefighters arrived at the scene.

Thomas left the scene but returned a short time later and was arrested. A family argument that began in the couple's living room of their westside home apparently triggered the killing, Cpl. Max Long said. Mrs. Thomas said she ran from her husband after he set her on fire, and she did not remember anything after that.

Mrs. Thomas was not struck by shots fired by her husband, Long said. pointed attor- Lafayette Junior Thomas ney Don Sanders to represent Thomas after Thomas said he could not afford legal counsel. Thomas, who remained expressionless in the courtroom but covered his head with his hands several times during his brief court appearance, stood with his head bowed and leaned against the elevator door while waiting to be returned to jail. Nancy Faye Thomas, 34, died at 4:31 p.m.

Sunday in the burn unit at St. John's Regional Health Center. Mrs. Thomas, who suffered third-degree burns over 90 percent of her body Saturday, told investigating officers that her husband had shot at her several times before throwing gasoline on her and then setting her on fire, police Thomas first was charged with first-degree assault, which was amended today by Prosecutor David Geisler to second-degree murder. The couple's five children, ranging in age from 2 to 12, are in the temporary legal custody of the Division of Family Services By Albert Goldman Entering the Imperial Suite of the Las Vegas Hilton at 1 dawn, Elvis and his party could behold one of the greatest sights of Las Vegas.

The designer of this lavish and dramatically situated apartment arranged it for just such trumpet-blowing moments. As you enter, you pass through three successive foyers, which open wider, wider, wider, until suddenly you're standing at the top of a couple of very broad stairs that lead down into an enormous sunken living room, extending from side to side about 60 feet. Directly opposite you is a wall of glass through which you gaze due east at the mountains, flaring at this hour with spectacular colors. Instinctively, you walk across the room, open wide the French windows and step out onto the roof of the hotel, the highest point in the entire valley. Into your nostrils flows the crisp clear desert air, as you glut yourself on the flaming colora4n die sky.

Nothing like this ever happened when Elvis Presley arrived at dawn atop the Las Vegas Hilton. Had anyone been so bold as to open the drapes that hung along the wall to allow the morning light and air into the room, he would have been fired on the spot. Like Count Dracula retreating to his coffin, Elvis entered his apartment intent not on the vital signs of light and warmth, put demanding the darkness and the chill of a tomb. You may be sure he found it, for he never arrived at any hotel without having had his rooms prepared for him by an advance party that would have included one of his valets. In Las Vegas this team arrives from Elvis' home in Los Angeles with a truckload of stage costumes and other paraphernalia promptly on the stroke of noon the afternoon preceding Elvis' appearance.

Now the task is to prepare Elvis' bedroom and bathroom according to the master plan, which is set out in three notebooks carried by one of the assistant valets. The master bedroom has a king-size bed on a dais. At its left foot on a swiveling pedestal is the TV set. The valets remove from specially constructed boxes Elvis' religious library: 250 volumes dealing primarily with the occult. Next to his bed are laid his closest companions the Bible and the "Physician's Desk Reference" (to drugs).

The moment Elvis arrives in the suite, he hands his makeup kit to his valet, who places it on the right-hand side of the bed within easy reach. The case is arranged in the same strict order that characterizes everything in Elvis' periphery. The top drawer contains his various pills, tablets, spansules and pulvules. There are round white Quaaludes stamped "Rorer shiny "Black Beauty" bi-phetamines; garnet-colored Placidyls in round 100- or 200-milligram capsules, and elongated 500-milligram spansules; flesh-pink Demerols; heart-shaped Dexedrines; and deadly little tablets of Dilaudid in innocent ice-cream colors green, gold, lavender and yellow each with the number of milligrams stamped on it, ranging from 1 to 4. Each cylindrical plastic vial containing these drugs bears a label reading: "Caution: A federal law prohibits the transfer of this drug to any patient other than the patient for whom it was The names on these labels (unbeknownst to them) are Lamar Fike, Red West, Sonny West, James Caughley and Lisa Marie Presley.

Elvis' syringes and injectable drugs are carried In a smaller auxiliary case. The second drawer is filled with jewelry, including his diamond horseshoe ring, his diamond-studded wedding band and his kenpo karate ring, a fat red ruby. The prize Item in this drawer is the gold and blue enamel shield that Elvis received when he was appointed by Richard Nixon an agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. See ELVIS, Page SA tJ.v.v.v...v.. Wai-rrr fii' Staff PhotoJerry Henkel Layfayette Junior Thomas leans his head against an elevator at the Greene County Courthouse today after his arraignment on second-degree murder in the burning death of his wife.

Generically speaking, he's got a strong point 1 Monday comment By Al Carlson The Leader Press the first page. The small print said: "This is a gothic romance. It contains the requisite number of heaving bosoms, foggy days, run-down castles and well-muscled laborers who wear their shirts open to the navel," Elmo, who rarely thought about, anything, had given generics a lot of thought. He rhapsodized about the possibilities. Generic national governments, generic professional basketball teams, generic state legislatures.

Generic national governments include one president who strives for the impression of being tough with the Soviets; a sec- fully noting that Casey used 10 in one episode. Elmo eventually traded the tongue depressors the 1,777 remaining ones for 41 pounds of broken Coors bottles. I had no idea what he would do with the generic 1 Look, I gently reminded my friend, these so-called novels are nothing more than fast food for the mind. They feature simple plots, predictable story lines and more cliches thah football coverage by Chris Schenkel and Howard Cosell. Elmo completely misunderstood.

"Yeah, they give you everything you, want. Why, there's even a list of what's inside." He opened the book and pointed to Elmo Sludge walked into the room beaming like a government official with money hidden in a secret safe. He carried a brown paper sack, folded at the top to conceal its contents. "Wait until you see this!" he exclaimed. I could hardly wait.

Elmo's previous brown paper sack surprises included several items that crossed the line between rude and vulgar. He reached into the sack and pulled out what appeared to be a book, except that the cover was white and contained only two words, in bold, black letters: "Gothic Romance." I was relieved. It was a generic book. Bad enough, but it could have been worse. Once after watching 19 syndicated This opinion column Is a regular feature of Monday's Leader Press reruns of "Ben Casey," Elmo hurried out" and purchased 3,650 tongue depressors.

He figured this was a year's supply after care See GENERIC, Page 2A 1 ust wants millionaire Out-of-vork By Marcia Dunn L4W klwOil VOL.49 NO. 162 On the inside A little warmer Ann JE3 ar to partly cloudy to- Classified ads 4-6C nloM and Tuesday. Low to- Comlcs 63 Miwh Tufijy Crossword puzzle 13 r- i to low Yi.rt Tl 5-3 mph t-'-'nt. Good Life 4 bX cu of or in Local news 133 and Marketplace I fair frC a. tMsh to ni'j- Oplnlon i low us te -i to tt-orH ir: Ijcton IVIIstina ...33 day.

"All I want is to make a living and be in a retirement fund." Smolak, who lives with his parents in Creighton, just northeast of Pittsburgh, was laid off six weeks after coming up a big winner in tle lottery. Although he had worked at the distributor for about five years, he had the least seniority. "I felt bad about it (the layofO," he said. Tve been laid off at all the companies I've been with. I've always been the last In and the first out." The lottery payoff was a stroke of good luck, Smolak admits, but it occasionally worked against him during Job "Some of them know (about the winnings and some of them don't," he said.

i Smolak, who is single, never considered an early retirement, even after he wdn last July 10. "Hey, I'm 31, what was I going to do?" he asked. Since his first payoff, Smolak has traveled to eastern Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., taking along his parents' and older sister. He's also bought some new clothes and is considering buying a house. But that's been the extent of his spending.

Smolak, who receives unemployment benefits, said he spunda most of hkf time knocking on doors in search of work in southwestern Pennsylvania, area reeling from numerous steel industry-related layoffs, i i i "I'm not going to lose anything or starve," he said. "But inactivity isn't any good for you, either." The Associated Press i PITTSBURGH Like many other unemployed people trying to track down work, Paul Smolak resolved on New Year's Eve to find a job t- even though he's a millionaire, set to receive $50,000 every July for the next 20 years courtesy of the Pennsylvania Lottery. "I've been looking everywhere. But you know things are off when some places will take applications for one hour once a week," said Smolak, 31, who was laid off indefinitely in August from his job delivering beer. 1 "I'm not a brain surgeon or anything, but I've had two years of college," he said in an interview Sun-,.