Corvallis Gazette-Times from Corvallis, Oregon • 1

A A i Ccrvallis, 12Sfh Year, No. 303. 2 Sections 35 CENTS a A fi "I 1 i i I i v7 Li i Li 91-year-old St, Mary's ravaged By Joyce De Monnin of th Gazettt ALBANY A four-alarm Hre Sunday night destroyed the 91-year-old St. Mary's Catholic Church in the heart of Albany's downtown historic district. M- By the time firefighters reached the blaze around 8 p.m..

the church at 822 Ellsworth W. was engulfed in flames, according to Dennis Haney, public information officer for the Albany Fire Department. An automatic alarm system alerted the fire department at 7:49 p.m., Haney said. By the time the first engines arrived, backup was requested from as far as Corvallis, Adair Village, Tangent, Millersburg and Scio. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, Haney said, but some witnesses said they heard popping or cracking sounds before they saw the blaze.

Bob Moore, who lives across the street from the church playground, said he looked out his window when he heard some noise and saw flames before firefighters arrived. Bystanders estimated the flames reached 100 feet or more. Billows of orange smoke were visible at least 5 miles away. Built in 1898, the wooden church quickly became a blazing spectacle. Flames shone through the arched windows as the fire sent showers of sparks into the night sky.

When the fire was out, the only piece of the church left standing was the steeple, its cross on top broken and smoking. Passersby crowded the scene, many sobbing and clutching their loved ones. Heavy traffic drawn by the fire r- See Flre'Josf AIO U.S. 20 A ALP ANY Corvallis fttf BrfL 4Sfdveue ParK AAst. Mary's Catholic Church Norm LewisGazette-Timea- 1 i II Bob Lynn'Qtt Timt Firefighters from several surrounding towns were called In to help battle the blaze, which-began shortly before 8 p.m.

Lyii'. lime A four-alarm fir consumed Saint Mary' Catholic Church at 822 S.W.Ellsworth Street In Alba ny Sunday night. No firefighters were injured. However, one pedestrian was In serious condition after being hit by an auto as heavy traffic converged on the area. U.

of Portland president killed in auto accident By Bill Kaczor The ently was concerned that fuel cclliraboard the jet might explode after being damaged in the crash, Kasper said. The 46-year-old Lexington is the only aircraft carrier used exclusively by the Navy for training. It has 1,440 men and women assigned to it. The accident occurred a week before the 45th anniversary of a Japanese kamikaze attack that killed 47 crew members and injured 127 on Nov. 4, 1944.

The original Lexington crew plans to hold a reunion next weekend in Pensacola that includes a day cruise on Saturday, Nov. 4, to commemorate the attack. The Lexington was commissioned on Feb. 17, 1943. The carrier was dubbed "The Blue Ghost" by Japanese propagandist Tokyo Rose during World War II because she had reported it sunk several times only to have it return to battle, painted a solid blue grey color, unusual in wartime when ships are usually their relatives.

In addition to destroying the jet, the crash did major damage two aircraft on the ship and minor to another, said Army Maj. John Smith, a spokesman at the Pentagon. Navy helicopters took casualties to the West Florida Regional Medical Center and the U.S. Navy Hospital in Pensacola, and to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile, authorities said. One of the injured, Anthony Lopez, 21, was in critical but stable condition at the Mobile hospital with second-and third-degree burns over 40 to 45 percent of his body, hospital spokeswoman Monica Knight said.

Lopez was the only sailor brought to that hospital, she said. The Lexington was heading back to Pensacola, and was expected to arrive at the city's commercial port on Monday, officials said. The Coast Guard sent a jet from Mobile to fly a team of ordnance experts in Panama City to Pensacola, Coast Guard Lt. Mark Kaspcr said in New Orleans. The Navy appar PORTLAND AP) Rev.

Thomas Oddo, president of the University of Portland and a board member at several other Roman Catholic colleges in the United States, was killed in a car accident Sunday in Portland. He was 45. "The university community is saddened and shocked at the death of our president." academic vice president Rev. Charles D. Sherrer said in a brief statement issued Sunday night.

"The university will be open Monday, but classes are canceled." Oddo was driving home from Portland International Airport when the crash occurred at 3:42 p.m. Sunday, university spokeswoman Fran-cesca Clifford said. He had been in Indiana since Wednesday to attend a board of trustees meeting at the University of Notre Dame and flew back to Portland on Sunday. Oddo was driving westbound on Columbia Boulevard in north Portland when a trailer being pulled by a pickup truck swung out in front of him. His car struck the trailer and he was killed instantly, Se'Oddo'PogeAlO PENSACOLA, Fla.

A trainer jet crashed Sunday afternoon on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Lexington in the Gulf of Mexico, killing five people and injuring at least two, the Navy said. The 3:30 p.m. CST crash of the two-seat T-2 Buckeye caused several fires on the World War 1 1 -era ship that sailors quickly brought control, officials said. The Lexington, the Navy's oldest aircraft carrier, was 30 miles south of its home port of Pensacola when the accident said Harry White, a civilian spokesman at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Officers on the ship said five people were killed in the crash and at least two were in-' jured, said White.

The jet was assigned to Training Squadron 19, based at the Meridian, Naval Air Station, White said. The victims' identities were being withheld pending notification of hi side Mostly sunny after morning fog In the valley and at the coast. Highs The six-member group took top honors at the third annual "Band Explosion '89" after playing its reggae-flavored original song "Guilty" for a panel of judges that included pop Idol Jon Bon Jovi. The five-member British band Mask Party was second with the song "One Shot," and received $10,000. Third place and $5,000 went to the Indonesian band Topeng and Mask for the song "Topeng Dance." A special judges' award of $1,000 each went to the Dutch band What-A-Gig! and the Japanese band Drug -Store.

Twenty-three bands were chosen from among 22,000 entrants from 20 countries to compete In the finals before the capacity crowd of 10,000 at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan. The contest's sponsors included Yamaha Corporation, Nestle K.K. and Yamaha Music Foundation. the restaurant and offered his clothes as payment. Management refused and called the police.

Dosza had been freed from jail Tuesday after serving a sentence for a similar offense. He said in a televsion interview that he hoped to gain a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for not paying for meals. 'Restaurants should be privileged I eat in them. Look at all the publicity they get," he said. However, Magistrate Peter Mitchell dubbed him a "habitual criminal" and ordered him jailed.

Amateur, but good TOKYO A search for the world's greatest amateur rock band ended on a winning note Sunday for a Minneapolis group called Ipso Facto, which beat thousands of other would be rock stars and waltzed away with a $20,000 prize. Crcakfast of ghosts BIG BAY, Mich. One of the guests at Norman and Marilyn Gotschall's be-d and-breakfast inn apparently has been around since the turn of the century, and they don't argue with him. The inn served for decades as the Big Bay Lighthouse until the Gotschalls bought and restored it 21 years ago. They say William Pryor, first of five keepers of the lighthouse on Lake Superior's Big Bay Point, is still around and is responsible for running the basement shower and other unexplained phenomena.

"He makes the walls creak and the howl at night." Gotshcall said. "You can hear nim wailing." Pryor vanished in 1901, Gottshcall said. Hunters found his remains 17 months later hanging from a tree about I'a miles away, an apparent suicide. Ann Landers A8 Classified B5-8 Community NW A2-4 F.Y.I A3 Lotto America AIO Movies B4 Nation World A6 Newsmakers A4 Obituaries AIO A9 Bl-4 TVEntertainment A8 Top-hctch frecSccdsr BRISBANE, Australia An Austral-Jan who claims to be the world's greatest freeloader is back In jail after he was convicted for the 102nd time of not paying for a meal. Paul Charles Dosza, a 49-year-old unemployed chef, was sentenced to six months in jail Friday after refusing to pay a $78 dinner tab at a Brisbane restaurant.

Dosza stripped to his underwear in r- fc.