The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 29

rrr? Sunday, November 27. 1988 Bl A wain oi dw Su Fnadra Sunday Ejuunum ind Ctiranidt an Jrandgco ffxamincr MlETIFlO Western Costume, the outfit that outfitted Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin and a host of other stars is on the block for $3 million. B6 ALMANAC B2 b-2 OBITUARIES b-7 a 1 mall baseball game hits the big time MoSSDDUg paremilts topeffwl v- lid I i.t i fi ill About 1 50 fans of Get Small Baseball the game's inventor, Peter Welker, for EXAMINER KURT ROGERS this year's World Series playoffs championship," said Welker. "This isn't easy, you know. Whether you're pitching or batting, your timing is the key.

It requires a lot of the same skills as regular baseball, which is why people really dig this game." Clearly the people who attended Saturday did indeed dig the game, but not just because of the skill Welker and De Patta exhibited in making their players perform. For fans, the real lure seemed to be how seriously these guys took their game. Welker, for example, also serves i Murmur retaluma inventor finds distributor for tiny creation By Vicki Haddock OF JHE EXAMINER STAFF PETALUMA Tension too thick to drip hung in the air as the bleacher fans sat glued to their Beats literally glued awaiting a home run from the leadoff Giant. Of course, to call this batter a Giant seemed slightly oxymoronic. If stood a mere 3 inches tall.

"Play ball!" bellowed the umpire. "And play small!" aYes, the world series that got under way here Saturday proved one thing and one thing only: It is a small world after all. Several dozen observers, each about a half-inch in height and stsjck securely into place inside a miniature wooden stadium, showed remarkable restraint compared with the rowdy crowd of some 150 humans gathered here to watch the game in person or on closed-circuit TV. CThe game is Get Small Baseball, patented by Petaluman Peter Welker, a BAMMIE-nominated trumpeter, and built by Dennis Stearns, a San Rafael designer who wjsls assistant construction manager? on George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch film studio. iFot 10 years, Welker and Stjearns have staged a full season of games climaxing in a fall series.

On Saturday, Welker, playing a team of -Boston Red Sox, squared off against Rich De Patta, operating the San Francisco Giants, for the first game in a best-of-five series. The team itself is composed of Case decoration figures purchased frcim a bakery-supply shop, but only! human hands can maneuver the srjring-loaded mechanisms to pitch the ball and bat it back into the field. jp'In 10 years this is only the second time I've made it to the is Soccoro Almanza cuts freshly picked idental CC1 reath-rnaking is famed tradition By Eric Brazil OF THE EXAMINER STAFF ACCIDENTAL You'd never know it to look at Occidental's bucolic Main Street, but this is the season for its unique industry: Christmas wreaths. yBorn of hardscrabble necessity, th Occidental tradition of making wfeaths from redwood boughs an-teiJates the turn of the century. 3'I started making wreaths right here when I was 6 years old.

We had a dirt floor then," said Ben Gqnnella, 67, kingpin of the the Occidental wreath industry. 4lis cousin, Daniel (Mahoney) Cpnnella, 71, recalls those days too: ft Police remove ex-con as suspect By Diana Wakh OF THE EXAMINER 8TAFF HAYWARD A week after their daughter was kidnapped from a neighborhood grocery store, Sharon and Rod Garecht are continuing their around-the-clock vigil. While the grief-stricken mother waited by the phone Saturday for word of her 9-year-old daughter, Michaela, her husband combed East Bay streets and parks. "We get depressed, but for the most part we are remaining optimistic," said Sharon Garecht. "Everyday we figure that today well find her," she said.

"We just? really have the feeling that she's out there and that she's OK." Hayward police said Saturday that they eliminated 21-year-old ex-convict Steven Shane as a suspect after he was given a lie-detector test Friday night. Shane had turned himself in Thursday and was arrested by San Francisco police for violating parole. Shane once had lived in the Gar-echts' neighborhood. His name was given to police by residents of the Fairway Park area of south Hay-ward, who remembered that he lived in a battered sedan near the Rainbow Market at Mission Boulevard and Lafayette Street, where the child was last seen on Saturday, Nov. 19.

"We checked his alibis," said Officer Ray Alsdorf. "He clearly passed a polygraph test" Four hundred suspects have been under consideration. 60 people to search park An intensive search of Garin Regional Park only a half-mile from the grocery where the child was abducted was to be conducted by 60 searchers early Sunday, on the recommendation of FBI psychological profilers. Authorities have been using special heat-seeking equipment, which can detect the warmth of a body, in helicopter searches of the hills, but have found nothing. "We're thinking that some areas are heavily wooded and isolated and that matches the FBI's psychological profile that the suspect probably wouldn't have gone far," Alsdorf said.

On Thanksgiving, hikers spotted a blanket, children's clothing and toys in the park. Detective Ken Gross said that evidence had been "set aside." The police, who have been working 12- to 14-hour days on the case, have few solid leads, but they remained optimistic "We're looking for phyocal evidence. We haven't given up hope," Alsdorf said. The Hayward fourth-grader was kidnapped outside the Rainbow Market by a thin blond man in his 20s. While her terror-stricken friend looked on, the suspect grabbed the 4-foot-8 girl and shoved her into his car.

Examiner news services contributed to this report random drug testing to start in December 1989 at most transit agencies and private transportation companies. As many as 4 million drivers, mechanics, pilots, flight attendants, truck drivers and other transportation workers will have their urine analyzed for traces of cocaine, marijuana, opiates and PCP unless the Supreme Court decides in the coming that random drug testing is unconstitutional. The rule says that half of an agency's employees would have to be tested each year, Anti-rape group loses libel case Verdict could reinforce secrecy By Annie Nakao OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Clean cut. Rosy cheeks. Perfect teeth.

Well-mannered. So went the description of 18-year-old Steve Carney's All-America looks. The flyer put out by Santa Cruz Women Against Rape in November 1984 said much more. Under the heading of "AssaultAttempted Rape," it said two men had taken a woman out "under false pretenses of friendship and support, drove to an abandoned area and forced themselves on her." The flyer identified one as Carney, listing his physical description, his Scotts Valley address, place of work and a description of his cars. After his girlfriend and old high school chum showed him the flyers, which had been posted in the area, Carney sued both the woman and the group.

On Oct. 13, a jury found that Carney who had not been investigated or charged had been li beled and awarded him $32,500 in damages. The finding brought few happy reactions. Carney said no verdict could fully exonerate him, and anti-rape groups decried the award as a blow to their efforts. "I'm still pissed," said Carney, now 23.

"It shows that I won, but I can't really say that I'll ever win from it because people have made their opinions from what they read. I won't ever be exonerated, but it's See LIBEL, B-5 crowd the water tower on the farm of as league commissioner, photographer and scoreboard keeper, and also runs the pre-game concession stand and plays horn accompaniment as fans sing "The Star-Spangled Banner." Friends pitched in as vendors and gave broadcast-quality play-by-play. Petaluma Mayor Patricia Hilligoss tossed out the honorary first pitch. And enthusiastic fans drowned out the tape recording of crowd noises Stearns had made earlier at Candlestick See SERIES, B-6 JANET HOLDEN RAMOS percent of the now," he said. (wreath) business Forest crews prune branches A 25-person forest crew prunes small branches from the trunks of redwoods to provide the "brush" that keeps about 60 workers busy turning out the wreaths.

Although a few Occidental families still make wreaths for extra money, for friends or for fun, most of the work is now done by seasonal workers from Guanajuato, Mexico. "It's getting to be a lost skill," said Mahoney Gonnella. Pauline Fiori Koverman and her family keep the tradition alive. "I was raised making them," she said. Now three of her daughters and two sons-in-law join in the wreath-making at the Koverman home and will turn out about 125 dozen this See WREATHS, B-5) brush to make traditional Christmas wreaths at Mahoney Gonnela's ranch Robin Scott Stapley, a victim of Calaveras County mass murders Parents of victim face Ng in Canada Accused killer is in Edmonton By Elaine OTarrell SPECIAL TO THE EXAMINER EDMONTON, Alberta Dwight and Lola Stapley have made a painful journey to Edmonton to see the man accused of killing their son, in the hope they'll finally bury some of their hatred.

For the Stapleys of Garden Grove, Orange County, seeing Charles Ng in person was another traumatic step in accepting the brutal death of their son, Robin Scott Stapley. "Ng is humanoid, he's not a human being; therefore he doesn't deserve rights," a tearful Lola Stapley said outside the Alberta Court of See NG, B-7 and there are many would indicate a serious drug problem at the Municipal Railway. The PCP tale is from "Storytellin'," a book by San Francisco's Muni drivers. It's meant to be humorous, but the ominous question arises: How many Muni operators drive stoned? The federal government wants to find out and punish the offenders. U.S.

Transportation Secretary James Burnley this month ordered earns season laureis laureL Transit agencies in Bay Area are bracing for drug testing "We all made 'em. That's where we got our spare money even though they were only worth 50 cents a dozen." Occidental wreaths broadcast the recognize-it-with-your-eyes-closed perfume of the holiday season. They adorn the White House and toney florist shops throughout the United States and in 22 foreign countries. In the wet woods and mountain workshops around Occidental, wreathmaking is more efficient than when Gildo Gonnella, Ben and Mahoney's grandfather, an immigrant charcoal maker from Core-glia, Italy, created the first one. Ben Gonnella will ship about 120,000 wreaths before the end of the six-week season, which began Nov.

9. "I'd Bay we do about 98 ByWaltGibbi OF THE EXAMINER STAFF There's the story of the cable car gripman so crazed on PCP, a drug so powerful it's used to tranquilize elephants, that he could barely see. When he got to the top of Nob Hill, lookin' down Powell Street, it looked like a tunnel with lights spinning all around it. Such rumors and anecdotes i irr hi ill I r- -1 it I itti -i -1 m.tak.m mjm A4M4 m.MAt.