The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 16

PASSAIC SUNDAY. NOVEMBER 4. 1984 A-25 Kean9 popularity is at a peah he is doing only a fair or poor job. The rest said they didn't know. The Record Poll is based on telephone calls to 1.030 New Jerseyans age 18 or over throughout the state.

The survey was conducted Oct. 2-11. Kean, elected in 1981 by a scant 1.700 votes, has expanded bis popularity to where it is more than three times greater than that of his prede- Of S. ate Republican who favors Reagan's economic policies, Kean named the first woman to the New Jersey Supreme Court, encouraged Mary V. Mocha ry to run against U.S.

Sen. Bill Bradley, and played a major role in ensuring that the party send a delegation split between men and women to this year's Republican National Convention. All of these factors are believed by politicians to have enhanced his image and that of the state GOP on women's issues. Kean's popularity when the poll was taken was almost double what it was when The Record Poll first measured Kean's standing. In September 1982, after 10 months in office, only 36 percent of See KEAN, Page A-36 Those assumptions are borne out by the responses to The Record Poll Those who said they are Republicans or lean that way gave Kean a 75 percent favorability rating, compared with 21 percent unfavorable.

Of those who said they are Democrats or lean that way, 60 percent said Kean is doing an excellent or good job, and 35 percent said fair or poor. Independents gave Kean a 67 percent favorable rating and 28 percent unfavorable. There was no significant difference in support for Kean between men and women, indicating that the so-called gender gap that has been a concern to President Reagan and other Republican candidates in recent years is not a problem for Kean. Generally perceived as a moder cessor, Brendan T. Byrne, when Byrne neared the end of his first term.

A 1976 survey by the Eagleton Poll of Rutgers University found that only 21 percent of New Jerseyans gave Byrne a favorable rating. Byrne, however, was reelected in a landslide over Republican Raymond H. Bateman the following year. Kean, who has been more visible than past governors through his appearances in TV commercials promoting the state lottery and tourism, is expected to seek a second term next year. Republicans don't anticipate that he will have any serious opposition for renomination, and Democratic leaders have said they believe Kean will be difficult to beat in November 1985.

By Jon Shure The Record's Trenton bureau The Record 1384 As Governor Kean prepares to launch his reelection effort next year, he is more popular than ever among New Jerseyans, and the strongly positive feelings for him cut across party lines, The Record Poll has found. Nearly two of three of those polled said Kean is doing an excellent or good job, and they were hard-pressed to answer when asked whether Kean has made a major mistake in office. Well over a majority of Democrats gave the Republican governor a favorable rating. Of those New Jerseyans polled, 65 percent said Kean is doing an excellent or good job, and 29 percent said Lottery income in will dispute Invincible Karin battles the odds Don't know 65 I Excellent jl Staff graphic by Bob Bogert mother's lottery income, said his lawyer, Richard Abromson of Hackensack. "There's more than just the slightest hint of question regarding this will," Abromson said.

But Sapinski said Mrs. Deptuch believed her former husband was really behind her son's efforts to collect the lottery money for himself. For that reason, said Sapinski, Mrs. Deptuch also deeded her home in Cliff-side Park to him for $1 four days before signing the new will. "She felt her ex-husband was pushing the son, and she did not want her husband to be in her house even one minute," Sapinski said in an interview outside the courtroom Friday.

He has been living in Mrs. Deptuch's house and renting his former home in North Bergen since her death from uterine cancer. He regards her final will as a manifestation of a longstanding promise to him, much like the promise that he fulfilled in 1976. "We had an agreement before we won that we would share our winnings, and we also have an agreement that whoever passed away first would leave the lottery winnings to each other," Sapinski said. Moved to Arizona Sapinski said he, Mrs.

Deptuch, and her former husband, Joseph, See LOTTERY, Page A-36 keeper MM A 7 i rair i or Doorv 'i A I i 'V 1- -KC) By Lindy Washburn Staff Writer This year's Clifton High School homecoming queen, a 17-year-old senior named Karin Korb, seems to have everything going for her everything, that is, except use of her legs. When she sits in her sporty, blue metallic wheelchair, though, and tells you, 'I intend to walk up that aisle" at graduation next June, you believe her. Vivacious, spunky, high-spirited, courageous her friends and teachers search for variations on the theme. "She's a gutsy kid. She doesn't play on sympathy," says John Super, the high school adviser for homecoming preparations.

The teen-ager who stood 5-feet-9 and vaulted with the gymnastics team last year is an example of courage that they find infectious, they say. And when a 1957 Thun-derbird convertible carried her into Clifton Stadium yesterday for homecoming celebrations before the Clifton-Passaic football game, the crowd roared its thanks. Miss Korb was twisting out of a vault during practice at a Carl-stadt gymnastics club last April, when she fell flat on her back, Governor Kean breaking four vertebrae. "I over-rotated," she said. "It's a law of probability in gymnastics that if you tuck too much here, you'll extend too much there.

So I landed flat on my back. "I was supposed to lose sensation from my back down, but I can do more than they expected. I can release the weight on my back," she added, and she wiggled her hips in a sitting position. 'They gave me a 1 percent chance of recovery walking again. My father said he'd take: anything, and I would, too.

"Most doctors say it's permanent. But you never lose hope." That buoyant spirit, coupled with 4 months of intensive rehabilitation and thrice-weekly visits to a physical-therapist have brought her this far. Now, when she is in the mood, she buckles on braces and tries to walk, with the aid of a walker. "I don't like to have people see me struggle," she said. It is an effort she makes when she is in the mood and by herself.

Miss Korb lives with her parents, Hedwig and Robert, and her older sister, Si-mone, on Caroline Drive. A Clifton Mustangs bomber jack-See KARIN, Page A-38 At 2 p.m., she was told by doctors at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York that a lung condition, which had prevented her husband's surgery, was improved. "We were told that they were going to go ahead with the heart transplant," she said. "The information was in the computer, and the search was on." An obituary is on Page A-42. At 5 p.m., she received a phone call from her husband.

"He said, 'Don't tell anybody about this I have a tremendous superstition about What I didn't realize, and what he didn't say, was that he was experiencing tremendous chest pain. I think it was his way of saying to me, goodbye. I think he knew his body was giving out." At 10 p.m., she got another call from the hospital. He was dead. "It was incredible to get the call Staff photo by Peter Monsees at Clifton High School Transplant hopes cut short He's his eagles' By Kathleen Sullivan Staff Writer As Helen Deptuch lay on her deathbed in Englewood Hospital in June, she weakly scrawled her signature on a new will.

Two days later, she died. The will bequeathed $300,000, the remainder of her share of a New Jersey lottery jackpot, to her close friend Stanley Sapinski. It did not seem an unusual gesture, considering that Sapinski had given her the money in the first place, by splitting his $1 million winning lottery ticket with her in 1976.k But Mrs. Deptuch's son, Walter, claims that his mother was not of clear mind when she signed the will and that she was under undue influence from Sapinski, a 64-year-old bakery worker who was her lifelong friend. Faint signature In Superior Court in Hackensack Friday, Deptuch asked a judge to void his mother's last testament.

Noting that the faintness of the woman's signature was reason enough to hold a hearing on the matter, Judge Paul R. Huot scheduled a trial for Feb. 5. Deptuch, who is in his twenties and lives in Elmwood Park, believes he should be the beneficiary of his Where Harmata not ready for and so Harmata One is a male mottled through its body The other is a female, not yet the national A zoo eagle said these two closer a serious See EAGLES, goes, the eagles go. They're the wild they may never be studies them as he tends them.

golden eagle, 5 years old, a gray-brown with rich gold highlights feathers and a dull gold mane. haughty bald eagle, a 4-year-old pure white on top, but unmistakably bird. may live 45 years, but Harmata could live longer, since they receive attention. Tending eagles, he said, is commitment. Page A-35 By Neal Allen Staff Writer When Alan Harmata took on the care of two poisoned eaglets, he accepted a lifelong responsibility that few people would envy.

Now grown, the dramatic birds of prey are leashed to two stakes in the backyard of relatives the Montana resident is visiting in Rutherford. In front of a visitor Friday, only the bald eagle flared its limbs to show off its six-foot wingspan. The golden eagle stood still on its bright yellow feet, showing interest by twisting its head almost upside down. Eagles see better out of the lower portion of their eyes, designed for spotting food while flying. Homecoming queen Karin Korb last night that he had died," she said Friday.

"When I got to the hospital, the nurses were crying. The doctors were so upset because they saw how desperately he was fighting. He suffered tremendously in the last week. It was very difficult to watch." Banach's illness touched his neighbors in Bergenfield and his fellow teachers in Paramus, who rallied during the last month to help his wife and children. Fund-raising events were held.

More than $7,000 was collected to help pay for Banach's surgery and postoperative care. "The Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts made him their project," said Marilyn Marchese, who helped organize the John Banach Fund. "People I never ever met were supporting us," said Mrs. Banach. "That, I think, kept him going long See TRAGEDY, Page A-34 is cleared By Lila Locksley Staff Writer Denise Banach brought her two young children, dressed in their Halloween costumes, to visit their father in the hospital.

He was waiting for a heart transplant, and their visit Wednesday seemed to come at a low point in his illness. "I could see the pain in his face the emotional pain," Mrs. Banach said. "I think he was very aware that his body could not take any more." The next day, Mrs. Banach got the news she had been waiting for.

Doctors said they were ready to do the surgery. They put out a call for a suitable heart. But John Banach, 39, died before a donor could be found. For Mrs. Banach, who lives in Ber-genfield, that Thursday afternoon started with exhilaration and ended in disbelief and grief.

Wayne councilman "TSr Staff photo by Ed Hill improperly trying to help a campaign contributor put in a belated bid in the sale of the property. The investigation by the prosecutor's office focused on charges by East Orange developer Edmund Kassin that DiDonato had met with members of the board of adjustment in the hallway during a recess in a September 1983 meeting. After the recess, the board went back into session and voted to turn down a request by Kassin's firm for a zoning variance to allow the conversion of the building to office space. A friend and campaign contributor of DiDonato's, Gabriel Juliano of Tri-Core Development also was interested in redeveloping the old school. But DiDonato has denied trying to sway the votes of the board.

See PROSECUTOR, Page A-34 By Bradshaw Hovey Staff Writer A Wayne councilman has been cleared of improperly trying to influence the township's Board of Adjustment on behalf of a campaign contributor, the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office reported. Senior Assistant Prosecutor Robert Guido said Friday that his investigation into allegations against Councilman Joseph DiDonato turned up "no evidence of any criminality." "I was never concerned," DiDonato said Friday afternoon, "because I know I didn't do anything." The allegations concerned the sale of the old Anthony Wayne Junior High School. Political foes and a developer accused DiDonato of Alan Harmata with bald eagle..