The Berkshire Eagle from Pittsfield, Massachusetts • 20

BIO The Berkshire Eagle, Sunday, April 3, 1994 Region In the Region It's a dog's life for mystery writer By Daniel Beegan Associated Press NEWTON Susan Conant's life has gone to the dogs, but that's just the way the education researcher-turned-mystery writer planned it In fact, "Gone to the Dogs" was the title of her 1992 mystery novel featuring dog writer and sleuth Holly Winter and Alaskan mala-mutes Rowdy and Kimi. Proposed lake rules dropped in Vt. MONTPELIER. Vt. (AP) A controversial set of proposed rules that would have more tightly regulated boats and other watercraft on Vermont lakes has been dropped for the immediate future.

The Water Resources Board has decided to subject the regulatory plan to more scrutiny and does not plan to implement it this summer, said William Bartlett. executive officer of the board "Given the level of anxiety and conflict the rules are creating, the board feels the best thing is to create a climate where everyone can chill out. take a deep breath and put away the war clubs," Bartlett said As proposed, the rules would have banned Jet Skis and similar watercraft on lakes smaller than 300 acres. Boat speeds also would have been limited on certain lakes and at certain times of the day. And it would have become illegal for'people and boats to come within 300 feet of marked loon nesting sites.

"People who don't want regulations feel that this is the camel's nose under the tent for the Quiet Lakes agenda." he said. "We are trying to assure people if there is a use on a lake now. they won't be regulated out of existence except under very compelling circumstances." The president of the Vermont Personal Watercraft greeted the board's decision happily. "They are definitely doing the right thing." said Jamie Bolduc of Montpelier. "It's the best they can do right now." Teen dies from inhaling lighter fumes NORTH ATTLEBORO (AP) A teen-ager has died after inhaling butane lighter fumes.

Kimberly Ganley. 16, of North Attleboro, began foaming at the mouth and fell unconscious after inhaling the fuel vapors from a canister used to refill cigarette lighters, according to friends who called police. She was pronounced dead late Thursday at Sturdy Memorial Hospital. The other youths, who also were inhaling butane fumes, appeared unharmed. Parents and their children should be advised of the potentially lethal consequences associated with this form of drug abuse," said state medical examiner Dr.

James Weiner. "It stops the heart in some people," Weiner said. "It's like playing Russian roulette with a loaded weapon." Weiner. who conducted the autopsy, said Ganley died of cardiac arrest. He said it was the first death he had seen from inhaling butane.

help people with disabilities. While once limited to guiding the blind, dogs are being trained to alert deaf people to sounds such as doorbells and fire alarms, to help the physically disabled by picking up dropped objects and pulling wheelchairs and to work with Alzheimer's patients. Conant is familiar with the problems of people with disabilities. A chronic illness, from which she has recovered, forced her to abandon a career of research in special education, but propelled her into mystery writing. But the writer, who holds a doctorate in education from Harvard, said she continues to teach through her books.

Her previous work, "Bloodlines," helped expose the horrors of puppy mills that mass-produce litters for many pet stores. Exposing shows Other books have dealt with unethical collection of animals for lab research, rare dog breeds in the United States and the competitive world of dog shows. "The whole task of educating people about dogs is very difficult," she said. "My books are didactic. There is no question about it." Her readers, Conant said, are mainly dog lovers, and they frequently write to praise her work or debate a point She said she doesn't agonize over her plots.

"They just come," she said. Associated Piess Susan Conant hugs her Alaskan malamute at her home in Newton, where she writes mysteries that feature the breed. Asked if she would ever give up the real world of dogs for the imaginary world of writing about them, she said; "How could I9 1 couldn't." But Conant said that's because she stays active in dog activities, going to training classes, dog shows, seminars and generally writing about what she knows. Plymouth embezzlers to forfeit house PLYMOUTH. (AP) A Plymouth couple who pleaded guilty to embezzling 5260.000 to build and furnish their home have been ordered to forfeit the house.

Pamela A. Lindberg. 46. and Scott Lindberg, 42. were told to hand over their home to Pamela Lindberg's former employer, the Ricciardi Cos.

of Quincy. "I've done a lot of restitution cases, but usually they involve a dollar amount." said Myles J. Slosberg, assistant attorney general. "In this case, she's handing over the house. It's one of the prime reasons she's not going to jail." Pamela Lindberg pleaded guilty Friday to larceny.

Her husband pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property. Prosecutors said Pamela Lindberg used her position as controller at the company to pay for landscaping, interior decorating and a swimming pool at the couple's home in Plymouth. "Basically she paid for a brand new house furniture, plumbing, electrical work, even a greenhouse," Slosberg said. Confidentiality remains AIDS issue HARTFORD. Conn.

(AP) If the state uses confidential information to track down and treat children infected with the AIDS virus, it should be prepared to enforce anti-discrimination laws, AIDS activists and civil liberties lawyers said. "We live in a world in which there is massive discrimination and stigmatization of people who are HIV-infected." said Victor D'Lugin, a professor at the University of Hartford who has AIDS. "When you in fact reveal the names of children, you are revealing the names of parents." he said. "Is the state prepared to aggressively enforce anti-discrimination laws and provide care, not just for those children but also for those parents? My experience is that the state is not prepared to provide those services." State law requires doctors to report a baby's exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus to the state Health Department. The information is confidential and has been used only to keep a count of AIDS cases.

State health officials and lawyers in the Attorney General's office now are discussing the legality of using the information to make sure all exposed newborns are being treated. AIDS advocates and civil libertarians are concerned about breaching the confidentiality otu Health Department records. "Once you breach that confidence, it seems to me the confidence of all of what the health department purports to collect and protect can be questioned," said Shelley Geballe, former legal director of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union and a member of the organization's board of directors. Winter and the dogs are the protagonists in a series of Conant mysteries that started with "A New Leash on Death." She uses dogs the way British mystery writer and one-time jockey Dick Francis uses horses and race tracks, and Notre Dame University medievalist and philosopher Ralph Mclnerny uses religion. Like her fictional detective, Conant has two malamutes, Kobi and Rowdy.

She writes occasional reviews and articles for dog magazines and shows in obedience trials. Her parents bred pointers. "I was their third litter," she said. Conant also is Massachusetts coordinator for the Alaskan Mal-amute Protection League, which finds new homes for abandoned, neglected and abused malamutes. Divergent lives But she said Winter isn't an autobiographical character.

Unlike Winter, Conant is married and lives in a spacious house in upscale Newton with her husband, dogs and cats. Winter is single and lives in a three-decker in a Cambridge neighborhood that's home to police officers, not Harvard professors. While malamutes feature prominently in her mysteries, Conant's latest book, "Ruffly Speaking" (Doubleday, 272 pages, $18 95), includes as one of its stars a mixed-breed named Ruffly who is a trained hearing dog. Ruffly helps Episcopal priest Stephanie Benson, who is hearing impaired. The book's plot includes the strange behavior of Ruffly and the accidental poisoning death of a book seller.

Conant said she had two inspirations for the book. One was attending a blessing of the animals on the Feast of St. Francis at an Episcopal Church in Newton. The other was her desire to feature in a book a dog trained to Humor book is no joke Associated Press NORTH SMITHFIELD, R.I. Quick.

Why did the belt get It was holding up the pants. Who's the pizza's favorite relative? Aunt Chovie. Why did the car break down? It was an OLDsmobile. Hard to guess from its contents, but the book these jokes come from is no laughing matter. "Did You Hear the One About is the collaboration of two elementary schools whose students want to help an ailing former student get the double lung transplant she needs.

Copies went on sale for $2 each, appropriately enough, on April 1. Thirteen-year-old Katie Joli-couer suffers from cystic fibrosis, a disease that primarily affects the gastrointestinal and respiratory systems. And while the disease is about as serious a thing as her school friends have ever learned about, the pint-sized authors thought a joke book was the perfect tribute to Katie. Each student in each class at the Kendall-Dean and Dr. Harry L.

Halliwell Memorial Schools, more than 400 1st- through 6th-grade students in all, contributed an entry. Maureen Knowls, a clerk at Kendall-Dean, got to know Katie when she was in 1st grade. "She was very jovial," said Knowles, who typed the book. But laughter is getting harder for Katie these days, says her mother, Paulette Jolicoeur. Katie's badly scarred lungs work at only 25 percent efficiency.

She has been on a waiting list for the transplant since November The 12-hour transplant operation will cost $250,000 and require a month long stay at Boston's Children's Hospital. But with Katie's father out of work and questions over what insurance will cover, the financial help from the students will be welcome, says Jolicouer. Who's kidding It's not cleaner kids you need, just a Lees for Life1 Carpet. It's the only nylon arpet with guaranteed lifetime resistance to stains, fading and wear. Lees for Life Carpet's stain resistance is built into its fibers, so it's permanent.

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Oczkowski, 66. surrendered at the Southbury barracks and was arrested on a Superior Court warrant, police said. The town's chief elected official was charged with driving under the influence, unsafe movement, failure to obtain a Connecticut driver's license and driving with an expired emissions sticker. He was released on a written promise to appear in Derby Superior Court on April 15. On the night of March 4, as Oczkowski was driving northbound on Route 67, he drove into the southbound lane, hit a snowbank and struck a bridge abutment, police said.

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CARPET PAD INSTALLATION! See store for details "Making your home a better place" Farmers facing fields of streams HARTFORD (AP) Concerns about flooding have receded with the state's rivers, but for Connecticut farmers, the worries continue. The rain and melting snow have turned fields into spongy swamps and are preventing farmers from plowing and possibly getting their first vegetable plantings in the ground by early April You just can't get out into the fields at this point," said Walter Hine. who runs Field View Farm in Orange. "It sets your whole year back and it costs you money." The fields at Fonicello's Home Garden Center in Guilford looked more like ponds than farmland early last week. Ducks and geese frolicked in puddles that were more than 6 inches deep in spots, as a steady rain pelted-down.

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