The Brattleboro Reformer from Brattleboro, Vermont • 1

25 CENTS 18 PAGES SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1983 BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT VOL. 69 NO. 288 USPS 063400 GOOD MORNIJVG 2Yi Hour DeUberation Jury Finds Mrs. Ravenna Guilty purchased after the bank began its new business day the afternoon of Oct. 1.

Rocray stressed that a tape from a First Vermont tellers register dated Oct. 2 also showed that the transaction took place after the new business day began, which usually is 3 p.m. of any given day. He matched serial numbers on the money orders with serial numbers on the register tape as additional proof. See MRS.

RAVENNA, Page 10 and then set up Mrs. Ravenna. McCarty also introduced evidence indicating that one of Mrs. Ravennas foster children purchased the money orders at First Vermont Bank the morning of Oct. 1 with cash.

However, States Attorney Rocray recalled bank officer Lawrence to the stand Friday morning to testify that the money orders could not have been bought in the morning, as McCarty claimed. She said First Vermonts copies of the orders were dated Oct. 2, meaning they were McCarty said. Theres no question there was reasonable doubt. Mrs.

Ravenna, who has long been active in civic affairs in Brattleboro, including serving for many years as chairman of the Reformer Christmas Stocking, was charged with forging group home director Terry Pitzners name to the state aid check and cashing it at the drive-up window of Vermont National Bank in Brattleboro on Oct. 1, 1981. According to the states charge, 'she used $4,500 of the money to pay off an overdue loan at the bank and took toe rest of the money in cash and a $5,400 cashiers check. First Vermont Bank loan officer Melody Lawrence testified several times that Mrs. Ravenna brought the $5,400 check to the bank on the afternoon of Oct.

1 and bought several thousand dollars worth of money orders. McCarty contended, however, that Mrs. Ravenna was in Revere, for an appointment with her hairdresser at the time bank officials estimated the $11,500 check was cashed. He implied several times that someone else forged the check structed to acquit Mrs. Ravenna if they had reasonable doubt that she had forged the check, announced the guilty verdict about 25 minutes later.

As the jury foreman read the verdict, a spectator at the rear of the courtroom gasped Mrs. Ravenna, a founder and former director of the group home, which deals with many so-called problem children, most of whom are wards of the state, looked down and then watched each juror as he or she repeated the verdict at McCartys request. Mrs. Ravenna, who was released on her own recognizance by Judge Wolchik, left the courtroom immediately after court recessed around 7:10 p.m. Wolchik gave McCarty 10 days to file post-verdict motions.

Possible Penalty If the verdict is upheld on appeal, Mrs. Ravenna could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison and fined up to $1,000. No date has been set for sentencing. Jurors refused to talk about the verdict with reporters. I just cant believe it, attorney By BARBARA NAGY A jury of nine men and three women found Deborah Ravenna guilty Friday of forging and cashing an $11,500 state aid check made out to the Brattleboro Area Group Home on-Oct.

1, 1981. The grim-faced jurors announced their verdict at 7 p.m. on the fourth day of the trial in Vermont District Court after hearing hours of complicated and conflicting testimony. They deliberated for two hours and 45 minutes. One of the last witnesses to testify in Mrs.

Ravennas behalf Friday morning was former Vermont Attorney General M. Jerome Diamond, a close friend of Mrs. Ravennas. About 25 spectators, including Diamond, listened to closing arguments during the afternoon. Defense attorney William McCarty said he would appeal the conviction.

Jurors returned to the courtroom once after beginning deliberations at 4:15 p.m. to ask presiding Judge Joseph Wolchik to re-read the formal charge filed against Mrs. Ravenna by Windham County States Attorney John Rocray. Jurors, who were in- And the East Coast Snow Obscures the Capital CHARLES ABE OTT LINCOLN, 111. (UPI) When Abraham Lincoln christened the city that was named for him in 1853, he told residents they had made a poor choice since nothing named Lincoln had ever amounted to much.

History proved him wrong and this town is now full of memorials to the man who would be 174 years old today including a look-alike who promotes Lincolns name, the town named after him and his home state. Charles Ott a Lincoln double from Lincoln has been so good at what he has done for the past 13 years that he said he never hears his right name anymore. Instead, he said he is known as Mr. Lincoln and Abe by friends and neighbors. Ott, a part-time beekeeper, state bee inspector and wholesale magazine distributor, is not Lincolns twin physically.

Measuring a little over 6 feet 8 inches, he is about 4 inches taller and somewhat heavier than Lincoln was. But when he puts on a black frock coat, stovepipe hat and ribbon tie, the resemblance is enough to make people do double-takes. It doesnt dawn on em until theyre a hundred feet or so past, Ott said. Then their youths drop open, and they walk back to take another look. Ott, 50, took up his double life when a friend asked him to impersonate Lincoln in 1970 for a tourism promotion.

UPI SWEARING IN Ernest Gibson III, right, is sworn in by Gov. Richard Snelling as associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. Gibsons father, a former governor, is shown in the Statehouse portrait at the rear. Gibson is Official Justice MONTPELIER (UPI) Ernest Gibson III, the son of a Vermont governor, officially became a state Supreme Court justice Friday. Gov.

Richard Snelling administered the oath of office at the statehouse as a crowd of well-wishers stood by. Its not only an honor, but a trust, Gibson said. He recalled standing in the same room in front of the portrait of his father, Ernest Gibson 10 years ago when he became Superior Court judge. Now, I find hes looking over my shoulder as I take the oath of office as associate justice, Gibson said. Snelling appointed Gibson to fill a vacancy left when Justice Franklin Billings Jr.

was named to replace Chief Justice Albert Barney. Officials predicted the storm could cost New York millions of dollars. The blinding storm snarled normally heavy Friday afternoon traffic in New York and prompted city and private shelters to prepare for an onslaught of homeless people. Thunder and lightning bolted through Manhattan. Port Authority officials closed the three largest metropolitan airports, LaGuardia Airport, Newark Airport and Kennedy International Airport.

Commuters crushed against each other in one of the subway entrances at Grand Central Terminal. All apparently had the same thought in mind getting home before the snow got worse. President Reagan, who likely has the shortest commute to work in Washington, joshed reporters and photographers who had to struggle through blowing snow Friday to get to the White House. Reagan, who walks to the Oval Office from the White House living See BIG SNOW, Page 10 The monster storm closed government offices, airports and hundreds of schools and businesses in the Northeast corridor. Power blackouts left thousands in the- cold, and blowing snow covered highways faster than plows could clear them.

You need a periscope to see in this, said Homer L. Jones as he waited at a bus stop in Baltimore, which was swamped with 17 inches of snow. Shortly before noon in Washington, the Office of Personnel Management issued a staggered release schedule sending all but the essential 350,000 federal employees home early. All area schools canceled classes Friday, giving students an unexpected three-dayjggekend. But getting Anywhere was difficult.

In New York, the skies darkened and 40 mph winds began whipping around midday as the storm moved into the city. At 5 p.m., city officials declared a full snow emergency, which restricts public use of 250 designated snow emergency streets. By JAY H. HANDELMAN WASHINGTON (UPI) The seasons heaviest storm paralyzed the nations capital with up to two feet of snow Friday, shutting down the federal bureaucracy and three area airports and marooning President Reagan at the White House. National Weather Service spokesman David Caldwell said 12 to 18 inches of snow had blanketed the entire metropolitan Washington area by late Friday, and were expecting 3 to 6 inches more before the storm tapers off to flurries.

At sundown the snow was falling at an inch an hour in what the service called near-blizzard conditions punctuated by thunderclaps. The blustery snow storm belted the Mid-Atlantic region Friday with nearly 2 feet of snow and 50 mph winds. After crippling Washington the storm barreled north to clobber metropolitan New York with near blizzard conditions. Snow emergencies were declared in New York and Washington. Sharon Resigns; Condemns Report HAGLER WINS Vermont Unemployment Question One-Week Wait for Benefits May Be ederally Required Marvin Hagler, using his superior speed and boxing skills, successfully defended his world middleweight title for the sixth time Friday night, stopping top-rated Tony Sibson of England by a technical knockout in the sixth round.

PAGE 12 Sunday but would remain in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio for an unspecified period of time. He is only resigning as defense minister and not from the government, said Ehud Olmert, a parliamentary member from Begins Likud coalition. All indications pointed to Prime Minister Menachem Begin eventually asking Moshe Arens, Israels ambassador to Washington, to accept the defense post. If Sharon remains in the Cabinet, he could be in a position to oversee Israels defense policy. The massacre report exposed sharp divisions in Israel that erupted in a hand grenade attack on a crowd of Peace Now demonstrators calling for Sharons ouster outside Begins office Thursday night.

An estimated 5,000 mourners turned out Friday for the funeral in Tel Aviv of Emile Grinzweig, a reserve paratrooper and Peace Now protester killed by the explosion. Nine other persons were injured. Leaders of the government, the Knesset and the opposition parliament also attended the'funeral in an expression of national shock over the killing. The explosion was the worst outbreak of civil violence since the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. TEL AVIV, Israel (UPI) Ariel Sharon, assailing the Beirut massacre report as a mark of Cain on our foreheads, resigned as Israeli defense minister Friday but officials said he would remain in the Cabinet.

Within hours of informing Prime Minister Begin of his decision to resign and end a three-day struggle to keep his job, Sharon appeared before the Israeli Bar Association and denounced the Israeli inquiry into the Sept. 16-18 massacre at the Sabra and Chatila Palestinian refugee camps. I cannot accept, even for a that clause (in the report) that deals with the indirect responsibility (of Israel) for the events of Sabra and Chatila, he said. Judge for yourself how that phrase will ring in the ears of every person, in every language, everywhere on the face of the earth. It will be a mark of Cain on our foreheads for generations.

The commission that probed the massacre by Christian Lebanese militiamen ruled that Sharon bore personal responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds of people at the two camps in west Beirut. Cabinet ministers and senior Israeli officials said would hand over the defense post to Begin WEATHER Details on PAGE 10. 24-Hour Record: High 17F, Low -4F Barometer 30.23, rising full benefits, and how much the change would cost the state. Rep. Arthur Bloomberg, D-Burlington, said the measure would have at least some financial impact on the unemployment fund.

It would hurt (the fund) on the short term guys, he explained. Tofferi said he decided to introduce the bill after several labor groups brought the problem to his attention. They (the unemployed) are wiped out for that one week, he said. Rep. Donald Marsh, D-Marshfield, said the bill eliminates some other criteria that now must be met to receive unemployment checks such as a requirement that people look for a job while they are collecting benefits.

Tofferi said the bill should be redrafted, because that was not his intent. The committee plans to inquire whether the waiting period is federally required, and if not, how much its elimination would cost the trust fund. The Legislature recently authorized the state to borrow up to $20 million to keep the fund afloat. The fund was already in debt some $31 million. By ANDREA ZENTZ MONTPELIER (UPI) Federal regulations may make it impossible for the Legislature to pass a law removing the one-week waiting period required before eligible people can receive unemployment benefits, House Commerce Chairman Stuart Hunt, R-Brattleboro, said Friday.

He said the waiting period may be a mandatory federal requirement, and the state might be penalized if it does not conform. It gripes me more than I can tell you, he said. Rep. Leigh Tofferi, D-Ludlow, said under the measure, jobless Vermonters would still be eligible to receive unemployment compensation for a total of 26 weeks; consequently, he said, elimination of the waiting period would not further burden the economically troubled Unemployment Trust Fund. But he said it would mean jobless people who find work before their benefits are used up will have received one week in additional unemployment checks.

For example, he said if they return to work four weeks after they lost their previous job, they will have received four unemployment checks instead of three. Rep. Susan Auld, R-Middlesex, said the committee should first determine how many people do not use the INDEX Economy Page 7 Lottery Page 10 Obituaries Page 11 Sports Page 12 DearAbby .74. Page 15 Comics Page 16 Classifieds Page 17 Movies Page 18 ir WINE AND DINE VOUR VALENTINE at th TAVERN Fondue or two Sole Valentine Steak Chasseur Strawberry Pe "257-1491 We've got three ski weeks to give away next week, 3-8 p.ff WTS A 1450 on your dial YOU COULD NOW OPEN CANAL STREET MOBIL Formerly Amoco Station Minor repairs and oil changes 254-8526 Brattleboro CANDIDATES FORUM PUBLIC INVITED Monday Ffc 14. 7: JO p.m.

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