The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington • 16

16 The Spokesman-Review Dec. 7, 1982, Spokane, Wash. Hit man tapes played at Gorman trial By LARRY YOUNG Spokesman Review Tapes made by a police officer posing as a hit man were played Monday in the trial of Donald Gorman, charged with trying to hire out the murder of his business parter and father-in-law, Joe Rizzuto. Gormans attorney, Michael Hemovich, made vigorous objections to playing the tapes before the jury. But he was overruled by Superior Court Judge Marcus M.

Kelly. Detective James J. Hill of the Spokane County Sheriffs Department intelligence unit played cassette tapes taken during a phone call with a man he identified as Gorman and at the time of Gormans arrest. In the phone conversation, Gorman asked for a daytime meeting. Hill then told him, Heres the place I want to meet.

Its at E9412 Sprague, by Wendys. Theres a closed massage parlor, the Valley Viking. Stand in front of it. Have the money with you. During the conversation, Hill said he usually required at least half of the fee of $2,000 before doing the job because he had to be sure the person seeking the killing was sincere.

He also asked for a picture of the murder target person and a floor plan of his home. Then Hill asked Gorman, Is suicide a feasible thing? Gorman replied that the prospective victim has high blood pressure and took both stomach pills and downers. Thats dynamite, replied Hill. Thatll be very easy. a if.

Lawyers debate Bunker benefits By BARTPREECS Spokesman Review Attorneys for the United Steelworkers skirmished with Gulf Resources Chemical Corp. in court Monday over whether 1,500 retired Bunker Hill workers and their families are entitled to health insurance benefits. Nine former Bunker Hill employees have filed the suit. They are asking that their suit be handled as a class action so all Bunker Hill retirees can collect damages if they win the case. Gulf Resources eliminated most health benefits of retired workers when it began closing down the Kel-log, Idaho, lead and zinc mine and smelter.

The company claimed that its obligation to provide benefits to retirees under the contract ended when operations at Bunker Hill ceased. The obligations to retirees have always been specifically tied to the collective bargaining agreements and they expire when the contracts expire, a company attorney argued before U.S. District Judge William McNichols. Union attorneys argued that unless the la-bor-managemen agreement specifically limited the benefits, they should be regarded as vested. These benefits are compensation for work already performed by these retirees.

They no longer have to go back and perform work to earn these benefits. They are part of their retirement compensation, argued Dan MacIntyre, from United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pa. Mondays court arguments were preliminary hearings on a company motion to dismiss the suit and on a union request to have the issues heard by in a jury trial. McNichols said he would rule on the motions later. At stake in the courtroom battle are major medical insurance for retired Bunker Hill employees, their spouses and children.

first only a handful of people knew anything about the pair's curious plans. Those who knew the two men best, or at least their work, probably found nothing bizarre in the tale they told of what they meant to do. For they had dreamed of their Grand Plan for years, occasionally whispering about it to close friends. Anyone who did not know the two men, however, could have been forgiven for laughing. Preparation for the Grand Plan required that they travel widely, study hard and meet divers characters they never thought they'd encounter.

After all, the plan to build a classical country inn in Spokane could hardly be termed your garden-variety fantasy. And these two partners certainly didn't come to the task with the world's most characteristic credentials. Merlin Omans, monsieur le chef, had been a career educator. Wine steward Brian Butler a civil engineer. But what these unlikely accomplices brought to their audacious undertaking was a rare passion for food and wine.

For years Merlin had been one of the most accomplished amateur chefs in the Lilac City Enological Society (amateur, that is, the way Lord Peter Wimsey was an amateur), a cook who brings to food the respect a poet brings to words. And Brian Butler, for much of his adult life, had approached wines the way superior investment brokers approach stocks. Butler had toured some of the great vineyards of the world, had visited personally with the wine masters and could speak with easy intimacy about soils, frost dates and such. And soon the plot at the Country Inn began to thicken as new accomplices patrons and coconspirators alike began to throw in with the scheme. In the end all of them together created something the Inland Empire had never seen.

An honest-to-goodness chef-owned, patron-involved country inn where foods and wines of the world create a symphony for the palates of friends. And now, the die having been cast, the mystery continues as the Country Inn has moved in from the wilds of the Northside to the heart of the city. There it offers you one of the very finest dinner houses in all the Northwest. Exquisite after-theatre desserts. Certainly Spokane's most civilized after-work bar.

A quiet Bistro complete with relaxing hearth. One of the West Coast's most lavish wine cellars. And the attentive services of a hand-picked staff. But, alas, dear reader, our mystery has no end. For you yourself are fated to enter into its folds again, and again, and again helping the Inn record its charming tale.

Won't you join us soon? Dr. William Hazelton dies Dr. William Hazel-ton, a former doctor at Edgecliff Sanitarium, died Saturday in Capistrano Beach, Calif. He was 94. Hazelton was bom in 1888 in Renfro, Ontario, Canada.

He came to United States as young man to attend the University of Pennsylvania. After receiving his medical degree, he served in the Army in World War I. He was discharged as disabled veteran. Hazelton was the resident doctor at Edgecliff from 1926 until his retirement in 1958. He and his wife Miriam moved to California in 1960.

He was active in the Manito Presbyterian Church. He was a member of the American Medical Association for 70 years. He is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Ben I. Fry of Spokane, three granddaughters, six great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Dec. 12 at Community Presbyterian Church in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. DINNER 5 30-9 30 Tuesday-Saturday LUNCH 11 30-1 30 Tuesday-Friday CONTINENTAL CHAMPAGNE BRUNCH 10 am-2 pm Sunday Mr. O's Restaurant and Bistro West 19 Pacific Reservations: 838-6118.