Standard-Speaker from Hazleton, Pennsylvania • Page 2

Saturday, February 18, 1989 Obituary Mrs. Aniela Kosiak Mrs. Aniela Molly Kosiak, a former resident of 542 Seybert Street, Hazleton, died Friday at 10:30 a.m. at the Mountain City Convalescent Center. She was born in Highland, a daughter of the late Martin and Nellie Verbitsky.

She was en member of Holy Rosary Church. In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph, in 1979, and two brothers, Michael and William Verbitsky. Surviving are two daughters, Mrs. Eleanor Szini, West Haven, and Mrs. John (Carole) Kapushinsky, Miami, two grandchildren; brother, and sisters, Verbitsky, Hazleton; Mrs.

Joseph (Mary) Zama bito, Colorado; Mrs. Joan Heavner, Norfolk, Mrs. Arthur (Helen) Huchital, Forest Hills, Long Island, N.Y.; Mrs. Martin (Arlene) Figel, Basking Ridge, N.J.; and 1 Mrs. Bert (Dolly) Carlson, Bethpage, N.Y.; and several nieces and nephews.

The funeral will be held Tuesday at 9 a.m. from the Frank J. Bonin Funeral Home Second Street entrance. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in the Holy Rosary Church at 9:30 a.m. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Drums.

Friends may call Monday from 6 to 9 p.m. Helen E. Krokovich Mrs. Helen E. Krokovich, 63, of 39 E.

Abbott Lansford, died Thursday in Coaldale Hospital. She was born in Lansford, a daughter of the late Michael and Anna (Dzurko) Steblar. Prior to her retirement, she had been employed for 44 years by Lansford Apparel. Mrs. Krokovich was a member of St.

Michael's R.C. Church, Lansford. Her husband, John M. Krokovich, preceded her in death. Surviving are a daughter, Mrs.

Stephen (Germaine) Brunda, Nesquehoning; a brother, Michael E. Steblar, Waycross, and a sister, Mary Gurka, Lansford. Services will be held Monday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sverchek Funeral Home, Lansford, followed by Mass of Christian Burial at 10 o'clock in St. Michael's Church, Lansford.

Friends may call Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m. Funerals The funeral of Charles W. Folk, a resident of Old Easton Road, Danboro, who died on Monday at the Pine Run Community, Doylestown, was held Thursday from the Krapf and Hughes Funeral Home. The Rev. Bernard Murphy conducted the services.

Interment was in Mountain View Cemetery. Pallbearers were Joseph, and Ronald Kutchmarick, Beltz, and Joseph Moran. Funeral services for Neil Cussat, of 954 N. Church Hazleton, who died on Wednesday, were held Friday afternoon from the Moran Funeral Home. The Rev.

Richard Abernethy officiated at the services. Interment will be in Mt. Laurel Memorial Cemetery. Pallbearers were Daniel Cussat, Neil Cusate and Neil Cusate James Cusate, and Joseph DeFluri. Funeral services for Olive S.

Houser, of 655 N. Vine Hazleton, who died Tuesday at the Hazleton General Hospital were held Friday from the Krapf and Hughes Funeral Home with the Rev. Brenda Boyer of St. Paul's Lutheran, Beaver Meadows, conducting the service. Interment was held in the Weatherly Union Cemetery.

Pallbearers Charles Houser, Roy Bevans, Christie Bevans, David Bevans, Henry Bevans. Walter Bevans and honorary pallbearer grandson Eric Houser Jr. Death notices FAGAN At Pittsburgh, PA, February 16th, Attorney Joseph F. Fagan, Sr. Funeral from the Boyle Funeral Home Monday at 9 a.m.

Mass of Christian Burial at St. Gabriel's Church at 9:30. Interment in the parish cemetery. Friends may call Sunday 2 to 4 7 to 09 p.m. SHERMAN At Hazleton General Hospital, Thursday, Feb.

16, 1989. Hyronda Sherman, R.D. 1 Drums. Funeral services and visitation Sunday 7 to 9 p.m. at the Krapf and Hughes Funeral Home, followed by graveside services Monday at 10 a.m.

in the Conyngham Union Cemetery. In Loving Memory of Mother Mary Krell Lukac She Passed Away February 18, 1972 Sadly Missed and Loved By Daughter Anna, Grandaughter Sharon, Great Grandaughters Sharlene Clarissa Iran wants an apology Atty. Joseph F. Fagan, ex-foreign service officer Atty. Joseph F.

Fagan of 534 W. Second Hazleton, died Thursday morning at the Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh, after a brief illness. Born in Hazleton, he was a son of the late Dr. Peter and Kathryn (DeWan) Fagan. He was a foreign service officer until his retirement, and then practiced law in Hazleton for the past two years.

He was a member of St. Gabriel's R.C. Church and the American Legion. Preceding in death, in addition to his parents, his wife, the former Elizabeth Mulligan, who died in 1980; five brothers, Edward, Robert, John, Lawrence and Peter; and one sister, Anna. Surviving are a daughter, Kathryn and a son, Joseph both of New Zealand.

Funeral services will be held on Monday at 9 a.m. from the Boyle Funeral Home, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 9:30 a.m. in St. Gabriel's R.C. Church.

Interment will be in the parish cemetery. Friends may call on Sunday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Samuel Lloyd Davis Box 210, Zion Grove, died Friday evening at Hazleton General Hospital. Born in Zion Grove June 9, 1919, he was the son of the late David and Carrie (Mensinger) Davis. He spent his entire life in Zion Grove, and was a member of the Davis Chapel United Methodist Church, Zion Grove.

He was a retired mechanic employed by the Magee Carpet Bloomsburg. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, the former Jean Witchey; two sons, Ronald, Mt. Carmel, and James, Woodbridge, a daughter, Mrs. Warrell (Lisa) Stout, Philadelphia; three sisters, Mrs. Creda Smeck, Zion Grove; Mrs.

Grace Fritz, Zion Grove, and Mrs. Stanley (Elva) Fruit, Buckhorn, and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two sisters, Olive Slusser and Effie Yeager. The funeral will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. from the Mark S.

Harman Funeral Home, Conyngham-Rock Glen Road. Rev. Paul Miller will officiate the service. Interment will be in the Davis Chapel Cemetery, Zion Grove. Friends may call Monday from 7-9 p.m.

Jennie C. Romania Jennie C. Romania, 244 Indiana Shenandoah Heights, died Friday at Shenandoah Manor Nursing Home, Shenandoah. She was born in Italy, daughter of the late Camille and Marian (Procipio) DeBonis. She was a member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel R.C.

Church; Sacred Heart Society; and Senior Citizens. Her husband, Nicholas, died in 1971. Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. Vincent (Josephine) Marconi, Philadelphia; Mrs. Gus (Carmella) Scirrott, Philadelphia; and Mrs.

Phil (Micholine) Lyons, Philadelphia; three sisters, Rose Scarpino and Julia Bell, both of Shenandoah Heights; and Barbara Stroloti, Philadelphia; seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. The funeral will be held Monday at 8:30 a.m. from the Oravitz Home for Funerals, Shenandoah. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 9 a.m. in St.

George's R.C. Church, Shenandoah, followed by interment in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cemetery, Friends may call Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. Anna Pituch Mrs. Anna Pituch, 89, formerly of Nesquehoning, died Wednesday in Weatherwood, Weatherly. Born in Lansford, she was a daughter of the late Demetrius and Eva (Kichar) Shears.

She was a member of St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Nesquehoning. Her husband, Thomas, and two sons, Joseph and Thomas preceded her in death. a John Surviving and Victor, are nine both of children: Lansford; Michael, Toledo, Ohio; Walter, Whittier, Stephen, Redford, Leonard, Lombard, Ill; Nicholas, Bluebell; Mrs. Robert (Mary) Drigan, Nesquehoning; and Mrs.

Robert (Elizabeth) Novak, Martinez, 33 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. The services will be held Monday at 9:30 a.m. at the Blazosky Funeral Home, Nesquehoning, followed by Requiem Divine Liturgy in St. John the Baptist Church, Nesquehoning. Friends may call Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m.

(Continued from page 1) chain, ordered copies of the book off the shelves of its 1,200 stores because of violence threats. "Waldenbooks has fought long and hard against censorship, but when it comes to the safety of Waldenbooks employees and our customers, we must act responsibly in their interests," the company said in a statement. The book remains available in Waldenbooks stores but is not being prominently displayed. Meanwhile, the U.S. publisher of the novel closed its offices and gave employees the day off Friday after receiving several bomb threats, authorities said.

Siri Huntoon, who said she worked in Viking Penguin production department, said company officials made their 100 employees leave the building in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon after a bomb threat was made. "Everyone up there is working under a lot of stress, you really believe somethiner will happen or not, just the stress of having bomb scares is enough," said Miss Huntoon. Khomeini, Iran's spiritual leader, said Tuesday that Rushdie's novel slanders Islam and ordered Moslems to track down and kill the author, an Indian-born British citizen. Some diplomats in the Middle East have speculated that the Rushdie issue was promoted by factions in Iran opposed to recent moves by more pragmatic figures to improve relations with the West. Reports on official Tehran Radio suggested an attempt to set apart the furor over Rushdie from Iran's recently improved relations with Britain.

The radio quoted Nicholas Browne, Britain's charge d'af- Casey (Continued from page 1) pened. I never thought he would come down to meet the governor." In the original letter, Zachary said he was disturbed with news accounts that showed strife throughout the world, and decided to send Casey a dollar to start a development for homeless people. Casey said at his meeting with Zachary Friday that the boy was different than other people who see suffering. "Like many of our citizens, young and old, you see the hungry and want to feed them, learn of drug peddlers and want to stop them, hear of the poor and want to help them," Casey wrote in the proclamation. "But unlike many people, you acted.

You wrote your worries in a letter and made sure it found its way into my hands. "I was SO touched by your message that I used your words to draw the attention of Pennsylvania's lawmakers to the need for compassion and commitment in caring for our neediest citizens. "Zachary, you reminded me that a big part of governing is listening to the voices of the people. Thanks for being such a responsible citizen and speaking Bus (Continued from page 1) off Route 11, after exchanging the bus for a tractor-trailer. Police said Dalrymple drove south on Route 11 in the bus.

About 20 minutes after learning of the incident, Briar Creek Patrolman David Brown found the stolen bus, parked near the Zephyr Diner along Route 11. Police also were told by a truck driver that Dalrymple had stolen his rig, and was last seen driving north on Route 11. Brown later stopped the rig and took Dalrymple into custody. Berwick police said Dalrymple will be charged with robbery, a aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, and theft by unlawful taking or disposition. In addition, Briar Creek Township police will charge him with the theft of the tractor-trailer.

While the incident was in progress, the nine Freeland girls basketball players that made the trip, head coach Larry Bason and assistant coach Jim Malkin were inside the reataurant eating totally unaware of what was happening outside. "We were all inside eating our food, when the driver came in and said the bus had been stolen," Bason said. Michael Kokinda, the district's coordinator of transportation, said such an incident has never occurred. Kokinda said he found out about the incident when Pettit called him. "When the driver called, I brought a relief bus and another driver (to Berwick)," Kokinda said.

"We wouldn't let the children get on the (stolen) bus, because we didn't know if anything happened to it." The 72-passenger bus, Kokinda said, was driven back to Hazleton, after Kokinda went to the state police barracks at Shickshinny. He said no damage was done to the stolen bus. Pettit is a part-time driver who has been employed by the district for approximately four or five months. faires in Tehran, as telling Javad Larijani, Iran's deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, that the British government had no role in writing, publishing or distributing the book. "The British government has complete respect for all the religions of the world and Moslems, and has no intention of supporting an insult to Islam," Tehran Radio quoted him as saying.

Outcry over Khomeini's statement continued Friday as the governments of West Germany and Spain condemned the Iranian campaign, and Italy's Foreign Ministry said the death threats had aroused concern and worry. Publishers in France, West Germany, Greece and Turkey, however, said they decided not to publish the book, and the Greek publishers planned to postpone its release out of fear for their lives. Others in Finland, Norway and Italy were unswayed. After Khomeini ordered Rushdie's death, Iranian religious leaders offered a bounty of $5.2 million. PRAYING FOR HELP Genevieve Kozlowski, center, and others pray Thursday on the sixth day of their occupation of St.

Michael the Archangel R.C. Church in Bridgeport, Conn. They are protesting the transfer of the popular pastor of their predominantly Polish church. (AP) Cottams going to court (Continued from page 1) ents had a duty to provide food for their children," said Luzerne County District Attorney Correale Stevens. "I don't know of any religion that suggests it's all right to starve your children to death." The family was hospitalized for malnutrition.

Cottam, 39, weighed 139 pounds; his wife, 37, 99 pounds. Both are 6 feet tall. The girl's weight was not revealed. The Cottams are jailed in lieu of $100,000 bond each. They are to be arraigned Tuesday on charges of murder, two counts each of endangering a person and two counts each of endangering the welfare of a child.

"The boy was literally their hostage," said Margaret Singer, a clinical psychologist who studies cult behavior as a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. "He probably had been so convinced he must not eat, he thought God would smote him or his parents would punish him if he disobeyed," she said. The Cottams lived in isolation on a dead end street in this comof 700. residents. They spurned offers of food and help church members and family.

They fought a two year legal battle to teach their children at home rather than enroll them in public or parochial schools. Cottam severed ties with his parents and in So no one noticed they were wasting away. The family refrigerator was unplugged and the phone disconnected. The Cottams turned out the lights at dusk. Neighborhood kids knew not to knock on Halloween because no one would answer the door.

"They always were loners. We tried to help that man over and over, but we were turned away," said Frank Kowalski, the first elder at the Slocum Seventh-day Adventist Church, one of four churches near Wilkes-Barre where Cottam once preached. "He tested God limit. There's no way you can sit home and starve your kids and expect God to rain food out of the sky." Nothing in the doctrine of the Adventists, a splinter group of Baptists with 6 million members worldwide, explains the Cottams' actions. "We have no teaching that tells people to fast to death, reject help, or withdraw from family and friends," said Fred Thomas, one of the top officers of the church's world headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Adventists believe second coming of Jesus Christ is imminent, and they ban the use of alcohol, tobacco and non-medical drugs. Cottam was fired as an unordained minister in 1985 for defying church officials by yanking his children out of church schools. The family had not attended church since then and was expelled in 1987. Although there wasn't a scrap of food in the house, Cottam had a strongbox with $2,131.21 in cash and bank books with $1,643.74 in savings. He told police the money "belonged to God" as a tithe.

Larry Cottam grew up in Stockton, and converted to Adventism, his wife's religion, shortly before they were married in 1972. "I had a funny feeling about Larry. He was nice and polite, but there was still something about Larry I didn't like. He looked like a criminal," his father-in-law, Standard-Speaker Published Daily Except Sundays and Holidays by Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Inc. 21 North Wyoming Street Hazleton, Pa.

18201 Telephone 455-3636 Second Class Postage Paid at Hazleton, Pa. Publication No. 238140 DELIVERED BY CARRIER The Hazleton Standard-Speaker is delivered by carrier for $1.80 a week. SUBSCRIPTION BY MAIL Paid In Advance One year. $94.00 Six 48.00 Three 25.00 One 10.00 One 2.50 Suits John Van Renselaar, said.

"I felt he wanted to start a cult or something. Every time he got on the phone he'd start preaching and I'd say to Leona, 'Larry is a religious Cottam graduated from Union College, an Adventist school in Lincoln, and got a master's degree in divinity from the church's Andrews University in Michigan. The family, after living in six states in 16 years, settled here in 1983. Cottam tended four churches while awaiting ordination. Then the trouble started.

The Cottams pulled their children out of a one-room Adventist school and tried to fire the teacher in 1984. The teacher said the children wanted to work on the floor instead of at their desks, insisted on printing instead of writing and balked at learning definitions of words. To end the squabbling and give Cottam seasoning under another minister, the church transferred him that summer to western Pennsylvania. By Christmas, the children again were removed from the church school. The Cottams claimed the children had been sexually abused by their former teacher.

They said she wore a devil's mask and danced a satanic jig. A church investigation found no wrongdoing. The teacher, who a large wooden mask from Kenya to class, suffered from epilepsy and once had a seizure that frightened the children. Larry Cottam was fired in October 1985 and moved back here, working as a truck driver. More is known about young Eric Cottam in death than in life.

He kept a weather vane and rain guage in his garden and dreamed of being a meteorologist, according to postmaster Michael Petyo, who gave the boy a weather band radio. For the Cottam kids, there wasn't much chance to play with others. Their mother would call them inside. "They didn't want anybody else around," said a neighbor, Carol Laurer. "Maybe they was embarrassed because (the father) wasn't a minister anymore.

(But) how can you sit there and watch your children wasting away and not do anything?" An autopsy found no disease or condition that would have prevented Eric from eating. Luzerne County Coroner Dr. George Hudock Jr. ruled the death a homicide caused by starvation. The boy's heart was brown and atrophied instead of reddishpurple and vibrant.

The normal layer of fat around his stomach had been exhausted. His empty intestine had paper-thin walls. "He had no energy to live. The flame of life flickered out," Hudock said. "'He looked like a concentration camp victim from Dachau or Auschwitz." North (Continued from page 1) prove their case, something they would not have been allowed to do under earlier versions of the Under his rulings, Gesell said, "the defendant will not stand in a worse position, and his rights to a fair trial have not been prejudiced." The trial start was set for 9:30 a.m.

Tuesday in the capital's federal courthouse, on the same floor where most of the Watergate trials were held in the 1970s. Clearing away objections remaining before the trial, Gesell said in another written order that he accepts the rolesharing agreement reached Wednesday by independent counsel Lawrence Walsh, who is prosecuting the case, and Attorney General Dick Thornburgh. Gesell rejected North's contention that that deal is unfair. Thornburgh and Walsh agreed that the independent counsel would notify the Justice Department anytime North tried to introduce a piece of evidence in nine broad categories of classified material. (Continued from page 1) 12, 1985 and charged with taking $2,500 in bribes to issue permits for ongoing systems on six township lots.

In each incident, a grand jury said the money was delivered Finsel by Robert Ludgate, a real estate agent named in several civil suits, who was acting as an intermediary for others who supplied the bribe money. Reinhardt, who took over the investigation a couple months after it began, said Thursday that because Ludgate turned state's evidence against Finsel, the former SEO landed in jail. "He cooperated with us he played a very crucial, critical role in that," Reinhardt said. "'He was the one agent up there who actually came forward and came clean with Catanzaro said Ludgate was the agent who sold him the bogus lots. On Sept.

19, 1986, Finsel was convicted by a Carbon County jury of five counts of bribery, 10 counts of violating the state Ethics Act, five counts of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy. He was released last August by the Carbon County Prison after serving the minimum of a 15- to 30-month sentence. Part of his sentence was served under a work-release program. A woman who answered the phone at Finsel's home Thursday night refused a request to speak with him. "No," she said to every question asking for comments.

"Don't bother us." One other person had criminal charges brought against him in the bribe scheme. Richard C. George, president of Home Builders pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing justice and was sentenced to probation and a number of hours of community service. George's, company built the Catanzaro home and installed an on-site sewage system there the summer after Catanzaro bought the land. The seven lawsuits filed so far allege that many other people were involved in handing bribes to Finsel to issue invalid sewage permits or re-issue permits for systems that should not have been built.

Catanzaro said another suit will be filed by his attorney for his sister-in-law, Maguerite Wisch, who paid about $30,000 for a lot in the Mosey Wood development. His other -law, Arena, said from her New Jersey home that she recently had to inform a man from Philadelphia who wanted to buy her lot that there is not enough soil there for a sewage system. "I don't know how this could possibly nada happen," she said. "People to be paid off, and here we're stuck with lots and paying taxes, and you can't even use them." Catanzaro said he didn't learn about the deficiencies with his property until his sister-in-law's land was tested by the DER. By then, his home was built, a driveway was put in, landscaping was done and the basement was refurbished.

He and his wife have used the home, but not often. "We used it for a few months here and there, but we're afraid to stay in it," he said. "We don't want to ruin the environment there, and we're a little shaky on even drinking the water." Catanzaro alleges that punitive damages should be awarded because the ordeal has caused him, his wife and her sisters severe mental anguish. "Every time I think about it I get sick. That's why I gave it to the lawyer up there and said 'Do whatever you have to do because I have a business to run and I'm sick about This kind of stuff gives people nervous breakdowns," he said.

He said he hopes the lawsuits will bring an end to the problems of many. "It's just a thing that should be stopped, and they should be made to pay for what they've done," he said..