The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 250

At the time of her arrest Brenda Spencer said she opened fire on the school yard to up the But it quite that sudden There had been signs the girl was disturbed but the signs went unheeded Any one Brenda Spencer 16 is led through San Diego police station after 22 rifle attack on an elementary school Jan 29 She was arraigned last Thursday on murder attempted murder and assault charges Stop Teen Sniper? United Press International By PAUL JACOBS and NANCY SKELTON Los Angolos Timos Sorvico SAN DIEGO When neighbors remember Brenda Spencer they think of a small doe-eyed girl sitting alone with an arm around a dog almost as big as she staring at the playground of Cleveland Elementary School But on a sunny morning last week Breinda Spencer 16 looked across to the Cleveland Elementary School playground again this time allegedly through the sight of a semi-automatic 22-caliber rifle and in a burst of bullets turned her quiet neighborhood into a scene of horror Two men the principal and the custodian died of gunshot wounds eight children and one policeman were wounded At the time of her ajrest she said just did it for the fun of it I just like Mondays This livens up the Brenda Spencer was arraigned last Thursday Her fantasy life and the real world had chillingly come together For years Brenda Spencer had talked of She and her close companion during t'Ae last four years a neighbor boy three years younger than she had whiled away their time with elaborate the boy said say we were going to go to Parkway he said describing the fantasy go up to the window of a police car and be holding a pellet gun and say friend over there is trigger And then reach in and get the (gun) belt and pull out the real THE BOY thought it was just another fantasy when two days before the sniper attack Spencer told him had something big call you Monday night if it come off If it does know about it because it will be all over the boy recalled her saying That day she showed him several 22-caliber bullets lined up on a table in her bedroom To those who knew her Brenda Spencer was a paradox On the one hand she penned her mother a poem for Christmas On the other hand according to a friend pumped her pellet gun up three times and shot a While she frequently talked in blatant vernacular about people and (police) she also cautioned a teenage friend to up his when the two visited her house OTHER FRIENDS of Spencer also described her preoccupation with guns her hatred of police and her talk of violence They said she had been apprehended for breaking into Cleveland Elementary School and for occasional shoplifting Some saw the seeds of trouble But in scores of interviews with neighbors and relatives none saw in Spencer the potential to become someone who at 16 would be charged with two counts of murder nine counts of attempted murder eight counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of assault with a deadly weapon against a policeman High school friends have described Spencer as a (drug user) who seemed disinterested in classes except for photography a hobby she shared with her father A teenage neighbor claimed that the girl smoked of (marijuana) and at least once used PCP or a drug that sometimes produces violent behavior has to accept the responsibility (for her acts) but to some extent a said Trudy Hobel wife of grandfather James Laverne Hobel THINGS just happen said the woman who has been a to Spencer all 6f the girl's life have a long complicated seem like a said Hobel then sometimes bombs are silent A neighbor who knew the family before it was split by divorce in 1972 said the girl was spindly tomboy who was no bigger than a bar of The woman remembered Spencer with the other children sliding down neighborhood hillsides on cardboard and wheelies on her bicycle as good as MOTHER Dorothy Spencer a bookkeeper for the Andy Williams San Diego Open golf tournament was an active volunteer worker for the San Diego Junior Golf Association and an avid golfer Brenda once ranked high in those golfing circles along with her brother Scott now 22 and her sister Teresa now 20 The neighbor remembered Mrs Spencer hauling the kids from one practice to another But golfing apparently stopped after the divorce and a custody battle that saw all three children awarded to their father Wallace Spencer an audio-visual supervisor at San Diego State University The divorce was apparently hardest on 10-year- about the difficulties of trying to reach their children Spencer told the woman one day love them and you talk to them and try to give them what they want But when I ask Brenda what she wants she tell THE 22 SEMI-automatic rifle which police identify as the murder weapon was a Christmas gift from Spencer to his daughter In the past year after the girl began counseling at the county Youth Services Bureau the two made frequent weekend trips to property Spencer owns in the southeast corner of San Diego County Sometimes a teenage boy who got into trouble with Brenda would join them there clearing brush and shooting rabbits It was a way of letting the two continue to be together but under adult supervision the mother said THE BOY and his mother moved out of the neighborhood several months ago and lost contact with Brenda Spencer But she began calling her friend again the week before the Jan 29 sniping attack at Cleveland Elementary School She talked again about killing police Since the attack Brenda Spencer 5 feet 2 inches tall 89 pounds the quiet girl no one ever remembers seeing in a dress has refused to talk to either her mother or her father In the courtroom during her arraignment the accused sniper never turned her eyes toward and who sat together lost in emotion holding hands old Brenda who according to her natural grandmother Ruth Hobel was often tearful when it was time for her to leave her home after the court-determined visitation days were over Hobel said that her daughter Dorothy a wonderful and that the reason the judge awarded the children to the father was because the two older children teenagers at the time chose to go with the father and Brenda was also sent along because judge want to break up the AFTER THE divorce Spencer moved his children a few blocks away across the street from Cleveland School while Mrs Spencer stayed on at their former home Brenda continued to see her mother often relatives said A neighbor of Mrs Spencer described Brenda arriving early at her house and crawling over the back fence to play with the dogs while waiting for her mother to get home from work parents and were married Dec 12 1954 Friends and relatives describe Spencer as an outgoing active sportswoman is a kind of said a neighbor Wally has been described as more of a To those who know him at San Diego State Spencer is good all-around guy very likable and They say he is someone who to most of the time Only rarely did he discuss the problems of fatherhood with neighbors and coworkers But when Brenda began to get in trouble with the law early last year he and a neighbor began talking ANN LANDERS Share Peace Through Tea Japanese Way Big Little Nail Has Many Uses DEAR ANN: Recently someone wrote and asked why a man would let the nail of his little finger grow much longer than the others You said people use the long little fingernail as a scoop for I know several men who used an extra long (and sharp) little fingernail as a knife to cut open their cigaret packs Dothan Ala Photo by Elizabeth Owen By ELIZABETH OWEN Htrald Staff Wrltar a jungle out there Heavy traffic Honking cars Grinding machines Sirens Blaring rock music Ringing phones Incessant gibberish But there are ways to escape it if only for a while Some people meditate practice yoga make a break for the A handful of South Floridians are making tea Their guide is with Eric Messersmith a 32-year-old landscape designer who received the title of Tea Master after studying four years in Japan under the guidance of Sen Soshitsu Grand Tea Master of Urasenke MESSERSMITH SAID some folks may raise their eyebrows at the idea of donning kimonos kicking off their shoes and sitting on grass mats around a clay pot of thick bitter frothy-green liquid thinking that such an ancient foreign ceremony has no place in the modern world Messersmith says wrong is a universal way of he said made tea for someone you have bad feelings for them The tea ceremony Messersmith says is based on four principles: Wa kei sei and jaku harmony respect purity and tranquility The ritual is not derived solely from one philosophy or one religion it includes the best of Zen Buddhism Confucianism Taoism and Christianity The practice of drinking tea began centuries ago In the Heian period in Japan (794-1185 BC) tea seeds were first brought to Japan from Tang China by two Japanese priests sent there to study Buddhist doctrines Later in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) Zen priests returning from Sung China brought more of the seeds to Japan At the time tea was drunk only by the monks of Zen temples as an aid to meditation (the Japanese tea is heavy on caffeine) and as a form of communion BUT IT until the mid-15th Century that tea drinking got the full treatment A shogun named Yoshi-masa who lived in a Kyoto mountain retreat asked his advisor Noami to make tea using a Chinese lacquer stand in his study At the same time a Nara priest named Murata Shuko introduced the idea of wabi rustic simplicity into the preparation of tea Sen Rikyu a disciple of Shuko combined the elegant tea preparation of Noami and wabi ideals of Shuko into the formal tea ceremony Since returning to the States with a Japanese wife and their 2-year-old son Messersmith has been spread ing the motto of his Japanese mentor Soshitsu: through a bowl of Ed travels in his job If his mother and brother move in I'll be their maid and chauffeur Also we would be their sole support mother and brother have an apartment but my husband thinks it is his duty to take them in told him it would break up our marriage (My mother-in-law is very strong-minded and has to run everything) We have two young children and are trying to get on our feet financially Ed says I am selfish I insist that each of the nine children should contribute toward an apartment for their mother and brother so the burden will not fall on one I love my husband and do not want to divorce him but I cannot go along with this notion that we accept all the responsibility Please settle this He says he will abide by your opinion Desperate in Texas My appears in your letter child should contribute toward an apartment for mother and brother so the burden will not fall on one How young is too young for a child to learn about sex? just one thing find in Ann new booklet "How What and When to Tell Your Child About For a copy send 50 cents along with a long stamped self-addressed envelope to Ann Landers co Living Today The Miami Herald 1 Herald Plaza Miami Fla 33101 Simone Sergy right foreground plays host during formal Japanese tea ceremony Guests from left are Eric Messersmith instructor Candy Wakasui and Lois Bachman What Ceremony Means DEAR ANNS I know why Brazilian men grow a single very long fingernail on one hand to let people know they are upper class and have to work with their hands Acapulco Mexico DEAR ANN: you know that men who repair watches and clocks often let one fingernail grow much longer than the others so they can pick up springs and tiny parts of the watch works? Louisville Lou Thanks for educating me I had no idea that the little fingernail could serve so many purposes DEAR ANN: My husband and I have been arguing over something since we married nine years ago Ed is from a family of eight boys and one girl His mother was widowed and wants to live with us and bring her 35year-old son who is emotionally unstable He work although he is in excellent physical condition clean off the utensils Grass mats cover the tea room floor Shoes are removed before entering the room The guest of honor seats himself first A folded Japanese fan called a sensu is often put before a place setting to indicate that the person sitting there wishes to speak The sensu is placed behind the place setting if the person leaves his seat to indicate the seat is taken Centuries ago Japanese warriors used their small swords in the same way ELIZABETH OWEN Eric Messersmith has his students take turns as host then guest of honor The guest of honor who drinks first turns the face of the tea bowl around facing the host to show respect The dishes used are considered sacred and valuable If the tea bowl is especially valuable a kaishi (cloth napkin) is held under the cup so the oil from human palms mar it The host prepares the tea using hot water and a whisk to clean out the tea bowl and a cloth napkin to.