The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 26

By BILL JOHNSON NORMAN, Okla. (API Can't decide on a Christmas present for that person who has everything How about a rhinoceros beetle or a butterfly? Arturo Crucet will be glad to fill vour order. But a word of warning butterflies, or beetles, aren't free. "I have them from about $15 up to several thousand dollars each," says Crucet, a former hich school biology teacher who turned a childhood hobby into a profitable business. "Ninety five percent of my stuff is under $25, the bread-and butter items," the bearded Crucet says.

"There aren't too many people who ill pav $200, or even $100, for a butterfly." But Crucet is able to ship collections of exotic insects throughout the world because he has enough customers ho are willing to pay that price. "I had one Japanese gentlemen who "had bought one of my beetle collections and he wrote asking me to make a similar one for him to give as a gift." Crucet says. "He just told me to make it up and let him know how much it cost and he'd send me a money order to have it shipped air express." Although Crucet didn't say what the collection cost, he did say that large specimens of scarab beetles from Africa or rhinoceros beetles from South America could cost as high as $1,000 each. "A bird wing butterfly from New Guinea would sell for several thousand dollars, if you could get one" he says. "It all depends on how rare the specimen is." Buyers get a guaranteed specimen of the insect mounted on a cloth mat in a hand made wooden frame, whether they spend $15 or $1,500.

Each specimen is chemically treated to prevent deterioration, and Crucet rites the biological data on the back. "I make the frames myself, from cutting the glass to staining the wood," Crucet says. Although his initial contact with potential buy ers often comes through arts and crafts fairs, much of his business comes from word-of-mouth advertising. He has just finished four displays of native Oklahoma moths and butterflies for Donna Nigh, the state's first lady. She saw his work on display at the National Governor's Association meeting in northeastern Oklahoma earlier this year.

Crucet says his hobby began when he was growing up in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father worked for the government. "We lived in a little town in the jungle for a while, and I used to catch butterflies and moths," he says. "Sometimes my father ould take me to the canal at night and the fence would just be a tapestry of insects attracted by the lights." His family bought land in Panama and he raises some of his insects there. Others are raised in Norman and still others are bought from people throughout the world. Crucet says he used to get rare scarab beetles from someone in Angola His business got started hen he gave some of his collections to friends.

"One day a friend told me about an arts and crafts show and said I should go," Crucet says. "I thought it was ridiculous, hut finally packed up about 25 or 30 samples. They were all sold in about three hours, and I decided 1 was on to something." Crucet taught school and handled his insect business as a sideline until about six years ago, when he began to devote full time to the bugs. "If a man can make a living at a hobby, he has a richness that is quite nice." he says. wnmico Section Monday, Dec.

20, 1982 Newly weds who will always prize their storybook wedding Wot, I f-, 1. her husband to-be sat dow for a pre-wedding interview last week. "We had ear-to-ear smiles that could not be wiped off our faces. The next day we were just exhausted," she said. Until that day, they were just one among the thousands of couples who gets married in this country every year.

Troyer, 27, is a graduate music student at UCR who plays both the organ and harpsichord, and wants to teach. Sterner, 24, is an former Air Force sergeant, now an undergraduate math student who hopes to teach math in the future. They met in 1981 at a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by a mutual friend. Their fortunes took a definite turn upwards when Troyer picked up a copy of Bride's this summer, saw the entry form, and mailed it in. "I didn't really expect anything to come out of it," she said.

"I don't normally do things like that." The only qualification was that the couple had to be getting married between Dec. 1, 1982, and July 31, 1983. Troyer thought that restriction would cut down the number of entrants and help her odds. She would find out later, however, that they were picked from among 84,000 en tries. Like everyone else they talked to about it, they wondered hether anybody ever really wins those contests.

The only thing either had ever won before was a turkey that Troyer won in an office drawing back in Ohio. At that time, she felt kind of giddy. This time, hen she took Tober's 7 a.m. phone call about the big win, she was speechless. "She said 'I think you're going to like what I have to tell Troyer recalled.

"My blood started rushing. She told me she was with Bride's. I thought I was a runner up. When she said we were the grand prize winner, I said, 'Grand Then I went speechless. "She tried to carry on a conversation with me, and I said, 'I can't Troyer said.

"She finally gave up and said, 'Sit dow and figure out (Please see Wedding, C-7 By DENNIS KELLY Sun S'atf Writer RIVERSIDE When most brides and grooms vow that they'll take each other for better or worse, realistically they're figuring they're going to start off for the worse. What with new furniture to buy and that expensive honeymoon to pay off, it's the bills that will be theirs to have and to hold from this day forward. Well, Sharon Trover and Jeffrey Sterner, a pair of students from the University of California Riverside who were married Friday, got off for "the better" because they won a contest. They were grand prize inners in the "Storybook Wedding Sweepstakes," co-sponsored by Bride's Magazine and Revlon, and walked away with non-cash prizes worth at least $27,000. The centerpiece of the big haul is a one week honeymoon in France with two, first-class tickets on Pan Am, a room at France's Chateau d'Esclimont (reported to be a 16th century "fantasy castle," complete with moat and swansl, use of a Renault, champagne and flowers and a dream picnic with French food and delicacies.

Ah, but that's just where the list starts for the lucky newly-weds. The remainder sounds like the credits on a TV game show. There's sterling silver dinnerware, gold and diamond Keepsake wedding rings, a wedding dress for the bride and her maid of honor, designed specially by "Phyllis of the House of Bianchi," settings of China and crystal, Samsonite luggage, After Six tuxedos for the groom and his best man, $500 worth of flowers from Tele-flora, a case of Dom Ruinart champagne, a one-year "hosiery ardrobe" from Hanes, a food processor, a Kodamatic camera, and more. Needless to say, Troyer and Sterner were a little excited when they got word of their winnings Nov. 8 from Bride's editor-in-chief, Barbara Tober.

"We grabbed each other and jumped up and down and said, 'We're going to France! We're going to France!" Troyer said when she and i i 1 1 Hj "ft, 4 4 Staff photo by Hal Stoolii A $27,000 wedding for Sharon Troyer and Jeffrey Sterner; the odds were 1 in 84,000 How to find your true love through the classifieds of more than 100 from the same month last year. At Los Angeles magazine here editors broke a traditional ban on "that type of advertisement" seven months ago because of reader demand --classified manager Donna Ritter says the response has been "fantastic, really unbelievable." About 50 ads were purchased the first month; since then the number increased to about 55 or 60 ads a month. "The people ho are placing ads are very upscale, responsible, financially secure," she says. "They usually have one marriage behind them and just want to meet someone for companionship." Even the movies have picked up the trend. Two months ago, "The Personals," a romantic comedy about a single man trying to find love after divorce through the classifieds, opened.

'Respond before I enter a nunnery' By SUSAN THOMAS Gannett News Service Once upon a time, finding Cinderella or Prince Charming was as chancy as a blind date. Today, meeting that perfect person may be as easy as flipping through the classified advertisements in classy magazines from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. "Successful, dynamic, attractive, executive lady, highly intelligent, high risk taker, who settles for nothing but the best beckons one of 50-plus monthly ads in the slick Los Angeles magazine. "Registered Camelot knight, licensed dragon slayer, defender of damsels, shining armor, white horse, seeks lady in waiting to honor and champion," cajoles another in an issue of Washingtonian. In the past three years, personal classified ads once considered less than respectable have become a fashionable way for thousands of doctors, lawyers, nurses, secretaries and other professionals to meet.

With costs ranging from $1.50 a word in the Washingtonian to $2.65 a word in Los Angeles, the popularity of personals is fueled by a growing number of dissatisfied adults between ages 30 and 45 who, after scouring singles bars for years, still haven't found their love. "Personal classified columns are booming," says Laura Pregler, of Philadelphia magazine, which had 2(M5 such ads in the October issue an increase Who answers such ads9 John Broornall was a recently widowed, 40-year-old businessman and father of two small children, when he saw this ad in Atlanta Singles Datebook and Magazine, a respected specialty magazine that features more than 300 classified personal ads each issue: "Lonely, loving, attractive, 35, long brown hair, hazel eyes, d-foot-3, 127 lbs. Affectionate, full of fun, would like nice man, 35-50, for meaningful relationship." Louise Sprayberry. an unemployed, divorced, former battered wife with four children, had placed the ad because, she says: "I was going through a rough time and needed to meet someone new, but all the men I met at nightclubs and bars seemed to wear masks, and I never could see the real person." That was in 1980. The couple fell in love, married, moved into a big house, cross-adopted each other's children and began working together at their own resume-writing business.

"We've been on a two-year honeymoon since then," she said. "And if you think about it, there are a lot of people who meet and marry under the best circumstances who don't last this long," he said. anyone other than my female Doberman, but desperately want to share everything with my true mate." Blunt: "Frankly, fat and 45, so if youth and beauty are your thing, look elsewhere." Sincere: "Life without love shared rings hollow. Is there yet uncommitted one gentle, longhaired female?" Straightforward: "Are you strong of heart and with good teeth? Then here I is. A buxom blonde, semi-bombshell.

Respond before I enter a nunnery." "Lady Di, where are you? I'm not a prince or a frog. Don't have a castle or a Mercedes Benz. Looking for an attractive female with common sense." Because well-written ads sometimes draw as many as 200 responses from readers, finding the right words has become something cf an art for writers. A sampling of ads: Creative: "New on the used market. Still classy chassis; motor in good condition; little wear and tear; sporty, dependable, spirited.

Looking for slow lane driver." Challenging: "I smoke and I drink! (Sometimes too much.) Green-eyed blond wild woman isome-timesi looking for humorous, active wild man (sometimes) that can keep up with me!" Smug: "Accused and found guilty of being Burt Reynolds' look-alike Honest: "I have no intention of supporting.