The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • 13

metro b-1 WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 23 1983 The Modesto Bee Thanksgiving white in Sierra wet in Valley report Opening Thursday will be Badger Pass and Heavenly Valley On Friday Donner Ski Ranch and Soda Springs will welcome skiers At Dodge Ridge two chairlifts and three rope tows for beginner and intermediate skiers will be in operation Although there is up to two feet of snow skiers should expect some obstacles on trails said spokesman Rob Brown Motorists traveling in the mountains are advised to carry chains in their vehicles and be prepared for adverse conditions according to the California Highway Patrol Weather conditions should improve beginning Friday with only scattered showers in the forecast Farmer said The valley should be mostly fair Saturday and Sunday he said with high temperatures in the 50s and lows from 35 to 45 degrees In the Sierra to the delight of ski resort owners the snow level should drop to about 5000 feet in the north and 7000 feet south Dodge Ridge Echo Summit and Tahoe Donner ski resorts will open today joining Alpine Meadows Squaw Valley and Kirkwood which began operations earlier according to the automobile BV HAROLD GEREN Bee staff writer Thanksgiving in Central California will be wet no doubt about it according to the National Weather Service However the storm bringing the rain should leave behind enough snow in the Sierra to make skiing conditions worth the drive said meteorologist Jack Farmer Those traveling over the long holiday weekend will see lower prices than last year at service stations On the average according to the California State Automobile Association gasoline prices are down about 6 cents per gallon compared with 1982 The strike by Greyhound bus employees has meant increased business for its competitor Continental Trailways and for the Amtrak passenger train spokesmen report but neither plans to increase the number of departures Greyhound which resumed limited service Thursday will operate its buses according to the revised schedule according to a spokesman Farmer said a major storm is headed this way from the northwest bringing a 60 percent chance of rain by nightfall today and an 80 percent chance on Thanksgiving Health care pact awarded Council bucks Mensinger on College West By Ted Benson Bee staff photographer Glenn signs Right Stuff' for John Glenn Chipponeri right as Condit watches Glenn the astronaut thrills gathering at Modesto airport near the proposed industrial park said there was a "lack of demonstrated for it He also protested the possible loss of a buffer zone (highway and railway) between the city and farm land Farmer Norman Driver told the council that it had to make the land use decision based on need but that he felt it was not fair to prevent him from developing his 13 acres for 10 years because of Williamson Act requirements Driver is the lone land owner in the College West Area who will be prevented from taking immediate advantage of the proposed development That is because the city did not protest Williamson Act application in 1971 Planning Director William Nichols and Driver disagree over who is responsible for the oversight However a motion by council member Carol White-side directing city staff to look for a possible remedy for the Driver situation was approved Lang staunchly supported the project have come to a critical (time) economically We are regressing and are going to lose thousands of more jobs to automation if we do he said Lang referred to a comment made by Mensinger in her pitch to roll back council support for the project and said the council had a greater responsibility to jobs the issue I suggest we have a more important obligation to our citizens and to create In a memo to the council early See Page B-2 COUNCIL Landowner ay mayor wai wrong Pago B-2 By JIMMcCLUNG Bee staff writer The proposed College West Area industrial park gained momentum Tuesday as the City Council voted 5-1 to take the next step and turn the matter over to the Modesto Planning Commission for public comment A hearing is scheduled for January and is expected to start the new political year off with a bang At issue is development of an industrial park on land bounded by Highway 99 Blue Gum Avenue Morse Road and North Avenue Some fireworks occurred Tuesday when councilman Richard Lang moved to end debate and approve the development Mayor Peggy Mensinger at first ignored Lang and did not recognize a second until minutes later That was 70 minutes into a discussion on the merits of the development Mensinger was attempting to debate the issue when Lang called for a vote on his motion The motion drew a second from Tom Bright Frank Muratore and John Sutton but debate continued Lang interrupted monologue and again called for a vote on his motion but it was not until Bright abruptly asked for the vote that the mayor relented Hers was the lone vote cast The council decision came after arguments made by citizens Richard Vermeulen who lives By ROBERT BAZEMORE Bee staff writer A Modesto physician accused Stanislaus County supervisors Tuesday of deception by using Scenic General Hospital to bail out the self-insured health plan Supervisors however voted to adopt the controversial plan and to award a contract for the administration of all county employee health benefits to the Stanislaus Foundation for Medical Care although it would cost about $40000 more than the bid from an out-of-town provider In order for the new health care plan to work doctors must refer those county employees in need of hospitalization to Scenic General The foundation has access to 345 member physicians Paul Humbert Jr executive director of the foundation told supervisors the county will realize a saving because rates charged by participating doctors are reduced The Board of Supervisors already has approved a labor agreement with 1500 of the 2500 employees that gives them the option of free health benefits in exchange for agreeing to use Scenic General Hospital The county has offered the same option to four other employee groups now at the bargaining table It was the plan proposed by county administrators calling for Scenic General to bill the county only $125 a day for care of county employees while the average cost for private insurance patients is $660 a day that sparked an angry response from Dr CV Allen After objection supervisors agreed to have county staff consider increasing the $125 charge to include a profit margin to be competitive with other health care providers Supervisors agreed that may see Page b-2 supervisors line and shake hand they hurried to claim their spots They got their handshake with Glenn and his wife Annie and then Glenn spotted jacket and stopped to chat I glad I wore Vaughn said told me he flew the F-16 last year and went straight up He said he been back to Edwards in a Jeremy Hill also was all smiles He opened his "National to the story on Glenn and there was the signature Jeremy had wanted "He said sure can remember those going to take it to school and then frame said proud granddad Don Angle The 600 members and guests at the Modesto Rotary Club meeting where Glenn spoke gave him two standing ovations One of those applauding heartily as Glenn finished his talk was John Glenn Chipponeri of Ceres born four months after 1962 orbital flight A student at the University of California Berkeley and a friend of Chipponeri made the trip from school to Modesto just to see Glenn had quite an influence on me written papers about him and studied him just what I said Chipponeri The young man said that SeePage B-3 GLENN BY BECKY MCCLURE Bee staff writer It was a gray 44 degrees at the Modesto Airport Tuesday morning and that may have affected the size of the group waiting for the arrival of John Glenn astronaut Ohio senator and presidential candidate But while only 100 or so people turned out as spectators and in the official greeting party they were an enthusiastic group especially in regards to John Glenn astronaut Jeremy Hill 11 sat in the terminal clutching a magazine from June 1962 On the cover was John Glenn inside his Mercury spacecraft The story recounted adventure as the first American to orbit the earth The magazine had been saved through the years by uncle Randy Angle a worker in the assembly campaign of Gary Condit D-Ceres who arranged visit Jeremy a sixth grade student at Sherwood School wants to be an astronaut and he was determined to get Glenn to autograph the magazine Gardner Hutchins Stanislaus chief administrator also was looking forward to seeing Glenn the astronaut like the astronauts Glenn or not retired Air Hutchins said Ken Vaughn was another Air Force retiree who turned out And Vaughn who retired only two years ago spent years and years as a flight test engineer at Edwards Air Force Base where the astronauts got their start as test pilots He was wearing an Air Force jacket with Edwards and F-16 plane patches on the front know him but seen him on the flight line lots of said Vaughn who still lives near Edwards but was in Modesto visiting friends Vaughn and his Modesto friends made a point of seeing Right the movie about the beginnings of space program They were all at Edwards during the time depicted in the movie thought it was Vaughn said adding that he was born and raised in Oroville also the hometown of Glennis Yeager wife of test pilot Chuck Yeager who shares the movie spotlight with Glenn Vaughn said if Glenn gets the Democratic presidential nomination supporting him for the presidency George Satriano and Isabelle Gomez were standing on a bench Tuesday morning craning their necks to catch sight of Glenn as he shook hands with official greeters separated from unofficial greeters by a locked gate Satriano and Gomez made no bones about it Glenn is their man for president and when it became obvious the unofficial group also would get to form a Girl's stepfather faces murder trial Cornnuts joins fight for river McClatchy Newsservice The river rafters and others with an interest in keeping another hydro project off the Tuolumne River have a new ally the Cornnuts King In an unusual corporate move Oakland-based Cornnuts Inc is taking on the dam-building plans of the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts by asking its customers for contributions to hejp put the Tuolumne in the federal wild and scenic rivers system Maurice Holloway Cornnuts president said some 20 million specially marked packages of the toasted corn snack food are on their way to stores across the nation does not live by Cornnuts lettering on the packages proclaim They urge Cornnut eaters to contribute to the Tuolumne River Preservation Trust of San Francisco to save magnificent Tuolumne For a $2 donation people can symbolically sponsor a Tuolumne trout for $5 a racoon $10 a deer $15 a bear and $25 an AQfljA Every contributor is entered in a sweepstakes with prizes donated by Cornnuts including a three-day raft trip for two People who send a note of support and no money are eligible QS woll Maree Hawkins of the Modesto Irrigation District said Tuesday that the Cornnut promotion See Page B-2 CORNNUTS Groves said she did not see any marks on Tina stomach and the child appeared sleepy but healthy mother Josephine Studyvine said she visited her son after returning from the jewelry store and saw marks on the stomach little She also testified Tina stomach appeared swollen Studyvine said she berated her son for spanking the child on the stomach told me to mind my own business and I she said wife testified that Tina Marie awakened several times the night before her death crying and complaining of stomach pain and thirst She said that about 8 am the child began vomiting At first the substance was "yellowish she said then dark red She testified that at one point Tina Marie stopped breathing She said she revived the child by pushing on her stomach The mother testified that later she and Groves tried to feed the child some soup and crackers She said Tina Marie took one or two bites then to choke on the crackers and went limp She leaned forward and nodded I picked her up and gave her to (her husband) The apartment complex managers Ron and Lila Patricia Wilson testified they drove the Groves family to Doctors Medical Center and on the way Groves tried to revive Tina Marie Mrs Groves testified she never saw her husband pull Tina Marie's hair but she said she See Page 2 TRIAL By ROSALIE REED Bee staff writer Herman Lee Groves 25 was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on a charge of murdering his 3-year-old stepdaughter Tina Marie Cavenger who died Aug 25 of abdominal injuries Evidence in a lVi-day preliminary hearing showed the injuries were caused by a blunt force Dr William Ernoehazy testified they could have resulted from blows by a fist inflicted a few hours to lVi days prior to death The dead mother Joann Cavenger Groves 22 testified Tuesday she and Groves whom she married July 16 both spanked Tina Marie the with belts on several occasions She said that most frequently the child was disciplined for soiling her pants or refusing to eat Mrs Groves testified Tina Marie ate well She eat breakfast and lunch then she would go to the neighbors and beg for said Mrs Groves (the neighbors) thought we have any food in the Mrs Groves testified that on the dav before the death she went to a Modesto jewelry store with mother and several other residents of the north 9th Street apartment complex where the Groves lived She said they left Tina Marie with Groves and were gone a half-hour to 45 minutes She testified that when she returned her husband told her he had spanked Tina Marie with a belt and washed out her mouth with soap "because she smartmouthed him when he asked her if she had eaten Mrs Man struck dragged by van By DARYL FARNSWORTH Bee staff writer A man who was kneeling down in the roadway unwrapping a sandwich suffered minor injuries Tuesday when he was struck by a van and then dragged under it about 15 feet Javier Cacho 24 of Turlock said Tuesday night that he suffered cuts and scrapes in the accident that occurred at 9:20 am in the 2900 block of Farrar Road After he was injured Cacho said a dog ran over and ate his sandwich all right I just got scraped up pretty good from tumbling beneath the Cacho said He said he was taken by an ambulance to Scenic General Hospital where he was treated in the emergency room doctors told me to go home and stay in bed a few days but feeling Cacho said The driver of the van Gerald John Grudatski 36 of Modesto left the accident scene according to California Highway Patrol officer Joe Tyler He said Grudatski was arrested 40 minutes later in Empire by Stanislaus County deputies Tyler said the van Grudatski was driving had been reported stolen on Nov 13 in Chico Cacho who operates machinery and drives a forklift for Calpine Containers 2955 Farrar Road said he was on a 15-minute coffee break and had purchased a sandwich and cup of coffee from a catering truck Cacho said he was walking across Farrar Road to join a friend but he decided to unwrap his sandwich first Cacho said he knelt down and put his coffee cup on the street unwrapped the sandwich and started to take a bite when he was struck by the van which was backing up "I thought at first it was a friend pushing me and then I realized I was under the van and I was going in circles and I was being dragged down the street under the he said started yelling stop stop and then I grabbed the tailpipe and managed to crawl out from under the van by Cacho said Tyler said that when the driver of the van realized that Cacho was under it he stopped and Cacho crawled out The officer said that Grudatski a former employee at Calpine Containers reportedly looked at the injured Cacho and told several witnesses he was going to call an ambulance and he drove away Cacho did not return and others called the highway patrol Tyler said deputies Doug Leo and Dennis Anderson stopped Grudatski who was driving a van on Abbie Street in Empire and arrested him without incident Grudatski was booked in the county jail on suspicion of felony hit-and-run vehicle theft a warrant charging him with burglary and a parole hold He had been released from prison recently after serving a sentence for burglary officers said.