The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • 17

Final Edition Sunday November 30 1986 Sparks fly in fire district campaign in the election the first contested race in the 44-year history Norton on Saturday adamantly denied the allegation that he had harassed any volunteers for opposing the directors up for election anything the one being said Norton who is actively campaigning for the directors seeking new terms and is the only full-time paid firefighter in the otherwise all-volunteer district Challengers Paul Spani Donald Horton and Mac Martin are running as a slate of candidates in an effort to oust directors Dale Graver Jim Gunn and Murrel Whitworth from the five-member board of directors Spani and Martin are volunteer firefighters with the district A fourth chal quate equipment and for medical-emergency and firefighter training for the 19 volunteers The annual salary was increased $12750 from $13500 in 1980 to $26250 in 1986 including a $7000 increase in 1985 according to copies of the budgets for the past six years know how anybody can justify that big of a raise in one Spani said of the 1985 district budget Expenditures for maintenance of equipment and the fire station building increased 33 percent from $5600 to $7500 in that six-year period district records show No major capital outlays for new equipment have been made since the f' See Page B-2 CAMPAIGN By STUART GORDON Bee staff writer Charges and counter-charges continue to fly in the hotly contested race for three seats in the Burbank-Paradise Fire Protection District Three challengers out to unseat the current directors in the Dec 16 special election have charged that a large chunk of the revenue from a 1981 tax override went toward exorbitant increases in the fire chiefs salary rather than for needed fire equipment The override overwhelmingly approved by district voters generated $25000 a year for the district In addition the challengers accused Chief Milton Norton of harassing volunteer firefighters who are supporting them Santa Claus was a hit for 4V2 year old Samantha Welte and her mother Virginia during Old A1 GolubThe Bee Tyme Christmas Parade Saturday lenger Marvin Brooks was not involved in the allegations made by group A special district election was called by the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors after the county counsel concluded Graver Gunn and Whitworth were serving illegally because their appointed terms expired in November 1985 and an election should have been held then The oversight apparently was due to a misunderstanding County Counsel Mick Krausnick said The seats held by directors Harry Wilder and Clinton Smith are not at issue in the special election Spani Martin and Horton accused district officials of mismanaging tax override money by approving large increases in the chiefs salary while neglecting expenditures for replacing worn and inade singles religious group with Birthday depicting a nativity scene Other first-place winners included a platoon of comprised of Julien and Sacred Heart school Brownies who won the youth group trophy Girl Scout Troop 245 dressed as Christmas packages and took the novelty prize And Hilmar High School's Tamara Hritz and Michelle Chivers cavorted as Christmas trees capturing imagination as the most unique entry The Turlock Christian High School Band marched off with the first-place trophy for bands and the Turlock Junior High School Band won the top urlock parades its Christmas spirit Glenn Scott Belgian gathers new memories Lucienne Tondeur leaned forward on her chair to study the fourth-grade girl asking the question Tondeur gave her a pleased grandmotherly look Her eyes seemed extra large behind her glasses She kept her metal cane leaning casually at her side a familiar companion you were young did you have any dolls to play the girl asked The 79-year-old woman waited for a translation from English to French This was fun You could read it on her face on her bright European smile with the comers of her mouth that naturally turned down Yes she told the girl through translator Lloyd Solomon of Modesto Yes had a few dolls But her love had always been knitting Since she was small she had knitted all kinds of patterns More arms shot up There were 16 youngsters in Regina class for academically gifted students at Standiford School in Modesto Each one had questions And Tondeur loved them for it She loved their attention these boys and girls who had sung her a French folk song and wanted to know what her neighborhood looked like She was just a country woman from Obourg a town of 3000 people in Southern Belgium She had few stories to tell she said as she sat there in her purple sweater and lavender print dress her white hair pulled back But her grateful smile filled the room and held her focus you ever had asked a boy who knew what was important They do eat pizza in Belgium she said but she like it her to Round Table" offered a young surprised voice across the room It was an unusual scene to say the least a traditional woman from the Old World and a roomful of California kids But a lot has seemed unusual lately for Tondeur who arrived in Modesto almost two weeks ago to spend time with Bill and Helen Marlow This is her first real vacation First ever if you count the one and only time she visited Brussels about 33 miles north of her village She had never seen the North Sea until she flew over it to come to the United States this month Now you know why she was smiling It all began when Bill Marlow was a 20-year-old supply sergeant in the US Army in fall 1944 just after the Germans had surrendered He lived in an Army tent city in Mons Belgium The snow-covered tents had dirt floors and pot-bellied stoves They were cold uncomfortable Eventually the polite young Marlow walked across the road to a nearby house and asked if they would allow him to sleep there to stay warm It was the home of Tondeur her husband and their daughter who was ill with rheumatic fever was Tondeur recalled last week acted properly and got along with everyone My husband liked him My daughter was very sick but she liked him On Christmas Marlow grabbed a turkey from the plentiful Army supplies and took it to the Tondeur house Another soldier brought a tree that they decorated together was a very good Christmas that she remembered That was 42 years ago The Belgian people in those small towns liked the Americans who fought off the invading Germans Several of her Belgian friends had died as underground resistance fighters She occasionally had hidden arms or parachutes for the resistance It was a good cover No one suspected a little lady nursing a sick daughter When Marlow moved on they agreed to write They sent letters back and forth from his native South Carolina and later Modesto to Belgium His aunt also wrote Last July the Marlows visited Tondeur in Belgium She was living alone by then Her husband and daughter had died She had moved into a two-room apartment and she said she was lonely It was a joyful homecoming but when the Marlows left she cried beaucoup tears It was not long afterward that granddaughter a store owner for whom she sews and knits agreed to pay her way here The vacation has been inspiring The trips to Yosemite San Francisco Monterey The visits to schools The interest of so many people in this cheery Belgian country woman She already has handfuls of photographs to show off and remarkable stories to tell when she returns home But there is no hurry her grandmotherly eyes seem to say Obourg will be there By ELIZABETH LEEDOM Bee staff writer TURLOCK The entry list was shorter than usual but the crowd was bigger according to veteran parade watchers as Old Tyme Christmas Parade ushered in the downtown shopping season Saturday morning A Main Street crowd estimated at about 4000 cheered and applauded at curbside between Canal Drive and Broadway The city Recreation Department sponsor of the traditional nighttime event had shifted it to daylight hours because of insurance problems But the 50-entry parade which featured three bands and unexpectedly two freight trains offered photographers including a squadron of fond parents a sunlit if chilly field day They got an even better chance at prize shots when the trains halted the parade briefly And as one bystander observed wanner daytime weather probably brought out more people The cavalcade ended with a bon bon-tossing Santa Claus swooping down Main Street on a city Fire Department snorkel truck Sweepstakes winner was the Bethel Temple Choir who rolled off with the Trophy for the float Overall float winner was the SALT trophy in its class Sharilyn Plante took first-place majorette honors and Con Agra Frozen 1920 Model Ford won in the antique vehicle class Among the horsey set single horseman Claudio Arroyo of Livingston trotted off with his 240th trophy The Merced Sheriffs Posse took top honors among groups and the Turlock Livestock Auction Wells Fargo stagecoach won a first in the horse-drawn team class Parade organizers were city recreation chief Abe Rojas Sharon Casey and Gil Goulart Judges were Wayne Christian Richard Franpton Carolyn Ratto Jim Shade and Gary Wickel A trace of rain but area is still below average A trace of rain fell in Modesto Friday night but the total is still far short of the average for this date The Modesto Irrigation District reported 04 inches of rain fell in Modesto That brings the seasonal total to 81 inches compared with 503 inches a year ago The average for the date is 213 inches The moisture is not expected to continue according to the National Weather Service Officials predicted dense morning fog today becoming clear later in the day with winds from the northwest at 1 5 mph The high temperature in Modesto should be in the low 60s Late fog and temperatures in the high 30s are predicted tonight with fog and afternoon clearing on tap for Monday In the Sierra where ski resort operators are anxiously waiting for snow clouds weather officials are forecasting sunshine today and Monday No moisture is in sight through the first part of the week Inside TURLOCK DOG takes more than a hairy spin around the block Page B-2 SIGN gets 1 1th-hour reprieve from Turlock City Council Page B-4 EXPERT DANCING suffers setback in switch of troupe Page B-3 Tall crane plucks cat from palm Howling pet trapped in treetop for 1 7 days By DARYL FARNSWORTH Bee staff writer A tomcat that had been trapped for 17 days in a palm tree 35 feet above the parking lot of Travelers Motel 710 9th St was rescued Saturday afternoon by volunteer Good Samaritans Donna Brinson manager of The Sage Room which is located 25 feet from the palm tree said she has heard the stranded cat crying for more than two weeks and everyone was afraid it was going to die Brinson said the Modesto Fire Department came out twice but firefighters were unable to find the cat She said a representative for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Stanislaus County Animal Control officers also came out to check on the cat and they said they get it down About noon Saturday Paul Losey owner of Modesto Furniture Auction stopped at The Sage for a drink and was told by other customers of the predicament Losey immediately telephoned a friend Ken Dollard owner of Crane and Rigging in Modesto Ken Dollard offered to let Losey use one of his 60-foot cranes to try and rescue the cat Ken son Steve Dollard and See Page B-2 CAT movie extras Carl Pruitt and Sammy Johnson on the set the scene of Hollywood courtroom tale Hollywood-style McArthur and the rest of the cast and crew of the movie had brought Hollywood to the San Joaquin County Courthouse And with the coming of the movie people life for courthouse regulars and some Stockton-area residents may never be the same director William Friedkin who has been filming in vari- See Page B-2 MOVIE By MICHAEL DOYLE Bee staff writer STOCKTON Alex McArthur the same guy who frolicked with pop star Madonna in her latest music video is now a demented killer if you believe everything you see on the big screen Wednesday afternoon McArthur the killer sat outside a Stockton courtroom waiting for his call to justice County" sheriffs deputies relaxed nearby armed and imposing It all looked real but it was only reality I I.