The Sault Star from Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Canada • 2

THE SAULT STAR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1988 WEATHER north as a ridge of high Forecast pressure establishes itself. On Central Thursday a disturbance will Low High A mixture of cloud and sun push in from the northwest Tngt Tmrw will again affect the region to- bringing increasing cloudiness day. On Thursday a disturbance and more frequent flurries. Wawa -16 -3 from the northwest will bring Temperatures are expected to White River -16 -3 increased cloudiness and more continue to be a few degrees Moosonee -17 frequent flurries. Temperatures below the seasonal Sault Ste.

Marie -11 -1 average. will continue a few degrees be- Windsor -5 3 low seasonal normal. Statistics Sarnia -5 2 Southern Ontario: London -8 A mixture of cloud and sun Yesterday's high -1 Kitchener -8 will again be today. Overnight -6 Wingham -8 low Scattered flurries Precipitation to 7 a.m. trace present without any Owen Sound -10- significant accumulations will Precipitation this month 28.7 mm Hamilton -7 the cloudy periods Precipitation this year 143.3 mm Toronto 2 accompany Normal as a series of weak disturbances precipitation 173.2 mm Kingston -8 2 LEA pass over the regions.

Snowfall Snowfall to this 7 a.m. month 32.0 trace cm Petawawa Peterborough -9 2 -13 Northern Ontario: Snowfall this season 298.6 cm North Bay -12 -2 Mark Bimson, 9 A mixture of cloud and sun Normal snowfall 279.2 cm Sudbury -12 -2 Grade 4 will again be the norm over the sets 6:44 p.m. Timmins -15 -3 Sun north today. However cloud Sun rises 6:47 a.m. Kapuskasing -16 -4 Anna McCrea and flurries will be less fre- Ontario forecast temperaquent especially over the far tures issued at 5 a.m.: Teacher convicted of assaults OTTAWA (CP) A public school teacher has been convicted of sexually assaulting six female students between 1984 and 1986.

Denis LaRoche, 55, was acquitted on a seventh charge of sexual assault because the complainant was too upset to testify. In finding LaRoche guilty, Judge Keith Flanigan of district court was critical of how Glen Beckstead, the principal of Barrhaven Public School in Nepean, handled student complaints about the teacher. "The principal should have taken them more seriously than he did," Flanigan said. Although parents had complained to Beckstead, police were not called to investigate until one girl told her doctor, who informed the Children's Aid Society. Flanigan said he believed the testimony of six girls who said LaRoche had rubbed his penis against their backs while clothed.

Flanigan rejected the defence theory that the girls had jointly conspired against their teacher. The seventh complainant, whom Flanigan described as the most aggrieved of the students, "was so distraught she couldn't even utter her name" while in the witness box. Flanigan said he was mindful throughout the trial of a possible conspiracy similar to one that surfaced during the trial of another teacher in December. "But none of the children gave the impression of mouthing off testimony they had rehearsed for court." He said he found all their testimony sincere. LaRoche, of nearby Aylmer, is to be sentenced April 27.

The Carleton Board of Education is to decide LaRoche's future at its next scheduled board meeting March 28. He is currently under suspension with pay. LaRoche, a French immersion, computer and gym teacher, displayed no emotion as Flanigan delivered his 10-minute judgment. His wife Violetta cried out and wept uncontrollably. The mothers of five of the girls also broke into tears and hugged one another after the judge left the courtroom.

One said afterwards the verdict restored her faith in the system. -Contract-: (Continued from Page A1) dam, a spillway structure and two small weirs (overflow dams), along with access roads as required by the contractor. Two roads have already been built from Highway 17 to the three power plants at Steephill Falls, Magpie Falls and Mission. The plants follow the Magpie River from north to south. 8808 0000 File photo shows Scandinavian Star entering New York harbor Fire on cruise ship extinguished but it's adrift with 700 on board MIAMI (AP) An engine navian Star is dead in the wa- dicated "that things are well fire which broke out today on ter and is adrift." in hand out there." the cruise ship Scandinavian The ship was about 56 ki- Officials weren't sure what Star left the vessel adrift in the lometres off Isla Mujeres, a sparked the fire, which began Gulf of Mexico with more than Mexican island north of the shortly after 1 a.m.

today. The 700 people on board, authori- tourist resort Cancun in the coast guard cutter Vigilant was ties said. Yucatan peninsula, said coast expected to arrive as the scene "The fire is out," said U.S. guard Lieut. Jim Mazzonna.

about 10 a.m. coast guard Lieut. Jim Dale. The cruise ship Canada Star Coast guard petty officer the engine room remains and another vessel, the Vera chard Esterline said 707 sealed for safety." Cruz stood by to assist, and people, including crew, were An unidentified male pas- a U.S. coast guard cutter was aboard the ship.

senger suffered a heart attack, en route to the scene about The Scandinavian Star, ownsaid petty officer Dan Vogeley 800 kilometres southwest of ed by Miami-based Seascape of the coast guard's Miami Miami. offers daily "cruises to office. The man's condition "Presently there are no pre- nowhere" out of its port in St. was unknown, he said. paratory measures being made Petersburg, records show.

TeleDale said that even though to evacuate passengers or phones were unanswered at the fire was out, the "Scandi- crew," said Dale. He said it in- the firm's office here. Man identifies son in mother's death NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) The father of a Chilliwack, B.C., man charged with murdering his mother for financial gain coolly identified his accused son Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court.

"He's the gentleman in the blue sweater," said Raymond Kowbel, glancing dispassionately at the three young men accused of killing his 42-year-old wife, Norma, 14 months ago. Sitting close together in the cramped prisoners' box were Richard Kowbel, 23, Gary Dewhirst, 24, and Michael Leduc, 24, who have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. The Crown contends Kowbel was hoping for a large inheritance when he and the coaccused launched a murderous attack on his parents and sister as they slept at the family home in Sardis, about 100 kilometres east of Vancouver. The father and daughter, although bludgeoned with a baseball bat, managed to escape. The body of the mother, battered with a tire iron, was found after firemen extinguished a blaze set in the house by the fleeing killers.

-Andre wants- (Continued from Page A1) "We're working at a very difficult problem," Blenkarn told reporters. "There are 170 various kinds of bank charges and it's difficult to come to grips with. Some people think they're ripped off. In many cases, it is not the case. The Canadian Bankers Association issued a statement denying that service charge disclosure requirements have been avoided by its members.

Environment Canada Forecast Whitehorse Valid 1400 ET Yellowknife John's Halifax (Vancouver a Thunder Saint John: -4 Regina Bay 3 Ottawa Toronto New York Chicago Washington: 21 Los CURRIES Angeles Precipitation High Pressure Low Pressure Newl7 Cold Front 23 Warm Front Forecasts for noon tomorrow. Figures are expected highs Parents want teacher with AIDS banned CLARK'S HARBOUR, N.S. (CP) Residents of the town where AIDS carrier Eric Smith used to teach left a clear and forceful message Tuesday with Nova Scotia's task force on AIDS: They want teachers who carry the deadly virus banned from their children's classrooms. "We will not subject our children to a virus disease that could kill them," Linda Swim, spokesman for the United Parents of Cape Sable Island told the task force. "After all, why would you send your child to school with an unhealthy teacher when there are thousands of healthy teachers available?" About 300 people crowded in to the very school where Smith once taught but he was not among them even though he is a full-time member of the task force.

Smith, a homosexual, intends to return to teaching on Cape Sable Island next fall and he stayed away Tuesday to keep his personal situation from overwhelming the discussion. Swim, a former teacher, said too little is known about the virus to allow children to come into daily contact with it. "It is not the social community contact that we are fearful of. It is the close daily contact that teachers have with our children. The crowd applauded when she answered allegations of ignorance and intolerance.

ignorance is acquired through loving your children, then so be it. It's an honor for me to be ignorant." Three of the four municipal councils in Shelburne County have already asked that AIDScarrying teachers be banned from the schools. "Despite the alarming rise in the number of cases of AIDS many are refusing to see anything wrong with their thinking and freeswinging lifestyle," said Barrington municipal councillor Ann Reynolds. "Instead, many are demanding their rights to do whatever they want and expect government solutions for the resulting problems." Some residents called mandatory AIDS testing for teachers. Many said placing an AIDS carrier in a classroom is an unkown and unacceptable risk, particularly to young children.

CLARIFICATION In a story on Page B1 of The Sault Star Monday, a lawyer for residents opposing a Town Line water bottling company rezoning application said the case will be heard by city council on March 21. In fact, the application has been scheduled for March 28. Hilton Beach. Friends may call at the Arthur Funeral Home on Wednesday, March 16, from 7 to 9 p.m. Funeral mass and committal service at Precious Blood Cathedral on Thursday, March 17, at 11 a.m.

Following cremation, interment in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Memorial contributions to the Heart and Stoke Foundation would be appreciated. ZARUDENEC, Wilhelm (Mex) Of 131 Churchill Avenue, Monday, March 14, 1988, at the General Hospital in his 61st year. Beloved husband of Dorothy. Loving father of Wilhelm Joseph, Graham (wife Darlene) and, Debbie, Davidson.

Loving grandfather Rubecka, Amy, Nicole, Matthew, Joshua, Kevin and Cory. Brother of John (wife Margaret) of Sault Ste. Marie, Joseph (wife Vera) of Edmonton, Eugene (wife Fran) of Mundare, Elizabeth Thomas and the late Peter Thomas of Calgary and the late Peter Zarudenec and Mary Several said Smith would not be welcome back in the fall. Andrew MacKay, the task force chairman, said the views expressed in Shelburne County are not consistent with those being expressed in other parts of Nova Scotia and Canada. The task force met similar.

opposition to AIDS-carrying teachers earlier Tuesday in Shelburne, the county's largest John McKenny, a member of the Shelburne district school board, said the Education Act requires teachers to set an example in showing respect for religion, Christian morality, truth, justice, temperance and all other virtues. Warships clash off Vietnam Linda Snow, a psychiatric nurse at the Regional Psychiatric Centre, recounted a conversation in which Kowbel gave her a graphic account of the attack he and his co-accused made on his family. She said Kowbel told her all three men approached the house in the early hours of Jan. 25, 1987. Kowbel said he went in first to secure the family dog, and then let the other two in.

Snow said Kowbel recalled how they went upstairs to the master bedroom, where he stood with a baseball bat beside his sleeping father and Leduc, holding a tire iron, stood over the mother. Asked what Kowbel said about their intentions, Snow said: "They were to kill everyone in the house, then set the house on fire to make it look like robbery and arson." She said Kowbel told her the plan was that each one of the three was to kill someone, but one of them "chickened out at the last minute" and just stood guard. Snow said Kowbel, describing the beatings, likened the sound of the baseball bat hitting his father to the sound of a ripe melon hitting the floor. She said he told her there was blood all over the place, all over the walls, all over the ceiling and all over him. "He said he could hear his father screaming and he could hear the other man hitting his mother with the tire iron," Snow testified.

"He said he could hear gurgling in the back of her Recalling how Kowbel told her he could hear his sister screaming in the next bedroom, Snow said the accused told of going into the other room and hitting his sister with the bat until it broke in two. Asked if Kowbel showed any remorse as he spoke of the attack, Snow said the only remorse he had was over the fact that they were all supposed to have died and it hadn't worked out. Kowbel testified the beating left him with 10 head lacerations requiring 100 stitches, two broken arms, cuts to his chest and severe bruising to the entire upper part of his body. Kowbel, a wholesale jewelry distributor, told Mr. Justice Raymond Paris and the jury his estate, including insurance, was worth about $500,000.

Asked would benefit if he. his wife and daughter had died, Kowbel said: "The beneficiary would be the last surviving person and that would be Richard Kowbel." BIRTHS, DEATHS BIRTHS SELKIRK John and Shelly are pleased to announce the safe arrival of their first child. Amber May was born March 7, 1988, weighing 7 14 ozs. First grandchild of John Sr. and Sharon Selkirk.

Third grandchild for James Donaldson and Maxine Steeves. Proud parents give special thanks to Drs. Cervin, Martin, and Burrows and the third floor nursing staff of the General Hospital. DEATHS FITZPATRICK, Kenneth At the Hospital on Tuesday, General, 1988. Mr.

Kenneth Fitzpatrick, in his 83rd year. Beloved husband of the late Margurite Fitzpatrick. Dear father of James Fitzpatrick Mary), Mrs. Rob Hewson (Kathy) and Mrs. Al Nanni (Marion) all of Sault Ste.

Marie. Grandfather of Karl and Moira. Predeceased by granddaughter Patricia Brian Fitzpatrick Stone-Belsito. (wife Brother Velma) of BEIJING (CP) China said today it suffered casualties in a clash with Vietnamese warships near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Monday. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said some Chinese personnel were wounded.

She declined to give details, adding that there had I been no new outbreak of fighting. She also charged that Vietnamese warplanes had been active in the area of the conflict recently but she did not say if they were engaged in the clash. China said on Monday Vietnamese warships fired on its vessels and it returned fire. Hanoi said China fired first. "Activities of the Vietnamese air force had increased in this area," the spokesman said, adding that Hanoi had been sending ships to "a number of reefs" in the archipelago.

She said China had been conducting a scientific survey of the area but declined to say what military presence might have accompanied its scientists. Chinese military sources in Hong Kong told Reuters a naval task force with two destroyers and an unspecified number of submarines and supply ships had arrived in the Spratlys in January. "Our activities were entirely peaceful," the spokesman said. She said the Spratlys were. Chinese territory and this was not open to debate.

Vietnam said previously only two of its warships had been hit during an exchange of gunfire on Monday near the chain of about 500 small islands and coral reefs in the South China Sea. China, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines claim sovereignty over the Spratlys. Gawalicki. Brother-in-law of Grace, Willis (husband Ken) and RobertTasse (wife Heather) of Sault Marie, Albert Tasse (wife Lonnie), and Edgar Tasse of Foleyet and Darlene Richer (husband Harvey). of Hanmer.

Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Friends may call at the Carricato Funeral Home, 92-100 Second Line, Wednesday, March 16 from 7 p.m. al Home, Thursday, 17, to Funeral from the FunerCarricato, the Church of St. Gregory, Estelle Street, for funeral mass at 10 a.m. Donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated.

"In fact, banks frequently go beyond the disclosure standards required by the regulations," the association said. Bank officials have frequently said they provide all kinds of information to consumers about service charges but it doesn't sink in. The association vowed to challenge what it said are apparent efforts of some MPs to have the committee research report "doctored to suit their own previously drawn conclusions." ALGOMA MONUMENTS LTD. 165 Drive-in Road 759-8655.