Evansville Press from Evansville, Indiana • 9

i 2 Saturday October 171987 9 The Evansville Press In this section 10 Editorials 12 Sports 22 Comics 16 Records in murder case argued tape says Couples By Sally Turner Staff reporter tween her statements and those of Hughes The two are accused of murdering Mike and Glenda Gail Ruppel during the night of Dec 26 or early Dec 27 1986 The bodies were found Dec 29 at the bottom of an abandoned coal stripper pit near Coe Ind Hughes is charged with two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder Ruppel faces the same charges in a trial set for Feb 2 1988 In a conversation recorded Dec 29 Ruppel told DeL Larry Eck of the Indiana State Police that Hughes seemed little when he arrived at the Ruppel home to pick her up for a date the evening of Dec 26 Hughes was carrying a muzzle-loaded pistol which he had previously agreed not to bring into the house Ruppel said (Mrs Ruppel) was kind of angry with Ruppel said raised her on her face And she went out and lit the car on Police testified they learned of the discovery of the Ruppels bodies during the second conversation recorded with Ruppel Dec 29 not missing no Eck told Ruppel found them? Ruppel said "When do I get to see "I Eck said I see Ruppel asked do you think you see Eck asked "I Ruppel replied do you think Eck persisted Ruppel said Trooper Steve Chastain then asked Ruppel to us about "You got to tell us Chastain said cant help you if you nothing to Ruppel maintained voice above her talking voice But she didn't holler If she hollers you can hear it in the next county David said sorry he did forget it but his right to bear Eck told jurors he interviewed Ruppel twice on Dec 29 because her version of events on the night of Dec 26 were the of explanation we talked to Teana she said they went one way on their date And when we talked to David he had them going another way parked in a different Eck said In the conversation taped Dec 29 police asked Ruppel if Hughes had done anything to be ashamed of or that she wanted to "No" Ruppel replied "The only thing I could be ashamed of is that I think pregnant right Ruppel told police she had not mentioned that to her parents wanted to find out for sure Ruppel said Ruppel later contradicted that statement during a statement recorded Jan 7 1987 Ruppel told police she had a pregnancy test Dec 22 when she thought she was about three weeks pregnant Asked Jan 7 whether she had informed her parents of her suspicions Ruppel replied my dad Then later I told my Relations within the Ruppel family were strained last Christmas according to statements to police "Mom usually argues with dad all through the Christmas season because really down in the Ruppel said "She goes on these spells She went to a psychiatrist one time And one night she said she wished die was dead And the next thing I remember she came in the house screaming Her face was on fire and she had first and second degree bums PETERSBURG Ind David Hughes angered his fiancee's mother Glenda Gail Ruppel by bringing a gun into the Ruppel home the night the couple was later killed according to a taped statement by fiancee A series of tape-recorded conversations between Teana Ruppel and Indiana State Police investigators was admitted yesterday as evidence in trial for the murder of Mike and Glenda Gail Ruppel of Ayrshire Ind Judge Marvin Stratton allowed the jury to hear the cassette recordings over objections by attorney Steve Ripstra The tapes referred to strained relations between the younger and older couples and highlighted inconsistencies between various statements Teana Ruppel made to police and discrepancies be Far out Science fiction fans in reality are stars of local convention By Dan Armstrong Staff reporter By Angie Cobb Patrick Price studies a robot sculpture at the ConTact-5 science fiction convention His name tag read "Godzilla but sitting in the hospitality room at the Ramada Inn watching a garish videotape of George Time he looked uncannily human "Tom kind of a mundane Lizardo observed "When you come to a special weekend event like this you want to live a Lizardo a 24-year-old Evansville resident who goes by the Dunville handle when working as a security officer is among an expected 400 or so fans of science fiction fantasy and role-playing games rubbing shoulders and maybe antennae this weekend at ConTact-5 a convention sponsored by the Evansville Science Fiction Association A can of Dr Pepper in one hand and an "I 8 button on his "Late Night with David shirt LizardoDunville talked of his plans for a national group called the Secret Masters of Godzilla based on the stalking star of badly dubbed Japanese monster movies sort of a cornucopia of different ideas put he said as the three-day convention blasted off last night summation of himself could apply to the convention where visitors can sign petitions to save the television series read on a chalkboard that the are temporarily canceled (what a relief!) or hawking sonic screwdrivers "this year's Pet according to Michael Selinker a free lance game tournament designer from Chicago Bob Etheridge a 50-year-old Saladmaster salesman in charge of gaming at the convention held forth as "Dungeon mas in a game of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons He wore a shirt in an otherworldly shade depicting a dragon cracking out of its shelL Among the games being played Etheridge said are Marvel (superheroes) Marvel Master nationally ranked Gamma World (post-holocaust) Chill (mystery) and Fluffy San (a spoof of Oriental adventures) Flutist James album of Japanese melodies was playing at the science fiction and fantasy art show where robots dragons and unicorns cavorted on canvas as they never seem to do in real life An auction will be held at 7 tonight said art show co-chairman Gary Williams A robot sculpture was posed as if painting a likeness of itself in the manner of Norman famous self-portrait using a mirror SL Louis artist Dan Patterson co-creator of the moving in the directions that are sane for humanity" Another panelist 49-year-old clinical psychologist Mark Schulzinger who writes part time said attraction of writing science fiction is that you can write about the most fascinating subject in the universe the human Melinda Murdock 40 who has' a Star Trek novel and other paperbacks to her credit added think you can write about anything because very few restrictions You can deal with just about any Murdock an Omaha Neb resident who writes as MS Murdock hopes to break into hardcover and write full time one day For now a Kelly Girl setting type and doing commercial art Timothy Zahn of Champaign 111 who abandoned his doctoral pursuit in physics to write full time said conventions help him take the measure of his desires is by nature a fairly solitary occupation" said Zahn a 36-year-old Hugo Award winner provide a necessary feedback from the readers letting me know what they like or like about what doing what they would like to see" cago is more likely to accept people as they are than almost any other social Convention chairman Tony Ubelhor said the event has attracted several artists from Oklahoma and fans and professionals from within about 500 miles of Evansville Ubehlor 33 said he got on reading science fiction at about age 10 while going to Good Shepherd School fiction isn't just rocket ships in he said covers so As Ubelhor spoke a panel was discussing "Sex in Science Ubelhor noted that Robert Heinlein one of his favorite writers in several of his books about different types of marriages going Participating in the in Science forum was convention guest of honor Patrick Price 31-year-old editor of Amazing Stories The first science fiction magazine Amazing Stories was founded in 1926 by Hugo Gerosback for whom the Hugo Awards for science fiction are named "Science fiction is a very dynamic Price a part-Chippewa native of Whiting Ind said after the forum feel it shows us memories of the future and memories for the future as well It shows us what future possibilities could be And it makes us as readers think about whether sculpture with Washington DC artist James Elmore pointed out a difference between the portraits by robot artist "Noman and Norman Rockwell "Since a robot it has a capacity to reverse the mirror image back the right way The left arm is the left arm Patterson said The convention is attracting two types of people "basically gamers and science fiction said Jean Rabe who is overseeing game tournaments sponsored by a game manufacturer based in Lake Geneva Wis that also publishes Amazing Stories magazine some crossover and interest between the two groups they tend to separate Rabe said "The gamers go into hotel rooms and spend four hours playing a game The science fiction fans go into hotel rooms and discuss science fiction books and have Rembert Parker a past Evansville convention coordinator said science fiction conventions held across the country are important socially conventions provide acceptance and a feeling of belonging to a wide variety of individuals who normally have trouble finding a social group they feel a part said Parker 87 a software development manager now living in Chi Client labeled as 'innocent' employee Researchers hoping to use electricity to fix spinal cord By Louisa Lambert Staff reporter United Pres International secretary for Ropp who died last Feb 25 was basically his personal assistant and did many many things for him including caring for him when he was said Evansville attorney Mark Foster who is representing Cardin Part of her responsibilities included transferring money did many more things then what a secretary would do but there was absolutely no type of relationship there that was out of the Foster said Ropp had been in ill health following a stroke and was confined to a private home where an acquaintance cared for him Foster said he was not at liberty however to say who the person was or the relationship the individual had with the doctor The and New Harmony's only doctor Cardin appeared in Posey Circuit Court Thursday afternoon for an initial hearing on the indictment where her bond was set at $500 attorney entered a lea of not guilty and requested a ury trial which was set for Feb 22 Gooden said he had received a report from an individual that peculiar was going at office late last year Gooden said he was not at liberty to identify the individual and could not recall specific allegations made at that time Gooden contacted the Indiana State Police who investigated the report along with the Posey County Sheriff's Department Their findings ted to Gooden calling the grand jury person was not Cardin however he said Ropp who also suffered from cancer was 81 at the time of his death Cardin allegedly stole the money by cashing checks made out to Ropp after he had endorsed the checks The checks were from entitlements such as oil royalties Social Security checks and stock dividends The money was allegedly taken in 50 separate incidents and amounts range from $20 on May 23 1986 to $10000 on Feb 25 1986 Each count is a felony and carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison Cardin began working for Ropp in 1981 or 1982 Foster said and continued to work at the office until the time of his death Ropp was a general practitioner MOUNT VERNON Ind A defense attorney for a New Harmony woman charged with embezzling more than 375000 from her former employer describes his client as a personal assistant and faithful employee to the physician who is innocent of any wrongdoing Nancy Cardin 40 of 612 Short SL was indicted by a Posey County grand jury Wednesday on 50 counts of theft She is charged with taking $75522 over a period of time from Dr Harold EL Ropp according to Posey County Prosecutor Bill Gooden The thefts allegedly took place between April 1985 and September 1986 while Cardin worked as personal stimulation has produced functional recovery about 25 percent of the time when applied to the guinea pigs our knowledge this is the first time that such a recovery of a spinal cord injury defect has been Borgens says The term "functional docs not necessarily mean full recovery Borgen says In some cases the return of sensation was complete in the lab animals white in others small areas of skin remained insensitive A weak electrical field is applied to the animals in a direction meant to influence the ascending or sensory nerve fibers that were originally severed Borgens says During research a control group of animals with the same spinal cord injuries was fitted with inactive electrical stimulators and showed no recovery he says Borgens says the Purdue experiments have clear implications for humans findings show that applied electrical fields can restore the ability of some spinal cord nerve fibers to WEST LAFAYETTE Ind A team of Purdue University researchers say their work provides hope that spinal cord injuries can be reversed using electrical stimulation Researchers led by Richard Borgens have successfully restored the spinal cord function in laboratory animals and believe the same results could be achieved in humans according to an article published yesterday in Science the official weekly journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science findings hold out the hope that a defect in a human spinal cord caused by Injury may one day be reversed" says Borgens director of Purdue's Center for Paralysis Research Borgens has been conducting experiments in regenerative electrical stimulation of spinal cord injuries achieving success with adult guinea pigs Research has shown that damaged spinal cord nerves can regenerate and bridge severed portions of the spines when influenced by a weak electrical field Borgens and his colleagues report the use of electrical recalls to begin Nov 2 Whirlpool's An increased demand for Whirlpool refrigerators may mean a merrier Christmas for some of the 900 laid-off workers in Evansville Deborah Castrale Evansville spokeswoman said some laid-off workers would begin returning to work Nov 2 with recall notices being sent out soon She said the number of workers to be called back on the job has not yet been determined but it will not Do you ham a quMtkxi forwNch you can't And an answer? JUal aand your question to A The Press P-O Box 454 EvanavNa Ind 47703 Questions of ganval Merest are anwwrad In the column Where may I write to comedian Bob Hope? Evansville Press reader A You may write to Hope at 3808 Riverside Drive Burbank Calif 91505 be all of them Whirlpool has about 2800 hourly employees here Earlier this fall the plant in Fort Smith Ark which also produces the plastic-lined refrigerator line recalled 350 laid-off workers The recall shows the strong market for the refrigerators Usually Whirlpool lays off employees in the fall and only a month ago Castrate announced that the corn- pany expected employee numbers to remain stable the rest of this year Last year 725 workers in Evansville were laid off in October Whirlpool also announced it was forming a new company in India in cooperation with an Indian firm to build refrigerators and washing machines in Madras India The products will be sold only in India and will not be exported.