Tulsa World from Tulsa, Oklahoma • 11

Thursday December 11 1997' 1 TULSA WORLD 1 1 wwwfrulsaworldcom A 11 Editorials I A 16 CITYSTATE World staff photo by Emmanuel Lozano A KV fcM 'A' 4V 'A 4 Xr Zw Vst 1 js jr1 a i Lee jf 1 jbk jBBKiEMkfe'1! Lz ZX i Volunteers prepare Wednesday to clean up graffiti spray painted on a backdrop behind the stage of the Broken Arrow Community Playhouse Police arrested two teen agers in connection with the early morning vandalism which caused several thousand dollars worth of damage 1 Curtain to Go Up on Time Volunteers Clean Up Mess in Playhouse Vandalism By Michael Smith World Staff Writer BROKEN ARROW show must go might seem like a tired cliche but tell that to volunteers aiming to clean up the work of vandals who struck the Broken Arrow Community Playhouse on Wednesday morning aced with extensive spray painting of obscenities and gang symbols throughout the theater and various other damage dozens of volunteers vacuumed painted and scrubbed for hours Wednesday The curtain for Upon a Mat the holiday musical show ing through Sunday will go up at 8 pm Thursday as scheduled think we would have been devastated if we have gone said Don Tabberer president of the Playhouse board of directors and a cast member been working on this production since October very much a part of all of us There was a lot of hugging and crying at first but people are start ing to smile again going to pull this Backdrops scenery lighting and sound equipment the front two rows of seats and more had been spray painted ive fire extinguishers had been shot off blan keting the theater in a white powder Broken Arrow Police Sgt Jeff Martin said 18 year old Shane isher and a juve nile were arrested on burglary and prop erty damage complaints An alert neigh bor saw the pair load a television into a pickup near the center Martin said Officers stopped the pickup and found the television spray paint cans stereo equipment from the theater and tickets to a play inside Martin said When word about the destruction circu lated playhouse members and strangers alike turned out in impressive numbers to apply some elbow grease Tiffany Daniel a Broken Arrow high school student said she and some other students showed up teen agers did this That can make some think that all bad and I wanted to change that opinion a Charlene Phelps while washing down seats said she has attended several plays at the theater got tickets for Sunday I had to help get it cleaned she said Tabberer said initial anger and disap pointment at seeing the damage has turned into feelings of support and caring as the mess again became a theater by late in the afternoon of our people and many people I even know came in off the street and asked for a mop or a he said often today approached peo ple to say know you but thank you so much for Stemple At Home Court Told By Bill Braun World Staff Writer Timothy Shaun Stemple told jurors Wednesday that he re mained home when his angry wife left their Jenks residence alone indicating that she was headed to a store for medicine on the morning that she was killed along a Tulsa highway He said when Trisha Stemple did not return home he drove in search of her and found her abandoned car with a flat tire parked on the side of US 75 Stemple said when he could not find his wife he re turned home and she was still not there After again driving out looking for her he eventu ally phoned for emergency as sistance from a convenience stoi LU Tcjk Lp 1 Stemple pay phone at a he testified He said after talking with po lice he and his father again searched for his wife without success before he again went home Stemple said later that morn ing he learned from his father that his wife was dead and he went to the roadside scene but did not want to see her body His voice occasionally trem bling Stemple said he gave po lice officers a written statement and remember asking if she died One detective said thought she Stemple testified Po lice she had been hit on the side of the Stemple cried as he told ju rors about telling his two chil dren now ages 12 and 7 about their death Son Shane screamed and his younger sister Lauren asked if her mother to Stemple testified said Prosecutors contend Stemple 32 and Terry Lee Hunt 17 murdered Trisha Stemple by beating her with a bat and driv ing over her with a truck after she was lured to the south 8500 block of US 75 between 2 and 3 am on Oct 24 1996 Hunt who testified for the prosecution and is not on trial indicated that Trisha Stemple did not die quickly Stemple returns to the witness stand when testimony resumes Thursday in Tulsa Associate District Judge Bill court Testifying in a courtroom closed to the general public Shane Stemple told jurors that he went to bed around 10:30 pm Oct 23 1996 and awak ened three times during the See Stemple on A 12 Developer May Not Demolish Mansion But a possible' buyer is not ready to pay $25000 sought in the deal By Curtis Killman World Staff Writer A developer said he and his partner were ready Wednesday to drop plans to demolish a his toric mansion and instead sell it for under $2 million but that a nonprofit agency has backed out of the deal after balking at pay ing the expenses Glenn Tucker of Newport De velopment LLC said he agreed to drop the asking price to $191 million from $21 million on a mansion at 1347 25th St if the buyer would pick up the tab for $25000 in expenses already incurred Tucker and his partner Hal Tompkins have a contract to purchase the 75 year old home from Hans ichtenberg for $17 million which they intend to de molish to make way for an up scale housing development both fed up with it and we like the Tucker said talked to our investors and they agreed if the Garden Center would come up with $1910000 plus expenses we would sell it to the Garden The home is adjacent to the Tulsa Garden Center which has long eyed the property but was unable to purchase it when it came on the market earlier this year But in what has become a very public bidding war Tucker said he and his attorney met Wednesday with representatives from the Tulsa Historical Soci ety about the sale of the proper ty Tucker said the Tulsa His torical Society representatives backed out of the deal after they could not agree to pay the $25000 in expenses A Tulsa Historical Society representative declined to com ment on the negotiations but a Garden Center spokeswoman confirmed the parties had been working together to purchase the property See Deal on A 14 Surgery Leaves amily in Need By Lisa Smith World Staff Writer Thirteen years ago a young couple came to the United States with a dream Both college students at the time the dream was of better job opportunities and a better life than they had experi enced growing up in Mexico wife and I grew up 150 miles from the (US) the 37 year old father said always dreamed of moving to America and we got the oppor tunity kind of by The couple were born and raised in Monterey The father said that in 1984 ap uncle who was a US veter an and resided in southern Tex as became ill and needed help ollowing a family discussion the young couple quickly volun teered to come to the United States and care for the ailing uncle family couldn't afford to keep me in college so my wife and I volunteered to go to the United States and help my un the father said We spent Christmas in Texas that year and after (the uncle) died we never went home had found our The father attended vocational training in the United States A and became licensed to remove asbestos or three years the couple traveled across the na tion from job to job until they were expecting their first child They decided to make their home in Tulsa The two have both obtained US citizenship my life I watched people leave their kids (in Mexico) and come to the United States to the father said that I have children I un derstand that A place is in the home If you want your children to make a difference in the world you have to be there to teach The father has been employed at a local construction company since 1992 but recent hernia surgery has left him unable to work The eight member family currently lives on a weekly in come of $140 The monthly mortgage payment is $250 are trying to do our the father said His wife homemade tamales to the neighbors and the older children pick up cans to sell That helps a The father said he expects to return to work in mid January In the meantime the family needs help with food the De cember mortgage payment and See amily on A 12 TWLSAWOffiD neediest Emilies Christnus $1 00000 GOAL lllfillls Wlli A51 1 5 $4000 ri ir Trl Vs' I $20000 Man Accused of Possessing Explosives Expected to Plead His attorney says he will enter a guilty plea on 3 firearms charges By David Harper World Staff Writer A Tulsa man accused of pos sessing a huge stash of explo sives plans to plead guilty ri day to three firearms charges his lawyer said Wednesday Thao Dinh guilty riday unregistered destructive devices pos sessing fire arms while being a user of controlled substances and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime accord ing to attorney Mark Lyons Lyons said once US District Judge Sven Erik Holmes ruled against the defense's challenge of the search warrants obtained by law enforcement officers July 2 a guilty plea was just a question of time exactly a whodun it the writing was on the wall Le will plead to possession of Thao Dinh Le Klili at that Lyons said In admitting guilt to the fifth count of the indictment Thao will apparently concede that he unlawfully possessed 130 high explosive rifle grenades 35 high explosive dual purpose ri fle grenades six M397 high ex plosive rifle grenades six other high explosive rifle grenades one green Claymore mine one improvised Claymore mine four hand grenades and two different types of grenade launchers All the items were found on July 2 when law enforcement officials searched home for drugs Lyons had argued that police used 3 week old in formation about small of possible drug use by Thao to get a search warrant when ac tually their goal was to find weapons in house Lyons argued that the offi cers went beyond the scope of the search warrant in violation of the ourth Amendment When Holmes didn't agree Ly ons said the case turned into as guaranteed a convic tion as they are going to Lyons said the of the amount of weapons would have made an acquittal extremely unlikely The day the explosives were found Lt Dennis Larsen super visor of the Tulsa Bomb Squad was quoted as saying it was the largest cache of explosives he had ever seen in Tulsa Lyons said he would appeal ruling on the eviden tiary matter although such an appeal will have to wait for Holmes to sentence Thao in early 1998 Lyons said Thao's expected plea is conditional and can be withdrawn if decision is reversed on appeal Thao apparently will face a prison term of about 10 years Lyons said that although Thao is going to enter into a plea agreement Thao will not be required to cooperate in any investigations of others Assistant US Attorney Neal Kirkpatrick the prosecutor in the case refused comment Lyons said his client grew up around weapons in Vietnam and became nationally known in the United States as being an and deal er of legal arms Lyons said his client made a very bad in illegally possessing the items that got him indicted in July Lyons said it is important to note that Thao has never been accused of planning to use the explosives just possessed Lyons said.