Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 4

4 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Wednesday, January 29, 1992 CITYAREA Cohen urges action to cure 'ailing' Downtown "Women spend the money. Women must have ready access to parking. You have to build a project that is clean and where they feel secure. It must be a safe, wide-open environment. Jack Lightbody, City Center developer as a retail center.

Stores must cater to the needs and desires of women, he said, because surveys show they make up the majority of shoppers. "Women spend the money. Women must have ready access to parking. You have to build a project that is clean and where they feel secure. It must be a safe, wide-open environment." "Massing," or concentrating stores within a relatively small area, is also important, he said, so that women can easily walk from one department store to another and not feel intimidated.

The City Center project, which is to be anchored by Macy's and another, as-yet unnamed large store, will be within 1,000 feet of other major Downtown stores, such as Kaufmann's, Saks Fifth Avenue and the shops in Oxford Centre, he said. "All the stores feed off each other," helping each other, rather than hurting each other through competition," he maintained. No. 1 problem with shopping Downtown. Kahn said he would testify today at a council hearing on an increase that council has proposed in the city parking tax the wrong thing to do, he added.

Other problems include Downtown's "general appearance," including litter and uneven sidewalks, especially in the Fifth-Forbes corridor, and the "perception that Downtown is unsafe," he said. Kahn said he disagreed with that often-voiced perception, contending that Downtown was much safer than many neighborhoods and that "more cars are stolen in malls than Downtown." City Center developer Jack Light-body said he was confident that Downtown could be successful for large department stores and smaller specialty shops. "Retail will work if it's done right," tie said, adding that investors in his project wouldn't have put in the nearly $50 million they have if they didn't think Downtown could succeed By Tom Barnes Post-Gazette Staff Writer City officials need to take immediate steps to improve the "ailing economic climate" for department stores in the Downtown and city neighborhoods, City Councilman Dan Cohen said yesterday. He pointed to the former Gimbels store, which has been empty for five years; the impending loss of Sears from Allegheny Center Mall, North Side; recent news stories on the financial situation at cash-strapped Home's; and the just-declared bankruptcy of Macy's in New York City, which could affect its plans to open a store here by 1995. Cohen called for more parking, better access to Downtown from outlying areas and implementation of a plan announced by Mayor Masloff two years ago to improve the rundown appearance of the major retail corridor bounded by Fifth and Forbes avenues.

He said that spruce-up plan "was unveiled with much hoopla, but we haven't seen any results." Cohen, the new chairman of council's Housing, Planning and Development Committee, said the city should do more to aid the proposed Pittsburgh City Center project, a long-delayed $500 million complex that is to have 750,000 square feet of retail space atop the Steel Plaza subway station, including Macy's, a luxury hotel and up to three office towers. Cohen called for a meeting of council with Masloff administration officials, including the Urban Rede velopment Authority, and merchant groups like the Golden Triangle Association and the Building Owners and Managers Association. "Tell him to meet with me in my office and I'll give him a list a mile long" of improvements that need to be made Downtown, said Jacques Kahn, director of both the Golden Triangle Association and the Building Owners and Managers Association. He said that, according to a recent survey of his members, parking both availability and cost was the lutzker found ilty of Mudd's f-5 if 4 I murder in 1975 Verdict cheered by victim's farnily 4 1 1 I. this will be appealed." The jury decided that Slutzker, of North Braddock, hid in the basement of Mudd's home on Marlboro Avenue, Wilkinsburg.

on Dec. 28, 1975, and shot Mudd when he came downstairs to find out why the lights had gone out. Clark told the jury that Slutzker killed John Mudd because Slutzker was having an affair with Mudd's wife, Arlene. Arlene Mudd Montgomery Stewart, 39, of Punxsutawney, who has remarried twice since Mudd's death, still is a suspect and could be recharged if prosecutors can get some additional evidence, Clark said. Even though additional witnesses came forward against Slutzker during the trial, Clark said, none of the new evidence implicates Arlene Mudd.

After reopening the case in November 1990, police reinterviewed witnesses about their 16-year-old recollections. It took Clark and Scarlata two weeks to try the case. Th3 jury deliberated about nine hours er two days before returning a verdict. The jury foreman, Deborah Mag-ness of Pittsburgh, told reporters that the jury did not put much weight in the testimony of either John Mudd Jr. or Amy Slutzker, the daughter of the defendant.

The witnesses were 5 and 6 years old, respectively, but said they remembered, certain events related to the killing. The jury decided that the case turned on the testimony of two witnesses who saw Slutzker standing outside the Mudd house with Arlene on the night of the murder. Those witnesses, Cynthia DeMann and Edgewood police officer Timothy Brendlinger, both contradicted Slutzker's alibi defense. He said he spent the night of the murder in McKeesport with Patrick and Jan O'Dea. The panel felt that Slutzker's defense was harmed because the O'Deas, who now live in Texas, did not testify, said one juror.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staff writer Linda Wilson Fuoco contributed to this report. By Jan Ackerman Post-Gazette Staff Writer Sixteen years after his former lover's husband was killed, Steven G. Slutzker left a courtroom in handcuffs yesterday after a jury found him guilty of the first-degree murder of John L. Mudd Sr. Before the jury was brought out, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A.

Manning cautioned spectators that they would be evicted from the courtroom if they showed any emotion. Slutzker, 40, of North Braddock, who remarried 61 2 years ago and was supported by his family throughout the trial, was stone-faced when the verdict was read. Defense attorney Charles Scarlata asked Manning to allow Slutzker to remain free on bond while he appealed the verdict, but Assistant District Attorney Kim Berkeley Clark asked Manning to revoke Slutzker's bond and impose the mandatory life sentence immediately. Manning revoked bond and set sentencing for March 10. As the crowd poured into the hallway, Mudd's family members cheered and hugged each other.

"We finally got justice after 16 years," said Maureen Mudd Perri, the victim's sister. "Happy days are here," said Terrence Mudd, the victim's brother. John L. Mudd 21, whose flashback recollection of events that happened when he was 5 years old led prosecutors to reopen the case, was tearful as he left. "I am happy.

Justice was served," he said. Joyce Slutzker, the defendant's second wife, slipped out of the courtroom unnoticed, but Slutzker's father, Louis Slutzker, talked to reporters, left, and then returned to give a second interview. "This court has found my son guilty by a great injustice. God will punish all of them. The prosecutor had a number of witnesses who perjured themselves, including police," Slutzker said.

"I guarantee you that if it takes every last nickel I have, B5ai1r-ifiiftfi aiiifii iimiii TOM HRITZ Pooling pools to lift economy S3 ongratulations are in order this morning for a lot of you 4y out there whose ship has fi- KmJ nally come in. And no, I am not talking about you people who are waiting for George Bush to lift the luxury tax on yachts so you can run out and buy a 300-footer and thereby save the economy. I am talking about you Super Bowl pool winners. Maybe there's a recession going on, but you wouldn't know it from the number of Super Bowl pools that were operating this year. Places I know that normally run two or three Super Bowl pools were running seven or eight this year.

Rumor had it that there was at least one $1 million pool in operation in the city. Whatever, even if your ship was only a dingy and not a George Bush special, don't feel bad. You're way ahead of me. I don't know how many of you there are, but since there has to be at least one winner for every Super Bowl pool conducted and more often than not, three or four I figure the number must be up there at about 65 million or so. Some of you won won coffee money and some of you did a little better than that.

If you had the Washington Redskins with 7 and the Buffalo Bills with 4 in one of those grid pools in which the 100 squares sold for, say, $2 per. you won the lion's share of $200. Enjoy your free coffee. But if you had those same numbers in a pool where the squares sold for, sav. a hundred bucks, you won the better part of 510,000.

Once again, congratulations on your good fortune. And that million-dollar job. If there really was one, let me ask the winner a question. In fact, let me ask all you substantial winners a question. Are you going to declare your winnings on your income tax next year? Sorry, I didn't mean to spoil your day.

But if it presents a problem, it's one that I'd love to have. I didn't win beans. But that's my fault. The mental midgets who conduct the state lottery have a slogan that they use to suck in their prey. "You can't win if you don't play," they insist.

Well, that's true, to a point. But I have a little slogan of my own regarding gambling that I think makes more sense than the state's. "You can't lose if you don't play." So, adhering to my policy, I didn't play, so I didn't lose. But I think I may have been the only person in the state of Pennsylvania maybe the whole U.S.A. who did not have some action on the Super Bowl last weekend.

No straight bets. Nothing on the over and under. Not even a dollar on a grid pool. It made me feel a little ashamed. Some of my friends had grandchildren in kindergarten who were in 25-cents-per-square grid pools.

And they themselves were in numerous other pools; Like Freddie the Van Man who charged that my refusal to buy into a Super Bowl pool constituted gross tightwadedness. "When are you going to get around to spending your confirmation money?" he cracked. The fact is that I have nothing against football pools. I don't play in them because I never win them. The squares I select are always doomed before they are even drawn.

But I would be the first to admit that they are good for the country. Conducting football pools is one of the things that we do better than any other nation on earth. Even the Japanese can't compete with us on this one. OK, so this is one of the few places on earth where professional football is actually played. That's just a technicality.

Football pools are also very valuable educational tools. I know a bartender, for example, who was responsible for handling 13 separate Super Bowl pools. He had to sell the squares, collect the money and keep track of how much money belonged to each When the smoke had cleared after the Super Bowl was over Sunday night, he was a total of $300 short on his 13 pools. He learned never to conduct another football pool. Some people think football pools should be outlawed and taken over by the state.

Well, as far as I know, they are outlawed. But I've never heard of a football pool being busted. This is Pennsylvania, the state governed by the Real Bob Casey, whose current war against garbage both foreign and domestic may one day earn him the title of "The Refuse Governor." A leaky garbage truck is more apt to get busted in this state than a football pool. And well it should. Football pools ce good for the economy.

I et me explain. As I said earlier, a lot of you people won some big bucks on Sunday's Super Bowl pools. Why not put your winnings together pool it. if you'll forgive the expression and use it bfiost the economy. Buy a yacht.

John BealePost-Gazette Derick Williams Yelps of approval Fifth-grader calls for conservation of energy in school By Gary Rotstein Post-Gaette Staff Writer It could have been one of Jimmy Carter's State of the Union addresses: conserve energy, save our resources, think of the future, don't waste. But the message came from Derick Williams, a fifth-grader at Beltzhoover School, making the biggest speech in all his 11 years. He delivered an address yesterday to the third' annual Seminar for Custodians of the Pittsburgh Public Schools. The topic was energy conservation and the efforts by a committee Williams serves on at his school to cut down on electricity costs. His head poking above a podium that hid his neatly tailored suit in Peabody High School's auditorium, Williams received a standing ovation and yelps of approval from the more than 100 custodians after describing how he pleads with teachers to turn out lights that aren't needed.

"In our teachers lounge, all the teachers will leave it but leave the lights fully on for 3' hours. That's enough energy to light all of Beltzhoover for 13' 2 minutes," the honor roll student said. He said ht and other students involved with the Beltzhoover Energy Committee, which also includes administrative, staff and community representatives, try "politely" to remind teachers of their responsibility to conserve and use natural lighting when possible in their classrooms instead of the overhead bulbs. Williams estimated that compliance had been about "50-50" since the conservation program got under wav within recent months, and he received encouragement not to give up. "Atta boy, Derick, keep on those teachers!" a custodian yelled after he finished.

"He's right about the teachers," said Dwight Ses-soms, who works at Friendship School. "They asked me to keep lights on in the bathroom an entire day when no students were in school, but I refused. That's 10 150-watt bulbs." Williams an acknowledged "blabbermouth" who starred as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

in a recent school play is just one liny, articulate voice, but school district officials say cutting electricity costs is no small issue. The district spent S5.8 million on electric bills in 1991, leading to establishment of energy committees at each school and incentives in which individual schools will receive $500 awards if they can reduce electric consumption 10 percent compared with a year ago. "If we go about our jobs as seriously as Derick goes about his job, we'll be all right." said Thomas A. Motley, director of plant operations for the district. "I feel like Itclevision character! Doogie Howser, except I'm 11," Williams said of all the attention, vowing to continue pestering teachers and others no matter how much of his energy it takos.

Man courts, bilks hundreds of women relationships and even marriage, then persuaded them to give him their money by promising to set them up in business. Koch has been jailed since his arrest in March in Kenosha, Wis. Police there appeared surprised at the technique the pudgy, balding man allegedly used. "If you look at this guy, you say, 'What do women said Kenosha poiice detective Kenneth Kopesky. DALLAS (AP) A 52-year-old man accused of courting women to bilk them out of their cash will spend Valentine's Day in federal court.

Robert John Koch faces a Feb. 14 arraignment here on charges of stealing thousands of dollars from 13 women in 10 states. He also faces state charges in Wisconsin, Missouri and Virginia. Dubbed the "sweetheart swindler," Koch allegedly wooed hundreds of women with promises of lasting NEWS DIGEST land's annual commemoration of St. Bridget's Day, Feb.

1, which will be marked in Ireland by Action From Ireland's annual Famine Walk. Steubenville bishop named Pope John Paul II has named Monsignor Gilbert I. Sheldon as bishop of Steubenville, Ohio, the Vatican said today. Sheldon, who has been serving as auxiliary bishop of Cleveland, replaces retiring BishoD Albert H. Ottenweller.

A Cleveland native, Sheldon, 65, served in several of the city's parishes after his ordination in 1953 and as chaplain of Magnificat High School. Gen. Powell to give keynote talk here Gen. Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will speak at the National Dropout Irevent Conference here March 29- 31. Powell will give the keynote address at the concluding luncheon of the conference, which will be in the David L.

Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown. Panelists will include Claudio Sanchez of National Public Radio; Edward J. Meade a former senior program officer for the Ford Foundation; and Richard L. White of Mobay 'Corp. HoSo rcrinefi; span A private contractor searching i paint chips on the Smithficlt! Street Bridge uncovered a broken expansion joint yesterday.

The state Department of Transportation sent a bridge maintenance crew to repair it immediately, but motorists trying to cross the Monongahela ver into Downtown had to find opened an expanded unit for Alzheimer's disease patients yesterday. The $500,000 addition will increase the number of beds for Alzheimer's patients from 15 to 80 and will make St. John one of the few centers in the nation offering different levels of care to residents in distinct stages of the disease. St. John, a 345-bed nursing center, opened an Alzheimer's unit in 1989.

Peace group will honor Rush Pittsburgh peace activist Molly Rush will get the red carpet treatment in Washington, D.C.. Friday as one of three recipients of an international award to the American people from an Irish peace group. Rush ill be joined in a public area at the Pentagon by representatives of Pax Christi and Sojourners in accepting the "Peace Carpet" from Action From Ireland, a Dublin-based group that fights world hunger. Friday's event will kicoff Action From Ire another route, a PennDOT spokesman said. The joint left a hole 8 inches by 2 feet above the pier on the town side of the span, the spokesman said.

Traffic was restricted to one lane inbound during repairs, which were expected to be completed last night. Pollution alert issued An air pollution advisory has been issued for Liberty. North Braddock, Hazelwood and Oakland. The county Health Department said people with heart or respiratory problems should limit their exercise and outdoor activity today. The increased pollution is the result of severe air stagnation.

Pollution levels yesterday afternoon exceeded 100, representing un-healthful air quality. All other stations reported good or moderate air quality. Air pollution reports, which are updated four times a day, can be obtained through a tape-recorded telephone message by calling 262-4212. Alzheimer's unit expanded St. John Lutheran Care Center in I'ys MQTEO Robert Morris College will present alumni Robert M.

Connolly, Jeff Bergman and Ann E. Cibulas Puskaric with its Alumni Achievement Award Feb. 8 during homecoming festivities..