\ « a2 Castlegar News June 7, 1987 ‘MURDER’ VICTIM . . . Ambulance attendants Lawrence Chernoff and Harley Perrin check Marilyn HOTEL MURDER SOLVED By SURJ RATTAN Staff Writer I beat the rap. I beat the rap in the “Murder at the Fireside”. I'm not a killer. Murder at the Fireside, a dinner theatre with audience participation, was staged Friday at the Fireside Inn and those who attended had to figure out whodunnit. Between 50 and 60 people turned out for the event, including a certain reporter from the Castlegar News. The only thing we were told was that during the evening-semeone was going to be murdered and 12 suspects with good reason to kill the murder victim would be paraded before us. Our mission: Solve the murder. No one knew who would be murdered and no one knew who the 12 suspects would be. Around 7 p.m. I strolled into the Fireside banquet room where the dirty deed was to be done and walked up to the bar, ordered a scotch and water and sat down with a couple I have since come to know: Jim Ferrier and his wife. We talked about who we thought the murderer would be as we each cast suspicious looks around the room. (Funny how not once did we try to guess who would be murdered, but instead concentrated on who the murderer was. Fine bunch of detectives we are!) After dinner the master of ceremonies, who more less looked like an overweight “geekish” Peter Marshall, paged a certain Marilyn Strong to the front desk for a message. Other than the bar, Marilyn Strong was one of the first objects that immediately captured my attention the minute I walked into the banquet room Here was a tall — no make that very tall — woman in a black skirt with a kind of halter top thing on her chest only it was gold and had golden tassles. (I really can't describe it any beter than that.) At the point the page made the announcement Strong was sitting to my left at a table one row behind me. My left eye was cast on her, while my right eye was on Jim Ferrier who was having some sort of conversation with me. I noticed how Strong never got up to go answer her page % Then, all of a sudden, the lights went out and a shot rang out. It sounded like a bang. A few people screamed while the majority “whooed” Then, still in darkness, and while it was quiet for a couple of seconds some comedian shouted out: “I think it was a knife.” The lights went back on. As I got up from my table and looked to the area in front of me for a “murder victim”, a voice from behind me rang out and said, “It's Marilyn!” I quickly turned around, looked down on the floor and there, lying on her side I saw a very dead-looking Marilyn Strong. “Someone call the ambulance,” shouted one women. Castlegr Ald. Nick Oglow was also in attendance and it was quite evident that he was concerned as he asked, “Did anyone call the coroner?” That's good Nick, keep it in the family Very soon a couple of amubluance attendants arrived and rolled poor Marilyn onto her back and carted her away. This was around 9 p.m. As I was having a drink and chatting with Jim Ferrier, I remembered his wife had remarked how . Strong after she was ‘murdéred’ Friday night at Fireside Inn during dinner theatre. —Costews Photo by Suri Rattan attractive a certain woman was. Well, that attractive woman and her well dressed partner turned out to be none other than a couple of private detectives named Dick Blunt and Joy Stick of the Half Moon Detective Agency. The murder weapon, a gun, was found under a chair by someone in a black dress named Nancy McKenna. Dick Blunt and Joy Stick immediately took control of the murder investigation. Dick Blunt found one clue, because on the envelope it was marked “clue”. We soon learned that the envelope contained a list of 12 suspects, each who had good reason to kill Strong. We were then instructed by Mr. Blunt to search for other clues. Well, I figured that if I was going to find a clue it might as well be near the bar. Besides, I was pretty shaken at the death of Marilyn. Then the two detectives from the Half Moon Agency, Dick Blunt and-Joy Stick, began reading off the list of 12 suspects who had every reason in-the—world to kill Marilyn Strong. The first culprit was Libby Stringer. Her motive for killing Marilyn was because she lost her true love to Marilyn Strong. “Asa direct result she (Libby) became a mobster's moll and began a shadowy existence in the underworld. Eventually, she was on the run for her life because she had a little black book crammed with valuable mob information,” according to private eye Stick. As it turned out Stringer lost that little black book, but she still held Strong responsible for all of her misfortunes. The next suspect was Letish Black (a.k.a. Marg G. Moore). She was and is a KGB spy. “She crossed paths with Marilyn Strong in a PLO encampment outside Beirut. Black has never forgiven herself for allowing Strong to dupe her and run off with the “black book”, not to mention being left at the mercy of 600 horny Lebanese terrorists,” said detective Stick. The fourth suspect, who if you ask me put the “i” in innocent, was Klaus Axelrod, a.k.a. Surj Rattan. Me, in other words. According to these two detectives I was supposed to be after Marilyn to get the black book from her for the mob and if I failed, the mob would fit me for cement sneakers. I was also supposed to be an East German whc masterminded attacks for the PLO. “He was also a master disguise and since coming to Castlegar, he has been posing as Surj Rattan, Castlegar News reporter. The disguise allows him to poke his nose into other people's business without arousing suspicion; reporters are d to be brusk, d, rude and just plain nosy. It was perfect cover,” detective Blunt told the crowd. There were also several other suspects with names like Maddie LaFleur, Nicky the Weasel, Theodore Coombs, Rock Marshamallo and the list goes on. In the end the two detectives from the Half Moon Detective Agency, along with the help of a certain snoop from Spokane, determined that the killer of Marilyn Strong was in fact none other than Letisha Black, better known as Marg G. Moore. A member of the Castlegar RCMP promptly moved in and arrested her. It was 11:30 p.m. when the RCMP finally showed up. The murder was committed arouund 9 p.m. Someone must have been on a major coffee break. Bob Barros of Spokane, Wash. solved the mystery, with the help of five clues. And what happened after the murderess was led to jail? They played some music for people to dance. And which song did they play? “Looking For Clues” by Robert Palmer, of course. CRAWLING ALONG . . .Selkirk College biology in- structor Peter Wood takes a closer look at just some of the forest tent caterpillars which have inundated the trees of Castlegar. CosNews Photo by Mike Kalesniko Caterpillars swarm area By MIKE KALESNIKO Staff Writer If you have only now decided to combat the growing mass of tent caterpillars in your backyard then Selkirk College biologist Peter Wood has news for you . . . .you're too late. According to Wood, the best time to battle the phenomenal number of tent caterpillars which appeared this spring throughout the Kootenays was in mid-April when they were newly hatched. Woods said the caterpillar, which is now nearing its fifth and final stage of development, is moving on to greener pastures or groves in this case. He said any time now they will begin to turn into their larva pupate stage, or the cocoon stage, and will then emerge as a relatively harmless tent caterpillar moth. “The worst scenario is total de foliage”, Wood told the Castlegar News Friday. “Down in Fort Shepherd there are entire groves without a single leaf uneaten.” Wood said the caterpillar is not harmful to trees and he said if they were not sprayed early then sprayings, now would likely kill the caterpillars natural predators. The Forest Tent Caterpillar, cat- egorized scientifically as part of the Malacosoma genis and the disstria species, doesn't always breed in such phenomenal numbers. According to Wood, this year’s mild winter probably ensured the survival of a large batch. Unfortunately, Wood cannot predict that next summer will improve. He said it takes time for nature to generate the necessary number of natural predators to decrease the large number of insects. In this case, the predator is a fly, similar to a blue bottle fly except with black and grey stripes. Rather than consuming the caterpillar, the fly attaches its eggs to the body of the insects. Once the caterpillar cocoons, the fly egg hatches into a maggot that consumes the pupate. Instead of giving birth to a moth, the cocoon then gives birth to a completely harmless fly: According to Wood, a single tent caterpillar can consume up to eight or nine tree leaves, 80 per cent of which are consumed in the insect’s final stage of'development, when it is much more voracious and independent. On the other hand, a single female tent caterpillar moth can lay between 150 and 350 eggs at one time. Wood recommends residents keep a sharp eye out for the eggs which are usually in a compact “collar” around a small one-quarter-inch twig. Wood said the eggs can be located any time after July but he said that the best time to get a jump on next summer's caterpillar invasion is to look for the eggs in the fall, once the leaves have dropped and they are easier to find. Wood said the egg-infested branch could be cut off and simply thrown away. Since a newly-born caterpillar can only move a few short inches it must be born on a healthy branch clustered with leaves or it will immediately starve. For now though, Wood can offer little help. He said any surface insecticide is effective and he re commends that people who want to spray the pest should talk to someone licensed to sell pesticide products. June 7, 1987 Sy. s Ni Mes he Meakes wins demo derby By CasNews Staff The first car entered in Castlegar’s first-ever dem olition derby took first prize and top money in the event yesterday afternoon The Riverview Chev-Olds entry, driven by Tom Meakes with pit crew members Dan McTeer and Rick Fresu won the “A” event and $1,500. Winner of the “B” event was the Monte Carlo Hotel car driven by Trevor Rowe who shared his $310 prize with pit crew members Eric Dillena and Mark Streloff. The Powder Puff event saw anentry from Bridesville square off against a car entered by La Maison and driven by Salina Jenner of Robson. Jenner took the $120 prize and trophy, both pre sented by Miss Castlegar, Erin Finney, who was also sponsored by La Maison in the Miss Castlegar contest Second place and $500 in the “A” event was a car driven by Kevin Salikin with Chris Posnikoff and Brad Pereversoff members of his pit crew Third prize of $300 was split between two winners. The John’s Auto Body entry driven by Paul Anderson with pit crew members John Michaealazzo, Dale Negus and Sid Galmour won $150 while the same amount went to the Taylor and Wilton entry driven by Denny Par kin with the help of pit crew members Wally Wasilenkoff and Paul Fomenoff. The demolition derby was ¥ sponsored by the Castlegar Kiwanis Club. Spokesman Jack Hipwell estimated the crowd at about 2,000 people and said he was pleased with the success of the event He said the club will learn from some of the problems of this first derby (such as a too-soft track and delays in drawing names for heats) but added the 32 entries and the “terrific turnout of spec tators” indicate the event should become an annual Sunfest attraction BEATLES continued from front page Butcher cover, since it shows the four sitting with raw meat, blood and dismembered baby dolls draped over them. He also has several packaged collections group's works that have yet to be touched by a record player's needle and still another album of a collection of Beatles Christmas songs which were originally written only for their fan club. “It was a different perspective being a child in Britain and watching what the Beatles were doing in the States,” he said. “We legitimately had a real rock force. “They hit the States like a tornado.” Maddocks said people in Britain, and for that matter, throughout the world, were uptight about the Beatles’ music and the long hair they sported. In some of the stricter British schools, children could not sing the lyrics to the Beatles’ songs word for word. For instance, children were told not to sing “She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah,” but rather “She loves you, yes, yes, yes.” Maddocks said the popularity of the Beatles was such that black mop-top wigs were sold in stores and hundreds of different photographs of the Beatles were marketed as bubble gum cards. Maddocks admits his own Beatles memorabilia collection was once more impressive. He said a childhood friend of his had an Aunt who knew the Beatles and got autographed pictures of the band for both her nephew and Maddocks. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of the pictures remain a mystery. When Maddocks moved to Canada with his parents as a child the photos were lost. “My parents thought it was all just a passing fad,” he says with some resentment. On top of that, his parents even stopped him from attending a Beatles concert in Britian. “I was only ten.” Still, the memory of that era remains vivid for Maddocks. He pulls the Sgt. Pepper album from his collection and puts it on his stereo. We listen as he plays the last few lines of the final cut and then, when the song ends, we hear a confusing static of unintelligble noises repeat itself. “You can only get that on the British album,” he says before shutting it off. Maddocks can remember when the Beatles’ film A Hard Days Night was premiered at a local theatre in Britain. The girls in the audience screamed so loud the movie was stopped until order was restored “And that was just a film,” he said. Surprisingly, Maddocks is not one of those who believes the Sgt. Pepper album was one of the band’s best works. He said the quality of music on both the previous Revolver album and the later Abbey Road were superior. “You were pretty polarized back then,” Maddocks recalls. “You were either a Beatles fan or Rolling Stones. Maddocks also remembers the scrutiny of Beatles’ audience that led many to believe that images on the Sgt Pepper album were symbolic indications that bass player Paul McCartney was dead. The album cover features the Beatles surrounded by dozens of life-size cutouts of famous people. One of those IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO TODAY .. . Or 20 years ago this week rather, when the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album was released. Pic- tured above is Richard Maddocks’ picture disk album. CosNews Photo cutouts is holding a hand over the head of McCartney, supposedly a symbol of death. Also in the picture are wax figures of the fab-four who are looking down on what appears to be a flowered shrine, much like a fresh grave. After that album Maddocks said part of the fun of buying more albums was looking for further clues about McCartney's supposed death Other albums helped feed the furor. The cover the Abbey Road album has John Lennon dressed in white, supposedly representing a holy figure, then Ringo Starr dressed as an undertaker then McCartney in bare feet and holding cigarette in his right hand (even though die hard fans know he is left handed) and finally George Harrison dressed simply in an old shirt and blue jeans, much like a grave digger Also, the year the album was released, McCartney would have turned 28 years old. The white Volkswagen Beatle parked on the side of Abbey Road has a license plate that reads “28 IF” : Ironically, it was not McCartney to die but John Lennon, gunned down outside a New York apartment building on December 8, 1980. Maddocks remembers that date vividly since he had just purchased a Beatles collection early that day in Spokane, Washington At about around 9 p.m. that evening Greg Archibald, another Beatles fan, phoned to tell him the news. “Even as he was telling me the message was flashing across the bottom of the TV,” said Maddocks, “I don't think there was a radio station on the air that night that wasn't playing the Beatles.” Now, Maddocks said his musical taste has broadened somewhat over the past 10 years but he remains skeptical that any band in the future could ever rival, the impact of the Beatles. “T feel sorry for those who missed it,” said Maddocks. “They dominated for 10 years. They set the trends and the styles. I don't think it can ever happen again.” No transfusion $T. CATHARINES, ONT. (CP) — A woman waiting in hospital for a hysterectomy says she would refuse Red Cross blood transfusions because she is afraid of getting AIDS. Sheila Anderson of Niagara Falls, Ont., said Saturday the only blood she would accept is from her husband or her son, who both have tested negative for the AIDS virus. ly y patients don't normally requires blood transfusions, but because Anderson's blood count is low, doctors want two pints available in case of emergency when her surgery is performed Tuesday. “I'm not taking any chances with my body” she said from her bed at Hotel Dieu Hospital. Weak policy OSLO (AP) — Norwegian Defence Minister Johan Joergen Holst said Saturday a new Canadian defence policy “weakens Norway's defense capability, both militarily and politically.” Defence Minister Perrin Beatty announced in Ottawa on Friday that Canada has decided to abandon its 19-year-old NATO commitment to send 5,000 troops and two air squadrons to northern Norway in wartime. Under the policy change, the Canadian Air-Sea Transportable (CAST) brigade would be moved from Norway to West Germany. Ottawa said the change was made to reinforce Canada’s 6,900-strong contribution to NATO in Central Europe. Five expelled NICOSIA (AP) — Iran is expelling five British diplomats in retaliation for Britain's closure of an Iranian consulate, the official Islamic Republic news agency reported Saturday. The five were given a week to leave. The agency, monitored in. Nicosia, Cyprus, said among the diplomats ordered out is Edward Chaplin, Britain's No. 2 diplomat in Tehran who was abducted for 24 hours last week. The agency said the Iranian Foreign Ministry decided to expel the five diplomats in retaliation for “the unjustified expulsion of five Iranian diplomats at the Iranian consulate in Manchester.” Baby dies NEW YORK (Reuter) — An infant died and 47 other patients were at serious risk when a 22-minute power failure at New York Hospital caused a shutdown of their respirators on Friday, the New York Times reported Saturday. The Times, quoting hospital sources, said 13 babies and 34 other patients on respirators, which pump oxygen into the lungs of people who cannot otherwise breath, survived when alert doctors and nurses rushed to operate the devices manually The baby who died was not identified but a hospital spokesman said it was 25 weeks old and had been doing poorly. Corazon win MANILLA (AP) — Philippine officials have formally proclaimed the top 20 candidates elected to the 24-member Senate, nearly four weeks after Filipinos went to the polls. It was a landslide victory for President Corazon Aquino Only one opposition candidate, movie actor Joseph Estrada, was among those declared winners of Saturday] by the Phillppine Commission on Elections. Mass wedding JAKARTA (Reuter) — An Indonesion magazine} plans to celebrate its first anniversary by sponsoring aj mass wedding for beggars One of Amanah magazine's editors said about 100) couples would take part in the ceremony in Jakarta on Aug. 9. He said several popular entertainers had agreed to] perform at the beggars’ wedding banquet. Man surrenders SAN JUAN (AP) — A passenger who threatened to] blow up a small commercial seaplane at San Juan's international airport unless he was flown to Cuba surrendered early Saturday to Puerto Rican authorities After more than seven hours of negotiaions, the passenger, who was alone inside the plane, surrendered to FBI agents at 1:15 a.m. EDT, said Edwin Purcell, a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration controller at the airport Nuclear test MOSCO (Reuter) — The Soviet Union conducted an underground nuclear explosion Saturday at its Semi palatinsk test site in the Central Asian republic of Kazakhastan, the official Tass news agency reported. The blast, the sixth Soviet test this year, had a yield of less than 20 kilotonnes, Tass said, putting it within the limits of the 1974 U.S.-Soviet threshold test ban treaty. The Soviet Union ended a 19-month self-imposed halt on nuclear testing on Feb. 26 after failing to persuade the United States to agree to join it untest 1987