Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 101

Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, November 10. 1992 Section 2 Chicagoland roundup 4 NW VQ Women, gays pressing Bernardin K- Railroad thieves return to scene of old crimes i ls 1 I I Wi I Carol Cook will be 60 years old in a few weeks. She is angry at the Catholic Church because, she contends, it still treats women unequally from men, denying them the priesthood and leadership roles in the church, and clinging to male-only references to God Shane Desautels is not yet 30. He gave up on the Roman Cathoic Church as a seminarian because he could not be ordained as an openly gay man. Desautels is now a minister with the Metropolitan Community Church, a Christian denomination that ministers primarily to gays and lesbians.

Monday night, Cook and Desautels joined more than 100 other Catholics in a candlelight vigil to urge Cardinal Joseph Bernardin to vote against a controversial pastoral essay on women and to repudiate a letter from the Vatican that condemned homosexuality. With the rainbow flag of gay and lesbian pride blowing in a gentle wind across the street from Ber-nardin's home on State Parkway, the men and women sang Catholic songs, read from Scripture, and used the form of a litany to send their message to the "Do we believe that gay men and lesbians are in-d trinsically disordered? one leader asked, using a quote from the Vatican letter, issued in June. "No," the crowd said. "Do we believe that real family values are love and inclusion, not hate and exclusion?" 'n "Yes," they shouted. "Do we believe that only men are called to beb ordained priests?" "No," they said.

One man held an icon of an abbot who he said the patron saint of friendship and may have been Some brought their own candles to the vigil Others held posters saying, "Gay Marriage Now," and "End Sexism Now." Using the first line of a traditional Catholic prayer to protest the exclusion of women from being ofr dained priests, who consecrate the host during massl the group chanted: "Hail, Mary, full of grace. But not enough to consecrate." oj 4 i Robbing a freight train is surprisingly easy, if you know how. The darkness of night provides the cover. With a stopped or slow-moving train that's fully loaded and stretched out for a mile, often the only thing separating the bad guys from the booty is a tin seal you can break with your hand. Police know it.

The railroads know it. And a growing number of experienced thieves, roving opportunists and juveniles know it, too, according to several major railways that have reported significant increases in this kind of pilferage in the Chicago area in the last year. "We've noticed a marked increase in the last two months," said Catherine Westphal, a spokeswoman for Atchison, Topeka Santa Fe Railway, which moves from 20 to 40 trains and some 1,800 cars through Chicago each day. "If a train is stopped for more than IS minutes," Westphal said, "there will be people into the trailers. It could happen a couple times a week." Santa Fe isn't the only railway experiencing problems.

Capt. John Thornburg, head of Norfolk Southern's police force in Chicago and northwest Indiana, estimated merchandise losses due to thefts in his region at $123,000 from January through October. For all of last year, the figure totaled 103,000. He added onto that an additional $675,000 in theft-related losses involving freight shipments from other railroads hooking up with Norfolk Southern trains. Again, this is significantly higher than 1991's year-end figure of $460,000.

Capt R.C. Lewis, who heads the police force for Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail) for the Chicago and Elkhart, districts, called thefts and vandalism "a daily occurrence." "We have people tell us they make a living robbing the railroads, said Lewis, who compares these crimes to the days of the Old West and its bandits like Jesse James. The modern-day version, though, does not include a holdup. Today's train robbers generally pull off a heist without the conductor or his crew knowing it 4 I 2 Oakbrook Terrace cops hit with subpoenas in probe Two Oakbrook Terrace police officers have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in its ongoing probe of local government, the attorney for the officers said Monday.

Oak Brook attorney Ronald Sadowski confirmed that his clients, Lt John Carpino and Sgt Michael De Laurentis, were served with summonses last week. They are to appear before the grand jury on Nov. 17, Sadowski said. Carpino declined to comment and De Laurentis was reported to be away until later in the week. Federal officials also declined to comment, but Sadowski downplayed the seriousness of the subpoenas, saying they were the result of a "miscommunication" with the US.

attorney's office. Sadowski said he previously had spoken with Patrick King, the assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the case, about having his clients meet with federal officials but had not been able to settle on a time. "The lines of communication were open to just sit 1 down informally and talk," Sadowski said. "I suppose from the FBI's point of view, it was, 'We haven't heard- from them, let's subpoena The subpoenas of De Laurentis and Carpino, howewi er, represent the latest move in the federal investigatiorie into the relationship between developers and city offriJ rials that became public last December.

on The two police officers are apparently the first city-' employees to be subpoenaed to testify in the probed although more than a dozen subpoenas were earlier7 served on area developers and top Oakbrook Terrace officials, including Mayor Richard Sarallo and Police Chief Robert Nardella. fo Sources familar with the investigation said Monday1 that other members of the Oakbrook Terrace Police.3 Department have been meeting informally with FBI of-b ficials over the past two months, apparently as part of probe into department operations. uj Triburw photo by Cart Wagner An officer stands by the bullet-shattered door of the 79th and Ashland Currency Exchange on Monday after a robbery suspect was wounded. Armored-car guards shoot down bewigged armed robbery suspect In a single horrifying yet weird moment, an Illinois Armored Car guard who had opened his truck Monday while outside the 79th and Ashland Currency Exchange found himself face to face with a gunman wearing women's makeup and a wig. Demanding money, the male robber pressed a handgun to the guard's chest and pulled the trigger, police said.

The gun misfired. At that point, said FBI spokesman Bob Long, the guard "did exactly what I hope anyone in that situation would do, return fire." As the robber sprinted across Ashland Avenue with a bag full of money, the guard drew his pistol and shot several times. Another guard from the armored car fired two shots, and the man was hit in the side twice and in the arm once, police said. Minutes after the incident around 7:15 am, police detectives followed a trail of blood south from the currency exchange, 7901 S. Ashland to an alley.

In a garage in the 8000 block of South Ashland, police found a wounded man with a bag containing $9,000. Exactly when he snatched the money bag was unclear, Long said. The man was listed in critical condition at Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was undergoing surgery Monday evening, a hospital spokeswoman said. Federal charges are pending against the man in connection with the incident, Long said. Jin Campus bookstore manager shot Police identify woman found strangled in Niles YMC The manager of the Northeastern Illinois University campus bookstore was shot in the back of the head Monday morning during an apparent robbery, school officials said.

Mike Keenan, 47, was in critical condition at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Keenan was found near the store's safe, according to public safety director William Curtin. Approximately $2,300 was missing from the store, he said. Violent crime is almost unheard of at the university, located at 5500 N. St.

Louis said Curtin. Northeastern is a commuter school of approximately 1 1 ,000 students. body on top of the bedspread. i la Cardwell was strangled with her own sweater! sometime late Saturday or early Sunday, Wilson said. The garment was still wrapped around her neck wheiT she was found.

Police said it appeared the woman had been sexual- ly assaulted before her death. ns Relatives told police Cardwell moved into theT YMCA several months ago after she moved to thee area in search of a job. She was to begin work Momj day at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Wil-m son said. jd3 Police identified a 35-year-old West Virginia woman Monday who was sexually assaulted and strangled with her sweater in a room at the Leaning Tower YMCA in Niles. Helen Cardwell, of Huntington, W.Va., was discovered Sunday afternoon naked except for a pair of white socks on a bed in Room 619 of the YMCA, said Niles Police Sgt Roger Wilson.

Cardwell's sister found the body when she arrived Sunday afternoon for a weekly visit, he said. "The door was ajar when she got there," Wilson said. "When she walked inside, she found her sister's 7y jj OVER $1 MILLION WORTH OF TABLE LAMPS, FLOOR LAMPS, CEILING FANS, OUTDOOR LIGHTING, CHANDELIERS AND ACCESSORIES! "Mom." Her parents, four brothers and sisters, and assorted other relatives are professional or amateur musicians. Frank Moos said it was hard to accept that his youngest daughter will be unable to enjoy music. "The fact that she'd possibly get some enjoyment out of music is something we're very hopeful about," Moos said.

But he added: "We are going from sort of a situation of not very much hope when we first discovered how completely deaf she was to now having some hope, and we're just trying not to go too crazy with that." Because she once could hear and speak, however, Regina has a good chance of regaining some of her skills, doctors say. Dr. Nancy Young, the ear surgeon at Children's Memorial who has performed nine implant operations in children, cautioned: "It's not like you drop your child off at the hospital and pick them up cured. It really the beginning of a long process of rehabilitation." She said that most parents will not begin to see significant improvement until the child has had the device for 18 months to 2 years. Even then, surgeons do not guarantee marked improvement in speech.

"You can tell a parent that over and over again, but in their heart, their child will be the one who's different," Young said. Adolescents who have been deaf since birth are poor candidates for an implant They have their own culture, are facing teenage peer pressure and may feel self-conscious about wearing the implant In adults, the device seems to be most beneficial to those who became deaf later in life, after they had learned how to speak, physicians and researchers say. Ali Umrani's parents said that after extensive research, they decided an implant would be best for their son. The family, natives of Pakistan who previously lived in the U.S., recently moved to Chicago so Ah could get treatment here. "Here is treatment, new medical technologies, new inventions and a and a consultant to the Food Drug Administration's panel on cochlear implants.

Forcing the child into the hearing world instead of accepting the deafness, Goldstein argues, robs the youngster of a chance to learn sign language first, when the brain is primed for rapid language development. The Bicultural Center, a deaf advocacy organization in Maryland, argues that the deaf should be respected, not reshaped. "Does anybody care that what this really means is that most of the time these children are going through their days with their heads filled with a lot of meaningless noise?" the center asks in its October 1990 letter. The National Association of the Deaf, another deaf advocacy group, also calls the devices "unsound scientifically, procedurally and ethically." Chicago-area parents whose children have had the implants say they are too busy working with the youngsters and marveling at the results to heed detractors. "It's gradual, it's not earth-shattering," Susan Fisher said of the improvement in speech she has seen in her son, Michael, 8.

In September 1991, Michael became the first child implant patient in the Chicago area. The Hoffman Estates boy can hear such things as a car horn when he is outside riding his bicycle. "When you can hear more, you can get a little bit more than from just signing," Susan Fisher said. Brian Donenberg, 3, who was born deaf, received an implant in June. His parents say he is more attentive and patient and less easily frustrated by his inability to convey a point.

"You can sit and read a book with him and he won't lose attention," said his mother, Kathy Donenberg of Orland Park. Brian also can imitate words more easily, she said. Most stunning was the time she told her son she loved him and, for the first time in his life, the boy tried to repeat the three-word phrase. "I just said to him out of the clear blue, 'I love I've said it to him a billion times," she recalled. "He just turned to me and said, 'I uh It was a great moment" Frank and Eva Moos of Winnet-ka arranged for an implant earlier this year for their daughter, Rcgina, 2'i, who became deaf a year ago after a bout with meningitis.

At 19 months, Regina had spoken in complete sentences, saying such things as, "We're waiting for the pizza man," and "Daddy, you're home from work." Today she says pnly one word: Implants Continued from page 1 he will likely never hear them clearly. Speech will resemble a sta-i tic-filled radio broadcast, and background noise may overwhelm his abilities. Still, the Umranis hope the sounds Ali must painstakingly be taught to interpret during years of speech therapy will enable him to cross into the hearing world. Cochlear implants, which have been in development since the 1960s, have been federally-approved for use in U.S. adults only since 1985.

Similar approval for children came in 1990, and only 1 1 operations have been performed on children in the Chicago area. About 15 million Americans have, a significant hearing impairment, according to the National Institutes of Health. But only 1,175 children and 2,300 adults in the U.S. wear the newest multichannel implants similar to the one Ali has. Hearing aids are external devices that amplify sound and make faint noises easier to detect.

Cochlear implants have external com- Sonents, worn in a chest harness or anny pack, that pick up sound and transmit it to internal components that are surgically implanted in the ear. These internal com- Sioncnts stimulate hearing-nerve ibers that send messages to the brain. Surgeons at Children's Memorial Hopsital in Chicago, led by Dr. Nancy Young, first implanted the device in a child in September 1991, and since then have operated on eight other youngsters, including Ali Umrani. Another team, at the University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary in Chicago, has performed implants in two youngsters.

Physicians and therapists follow strict guidelines in selecting implant recipients, rejecting those children who benefit from traditional hearing aids and those whose families are unwilling to commit to years of therapy. Relatively few youngsters are good candidates, and expenses for surgery and follow-up therapy can reach $30,000 to $40,000. Opponents argue that the implants are the latest attempt by desperate parents bent on "fixing instead of accepting their child's deafness. Advocates for the deaf also argu? that parents should wait until the technology improves, and that adults do not have the right to impose invasive surgery on a child too young to consent. "I won say that the technology isn't improving, but at least for now I think it's really not a good thing to do," said Moise H.

Goldstein an engineer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore Positively Ends jTlKn NOVEMBER i irrnw fwm 7 mff, i umwmmt vmmalmmml WmmmtfymiJkmmmmJ muuMmmmmwmmmmmS vwmmi I Mi n.ii.lm mm itiumini .1 lillili A PI VI CS.OF iinni 11 11.J1111 jn 1 1 11 1 1 rVEHGRCCN II ioi oi Kias are getting oencms, said Ashraf Umrani, All's father. After a long day of adjusting the frequencies on his implant, Ali began to cry. For the first time he heard his own screams. Startled, he cried even louder. "Ali's a good boy," his mother, Shaista, said soothingly.

Then she picked up his hands and drew them to her face as she told him her name for the first time. "Mama," she told the crying boy. "Mama." CHICAGO 3300 N. SHEFFIELD 312-525-8000 a CRESTWOOD 13400 S. CICERO 708-597-4220 9 LISLE 1600 W.

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