I
Family awarded
stored hoard
United Press International
HARTFORD, Conn. — Pasquale Stellato never
trusted banks after the Great Depression. He squirreled
his bills away in baseball-sized balls wrapped in tin foil
that he hid in the basement of his home — perhaps as
much as $260,000.
Just before he died in 1974, at the age of 84, the frugal
old man told his family of the hoard. But nobody could
ever find it.
That is until a developer’s bulldozer rammed into the
foundation — and out tumbled the baseball-sized rolls of
money, most wrapped in tin foil and secured with rub
ber bands.
And that’s where the controversy arose.
G. Thomas Vitagliano, president of West Haven Gar
dens development company, who was sitting nearby,
rushed to the area and “got down on his hands and knees
and stuffed all the rolls and the remaining loose bills in
.his shirt,” according to court papers.
The family sued for their money and a lower court
ruled Vitagliano had to return $60,000 to them “as the
true owner.”
But Vitagliano challenged that ruling as “speculative
and conjectural,” telling the Connecticut Supreme
Court there was no evidence determining how much
money he had found.
Monday, the justices ruled Vitagliano was not entitled
to the disputed amount of money, which they set at
$60,000.
But they admitted there was ample evidence Vitag
liano had found even more than the family was awarded.
Stellato, described as “a frugal man” who raised his
own food and bought only bare necessities — then only
purchasing dented cans and discounted items — had
secreted his money in the basement because of losses
suffered in bank closings during the Depression.
The justices said if Stellato had “secreted all of the
THE BATTALION P»fl« 7
WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 1980
income the court found he had realized ... he could have
hidden more than $155,000 there.”
Both sides had stipulated each money roll contained
260 bills, so if four to seven rolls were taken, "it is
possible that Vitagliano stuffed between $104,000 and
$172,000,” the high court said.
The justices said if only $100 bills were involved, as
several people had testified, “in view of the court’s
conclusion that he took between seven and 10 rolls, it is
possible that he stuffed between $172,000 and $260,000
in his shirt.”
“The court’s conclusion that the defendant took only
$60,000 is certainly reasonable in light of these find
ings,” the Supreme Court concluded.
It said if the lower court had been able to pinpoint the
money as only $100 bills, “it could have assessed dam
ages against the defendant at $180,000 to $260,000.”
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TSTA criticizes, OKs
education proposals
United Press Internationa!
AUSTIN — The president of the Texas State Teachers Association
Tuesday endorsed the bulk of the recommendations of the Governor’s
Advisory Committee on Education, but balked at a proposal to test the
competency of prospective teachers before allowing them in the clas
sroom.
The advisory committee recommendations called for competency
testing of prospective teachers in general academic skills, knowledge of
the subject they plan to teach, and their proficiency in teaching skills.
“The testing of teachers after they have left our teacher education
institutions is fiscally irresponsible,” TSTA president Dora Scott said
in a commentary on advisory committee recommendations.
“Our institutional standards should be such that when that institu
tion certifies a person to be competent to teach, Texas does not have to
administer another test at taxpayer expense.”
The TSTA statement also expressed reservations about a committee
recommendation students not proficient in English or who fail to meet
minimal skills for their grade levels be required to attend summer
school.
“Many of the children who need the benefits of special programs
come from economically disadvantaged homes,” the teacher group
said.
“These children must work for money during the summer months
and could not take advantage of summer instructional programs. Re
medial programs must be available during the regular school year as
well.”
The TSTA president endorsed the advisory committee recommen
dations teachers be paid at levels equal to earnings in private industry,
size of classes be limited and a set of standards be established for
teacher certification.
Validity questioned in
Potts’ execution stay
United Press International
JACKSON, Ga. — The question
of whether Federal Judge William
O’Kelley was right in refusing to let
Jack Potts change his mind again and
appeal his death sentence is now in
the hands of the 5th Circuit Court of
Appeals.
Potts, who was to have died in
Georgia’s electric chair Tuesday,
won what his attorneys expect will be
his last brush with execution Mon
day when the Supreme Court re
fused to vacate the stay of execution
issued by the New Orleans appeals
court Saturday.
A official of the 5th Circuit Court
said attorneys will argue a habeas
corpus petition filed by Potts’ attor
neys last week and whether O’Kelley
was right when he refused to issue
the condemned killer a stay.
Last fall, Potts fired his attorneys
and refused to challenge his th sent
ence for the 1975 kidnapping-
murder of 24-year-old Michael
Priest. He was scheduled to die June
5. However, just 13 hours before he
was to be electrocuted, O’Kelley
issued a stay when Potts said he
wanted to fight his sentence.
Two days later, Potts changed his
mind again and O’Kelley agreed af
ter intensive questioning to let the
convict stop his appeals a second
time. But he warned Potts he could
not resume the appeals again.
Potts decided to fight his convic
tion again last Wednesday, but
O’Kelley told Potts he had forfeited
his final route of appeal.
Attorney Joe Nursey said he be
lieved the Supreme Court decision
ended any prospect Potts will ever
go to the electric chair. He said he
thought defense attorneys had in
their appeal “one of the strongest
cases we’ve ever seen.”
Potts would have been the first to
be executed in Georgia in 16 years
and only the fourth in the United
States since the Supreme Court per
mitted the resumption of the death
sentence in 1977.
Rain helps fire crews
in Arizona, Colorado
United Press International
Firefighting crews in Arizona and Colorado received help from
natural allies —cooler temperatures and light rain — to bring several
forest fires under control Tuesday but more than 13,000 acres of public
land in Arizona burned on.
The largest blaze covered 10,060 acres in White River National
Forest in north central Colorado and was controlled and mop-up
operations had started. The fire, which was started last Wednesday by
an unattended camp fire, was the largest in the state’s history.
More than 8,000 feet of fire hoses were pumping water from streams
into hot spots as firefighters began mop-up operations, even before the
fire officially was declared under control. Helicopters were ferrying
firefighters to remaining hot spots within the forest and work also was
underway to assess restoration of the damaged areas.
Hot, dry conditions had made the forests fuel for fires but late
Monday and early Tuesday, weather conditions were favorable for
firefighters in both Arizona in Colorado.
“We had some light precipitation last night and it helped a lot,” said
Eric Martin of the Forest Service in Colorado. “It settled the dust and
cooled things off. The humidity remains high which will allow things to
bum cooler.”
Forest Service spokesman Jerry Chonka said Colorado officials felt
they were gaining the upper hand on their fires, which charred more
than 11,000 acres of timberland, but were concerned about the July 4th
holiday.
“We’ve got to keep our guard up,” he said. “We have had a little
cooler weather and some rain, but the situation still is critical. Accord
ing to the weather forecasts, today is the last chance of any major rain.
Then it will be dry through the \yeekend.”
With the help of rainfall. Bureau of Land Management fire crews
controlled the 1,000-acre blaze near Aravaipa Canyon west of Safford,
Ariz., and progress was reported against the 1,300-acre fire near Lake
Pleasant.
Lightning, which started many of the forest and brush fires that have
plagued Arizona since the weekend, caused another fire southeast of
Kingman but it was extinguished by rain.
More than 200 men hacked out fire lines to contain a 4,000-acre fire
in the Tonto National Forest but were hampered by steep terrain and
called for slurry bombers. Smaller fires across the state also still
burned.
A 5,500-acre fire that was being mopped up and seven other small
fires were reported in the Tonto National Forest.
Lighting also was a problem in Colorado, igniting more fires.
“There was some thundershower activity yesterday afternoon and
last night,” Forest Service spokesman Ed Nesselroad said. “There was
a lot of moisture and it really helped. However, lightning strikes
started two other small fires in an area called Sheep Mountain, 25 miles
northwest of Fort Collins.”