Banner Graphic, Volume 13, Number 98, Greencastle, Putnam County, 31 December 1982 — Page 2

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The Putnam County Banner-Graphic, December 31,1982

Relief ahead for gas customers?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Natural gas customers battered by record price increases - may get some relief in the new year from a landmark ruling on pipeline purchasing practices. The decision Thursday by an administrative law judge for the first time found that a pipeline company had acted improperly by buying excessive amounts of high-cost gas under “take-or-pay” contracts while cutting back on purchases of cheaper gas. Consumer groups say this practice is costing customers $5 billion annually in higher bills. They say the contracts exist because federal regulators have been too lax. In the new decision, Michel Levant, an administrative law judge for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, in es-

Influenza invasion

Scientists uncertain over severity as outbreaks begin again

c. 1982 N.Y. Times NEW YORK— Influenza, which has caused more than 200,000 deaths in the United States in the past 14 years, again is rearing its virulent head. But medical scientists cannot predict whether it will go its way quietly or decimate the elderly and chronically ill as it did two winters ago when more than 60,000 died. While other serious viral diseases such as polio and measles have been virtually wiped out, influenza continues ,{o kill despite vaccines that have been available for 40 years. The season’s first confirmed influenza outbreak occurred in Jfnid-November at a Job Corps ({raining center in Sullivan, N.Y. s’he federal government’s Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta diagnosed two of the 25 flulike cases as influenza of a ‘Variety similar to that which

Banner-Graphic j "It Waves For All” USPS 142-020) • Consolidation ot , The Daily Banner Established 1850 J The Herald The Daily Graphic Established 1883 Telephone 653-5151 • Published daily except Sundays and holidays by LuMar Newspapers. Inc. at 100 North Jackson St., Greencastle. Indiana .46135. Entered In the Post Office at Oreencaslle. Indiana, as 2nd class mail matter under Act of March 7,1878. Subscription Rates Per Week, by carrier >I.OO Per Month, by motor route M. 55 Mall Subscription Rates R.R. in Rest of Rest of • Putnam County Indiana U.S.A. 3 Months *13.80 *14.15 *17.25 g Months *27.60 *28.30 *34.50 1 Year *55.20 *56.60 *69.00 t Mail subscriptions payable In advance . . . pot accepted in town and where motor route Service is available. *• Member of the Associated Press 4 The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper.

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feet, agreed, saying the commission has too narrowly interpreted its power to scale back rate hikes under "fraud and abuse” provisions. Levant’s decision came in a case several states and local gas distribution companies brought against Columbia Gas Transmission Corp., seeking to overturn part of the pipeline company’s $4Bl million in increases for new gas purchases in 1981. Levant ruled that Columbia’s purchase practices “represent serious violations by a natural gas company of fundamental obligations” to provide service at low, reasonable rates. He ordered Columbia to make refunds and to cut back on more expensive supplies before reducing purchases of cheaper gas. Bill Chaddock, Columbia vice

struck the United States two years ago. But predicting whether influenza will cause widespread death this year is about as scientific as flipping a coin, says Dr. Peter A. Patriarca, a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control. Militating against a serious epidemic is the fact that most of those exposed to the strain two years ago would have developed some degree of im-

Farm parity ratio at lowest annual

WASHINGTON (AP) The government’s farm “parity” yardstick dropped in 1982 to the lowest level in more than 70 years of recordkeeping, figures show. The latest statistics issued Thursday by the Agriculture Department showed commodity prices at the farm declined 1.6 percent in December. That was enough, according to USDA records going back to 1910, to unofficially pushed the historic “parity” ratio to its lowest annual reading ever. The financial indicator has never sunk so low, not even in the depths of the Depression in the early 19305. The parity formula was designed half a century ago and incorporated into federal law to help express farmers’ financial situation by relating prices they receive to expenses and other factors. But Deputy Secretary Richard E. Lyng, the

iPREVO’S

president for communications, said, “This is just a preliminary law judge’s ruling. The commission will now take it into consideration and Columbia will present its case to the commission.” Columbia, one of the country’s largest interstate pipelines, supplies gas to 71 local distribution companies in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. Ed Rothschild, a spokesman for the Citizen-Labor Energy Coalition, one of the groups which had challenged Columbia’s rate hikes, said the decision, if upheld by the commission, could result in SIOO million in refunds.

world

munity, Patriarca says. Also, this year’s vaccine is wellmatched to the influenza that has been isolated. On the pessimistic side, however, are three other factors: cluded in this year’s vaccine could crop up before the season ends next spring. Only one-fourth of the 80 million people considered to be at high risk of fatal influenza

Sailing through the air after being shot out of a cannon in a dress rehearsal for Saturday's Tournament of Roses Parde in Pasadena, Calif., stuntman Braun Reinhold lands safely in a net at the rear of the AVCO Financial Services float, "The Grand Finale." Reinhold plans to repeat the

complications have been immunized. Unlike the live-virus vaccines used to prevent polio, measles, mumps and rubella, influenza vaccines are made from inactive viruses and are only about 80 percent effective. Ongoing research could result in live-virus vaccines in about five years, Patriarca says. But the effectiveness of such vaccines probably would still be less than 100 percent, he says,

department’s No. 2 official, said that modern farm legislation “doesn't pay very much attention” to parity and that “some of us believe that the parity formula does not reflect the gains in productivity” of farmers. “That is not to say, however, that prices are not poor,” Lyng told The Associated Press. “There is no question about it. It won’t be news to farmers of this country that farm prices are low. They’ve known it for some time and are suffering because of it.” The December price index also remained below year-earlier readings, where it has been in 16 of the last 17 months. Commodity prices generally have been depressed because of huge grain harvests the past two years, along with lagging exports and consumer demand for meat, poultry and dairy products. Department economists say that 1983 will be another tough year on farmers, although some

Husband accused of trying to poison wife

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A man who had blamed his wife’s near-fatal poisoning on cyanidetainted Anacin capsules was in jail today, accused of trying to kill the woman he admitted hitting “a couple of times.” Richard Ray Bowen, 29, was taken into custody Thursday on charges of attempted murder and willful poisoning of medicine. No bond was set and an arraignment was set for Monday. Police Sgt. Bob Burroughs said Thursday that Bowen’s

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because the problem of predicting which viral strains to include in a given year’s vaccine would be no different than it is now. Also, the vaccines can only be effective if people get them. Considering that most high-risk candidates for fatal influenza complications remain unvaccinated, the deathpreventing value of even an excellent vaccine is dubious. Patriarca says low immunization rates may be the result of fear sparked by reported cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome in the aftermath of the 1976 swine flu vaccinations. But he says vaccines are safe and inexpensive, and that high-risk individuals are foolish not to get vaccinated. Some limited human studies of live-virus vaccines have begun in the United States, and results have been promising, Patriarca says.

hold out the possibility of some income improvement from the declines of the past three years. Looking at the current situation, the price report said that lower prices for oranges, tomatoes, cattle, turkeys and eggs were mostly responsible for the December decline in the index. However, higher prices for corn, lettuce, hogs, soybeans and sorghum partially offset the gains for the other commodities. Prices paid by farmers to meet expenses, meanwhile, declined 0.6 percent during the month but still averaged 3.3 percent more than a year ago. Weaker commodity prices have helped dampen consumer food prices, which are expected to rise 4.5 percent in 1982, the smallest annual increase in six years. Department economists say the 1983 gain may be held to 3 percent to 6 percent.

wife Susan was poisoned with cyanide, but that the poison was not contained in Maximum Strength Anacin-3 capsules as Bowen had claimed. The poisoning incident, which occurred Nov. 26, triggered the removal of the pain reliever from hundreds of stores in five states. In an interview shortly before he was arrested, Bowen admitted that he had a history of violence against women in his family, including his wife, but denied that he tried to kill her.

stunt five times Saturday while aboard the 144-foot-long parade-ending float. Reinhold, a human cannonball with more than 1,500 jumps to his credit, will be propelled to a height of 56 and a distance of 58 feet. (AP Wirephoto).

Ex-pilot talked out of hijacking try PITTSBURGH (AP) An unemployed pilot, threatening to detonate a bomb, tried to hijack a United Airlines flight with 77 people aboard Thursday night before being persuaded to surrender peacefully, the FBI said. The suspect. Michael James Will, 30, of Colorado Springs, Colo., was not carrying any explosives and did not make any demand other than being flown to Washington, said Walter Weiner, head of the FBI office in Pittsburgh. Officials said no one was harmed in the incident. United Flight 702 was en route from Chicago to Pittsburgh International Airport when Will called a stewardess to his seat, Weiner said “He indicated that if his instructions were not complied with he would detonate the bag he was carrying,” said Weiner, who attributed the man’s actions to “some kind of fear.” When told the plane did not have enough fuel to reach Washington, Will agreed to land at the original destination. Weiner said. The Boeing 727 touched down at around 10:30 p.m. and taxied to a remote section of the airfield, where the man agreed to allow the other passengers to exit. The six-member crew remained on board, however, while two negotiators from the Allegheny County Police Department talked Will into surrendering, Weiner said.

reading ever

With the December decline, farm prices, on the average, rose in six months in 1982, dropped in five and held steady in one. In 1981, the index failed to show an overall gain in any month, the first time that had happened since 1933. Farm prices in December averaged 127 percent of a 1977 base-price average used for comparison, according to the preliminary figures. The November index was 129 percent. The December parity ratio was 54 percent, down from 55 in November. According to USDA records, that was the lowest since the indicator also averaged 54 percent in April 1933, one of the worst years of the Depression. It sagged to 57 percent last winter and hovered near that mark since. With the preliminary December reading, the 12-month average for 1982 was 57 percent, compared to 61 percent in 1981. The previous alltime annual low was 58 percent in 1932.

“What have I got to gain by killing my wife?” Bowen asked. “There’s no life insurance.” The arrest came just a few hours after Bowen’s attorney, Melvin Belli, announced a suit against the makers of Maximum Strength Anacin-3 for “way over $1 million.” Mrs. Bowen, who nearly died from the poisoning, cried loudly for nearly 10 minutes after her father told her of Bowen’s arrest. “She’s taking it real hard,” said her father, Melvin Lyon.

Lewis' wife out on bond

CHICAGO (AP) Leann Lewis, wife of Tylenol extortion suspect James W. Lewis, was released on SIOO,OOO bond Thursday night after the government said it doesn’t plan to indict her on any charges connected to the Tylenol murders. Mrs. Lewis was released about 7:45 p.m., according to a spokesman for the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center. Her father, Charles Miller, posted his house in the Kansas City area as surety for the bond. Earlier, U.S. Magistrate James T. Balog reduced Mrs.

Asked whether his daughter believed that her husband tried to kill her, Lyon said, “I don’t want to say.” He gave the same answer when asked what he thought. Mrs. Bowen is undergoing therapy at Valley Medical Center for slurred speech, swallowing difficulties and a tremor. Mrs. Bowen divorced her husband in 1977, but they remarried. Bowen was arrested in San Jose in 1978 on suspicion of assault, battery and trying to

Lewis’ bond from $5 million at the request of assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Margolis. Margolis argued that the bond was too high because the only charge against her is using a false Social Security number to obtain a job in the city. Margolis, however, asked for a stiff bond and said he expects similar charges to be filed against Mrs. Lewis in New York City, where she and her husband had been living until his arrest earlier this month. Lewis is being held in lieu of $5 million bond on charges that

Reagan aides cautious | PALM SPRINGS. Calif. Gat-I Aides to President Reag say the new Soviet leadeent overture to the United Stattal should not be interpreted as te “formal call” for a summit con-’ ference between the superpowers. Larry Speakes, the deputy White House press secretary, said Thursday he saw nothing new in the comments Yuri Andropov made to Hearst newspapers indicating an interest in a summit after “good preparation.” Reagan, meanwhile, was preparing to celebrate the arrival of the new year at a black-tie dinner at this desert resort area, as he has for more than a decade.

Before tonight’s party, Reagan was meeting with Secretary of State George P. Shultz and National Security adviser William Clark. Speakes said the overall scope of U.S.-Soviet relations would be a likely topic at the meeting, but he did not know if the Andropov’s remarks would be discussed specifically. Clark accompanied Reagan here for the New Year’s holiday, and Shultz was coming for the annual New Year’s Eve party given by Walter and Leonore Annenberg, at whose 200-acre estate the president and Mrs. Reagan are staying Annenberg, a millionaire publisher, was the U.S. ambassador to Britain during the Nixon administration. Mrs. Annenberg was Reagan’s chief of protocol in 1981. Among those expected to attend the formal party were Attorney General and Mrs. William French Smith and several members of the “kitchen cabinet” of wealthy California businessmen who helped Reagan get started in California politics. Some served as advisers early in the administration. The traveling White House was provided with a transcript of Andropov’s remarks Thursday morning. Andropov, in written responses to questions transmitted through the Soviet embassy in Washington, was reported to have gaid he “certainly" believes the two nations can reach a nuclear arms reduction compromise. According to the report, he showed a willingness to meet with Reagan after “good preparation" to assure success a requirement similar to that voiced by Reagan for two years. “I don’t think it is a formal call for a summit,” Speakes said of Andropov’s remarks. “There are no plans for anything different from what we’ve been doing,” Speakes said. “I don’t regard it as any change in our position or any change in the Soviet position." he said.

run down his sister and a girlfriend with a car. The case, was dropped when the women said they couldn’t press; charges. Bowen, a circulation district manager for the San Jose Mer-* cury-News, said in an interview, with the newspaper before his arrest that his 30-vear-old wife, swallowed an Anacin-3 capsule' on Thanksgiving just before she stopped breathing, collapsed and began frothing at the mouth.

he tried to extort $1 from Johnson & Johnson,l parent company of the makers* of Extra-Strength Tylenol, in the wake of the Tylenol murders. ; Seven Chicago-area residents* died in late September andearly October after taking-cyanide-filled capsules of the-best-selling pain reliever. Michael’Monico, Mrs. Lewis’ attorney, said he expected hisclient and her father to return toKansas City on Friday. Balog : ordered Mrs. Lewis not to leave-, that area without permission.