Banner Graphic, Volume 14, Number 98, Greencastle, Putnam County, 30 December 1983 — Page 2
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The Putnam County Banner-Graphic, December 30,1983
Living by survival skills, 'trip-wire' Vietnam veterans wander Northwest
FORKS, Wash. (AP) Hiding out in Washington’s wilderness, “trip-wire” veterans are almost never seen. But a few are there, shunning society and living by the skills they learned in the Vietnam jungle, the state veterans’ affairs director says. “Trip wire” was the phrase U.S. servicemen used for the unseen, deadly traps the Viet Cong laid along trails to snare and maim Gls on patrol. It also applied to certain soldiers who developed a knack for finding those traps and dismantling them. Now state officials are using the phrase to describe a very small percentage of veterans w'ho, unable to cope with the stress of their war memories and the disapproval they faced upon returning home, disappeared into the woods to live the only way they felt comfortable. “Out there in the woods are wonderful, loving people who just want to be left alone, who are saying, ‘I don’t want a world where I am going to be spit on and have tomatoes
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Residents of Munich,Germany, got a unique Christmas gift from the Munich Zoo: Four puma kittens. The young cats were born recently and presented to the public in a
-14 at Indy is lowest in nation
By The Associated Press Indianapolis, the coldest spot in the country at 2 a.m. EST today, joined four other Hoosier cities in setting record-low temperatures for the date, weather officials said. The mercury in Indianapolis dipped to 14 below zero, beating the old record of 8 below that was set in 1880 and repeated in 1909, the National Weather Service said. It was the fourth record-low day in the last week at Indianapolis, where the
Mistrial granted in nuclear plant bid-rigging trial
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A mistrial has been granted to Francis X. Kellstrom, charged with rigging bids on nuclear power projects, on grounds he risks a fatal heart attack if he returns to Helena for trial. Kellstrom is chairman of America’s largest electrical contracting firm, Fischbach & Moore, Inc. He and 10 other contractors’ executives have been accused of rigging bids at four Washington Public Power Supply System plants and the Marble Hill Generating Station nuclear project near Madison. Ind. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour granted the mistrial Thursday after hearing testimony from Kellstrom’s physician, Dr. John Abdun-Nur. Abdun-Nur said Kellstrom, who underwent open-heart surgery in 1976, would risk a
Banner-Graphic "It Waves For All" USPS 142-020) Consolidation ol The Daily Banner Established 1850 The Herald The Daily Graphic Established 1883 Telephone 653-5151 Published daily escept Sundays and holidays by LuMar Newspapers, Inc. at 100 North Jackson St.. Greencsstle. Indiana 46135. Entered in the Post Office at Greencastle. Indiana, as 2nd class mail matter under Act of March 7,1878. Subscription Rates Per Week, by carrier M .00 Per Month, by motor route ‘4.55 Mail Subscription Rates R.R. in Rest ot Rest of Putnam County Indiana U.S.A. 3 Months ‘13.80 *14.15 *17.25 6 Months *27.60 *28.30 *34.50 1 Year *55.20 *56.60 *f>9.or Mail subscriptions payable in advance not accepted in town anc where motor route service is available. Member ol the Associated Press The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use tor republication ol all the local news printed in this newspaper
coldest temperature this year was a record-shattering minus--17 on Christmas Eve. South Bend and Fort Wayne both set record lows of minus-11 today, while Kokomo set a new marl: at 15 below and Evansville dipped to an all-time low of minus-5. High pressure centered over the southern plains was pumping cold air over the snow covered northern plains into the Ohio Valley. As the high moves eastward tonight, winds over in-
fatal heart attack if subjected to the climate of Helena and the stresses of a trial The conspiracy trial of the remaining individual defendants and four contracting firms, including Fischbach & Moore, will resume in Helena next week. Fishbach & Moore is the main electrical contractor on WPPSS’ Nos. 3 and 5 nuclear plants at Satsop. “Hate to lose any one of ’em,” said U.S. Attorney Gene An-
Federal officials to pay Social Security
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Reagan, members of Congress, judges and other top federal officials will start paying Social Security taxes Sunday as part of the plan enacted last year to shore up the system’s sagging finances. Vice President George Bush
572 Tomahawks, Pershing 2s
New U.S. missiles in Europe nearly ready
LONDON (AP) - By New Year’s Eve, and probably without any public announcement, the first group of 572 new U.S.-built nuclear missiles is expected to become operational in Western Europe. Components of the Tomahawk cruise and Pershing 2 missiles arrived in Britain, West Germany and Italy last month, but there has been no announcement that any of them are operational ready to be fired should such an order be given. But official statements have made it clear the missiles, in-
thrown in my face,”’ said Bruce Webster, a Port Angeles psychologist who works with veterans. About 85 trip-wire vets have re-entered society since the state Veterans Affairs Department began an outreach program, said department director Randy Fisher. He said he did not know how many more there might be. With a SIOO,OOO grant from the state, Fisher and Mike McWatters, a private consultant and veteran who says he himself hid for two years in New York’s Adirondacks, began the counseling service in August. Last summer McWatters did a survey to determine how many of the state’s 100,000 Vietnam-era veterans needed counseling but lacked programs. He found about 1,000, and a number of them were vets whose existence resembled that of 19th-century mountain men. Marvin, a 33-year-old ex-Marine who did not want his last name published, says he lived as a woodland shadow off and on for 10 years, tracking and trapping animals, wearing buckskin clothes, living in caves and hollow tree stumps.
basket on Christmas Day. A few months from now, they won't take so kindly to being made to sit in a basket. (AP Laserphoeo)
diana will become more southerly and warmer air will flow into the state. Rural areas in Indiana are opening up, and that’s one big reason why highways are closing more often in severe winter weather, authorities say. Farmers are plowing more of their land and tearing down old barns and trees. As they do, there are fewer and fewer obstacles to stop the wind from blowing over the highways and causing whiteouts and drifts.
derson. He said a decision on whether Kellstrom will be retried will be made by the U.S. Justice Department. Coughenour last week raised the possibility that Kellstrom might be permitted to follow the trial by means of video tapes sent to his Van Nuys, Calif., hospital room, where he was under observation. Kellstrom has since been sent home. However Coughenour said
and all top political appointees will also be required to pay the payroll tax, along with all newfederal workers hired starting Sunday. Coverage also becomes mandatory for all non-profit organizations and their employees, including hospital and school workers.
tended for the defense of the European NATO area, are to become operational by the end of the year. This conforms with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 1979 decision to site the missiles by the end of 1983 unless an ar-ms-reduction agreement had been negotiated between the United States and the Soviet Union. NATO decided to deploy the missiles to counter a buildup of Soviet SS-20 rockets, which now total more than 350, according to Western intelligence Separate U.S.-Soviet arms
“There isn’t anything out there to stop the wind between here and lowa,” says state police Lt. Dale Rabanus. “Every little thing that can diminish the wind helps, but there isn’t anything out there to stop it on that plain. The wind is a major factor.” During the Christmas weekend, drifts in some rural areas were seven feet deep while nearby urban areas reported no noticeable drifting.
Thursday that “human considerations must prevail in the circumstances discribed here.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis Burke cited Kellstrom’s behavior in Helena in arguing that he should remain a defendant. “There was no indication in Helena that Mr. Kellstrom has modified his lifestyle,” Burke said. “He was walking around without a topcoat and smoking those large cigars.”
The tax rate an employee pays is 6.7 percent on the first $37,800 of income. Also taking effect Sunday is the last chunk of the Reagan administration’s four-step cut in federal income taxes. The final 5 percent cut leaves the typical American with a 23 percent
control talks on long-range missiles and medium-range missiles have been discontinued, with no sign when they will be resumed. One of the latest statements on the missiles was made Dec. 20 by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain in the House of Commons. Referring to the first of Britain’s contingent of 160 cruise missiles, Mrs. Thatcher said “the cruise missiles are not yet fully operational and will not be fully operational until the end of December, because that is the time appointed by the
He was one of several trip-wire vets interviewed by the Tacoma News Tribune for a series of stories this week. “There’s a lot the public don’t know and probably will never know about what happened in ’Nam,” he said. “The only job skills I have are those that might be useful to a hit man for the Mafia.” Marvin said he spent four years in Vietnam as a Special Forces Scout before being wounded in 1971. When he returned to the United States he headed for the woods, holing up in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana and ending up in Washington. He avoided all human contact, he said, because “I couldn’t stand to be touched.” He said he suffered from paranoia and nightmares. Since he sought counseling a year ago, Webster diagnosed him as a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder a psychological illness in which symptoms show themselves years after the event that caused them. Bill Maier, 35, says he was another trip-wire vet. An exMarine who saw heavy combat during his Vietnam stint,
world /state
Judge strikes down state's drunk-driving law
PLYMOUTH, Ind. (AP) - Indiana’s new drunken driving law “denies a person a trial by jury” and thus is unconstitutional, a judge has ruled. In striking down the law, called one of the toughest in the country, Judge R. Alexis Clarke of Marshall Superior Court said is also “chills your right to plead not guilty.” He ruled the statute unconstitutional because “it shifts the burden on the individual to prove his innocence.” Indiana’s attorney general said Thursday the state would appeal the decision. The new law, which took effect Sept. 1, makes it a crime to drive with a blood alcohol content greater than .10 percent, regardless of whether the driver is operating the vehicle in an impaired fashion. The law also allows a driver’s license to be suspended without court review. Under the old law, a person charged with driving while intoxicated could continue to drive until the case was resolved in court. Now, if a
Abdun-Nur said Kellstrom no longer smokes cigars, but “just chews” on them. Kellstrom was photographed smoking a cigar in June when he was arraigned in Seattle. Kellstrom’s doctors and a court-appointed cardiologist testified he suffers from severe hardening of the arteries and experienced increased chest pains while in Helena. Dr. Roger Winkle, a Stanford
lower tax bite than when the program began on Oct. 1,1981. But the cut won’t show up in the amount withheld from your paycheck. The third and final reduction in withholding percent came last July 1; and that midyear adjustment accounted for January’s cut.
agreement with NATO.” Despite the low profile given the missiles after their arrival, protests have continued by antimissile groups in Britain, West Germany and Italy. Most have been minor compared to the huge demonstrations that spanned Western Europe last October, but the protesters vow to continue. In Britain, where demonstrators have repeatedly knocked down fences around the Greenham Common missile base, three women were arrested Wednesday after breaking into the U.S. Air Force
driver fails a breath test, the license may automatically be suspended for up to 180 days or until the case reaches court. If the driver refuses to take the test, the license may be automatically suspended for one year by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, subject to court appeal. Lawyers in Valparaiso and Portage filed suit in midSeptember claiming the new law coerces drunken driving
Strikers who rammed car win rehire ruling
SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Wellman Thermal Systems Corp. should rehire two union workers fired after being convicted of ramming a car driven by a non-striking Wellman worker, an independent arbitrator recommened. The arbitrator made the ruling this week while trying to resolve disputes stemming from an eight-week strike that began in July 1982 by United Auto Workers Union Local 1793.
University medical professor, said there would be “considerable risk” to Kellstrom if he continued on trial in Helena. Winkle said Kellstrom needs additional heart surgery and that his heart is so bad he is “at substantial risk sitting in his hospital room.” “He has a chauffeur-assistant whom he sends to get the newspaper in the morning. He owns race horses and has a handicapped parking place for when he goes to see them ... He basically doesn’t have to do anything in his usual life,” Winkle said. Dr. Richard Paustian, a Helena cardiologist, said Kellstrom's condition has been “aggravated” by the cold and elevation in Helena. Helena, 4,009 feet above sea level, had below-zero temperatures earlier this month.
base and taking over a control tower where they daubed anticruise slogans. The West German government announced Nov. 23 a day after its Parliament endorsed deployment that the first Pershing 2 components had arrived in the country. West Germany is to take all of the 108 Pershing 2s and % of the 464 cruise missiles slated for NATO deployment. In Italy, which is to take 112 cruise missiles, the first are expected to be operational by March.
Maier said he sought refuge in the woods from his recurring nightmares. But his sanctuary became his torment, for the isolation became too much. “1 became afraid of everything,” he said. “I had to get out. Everything was closing in on me. ” Maier sought help from Webster, his former high school track coach, and now says, “I feel I’m getting well again.” He spends much of his time going back to the woods to find other trip-wire vets and urge them to seek counseling. Trip-wire vets are not “loonies,” Fisher said. They are troubled and confused men who cannot come to terms with their post-traumatic stress disorder. In a demanding and complicated society they cannot control their feelings, but in the wilderness where they know they can survive by their wits they feel secure, he said. “I know of one vet who went into the woods naked, came back out later with full leathers (animal hides for clothing), had gained 40 pounds and was armed” with weapons he made, McWatters said.
suspects into entering guilty pleas. They also contended the license suspension violated rights to due process because it punishes suspects before they are convicted. In a nine-page opinion, Clarke said the statute violates citizens’ Fifth, Sixth and 14th Amendment rights to plead innocent, demand a jury trial and pursue a livelihood, “lacks fundamental fairness and is alarmingly deficient in its con-
Charles Coots, 33, and Gerald Wilson, 42, were found guilty of criminal recklessness and fired in February. The two appealed under an amnesty provision in the labor settlement. The company contended it wasn’t obligated to rehire people convicted of strike related crimes. Wellman Spokesman James N. Cherry said the arbitration decision is binding and cannot be appealed.
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JANE PAULEY: Alias Mrs. Trudeau Jane Pauley, twins reported doing fine NEW YORK (AP) Jane Pauley, co-anchor of the NBC “Today”’ show and wife of cartoonist Garry Trudeau, gave birth to twins today, a boy and a girl, an NBC spokeswoman said. All were in perfect health, NBC spokeswoman Maura Lade said. The boy arrived at 7:06 a m. and weighed 5 pounds, 11 ounces. His sister was born at 7:11 am. and weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces, Ms. Lade said. The babies, who Ms. Lade said had not been named yet, were born at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Miss Pauley has been on maternity leave from the show since Nov. 23 and is expected back in March, Ms. Lade said.
stitutional protections.” The Bureau of Motor Vehicles takes “your license away before there’s any kind of a hearing,” Clarke said in an interview Thursday. “You can’t challenge whether it’s right or wrong.” The ruling will affect about 50 Porter County motorists who have challenged the law. Clarke acted as special judge in the case. Attorney General Linley E. Pearson said the ruling could have a greater impact because defense lawyerssrs across the state could try to use it to free clients of drunken driving charges. “We will appeal this case as soon as we can,” Pearson said, adding he will go to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary to have Clarke’s decision overturned. At the time of Clarke’s order, a Purdue University study said the law had effectively frightened many drivers off Indiana’s roads when they felt they had too much to drink.