Banner Graphic, Volume 14, Number 122, Greencastle, Putnam County, 28 January 1984 — Page 2

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The Putnam County Banner-Graphic, January 28,1984

world /state

Drug web Detroit kids as young as 12 paid $2,000-$5,000 weekly to run narcotics

By HOWARD BLUM c. 1984 N.Y. Times News Service DETROIT A 15-year-old boy recently walked into a suburban Mercedes-Benz showroom, pointed to a black 500 SEL and announced, “I’ll take it.” He paid with $62,000 cash, from a brown paper bag. In the Jeffries Housing Project on the east side, teen-agers are driving new Corvettes, Christmas bonuses for jobs well done. These youths, according to the federal and local lawenforcement authorities, are “runners” for narcotics rings that supply the city’s estimated 50,000 addicts. “We have a unique phenomenon in Detroit,” said Robert J. De Fauw, who is in charge of the local office of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, “in that groups of children as young as 12 years old are being recruited to work in drug rings where they can make as much as $2,000 to $5,000 a week.” In Washington, David Hoover, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, agreed, saying, “No where else in the country have we found so many juveniles involved in such highly structured heroin gangs.” James D. Tishuck, a Detroit narcotics officer, said: “Despite all we do, it’s going to be impossible to stop gangs from recruiting these kids. It is a matter of economics. You’re 12 years old, living in a Detroit housing project, your parents are out of work, and some guy in a fancy car comes by and tells you he can help you make S3OO a day. You’re going to listen.” However, local law-enforcement agencies have taken these actions against heroin-trafficking rings that employ children and teen-agers on the streets: —A special force of local narcotics officers and federal drug enforcement agents has been formed to concentrate on heroin rings. It is financed by the Justice Department to buy drugs, reward informers and pay Detroit officers’ overtime. —A two-year investigation of Young Boys Inc., a group the police say employed 300 young people to sell $350,000 worth of heroin a week, has resulted in 32 convictions and the confiscation of $1.5 million in cash, found in garbage bags. —lnvestigations of Pony Down and Adidas, heroin rings employing many of the young who were in Young Boys Inc., are under way. Recruiting the young for drug trafficking was, according to federal affidavits, the idea of Milton David Jones, 28. The papers showed that in the winter of 1980 Jones left a prison after serving a manslaughter sentence for a killing when he was 17 and began assembling groups of young boys from the Montrey-Dexter neighborhood. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert M. Morgan said Jones would “stand before these kids in a playground and preach to them that he would get them high on money, jewelry and clothes if they worked for him he promised to make them millionaires.”

Banner-Graphic "It Waves For All USPS 142-020) Consolidation of The Daily Banner Established 1850 The Herald The Daily Graphic Established 1883 Telephone 653-5151 Published dally except Sundays and holidays by LuMar Newspapers, Inc. at 100 North Jackson St., Greencastle, Indiana 46135. Entered in the Post Office at Greencastle. Indiana, as 2nd class malkmatter under Act of March 7,1878. Subscription Rates Per Week, by carrier >I.OO Per Month, by motor route >4.55 Mail Subscription Rates R.R. in Rest of 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 “>9.f Mall subscription j>ay*bie in advance . .. not accepted In town and where motor route service is available. Member of the Associated Press The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper.

Putnam County Area Vocational School Adult Vocational Education Classes 'Class will be offered in the following areas if enrollment permits: Registration and Starting Total Class Class Class Day Dates Time Sessions Auto Mechanics* Thursday 2-2-84 5:30-9:30 p.m. 15 Auto Body Repair* Wednesday 2-1 -84 5:30 - 9:30 p.m. 15 Qualified Medication Monday 1 -30-84 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. 16 Aide (QMA)* * Adult Basic Tuesdays 1-31 -84 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. - Education (ABE)/ Thursday GED Classes*** •Tuition and fees are ‘35 (which does not include purchase of books, parts, supplies and materials). ** QMA class Is open to nursing home staff only. Tuition is *IOO plus book. * * ‘There are no charges for the ABE/GED classes For further information call ; 653-3515 or 653-3618

Beirut radio says missile fired at U.S. Navy helicopter

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) A ground-to-air missile was fired today at a U.S. Navy helicopter near the American base at Beirut airport but missed the aircraft, state radio said. U.S. military spokesmen would not confirm or deny the report. The Christian-controlled “Voice of Lebanon’.’ radio also reported the firing, saying the missile was fired at midmorning from the Hay ElSellum stronghold of antigovernment Shiite Moslem militiamen. Spokesman at the U.S. Marine base at Beirut airport declined to comment on either radio report. No other details of the repor-

Last May, when he was sentenced to 12 years in jail for engaging in a continual criminal enterprise and tax offenses, prosecutors said, he had 300 youths selling $50,000 worth of heroin a day. The hierarchical, almost corporate structure of Young Boys Inc. was said to have been devised by Jones and Sylvester Murray, 30, identified by the police as the ring’s chief supplier of drugs. Both the Pony Down and Adidas gangs, which took their names from the athletic shoes their members wore, used Young Boys Inc. as a model for their organizations. As outlined by the police and by Wayne County prosecutors’ reports, Young Boys Inc. operated this way: The leaders of the gang would take raw heroin to a “hookup” house where half a dozen people would, like an assembly line, mix the heroin with sugar and quinine. The mix would be spooned into coin envelopes that would be stamped “Murder One” or “Rolls-Royce,” the street drugs’ brand names. Ten of these envelopes would be grouped in a “bundle.” The “bundles” would be taken by the young people in early morning to where the drugs would be sold. Each such location, usually a street corner or a public housing project, was supervised by a “top dog” who would distribute the envelopes to runners, the lowest and usually the youngest participants. The runners would sell an envelope to an addict for sl3. From this, the organization would receive $10; the runner would get the other $3 as his fee, or “tops.” “If a kid wanted to hustle,” said Tishuck, “his ‘tops’ could come to $306 or S4OO a day. That’s why, when we found an 11-year-old carrying two grand in his pocket, we weren’t surprised.” Sunday, according to prosecutors' papers and wiretaps, was generally payday. All would gather in a downtown warehouse and be paid salaries according to their positions, in addition to their “tops.” Bonuses were frequent. “They would take these kids on trips to Las Vegas and show them things they had only just dreamed of,” De Fauw said. Officer Clyde M. Ritchie, a member of the special force, said, “One of the leaders gave out 16 Corvettes for all the kids to ride around in.” The murders of two teen-agers have been attributed by the police to narcotics gangs’ rivalry. An alleged Pony Down leader has been kidnapped. There have been beatings. But now that the leaders of Young Boys Inc. are serving jail terms, many of the younger members are joining Pony Down, the authorities said. “Except now,” said De Fauw, “the kids who were runners at 12 are now 15 and working in supervisory positions. We’re now going after 15-year-olds who are very experienced criminals.”

ted firing were available. State radio also said President Reagan’s special Middle East envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, arrived in Beirut today to join in efforts to defuse tensions among Lebanon’s warring factions. Meanwhile, Druse opposition leader Walid Jumblatt demanded an international probe into what he called “the mass destruction brought on our towns and villages by direct bombardment from American warships and planes.” In an interview published today by a Beirut weekly, Jumblatt said: ‘“We do not want to be enemies of the American people, and we’re trying through the media to make it plain to the Americans that the policy of their current administration ... will drag the American nation into a new Vietnam.”

OPENING DAY JAN. 28, 1984 w.o.w. 813 S. Jackson Street (next to VFW) Greencastle, Indiana Hours: Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. *ICARIr new AMD USED ARMY SURPLUS Pants Canteens Gloves Hats Shirts Ponchos Socks Ammo Boxes Air Mattresses Consignments accepted on handmade items.

President Amin Gemayel, in a separate statement to the local press, accused the Druse community of trying to make settlement of the Lebanese crisis “impossible.” He complained that Druse leaders had rejected the government’s offer to meat their demand that Druse servicemen be reinstated into the Lebanese army. The soldiers had refused to fight with the Lebanese army against fellow Druse in September’s outbreak of civil war. Gemayel called those Druse servicemen “mutineers” and said the government pledged to give them due promotions after they return to active service “even though such a move is heresy in military terms.” The leftist Beirut newspaper As-Safir said the army command has set Feb. 2 as the deadline for Druse servicemen to return.

Lottery offers profits, problems

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) Nearly S6O million a year could pour into the state treasury from a lottery, a recent study projects. But Ball State University economics professor Larry Deßoer warns that a lottery could create problems for the state. “For every benefit of a lottery there seems to be a disadvantage,” Deßoer said in a report released Thursday at

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John Seymour pulls a boat holding his wife, Toni, daughter Kathleen, 5, and son Daniel, 4, as the family is forced from their mobile home in a trailer park near Snohomish, Wash., about three miles east of Everett. The

1700 acres blackened by Los Angeles basin fires

ByRONSIRAK Associated Press Writer Hundreds of fires whipped by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds today left a charred path of destruction through Southern California after claiming three lives, scorching a dozen homes and cutting off power to more than a million people. The hot, dry winds, which roared through the mountain passes into the Los Angeles basin, sent fires leapfrogging from building to building with gusts of up to 100 mph. But forecasters said the winds had diminished to 20 to 40 mph on Friday and were weakening further today. Before the winds began to die down late Friday, more than 1,700 acres of brush and grass had been blackened. Meanwhile, in Idaho, residents along the Salmon and Lemhi

Complaints target statistical reports USD A shuffles Crop Reporting

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Agriculture Department’s security-conscious Crop Reporting Board has undergone a job shuffle after complaints by some grain traders and farmers that recent supply figures were inconsistent. Four senior employees, including the chairman of the board, have been reassigned, the department announced Friday. Rumors had circulated for a couple of days that the shake-up was imminent, including baseless reports that some people had been jailed on criminal charges. None of it was true. Officials said there were no indications of criminal intent or negligence and that no official investigation had been ordered. One source, who asked not to be identified, said the job shuffle was “largely our reaction to complaints” in the industry about some of the agency’s estimates. William E. Kibler, administrator of the Statistical Reporting Service, said those being reassigned included: —Wilbert H. Walther, deputy

Purdue University. State lotteries are forbidden by the Indiana Constitution. A measure pending in the Legislature would amend the Constitution and make lotteries legal. The lottery bill passed the Indiana Senate and is awaiting action by the House. An Indiana lottery with a numbers game would cost $20.3 million to administer, Deßoer’s report says. Sales would be about $167 million and ap-

rivers were anxiously waiting today to see if dikes would hold back slowly rising rivers fed by melting snow and backed up by ice jams. More than 300 people fled flooding in the Northwest over the past week. In California, a 500-acre fire in the La Canada-Flintridge area 15 miles north of Los Angeles destroyed two houses and damaged five others, causing $1.25 million in destruction, Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Dewitt Morgan said. The blaze was 50 percent under control Friday night, and U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Marilyn Hartley said it would be at least late Sunday before it could be contained completely. Surveying the charred rubble of his house in Rancho Cucamonga, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, Mike Hawkins

Slaughter of cows exceeds levels of 'B3 WASHINGTON (AP) The slaughter of cows continues to run above year-ago levels, partly because of the government’s new program to pay farmers for cutting back on milk production, new figures by the Agriculture Department showed Friday. During the week that ended on Jan. 14, an estimated 180,200 cows of all types beef cows as well as dairy animals were slaughtered at federally inspected plants. Those included 90,500 dairy cows, according to USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. The agency did not keep track of dairy cow slaughter until Jan. 1, when the new program went into effect. But total cow slaughter in the same week of last year was 156,082 head. As expected the heaviest cow slaughter was reported in the big milk states. In the region that includes Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, for example, 40,200 dairy cows were reported slaughtered during the week.

administrator of the agency and chairman of the Crop Reporting Board, who will trade positions with Raymond R. Hancock, director of the state statistical division. —Donald W. Barrowman, director of the estimates division, who will trade with Richard D. Allen, director of the survey division.

proximately $88.5 million would be paid in prizes, leaving a profit of $58.2 million, Deßoer said. A lottery without a numbers game would bring in a profit of $42.4 million, Deßoer said. Sales would total about $106.2 million with about $48.7 million distributed in prizes with administrative costs of $17.1 million, he said. Sales tax revenues would suffer if a lottery were legalized,

park was flooded this week when the Pilchuck River overflowed its banks. Rivers throughout western Washington were receding Friday after flooding brought on by heavy rain and warm temperatures. (AP Laserphoto)

said, “I’m so broken-hearted. Everything I had was in there.” The electrical fire leaped to two other houses, destroying one. A second fire nearby destroyed two mobile homes, Foothill District Fire Chief Richard Feurstein said. Two civilians were injured and several firefighters were overcome by smoke, he said. In all, the Los Angeles Fire Department received a record 2,394 fire reports for the 24-hour period ended 7 am. Friday, Fire Department Inspector Ed Reed said. Hundreds of power lines were blown down, and officials said more than a million homes and businesses were without power at some time Thursday and Friday. At Yosemite National Park, John Douglas Callaway, a 23-

—Robert L. Schulte, chief of the crops branch, who will be assistant director of the estimates division. A new chief of the crops branch will be named later. —John S. Buche, head of the grain section, will trade jobs with John D. Witzig, head of the dairy and cold storage section. Kibler said there will be a

Deßoer said. He said Hoosien would use money norma 11} spent on taxable goods to buy lottery tickets The annual loss of sales tax revenue could total more than $3 million, but Deßoer said that was only a tiny percentage of the $995 collected in 1981. Copies of the report were mailed to lawmakers considering the bill proposed by Sen. John Bushemi, D-Gary.

year-old employee of the park’s concessionaire, was killed Thursday when a 2 pine tree blew onto his canvasroof tent-cabin. A 29-year-old man was electrocuted by a downed power line in Canoga Park near Los Angeles. And a 47-year-old La Crescents man who pulled his van into a turnout on the Angeles Crest Highway near Los Angeles was killed when a 100-mph gust hurled the vehicle down a cliff. In Idaho, George Yanskey of the National Weather Service said the area around Salmon on the ice-clogged Salmon River would remain under flash-flood warning until further notice. On the other side of town, the brimming Lehmi River forced the evacuation of more than 300 people last week and they remained out of their homes.

review of methods used to collect information the board uses for crop reports. A report on 1983 crop production issued Jan. 13 showed the soybean harvest to be larger than expected, which prompted heavy selling on the Chicago Board of Trade’s futures market. But last Monday, another report showed soybean supplies smaller than the trade expected, prompting a turnaround in the markets. The USDA issued another report Tuesday that showed the supply-and-demand situation for a number of crops, including soybeans, failed to confirm either of the two previous reports. Department crop forecasts and other “market-sensitive” reports are prepared under strict security and released after commodity markets have closed. Routinely, the most important reports are prepared behind locked, closely guarded doors and then carried under armed guard to a special room where they are released to reporters according to a precise time schedule.