Banner Graphic, Volume 21, Number 178, Greencastle, Putnam County, 2 April 1991 — Page 1

BannerGrßMßfc Greencastle. Putnam County. Tuesday April 2 1991 Vol. 21 No 178 35 Cents

Cloverdale gangs? Signs of activity have authorities worried

By ANGIE HOWLAND and LISA MEYER Banner-Graphic Staff Writers CLOVERDALE Maintaining law and order in a quiet town the size of Cloverdale, population 1,681, is a 24-hour job for its threeman police force. Usually, drunk drivers and several loose dog complaints are a main source of business for Chief Jim Kabzinski and officers Jeff Cox and Ken Grundlock. BUT A NEW TWIST has been added to their police duties recently. Kabzinski and his officers have witnessed the growth of gang activity in their town, and they are now working to curb the potential for criminal activity that goes hand-in-hand with gangs. It’s as clear as the writing (or spray painting) on the wall, at least according to local and state police: A gang problem is brewing in Cloverdale. Kabzinski, Cox and Grundlock have been keeping an eye on the boys and girls they think might be involved with the gangs known to be in Cloverdale. But even though those gangs have not caused any criminal problems yet, the chief said, it is the potential for gangrelated crime that has him worried. IT WAS ABOUT a month ago that Chief Kabzinski and his officers began noticing elaborate graffiti popping up on town buildings and area bridges. The spray painting wasn’t the regular “Joe loves Jane’’ sort of writing, either. This was graffiti of champagne glasses, pitchforks, stars and artistic alphabets. Jill Rice, Indiana Stale Police intelligence coordinator, recently met with the Cloverdale policemen and confirmed Kabzinski’s suspicions that the graffiti was being painted by gang members. Since she has worked with the Metro Gang Task Force to identify and curb the gang problem in Marion County, Rice is well-ac-

PCH ‘Special Delivery’ classes starting April 8

Putnam County Hospital’s pre-natal education program, “Special Delivery,” will not be starting the first Monday in April as planned. IN A BREAK with tradition, and because of this year’s schedule of spring break, the sixsession program will begin on Monday, April 8. The session includes an addi-

Medicare coverage due for PCH mammograms

Medicare recipients now have the benefit of coverage for receiving mammography screenings. Putnam County Hospital is a facility approved by Medicare to conduct the screenings. WOMEN OVER age 65 on Medicare can have a screening mammogram every two years. Those on Medicare between ages 35 and 39 will be covered for one baseline screening. Women age 40-49 will be covered for a screening every second year, unless they are con-

Consider it spring break

Mostly clear overnight with low near 40. Increasing cloudiness Wednesday with high in the lower to middle 60s. Chance of showers developing Wednesday night. Southeasterly winds at 510 mph through the period. Indiana Extended Forecast Thursday through Saturday: Partly cloudy and warm Thursday and Friday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Dry and warmer Saturday. Highs will range from

J -KTJ Sign of gang at Cloverdale?

quainted with the signs and activities of gangs. RICE SAID SHE HAD first noticed gang s ; gns about a year ago in Cloverdale when she saw youths wearing gang-associated clothing. She also saw grafitti spray painted on bridges and road signs. “Sophisticated” is the word Rice uses to describe the graffiti she has seen in Cloverdale. “This is good graffiti, not amateurish,” Rice told the BannerGraphic recently while discussing the gang signs in Cloverdale. Rice asked that the gangs not be identified by name, clothing or gang signs to avoid promoting gang pride and imitation by other youths. THE GRAFFITI SHE spoke of is on the rear wall of buildings in an alley between Main and Lafayette streets. Two gangs have written on the wall, she said. The first gang marked its territory, using its own symbols and words. The second gang put down the first gang by spray painting over some symbols. The second gang also painted its rival’s sym-

tional two weeks for those interested in becoming certified in infant/child CPR. The classes start at 6:30 p.m. in the hospital’s ground-floor classroom. Participants are asked to wear comfortable clothing and to bring two bed pillows. THERE IS NO charge for the pre-natal classes for those delivering at PCH.

sidered part of a high-risk category. Those age 50-64 can have a yearly mammogram. One in nine women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime. The sooner a cancer is detected, the better the chance for treatment and therapy. Mammography has been proven to be an excellent means of detection. TO MAKE AN appointment for a screening mammogram, persons may call the hospital at 653-5121, extension 539.

the 60s on Thursday and Friday to 65 to 75 on Saturday. Lows will be in the 40s each morning. Abby AS Calendar AS Classifieds AB,A9 Comics A 4 Crossword A 9 Heloise AS Horoscope A 9 Obituaries AlO People • A 4 Sports A7,AB Theaters AlO

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bols upside down, which is considered a put-down. “The wall shows a confrontation,” Mrs. Rice said. CHIEF KABZINSKI readily points out that the gangs have not been associated with any crimes, but it is the potential for crime and violence among gang members has him concerned. Since last December, administrators and teachers at Cloverdale Jr.-Sr. High School have noticed some strange signs and symbols popping up on student’s notebooks and papers. In March, Rice also met with the teachers and administrators to discuss the potential gang problem in their school and how to recognize the signs of a gang. CHS acting-Assistant Principal Dan Bain told the Banner-Graphic that in talking with several students, some show excitement over the possibility of being involved in a gang. “THEY ARE fascinated because of the gang writing and initiation stories,” Bain explained.

Two-home Berry St. project approved

By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Editor A pair of single-family residences are under construction on West Berry Street today, following action last week by the Greencastle City Plan Commission. Steve Buchanan received unanimous approval from the Plan Commission to develop a two-lot subdivision on .58 acres of ground on the south side of Berry Street. A DOZEN BERRY Street residents visited City Hall to listen to Buchanan’s plans for the vacant lot, located just west of the red brick house owned by Dan Eiteljorge at 110 W. Berry St. Buchanan, who has built similar homes in Stilesville, said his plan includes “two custom-built homes.” He plans to built them to sell, not rent a disclosure that produced an audible sigh of relief from the Berry Street contingent after a question by Eiteljorge. The homes will be 36-feet wide and 50-feet long with the living area 24-feet wide, joined by a 12-foot-wide single-car garage, the developer said. THE SUBDIVISION plan provoked no questions from the Essential Services Committee, City Plan Commission President Terry Hall noted. Water and sanitary sewers are readily available and the new homes will not create any added police- or fire-protection concerns, she explained. Buchanan detailed a 50-foot front-yard setback, doubling the required 25-foot standard. Side-yard setback will be 10 feet on both sides, which meets all residential specifications. Buchanan will not develop the rear portion of the long lot delineated by a chain-link fence because there is no access to that section off either Berry Street or Sunset Drive. THE HOMES, FOOTERS for which were dug Monday, will be three-bedroom, 1 ’/2-bath residences. The property has been subdivided into tyvo lots, one 13,413 square feet and the other 11,831 square feet.

He said that more junior high school-age kids seem to be interested than the older students. But he agreed that involvement in a gang is dangerous. “Some people think that it is just a friendly clique or a group of kids going out soaping windows,” Bain said. “That is not true at all. They take oaths and vows to protect each other and people can get seriously hurt.” THAT POTENTIAL for gangassociated problems is the reason Cloverdale police are keeping an eye on teen-agers who may be influenced by these people. Chief Kabzinski explained there arc several youths in Cloverdale he described as gang “wanna-bes.” Such young people look up to the gang members and hope to join the group. And they range in age from older elementary pupils into the high school students. But these gangs aren’t just kids forming a club, soaping windows and coming cars, Kabzinski said. These are gangs that boast of stealing cars, setting fires, armed rob-

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Work begins on one of two houses being built by Greenwald Enterprises, Indianapolis, on a .58-acre West Berry Street lot owned by Steve Buchanan. Mike Reynolds (standing) of Camby and Doug Greenwald, Indianapolis, were prepar-

The two-lot development would not even have been before the Plan Commission, President Hall noted, except that it had not been part of a platted subdivision. WARREN HARLAN made the motion to approve Buchanan’s petition for secondary, or final, approval. Following a second by Mayor Mike Harmless, the motion was passed unanimously. Meanwhile, another two-lot subdivision also unanimously won secondary approval from the City Plan Commission. A two-home development along the west side of Manhattan Road, just south of Lobdell-Emcry (Greencastle Manufacturing), the subdivision is the project of Loretta and Bob Huff. The Huff subdivision is being developed on 1.25 acres in the twomile fringe area. The Huffs originally came forward with a petition for six lots. However, approval

bery, fighting and violent initiations into their organizations. “NO GANG IS involved in anything honest,” Rice said. “A lot of parents just aren’t aware of what even is involved in gangs,” she said. To acquaint local police with the signs of gang activity, Rice has conducted seminars to educate the officers and school staff on what to look for when dealing with a gang or the gang “wanna-bes.” Police agencies define a gang as a group of people that form an allegiance for a common purpose and who engage in unlawful or criminal activity. Rice said that many of the gangs arc run like a business association that requires membership dues. Some gang members also carry beepers. MORE THAN 90 gangs have been identified in central Indiana by the Indianapolis Metro Gang Task Force. The gang problem grew here, Rice said, as it did nationwide after the release of the movie “Colors.” That film portrayed Los Angeles gang

ing the footers Tuesday at the two-lot subdivision approved last week by the City Plan Commission. (Banner-Graphic photo by Gary Goodman).

was given for only two frontage lots at present. THE TWO LOTS WILL have septic systems (no sanitary sewers are available outside city limits). As part of the motion to approve the subdivision, the Plan Commission stipulated that the rear portion of Huff property cannot be developed until either city sewers are run into the area or the Huffs build a sewer system on their own. Neither of those circumstances is expected to develop for at least several years. City Engineer Ron Smith did express concern over the placement of one of the garages and how it might affect future development of an access road to the rear of the property. Such a road could possibly become a city or county road in the future upon full development and dedication of the street. As part of Jim Gram’s motion for approval, the stipulation was made

Gang-related spray painting on the walls of some buildings in downtown Cloverdale has Cloverdale Police Chief Jim Kabzinski looking to nip a potential gang problem in the bud. (BannerGraphic photo by Angie Howland).

violence between the Crips and the Bloods, the largest and most-or-ganized gangs in the nation. Those two gangs are so organized that they have taken over Los Angeles, and the gang problem there is completely out of control, Rice said. But in order to make more drug money, and because they are wanted by Los Angeles Police, the Bloods and Crips have branched out eastward. Indiana, particularly Marion County, has been a settling spot for some hard-core gang members. THE GANGS RECRUIT young members, sell drugs and have set up crack houses in at least one large northern Indiana city. She explained that gang members have a “pecking order.” To gain rank within the group, its members must commit crimes. And the only way a member of the Crips or the Bloods can leave the gang, is to be killed, or at least beaten to the brink of death. But, the Crips and the Bloods are

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that the gravel driveway would be paved and curbed at the developer’s expense before being dedicated as a city street. IN OTHER BUSINESS, the City Plan Commission: Approved, at the request of the city administration, vacation of a 12-foot alley adjacent to the Moose Lodge parking lot between Madison and Market streets. The alley has not been used by the public for several years and its vacation is expected to spur negotiations between the city and Moose Lodge on construction of a long-term parking lot along Market Street. The Moose Lodge owns the entire block now after purchasing and razing a house at Washington and Madison streets. Harlan’s motion for vacation was approved unanimously. The matter will now go before the Greencastle City Council for its approval. Agreed unanimously to conCol. 4, back page, this section