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Show Page HKRAI.O Prnvo Utah Fndav Junp?S HF: 1rftt Scheme Swindles $700,000 In Gold From Aussie Mint As Company Town Closes Eviction Worries Plague Them She also says she's too poor to move. She is a widow without a pension, and survives on $2,400 a year from Social Security. "Right now my rent is $47.60 a month to the company. And the rent for homes In other towns is $200 to $300 a month. I can't do it. I barely get by as it is." By Tom Tiede PRACO, Ala. (NEA) -The days are growing short (or Gencie Allen. In a couple of ways. For one thing, she is more than 80 years old, ill, partially crippled, and, as she sits through a warm evening on the porch of her house, she says she has conbecome increasingly cerned with her mortality. But she adds that she worries more about a second and more imminent deadline in her life. She has been notified that she will be evicted from her home in July. She is one of several dozen residents of Praco who are being forced to relocate by a coal mining that owns the company town. "Where will I go?" she asks Then she breaks down in Mrs. Allen could find ill I I The weeping is going on all about this piney woods community in central Alabama. The eviction is approaching the promise of a bomb. The people of Praco are mostly old, and poor, many have lived here for decades or generations, and they assert in one voice that they are terrified. "It's like a nightmare," Mrs. Allen says, wiping her eyes with her dress, "it's like it's not really true. I lived in this house for 25 years. I paid the rent, I kept it up, I did my best. Now the company says get out, go someplace else. It's like the worst thing that ever happened." The company is Alabama Corp. And it has owned the land in and around Praco since early in the century. At one time it mined the coal that is buried in these Appalachian foothills, and, in the tradition of the coal industry, it began providing housing for its regular employees. The houses were simply designed but effective. Alabuilt 600 bama of them in the 1930s, from softwood and tarpaper, and they provided comfortable low- er rentals in Birmingham, tears. with PERTH. Australia iUPIi Gracie Allen faces eviction. shelter for as many as 1,700 here say people. the rents were low and the company kept the dwellings the land in Praco to prepare for a strip mine operation. The formal evictions were passed around last winter, just before Christmas. The residents begged for a time extention and were given until July 1. Some people have gotten out in the interim, but company observers and residents agree that about 10 families (30 people) are still here. d Including Mrs. Allen. and weak from worry. She says she has not had a Old-time- in good repair. Then the mines closed in the 1950s. And conditions in Praco deteriorated. Today the company maintains a single roadside office, most of the employees have left the area, and the families that remain live in badly weathered shacks that are surrounded by the cruel rubble of neglect. So, Alabama officers have decided that it's time to deal a finishing blow to the company town. They say the houses are an eyesore, that rents do not cover their costs, and, besides, there is talk that the company wants to clear Red-eye- full night's sleep since December, and the matter has been compounded by failing health. "I got arthritis and bad legs," she says, looking at the dirt road that passes her house. "I'm too crippled to move if I wanted." which is 35 miles to the south and east. But she insists the city is out of the question. "I like the hills. I like the birds and the trees. I've lived in peace and quiet for all of my life, and it don't seem right to have to change." There is one other option for Mrs. Allen. She can fight. A few of the residents here have said that if they barricade themselves in their homes, and call the newspapers and television, they may be able to attract supporting public opinion and force Alabama to back down. But then again, probably not. Mrs. Allen says the people of Praco are too old to defend themselves. And much too timid. Last winter some community members called for a mass protest outside the executive offices of Alabama but only four women and an area minister showed up. Thus the dilemma. Mrs. Allen says she can't move and she can't stay. The only thing she can do is put herself in the hands of the Lord. "I got until July. Then the company will come to see if I left. If I'm still here, they'll get the sheriff, and I guess they could haul me off to the jail." She nods her head at that. And chases a fly from her arm. She gets up from her chair, and stands trembling at the edge of her porch. She says she's never been in jail before, and she suggests that, given her great age, it would be best if her time on earth ran out before her time in Praco. (NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.) - A confidence team using a dummy office and worthless checks to pull off an elaborate scheme swindled a government mint out of $700,000 in gold bullion, news reports said Thursday. It was the second time this year that the mint lost a consignment of gold and is apparently the biggest robbery ever in the state of Western Australia. Police and mint officials refused to discuss the incident, but Perth reporters have been able to piece in part from a together much of the story telephone informant who may have been unwittingly involved. The swindle apparently began two months ago and the gold ingots were removed from the mint Tuesday But it was not until Thursday that mint officials discovered that two checks used to pay for Literature Class Irks Some Parents - A high school EASTHAMPTON. Mass. (UPI) literature course which includes teaching "about satanism and the devil" has upset some parents who feel Bible teaching should be included as a counter influence. The teacher suggests it's much ado about nothing. School Committe woman Nancy L. Lech said she has received "several complaints from parents" about literature involving Satan and witchcraft "and things of that nature" in the course that has been in the curriculum eight years. includes Gothic Literature The course reading of Edgar Allan Poe works and the novels "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Amityville Horror." "I do feel very strongly that if they're going to teach about satanism. then they should teach about the Bible." said Mrs. Lech. Claire Stewart, who created the course in 1975 and still teaches it. defends it saying she uses such literature as "a vehicle to teach the basics." JENSEN WOODBURY DUO mined he no longer is dangerous a institution that was founded by crusader Dorothea Dix and once was home to poet Ezra Pound. St. Elizabeths Hospital, whose initial red brick building opened in 1855 as the first Federal "Hospital For The Insane," now embraces 125 "collegiate-Gothic- " style structures positioned around 320 wooded acres. Situated where the Potomac and Anacostia rivers meet in the city's southeast corner, an brick wall sur "It is not a punishment unit." the spokesman Devoted to presenting the guitar as a sensitive and versatile concert instrument, this Duo has been touring Utah exclusively, charming audiences fromSnowvilletoSt George with the sounds of their collaboration. Their repertoire includes transcriptions (or guitar by Bach, Purcell. and Debussy: lute duets of the compositions. bridge to basketball. said. "The idea is not to There are some 2.000 alienate (a patient) from resident patients and ment. society, but help him 3.000 outpatients at the Ground was broken for back with it. There is overall hospital, down the original building in like a uniform or from a high of 5,000 resinothing 1852 after a crusade dents in the 1960s. shooting President restricting visitors." started by social The maximum new a in security Although a pioneer Reagan, began Dorothea Dix reformer round of mental evalua- unit for the criminally in- using psychotherapy, on behalf of the mentally tions Wednesday at the sane where Hinckley will psychonalysis group, ocill. hospital to determine if be housed, the John cupational and dance Richard Lawrence, he has "recovered his Howard Pavilion, is a and therapy who was found innocent St. sanity" and is eligible for hydrotherapy, release. His first hearing facility. Elizabeths came under by reason of insanity of 225 There are about 9. His is Aug. federal censure several trying to shoot President parents say they will not press for patients in the facility. years ago and its license Andrew Jackson, died which to operate was tem there in obscurity in 1861. release until they are Daily theraphy satisfied he has can include sessions with social workers, psycholorecovered. FUN-UV-- IT Hinckley will have a gists and psychiatrists private room and will be generally last less than UNIVERISTY MALL CROSSROADS PLAZA able to keep his clothes half a day, a spokesman Level 2, North Concourse West Wing and other possessions, a said. Sort lake City, Utah Orem, Utah He said recreational hospital spokesman said. Free Games Aslo Good At 'ix-stor- d The Game Master d iMIiKMHi M.MII.ME ENJOY SUMMER SKATING! Won. thru Sat. 1:30 to 4:00 Mon. thru Thurs. 7:00 to 9:30 Fri. and Sot. 7:00 to "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!" "WHITE WATER WAHOO!" . . . Great Summer Fun. Mon. thru Sat. Open to 10 to EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: SLIDE TIL 1 P.M. CLASSIC FUN DAY PASS: a.m. 'Ill 1 p.m. :30 p.m. 'til 4 p.m. Slide 10 Skate 1 s5.00 activities 'range from porarily lifted on grounds the institution was not providing adequate treat- June. However, according to the manager, Kerry I'hilps. the office was not used until Tuesday mornmen arrived. They later ing, when five left and a voung woman arrived to answer calls. She had been employed by phone through an emplovrr.ept agency It is behevtd one of the con men spent several weeks establishing his "name" with the mint, callon gold prices. It is ing frequently for information not yet known how the checks were presented to the mint in payment. Classical guitarists Hinckley Hospital Founded by Crusader rounds the entire area with manned guard posts at gates to check all incoming and outgoing traffic. Hinckley, acquitted by reason of insanity of of CONCERT FROM 4 TO 6 I'M JUNE 27TH Renaissance. Flamingo-influenceSpanish pieces by de Kalla and Albeniz;and 2(lth century WASHINGTON (LTD The mental hospital where John Hinckley Jr. will stay until it is deter- the gold werejvorthless. swindle began According to news accounts, the of an April 30 when a man telephoned the manager office block in suburban Subiaco and rented office until the end space, arranging payment in advance M'NDANt'K 11 AH II H.I. FKhK |