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Show Tuesday, September End of Cold War means priority I r v. - In A 'M'--l J- a - THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, 4, 1990 " " ' - Page Dl T'Trsrl shift to druq war PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Relaxed relations (AP) with the Soviet Union have allowed the North American Aerospace Defense Command to shift more of its resources to another threat: South American drug smugglers. But NORAD's commander, Gen. Donald J. Kutyna, believes that every time the United States ups the ante, the cocaine cartel will counter with money and stealth. "The way you're going to stop the drug war is at the user level, you're not going to stop it at the interdiction level," said Kutyna, a four-sta- r general and Vietnam veteran who assumed command of NORAD in April. "Remember the Ho Chi Minh trail? Well, we bombed them (the North Vietnamese), we napaimed them, everything else in the whole world. We still couldn't stop them. "The druggie is always going to find an innovative way to get in. We're going to make it tougher for them, we're going to make it more costly, we're going to deter some by putting them in jail. But the price of that stuff is high enough that they're (smugglers) going to keep trying." n NORAD is a joint United command headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base and Colo. States-Canadia- inside the Cheyenne Mountain global eavesdropping complex, both at Colorado Springs. top-secr- et Their listening posts span the globe and extend into space. In a recent interview, Kutyna said that involving his troops in the drug war has boosted morale and sharpened skills. "It gives us a lot of good practice that we weren't getting before," said Kutyna. "Before, we had to to fly as hire Lear jets or enemy intruder targets. Now we've got real targets out there who are really trying to evade us as if their life depends on it, they're a lot more motivated. "So our crews are scrambling at them, several scrambles a day ... something like 51 actual intercepts this year. It's keeping (our crews) sharper. Sitting at alert for hour after hour, day after day, is kind of dull," he said. "It's very good for morale. I think probably my highest morale troops are the guys involved with drug interdiction, from the intelligence segment to the pilots flying intercepts to the guys working in radar, because we're really doing something worthwhile." Among its assets in the drug war, NORAD has 41 ground radar sites in the continental United States and 13 in Alaska; tethered Aerostats - reassert American claims aban- doned 66 years ago if they ever existed. The State Department says this country has never claimed "Ostrov Vrangelya," as its current occupants call it. The Maritime Boundary Treaty signed in June places Wrangel and the four other islands squarely in the Soviet economic-intereet st area. The Alaska legislature, spokesman said that percentage was still "about the same." "That's a very costly way of chasing druggies," said Kutyna, who favors a broader, Si ykr V ground-base- d however, has approved resolutions saying Wrangel should be part of the state and calling for state representation in any negotiations on future owner- ship. Wrangel is 83 miles across the Long Strait from Siberia, 200 miles from the Alaskan mainland. Ben- - JssJ" sSsett the experioverlapping radar net Backscat-te- r mental Radar system. "I can't get Congress to fund it. I don't know if it's politics, or just a matter of money, but they have declared that the drug war is over, we don't have to worry about it anymore and therefore we don't need it." Kutyna said drug smugglers have switched their main route into the United States from the Caribbean to Mexico. "Sixty to 70 percent of the drug traffic now coming into the States is through Mexico," said Kutyna. "At first they used to fly right up through Mexico and across our border. We've precluded that with AWACS patrols there, we've got radar on balloons. So we've kind of shut down the border, much better than it was before, though they can still sneak through every once in a while." The 1989 National Defense Authorization Act assigned the Defense Department as the front-lin- e agency in the fight against the drug barons. Initially, the Pentagon resisted involvement in the domestic "war," but as the Cold War wound down, the military increasingly warmed to the new battle front. This fiscal year the Defense Department will spend an estimated $450 million against drug smugglers; next year, $1.2 billion is budgeted. Still, they have their work cut out for them. Military experts estimate that about 220,000 tons of cocoa leaves are grown in Andean rain forests every year, and that between 3,000 and 5,000 sea trips and up to 3,500 aircraft flights annually bring cocaine to as many as 3 million American users. Federal law prohibits the military from arresting smugglers or firing upon them; the NORAD crews can intercept planes and force them to turn back, or track them until they land and tip off other law enforcement agencies as to their AP Iaserphuto Animal trapper Todd Hardwick, second from right, is shown with a and several assistants captured under a house in Fort Lauderdale, Bruce Bednar, Felix Valez and Joe Wasilewski. nett Island, the farthest out of the four others, is about 800 miles from Alaska. The others are Herald, Henrietta and Jeannette. July temperatures on Wrangel soar to a high of 36 degrees Fahrenheit and the mean reading for February is 13 below. A recent estimate put Wrangel Island's human population at 50. A and Chukchis from the Siberian transplanted mainland was established by the Soviets in 1926. Walruses, seals and polar bears and herds of lemmings live there, too. And Olson recalls an old flickering documentary film showing reindeer prancing in the frozen mists. One of the prime attractions of Wrangel and the shallow seas around it, however, has been the unproven belief that vast oil reserves lie beneath the island and the icy waters off Northeast Sibercolony of Eskimos ia. "Looking beneath the surface of the Arctic waters gives us another vital reason not to give up the area to the Soviets," says Olson. "Oil and gas. Literally billions of bar- rels." Olson has created an organization, State Department Watch, to long, 250 lbs., reticulated python that he Fla. Shown with Hardwick are left to right, 20-fo- ot Snakes Alive - In just two MIAMI (AP) years, an exotic snake abandoned in the wild can grow from cute monster, pet to raccoon-eatin- g and large snakes are becoming a large animal control problem in southern Florida. Big pythons and boa constrictors have been popping up with unwelcome regularity, but the capture of 15- -, 12- - and snakes within eight days in June in Palm Beach County were evidence the problem is getting bigger. "A lot of people think it's nifty to have these snakes as pets," said Ron Magill, assistant curator of Miami's MetroZoo. "Within a few years, that snake can exceed 10 feet. They're also escape . . too often boas, pythons popping up Big . artists." But the escapees are only part of the problem in a region that offers an ideal climate for the y animals. experts believe dozens of snakes have been abandoned in the wild by pet owners after the novelty wears off, the feeding gets too expensive, medical bills get too high, or the snakes become a threat to their owner. cold-war- Wildlife "They release it, evidently unaware or not caring about the impact on the natural environment or the human population in Florida," said Lt. Jim Hoffstodt, spokesman for the state Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission in West Palm Beach. a the case for making Wrangel and the four other islands part of the United States. Appeals from Olson, a former executive director of the Washington-based Conservative Caucus Inc., have created ripples on Capitol Hill, although not lately. Rep. William Dannemeyer, offered legislation that would bar signing away the island without submitting such a treaty to the Senate. But the bill has been stuck in committee for two years and, despite a new sponsor, Rep. Dan Burton, appears headed for oblivion. A similar measure was introduced in the Senate last year by Sen. Jesse Helms, Conservatives, however, are not promising to make a fight of it. "We can't fight every battle," says Conservative Caucus leader Howard Phillips. "We try to fight battles where it can make a difference." He says Wrangel and the waters around it could not only yield a petroleum bonanza but prove militarily vital. Tales of a large island off Northeast Siberia circulated in Russia as early as the 18th Century and fired the imagination of explorer Frederick Petrovich von Wrangel. He searched in 1824 but apparently press Last summer, Todd Hardwick, private trapper of nuisance animals, captured d t, Big Mama, a reticulated python that landed him and her on "The Tonight Show." A crawl space under a Fort Lauderdale house was the snake's home apparently for years. or at least, lukewarm WASHINGTON (AP) Wrangel Island is 2,800 square miles of freezing, windswept tundra off the Siberian coast. Soviets have been camped there for six decades, but Carl Olson calls it 10'J percent American. And the same goes for four other islands flung across hundreds of miles of ocean at the edge of the polar icecap. "There's no question that the five islands belong to Alaska," declares Olson, a crusading Los Angeles teacher. Olson wants the government to U.S.-Sovi- (radar balloons) in Florida and the Southwest; about 60 fighter planes at 30 alert locations, and a fleet of E-- 3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes. Before Iraq invaded Kuwait, 42 percent of the Air Force's AWACS missions were flown against potential drug smugglers. Nearly three weeks after the invasion, a NORAD issue never found it. Its barren shores may first have been sighted by Captain Henry Kel-leof then Royal Navy in 1849 after he discovered Herald Island. But an American skipper, Captain Thomas Long, is often credited for discovering Wrangel on a voyage of the barque Nile in 1867. The U.S. Revenue Marine steamer Corwin under captain Calvin L. Hooper visited Wrangel in 1831. Among those who went ashore was the explorer John Muir whose book, The Cruise of the Cm win, told of the expedition. Wrangel and four other islands that amount to pinpoints in the Arctic Ocean were visited in 1881 by Navy Commander George Washington De Long aboard the vessel Jeannette and surveyed for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. The survey placed all five islands in the District of Alaska as did the United States Geological Survey starting in 1900. But the island remained unoccupied until 1914 when survivors of an n expedition led by Vilhjalmar lived there for six months. Ten years later, the Soviets staked their claim and it was not disputed by the United States, Britain or Canada. tt Stef-fanso- "I get reports all the time of big snakes down on Old Cutler Road," a suburban Miami thoroughfare that borders mangrove swamps, Hardwick said. "Air-boate- rs and hunters see big ones in the Everglades, so there's a lot more out there." State officials acknowledge they don't have a good grasp on the numbers. But Magill warned, "Keep in mind, I think for every snake that's found, there's 10 of them that are never seen." In 1987 and 1988, the Port of Miami handled imports of 1.26 million reptiles, including snakes, turtles and lizards. A total of 18,150 ball pythons, a constrictor known to curl up in a ball, cleared customs. "People don't realize the sheer amounts of animals moving through this country, the amounts being imported into the United States for the pet trade," said Lt. Quinn of the inspections division in Tallahassee. And Hardwick said he has found baby constrictors at two locations in Miami's Dade County, indicating the big snakes may be mating in the wild. Boas can give birth to 60 babies at a time. Tom But the biggest may be ahead. python "as big as Big Mama or bigger yet" is being spotted every few months in a rugged, inaccessible area of Dade County, Hardwick said. "I'm waiting for my opportunity to apprehend it," he said, refusing to disclose the location. A state tightened regulation venomous reptiles July 1 to require one year's experience with the species, but snakes such as the constricting boas and pythons aren't covered. No permit is needed for ownership. The of Feeding rats no easy ask in space shuttle - WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Rats orbiting Earth in the space shuttle need a nutritionally com- plete food that won't break down or allow flakes to weight-lessl- y float around the module. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had the technology for the food, but the deadlines, strict specifications and relatively small orders kept major manufacturers from taking on the project. NASA turned to the American Institute for Baking in Manhattan, Kan., an industry- - and government-supported center for research and development of baked goods. The institute turned to Keith Behnke, a Kansas State University food and feed researcher. The university is to make a batch of 1,500 bars for a flight tentatively scheduled for January. One of Behnke's specialties is extrusion, which involves pumping dough into molds. The rat food had to be in bars a little more than an inch wide, of an inch about thick and 16 inches long. "They had this device built and then they went out to find somebody that would make the bar that would go into the device," Behnke said. three-quarte- rs A Wisconsin company made the vitamin- - and mineral-fortifie- d feed. It is a mixture of wneat gluten, soy protein and wheat flour that costs about $15 a pound. When complete, the bars have to be soft enough for a rat to gnaw and rubbery enough to stick together so small pieces don't get loose. "They look like an gum eraser, have a nutty aroma and taste pretty darn good," said Behnke. odd-shap- The powdered food is made into a sticky dough with the addition of heat and water. The dough is extruded into molds about long. The molded et bars are dried in trays until their moisture content is about 20 percent. Few sit on fence about the respectability of television legal advertising - The actor BOISE, Idaho (AP) playing a construction worker looks into the television camera. "Before my accident, my buddies and I were always joking about lawyers being ambulance chasers," he says, fingering a screwdriver. adThen he took a vice and found the right lawyer. End of commercial. That spot, destined to Goicoechea Law air for Boise-base- d Offices, is the latest wrinkle in lawyer advertising: Debunking fear and loathing of the profession. It comes at a time when record numbers of attorneys are going some anonymously, commercial in order to most reluctantly survive in an increasingly competitive market. Idaho lawyers estimate at least half of their 2,100 peers are actively seeking advertising. The fact isn't lost on consumers, who are being hit with pitches for legal service like never before: On television and radio, in the Yellow-Pageand the mailbox. Even widows and accident victims no longer are immune. Under rule changes adopted in March, Idaho attorneys may now target them for mailings, gleaning their names from obituaries and news accounts. On the airwaves, attorneys eager to drum up business are sponsoring everything from rock radio to Han- del's Messiah. They've created catchy slogans and symbols. National and regional lawyer-referrservices recently have hit southern Idaho with TV dramatizations, urging the injured to phone in 24 hours a day, al toll-fre- e. But as competition-spawne- d mer- chandising heats up, so has ethical debate in dozens of states, including Idaho. In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the floodgates to commercial advertising by lawyers. Today, many states are adopting new restrictions, banning the use of actors and background sound on TV, and requiring law firm mailers to be stamped "ADVERTISING" in red ink. The force behind the conservative national mood is controversial re- cent studies suggesting juries may be biased against plaintiff attorneys who advertise on television. Coeur d'Alene attorney Ken Howard has proposed a state study on the jury-bia- s question, terming the situation "dangerous." Said Howard, "My concern is for the clients of that advertising attorney who aren't going to get a fair shake in court." As critics seek to squeeze the genie back into the bottle, lawyer advertising has become a burgeoning business. Attorney listings and display ads in the 260,000 editions of Boise's current US WEST Direct Yellow-Pagehave ballooned to 29 pages, twice the space devoted to the profession five years ago. The New York-base- d Television Bureau of Advertising expects television advertising by lawyers to top $100 million this year, more than double the sum invested a back. "It's gotten out of hand, to the point where the public has been looking at the legal profession with more disfavor than ever," Howard charged. "They're looking at us s few-year- s like merchants, rather than officers of the court. We, as lawyers, should be concerned about that." "Everyone's doing it in some fashion," said Boise attorney Jim Harris, president of the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association. "It's no longer just a profession; it's a business and businesses advertise." Harris, like many of his peers, feels he must advertise due to intense competition, particularly in the crowded personal injury field. His downtown firm purchased two half-pag- e Yellow Pages ads this year that cost more than $15,000. It wasn't enough. A drop in clients prompted a recent call to an advertising agency. The resulting TV spots have hit the airwaves. Traditional arguments against are that it denigrates the prestige of lawyers, fosters abuse and tarnishes the legal system's credibility. Advocates say advertising in- forms the public about available serves, encourages people to exercise legal rights and reduces costs due to increased competition. Boise's Jerrv Goicoechea, who parlayed aggressive marketing into a chain of law offices in five states, terms critics "stuffed shirts." "We are getting people to think about their rights are, giving them access to the legal profession. Does it cheapen the profession? I say B.S. It doesn't make a lawyer any better, or any worse." Consumer reaction so far has been muted. The biggest outburst came a few months ago, when the Idaho State Bar reluctantly ended its ban against the use of target mail by attorneys, based on a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision. "We were receiving complaints from the public saying, "We got this in the mail. My God, can they do this? Like it or not, they can." said Assistant Bar Counsel Dan Grober of Boise. Philadelphia attorney Jerome chairman of the American Bar Association, predicts increased reliance by lawyers on electronic advertising. The jury is still out as to whether that bodes well for the profession. Said Bogutz, who doesn't adver Bo-gut- z, tise: "From what I've seen, the overwhelming majority of lawyer advertising doesn't offend me. I just hope the consumer is discerning enough to not paint the entire profession with a single blemish." The Commission on Advertising recently released a study on the image of advertising lawyers that found significantly higher tolerance of the ads by consumers than by lawyers. More studies are planned, including one tackling purported jury bias. The first rules prohibiting lawyer advertising were adopted after the turn of the century, launching 70 years of prohibition. Then along came Bates v. State Bar of Arizona. On June 27, 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that young Phoenix, Ariz, attorneys John Bates and Van O'Steen were wrongly facing disciplinary sanctions for placing a newspaper ad promising "reasonable rates." Breaking the ban on lawyer advertising, the court held that it was commercial speech protected by the First Amendment. |