Show fiA Standard-Examine- r Thursday Now 22 1990 National Marijuana use remains popular Big-c- at trainer retires shadow of cocaine publicity users risk arrest for drug’s highs In He’s lost speed PITTSBURGH (AP) — He performed in places like Madison Square Garden more times Frank Sinatra Jack Dempsey and lots of other big names But after 11697 shows animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Wil-lia- his last performed act this week with the Ringling Bros and Bamum & Bailey Circus “Everybody asks me ‘Why now?” he said in the thick German accent he hasn’t lost since he came to the United States 22 years ago “I want to step down when 1 am really good I don’t want to be like Ali Sugar Ray ‘Another Fight another fight’” A US citizen since 1979 he d calls himself but a proud American” He often sports a cowboy hat and a Western-styl- e shirt Though he’s 56 remains enviably trim 141 pounds with a ruddy complexion and his trademark sweep of blond hair g “German-engineere- Gebel-Wil-lia- I j 1 ! caused by cannabis in a human being” WASHINGTON — Ruth knows that smoking marijuana once virtually ignored by the than death-defyin- By CAROLYN SKORNECK The Associated Press The Associated Press Gunther is leaving circus performance after 42 years on the road Gebel-Willia- He announced two years ago that he would retire from “The Greatest Show on Earth” at the end of the 1990 season He plans to settle at his winter home in Venice Fla with his 20 Bengal and Siberian tigers After 42 years on the road he said training 20 tigers is getting a little riskier because he has lost some of his quickness and his eyesight is not what it used to be And glasses wouldn’t look so hot with his tights skin-huggi- and sequined boleros he joked “When you have 20 tigers it’s not easy to act like nothing can happen” he said “I’ve been like their father their brother I’ve been in charge always But when one tiger is hurt they always blame me” His domination in the ring traincomes from a ing method based on mutual respect that separates him from his chair-an- d predecessors like Clyde Beatty and Mabel Stark who taught high-grad- animals to fear them strokes his Gebel-Willia- elephants’ trunks pats the tigers and mumbles commands in German Indian or English He welcomes animal rights advocates to attend his training sessions “That’s the difference between me and everybody else” he said “I did everything with open doors In 21 years never did somebody say I treated an animal wrong” soft-spok- whip-wieldi- Judge awards $2 million to girl hurt by swing ALEXANDRIA La (AP) — A Nancy C Glanker of Alexandria state judge has awarded more Lee found the Rapides Parish than $2 million to a child injured School Board and the state Dewhen an adult-size- d metal swing partment of Health and Hospislammed into her hip during a tals which runs Pinecrest-equallkindergarten field trip at fault for Jennifer’s inJennifer Mangel 7 was injured jury and liable for the damages on May 25 1988 during a field State attorneys said Friday trip to Parent’s Park at Pinecrest they would appeal Lee’s ruling State School a residential school saying his findings were erronefor the mentally retarded ous and the damage award was Lee who heard the case in excessive An attorney for the May without a jury awarded school board said the board was $21 million in damages to Jenni-- 5 considering an appeal fer and $250000 to her mother “To date Jennifer’s life has been very sad to say the least but the quality of her future life is ” District even worse Judge Robert E Lee wrote in his opinion released Wednesday “Jennifer has nothing to look forward to but a life of surgery pain anxiety mental anguish" A metal glider-typ- e swing weighing about 60 pounds hit Jennifer on her hip when she slipped while pushing a friend The judge said the the children were not adequately supervised public and police is now considered “a very deviant thing It's very taboo” The San Francisco professional is married has children and a respectable job She knows that even though California’s marijuana law is still relatively lenient a drug bust could threaten her livelihood e Yet she still smokes sinsemilla a potent form of the plane several times a week and the park was not safe for children Joseph T Dalrymple an attorney for Jennifer and her mother said the girl has had two operations and will need several more She also is likely to suffer from severe arthritis and may need a hip replacement when she is in her 30s he said She now wears a brace shaped like a metal girdle that keeps her legs spread wide apart to reduce pressure on the hip joint Dalrymple said Why? “It’s a very nice high” she said “Often in these drug stories people forget to mention that part” Ruth is far from alone Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug today the crack epidemic notwithstanding Perhaps as a result 38 states arrest more people for marijuana than for cocaine and heroin combined government statistics show Last year almost 400000 people were busted on some kind of marijuana charge The drug’s popularity stems in part from the fact that it is a known quantity — almost 66 million Americans have tried it at least once many of them during its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s The 1988 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found that 66 million Americans used it once a week or more and 116 million had used it in the previous month It is considered relatively safe Today’s marijuana may be far stronger than its counterpart a decade ago as the government says but Harvard psychiatrist Lester Grinspoon notes there is “no reliable evidence of death More veterans disclosing unfair treatment ! Cases piling up against Feres rule them But the Supreme Court is deeply divided over the validity of the Feres judge-mad- e Doctrine Four members — Chief Justice William H Rehnquist and Justices Byron R White Harry A Blackmun and Sandra Day O’Connor — support it Three are By AARON EPSTEIN hostile to it: Antonin Scalia Newspapers WASHINGTON — When an Thurgood Marshall and John Army surgeon operated on Ar- Paul Stevens That leaves the issue in the thur K Jefferson in 1945 he left hands of the two newest membehind telltale evidence of carelessness in the soldier’s stomach: bers: Anthony M Kennedy and a 30- - by towel marked David H Souter While on the 9th US Court of “Medical Department US ArAppeals Kennedy joined two my" When Coast Guard helicopter opinions that enforced the doctrine but criticized it Souter’s pilot Horton Winfield Johnson views are unknown responded to a distress call in In a new petition lawyer Victofoul weather in Hawaii in 1982 De Goff of Berkeley Calif ria he relied on radar assistance from asks the high court: “Has the Federal Aviation Administration time come to overrule Feres?” controllers crashed into a mounIf not then maybe the court tain and died with his crew should limit it to true military When Janice Bon of the Navy situations she suggested was paddling a canoe while oil De Goff represents the families in 1985 she was injured by duty of three servicemen killed in a a Navy recreational motorboat highway accident while returning y serviceoperated by an from Disneyland to Nellis Air man Force Base in Las Vegas in 1981 Had Jefferson Johnson and van went off the road Their Bon been civilians the US govrolled over crashed and burned ernment could have been sued The van was leased by the Air and forced to pay sizable damForce for a tnp intended “to enages But a widely criticized hance the morale and welfare of d rule has prevented a federal judge said the troops" countless members of the armed In dismissing a negligence suit forces or then- survivors from suthe government he said: against d ing for injuries or of this claim “Prosecution deaths caused by the negligence would into the require inquiry federal of the government of decisions propriety military The rule which has come to be and would impact upon known as the Feres Doctrine has This case involves prebeen defended as vital to military the kind of judicial intercisely discipline and attacked as irratio- ference into military affairs nal harsh and unfair As it nears which Feres seeks to avoid” its 40h birthday on Dec 4 its e In June a panel creator the Supreme Court is agreed The judges citing Janice under renewed and heightened Bon's canoe accident said the pressure not to praise it but to Feres Doctrine bars even a suit bury it y recrestemming from There is no question about ational activities as long as they suits arising from combat inju- were “under direct military ries Congress has prohibited Knight-Ridde- r 18-in- ch off-dut- court-create- - service-relate- Many veterans disillusioned ' by health care ST PETERSBURG Fla (AP) — When Andy Cox retired from the US Army in 1977 after 22 years in the military he took for granted the promise of lifelong health care That was until he fell off a ladder in 1987 suffering a traumatic head injury which left him a quadriplegic — unabld to speak even swallow k Costs for his treatment were high but his health insurance was good — while it lasted But provision in the law stripped him of that coverage and put him under the Medicare program — with fewer benefits “There’s one thing they forgot to tell him when he was fighting for his country for 22 years” said Cox’s wife Terry “You only get to keep your health insurance if you stay healthy” Cox isn’t alone Many military retirees don’t find out until it’s too late about provisions that around-the-cloc- military-- sponsored end coverage under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services — CHAMPUS — if they are disabled and require continuous medical care for longer than two years or when they reach the age of 65 Under the 1972 law when CHAMPUS ends the government-shealth care plan Medicare takes over But veterans say the swap cheats them of benefits they earned leaving them with coverage that is not nearly so extensive in seubsidized vere cases like Cox’s For Cox 53 who has remained almost motionless in bed since his injury Medicare has been of little help It offers limited provisions for home health care and none for him since his case was classified as “maintenance” The couple has been left financially devastated “There’s a lot of people out there who don’t have the coverage they think they have” said Patrick DeLeon administrative assistant to Sen Daniel Inouye “Trouble is you don’t hear about them until they’re hit with a situation like this" HMm Shop around and compare But before you buy come in and see why our trees are a step above the rest You can have SPECIAL cuned 530 :LI0llELSETc7QqqiS' 4I3' Ifidng“iS“nt na-M07c- iiiiiinm orU t't’n the perfect tree year after year and we can even show you how to put the lights on your tree so they can be folded up with the tree s Vicki “GIVE US A TRY” Get a head start on Christmas - 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