Show A10 The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday June 9 1991 Tiny Pest Poses Big Problems Back East Spraying Gypsy Moths E 1Vr: Deadbeat Dads Lively When It Comes to Shirking Child Support By Julia M Klein NEWS SERVICE KNIGHT-RIDDE- BURLINGTON Vt — It was a barerers' romance: They met at a savings and loan convention in Rhode Island and honeymooned at another S&L convention in Los Angeles On Sundays just for fun they would drive around and price houses At first Irene Howard was thrilled with the trim mustachioed mortgage banker she had married "He was Prince Charming" she said But her fairy tale soon dissolved Within months she said her husband began drinking heavily staying out late and spending all their money Two children and one divorce later the prince turned into I loudini Slipping in and out of jobs and states David George Howard disape a peared as quickly as his could officer collections trained track him down While she worked three jobs and their daughters now 7 and 8 years of age ate oatmeal for dinner Howard 43 racked up a debt of $41789 over seven years according to the Vermont Office of Child Support Services His skill at eluding the authorities recently earned Howard a badge of dishonor: placement on a list of 23 fanational thers who have willfully fallen thousands of dollars behind on payments The list issued by the National Council of State Child Support Enforcement Administrators highlights a national problem: Despite increasingly creative and sometimes controversial means of snaring delinquents less than half of all child support owed in this country is being paid "What we're trying to do is get some public interest so folks can be our eyes and ears out there" said Harry W Wiggins president of the group issuing the list and director of Virginia's Division of Child Support Enforcement "A number of states have tried this in the past and it's been very very successful" Some say exposing delinquent fathers to public embarrassment hurts those it is designed to help "We think it's harmful for children to see their parents in handcuffs or held up to national ridicule" said David L Levy president of the National Council for Children's Rights in Washington DC which promotes shared custody and mediation in divorce cases But there is no disputing that the list features world-clas- s deadbeat dads men who have grown adept at living outside the law Its targets including former Washington Redskins running back Timothy L Smith often have changed names jobs addresses and even Social Security numbers to avoid obligations They have become to avoid wage withholding gotten paid in cash to keep the Internal Revenue Service from tracking them and have moved repeatedly to escape arrest or other legal action Their disappearances have generally left their families in grave emotional and financial straits and their chilSmith's dren ages 8 and 9 whose names officials refuse to release are owed $25615 — and are living in New Mexico on welfare Irene Howard 37 said she had fallen behind on mortgage payments and other bills destroying her credit record "I'm a banker-:he said and I wouldn't touch ex-wif- child-suppo- most-wante- child-suppo- most-wante- d rt d child-suppo- e i Not Ultimate Solution child-suppo- child-suppo- rt rt rt cable-televisio- n sures of lists d offenders sometimes hard-cor- e e hot line numcoupled with bers has become widespread nationwide Wiggins said Virginia's three lists had helped find 85 percent of their targets toll-fre- rt child-suppo- rt federal statistics Because women usually retain custody state officials say about 90 deto 95 percent of linquents are men The reasons people dodge payments are a matter of child-suppo- rt child-suppo- rt controversy Geraldine Jensen president of Association the Toledo for Children for Enforcement of Support Inc whose members primarily are women owed child support blames lax enforcement and in says the government agencies and "understaffedare charge Ohio-base- tree-by-tre- d '( A hearing problem i - could be a medical problem -r IiHr o ii i ' - :i : Ida-- u -- t a Pair 1)1 wrote - 4A 1 ' ':: 4 a :! I J - : ii i "r 1 i 4 44 ti — 0-- ''': Iti"'s' '' :)t'r i06 - ret41t14trwief vr "'el 4 - - c ' - 1' - y af -- -' 11 - T''''' - a "'fl :A"I' '': 14'-' wo : - '1'''-' ': "'‘I 1 11 1' ::77 V:: ! Ii1' 1' IR ! -- 2N- c rYb1- rl''' t i 'i''' 5 “ f -- -- - 1 1 f -- ig ::' 2 -' i'i"ig'- 1" : '' :'77 - ' ' - '"f1o '1-s- 4 t0?1! i':1 11rcH' t -" Or Te - '444 "r"' v :1'7:4110H 7: " :z - rort-'- The Associated Press now-defun- ct al est pest management For the fiscal year that ended September 1990 the Forest Service spent $136 million Fighting the gypsy moth in Pennsylvania has been a hit and miss affair says Barry Towers chief of the state's Division of Forest Pest Management "There 'are 18 million acres of forest land out there Probably half of that is oak" he says "There's no way we could spray that many acres We just don't have that many people" The Dodsons' father began the lumber company in 1944 to escape the coal mines Having spent more than 30 years underground Chester Dodson's health was impaired by Black Lung Disease He saw gold in the region's vast oak stands left to prosper when a blight wiped out competing chestnuts in the early part of the century And land was relatively cheap Those were the days when timber stands on the mountains overlooking the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River could be bought for per thousand board feet Now prices are for the same amount Darrel Dodson says Dodson Bros cut and processed 25 million to 3 million board feet a year in its better years in 1987 and 1988 Much of the timber was cut into railroad ties some was made into furniture The scraps were made into paper Oak grew nearly exclusively after the chestnut blight and for the next 50 years making a nearly forest especially susceptible to gypsy moths In the 1970s state and private forestry experts warned the Dodsons and other lumber operators in the region that the gypsy moth was headed their way Tales of defoliated forests and warnings to take defensive action went unheeded by the Dodsons says Lorrell Steach Bedford County's Gypsy Moth Education Coordinator In their area right where the sawmill is it was hit very bad" she said But they didnt spray" Utah Pinning Hopes On a $4 Million Spraying Program Utah officials are planning on r spending $4 million in a battle to prevent the gypsy moth from devastating forests along the Wasatch Front five-yea- According to Dick Kline Forest Service spokesperson Utah has embarked on a "full eradication" program to keep the pest from gaining a toehold in the state and doing the massive amounts of damage it has done back East The moth was first detected in Utah in 1988 and officials feared heavy infestations could lead to economic losses from defoliation and watershed damage Large populations have been found in the Wasatch Front foothills where the moth feeds on oak brush So far damage to Forest Service lands has been negligible because of a massive spraying program launched in 1989 Moth populations in treated areas have decreased significantly but it will take until at least 1993 to eliminate the pest said Dick Wilson Utah Department of Agriculture's director of plant industries This spring officials have gun to spray 30000 acres of vate and federal land $20-$2- 5 $150-$25- 0 one-speci- bepri- :i!::t:::::!::: 't- :::-t s ''' ---i - 7- --t-o-- d 6' if-- - VI" —Vt-!- 1-- "'" f ! 1r1 ? i V lii: 4 b1 Sr I '' : 1 ret a l'irkl t - 1 - 11- - i “! 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programs for fiscal 1989 only 47 percent was paid On the other hand total collections which includes debts accumulated from previous years nearly doubled from $27 billion in 1985 to $53 billion in 1989 according to child-suppo- 'e : ' south-centr- most-wante- most-wante- ' I Eastern forest lands eating lumber mills out of business Clair Dodson and his three brothers are among the bug's latest victims Nearly 3000 wooded acres owned by the Dodsons and another 2000 managed by them in the Appalachian Mountains near this Pennsylvania hamlet are being munched to death by gypsy moths After 47 years of harvesting and milling majestic red chestnut and white oak Dodson Bros Lumber Co went out of business in April and was sold piecemeal at auction Gone were the skidder debarker huge saw chipper and milling machines that provided the Dodson's livelihood for so many years "The gypsy moth has pretty well decimated the timber I have" says Darrel Dodson 51 So dense was the onslaught gypsy moth droppings sounded like rainfall "In the spring get a breeze it looked like someone dropping pepper" says Clair Dodson 62 "They'll float for miles and miles" More than 200 people from as far away as Iowa slogged through the mud of Groundhog Valley in the shadow of Harbor Mountain on a cold rainy day to bid on 331 pieces of the company With Clair and Darrel and brothers Veryl 64 and Lewis 60 19 people lost their jobs with the sale including Clair's son The end came at the end of April the same time new moths began to hatch for another feeding season About 30 miles to the south in central Bedford County the story is much the same but a decade removed for the MC Houseworth Lumber Co Houseworth has about the same number of employees as Dodson Bros but with three times the timber holdings It has spent nearly $250000 in the past eight years to protect 4000 acres of mostly oak and some maple walnut and poplar on Évitts Mountain owner and President David Fisher says Its remaining 11000 acres not yet mature and not worth the expense of spraying have been left for the moths he says Fisher says spraying has bought his company about 10 years of operations But by 2001 Fisher expects Houseworth too will be going out of business The gypsy moth is considered the most serious insect threat to Pennsylvania's forests according to the state Bureau of Forestry's Division of Forest Pest Management A native of Europe Asia and North Africa the brown or white insect was introduced into Massachusetts from Europe in 1869 by French scientist Etienne Leopold Trouvelot He was hoping to produce a new race if insects resistant to diseases that had swept Europe and nearly decimated the silk industry Some of the insects escaped A menace was unleashed The gypsy moth particularly likes oak It spread from the New England states and has been moving southwesterly across Pennsylvania for the past decade The gypsy moth is firmly established as far west as Michigan through Ohio and West Virginia and as far south as the northern parts of North Carolina says Doug Hendrix a Department of Agriculture spokesman in Washington All told the gypsy moth has invaded at least 17 states none harder hit than Massachusetts says Jim MacArthur bureau chief of Shade Tree Management and Pest Control for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management Millions of acres nationwide have been defoliated since the first general gypsy moth outbreak in Medford Mass in 1889 Carnegie Magazine reported About 75 million acres were defoliated nationwide in 1990 alone Accurate estimates of the monetary damage gypsy moths have wrought are not available Heninvendrix says That would take a tory with a specific price attached to each tree — a virtually impossible task officials say The US Forest Service fights the largest infestations nationwide Since 1979 it has spent an average of $61 million a year to fight the moth says Ken Knauer the agency's assistant director of for child-suppo- Publication of — HOPEWELL Pa — A tiny caterpillar massing by the millions perhaps billions is devastating rt child-suppo- - By Colin MeNick le THE ASSOCIATED ex-wi- child-suppo- I11'g Editor's Note: Since it was first introduced in New England the gypsy moth has spread to 17 states defoliating millions of acres of forest land 75 million acres in 1990 alone The devastation has been particularly acute in Massachusetts and in areas like the Appalachian forests of Pennsylvania where sawmills are being forced to shut down Alaska was left with nine children when she and her husband were divorced in 1979 after 19 years of marriage Berg lin 49 who works as a secretary during the day and as a bookkeeper nights and weekends said her John Albert Berg lin stopped paying child support after she refused to reconcile with him in 1982 A airline mechanic he is listed as owing $49791 --- to Mariher and to his second lyn Berglin with whom he had one child in Fairbanks Alaska "It's the same old story" Eileen Berglin said in a telephone interview "'Hurt her any way you can no matter how much it hurts anyI'm real bitter about body else' it Who wouldn't be? It just isn't fair that one parent is left to do it all by herself — or himself" It is harder to duck payments than it once was The federal 1988 Family Support Act allotted more money to establish the paternity of unmarried fathers the first step in many cases It also mandated that states eventually require employers to withhold income from those responsible for paying child support Individual states have tried other approaches including confiscating income tax refunds and lottery proceeds and reporting debts to credit bureaus Arizona and Vermont recently became the first states to permit professional licenses — for everything from truck driving to psychiatry — to be withheld or revoked for delinquency Delaware County one of Pennsylvania's most aggressive counties collections conin ducts raids twice a month to arrest d evaders and releases a list of offenders now numbering about 70 to suburban newspapers stations Other and counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have adopted similar mea- li O f td s4117 ' |