Page 4B THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1980
Suit says Army
not prepared
Composites released
FBI on bombers’ trails
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United Press International
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Publishing Co. has filed suit
to force the Army to disclose the combat readiness of the Army’s major
fighting units.
The suit, filed in Washington federal court Tuesday against Army
Secretary Clifford L. Alexander Jr., seeks information on combat units
in the United States, Germany, Korea and the Panama Canal Zone.
The Daily Oklahoman said Wednesday the Army has refused its
written request for reports on manpower, equipment and training for
more than 180 Army combat units.
The Army has said the information about combat readiness is unclas
sified, but should be kept secret when consolidated for several units.
The Oklahoman quoted an unnamed Army general as saying the
Army does not want to release the information because it will reveal
“embarrassingly low" combat readiness for a number of units.
The Oklahoma Publishing Co., which publishes the Daily Oklaho
man, Oklahoma City Times and Colorado Springs Sun, filed the suit
under the Freedom of Information Act.
An Oklahoman story Aug. 31 said the Army suppressed documents
showing the combat readiness of 10 continental-based divisions de
teriorated markedly between December 1977 and December 1979.
It said they had been rated fully combat ready, but last Decmeber
seven had dropped to not combat ready, the lowest possible rating.
The Oklahoman, in one of a series of stories last Sunday, said the
divisions at home are short by more than 17,200 personnel, mostly in
non-commissioned officer positions.
The suit was filed by George R. Clark of the Washington law firm of
Pierson, Ball & Dowd on behalf of the publishing company and investi
gative reporter Jack Taylor of the Oklahoman and Times.
Po verty-s tricken
United Press International
STATELINE, Nev. — The FBI is
looking for two men, one a “hayseed
type with protruding ears,” as prime
suspects in last month’s $3 million
extortion bombing of Harvey’s
Wagon Wheel hotel-casino.
Agent-in-charge Joseph Yablons-
ky released “very credible” compo
site drawings Wednesday of the men
who drove a van to the resort early
Aug. 26, unloaded the bomb dis
guised as a copy machine, and
wheeled it to the second-floor execu
tive offices.
Yablonsky said both men were
white. One was described as 5-foot-
7, in his mid-20s, with sandy blond
hair and a light-colored mustache.
He was wearing a light blue pullover
top and baggy white trousers.
The other was described as “a
hayseed type with protruding ears,”
6 feet tall, in his mid-20s.
Yablonsky said the pictures were
based on descriptions by a group of
entertainers who were leaving the
hotel parking lot as the two wheeled
the device in. He made no reference
to a woman, who, some reports have
said, also was in the van.
He said agents were following
“many leads, ” and one of the reasons
for reporting the progress in the in
vestigation was “to re-stimulate pub
lic interest in the $200,000 reward. ”
Two weeks ago, the FBI said it
would release composite drawings of
the two suspects but then decided
against it because they were “not
very good.”
“Now, we believe the composites
are good,” Yablonsky said.
A letter attached to the extortion
ists’ sophisticated 1,000-pound
bomb demanded $3 million in ex
change for instructions how to dis
arm it. An attempt to deliver the
money failed and the bomb exploded
while authorities tried to disarm it
Aug. 27, causing heavy damage to
the lower floors of Harvey’s hotel
tower.
Yablonsky said he doubted the
bombers were terrorists, saying
their main interest was money, but
that ego also figured in the way the
plot was dramatized and put
together.
“The way the scheme was con
structed, I believe whoever did it is
an egotist with a possible military
background,” he said.
He said the explosive was mainly
TNT, as the extortion letter said, but
there may have been some plastic
explosive as a “booster.” He said the
color of smoke from the blast was
characteristic of TNT.
“But we have not gotten to the
prime evidence in the casino yet. We
have not analyzed what is in the cra
ter beneath where the bomb went
off.”
Yablonsky said that because the
bomb was a sophisticated, highly
technical device, the search for the
extortionists has centered on indi
viduals and manufacturing plants
where the materials and technology
might be available.
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Thais sell children
United Press International
BANGKOK, Thailand — The frightened children huddled on hard
benches in open stalls around Bangkok railway station are on the
market to be used as child labor.
They all look undernourished. Some are mentally retarded, judging
from eyes that show no awareness of anything around them.
Most labor agencies, dealing in either children or adults, are clus
tered around the Hua Lampong railway station.
The child workers come from the drought-stricken provinces of
northeastern Thailand. Their sisters and brothers are starving. Any
asset around the house that can be sold or leased out on contract must
be sacrificed for the family.
“Do you want some workers?” shouted a women dressed up in a
brightly colored outfit, grabbing a passerby’s arm. “Boys or girls? How
old do you want? They can do anything you want them to do, come with
me and take a look.”
Another man approached: “You better come with me, I have better
workers to show you. How many do you want? What kind of factory you
are running?”
According to a survey by the national statistics office, nearly 200,000
children between 11 and 18 years of age are working illegally in
Thailand’s factories. The number is increasing.
The survey said there are more than 3,000 factories in Bangkok alone
employing children. Most factories that hire children produce candy,
textiles, plastics, zinc sheets and iron rods. The working hours average
12 hours a day with no day of rest.
Most child laborers are leased out by their parents to factory agen
cies for 2,000-3,000 baht ($100-150) a year. The survey said 32.9
percent of children who work in factories need money to help their
families, while 26.3 percent are forced by their parents to work and
23.4 percent are working because they have no money to continue
school.
They are housed in decrepit attics, given two low-quality meals a day
and kept locked up for fear they will escape.
Even with the poor working conditions, many are still better off than
at home.
“Do you want to go home?” one 12-year-old girl factory worker was
asked. “No, at home we are always hungry. I want to work,” she said.
“The problem stems from the parents themselves, ” a Labor Depart
ment official said. “They are so desperate, sometimes they bring their
children down to the employment agencies themselves.
“Even a few thousand baht means something to them,” the official
said. “With their ignorance and poverty, they don’t have anything to
feed their children at home and believe that by sending them out the
children are sure to get fed and clothed — and the parents also get
some money.”
From time to time, police raid illegal factories and rescue hundreds
of children. The police send the waifs home, sometimes only to find
later that their parents have sent them back to the sweatshops.
In July, police raided a weaving factory on the outskirts of Bangkok
and rescued 15 12-year-old girls. They all looked underfed and some
had become crippled or had skin diseases because of the heavy work
load.
“I lived with my grandmother after my parents died, ” one girl said.
“One day, a woman approached my grandmother, and I was taken to
work in Bangkok in this weaving factory.”
Sunant said she and another 14 girls worked in that factory for about
two years. They were not allowed to leave factory premises during the
5a.m. to 9p.m. working hours. At night, they slept in a locked room on
the second floor of the factory and they were given only four baht (20
cents) per week for pocket money.
The 15 girls were sent to a child welfare house before being sent
home.
A welfare department official said last year alone 237 young girls and
many boys were sent to the house before being returned to their
parents. Some of the children were repeaters — they had been rescued
more than once but had been returned to the sweatshop by their
parents.
Factory owners prefer to use children because they work for lower
pay and can be intimidated, with threats, to work harder.
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1. 74 No. 16
Pages
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