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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1982)
Texas A&M Battalion Serving the University community College Station, Texas Monday, October 4, 1982 Merchants wary of bogus money by Janet Joyce Battalion Reporter Don’t take it personally the next time a cashier takes a long, hard look at the $20 bill you’ve just handed over. Area merchants have a reason for concern. Several counterfeit $20 bills have been discovered in Bryan-College Station during the last two weeks. A source in the Houston office of the Secret Service said the bills are left over from a counterfeit ring in the Houston-Beaumont area that the Sec ret Service broke up in 1978. Several of the bills recently have been found in Houston, he said. But investigators have no idea why the money is showing up now, or why it is showing up in this area. Lt. Bernard Kapella, in charge of community relations and crime pre vention for the College Station Police Department, said he knows of six bills found in College Station. The bills look as if they have gone through a washing machine, Kapella said. The serial numbers are a lime-green color rather than the usual dark green. Two serial numbers on the bills that have been found are K32276725B and K31933210B. The lower right hand corner of the face of the bill has “FI94” printed on it. The lower right corner of the bill has “203” printed on it. The Secret Service warned that se rial numbers alone are not always sig nificant since counterfeiters can change the serial number of each bill if they wish. Kapella advised merchants who are given the bills to call the police with a description of the person passing the bill and their license plate number if possible.Tf someone receives the bill in change from a merchant, Kapella recommended asking for another one. Area banks are telling their com mercial customers to watch out for the counterfeit money. Mark Brack, assistant manager of the Manor East III Theaters in Bryan, said the theater is not accept ing any money they suspect may be counterfeit. Notices explaining what to look for in the counterfeit currency have been placed in the box office and concessions areas to help employees identify the bogus bills. Fast food chains and convenience food stores are prime targets for peo ple trying to pass counterfeit curren cy, Kapella said. Judy Richards, teller supervisor at University National Bank, said one counterfeit bill was found in a deposit from McDonald’s on University Drive. After McDonald’s manage ment was told about the bill, notices were put up in the crew room in structing all employees to check $20 bills and telling them what to look for. Steve Kotyk, second assistant mana ger, said employees have been told not to accept any bills they believe to be counterfeit. Richards said counterfeit bills are sent to the Houston Secret Service office. The Secret Service issues a re ceipt to the individual or company that tried to deposit or cash the bill. That amount may be claimed as a loss on the individual’s income tax return, she said. n 21, ig 35,11 js All President may use issue in campaigns Reagan terse about balanced budget loss rge, mall guest { United Press International J WASHINGTON — President 'Keagan is not taking the defeat of his alanced budget proposition as a total iss and may instead use it as a politic- I weapon when he hits the campaign Bail next week. ■ “It’s a step forward. We got an up-and-down vote,” said one pres- jential aide. “Now the people know I what happened.” I “This vote today makes clear who Eipports a balanced budget and who does not,” a terse Reagan told repor ters Friday, following the vote in the House of Representatives that defe ated the proposed amendment. “Vo ters across America should count heads and take names.” With exactly a month left before election day, it was certain charges stemming from the balanced-budget vote would figure heavily in his speeches for Republican candidates as he heads to Ohio on Monday and California at the end of next week. “In November, we must elect rep resentatives who will support the amendment when we propose it again in the spring,” the president said. Reagan told reporters he shares “the deep burning anger of millions of Americans” because the vote lost on “purely partisan reasons.” He said House Speaker Thomas O’Neill “beat the American people.” The president will address the na tion again today on radio, but the ba lanced-budget controversy is not ex pected to be the subject. He will make the broadcast from the presidential retreat at Camp David in the Mary land mountains. Reagan welcomed the new presi dent of Panama, Ricardo de la Espriella, Friday at the White House as the two leaders met for the first time. A senior administration official described the conference as a “for ward-looking meeting” that did not contain any mention of Reagan’s for mer opposition to the Panama Canal treaties. The official said Reagan has pledged to support the controversial treaties signed in 1977 that will even tually terminate U.S. operation of the vital waterway. He said Reagan and de la Espriella developed “a warm working relationship.” He said the canal is currently bring ing in record revenues and tonnage and “it has been a success story.” Later, Reagan hosted a luncheon for the justices of the Supreme Court, welcoming them back to Washington for the start of their new term next week. He noted that while court decisions are not always popular, the justices must maintain their independence. “On one point, there must be no disagreement whatsoever,” Reagan said. “The Supreme Court must con tinue to demonstrate the independ ence and integrity that have always been its hallmark. You, as members of the court, are the principal guardians of those traditions and the rights and freedoms of all Americans.” ad lots found cross Texas From staff and wire reports ottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol aring the code numbers MD1910, ■1C2880 and 1809MA have been ®und statewide in Texas says a [spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration. | Dennis Baker, director of prog rams for the food and drugs division V the FDA, this orning said iyanide-laced capsules from bottles Bearing these code numbers have Been blamed in the deaths of seven people in Illinois. But no incidences !■ c y an ide poisoning have been re- Borted anywhere in Texas, Baker said. Twenty-six bottles with the code ■umber 1910MD have been found in adisonville, Bryan, Huntsville and orenham. 1 Mike Ellis, director of the Texas ||°’ Son Control Center in Galveston, Raid a representative of McNeil Con- ■umer Products Co., a subsidiary of ■onnson & Johnson, told him the F con d batch, the MD1910, was made P a manufacturing facility in Round Texas - Baker said the 1809MA, amed in the latest death, was also <Tr L m t ^ ie Bou nd Rock plant. The MD1910 appears to be all over the state. From the calls we’ve been getting — at least on a north- south direction from Dallas to Hous ton — it seems to be all along there,” he said. One death has been blamed on cap sules from a bottle with the 1910MD code number. Mary McFarland, 31, of Elmhurst, Ill., collapsed at work and died Thursday. The McNeil Co. has recalled the entire batch labeled 1910MD, about 170,000 bottles of 50 capsules each. Most Brazos County area pharma cies have already removed all Extra- Strength Tylenol bottles from their shelves pending further information from the manufacturer or federal officials about the safety of the pro ducts, officials of the pharmacies said. The Texas Department of Health has urged consumers in Texas to stop using the capsules for now. A few states have banned sales of the pain reliever, including North Dakota, Colorado and Massachusetts. Baker said that the capsules have not been banned for sale in Texas, but that the FDA has asked all store own ers and consumers to discard the bot tles or return the capsules to McNeil. inside Classified 8 National 7 Opinions .2 Sports I] state ^. 5 M’fiatsup 10 forecast I s kies jh in'^k* n t ^ le mid" to upper-80s, low skies *° wer tonight. Clear First cut is the deepest The first bonfire cutting on Sunday produced a large turnout of cadets and non-regs. At left, Mike Ghromley takes a determined swing at a tree that is almost ready to fall. Ghromley is a freshman from Pasedena in general studies. staff photos by David Fisher Tehran explosion blamed on U.S. United Press International A bomb detonated by “U.S. merce naries” demolished a five-story hotel in downtown Tehran, killed an unde termined number of people and wounded hundreds of others, the British Broadcasting Corp. said Saturday in a report quoting official Tehran Radio. . Hospitals in Iran’s capital city ot Tehran were packed with victims of the blast, the BBC quoted the radio as saying. Many buildings near the hotel, as well as buses passing by, were severely damaged by the explosion Quoting Tehran Radio, the BBC said many of the passengers in the buses were killed or injured in the blast, which rocked the downtown area of the capital Friday. About 400 people were taken to one Tehran hospital alone, the BBC said, adding most of the victims were released after treatment. They were mostly hotel guests and customers at nearby cafes. Official estimates on the total of dead and wounded were not immedi ately available. The Tehran Radio broadcast blamed “U.S. mercenaries” for the explosion.