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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1983)
Friday, December 2,1983/The Battalion/Page 11 The sky didn’t rain dolls • in 113 He] «ok pkiiiK wiUbeabij )6 1.25 ficn! •tsat7p.ni 11-year-old arsonist learn prevention terobksu. United Press International OUSTON — An 11-year- old Michigan boy, responsible .\G[.\tbf ( j rsett i n g fj ve fi res i n the Grand ikwxxl'ja aT ea, has enrobed in a ■ique fire prevention program ill be offetsin 1 louston to avoid spending a ter6yptef«« in a detention home, e course. BThe boy was responsible for ■ting a fire last June 27 which ■ised $175,000 worth of dam- Wt. His mother, fearing ajudge ... ■ght send her child to a deten- ■n home, contacted Houston . Be officials who run the Juve- , aft nile Firesetters Prevention AKiogram. s A&M . ■^f ter t he last fire, I didn’t ———know what to do,” the mother said. “But I made up my mind my son needed help very badly.” Because her son has already been labeled a “firebug” by his schoolmates, she asked that theii names not be used. Houston Fire Marshall Eddie Corral agreed to accept the fifth-grader into the 12-week program. However, mental Jalth professionals associated with the program are giving the youngster a reduced 4-day Ifogram, with the rest of the ifeessary counseling to be con tinued in Grand Rapids. IThe mother said her son has “always been fascinated with fites, since he could walk.” jWhen he was younger, he set paper fires in the home. Last year, though, a neighbor’s gar age was burned and about $20,000 damage was reported. There were three other small fires before the June blaze which leveled a paint warehouse. The mother says her son has been fascin ated with fires since he could walk. The boy initially denied in volvement, but later admitted his guilt to his mother and local fire officials. A judge is sche duled to sentence the boy later this month on an arson charge. Corral said arson accounts na tionally for $11 billion worth of damage. Half of the fires in the United States are purposely started, he said, and juveniles are responsible for half of them. The Houston program, de signed free-of-charge to help children in the area, has attracted 180 youths since its be ginning in August 1982. Only one child who has been through the counseling program has re verted back to fire-setting. Psychologist Don McKinney said he treats the cause rather Presents 14kt ADD-A-BEAD CHAINS Heavy wt 14kt 16” - 18” - 20” - 24” - 50% 14kt Gold Add A Bead Reg 3mm - 4mm - 5mm - 6mm - 7mm - 0.790 $1.29 $2.19 $3.29 $4.29 OFF Sale 0.550 0.900 $1.53 $2.30 $3.00 I OPEN UNTIL 8:00 1 30% OFF TWISTER BEADS I 40% OFF DIAMONDS FOR Aggie Rings 1 415 University 846-5816 United Press International MILWAUKEE — Two disc jockeys who told listeners that a B-29 bomber planned to drop hundreds of hard-to-get Cab bage Patch dolls over a Mil waukee stadium said Thursday they thought the story was so outrageous no one would be lieve it. They were wrong. The ton gue-in-cheek broadcast led two dozen frustrated shoppers to brave freezing winds and wait for the dolls to fall from the sky. Disc jockeys Bob Reitman and Gene Mueller told listeners that 1,500 to 2,000 of the home ly, squishy dolls would be drop ped over Central Stadium, home of the Brewers baseball team. They said would-be doll own ers should bring catcher’s mitts and their American Express cards. When the dolls came tumbling down, they said, shop pers were to hold the credit cards up in the air so an aerial photo could be taken of the card number for later billing. The two announcers said they thought everyone would know they were just kidding. “We thought we had made it outrageous enough so that peo ple would laugh,” Mueller said. But two dozen people showed up at the stadium Tues day, waiting for the drop while gusty winds brought the wind- chill down to 7 below zero. “When I heard it on the radio I thought ‘far out,”’ said one man who wanted a doll for a Christmas gift for his 2-year-old daughter. “I thought some rich guy wanted to give them away.” He added that the idea was not far-fetched, and someone could have dropped the dolls for publicity. In another joke — which apparently got no takers — Mueller and Reitman embel lished Wednesday’s story with an even more far-fetched angle. They announced that a rented barge containing the dolls was anchored eight miles out in Lake Michigan with Popeye aboard. Shoppers were instructed to swim out to the barge with cans of spinach to ex change for the dolls. To keep the dolls from get ting wet on the return trip, peo ple were told to bring along plas-, tic bags. Judge says to turn over tape than the symptoms of a fire- setter. McKinney said the Michigan boy’s problem is caused by his home situation where his mother placed too much re sponsibility on the child, making him the “man of the house. ” The mother has also been counseled to accept more of the responsi bility. “He has been in a double bind,” McKinney said. “He needs to be man of the house and a child all at once. He has been frustrated.” He explained that the boy — who is not very different from other young fire-setters — was able to get angry, but he vented his anger by setting blazes. Corral said that it initially cost $197,000 to set up the program, which was funded with federal money and contributions. Now, the state of Texas has agreed to fund it for the next five years, with a non-profit organization, The Cease Fire Club, Inc., oper ating the program. Corral said he is hoping other communities will set up similar programs. He estimated the program has saved the City of Houston $8 million in property damage, fire-fighting hours, and insurance increases. United Press International BROWNSVILLE — A judge has ordered the prosecution in a capital murder case to turn over copies of surveillance tapes to the attorney of a man accused of being the hit man in a killing last year. District Judge Darrell Hester said court-appointed attorney Mike McNamara should have access to the tapes to prepare for Wavil Lewis’ defense against the charge. Lewis is charged with pumping eight bullets into Brownsville physician Dr. Nar- ciso Cortez on Aug. 31, 1982. Police charge that the 23- year-old Lewis was part of a murder-for-hire plot conceived by Cortez’s brother-in-law after a dispute over 600 acres of prop erty in neighboring Willacy County. Enrique G. Chapa, accused of paying Lewis $15,000 for the killing, is free on $300,000 cash bond, but Lewis has been jailed in lieu of $750,000 bond since he was extradited from Ohio last September. McNamara said he would file a motion seeking to reduce Lewis’ bond. Prosecutors said the tapes in question were obtained by Frank Lofds, who was wearing a concealed electronic transmit ting device when he met with Lewis in an Ohio motel room. Loftis will appear as a state witness in Lewis’ trial, set for Jan. 16. Also charged with capital murder in the case is Hobert Breeding, who was recently arrested in Enon, Ohio. Breed ing has been released from an Ohio jail on $300,000 bond and District Attorney Rey Cantu said extradition proceedings are under way. Prosecutors say Breeding was the contact man between Lewis and Chapa. EUROPE PROGRAMS STARTING FROM $ 459.- CALL FOR INFO AND FREE CATALOG NOW TOLL FREE 1-800-638-7640 AESU #1 IN STUDENT TRAVEL RESALE’ GRADUATES MOVING TO HOUSTON? 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