Friday, October 14,1988
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Houston gains prominence
after Jamaican drug sweep
HOUSTON (AP) — About 40 people
were being held in Houston Thursday af
ter a nationwide crackdown on Jamaican
drug trafficking led to more than 120 ar
rests, and authorities who staged the
sweep said Houston was gaining promi
nence as a hub of the group’s criminal
activities.
The arrests began Wednesday night
and covered 20 states, but were focused
in Houston, Miami and New York, au
thorities said.
In Texas, the sweep also included Dal
las.
“There’s no doubt about it, the mes
sage is very clear — not to mess with
Houston, Texas,” said Ron Parra, dis
trict director of the U.S. Immigration
and Naturalization Service, one of 16 lo
cal, state and federal agencies involved
in the Houston crackdown.
‘‘We’re not going to let criminals con
tinue this type of violence and this type
of behavior to this extent in Houston,”
Parra said.
Of the 435 arrest warrants issued in
the crackdown on Jamaican gangs,
called posses, 90 were sought in Hous
ton. Among more than 120 now in cus
tody, 50 had been sought on Houston
warrants, authorities said.
“If you compare the statistics, almost
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AUSTIN (AP) — A state agency
[Thursday cited pervasive mismanage
ment that drove up the price of the South
Texas Nuclear Project and has requested
billions of dollars in costs be removed
from consideration when the plant’s util
ity company partners try to raise rates.
But the plant’s managing partner,
[Houston Lighting & Power, disagreed
with the report by the Office of Public
Utility Counsel and said it would chal-
[lenge its findings.
“I’m confident that this is an unrea-
| sonable position that they have taken and
they will not be able to win,” said
[HL&P spokesman Graham Painter.
The Office of Public Utility Counsel,
[which represents ratepayers in regulatory
[proceedings, said partners in the twin-
[nuclear reactor plant should absorb the
[cost of mismanagement at the facility
[rather than ratepayers.
“The disallowances we have dis-
[cussed appear to be large,” said C.
[Kingsberry Ottmers, who heads the
[agency. “However, the magnitude of
[mismanagement is also great,”
The public utility counsel filed its rec-
|ommendations with the Public Utility
Commission, in response to indications
hat HL&P and Central Power and Light
will file major rate increase re
quests that will include capital costs for
he first unit of the nuclear project. Unit
of the facility located near Bay City
has been operating since August. Unit 2
|is under construction.
The agency’s report said that $1.28
billion of HL&P’s $3.04 billion share of
STNP and $1.05 billion of CPU’s $2.49
billion share of the project should not be
considered when the companies apply
for rate increases.
HL&P’s Painter said mismanagement
costs associated with the plant totaled
$500 million and have already been paid
off in an out-of-court settlement with the
plant’s original contractor. Brown &
Root. He said subsequent costs are legiti
mate expenses that should be recovered
by the ratepayer.
But the public utility counsel said mis
management under Brown & Root
caused a 38-month delay in completion
and costs which exceed norms in the nu
clear power industry by as much as 79
percent.
Because of the delays, HL&P lost a
major wholesale customer, Texas-New
Mexico Power Co., while other ratepay
ers turned to cogeneration to supply their
power needs.
“We may not be able to undo these in
direct burdens on ratepayers, however,
the magnitude of the damages under
scores the importance of assuring that the
disallowance of imprudent project costs
is adequate and complete,” Ottmers
said.
If the Public Utility Commission were
to allow the utilities to recover these
costs, she said it could mean an additio
nal 40 to 50 percent rate hike for CPL
customers and 20 percent for HL&P.
She said the recommendations of her
agency may hurt the utilities financially,
but added, “it would be a burden on the
companies no doubt, but those burdens
are the risk of the shareholders and not
the ratepayers.”
50 percent of all the arrests were made in
Houston, more than 50 percent of the
cash seizures occurred in Houston and a
tremendous percentage of the firearms
and narcotics that were seized all came
from the Houston operation,” said Phil
lip Chojnacki, special agent in charge
with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, To
bacco and Firearms.
Authorities in Houston began their
sweep at 7 p.m. Wednesday, and before
daylight had arrested 39 people and lo
cated 11 others already in custody, and
confiscated 12 guns, 45 rounds of am
munition, 35 ounces of cocaine and 35
pounds of marijuana.
Of approximately $139,000 in confis
cated in cash nationwide, $63,000 came
from the Houston arrests, Chojnacki
said. Thirty-five pounds of marijuana
also was seized in Houston, he said.
The numbers further convinced offi
cials of Houston’s growing role in Jamai
can drug traffickers’ nationwide opera
tions, officials said Thursday.
“Our cooperative intHlippnre data in
dicates these individuals are being exclu
sively imported into the United States to
commit crimes and also for the importa
tion of narcotics,” Parra said.
“Houston has become a fulcrum both
for the activity coming in and also as
they commit their crimes in other parts of
the United States,” he said. “They re
turn to Houston because of the interna
tional flavor of Houston, to more or less
cool off until they can return back to the
country or back to other (U.S.) cities.”
However, John Ross, coordinator of
the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement
Task Force, said the Jamaicans are
known for violence and also have been a
dangerous force within the city.
“They are, in fact, increasing their
operations in the city of Houston to the
point that they are becoming a very se
rious problem,” Ross said, citing their
willingness to use violence.
“When we are referring to posse ac
tivities, we’re talking about street-level
crack dealers,” he said.
Space
(Continued from page 1)
cause it also could be used to carry such
heavy payloads as a module for a large
space station and components for inter
planetary missions.
Although the Soviets haven’t yet
launched their shuttle, Thomas said, they
have flown a vehicle that the United
States hasn’t.
“They have a small space plane, with
about a 16-foot wingspan,” he said.
“With a delta-wing flat shape, it’s
shaped something like the shuttle is
shaped.
“It carries a single person, and they
have test-flown it about a dozen times
now. As far as I know, it has not been
manned.
“I think that’s a significant little vehi
cle. Their military doctrine calls for a
space fighter plane. I think that little
space plane they’ve developed could be
that.”
But using the space plane to defend a
space station or to destroy satellites is not
the only possibilty for its use. The plane
also could be useful for reconaissance
missions, crew transport and satellite re
pairs and maintenance.
• •••S'
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Help ONE LIFE TO LIVE find a college
campus to shoot several exciting episodes
of its soap - within -a - soap '' Fraternity Row.''
If you're a college student, write and
tell us why your campus would be the
perfect location for "Fraternity Row.''
If possible, enclose a couple of photographs
of your school's exterior and mail to
Location Search, P.O. Box 795, Radio City
Station, New York, NY 10019. (Sorry, we
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by November 18, 1988, so write today!
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• Friday Night Special 5-9 pm Expires 10/215
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Thomas said the Soviets also have
been talking about a making a joint effort
with the United States to send a manned
mission to Mars. He said, however, that
he is not sure how genuine their interest
is.
The Soviets need United States tech
nology to accomplish a Mars mission, he
said.
If the United States cooperates with
the Soviets and the mission succeeds, he
said, the Soviets would be able to justify
their claim that their space program is
equal or superior to ours.
Justifying that claim is of great impor
tance to the Soviet Union, he said.
“The Soviet space program ... is one
of the stars in the Soviet crown,”
Thomas said.
“The space program is very important
to them,” he said. “The Soviets use sci
ence as a way of elevating their self-es
teem, and indeed, they have a lot of that
science.
“They have done a lot of excellent
work in science generally. The space
program is a kind of subset of that. It is
their effort to claim parity or superiority
with other scientists around the world.”
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