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Jtf
Syracuse
Herald-Journal,
Tuesday,
December
31,
1983
News
briefing
South
Mayor
Qoodt calls
for racial
unity
PHILADELPHIA-
Mayor
W.WilsonGoode
has
met
with
community
leaders
inan
effort
to come upwith
a
plan
to
defuse
ra-
cial tension in the City
of
Brotherly
Love.
"This city
was
createdas amodelforreligious
and
racial
freedom,
and we
have
to
continue
to be a
model
for
this
nation
in
that
regard,"
Goode
said
Monday, after
the
meeting
in his
office.
"We
have
to
send
a
message...
that
in
this city which WilliamPenn founded
303
years
ago any
person,
regardless
of
color,
can
live
in any
block
he wants to
live in."Goode
said
he
plans
to
announce
a
series
of
initiatives
Friday
to
help
ease
tension
in the Elmwood
neighborhood
of
southwest
Philadelphia, letting him
lift
a
five-week-old
ban on gatherings ofmore than four people.
. _
•
• " - The
Associated
Press
School moment-of-silence
law
revised
BOSTON
— Students in Massachusetts public schools
will
have
a
daily moment
of
silence under
a law
that
was
revised
to
delete
a
reference
to
prayer.The new
statute
goes into
effect
90 days
after
its signing Mon-
day by
Gov. Michael
S. Dukakis, and was in
response
to a
U.S.Supreme Court decision in May in an Alabama case.
The
high court ruled
that
the
Alabama law, similar
to one
passed in Massachusetts in 1980, Was unconstitutional because itcontained a
specific
reference to students using the time for medi-
tationor
prayer.
The revised Massachusetts law
calls
simply for "a period of si-lence
not to
exceed
one
minute
in
duration"
to be
observed
at the
start of each school day.
-
The
Associated
Press
"
Fourth slaying
blamed
on
police
ring
MIAMI
—A
fourthslaying has
been
linkedto a police
drug
rip-off
ring alreadyblamed
for
the
drownings
of
three
suspected drug
dealers,
and a
fifth
officer
sur-
rendered in connection
with the ring, policesaid.
Rodolfo
Arias, 29, a
former "Officerof the
Month,"
wasbooked into Dade
County
Jail
on Monday
on
charges
of
conspiracy
to
commit
first-degree
mur-der,
racketeering,
two counts of
armed
trafficking
of
cocaine,
grand
theft
and
aggravated
battery.Four other
Miami
police
officers,
who prosecutors say
were part
of
a
ring
known
as
"The
Enterprise,"
have
been
charged since lastweek.
A
former
officer
also
has been
charged.
—
The
Associated Press
Mill
worker
held
in
abduction
of
2girls
STAPLETON,
Ga. — A
textile
mill worker has
been
arrested
in
the
abduction
of two 12-year-old
girls.
Authorities
say
they
be-
lieve the man acted
alone
even
though
the girls originallysaidthere
were two kidnappers.
Buford
Williams,
23, who lives in a rural
area
near
Stapleton,
was
arrested
at
midnight Monday
as hepreparedto
leave
his ob
at the
J.P.
Stevens
plant, Jefferson County
Sheriff
Zollie Compton
said.
Jennifer
Barrow and
Elizabeth
Tanner were
released
Monday
on
the same dirt road where they had been abducted while riding
bicycles
Dec.
22. The
girls
said
they
were raped
during
the
weekthey
were held captive.
—
United
Press
International
Elections could
shiftcouncil
power
CHICAGO — A
fed-
eral
judge
ordered
spe-
cial
elections March 18
in
seven redrawn
alder-
manic
wards
that
could
shift
City Council
power
from
the
major-ityopposition
bloc
toMayorHarold
Wash-
ington's
supporters.
—
"There have been
nofair
aldermanic or committeeman
elections
in
these
wards
since
•
1981,"
U.S.
District
Judge
Charles Norgle
said Monday.Norgle,
who last week
approved
the
compromise
remap
drawn
by attorneys for the
council
and the
Justice
Department, said thespecial elections
should
remedy
the
problem.
The
next regularlyscheduled
aldermanic
election
is
not
until
1987.
The elections
will
coincide with the
state
primary and will de-
cide
the
fate
of at
least
five
CityCouncil
seats
currently held
bymajority-bloc
aldermen. The
majoritybloc,opposed
to the
Wash-
ington
administration,
currently holds a
29-21
majority.A
numberof minority
plaintiffsfiled
suit
in
1982,
alleging
a
1981
ward
map
discriminated
against
minorities by
diluting
their
vot-
ing power.
-
United Press International
Friends
mourn
freezing
death of
student
ROCHESTER, Minn.
—
Students
and
teachers
at Chosen
Val-
ley
High
School are
mourning
the death of an honor
student
who
died wandering
away
from
the
scene
of a
traffic
accident
andspending
20
hoursin
temperatures that reached
below
zero."He tried his best in everything he
did,"
football
coach Ken
Jacobson said
of
Scott
Gardner,
18, of Chatfield.
Gardner, an honor roll student,
starting
defensiveend on the
football
team and a
member
of
this year's
homecoming
royalty,
died
Sunday in the
intensive care
unit of St. Mary's
Hospital.
Searchers
had
found
him,
clinically dead, Saturday in a
ravine
northeast
of Chatfield and
rushed
him by
helicopter
the 25
miles
to
Rochester.
OlmstedCounty
authoritiessaid Gardner wanderedaway
from
three
friends
on a county
road early Saturday
as
they walked
to a
farm after
their'pickup truck slid
intoa
ditch.
—
T
ht
Astocleted
Press
Girl
may know who
buried
her in desert
PHOENIX, Ariz.
— A
4-year-old girl who wasrescued from
a
3-foot-deep,
plywood-covered
holein the
desert
may
know
who buried heralive
and may be
"try-
'ing
to
protect
the
per-son," authorities say.
The
child,
Jessica
Anne
Hardesty,
was in-terviewed
Monday
by a woman detective, but "any time a manwalks
in the
room,
she
gets pretty
obviously
scared," said
Cpl.
Jay
Ellison of the Maricpa
County Sheriff's Department."We
feel
sheknowsthesuspect," Ellison said. "The fact
that
•
she's
4 years old and knows the suspect, that doesn't include a lot
of
people."
-
The
Associated
Preu
Gunman
robs
California
congressman
LOS
ANGELES
— A
congressman
was
robbed while walking
to his car
from
a
bank
by a
gunman
who
fired
one
shot
that
passedthrough the legislator's trouser leg without
injuring
him, police
said.
Rep. Glenn Anderson,
D-Calif.,
was
confronted
at about
11:30
a.m.
Monday,
by a lone gunman outside a
First Interstate
Bank in
the
Wilmington
district, police
said.Anderson,-72,
is a
former lieu-tenant governor
of
California."The gunman demanded money
and
subsequently
fired
one
shot
from
a handgun at Mr. Anderson, which passed through his pantleg," Capt. Robert
McVey
said."The suspect grabbed Anderson's briefcase and
fled
in a whitevan,"
said McVey.
Police later recovered the briefcase, which con-tained a small amount of monev.
—
United
Press
International
West
Perspective
A
BREED APART
Pit bulls
have
killed 12
people
since
1982
By
Fred
Associated
Press
WriterTIJERAS,
N.M.
-
When
the
dogs finished
with
her, Angle
Hands' right leg was
gnawed
tothe
bone.
Flesh
and
muscle
had
been gouged
from
her
upper arms,
and the
9-year-old's
ear
was ripped in half."She
had lost so
much blood
the doctors
couldn't
tell
me if she was
going
to
live," saidDonnaHands,
her
voice
still
breaking
as she
recalled
the
afternoon
her
brother-in-law's
four
pit-bull
terriers
attacked
Angie
on the path be-
tween
the
school
bus stop and her
home.Thechild survived,toface yearsof
recon-
structive
surgery.
But the
incident
fuels
a de-
bate
growing well beyond
thisrural
Albuquer-que suburb.
. Similar attackshave led Tijerasand
more
than 30
other communities across
the
country
to
consider special rules and outright bans on dogsknown
as pit
bulls.Sponsors
say the laws are
necessary
to
pro-
tect
the public
from
animals bred
for
genera-
tions
to
kill.
Pit
bull owners
say
laws singlingouttheir pets
are
unconstitutional.
'
"WE
DO
NOT
DEFEND
the
attacks.
But atthe
same time
we
feel
it is
unjust
to
punish
all pit
bull owners because of a few incidents," saidMargaret Amacker, president of the Duke City
Pit
Bull
Terrier
Club, which
is
challenging
the
law with the help of
the
American Dog Owners
Association.
The
case
is due for
trial
in
early
spring.
•
Known
officially
as
Staffordshire
Bull
Ter-riers, American Staffordshire Terriers orAmerican
Pit
Bull
Terriers,
pit
bulls
are
power-
ful
dogs weighing
40 to 60
pounds with squarejawsandmuscular
chests.
An
estimated 25,000 pit bulls are registeredwith various dog associations, and their popu-larity is growing. Owners say they are smart,affectionate
and
loyal.
Pete,
the dog in the Our Gang comedies, was apit bull, as were Tige, the pet of cartoon charac-terBuster Brown,and the RCA
Victor
doglis-teningto itsmaster's voiceat thephonograph.But
the
breed
has a
darkerhistory.
PIT BULLS
WERE BRED
for dog
fighting,
a bloody and now illegal sport that requires abattle to the death. Over generations, the dogs
have been selected
forthe
strength, aggressive-
ness and tenacity needed to survive the
fighting
pit."Other dogs
willbite,
back
off and
attackagain," said Dennis White, director
ofanimal
protection
for the
American Humane Associa-
•tion.
"Pit
bulls
are latchers and shakers.
Once
they attack, that's
all she
wrote."Since 1982, at least a dozen people — seven ofthem children
—
have died
and
scores havebeen
severely
injured
by pit
bulls.
The
stories,
bloody and
'sensational, have attracted
public
attention:
• A
4-year-old girl
falls off
a
porch
in
OregonCity,
Ore.,
and.is
killed
by a pit
bull chained
in
the yard.
•
An
Edgemere,
Md.,
woman
is
killed
by her
two pit bulls. Police
find
her body covered
with
bites, skin stripped
from
her
legs
and an arm
nearly severed.
•
Two
pit
bulls
attack
a
Houston
w^man
as
she
steps outside
to get her
newspaper, thenthey maul a neighbor who
tries
to help. Thedogs are shot after they stand off rescuers andchase a police
officer
to his car.Such incidents have understandably
led to
anti-pit bull regulations. When a
7-week-oldboy
was
killed
by a dog in Davie,
Fla.,
Broward
County
commissioners ordered pit bulls penned
or
leashed
andmuzzled.
Owners were required
to buy
$100,000
in
liability insurance.
Dog
owners
won aninjunction
against
the
law.
"THE
DOG
HASBEEN
raised
for hundreds
of
years
to
kill," said William Bosch, assistantgeneral counsel to the county. "It
only
takes alittle to set them off."
But
others
argue
there
is no proof the
pit
bulls
are a special
threat.
While an estimated 1 mil-lion Americans
are
bitten
by
dogs each year,little is known about the breeds involved. Dogsidentified
as pit
bulls often turn
out to be
other
breeds.
Animal
behaviorists split
on the
question
of
whether
pit
bulls
are
more dangerous thanother dogs.Victoria Voith,
director
of the University of.Pennsylvania's animal behavior
clinic,
hasstud-
ied
dog attacks,
often
observing the assailants.Whileshenoted
that
pitbulls involvedin
AP
Laserphoto
Margaret
Amacker,president of the
Duke
City
Pit Bull Terrier
Club
in
Albuquerque, N.M.,
gets
a
lick from
Bluebelle,
one of her
four
pit
bulls.
Amackerhasraisedpit
bulls since
1970.
incidents
were
much
easier
to
incite
to
attackthan
other
dogs,
she
said
it was
hard
to
draw
conclusions about
the entire
breed.
"We just
don't
know if
they
are likely to be
more
aggressive
than
other
dogs,"
she said.
"But
those who
show
aggression
are
very
ag-
gressive.
If you are
attacked
by
one,
you just
don't
have
that
much
of a
chance."I.
Lehr
Brisbm
Jr.,
an biologist and
animalbehaviorist
with the
University
of Georgia who
uses pit
bulls
to trap
wild
boars,
believes the
breed
is
less
of a
threat
than are other dogs.
"FOR
GENERATION
AFTER
generation,
any dog that
bit
a
man
in
the pit was shot,"
Brisbin
said.
"This
is
probably
theonly
breed
of
dog
that
wasculled
if
it bit a
man."
Many
feel
the problem
comes
from
owners,
who,
attracted
to the
dog's
tough
image,
encour-
age
aggressiveness.
Phil
Lyons, a breeder
in
Whittier,
Calif.,
calls such
owners
"MisterMacho and his dog
Lunger."
"You'll see
these
guys walking their pit
bulls
down
the
street
to showeverybodyhow badthey
are,"
he
said.
Peggy
Allen,
a
Miami
breeder,
now
screenspotential
buyers.
"I've
had a lot of people I considered drug
dealers
come around
looking to buy the
dog,"
she
said."People
have
decided that this is the
biggest,strongest, meanest
dog they
could
own."
Kent Salazar, headofAlbuquerque'sanimal
control
division,
believes
no
special
laws areneeded. He
noted
that
several
years ago
some
people
wanted
regulations
for
Doberman
pinschers. "We
have
all the means to protect
people
with
clauses about
vicious
dogs,"
he
said.
BUT
COMMUNITY
LEADERS
often
seepit
bulls
as a special
threat.
After
the
March
1984
attack
on Angie Hands, Tijeras, a
close-
knit communityof
300,
bannedthe
dogs
and
gave
officials
the power to seize and destroy pit
bulls.
- •
"There are
stilldogs
like
these
around,
at-
tackingother
dogs,
cattle
and
people.
We can't
havethat,"
said
Mayor
Felix
Garcia,
whose
wife
once
babysat
for Angie.
Pit bull owners say the
publicity
has
brought
a
backlash.
Amacker
tells
of pitbulls
aban-
doned and
abused
by
owners
whobecome fear-
ful
after
hearing
of
attacks.
In some
cases,
pitbulls
have been
poisoned
or shot.
John
Ulrich,
anAlbuquerque
stockbroker,
said
that
when
his pit
bull,
Sugar, got loose and
began
frolicking
with
aneighbor's
poodle,
the
w6man panicked
and began
beating
the dog
with a
piece
of
lumber.
"Sugar
just
laid
down
and cried," said Ulrich.
•"I
apologized
to the
woman
for the doggetting
out,
but I pointed out
if
Sugar was really that
vicious,
she
wouldn't
have been
able
to hit
her."
Donna
Hands
was
always
taught
that
a bad
dog
reflected
a bad owner. But she
said
thecombination
of
careless
owners'and
aggressive
dogs was too dangerous to
permit.
"Picking
on one
breed
of dog
might
be
uncon-
stitutional, but
killing
a
human
being
is againstthe
law,"
shesaid.
"Have
we
sunk
so low that
the dogs'rightsare
more important than
a
child's right
to go
play
in
their yard?"
Alexander
reflects on 16
years
as
mayor
ALEXANDERContinued from
PageAl
Todayis the
last
day
people
will
callhim
.Mayor
Lee Alexander. Tomorrow, he will be
former
Mayor Lee Alexander. After 16
years,
itwon't
be
easy
for
some
to
say.Sometime in February,
he'll
open a law
office
with
his
son.
Jamey.
Many
in the
press
will miss seeing Mayor LeeAlexander
at
City Hall.
But he may not
miss
the
press.
The
news media
has not
always been
kind.
Friday,
at his
last
Board
of
Estimate meeting,a television reporter questioned Alexander over
and
over
again
to get him to
share
his
inner-most feelings at what might seem to be a senti-mental time.He would have none of it.What did he plan to do after this?
"I
plan
to go to lunch," he answered.
What did he want to do more than anythingelse?
"I
want
to go to
lunch,"
he
said laughing.What were
all the
reporter's
questions keep-ing him from doing?
Going
to lunch!When Alexander finally relented, his an-
swers were
off-hand, low-key
and
cagey
as
ever."I'm
so
busy
right
now,
I
haven't
had
time
forreflection," he
said.What did he regret he didn't get to do in his
years
at
City
Hall?
Become U.S. senator, pave more city streetsand
get
along with
a
Republican-majority Com-
monCouncil,
were
his
quick
replies.
.
Will he run for
political
office
again?
"I
can't
rule that
in or out at
this time,"
he
said.
Will
he
miss
the excitement of battles in thepublicarena?"I'm
sure
I'll
find
new
ones
in the
courts,"
he
answered.Alexander
is
doing
his
share
of
private
remin-iscing with
friends,
however. Saturday,
he
laughed about old times over lunch with one-time campaign worker Hank Bersani, now NewYork
State
Thruway Authority chairman. Mon-day, Alexander lunched with
Syracuse
Univer-sity administrator Tom Cummings, who ran his
first
campaign.Inan interview Monday, Alexander sat be-
hind
the mayor's desk and
spoke
with an energy
that
belied
his
departure.
On his
desktop were
an
empty wire basket and tape and string meant
for
the
empty boxes lying
nearby.
Today, he planned to open the
mail,
answercalls,
finish
packing
his
personal
files
and go to
the dentist.There
won't be a last gathering of the troops.
He
already
said goodbye
to the
City Hall stafflastsummer, Alexander said, minutes beforehe
publicly
announced he would not seek a
fifth
term
in
office.
To make the
office
pleasant for Young, Alex-
ander ordered the
mayoral
refrigeratorstocked
with
orange
juice,
Perrier,
soda and some beer.He also asked Everson Museum curators to lendsome prints
and oil
paintings
for the
Office
and'
waiting
room, so the walls
wouldn't
be barewhen Young
sits
in the
mayor's chair
for the
first
time
on
Wednesday.Lastly, a de^k stand has been
filled
with
eskfreshly
sharpened pencils.
A
cleaning crew willdust and vacuum the
office
after
Alexander
leaves.
As he does in public, Alexander praises Young
in
private.
Young
is a
mayor
for the
1980s,
Alex-andersaid,just as he himself was a mayor for
the
1970s."It's
not the
fun
it
used
to
be,"
he
added. "The
'70s
were
the
challenging
years,
lots
of
great
fights. The
real
ob was done in the
'70s
when we(urban mayors) woke up this nation to the crisisin
the
cities."
He's proud
to
leave
the
city
fiscally
stable,proud of the political battles that proved he wasright.At
a
Christmas
party last
week
at the
Bene-dict-Moore housing project, a group of children—at
the
urging
of
their mothers
—
hanked
him
for
not backing down in the face of publicpressure against
its
construction.
"They
didn't
know
who I
was,
but
they
thanked
me for
their
beautiful
housing," Alex-
ander
said. After
the
acrimonious
debates,
the
court battle
and the bad
feelings,
the
neighbor-hood
is
peaceful,
and the
children have
a
decent
place tolive,he
said.
"I
don't have
to say
'I
told
you
so,'"
Alex-
ander said.
"I
have
the
satisfaction
of
havingdone it."When
he
walks
out of the
front
door
of
CityHall today, Alexander
leaves
for a two-week
vacation in
Fort
Lauderdale, Fla. No inaugural
ceremony.
Noinaugural ball.Nomushy, publicfarewells.
Just
the sun, the beach and a new horizon.
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