European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday March 2, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 7 undercover cops combat drugs in pm plants Adrian Mich. A dozens of workers at Gener Al motors corp. Plants were arrested on drug charges after pm placed undercover police officers on its payroll to crack Down on drug use the company said Friday. Five to 15 percent of the people in our plants take alcohol or drugs or both said company spokesman Don Ald Postma adding that the problem ranges from a drink at lunch to hard Core drug abuse. The undercover investigation began at pm s Adrian parts Plant where two officers were put on the payroll said Cletus Smith a Lenawee county sheriffs Deputy who Heads a regional narcotics unit. After a nine month investigation 17 people were arrested he said. We definitely Hurt the drug business Smith said. Some were bringing in grocery bags full of  the operation was repeated at nearly a dozen pm fac tories Many in Michigan and Ohio As the automaker tried to crack Down on drug dealing Smith said. Last month in Saginaw 10 workers were handcuffed on the Assembly line and taken away when agents swooped in just after the Start of the second shift. Postma who said there was no evidence that pm s problem was greater than that of most other Large Compa Nies said the automaker was concerned primarily with helping its workers kick the habit. The company usually suspends workers pending the outcome of any Legal action officials said. Undercover agents have been used Only at the request of local or state Law enforcement authorities Postma said. Obviously the Only Way they can get into a Plant is for general motors to hire them. When they need an agent put in a Plant we cooperate with  pm won t say How Many narcotics officers it has placed on the payroll or How Many such investigations Are continuing. Lawyer Fred Lucas has criticized the arrests at the Adrian Plant saying one of the undercover agents made the problem worse by creating a climate of lawlessness with wild behaviour and requests for drugs. With very few exceptions most of those people in that drug bust were not dealers of any kind said Graham Teague one of the county defense lawyers. It s an illegal act and i be got to recognize that and so do they Teague said. But it was t the big Nasty drug situation that it was made out to  Smith agreed that Many of those caught were pot users Selling it to friends but added it s a  j i j am Iri Liuio in Mic Mem. Vii Iii uie u slim Areca mat 01 tons aug the operation was repeated at nearly a dozen g fac Agen e wit. Selling it to friends but added it s a  Gas wars emerge As Oil prices fall to eight year Low mjsill011? iffy to i Price of the i " i optimism about prospects for Strong eco began Exxon was paying $28 a barrel format Grade of . Oil briefly plunged b b i _ a a nomic growth with the Rev of r pc in. In inn ant new York a the Price of e main d below $13 a barrel Friday a level last seen eight years ago and isolated instances of another 1970s phenomenon gasoline Price wars in the United states started to emerge. Saudi Arabia s Oil minister said popularly traded crude could drop As Low As $10 before bottoming out. On the new York mercantile Exchange West Texas intermediate crude for april delivery Sank to $12.70 a barrel As trading opened Friday then recovered somewhat to close at $13.26. That was 69 cents lower than thursday s close and 58.2 percent lower than the $31.70 a barrel that prevailed As recently As november. The last time Oil sold for less than $13 a barrel in the United states was mid-1978, according to Platt s Oil Gram Price report a newsletter specializing in Petroleum prices. The drop in Oil prices has spurred new Lack of insurance May spell end . Oil imports in percent of . Consumption 1980i,. I for 81 82 83 28.1% 28.3% 84 30.0% 85 26.0% Estir Riate based on first six months Chicago Tribune graphic source us. Department of Energy optimism t s r nomic growth. With the risk of a Resur gence of higher inflation reduced interest rates have plummeted on . Credit markets and Stock prices have soared to All Tim highs. The decline in Oil prices has kept record . Trade deficits from swelling even higher. The Commerce department said Friday that the nation s Trade imbalance was a record $16.5 billion in january but that the Cost of crude imports fell 4.5 percent. What s More analysts said that the Price of Oil imported in january was determined in contracts entered into months earlier. Recent drops in Oil prices Are expected to be reflected in future Trade reports. Meanwhile the Steep drop in prices on the mercantile Exchange a Market dominated by speculators set a trend that has spilled Over into contract markets for Oil where big Oil companies operate. Exxon corp., the world s largest Oil com Pany announced its Lith Price Cut of the year Friday dropping West Texas intermediate to $18.75 from $20. As the year began r the top Domestic crude. The Price of gasoline at the pump Gener ally has been falling at a slower rate than crude Oil s collapse but occasional Price wars Are breaking out. In Houston some dealers Are Selling Reg ular gasoline for 69 cents a gallon and unleaded for a few pennies More compared with 90 cents in other areas of that metro Politan area. One reason it is difficult to predict How quickly additional cuts will be implemented at the retail level is that several months elapse before refiners use up Oil that had been purchased earlier at More expensive prices. Before new York markets opened Fri Day saudi arabian Oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani told an interviewer in Tokyo that prices of actively traded crude May go Down to a very Low level perhaps to $10, but they won t stay there for  Yamani in his interview with the Japan broadcasting corp., did not say at what Price Levels he expected Oil to stabilize. Tentative pact Calls for 20 percent Cut of cheese Parade in pay f or Eastern airlines attendants san Francisco a the chinese new year s Parade scheduled for March 8, May be cancelled because an insurance company refused to renew a liability policy covering the event officials say. We re still hoping something will come up said Rose Pak festival coordinator for the chinese chamber of Commerce. It s not just us she said. We re first but the St. Patrick s Day Parade the col Umbus Day Parade the veterans they re All next in  City chief administrative officer Roger Boas said that in the past one of the companies that Sells the City liability insurance has sold citizens groups coverage for each Parade. But the company Cut off coverage this year he said. It s not cancelled yet Pak said of the Parade. Miami a Eastern airlines and its flight attendants Friday agreed to a tentative contract calling for a 20 percent pay Cut averting a strike and helping prevent a shutdown threatened by creditors who Are owed $2.5 billion. The lenders said Eastern would be in technical default at 12 01 . Saturday. When a technical default occurs lenders can Call in Loans at any time. It does t mean Banks will automatically Call Loans or repossess aircraft Glenn Parsons Eastern s vice president for communications said. We Are continuing to pay our Bills and have not missed any pay ments on our  Eastern pays $250 million a year in inter est to . And european creditors led by new York s Chase Manhattan Bank and Citibank. Susan weeks a Citibank spokeswoman and Morgan guaranty Trust co. Spokes Man John Morris declined comment Friday on Eastern s plight. Calls by the associated press to other lenders were not returned. Representatives of the More than 60 creditors Are scheduled to meet in Miami monday to discuss the proposal to sell the Carrier to Cost cutting Texas air corp. For $606 million Parsons said. The takeover is expected to take six to 10 months. I think we came out with a contract that s fair to employees and to everybody Eastern president Joe Leonard said after 16 hours of negotiations. It s the Best possible agreement Given the absolute insanity of the last year and especially the last two weeks said Robert Callahan president of the local transport workers Union. Eastern and its 4,200 pilots agreed monday to a contract that also Calls for wage cuts. The flight attendants agreement Calls for 20 percent wage cuts and an increase in work hours which will replace similar wage cuts and work increases the company temporarily instituted in january Leonard said. John Kerrigan International vice presi Dent of the Twu predicted the Union members would ratify the agreement which will be presented to the Union s full Board monday. Leonard predicted the agreement will mean financial recovery for the Carrier. Late Friday the airline announced bar gain fares that will be available on 80 per cent of Eastern seats in the next month. We think it s the most massive dramatic program Ever announced by a major car Rier said an Eastern official. Catholic group goes Witch Hunting in Chicago Chicago a witchcraft is creep ing onto College conferences says a Catho Lic group that has asked Cardinal Joseph Bernardin to condemn a roving conference celebrating stages in women s lives. The Day Long conference titled her holiness Maiden Mother Crone being held at Catholic colleges in the Chicago area is sponsored by Limina a non profit educational group in Oak Park 111. Limina says the conference is a merely a festival of womanhood but catholics for responsible action says it s promoting witchcraft and paganism. According to Webster s collegiate the saurus Page 186, Crone Means hag Witch said Judy Keane spokeswoman for the group which she described As a Chicago based organization of 2,000 supporting the teachings of the roman Catholic Church. This is very disturbing to our Community Catholic and non Catholic alike said Keane. Last week she wrote to Cardinal Bernardin asking him to speak out against the conference. The Catholic archdiocese in Chicago has t taken any action in the matter said spokeswoman sister Joy Clough who said she did t know if Bernardin planned to get involved. We certainly have no problem As an archdiocese for women to explore their spirituality she said. I would doubt very much that they re promoting  the conference involves skits slide shows and costs $45 to attend. It has nothing to do with witchcraft said lil Lewis a Catholic theologian and founder of Limina. The conference s title refers to the three cycles of women s lives she said in a Tele phone interview. Lewis said the complaints from catholics for responsible action were based solely on a brochure advertising the conference. They be never been to one of our events she said. This outfit is a pain in the scribble because they Are so bloody narrow Lewis said. They look at the word Crone As a  Limina prefers an old Anglo Saxon definition of the word As a Wise witty older woman Lewis said. The conference was held in january at Northwestern University s Catholic Center and is scheduled to be held at Depaul Mundelein and Rosary colleges Between March 15 and june 22