European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 6, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday. Augusts 1986 the stars and stripes Page 7 . Police seizing drug suspects cars new York not when Law enforcement officials stopped 43 people whose cars were cruising last week in areas of Manhattan where drugs Are widely sold they not Only arrested them on charges of possessing crack. They also seized their cars. In the latest wrinkle in the Battle against the potent cocaine derivative the police and Federal drug agents have expanded their use of a 16-year-old fed eral Law that allows the confiscation of property used in drug transactions. In the four Day period that ended saturday 30 cars were taken the majority from Middle class suburban communities in new Jersey. If you come to new York to buy crack bring car fare and be prepared to take the bus Back police commissioner Benjamin Ward said monday afternoon As he and other officials announced the Sei Zure of the vehicles ranging from a 1971 Chevrolet Van to a 1986 Pontiac Fiero. In the past the 1970 civil statute used As the basis for the seizures had been applied mostly to drug dealers according to Rudolph w. Giuliani the . Attorney in Manhattan. Giuliani appeared with Ward monday at a news conference at a Manhattan garage where the vehicles Are being stored. But he said a recent review of the Law had confirmed that it could be applied equally to any property used As an instrument in drug transactions. Mayor Edward i. Koch said that he thought officials should set a goal of confiscating 5,000 vehicles during the program and that the City would provide some garage space if Federal space proved inadequate. No individual took credit for the new policy Mon Day. A police spokesman officer Fred Elwick said it was the result of a recent brainstorming session among City and Federal officials who in recent weeks have been grappling with strategies for fighting the spread of crack. Officials acknowledged that the vehicle seizures would Likely be challenged by about 50 percent of the people whose cars arc taken. But they hoped that the new policy would be a potent deterrent particularly to the suburban drug buyers Many of them Young people using their parents cars who drive across the George Washington Bridge to buy crack in upper Manhattan. All of those arrested in the four Day sweep last week were charged after agents and officers saw them engaged in blatant transactions in Plain sight the officials said. They said those arrested ranged in age from 16 to 39, and the average age was about 25. Even if the arrested people arc acquitted of the drug charges they May not get their cars Back according to Robert Strang a spokesman for the Feder Al drug enforcement administration. Under the civil statute used to seize the vehicles the govern ment must produce Only a preponderance of Evi Dence that the car was used in a drug transaction not prove it beyond a reasonable doubt As in a criminal Case. When they come Home without Momma s car or without daddy s car the criminal Justice system is going to be the least of their worries and it s about time said Sterling Johnson the special state narcotics prosecutor for new York City. Johnson also appeared at the news conference with Koch and Robert Stutman special agent in charge of the Dea s new York office. Some of the people whose cars were taken expressed anger at the new policy. It s not fair said Giuseppi Martino of Hackon sack n.j., whose 1985 Pontiac trans am was confiscated As he drove it alone in the Washington Heights Section of Manhattan. I still owe an $8,000 Bank loan on it. I m going to fight to get it Back he said. Martino was charged with criminal Possession of a controlled substance. Tara Treanor a 20-year-old waitress from Glen Rock n.j., whose 1982 Cher oct Cavalier was seized also said she thought the penalty was too Steep especially for first offenders i m not Happy about it said Treanor who faces the same charges As Martino. But i think it la teach people a lesson. It certainly taught me one. I m no going Back until i go to court. I Don t think i la even go to bars in the  Rhea Breckur an assistant . Attorney and head of the narcotics unit in Giuliani s office said people whose cars were seized could choose one of two ave Nues of Appeal. The first she said is an administrative procedure in which the person whose property is seized writes the Justice department to request a hearing. A departmental hearing officer then reviews the Case and his ruling is final Brecker said. Alternatively a person could opt to Post a Bond for 10 percent of the car s value or $2,500, which Ever is less and take the Case to Federal court. The trial procedure is usually More expensive and time consuming officials said. Stutman said the vehicles that were kept would either be sold or used by Federal agents and the police. He said about one third of the vehicles that the Agency uses nationwide arc confiscated vehicles. Oregon Billing Gorbachev for radiation costs Portland Ore. Up Oregon health administrator Kristine Gebbie has sent a Bill for $73,060 to soviet Leader Mik Hail Gorbachev for monitoring fallout from the chernobyl nuclear Accident. The Brief letter with invoice attached was mailed monday at the direction of the Oregon legislative emergency Board. It was just a very Short letter Recap Ping our costs for personnel and equip ment to Monitor the air rain drinking water vegetation and milk in Oregon after the nuclear Accident she said. It indicates if he has any questions he should feel free to Call me. I would be surprised if he did she added. The health division monitored Radia Tion Levels for several weeks after the so Viet nuclear Accident on april 26 an found radiation Levels several thousand times higher than background Levels in Oregon s plentiful Rainwater. Health officials said the radiation lev Els were not dangerous but they advised residents against drinking Rainwater. Gebbie said the radiation Levels have returned to Normal and special Monitor ing has  the extra work forced the health division to ask the emergency Board for additional Money. Oil Price analyst Lundberg Dies was first to predict 1979 shortage Torrance Calif. Up Dan Lundberg a novelist screenwriter and for eign correspondent who became one of the Best known analysts of America s gasoline prices and supplies died sunday his son Jan said monday. He was 73. Lundberg who was Semi retired for about two years As publisher of the biweekly Lundberg letter which surveyed american gasoline supplies and prices suffered a stroke and heart failure his son said. He had been in failing health and confined to a wheelchair recently. Lundberg s newsletter was widely quoted in the news Media and was the first publication to predict the world Oil Short age of 1979. He was known in the business As the Prophet of the  he had just outfitted a new Sailboat and was on his first pleasure cruise to Santa Catalina Island when he was stricken while the 44-foot boat was moored at the Island. He was flown to Torrance memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. A Large Bear of a Man with a Goatee and a booming voice that often peppered his professional pronouncements with Salty language Lundberg gained National Fame in the 1970s when lines at Gas stations were common and motorists were hungry for information on the future of Dan Lundberg a photo Gas prices. But Lundberg was More than an Oil analyst. He spent much of the 1930s writing radio scripts and his novel River rat was published just before Pearl Harbor. He became a lbs correspondent in Mexico in world War ii and also wrote propaganda plays in Spanish for mexi can radio. In 1945 he covered the opening of the United nations in san Francisco and later worked on radio and television in los Angeles starting a to talk show that ran for seven years on a local station. He began writing about the Oil Indus try in the 1950s. People think that i m prescient he said five years ago. You can make projections you can make forecasts and you can make predictions but i Don t Doany of that. I compile data and i draw conclusions. That s it. I Don t have a Crystal  starting on a shoestring he built the newsletter into a solid computerized data base that ultimately generated $1 million a year in income. The newsletter has been run by Jan Lundberg since his father s health began to fail and is edited by Lundberg daughter Trilby Chacin. Another son Danus Olio works for the family Busi Ness. Lundberg and his wife Mesa also have a third son Guy and another daughter Dana. Jan Lundberg said his father s body would be cremated and the ashes scattered at sea. It was the Coke that added punch to the wedding Middletown . A the  parents and his brother were arrested. The Bode and her Mother were treated at a Hospital. It All stemmed from a fight that began Over when to Cut the wedding cake Deputy police chief Gus Pine said monday. According to Pine officers arrived at the Home of the Brid Maher saturday to find about 60 people m the House Yard and Street pushing Yelling and cursing at each other. Neighbors had lined the Street to watch the excite bridegroom Barry r. Bouchard 25, of Tiver ton was charged with disorderly conduct obstructing police officers and resisting arrest. His brother and Best Man Robert jr., 29, and father Robert st., 53, were charged with disorderly con duct obstructing police and resisting arrest. His Mother Adele was charged with obstructing police. Police said the fighting erupted saturday when members of the wedding party began arguing Over when to Cut the wedding cake. One witness said the fun really started when one of the Bride s Brothers began beating up the  officers went to arrest the Groom and the Mother got in there Pine said. Then the father started pushing and shoving. There was no blood or anything they were just giving them a hard  police officers and state troopers were called to the scene. Pine said All those arrested would be arraigned in District court. While police were Busy arresting the bridegroom and his family the Bride Michelle Bouchard apparently hyperventilate and her Mother Patricia Long Ley 47, apparently passed out because of the heat officials said. Both were treated at Newport Hospital and released. No one was willing to discuss who caught the wed Ding bouquet