European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes tuesday May 31,1988 military has had Little effect in drug War by Richard Halloran Washington not even As Congress moves closer to giving the armed forces More responsibility in inc War against drugs the experience of he last six years suggests thai previous efforts by the military have been Only marginally effective the air Force for instance dispatched Azacs surveillance planes crammed with advanced radar sophisticated computers and trained Crews almost every Day last year and this year seeking smugglers in Low flying aircraft crossing tie Border with Mexico or the coastlines. In All of 1987. That Effort led so the apprehension of inn drug smugglers. So far this year no arrests have resulted from those missions. With other aircraft air Force operations led to Highl More arrests tast year and three in the first three months of this year. The Navy debated 2,500 Days of sending out ships and 2, 00 Aerial sorties to the anti drug Effort last  activity resulted in the discovery of 27 ships carry ing illicit drugs the seizing of 168,000 Pound of Mari Juana and 1,900 pounds of cocaine and the arrests of s7 smugglers. In the first Chrtt months of this year on ship was found with drugs aboard. Those experiences illustrate the difficulty of trans lating into practical terms the new direction thai con Gress has set for the Light against drugs involving the military Over the objections of the defense depart ment and despite a historical reluctance to have the military act As Law enforcement officers. That is the assessment drawn from air Force Navy army coast guard and customs service officials plus recent re port from the Rand corp., a private research organization and the general accounting office an investigative Arm of the Congress. All told the armed forces spent 1389 million to fight drug trafficking last year. But the general accounting office in a report to Congress concluded we found no direct correlation Between resources spent to interdict and the Long term availability of imported drug in the Domestic  mov cover anti drug operations by the armed forces have hardly been economical. An Azacs plane with upgraded equipment costs 1179 million not counting the $50 million a year for operations plus the training of a highly specialized Crew. In contrast a new Lockheed p-3 equipped with radar attuned to interdicting Small planes flying Low and slow is to be delivered to the customs service in june and will go into operation in september. It cost119 million. A spokesman for the customs service said the service plans to buy free More. On Friday the Senate approved a Bill that instructs the armed forces to Lake a greater part in fighting drug traffic although it did not go As far As an earlier Bill passed by the House that requires the military o Seal the Borders to drug smugglers. The two versions arc to be reconciled. To carry out the intent of Congress the armed forces May be required to rearrange their priorities from military readiness to drug interdiction and con sequently to shift their focus of operations. Some commitments of . Forces such As Shote in the per Sian Gulf May be reduced. The armed forces despite their experience since Congress ordered them in 1981 to support the drug Nahting operations of other agencies have not been effective for several reasons with a few exceptions drug interdiction has been incidental to military training and operations. Al though some Navy ships and air Force planes have occasionally been dedicated to inner ceiling drug traffic most actions have been conducted Only so Long As they did not interfere with primary duties. Equipment aboard ships and planes was designed for a different Mission. The sensors on an Azacs plane for instance Are intended to identify soviet m1g fighters flying at 1,200 knots Ai 4s.qoo feet nol Small Cessna flying at 200 knots at 500 feel. The same is Siruc of Crew training. There is no coordinated system to use information from the armed forces to determine whether a ship or plane is carrying drugs and to position Law enforcement officers for an arc so. The Rand report said the interdiction system is not a single  information about drug smuggling collected by the Cia the defense intelligence Agency the drag enforcement Agency the Fri and other agencies is nol shared. The general accounting office while Couch ing ils report in diplomatic language painted a sorry picture on thai score. Odic to Aid Small Banks after group s criticism fort Worth. Texas up the Federal Deposit insurance corp., Slung by criticism that it gives preferential. " " our the fort Worth Star Telegram. The Fulcs plan to prop up rather than close four Texas Banks with assets of less than Sloo million each has the approval of Independent Bankers the newspaper said in its sunday edition the Independent Bankers association of Texas has accused the Odic of operating a double Standard closing Small troubled Community Banks while infusing capital to support the stale s larger holding companies they re caving in to our criticism,11 said f. Hagen Mcmahom jr., executive director of the Austin banking group. Regulators maintain however that the move to provide assistance to smaller Banks is not a shift in philosophy from inc past two years when most of the open Bank assistance has gone to larger banking institutions with billions of dollars in assets. We have always considered the pro Gram to be available to More Banks said Kenneth Walker director of the Fulcs Southwest regional office in dal Las. It s just that there Are More people now willing and Able to put together a Deal involving private capita along with our assistance. Walker declined to identify the tour Texas Banks that Are scheduled to receive Federal assistance saying Only hat a formal announcement would be made soon the Star Telegram said banking Industry sources indicate Bank of the West in Austin is discussing with Odic officials a possible merger of several smaller Banks. Mcmahon was critical of the Agency s recent guarantees of All deposits at  corp., while protecting Only 5100,000 of Deposit at smaller Banks. First Republic Bank is now under going a federally assisted bailout. Up to now the Odic has just been blowing hot air Mcmahon said. "11 says open Bank assistance is available to Texas Banks of All sizes but so far we have seen Little  since january 1987, the Odic has approved four open Bank assistance trans actions in Texas. Three involved Large holding Compa Nies ban Texas group inc., first City ban corporation of Texas and first re Texas Banks nonperforming Loans b3 84 85 86 87 note 1982 data nol available Chicago to Ferne Chart source Shesh Utill information services inc Public Bank corp. The fourth involved the much smaller Cross roads Bank in Victoria Walker said 76 percent of the 33 Banks nationwide that have received open Bank assistance since january 1986 involved assets of Sloo million or less. Four of those Are the smaller Texas Banks awaiting final approval Al a news conference earlier this month in Austin. Odic chairman Wil Liam Seidman said he expects the num Ber of Texas Bank failure to Rise from the current 29 to 70 by the year s end. Seidman also said the Agency is studying the inequity of insuring All de posits it larger Banks while maintaining the $100,000 Cap at smaller ones. Fri adds 3 to list of most wanted fugitives Washington up a Bank robber a drug dealer sought for two killings and a Man charge with performing and videotaping sexual acts with children arc the newest additions 0 the Fri s list of "10 most wanted  the Fri identified the three sunday and All were described As armed and  John Stevens 35. A former bookkeeper turned convicted Bank robber wanted for a siring of 22 Bank robberies across the United slates. Jack former 35, a convicted drug dealer wanted for two murders drug Ira ticking i portion. Roger Jones 42, charged with three counts of child molestations accused of luring youngsters off the Street and into videotaped sexual acts. Stevens Fanner and Jones replace three older criminals who were captured in recent months and removed from Hie list David Roberts and Danny weeks both convicted killers and James Dyess an accused killer since the three Are now lop tenders their Mug shot will be posted in Public buildings and distributed to police stations nationwide As part of a coast to coast dragnet. All Fri Field offices Are on the Lookout for them. Each poses a threat to society Fri director William sessions Laid in a statement he asked peo ple with information Aboul these fugitives 10 notify the nearest Fri office since the Start of the most wanted program in 1910, 412 men and seven women have made the lineup. To Date 390 have been captured. Fifteen others were removed from the list for a variety of reasons such As they were no longer considered a threat to society or charges were dropped. In addition to Stevens Farmer and Jones other current top tenders arc Leo Koury 54, a one time restaurant owner walled for two murders three attempted contract slaving and conspiracy to Kidnap. Ted Jeffrey Yuuki a convicted Bank robber chanted with killing one policeman and wounding another in a 1987 Thoo lout in Boston. Donald Webb. 56, a jewel chief sought for 19soslaying of a Pennsylvania police chief. Claude Marks 39, and Donna Wilmott 38, re puled associates of a puerto rican nationalist group that has claimed responsibility for bombings accused of trying to help a fellow member escape from prison in 1986. Victor Gerena 25, a former Security guard wanted for Bank robbery. Pedro Luis Estrada 34, a former prizefighter sought for five drug related murders in new York City in 1986