European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 7, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes tuesday february 7, 1989 Mardi gras much More than o Delight to the eyes bmb5g9$ip3tfhmbfsiiiia8ii new Orleans a they could t Sec the Gaudy floats in the Mardi gras Parade or the plastic beads and aluminium doubloons Flung toward them sunday but the group from the Louisiana Center for the Blind had blast. It s a lot of fun. Time just to Cut Loos and anything goes said Ernestine Morais of Central Calif. The 15 adult students and seven staff members two sighted who drove the vans were Only a few of the thousand who lined Parade routes in cold Gray weather to see the 11 parades Rollin through metropolitan new Orleans on sunday. The parades included the popular Bac Chus which named comedian Billy Crys Tal As this year s god of wine and  threw double handfuls of doubloons at the sea of arms below him stopping Only to pull out a camera to make Home videos of the crowd. There was a serious purpose to the school s trip said the Center s director Joanne Fernandez. That was help Mardi gras is the ultimate " Fernandez said. If you can travel Wouita Mardi gras crowd you can go through any crowd and you can go to any place " the group had staked out a spot right behind the police barricades on streets median like the sighted people around them they were grabbing for the plastic beads doubloons and other trin despite unseasonably cold weather Mardi gras celebratory Are in a festive mood. Drug Czar nominee visits Detroit on fact finding tour Washin a Rev non re. When a Doubloon clanged on in Street in front of the barricade Lone White canes poked out toward it sweeping the Street until one touched the Coin and pulled it in. Beads hit the ground and several people quickly Knelt their hands sweeping around until one person called out i have it new Orleans police estimated this willbe the biggest Mardi gras Ever with 1 7 million revellers lining the streets an jamming the French Quarter on fat tuesday the last Blowout before the sol emn season of Lent. Washington a drug Czar designate Wil Liam j. Bennett took a close look at the heart of the problem with a two hour tour of Detroit a visit that better " or ency of working fast to make things we have a deadly serious Issue on our hands he said from the Detroit Airport. It s compelling. This was fact finding for me very preliminary to find out what people on the ground Are facing. They emphasized what i was looking at was the heart of the problem. Downtown Detroit is Assad As it gets  last year Detroit recorded629 homicides an 8.3 percent drop from the 686 homicides in1987, according to City police statistics. The City figures did not Bennett indicate How Many of them were drug related a analysis of Fri crime statistics by the Detroit free press showed Washington was the Only City last Yea with a higher ratio of murders per 100,000 people the visit did t result in any specific plans for How u a8amst drugs should be waged or How he should handle his new Job said Bennett who has been nominated by president Bush to become director of National drug control policy. I be got to work All parts of it he said. What Isaw today Only underlined the urgency of working fast to make things better. It must get  Detroit police cmdr. Joel Gilliam told him on Index showing we Are winning the Battle will be when the Price goes up and purity goes Down but prices Are Down and purity is up Bennett recalled. Bennett deferred questions on what the drug budget should be saying that six months after he is confirmed Ihlen Alej hearings begin March 1 he will elephant kills Man another runs amok Tampa Fla. A a 3-ton elephant knocked Down and fatally crushed an animal handler in Tampa Over the weekend and another elephant sent fort Myers fair goers scrambling when it broke Loose with three terrified riders. Aboard and rampaged through a crowded mid Way. In the Tampa incident handler Joe Allen 33 was returning the 17-year-old male Breeding elephant to its barn at the Busch gardens amuse ment Park about 2 30 . Sunday when the animal knocked him Down and used its head to crush him with its full weight sgt. James pres ton said. Allen was pronounced dead at a Hosoi Tal. V it s an act of elephant aggression Presto said. Trainers told police the head crush Maneu ver is used by elephants in the wild. In fort Myers on saturday a 4-ton elephant used for paid rides broke Loose from a petting zoo at the Southwest Florida fair Tore through crowded Midway and plunged into a Lake spill ing its three riders. At least eight people were sent to local Hospi tals with minor Back injuries and grease Burns irom toppled Concession stands. He said he plans additional fact finding Tours Buthe refused to disclose which cities he might visit. Bennett went to Detroit because of a speaking engagement at Cranbrook school a private school in the wealthy suburb of Bloomfield Hills. The talk had Bee scheduled before Bush nominated him to the drug Czar a Jolt Yuppie group probed about Charity parties Boston a a Young professionals Prouo asunder vesti Gatun for raising up to $75 000 the role eight Charity parties but donating just $3 565 a tvs paper reported sunday. Piety a � Boston so there was no Money in it said Joanna Soris an assistant state attorney general. The probe began after two shanties complained they received no Money the eight parties grossed up to $75,000, but $3 is nnnatf�r1 try . Oky i c event grossed $3 225 but expenses were $6 log sell tag in a net loss of $2,775, the newspaper said to in e a a 1 in donated a room Worth $2 000 and stateside father charged in death of son 12, in car crash new York not a 12-year-old Bron boy died and his father was charged with driving while intoxicated sunday after the car the father was driving crashed into a divider on the Bronx River Parkway a police spokesman said. The boy Michael Martinez was thrown fro the car in the 1 . Crash and pronounced dead at the scene said the police spokesman Hugh Barry. The boy did not appear to have been wearing a seat Belt and the passenger Side door of the car was found open Barry said. T Victor Martinez was taken to Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx where he was listed in serious condition. He was later charged with driving while intoxicated Barry said. Contributions sought to rebuild monastery san Francisco up contributions Are being sought to rebuild Nepal s famous i nyan Boche monastery a major Stopover Point Tor mount Everest expeditions that was destroyed by fire Jan. 19, a spokesman for inner Sia expeditions has said. Inne Rasia vice president Ai read said the Mai Temple of the monastery the spiritual Center of the mount Everest Region burned and 80 percent of it precious Art and prayer books were lost. The cause of the fire has not been determined. Than Boche was originally constructed in 1916and was damaged by an earthquake in 1933. Read said that the head Lama plans to reconstruct the Temple and that sir Edmund Hillary is seeking tax deductible donations for that Pur pose through the Hillary foundation. Contributions can be sent to the Hillary s.at10? care of inne Rasia expeditions,/027 Lombard St., san Francisco Calif. 94123. Coach allegedly allowed players to pose with guns Oxon Hill my. A the head coach Ofa High school football team has been suspended Lor allegedly staging a photo session on school grounds in which some of his players posed with 3 pistol an assault Rifle and a Bayonet school officials said. Mike Pearson a physical education teacher at Nhi High school in Prince George s county md., was placed on administrative leave with pay Atter school officials Learned that defensive players on the school s football team posed weapons Inland Tor the promotional poster on Jan. 27. A ,St, told school officials that Pearson asked him to bring the weapons to school officials said. The weapons were not loaded when they were confiscated by school Security office Sand turned Over to police school officials said. I be student who is enrolled at the school Butis not a member of the Oxon Hill football team was temporarily suspended school officials said