European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 25, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes monday september 25, 1989 More smugglers swallowing drugs Miami a . Customs agents used to seeing travellers use exotic methods to smuggle drugs into this country arc noticing an increase in the dangerous practice of swallowing cocaine to avoid detection. Plainclothes inspectors roving the huge customs area at Miami International Airport arc capturing an average of a half do in of what they called inter nals every week senior customs inspector George Dickinson said. The Swallow cars arc taken to a Hospital prison Ward to pass the scaled pellets of cocaine with the help of laxatives. In one recent week some of those taken into Cus Tody were a 45-year-old Man who arrived on a flight from Bogota. Colombia after swallowing 120 pack ets totalling a kilo of cocaine or about 2.2 pounds two men on another flight from Bogota who ingested 226 drug packets Between them and two men who flew in from Jamaica with a total of 100 packets of cocaine and hashish in their systems. So far this year 64 people packed from top to Bottom with pellets have been taken into custody compared with 25 for All of last year Dickinson said. The majority of drug seizures by agents at the Airport in the past three months have been from internals he said. It s becoming More prevalent due to extensive outbound searches in Colombia he said. Colombian authorities have stepped up their Pat Downs of .-bound travellers during the last six to eight months Dickinson said prompting Many would be smugglers to Stop carrying drugs on their person. Most of the defendants accused of smuggling drugs internally arc poor illiterate colombian Citi Zens who can expect to earn about $2,000 for successfully delivering the drugs for someone else Dick Inson  is the  said John Fernandas spokesman for the . Drug enforcement administration. Miami authorities recovered ii6 pellets from a colombian woman who was seven months preg Nant. She had swallowed nearly a kilo of cocaine in july. Iveth Rocha. 23, was sentenced to 40 years imprison after being convicted of drug trafficking. Officials Aren t certain How much cocaine is get Ting in via Swallow cars. But . Customs agents be Lieve they have developed a keen Eye for spotting potential smugglers by looking for signs of unusual behaviour or nervousness. Once people arc targeted they Are taken aside for an in depth interview and a decision is made whether to transport them to Jackson memorial Hospital to recover the drugs if they can t produce them at the Airport. When we started to Sec this 10 years ago the packets were handmade things that tended to Dis solve or break apart said or. Kathleen Schrank director of Jackson s emergency care Center. Things have gotten a whole lot More  the cocaine is usually compressed into a hard Cylinder scaled in plastic and wrapped in condoms or the lips of surgical gloves. The reinforced packets have Cut Down on the number of deaths that resulted from very pure cocaine escaping into the gastrointestinal tract. Uncut cocaine in that Potency when it escapes into the system is lethal . Customs spokesman Cliff Stallngs said. Those who wait for symptoms to develop before they seek medical attention May be too late said Charles Wylli dad county s Deputy chief medical examiner. Alfredo Romero 44, was visiting his brother in Hialeah last month when he started complaining of an upset stomach and began vomiting the Day after arriving from Colombia. The next Day he was found unconscious on the living room floor and was pronounced dead a Short while later. An autopsy revealed nearly half a kilo of cocaine in his system several of the cocaine packets had ruptured. Disney accused of abusing killing Birds Orlando Fla. Up the com Pany that built an entertainment Empire around Mickey mouse. Donald Duck Bambi and other lovable creatures faces charges involving the abuse and killing of wild Birds a newspaper reported Sun Day. The Orlando Sentinel quoted state investigators As saying workers at Walt Disney world s discovery Island fired a Rise at Hawks beat vultures to death with a stick and destroyed the nests and eggs of egrets and ibises. They said the supervisor at the 11-Acrc zoological Park sanctioned the alleged abuses. The two month investigation has resulted in 16 state and Federal charges against Disney and five employees most involving the deaths of vultures crammed into a tiny overheated shed for Days with limited food and water the Sentinel reported. The association of zoological Parks and aquariums is considering launching its own investigation citing an 18-Page report by the Florida game and fresh water fish commission and could re Voke Disney s accreditation. The Sentinel said Disney officials at first blamed the problems on misunderstandings about the conditions of a fed eral permit that allowed the company to trap and relocate 100 Black vultures. But state officials scoffed at that response. When confronted with details including the confinement of 72 vultures in a widow less airless shed legally big enough for Only three the beating of trapped vultures by workers and at tempts to shoot Hawks Disney officials had no comment. We re still proud of what discovery Island is and will work very closely with wildlife officials to make any corrections that need to be made spokesman John dry or said. We still intend to operate it As the first class facility that we have always intended it to  representatives of Disney have been ordered to appear oct. 5 before a . Magistrate to face three counts of unlawfully trapping or trying to trap vultures ibises and egrets All protected species. Disney could be fined up to $30,000 on the Federal counts and could lose per mits from the . Fish and wildlife sen ice that allow it to operate the facility. Disney and the discovery Island Cura Tor Charlie Cook Are due in state court oct. 30 to faces charges of illegally trap Ping Birds improperly holding vultures while in Captivity and improperly caring for them. Lead keeper Harold Rejonis and keeper Jeff Goodman arc accused of animal cruelty in the beating deaths of  Brumfield and Michael Cockrell workers at the Pigeon Toft arc charged with illegally attempting to capture owls Hawks and Falcons. All the state charges arc misdemeanours and carry penalties ranging from jail sentences of up to six months in jail to lines of$500. Disney had a Federal permit to trap 100 vultures but May have trapped As Many As 200, and never secured the Nec Essary approval of its trapping methods officials said. Disney apparently decided to get rid of the vultures and other protected Birds kept at the Park after they attacked other animals destroyed furnishings and generally made trouble the state report said. Bill Ellingson of the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois examine a Ceramic car Turbocharger Rotor before praying it. Argonne is developing a three looking for flaws dimensional a Ray imagine technology that could sate millions of dollars by selecting flaws in a variety of materials Early in the manufacturing process. Or. Miss America Dies in new Jersey Atlantic City . A Albert a. Marksjr., who brought the miss America pageant to television fired Host Bert Parks and dethroned Vanessa Wil Liams Over nude photos died sunday. He was 76. Marks died at Shore memorial Hospital in Somers Point from complications after a sept. 11 heart attack Hospital spokesman Bill Elliott said. Marks was identified so much with the pageant that he often was referred to As or. Miss America the Day before suffering the heart attack at his mar Gale Home he went to the Atlantic City convention Center to Greet contestants and pageant staff members and pose for photographs. Marks ran the National contest with an Iron will. Head final say on musical compositions television production plans sponsorship contracts and Choice of judges. Lawyer Leonard Horn who became the pageant s first full time paid director in 1987 after Marks re tired from the Job he had held As a Volunteer for 35 cars remembered Marks As a Strong Leader. He had a capacity for making Quick decisions and never looking Back Horn said. In the late 1960s, Marks suggested that the swimsuit contest be scuttled and that contestants Wear sports clothes instead. He said he dropped his proposal be cause of a clamor from slate pageant committees who did not like abandoning tradition. In january 1980, Marks decided not to renew the con tract of Bert Parks who had been Host since 1955. The firing brought considerable criticism including several nights of ridicule on the air from talk show Host Johnny Carson. In 1982. He dropped the show s theme there she is in a dispute with author a comic Wayne. He Al Lowed the song s return in 1985