European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 21, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday february 21. 1990 the stars and stripes Page 7 t. Roy Gentry holds his product. To. Man comes up with new Way to sell Squash Ozark to. A t. Roy Gentry thinks he has found a new Way to feed americans boundless appetite for Novelty cans of pure Missouri Sun dried android Tenderizer  the opossum is a Small Marsupial that has an unfortunate ten Dency to fall victim to Auto mobiles. Their bodies Are common sights along . Highways. Gentry s Enterprise in t using those victims nor is it using opos sum at All. Instead he s Selling potted meat and pretending it s opossum. Folks get a big kick out of them said tavern operator Clem Westbrooke who has sold about120 cans at $1.50 apiece since be fore Christmas. Gentry won t disclose his Sale figures but says he recently bought 600 cases of potted meat and it just about time to  newest weapon in drug War could be slew of tiny insects by the Washington Post Washington the Bush administration is studying a new option in the latin drug War unleashing swarms of tiny insects into the Jungles of Peru an Bolivia to devour the sturdy Green shrubs that Are the raw material Tor cocaine. The study is being done after years of despair Over South America s burgeon ing coca crop. At the urging of William j. Bennett National drug control director the administration has More than quadrupled to $6.5 million the budget for a secretive agriculture department research pro Gram to develop chemical and biological agents for the destruction of drug crops. Officials said the funds will be use for several exotic projects including test ing a red Dye that kills marijuana Plant Sand a soil fungus that wipes out coca. But the principal focus of the stopped up Effort is the Malum Bia a White Moth that in its Caterpillar stage gobbles the Green leaves of the coca Plant. Since the Inch Long Malum Bia is a indigenous pest of the coca growers in Peru s upper Hua Llaga Valley the source of More than half the world s co Caine Are already dousing crops wit Large quantities of Malum Bia killing insecticides . Officials say. But researchers believe that if they can Breed the insect in mass quantities hundreds of millions of Malum Bia eggs or caterpillars can then be air dropped Over the coca growing regions and the grow ers efforts will be thwarted. It looks  said Waldemar Klasson associate Deputy administrator for the agricultural research service who oversees the project. This is quite a voracious Caterpillar. If we could put them Down there insufficient numbers we could then Defo Liate the  Klasson contends that the mass Breed ing of Malu Bias poses such a menace to latin drug cartels that the agriculture department has decided to keep most details of the project under wraps. No Public disclosure of the project has been made and Security at ars s re search labs in Beltsville md., has been intensified. But . Officials acknowledge that the secrecy has As much to do with inter National politics As with the safety of the researchers. But there has been so Little study of the Malum Bia or its Impact on the environment that it is impossible to know the consequences of introducing them on a mass scale according to Robert Poole aus a research entomologist who works at the smithsonian institution s museum of natural history. Known to scientists As the species Elo Ria Noyce is the Moth has not been written about in entomology journals for More than 55 years he said. As a result critics said there is the possibility a mass influx of Malu Bias would destroy other plants in the re Gions bring out a swarm of natural predators such As wasps or even Migrate int other regions. Even if the direct environmental dam age turns out to be minimal growers will Likely react to a Malum Bia invasion by dramatically increasing their use of insecticides to kill the pests others warn. It would be wonderful if we could have cute Little insects nibbling on bad drug plants said Sandra Marquardt pesticide coordinator for the Environ mental group Greenpeace. Unfortunately those cute Little insects Are going to get  As some experts see it the Palumbi project is Only the latest manifestation of an idea that has intrigued Federal anti drug officials for nearly 20 years. During the height of the heroin epidemic of the Early 1970s, president Nixon excited by reports that a biologically engineered worm could be developed that would eat opium poppies ordered crash $2 million program to develop the worm at agriculture department laboratories in Mississippi. The information was listed in govern ment documents quoted in Agency of fear a Book by journalist Edward  about the Nixon administration s War on drugs. But the project ran aground when alarmed state department officials warned that if the Worms were let loosen the illicit poppy Fields of Afghanistan or Turkey they might soon Migrate tothe licit poppy Fields of the soviet Union causing an International incident. Scientists concede there still is much work to be done. Klassen said the next step will be to find a quarantined area ars stations in Hawaii the Virgin is lands and puerto Rico Are under consideration to import the Moths from Peru and study their Impact on coca plants. But even if All environmental concerns could be addressed there Are political hurdles that May be insurmountable. Hundreds of thousands of peasants i Peru and Bolivia Cam their livelihoods growing coca plants and until some alternative is provided for them no eradication program will be acceptable to their governments. Girl 14, survives night in near Zero cold South Lake Tahoe Calif. A a 14-year-old girl survived a night in the snowy Sierra Nevada by sleeping in Snow Cave she built and exercising when she got too cold in near Zero tempera Tures authorities said monday. Maureen Lamerdin of glenbrook.ncv., spent sunday night on the Back Side of the heavenly Valley ski resort near South Lake Tahoe Douglas county sheriffs department officials said. Lamerdin disappeared sunday afternoon while skiing in the area with her father Steve deputies said. Deputies said the girl built a Snow Cave put tree branches Over the top and exercised a couple of times during the night to stay warm. Temperatures dipped to Zero with record Low of 7 below Zero at Reno ncv., following a weekend storm that left up to 6 feet of new Snow on the mountains. Rescuers found Lamerdin at Daybreak monday. She was taken to Barton memorial Hospital where a nursing supervisor said she complained of cold toes. Doctors armed her up and she was allowed to go Home officials said. Police kill Marley s gun of no brother in Moll Miami a a Shotgun waving Young Man who was killed by police sunday after he stalked through a shopping mall was identified monday As a brother of late reggae music Star Bob Marley. Police said they had t been Able to explain the actions of Anthony Booker 19. The investigation s still going on. We Don t have Many details said metro Dade police la. Glen Kay. Police were called to Busy Cutler Ridge mall around 3 30 . Sunday after customers saw a tall thin Young Man dressed in White and carrying a pistol gripped ,12-gauge Shotgun. The Man was railing incoherently and mumbling to himself witnesses told police. He was really mad. He was looking for someone said shopper Carol Williams who said she was shop Ping with her two Small children when Booker pointed the Shotgun at her then continued on his Way. He was saying i m Gonna get you. I m Gonna get you " she said. Shoppers scattered As the gunman walked through the mall until police arrived. As an off duty Miami police officer chased him a police helicopter hovered overhead and metro Dade police moved in the gunman ran through the mall parking lot police said. He fired at least once. Officers returned fire killing him police said. Booker s Mother Cedella Booker said she did t know what caused her son to go to the mall with a gun. He is just Humble Young Man. When i saw him yesterday he did t look like my son she said. Friends and relatives said he had seemed upset since returning last week from a trip to his Homeland of Jamaica. They said he had t been in trouble beforehand aspired to be a musician. Bob Marley who brought the reggae music of Jamaica to International prominence died in Miami of a brain tumor in 1981. $33 million settlement made in Texas disaster Brownsville Texas a relatives of the 13 people killed and 32 More injured in the collapse of a depart ment store will share a $33.1 million out of court settlement reached monday lawyers said. The lawsuits were filed As a result of the july 7,1988, collapse of a three floor Amigo store during a torrential Thunder storm in this Border town. Many of those injured were from Matamoros Mexico just across the Rio Grande. A 14th person was killed but relatives did not file a suit. Lawyer John Lewis who represented some of the relatives and injured said a plaintiffs committee of several lawyer reached the agreement monday with the last of nine defendants. Others who were injured reached in dependent settlements said another of the plaintiffs lawyers Mark Cantu. The settlement came with Amigo stores inc., Brownsville s Public utilities Board the City of Brownsville and sever Al construction companies and materials suppliers Cantu said. The defendants insurance companies have agreed to payment of varying amounts depending on the percentage of liability attributed to them Cantu said. Individual amounts Range from si00,000to $10 million he said. The Effort to free those trapped in the nibble following the collapse included hundreds of rescuers from throughout the lower Rio Grande Valley and Mexico and other parts of the United states. The site of the store has since Bee converted into a parking lot