European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 3, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday August 3, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 7nuts, says new York to Squirrell report by Robert d. Mcfadden the new York times new York a one might have thought there could be nothing More to say about the evils of new York a no fresh surprises in the accounts of the City a wickedness and Roguer of moral turpitude and shameless knavery that somehow make news abroad. Bueno. There it was buried on Page 11 of the daily Mirror of London the final unsporting blow to the big apples Good name a a new Yorkus Central Park is suffering from a plague of drug crazed squirrels a the item in wednesdays Mirror began ominously. A police report that lunch time walkers Are attacked by squirrels High on crack. A a a they Chew on half empty vials of crack dumped by addicts a said Parks supervisor Carl that was it the whole Story. But efforts to confirm it proved difficult. Calumny Sci trility a fabrication cried the Parks department the police and various lovers of Central Park and its fuzzy Gray squirrels. A we have no reports of any Type of that kind of incident a intoned officer Ralph Saint just police spokesman. A i can to see that As being possible at All. They go after crack vials. They might go after nuts but. A an incredulous Elizabeth Barlow Rogers the City a administrator of Central Park and president of the Central Park conservancy noted that some of the More Friendly squirrels were known to congregate at Park entrances to mooch for handouts. But she said none appeared to be crack crazed. A the squirrels Are much More interested in acorns Popcorn and peanuts than in crack vials a she said. A a in be never heard of an addicted Squirrel in my life and in a in the Park every Day. I love to see the squirrels As i go to work and they certainly look Normal to me. A have not seen any deviant Squirrel Norman skip Garrett a Parks department spokesman said the Park supervisor quoted in the article Carl Langford did not exist. A there is no such person a he said. A i think its a Complete another Parks spokesman Stewart Desmond defended the maligned creatures. A we think our squirrels Are As clean Cut and drug free As any squirrels in the world including those in had there been any reports of suspicious Squirrel behaviour a they arc frolicking much As usual a he said. A no bloodshot eyes. No dilated pupils. They Are scampering in straight lines. Besides i done to think crack addicts throw out half empty vials a at least not the addicts in be heard a Call thursday night to the Mirror a a racy tabloid a was referred by an editor to a Mirror librarian Anthony Brockway. What did he think a Well i should imagine that there Are vials of half empty crack a he said. A i should imagine that somebody has seen squirrels playing with them and. L would have thought made up this Senate panel rocked by testimony on role of music to perk up elderly a a a a a. It a a Mickey Hart Washington of there May not be Many a a deadheads Over 65, but grateful dead drummer Mickey Hart did a gig for the elderly anyway. Hart appeared thursday before the Senate a special committee on aging with a vision of octogenarian percussionists and a suggestion that the nations nursing Homes and senior centers come equipped with Drums. And he was Well dead serious. The drummer for the legendary band was one of several musicians and medical experts to testify at a hearing on the therapeutic value of music to the aged and infirm. X in a session that saw the normally staid Senate hearing room Rock with music and singing from a variety of elderly and disabled performers Hart advocated tie ancient practice of a drumming circles for the elderly As a tool for maintaining both mental and physical Well being. Proponents of music therapy at the hearing said visions such As Harts May Well enhance and prolong life for the elderly and even offer a partial cure for diseases such As alzheimer s and Parkinson a. Or. Oliver sacks a neurologist whose experiences with catatonic patients inspired the movie awakenings said he had witnessed Many patients with apparent paralysis or inability to speak respond to music by dancing or singing. A Many elderly patients with strokes Are aphasic a they Nave lost some of their ability to articulate or use words a sacks said. A but the words which were lost May come Back with singing and music therapy can sometimes help the patient to adopt a sing song Way of sacks showed a video tape of an elderly victim of alzheimer a disease whose incoherent conversation and Flat voice became Clear and animated As she was prompted to sing a song remembered word for word from her youth. A music is not a luxury but a necessity to such patients and can for a while pro vide them what their brains no longer provide a sacks said. Sacks said the Success of music therapy often depends on finding the right kind of music to elicit a response from each patient. Theodore Bikel a Singco and actor known particularly for his role in the movie fiddler on the roof told the committee he has performed often at nursing Homes and discovered that because Many of the elderly were once immigrants ethnic songs arc often a special key to their Well being. Sen. Larry Pressler r-s.d., told the witnesses he was impressed with what he had Learned but added a what do you want us to do a sacks suggested funding through government agencies such As the National institutes of health to study music therapy particularly the reasons it appears to work. Both Hart and Bikel advocated training musicians to offer music therapy to the elderly and . To keep ban on foreigners with aids virus by the Washington Post Washington a Federal health officials have decided after seven months of review not to lift the ban on immigrants infected with the aids virus. A the organizers of next years International aids conference which had been scheduled for Boston have said that unless the . Restrictions were lifted they would cancel the event. The move appears to end a bitter debate in the administration in which the Justice department had fought the department of health and human services recommendation to drop the restriction. But the Way the decision was reached has left aids activists and Public health groups angry and frustrated. Chief among their complaints is that the Bush administration has declared that the costs of treating immigrants who eventually develop aids poses an unacceptable Burden to the . Health care system without providing any estimate of what those costs really might be. Various interest groups have come up with their own widely differing estimates. A we wish there could have been an open debate that could have dealt forthrightly with the issues of Access to health care and Cost a said w. Shepherd Smith jr., president of americans for a sound aids policy. Aids immigration restrictions were first enacted by Congress four years ago. At the request of sen. Jesse Helms r-n.c., the virus that causes aids a his a was added to the list of a infectious diseases for which All would be immigrants must be tested and which Are deemed sufficient to deny a visa. The Power to alter the list a which also includes tuberculosis syphilis and hepatitis a rests with the president. Since then the health justification has been attacked by Many Public health experts who said that since his could not be transmitted casually his infected immigrants did not pose a health threat to others. At the beginning of this year the administration proposed that the ban be dropped. By May of this year however proponents of the Oai countered with a new argument namely that his infected immigrants should be turned away because they might pose an economic Burden. Bugging gear ordered scrapped at plants by the new York times Washington a after learning that Security personnel at the nations nuclear weapons plants and laboratories acquired wiretapping and eavesdropping equipment in violation of Federal regulations the Energy department said thursday that it had directed its offices around the country to confiscate the equipment and Send it to one of the Agency a training centers in Albuquerque . The actions ordered by Energy Secretary James d. Watkins came in response to a finding by the Agency a inspector general that Federal employees and the companies that operate weapons plants and laboratories for the government had purchased an array of sophisticated listening devices. The Purchase of the surveillance equipment along with separate assertions that the University of California had wasted millions of dollars while managing the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California were the subject of a hearing thursday by the Senate committee on governmental affairs. During the hearing the inspector general John c. Layton said that although the Energy departments regulations specifically prohibited the Purchase and use of electronic listening devices he had found no evidence that employees or members of the Public had been spied on or that any Federal Law had been broken. A violating a regulation is not the same As an act that is illegal he said. Much of Layton a report which is to be made Public shortly is concerned with the Purchase and use of eavesdropping equipment at the Hanford nuclear reservation near Richland Wash. Several employees at the Plant who publicly raised serious safety problems at the Plant have said they were targets of the equipment. Layton said thursday that his investigators found no evidence that the allegations were True. Thomas e. Carpenter a lawyer for the government accountability project a Public interest Law firm in Washington that represents seven of the employees said thursday that the inspector general a investigators never talked to his clients or sought to look at evidence of wiretapping be had developed. A obviously if you done to look for the information you Arentt going to Tinct Jan awful lot a said Carpenter. A your clients have been followed their phones have been monitored their houses have been broken into and they have been harassed and intimidated even in their Homes. Now we be Learned that Hanford has the eavesdropping capability that top Security executives denied in
