European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 a the stars and stripes tuesday March 3, 1992 a this subway poster is designed to get citizens to report lawsuit fraud to the new York City transit authority. Subway ads urge new yorkers to report false Accident claims new York apr subway riders who fake Accident claims Are being targeted by a promotional Campaign to induce new yorkers to report fraud. A lawsuit abuse guess who picks up the Tab you do Quot declare red posters appearing this month on subway Walls. They ask citizens to report false claimants to a Telephone number in Brooklyn. Callers will find they Are reaching claims investigators for the new York City transit authority. At a time when Money strapped cities and other government entities report an increase in lawsuits the Agency operating new Yorkus subways and buses Hopes to Cut Back its $50 million annual payout to Accident claimants by catching the fakers. These Are people who exaggerate injuries or invent them pretending to be victims of accidents they Only saw on television or read about in the paper. A fraudulent lawsuits Are what we confront on a Day to Day basis a said Wallace Gossett the transit systems chief Legal defender against an annual onslaught of 3,000 lawsuits and claims for personal injury. But Gossett said in an interview last week that he cannot estimate How much fraud goes on. And he is counting More on the scare tactic than the tipsters. A if you know we Are looking at this sort of thing i Hope there is a deterrent effect he said. The Campaign which includes $10,000 for posters on buses and trains comes from the american tort Reform association in Washington d.c., whose members include manufacturers Trade associations and professional groups such As the american medical association a but no lawyers. President Martin Connor said the associations aim is to streamline and Lessen the costs of the civil court system. Trial lawyers done to like it. They Call the posters am new York up1 the City will spend $28 million to keep weapons out of 40 of its most violent schools the mayor announced sunday. His announcement came four Days after a teen Ager was charged with gunning Down two fellow students in a High school hallway. Mayor David n. Dinkins announced the program to beef up school Security after addressing the congregation at a Baptist Church in Brooklyn ending a particularly violent week in the nations largest school system. Dinkins said he was announcing the enhanced Security measures Quot because even one More life lost is one too  one of the first five High schools where Security will be tightened is Thomas Jefferson High school in Brooklyn a East new York area where tragedy took the lives of three students last week. The two students were shot dead in a Jefferson hallway wednesday morning. A 15-year-old student who Bigous and sly efforts to discourage legitimate demands for compensation. A i find it despicable a said Philip m. Damashek a new York attorney on the Board of the association of trial lawyers of America. He noted a colleague spotted one of the posters in a subway Stop near Manhattan a Complex of courthouses where jurors Are Apt to see it. A they want to discourage people who have rightful claims and they want jurors to be cynical and suspicious of those claims a Damashek said. A a in a hoping a lawsuit is started compelling them to take Down those  Gossett a Deputy Danielle Ruttman dismissed the lawyers argument. Quot it does no to serve the authority or the Public to pay fraudulent claims a Ruttman said. A we will pay legitimate claims but this is a concern for All of  Philadelphia a metropolitan transit system Septa used the same poster Campaign last summer. It was Only part of septal a Effort to ferret out fraud since 1988, when a trolley left the tracks and killed a Man in a car. Only one passenger was in the trolley but a dozen people filed injury claims. Septal a claims and lawsuits in fiscal 1991 totalled 11,634, Down from 19,456 in 1988, said James j. Rooney head of negotiations and settlements for Septa. So far 18 people have been indicted or pleaded guilty to fraud he said. As part of Philadelphia a Campaign computer searches find repeat claimants and careful head counts Are made at accidents. There a a lawyers hot line camera toting private eyes and $1,000 rewards offered. Radio ads billboards and posters get the message out. Allegedly sneaked a .38-caliber revolver into the school was charged As an adult in the slayings. The shootings occurred just Yards from uniformed police officers and less than an hour before a scheduled visit to the school by Dinkins. That evening a Friend of the slain youths shot himself in the head when a gun he was holding accidentally went off As he talked with other distraught students on the phone. He died Friday. The mayor said the 18-month program will spend $28 million to Purchase and install Metal detectors to Stop the flow of guns and knives into the classroom assign More police to the schools and expand programs aimed at teaching students How to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. Three of the other schools where Security will be immediately improved Are in Brooklyn and the fifth school is in the Bronx. The other 35 schools will be chosen jointly by the Board of education and the police department.  takes leap again with second feb. 29 baby from wire reports Chicago a Jeanette Vasquez should have no problem explaining to her Newborn son Why he gets to celebrate his birthday Only every four years a she already has on the Job experience. Vasquez 27, gave birth saturday afternoon at Macneal Hospital in Berwyn to her second leap Day baby with Nicholas weighing in at a healthy 9 pounds 11 i ounces. / Vasquez said her due Date was feb. 18/but her first child also arrived late by three weeks. A i guess my body just Waits for feb. 29,�?� Vasquez said. Peter 4, was not on hand for his brother a birth opting instead to enjoy his a a first birthday. Peter thinks the baby a is his birthday present a Vasquez said adding that her son also received some toy  leap year replay Janesville wis. A Karen Kennedy was set to throw a birthday party for her 4-year-old son Kristopher who was born feb. 29 in the last leap year. But their fun saturday was interrupted when she gave birth to another leap Day baby. Kelsey Kennedy Wasny to due until St. Patrick a Day March 17. A it must be the Moon a Kennedy said of her Knack for giving birth on feb. 29. An aunt and Uncle took Over the party for Kristopher and his 20 Young guests set for 3 30 . Daughter Kelsey was born at 3 15 .staff fired for spoof la Crosse wis. A a roman Catholic College fired the 33-member staff of its student newspaper after the biweekly ran parodies about using condoms. Viterbo College president William Medland said the Lumen newspaper a shocked the sensibilities of Many students faculty staff and  a such journalism will not be tolerated a Medland said in a statement saturday. A it holds up to ridicule the Catholic franciscan Liberal arts nature of this institution a he said of the 102-year-Oid school whose enrolment is about 1,500. Medland said he objected to the Content of parodies about condoms including a suggestion people Wear them on their Heads to Ward off the flu. A i am really disappointed a said the newspapers editor Stephanie Klitzkie who is a methodist. A when i first came to school Here i was concerned about not being Catholic but i was told that beliefs were not imposed.bash turns to Brawl Chicago a a teen Ager was critically injured in a Brawl Early sunday during a party held by mayor Richard m. Daley a son at the family a summer Home police said. Andrew Buckman 15, of Laporte ind., was struck in the head with a baseball Bat said Dan Shroeder police chief in grand Beach Mich Schroeder said he was Uncertain if the mayors 16-year-old son Patrick was involved in the Melee. The mayor was not Home at the time the chief said. No immediate arrests were made. Schroeder said a guest had showed up with uninvited friends and the Gate crashers were asked to leave. About 30 teen agers were involved in the Brawl Schroeder  dips into reserves Boston a the Christian science Church borrowed $45 million from Reserve accounts including a pension fund and a restricted endowment fund to pay off Bills officials said. The Church said it shifted $20 million from a restricted endowment fund established to subsidize its Christian science Monitor newspaper. The Church ran into Cash problems because of Large expenses from building the Monitor Chan us churches Cable television network and other broadcasting operations. Critics say the network has consumed about $500 million Over the last five years the Boston Globe reported saturday. New York to tighten school Security