Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 9

METROPOLITAN Friday, January 19, 1990 Albuquerque Journal Page 1, Section udges Grill Attorneys on Burned APD Files By Scott Sandlin JOURNAL STAFF WRITER files were burned. But when Campos denied their request to prevent the destruction, there was no specific order preventing it. The plaintiffs obtained an order from Baldock, but that came 10 minutes too late. The plaintiffs claim the city knew what was in the files and that the destruction was deliberate. After an intense half-hour of questioning by the judges Anderson, Chief Judge William Holloway Jr.

of Oklahoma City and Judge David Ebel of Denver neither side was willing to predict victory Thursday. It could be months, or years, before the case is decided. "The question of what would happen if they should send it back (to the trial court) is very open-ended," said Ray Twohig, who also is representing the plaintiffs. "This is a case where we're really painting on a blank canvas." He said plaintiffs believe copies of at least some files exist and there are people who know what was in them. "I'm just not satisfied that when they burned those 34 boxes that they solved the problem.

I don't see how anyone could be. That's what we're really saying there's no way to know until we look further whether, the problem has disappeared." pected of crimes. The files that were burned contained information that a task force said fell outside strict guidelines adopted as a result of the audit. The files were burned minutes before U.S. Appeals Court Judge Bobby Baldock granted a restraining order to prevent their destruction.

During Thursday's hearing, Appeals Court Judge Stephen Anderson of Salt Lake City hammered away during Davis' presentation, questioning whether there was actual, lasting harm. As the files were already destroyed, he asked, wasn't the question academic? And weren't plaintiffs seeking redress of a wrong that wasn't likely to be repeated? "I can't be as optimistic as you," said Davis. Attorneys for the city have argued the plaintiffs claims are so vague they should be rejected. The lawsuit doesn't name specific people damaged by the files or specific harm, the city argues. But Anderson asked whether the conflict was "an evil that will spring up again like a nightshade." Davis said it is such an evil.

APD did not "get religion" about respecting civil rights, despite extensive negative publicity about the secret files, Davis told the court. The ACLU lawyers argue there is evidence that police have continued to trample rights of citizens. Victory for the city, they argue in a written brief, will reinforce the idea that illegal police activity will be tolerated as long as it is secret. Albuquerque attorney Bruce Thompson, representing the city, said the lawsuit was "artful" but that it boiled down to "a generic complaint." Thompson said that if such a complaint can succeed, anybody could make general allegations about the police to gain access to their files. "They say they should be able to walk into APD," he said.

"If that happens you're going to have plaintiffs walking into police departments all over the country." But Davis said the plaintiffs couldn't be more specific because of the city's destruction of the files. More than 1,300 files were torched in a bonfire at the. Albuquerque Fire Academy just hours after Campos dismissed the plaintiff's original suit last Jan. 6. The original suit, filed Sept.

21, 1988, sought to save the files to determine if they contained evidence of illegal police activity. The timing of the destruction came in for close questioning by the Appeals Court judges. Plaintiffs' attorneys have said they gave the city notice they planned to appeal the case hours before the DENVER A year has passed since 34 boxes of secret Albuquerque police intelligence files went up in flames, but questions posed by federal judges Thursday showed the controversy has not lost any of its heat. Three 10th Circuit Court of Appeals judges grilled lawyers on the existence and destruction of more than 1,300 Albuquerque Police Department intelligence files. Lawyers for the city argued the court should let stand a ruling by U.S.

District Judge Santiago Campos allowing the city to destroy the files Jan. 6, 1988. Phil Davis of Albuquerque, one of two American Civil Liberties Union lawyers representing the plaintiffs, argued his clients a group of attorneys and community activists who believe they may have been the targets of police surveillance should have been allowed to see who the police kept files on. The group wants the court to order an investigation into the intelligence files. A 1987 audit of APD intelligence files determined that some included information on citizens not sus '1 Tax Windfall Larger Than First Thought By Anthony DellaFlora i JOURNAL STAFF WRITER I The windfall from an overcollection of property taxes in Bernalillo County could grow to $8 million, officials said Thursday.

Surplus property tax funds originally estimated at $6.3 million could reach $8 million by next summer, Bernalillo County Treasurer Patrick Padilla said Thursday. The new estimate is based on collections running higher than expected, he said. "We need to do something with it," he said. The County Commission has committed about half of the originally expected $6.3 million to new voting machines, after rejecting the option of giving a one-time tax break to property owners. Now it appears to have another $1.7 million to decide upon.

Commissioner Henry Gabaldon said there is still a question about whether there will be extra cash. But if the surplus does grow, he said he is leaning toward returning the money to taxpayers. Gabaldon said he is reconsidering his support of the commission's original plan to spend the windfall, which passed on a 3-2 vote in November. Gabaldon voted with fellow Democratic Commissioners Eugene Gilbert and Al Valdez to spend the unexpected revenues. Republican Commissioners Jacquelyn Schaefer and Patricia Cassidy opposed the move.

The commission's decision generated criticism from citizens, some of whom have labeled the $6.3 million a "slush fund." "I'm still trying to see if we can find a way to fund voting machines without digging into these funds," Gabaldon said. If that is not possible, he said he would support using only enough of the money to buy the machines, and returning the rest to taxpayers. "My constituents have been calling me and I get the feeling they would prefer they get a tax credit on the next tax bill or a refund," Gabaldon said. He added, however, that he also has heard support for spending the money on capital improvements. State Taxation and Revenue officials have not reviewed the new estimates of the windfall, said Pat Romero of the department's Local Government Division.

The windfall is the result of overcollec-tions of property taxes from 1986 to 1988. The division sets tax rates based on the total value of county property, Romero said. The total property value supplied by the county may have been too low, resulting in the tax rate being set too high. Padilla agreed that may be a cause of the surplus. JEFF SCOTT JOURNAL Storm Hampers Firefighters Fire Department Capt.

Eddie Varela. Varela speculated that a woodstove may have started the fire. He estimated the damage at $150,000. Information was not available on the owner of the house. Galelike winds fanned a fire that gutted a home on Rockridge Drive NE in Sandia Heights Thursday.

No one was home at the time of the blaze, which started at about 11:30 a.m. and took 1 Vi hours to control, said Albuquerque Clean-Air Bill Should Be Stronger, Activists Say By Rene Kimball JOURNAL STAFF WRITER Weiss said another important part of the bill involves two phases of vehicle tailpipe emission standards to control hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide. The first set of reductions would go into effect in 1993, and the second set in 2003. In addition, pollution control equipment on new cars would have to work longer and carry longer warranties, he said. The bill also contains provisions for better automobile fuel economy aimed at decreasing carbon dioxide emissions, a major cause of global warming and restrictions on hydrocarbon release from vehicle refueling.

which are spending millions to delay and weaken the national clean-air legislation. Weiss was in Albuquerque to brief local activists on the Senate version of the Clean Air Act, which is expected to go to the floor next week. It is aimed at reducing air pollution from vehicles, airborne toxic chemicals and acid rain. At the news conference, the representative of one group criticized the exclusion of seven western states, including New Mexico, from acid rain controls proposed for coal-fired power plants. John Bartlit, of New Mexico Citizens for Clean Air and Water in Los Alamos, warned that visible air pollution across the South west, and particularly in the national parks such as the Grand Canyon, will worsen unless the exemption is removed.

He said he supports a regional cap on power plant sulfur dioxide emissions. Even though power plants in New Mexico are relatively clean, Bartlit said, two large coal plants in Nevada and Arizona have no pollution-control equipment, and emissions are certain to increase dramatically with new plants in the next few decades. If the bill forced the two plants to clean up, there would be room for the region to add 20 percent growth to power generation facilities without causing greater visible air pollution, he said. New federal clean-air legislation before the U.S. Senate will take a big bite out of New Mexico's and the nation's air pollution, but it needs to be stronger in such areas as dealing with acid rain, representatives of environmental and health groups said Thursday in Albuquerque.

Daniel Weiss, the Sierra Club's pollution and toxics program director in Washington, D.C., said at a news conference that environmental groups are going up against the chemical, oil, utility and auto industries Rescue Museum Needs Rescue Air Force Puts Popular Kirtland Attraction Into Storage By David H. Morrissey JOURNAL STAFF WRITER ILL THERE BE a rescue for the Air Force Rescue Memorial Museum at Kirtland Air Force Base? i sua, 7 Earlier this month, the Air Force began 1 But the museum's space is needed for the Air Force's training school for special operations and worldwide combat rescue. Kirtland tried, but failed, to find a space large enough for the museum, Dennis said. By the end of the month, the only sign of the museum will be the vintage helicopters on display in front of the building. Those tools of the rescue trade will remain at Kirtland, no matter what happens to the museum, Dennis said.

Among the exhibits soon to be in storage is an autographed photograph of CBS national correspondent Eric Sevareid. In 1943, during World War II, Sevareid was a war correspondent covering the China-India-Burma Theater. What would become a long and distinguished career was nearly cut short when Sevareid and the crew of a disabled C-46 bailed out into enemy territory. A Rescue Service helicopter plucked the trapped Americans from danger, and Sevareid's photo contains a hand-written inscription thanking the personnel who saved his life. The museum also told of rescues of the not-so-famous, like the 93 residents of Pinehurst, Idaho, snatched from rising flood waters in 1974 by rescue 111 GREG SORBER JOURNAL These helicopters on display at Kirtland Air tools of the trade for members of the Air Force Base's Rescue Memorial Museum are Force Rescue Service.

packing up and shipping into storage the mementos and exhibits of the popular museum, which tells the story of the Air Force Rescue Service and the 25,000 civilians and service personnel whose lives it has saved. When and where the museum will be reopened depends on congressional funding and Air Force plans. One proposal calls for sending the museum to California, said Col. Bill Dennis, with the 1550th Combat Crew Training Wing at Kirtland. Another plan would combine the rescue museum with the National Atomic Museum, also on Kirtland, and move both to a new, larger location.

No decision on the museum's future has been made, Dennis said. Kirtland would like to keep the museum, which is popular with service personnel and civilians alike, he said. The displays also are useful in Air Force training. I i if-1. i service helicopters.

Then there were the Washington residents living near Mount St. Helens. At least 101 escaped the mountain's devastation aboard helicopters piloted by rescue service personnel through clouds of volcanic ash. When the museum is reopened, visitors also will be able to see numerous displays from the Korean and Vietnam wars. The service is credited with 996 combat saves during the Korean War and 2,789 combat saves from Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Visitors also will see a 15-minute film containing footage of an actual rescue of a downed pilot in Vietnam, and an orange life ring from the successful rescue of the crew of the SS Mayaguez, taken captive by Cambodian communists in 1975. 1.