Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 18

REPUBLIC REPUBLIC A18 THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC SUNDAY, MAY 18, 1986 Pupils, teachers thought they were to get gun talk Princess Young (left) appears in 1985 yearbook photos from Marana High from David Young, says bitterly that he and her sister, Angela, in 1986 in School. Their mother, who is divorced has "screwed up" the girls' lives. Bomber's ex-wife feared him Another source said the man, known as "Wyatt Earp" because of his love of wearing his pistol, was fired for not doing his duty and for dating his future wife while still married to another woman. Rentfro said teachers in this mountain-ringed town of 550 are so accustomed to gun-safety presentations that one instructor brought her children to the classroom where the Youngs were holding the hostages and asked if her pupils could come in, too. "Doris said, Rentfro recalled.

Later, he learned that a teacher had tried to signal to him for help but Doris Young warned her not to try that again. Cokeville's nightmare began last week wehen David Young left his home just northwest of Tucson for Des Moines, Iowa, where he picked up a longtime friend Gerald Deppe, 43, of Grinnell, Iowa. Meanwhile, Doris Young and her 19-year-old stepdaughter, Princess Young, left Tucson to pick up Doyle Mendenhall, 31, of Preston, Idaho. Sheriff Deb Wolfley said the five stayed in Cokeville for a few days and in nearby Montpelier before David Young told them Friday that of his "big venture." The two men told authorities they "wanted nothing to do with the plan," Wolfley said. They were questioned and released.

Relatives from Tucson arrived Saturday to pick up Princess Young. When the Youngs backed their van up to the school on Friday, David Young forced his daughter to help carry in the ammunition but left the two men handcuffed inside the van. When the explosives and guns were inside the school, Young threw the van keys to his daughter and told her to release the two men and leave, Wolfley said. After learning of the hostage situation from Princess Young, authorities sealed off the school for more than two hours until the bomb exploded. Marcene Madsen said she remembers waiting about two blocks from the school not knowing whether her two children, Chad, 8, and Kim, 12, would be released.

She said she did not hear the bomb explode but saw ambulance lights flashing and "knew something was terribly wrong." Neither of her children was hurt. Townspeople believe the Youngs chose Cokeville because they had lived here and because Doris Young had a son and daughter who still reside in the area. The daughter, Bernadette Petersen, was questioned by police and said she did not know of the Young's plans. Kirby Lytic, Doris Young's son, had not been seen since Wednesday night, when he announced to his co-workers at the Red Dog Cafe that be was leaving for Kemmerer, about 45 miles away. Lytle's co-workers believe he may have been harmed by the Youngs because he would not take part in the ransom plan.

Annette LaFave, who worked at the Red Dog with Kirby and Peterson, said she went to Lytle's trailer Wednesday and found his car missing but his clothes inside. However, Carroll said he has no reason to suspect foul play. He said he believes Lytie left Cokeville because he "didn't want anything to do with his mother." By CAROL SOWERS Arizona Republic Staff COKKVILLE, Wyo. The teachers and children taken hostage by a former policeman here said Saturday they thought at first their bomb-wielding captors were giving them a show on gun safety. But the couple, killed while holding 150 children and 17 adults hostage in an elementary school in a bid to fund a revolution, may have been involved with the militant, anti-tax group Posse Comitatus, investigators said Saturday.

They also disclosed that the couple may have intended to take half the children at Cokeville Elementary School with them to an unidentified island. "We were doing our math, and this guy comes in with all these guns and things and 1 thought it was class on hunting safely," said 8-year-old Mike Thompson, whose face and hair were singed in the explosion. City Councilman Delbert Rentfro, a school custodian, said he watched David Young and his wife, Doris, use a small cart to haul boxes of what turned out to be explosives from a van backed up to the school. "But. that isn't unusual," he said.

"We have these kinds of programs on civil defense and gun safely all the time." Rentfro said Saturday he had no idea that the Youngs' cargo contained gasoline bombs, blasting caps, guns and explosives to be used in a bizarre bid for $300 million in ransom for children and adults held hostage Friday in the Cokeville Elementary School. During the ordeal, David Young told his capt ives he wanted Congress to convene and appropriate the ransom. One of the hostages, 12-year-old Heidi Roberts, described Doris Young as "nice." "She fold us not to worry because her husband wouldn't hurt us, because children are too precious." Heidi said Doris Young told the children that here were about "25 things she wanted to change in the world." Lincoln County Investigator Earl Carroll said Saturday the Youngs, former Cokeville residents who recently lived in the Tucson area, bad enough explosives "to blow that school right off the ground." Cokeville residents say they are amazed that no one was killed. Authorities pulled several rifles, handguns, dozens of bullets and gasoline bombs from the school. Diaries, logbooks, calendars and several volumes of Black's Improved Munitions Manual were found in the school after a homemade bomb Doris Young was holding went off, ignititing other explosives in the room.

Young, 46, was killed, and 75 teachers and children were injured. After he heard the explosion, David Young, who, ironically, was town marshal here in 1979, shot teacher John Miller in the shoulder and then killed himself. Milller was released from the hospital Saturday. Twenty children and one adult remain hospitalized. Young had been the single law officer in this southwestern Wyoming community for four months, but he was fired because he was suspected of breaking into a store, Mayor John Dayton said Saturday.

The woman praised Young's wife, Doris, whom she called "Darcey," who died in the Cokeville blast. "I think she was good to my daughters, and I think she had no choice (in the hostage situation) but to go along with David or be killed," she said. She said Doris Young was a woman with "the most beautiful voice in the world" who at one time appeared as a country-Western singer in nightspots throughout (he Southwest. The woman said she is now married to a "good, strong person with a positive mental attitude." "When he came into my life, my whole life became positive," she said. She said she had not spoken with David Young since last fall.

"We kept out. of each other's way; the less said, the less argument," she said. She described Young as a non-smoker and a non-drinker who claimed to be an agnostic. She said he was "gun crazy" and always had lots of guns around. "I always felt that two or three were enough," she said.

The woman seemed extremely concerned about her youngest daughter, Angela, who was apparently in the mobile home but out of sight at the time of the impromptu doorstep interview. "This whole thing has been most difficult for her, the publicity and all," she said. However, she said Princess, the older daughter, was someone who was "always looking for a rainbow." She also said Princess was to marry a "nice young man." Ron Voigt, a former clerk at Miller's Gun (enter in Tucson, described Young, to whom he once sold an assault rifle, as "moody." "I understand the FBI is checking to see whether he was a member of a terrorist group," Voigt said. "I really don't think he was. He wasn't the type.

He wasn't a joiner. He was kind of strange, but he didn't seem to have a cause." Agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Pima County sheriff's deputies found seven rifles and one handgun in the mobile home early Saturday. Voigt said he became casually acquainted with Young, a customer who used to come into his store "dressed in rags." About two weeks ago, Voigt said, Young called him. "He said he had a plan to make some money, and he said, 'Goodbye.

I won't be seeing you any Voigt said. Arizona Republic reporter Jack West also contributed to this article. DEE RALLES Special lor The Republic TUCSON "All along, I was scared to death of him, not of any physical abuse, but of the mental abuse. Oh, why did he have to drag so many people into this?" Those are the remarks of the woman who was married to David Young until about 10 years ago, when they divorced. The attractive woman was in Tucson late Saturday and talked briefly about her former husband, some bits and pieces of their life together and about their two daughters: Princess, 19; and Angela, 17.

She refused to give her name or address on the advice of her attorney, she said. "Just say that I live in the Valley. The Valley is a big place now, you know." At about sunset, she stood in the doorway of the double-wide mobile home that had been Young's residence in the shadow of Interstate 10 northwest of Tucson. Young's ex-wife described how she came to Tucson to look for "dues in the trailer that might help law-enforcement officers in their investigation. She also was looking for a will that may have been left by Young.

The slightly graying woman of about 40 avoided talking at length of what had transpired in the previous 24 hours in Cokeville, where her ex-husband had held 150 schoolchildren hostage for three hours and demanded a $300 million ransom before killing himself. Instead, she talked of the Young who had "screwed up the lives of two beautiful children." She expressed bitterness at the judicial system that had made Young the custodial parent. She explained that there had been three bitter court scenes at the time of the couple's divorce. "If 1 could write the judge that gave him custody, I would say, 'Hey, Judge, I told you so, and in the meantime. Judge, these girls got really screwed "Oh, what those (Idaho) courts put me through!" She described her former husband as being on "some genius IQ and always reading books.

"He was the bookworm type, a genius, but common sense just was zip." The woman said she had had "dreams that were close to what actually happened" in Wyoming. "They weren't exactly the same, but they still involved him Young) with guns and being surrounded," she said, her voice drifting off without any further explanation. rr 7i llSiilliil BilSllliil I Uft i oil story or uougias llli mmm WM coDDer smelter liil wrii I Smelter Continued from Al "I will tell you plainly and simply, 'This smelter is a millstone around the economic future of Cochise That is not just rhetoric. I came to Douglas two years ago and spoke to the Chamber of Commerce. I told them, 'Times have changed.

The economy is "You can see that future around Sierra Vista and south Tucson. It is based on recreation, retirement, manufacturing and tourism. "The reason it hasn't evolved in this area is that smelter," Babbitt said to a mixed audience reaction of cheers and hisses. "I was met with applause when I told that to the Douglas Chamber of Commerce two years ago." Sierra Vista newspaper Publisher Robert Wick told EPA officials that a real-estate consultant retained by his company had found nothing but optimism among Douglas business leaders when he polled them recently on the impact of the smelter closing. Yet, Williams' perception apparently is widely shared in Republican political circles and among local 2J.

'lLZZ22 tm Jan. Phelps Dodge obtains a 5 year waiver from state, EPA never approves it Clean Air Act is amended to allow smelter-pollution waivers under special conditions 1977 May Phelps Dodge applies for a second waiver allowed under law 1985 Emission limits lake APr' etlect lor EPA proposes smelters to deny without Phelps Dodge waivers a waiver 1986 Jan. Final emission limits take ettect tor smellers with waivers SJH smelter supporters: that the opposition to the smelter is the province of newcomers, professional environmentalists and labor agitators. His commments were echoed in letters from state Senate President Stan Turley and House Majority Leader Jamie Sossaman, read into the record by Douglas Mayor Ben Williams. Turley referred to a 1983 resolution by the Legislature that urged Congress to extend the life of the Douglas smelter beyond the 1988 deadline.

"In a recent visit to Douglas, I was pleased to see how little adverse effect the smelter smoke had," Turley's statement said. "The EPA is unnecessarily harassing Phelps Dodge." The Douglas smelter is the largest source of industrial sulfur-dioxide emissions in the country and has been linked to acid-rain damage in the central Rockies. A bitter 1983 strike ended in the ouster of the Steelworkers union from the smelter. Since then, the union regularly has attacked Phelps Dodge on its environmental record here and in other Arizona smelter towns. Jack Williams' comments reflected the view of many local smelter supporters that Babbitt is using the issue to gain support from national labor and environmental organizations.

Indeed, the smelter is anything but a health issue to some healthcare professionals in Douglas. Several, including Dr. Joe Causey, a former Douglas mayor, said they never have observed any health problems connected with the smelter. Causey spoke at length on the potential health hazards from throwing 350 smelters workers out of a job, citing the strain to local welfare roles. "Over half of those already living in poverty (in the area) are Anglo," he said.

"That means you and me, not blacks, not Hispanics." But a Bisbee physician crit icized his colleagues for failing to recognize the connection between the smelter and respiratory problems in the area. Douglas copper smeller built 1902 Clean Air Act passes 1970 1982 Pain VaidezHepubiic imra, Company officials first made the offer to put up the bond in a February letter to the EPA after Babbitt called on the agency to tighten operating conditions or deny the waiver. In fact, private negotiations now under way between Phelps Dodge and the EPA may affect the outcome of the waiver decision more than anything said in Douglas on Saturday. Departing abruptly from standard practice, the EPA announced when it proposed the waiver denial that it will continue to negotiate with the company during the formal comment period. Within the past two weeks, agency officials have made a counteroffer to Phelps Dodge, according to sources close to the negotiations.

EPA and company officials declined to comment. protect even the most sensitive people. Historically, the company has had few violations of health-related standards but frequently has exceeded the "secondary" standard for sulfur dioxide. The company also restated an offer to sign a consent agreement to close the smelter by Jan. 1, 1988, and to meet sulfur-dioxide standards in Mexico as well as the United States.

Pat Scanlon, a Phelps Dodge vice president, said the company would put up a $5 million bond that would be forfeited if the smelter was not. closed on time. "I can tell you today that Phelps Dodge accepts these commitments, and 1 can assure you and the EPA that we will do what is necessary to permit them to he kept," Scanlon said. sulfur dioxide, the EPA proposed the Douglas waiver be denied. On Saturday, the Environmental Defense Fund presented time-lapse videotapes of smelter smoke filling the Sulfur Springs Valley, where Douglas is located.

Smelter critics also staged a noon-hour demonstration with signs next to the gymnasium where the hearing was held. There was no confrontation, however, between them and smelter supporters. Phelps Dodge officials, meantime, presented new evidence that the smelter could continue operating without, endangering even those most sensitive to smelter smoke. As of last month, Phelps Dodge said, it had implemented new operating controls at the smelter that reduced peak levels of sulfur dioxide in the surrounding atmosphere and that may he mlcquate to "Many, many patients in this area are dependent on steroids (asthma medication)," Dr. John Abbott said.

"This is an alarming, high incidence of pediatric steroid use." The health concerns of asthmatics and others who are sensitive to sulfur dioxide should be addressed by the EPA, Babbitt added. The most opposition to the smelter, however, has come not from unionists but from local environmentalist and business leaders in nearby Sierra Vista. Environmentalists repeatedly have raised the issue of health effects, based on medical research. In December, an EPA scientist concluded that the research could not be ignored if the smelter were allowed to cont inue operating. Bather than propose new limits for sulfur dioxide, a move that could affect all industrial sources of Jack Williams "To allow this smelter another 18 mobths is not unreasonable..