Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 36

PIC Heno Gazette-Journal Fridav. December 20. 1985 Sacramento bomber leaves bloody trail across nation SACRAMENTO, Calif. The explosive device that recently killed a Sacramento computer dealer was set by a serial bomber who has left a bloody trail across the nation for seven years, authorities revealed Thursday. The mysterious bomber had struck at least 10 times and injured at least 19 people before Hugh Campbell Scrutton stepped out of his store on Dec.

11 and set off a bomb that may have been concealed in a paper bag, officials said at a press conference in Sacramento. Scrutton, 38, died in a hail of shrapnel, and investigators who examined fragments of the device concluded it was one of a series of blasts caused by the same individual. "Mr. Scrutton was an exemplary citizen with an unblemished character. I am certain that he was not a specific victim of the bomber," said Lt.

Ray Biondi, head of the Sacramento sheriff's department homicide bureau. "Anyone who happened by the business could well have been the victim," Biondi said. Federal authorities said they have secretly sought the bomber since his first device exploded on an airborne commercial jetliner in 1978. But they decided to go public with the investigation Thursday in hopes of producing new leads before he strikes again. Investigators said the bomber could be a fired academician, someone who has lost his job to a computer, or a person whose job involves frequent travel.

He has been active in nine states. One of the bombs went off in an airliner flying from Chicago to Washington, the FBI said. Another exploded in the face of a former United Airlines executive, causing him to be hospitalized. And six devices were detonated on college campuses, including the University of California, Berkeley. Each of the campus bombs injured one person.

Two other bombs were disarmed without injury, said FBI spokesman Mike McCrystal. But the 11th bomb killed Scrutton, the owner of RentTech Computer Rentals. He became the bomber's first known murder victim when he was hospitalized, but authorities said he would have been killed had he been standing over the package. Wood could not be reached Thursday for comment. A bomb placed in a business classroom at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, on Nov.

8, 1981. It was discovered and was disarmed. A bomb mailed to a professor at Penn State University, State College, from Provo Utah on April 25, 1982. The parcel was forwarded to the professor's new address in Nashville, where his secretary opened it and was injured in the resulting explosion. A bomb that injured Dr.

D.A. Angelakos, a professor of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, when he picked up the device in a coffee-break room at Cory Hall on July 2, 1982. Angelakos could not be reached for comment. A parcel mailed on May 8, 1985 to the Boeing Auburn, from Oakland, Calif. The device was discovered while Boeing employees were attempting to open the parcel, which had a ficticious return address.

It was ren dered safe without injury. Officials at Boeing Co. refused to discuss the incident. A bomb mailed from Salt Lake City on Nov. 12, 1985, to a professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

This parcel also had a fake return address. The professor's secretary was injured when the package exploded when she opened it. A box discovered by UC Berkeley student John Hauser, 26, while working at a computer terminal in Cory Hall on May 15. Curious, he touched it and it exploded, seriously injuring his right arm and eye. One of the first people to come to Hauser's aid was Dr.

Angelakos, the earlier UC Berkeley victim. No motive has been found for any of the incidents and no messages accompanied or followed the bombings, officials said Thursday. The Postal Service has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the suspect. The FBI also is trying to prepare a psychological profile. McClatchy News Service State mental health system gets $850,000 appropriation in disarming the device, the FBI said.

A small box found in a classroom in the Tech Building of Northwestern University, Evan-ston, 111., on May 9, 1979. A student, John Harris, whose whereabouts are now unknown, opened the box and triggered an explosion, said Chuck Loebbaka, a university spokesman. Harris suffered minor powder burns on his hands. A bomb that blew up in the cargo compartment of an American Airlines 727 flying from Chicago to Washington, causing 12 injuries by smoke inhalation, in November 1979. The jetliner landed safely.

A bomb parcel bearing a fic-tititious return address was mailed to Percy Wood, then president of United Airlines, in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove. When Wood received the package, postmarked in Chicago, he sat down to open it at his kitchen table a casual act that saved his life. The bomb, concealed in a book titled "Ice Brothers," exploded upward, blowing a hole in the ceiling. Wood, now retired in Florida, farm worker survives Monday night. Small and shy, she is "very nervous" about accompanying her husband to Los Angeles for the Big Spin.

She will be sitting in the audience when he has his turn at the wheel. "I feel very happy. The Lord has helped us," said Estella, who attends services with her husband and children several times a week at the Assembly of God Church in Earlimart. "Everything that is happening to us has been with the help of the Lord." She wants enough money to buy a house, either in the United States or Mexico. She said she and her husband realize that they probably will have to return to Guadalajara.

McClatchy News Service 0t JTf? pit a WwSv i (fa) Associated Press MINERS MEMORIAL: Michelle Warenski of Hyrum, Utah, studies a granite memorial to 27 coal miners who died in a central Utah mine fire one year ago. The memorial was dedicated Thursday, the anniversary of of the disaster. Ms. Warenski is the sister of Gordon Conover, one of the victims in the disaster. 'i either touched or disturbed an obiect that had been left three feet behind the store at the Century Plaza shopping center, Sacramento County sheriff's investigators said.

Scrutton, of Carmichael, a Sacramento suburb, took the full force of the blast. His right hand was torn off and his body was showered with shrapnel. Found at the scene were flashlight batteries believed to have been connected to a trigger mechanism, Biondi said. The sheriff's department also collected pieces of shrapnel along with residue of common gunpowder, he said. According to Biondi and federal investigators, analysis of those fragments by the FBI and the U.S.

Postal Inspection Service revealed that the bomb was similar to those involved in these incidents: A package found on May 25, 1978, in the parking lot of the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle campus. It was addressed to a professor at the School of Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. A bomb disposal officer was injured blessing for Monday, is that along with catching up on his rent he will have enough to buy Christmas presents for his children, Sally, 9, Osbalda, 7, Abran, 5, and Mayra, 2. The parents speak only Spanish, but Osbalda made it clear in English that he wants a Voltron robot and a bicycle for Christmas. Sally wants dolls "Real Baby" and "Upsy Baby." They know "daddy will be spinning on television" for money Monday night and that their chances of getting presents from Santa Claus have improved.

Estella Padilla, who came to the United States with her husband in 1980, said she plans to do a lot of shopping Tuesday. That is, if she in nearby Sharon on Jan. 11, 1982, where a passerby found her. She was scantily dressed and was suffering from mild exposure. "She was confused, not very verbal, and she could only give her name as Sandy A.

Sour," said Charles Hahn, administrator of the Mercer County Mental Health-Mental Retardation Agency. The agency offered food, lodging and training to Miss Sour, who was mistakenly diagnosed as mentally retarded. They soon discovered that the quiet woman was not retarded, but rather had been stunted in her mental and emotional development. Miss Sour said she grew up in an orphanage until she was 10, then was sent to the foster home. She said she had never gone to school and until she had an operation around age 16 had not been able to speak because she couldn't move her tongue to form words.

"I thought my name was she said. "That's what they called me." Hahn said he believes Miss Sour because "her story has been so consistent." complex, medical facility and golf course. One of the developers, Larry Haas, told the commissioners Wednesday that closing Bermuda Road was critical to the project since they could not have truck traffic going through a retirement center. The developers must now complete a study to show how much traffic the project will generate and meet with area residents to discuss an alternate northsouth route to Bermuda Road. CARSON CITY (UPI) -Nevada's mental health system received an emergency appropriation of an estimated $850,000 Thursday from the Interim Finance Committee to replace lost federal funds and to care for a growing number of mentally ill patients in Las Vegas.

The committee allocated $350,000 to transport patients from Las Vegas to the Mental Health Institute in Sparks which will hire more staff and remodel some of its facilities. Daniel Payne, director of the state Division of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, said the Legislature appropriated $400,000 to buy bed space in private hospitals in Las Vegas until a 32-bed psychiatric hospital is completed, scheduled for May. But he said tne patients have been admitted faster than expected. Payne said the division looked at a plan to lease a wing in a community hospital in North Las Vegas but that would have cost $20,000 a month rent, in addition to the staff and other things. Payne said some interview and visiting rooms at the Sparks institution will be remodeled.

He said Nevada to pay CARSON CITY (AP) The state of Nevada will write ousted casino operator Allan Sachs of Las Vegas a $450,000 check as a result of a settlement adopted Thursday by the state Gaming Commission. The deal resolves a dispute over casino entertainment taxes in which Sachs, who, with Herb Tob-man, was ordered out of the Stardust and Fremont hotel-casinos, initially had sought about $700,000. Sachs and Tobman lost their licenses and were fined $3 million, the largest in Nevada gaming history, in 1984 for failing to stop illegal skimming at the two resorts. Sachs and Tobman had taken over the clubs in 1979 from former FILL v4 i Big Spin mixed EARLIMART Tc will be a mixed blessing for Domingo Padilla, a farmworker from Ear-limart, when he takes his turn Monday to try to win $3 million in the California lottery's Big Spin. Padilla, his wife, Estella, and their four children need the money.

They are five months behind on the $200 per month rent they pay for their small apartment. But because they are undocumented aliens, they probably will have to return to Mexico shortly after receiving their prize. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service started deportation proceedings against earlier lottery winners who were undocumented aliens. The bright side for Padilla, who will win a minimum of $10,000 these were smaller than the national standards required but they will serve in an emergency.

The Sparks institute would be able to care for 12 patients. The money should finance the program until January 1987 when the Legislature is in session. The committee also allocated some $500,000 to make up for the loss of Title 19 funds to Nevada's mental retardation programs. That will carry the division until May when a new emergency appropriation will have to be made. Committee members expressed concern that the new tax legislation in Congress may result in a crisis in Medicaid or Title 19 funding for the state.

Committee Chairman Sen. James I. Gibson, D-Henderson, said it could mean a special session of the Legislature because there is not enough money in the emergency fund to handle such a loss. Assemblyman David Nicholas, R-Incline Village, said, "We might be facing some severe shortfalls in federal Medicaid funds in a short period of time." Sachs $450,000 owner Allen Glick, who also was booted out of state gaming for failing to prevent an alleged $7 million slot skimming operation. The $450,000 settlement stems from a Nevada Supreme Court decision last April which wiped out a 1983 order levying a casino entertainment tax on tips and commissions including the price of showroom tickets.

The ruling followed oral arguments last February in which justices questioned whether the tax was really on a service and not the show, food or drinks. The entertainment tax isn't supposed to be collected on services. Z2 wt OAK STYLES ON SALE SHOP 9 am to 6 pm CLOSED SUNDAYS OAK wr. 2 injured in prison attack at Carson CARSON CITY (AP) Two Nevada prison inmates have suffered minor stab wounds, apparently in retaliation for their cooperation with an investigation into the Aryan Warriors prison gang, according to Warden John Slansky. Slansky, warden for the medium-security facility in Carson City, said Robert Maginnis, 30, and Richard Mello, 38, were treated at the prison infirmary.

Mello suffered a wound to his left shoulder, while Maginnis suffered what was described as a pinpoint wound in his back. The warden said a dull razor was used in the attack on Mello but officials haven't discovered the weapon used on Maginnis. Slansky said the movtive for the attack was apparently revenge. Until recently, both inmates were under protective custody because they cooperated with the state Attorney General's probe in 1981 of a white supremacist prison gang that was terrorizing the maximum-security facility. Both inmates are serving life terms without possibility of parole for the 1974 murders of the wife and son of former Reno Mayor Len Harris.

Slansky said three or four inmates have been locked up in connection with the attack and another 20 inmates have been questioned. In an unrelated incident, a prisoner being kept at the medium-; security facility to await trial in Carson City on burglary charges apparently tried to kill himself Wednesday. Slansky said Michael Santos, 30, has a history of mental problems and before he tried to stab himself in the back with a "piece of metal" Santos stood in the prison yard and yelled he would do any-thing to get out of the prison. Boulder City, Elko won't get damage funds CARSON CITY (AP) The cities of Elko and Boulder City were turned down Thursday in requests to the Interim Finance Committee for state money to help I repair weather damage. Elko sought $129,672 to widen and pave the street in from of the new Elko Junior High School.

Terry Reynolds, representing the city, said harsh winter weather and flooding had forced the city to I repair nearly one-third of its streets and it could not pave the new ones. While the tax department recommended approval of the request, Legislative Counsel Frank Daykin said that depletion I of the street fund by the severe winter may have been unforseen, but the need to pave a new road was not. The committee, which considers requests for state funds when the Legislature is not in session, rejected the city by an 11-9 vote with Sen. John Vergiels, D-Las Vegas, absent. The committee voted 18-3 to deny Boulder City's request for an additional $273,173 to repair flood damage not already taken care of with federal and local funds and earlier state allocations.

The tax department, which had I recommended approval of Elko's bid, said Boulder City should be turned down because it had not appealed to residents for a tax increase to fund the repairs. It noted the city had the lowest tax rate in the state. Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said he could not see the panel denying a request that was recommended by the tax commission, then approving one that was not. I Assemblyman Jack Jeffrey, D- Henderson, noted that if a tax increase "vote could be arranged I immediately after the flood, it would be all right.

At this point, it would fail." I. ft California mystery woman still searching for past Bp COMPATE AT $995 OAK QUALITY TABLE WITH 1 FILL 7rf TABLE AND 1 HERMITAGE, Pa. (AP) -Four years after being found here, a 28-year-old woman with only vague recollections of her past is living a new life and looking for a job, while local authorities look for a couple they suspect mistreated her and may be abusing other handicapped people. The woman, who goes by the name she believes was hers, Sandy A. Sour, said Thursday she ran away from a foster home in California, where she remembers living with five other handicapped people.

She said she fled because she was afraid for her safety. "My life for 24 years was a living hell," Miss Sour said. "And I was more afraid of looking back than looking ahead. "Once I spoke to a woman who came to the house, and I was put into solitary confinement for 4 months," Miss Sour said. "They locked me in a room, and in the morning would give me a glass of vinegar and a piece of bread to eat.

When they took me out of the room, I was half dead." Miss Sour said she hitchhiked across the country before arriving 4 CHAIRS "PRESSBACK" QUALITY DOWN PAYMENT PAYMENT 'TIL MARCH '86 WITH CREDIT APPROVAL AND $300 MINIMUM (Ask for Details) ALL DINING ROOM SETS 4S 3333 N. CARSON Carson City Clark OKs retirement community LAS VEGAS (AP) A massive retirement community near McCarran International Airport has been given the green light by Clark County Commissioners, but not without a hitch. Protests by area residents prompted the developers to temporarily withdraw their request to close Bermuda Road, a move they say is critical to the project, until they complete a traffic study. The 260-acre project is slated to cost well over $100 million and will contain 930 homes, a commercial FREE DELIVERY FOR CHRISTMAS.