Ukiah Daily Journal from Ukiah, California • Page 2

Daity JoOrnal, Ukiah, Calif. Wednesday, February 7, 1979 'Judo Connection' linked to Cal killings WASHINfiTON (IIPI) Demon- Thousands of family farm( SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) An international drug smuggling ring involving elite Black Belt judo experts around the world has been linked to a series of murders in California. The "Judo Connection" is believed to be responsible for massive quantities of LSD distributed in the United States and Britain in recent years. The ring, for example, was the supplier for Francis Ragusa, an LSD kingpin who was savagely murdered with his wife and sister in their Oakland home a year ago. The death of L6e HasSler, a little known 35-year-old University of California drop-out with an interest in judo, has also been directly tied to the ring.

Hassler's body, trussed and shot in a canvas tarpaulin, was found on a Sierra mountain road in 1976. Hassler, it developed, had an apartment in Hanover, West Germany, which served as a drug smuggling base. Central figure in the case currently is a man namied William Backhus, 42, of Philadelphia. He is on trial in Frankfurt, Germany, on drug Smuggling charges. In the 1960s Backhus lived in Tokyo among the judo experts who gathered there from throughout the world to practice their art.

His associates included several high ranking judo athletes, including one who who won a bronze medal at the 1972 Olympics in To Stay In Touch Delivery of 23 tone alert monitors last week helped the Redwood Valley-Calpella Volunteer Fire Department complete a seven-year, $10,000 effort to upgrade its communications capabilities. Fire department Lt. Ed Vinson (left) explains a monitor feature to Fire Chief Delbert Phelps just before the chief took.his monitor home. The 21 -man ment which serves 21 square miles has used only donations and fund raising projects to finance the communications system which also includes a bay station and two-way radios. The department answered 226 calls last year compared to 149 in 1977.

-Daily Journal photo by Chuck Rankin. Munich. Backhus turned up in Germany in 1972 for several years with judo friends in Holland: European detectives, after breaking up a major drug smuggling ring in Europe through "Operation Julie" in 1976, found that the supplies of illicit drugs continued flowing almost without interruption. They traced the new supplies to the "Judo Connection." A substance called ET" (ergotamine tartrate) was being purchased in Germany and shipped to the United States. At secret laboratories this substance was converted into LSD and put on the market, some of it going back to Europe.

As the 'drug chain continued to unravel, police discovered that many of the couriers, buyers and other traffickers happened to be judo practitioners as well, thus establishing the "Judo Connection." U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigators estimated that the Backhus group smuggled at least 44 pounds of ET enough to produce 50 million LSD "trips." The Ragusas, a well-to-do family who lived quietly in the Oakland hills, were savagely stabbed to death Jan. 25,1978. Investigators found $275,000 worth of LSD in their house and it was learned that Ragusa, 29, posing as "David Lovelace," a rug merchant, had made eight or nine trips to England in the preceding months. It was also learned he had salted away many millions of dollars in real estate, mines and other investiments throughout the world.

Lawrence Reilly, 29, of San Rafael, was arrested as a suspect in the Ragusa killings. He is still awaiting trial. In one of the bizarre developments in the case, Reilly was virtually kidnapped from the Alameda County Jail by federal agents and taken away for questioning elsewhere last summer. County prosecutors did not know of this until after it was done. Besides the Ragusa and Hassler slayings, investigators have linked the "Judo Connection" with five other drug-related murders in the United States.

WASHINGTON (UPI) Demonstrating farmers ignored the capital's worst snowstorm in five years today and rode to the Agriculture Department on 100 big tractors to press their demand for higher federal crop price supports. The tractorcade rolled under a truce with police, but did not disrupt city traffic as the American Agriculture Movement members had hoped. Heavy snow thinned traffic to a trickle as the big vehicles rolled down independence Avenue. As the snow piled toward a predicted 10 inches outside. Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland told the House Agriculture Committee today that American farmers made at least a record $59.5 billion last year.

"Farmers' total on and off-farm net income set an all-time record last year, totaling an estimated $59.5 to $62.5 billion," he testified. "In of total equity, American farmers are worth 11 percent more today than they were a year ago." OBITUARIES Thousands of family farmers have been in town for three days in an American Agriculture Movement rally boost income guarantees. They snarled traffic Monday in 1,700 tractors, but those tractors were quickly trapped on the Mall between the Washington Monument and Capitol by ar cordon of city vehicles. Some 200 tractors to circle the White House late Tuesday afternoon, and today's tractot-cade to the Agriculture, Department was allowed under an agreement by farmers not to move their vehicles during rush hour and to stay away frdm commuter expressways. Before today's tractorcade began, Washington Mayor Marion Barry met with a group of farmers on the Mall, which stretches from the Washington Monument to the Capitol.

Several apologized to Barry for the problems they have caused. "It seems like you're spending a lot of money trying to pen us in," a farmer told Barry. Andrew R. Binkley Services for Andrew fi. Binkley of Ukiah, who died at a local hospital Tuesday, Feb.

6, will beiield at the Zimmerman Mortuary Thursday, Feb. 8, at 11 a.m. with Father of St. Mary of the Angels Church officiating. Burial will be in Ukiah Cemetery.

Born in San Francisco, Mr, Binkley, 78, was a farmer at the Hildreth Ranch. He was a resident of the Ukiah area for 60 years. Survivors include a brother, Alfred Binkley of Ukiah. Homer (Bud) Crane Jr. Services for Homer (Bud) Crane Jr.

who died Monday, Feb. 5 at a Willits hospital will be held Friday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Anker-Lucier Mortuary in Willits. Rev.

Douglas Wahlberg of St. John Lutheran Church in Willits will officiate. Burial will-be at 3:15 p.m. at Laytonville Cemetery. A native of Arkansas, Mr.

Crane liyed inLaytonville for 20 years. Survivors include his mother, Carrie Crane of Laytonville; his father, Homer Crane Sr. of Montrose, seven brothers, Willie Crane of Saudi Arabia, Jimmy Ray Crane and Roy Crane, both of Laytonville, Bob Crane and Harold Crane, both of Sacramento, Joe Henry Crane of Montrose, Colo, and Richard Crane of Arkansas; two sisters, Louise Fennessy of San Diego and Eva Wilson of Delta, Colo, and numerous nieces and nephews. Blue Cross, Blue Shield will stop paying for routine tests NEW YORK (UPI) The giant Blue Cross and Blue Shield medical carfe plans say they intend to stop paying for more than $1 billion worth of routine admissions tests given non-surgical hospital patients each year. Such tests known as "admissions batteries" are automatic in many hospitals and include such things as X- rays iand electrocardiograms, which add to the income of radiologists and pathologists and the hospitals, themselves.

About 60 percent of the estimated 37 million hospital admissions a year are nonsurgical patients, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield estimate the elimination of the routine tests for such patients could shave perhaps as much as $1.3 billion from the nation's annual $60 billion hospital bill. The recommendation to stop paying for all but medically justified tests came Tuesday from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Associations, based in Chicago. Walter J. McNerney, an novator in health-care economics, is president. Blue Cross and Blue Shield said they would implement the recommendation within six months to a year nationwide.

McNerney said the program to pay only for medically justified admissions tests for non-surgical patients is the second phase of the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Medical Necessity Project. The first phase put the brakes on 42 dubious surgical and medical procedures, saving about $27 million a year. The Necessity Project was devised in 1977 in consultation With the American College of Physicians, the American College of Surgeons, the American College of Radiology and other doctors' groups. Other third-party payers of hospital bills including the Department of Health, Education and Welfare have been critical of the excess testing and its booster effect on bills. of ChaiUof screens The Madwoman of Chaillotis the next feature presented by the Magic Lantern Film Theater.

Jean Giraudoux's play about the resistance of the little people to the sinister forces that control their lives is the basis of this comedy of the absurd. Kalherine Hepburn stars as the madwoman who assembles a band of nobodies to fight a cartel of international businessmen. Danny Kaye is the Ragpicker along with an all star cast which includes: Charles Boyer, Yul Brynner, Giulietta Masina and Donald Pleasence. The film is set in modern-day France and enhanced by the beautiful photography of Claude Renoir. CHDP Advisory Board will meet A meeting of the CHDP attend.

Advisory Board will be Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Mendocino County Health Each year the average Department, 890 North Bush American purchases 98 St. The public is invited to pounds of newspaper. I I I I PHONE 462-6788 UKIRH ilNOW PIAYING ENDS THURSDAY THRILLING NEW MOTION PICTURE THRILLING ALL STAR CAST! CARPET LEANING Quality Service at Reasonable Prices 485-8811 Applications for rural carriers now accepted Applications will be accepted through Friday, Feb. 9 for the U.S.

Postal Service substitute rural carriers of record eligibility list. No training nor experience is necessary to "qualify. Ap- Museum group will raffle Tut tickets The King Tutankhamen exhibit that is touring the U.S. is setting attendance records at every museum in which it is shown. Thus, tickets are certain to be difficult to obtain when the exhibit arrives in San Francisco this summer.

Friends of the Lake County Museum will sell chances to win two tickets to the exhibit at their regular meeting tonight at 7:30 p.m. in supervisors' chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, Lakeport. The highlight of the evening will be a slide program on the Yucatan by Maureen Carpenter. plicants must be 11? or older, hold a valid state driver's license, be able to demonstrate driving ability for vehicles used on the job and must be able to furnish and maintain at their own expense viehicle equipment necessary for delivering mail. A maintenance allowance from the Postal Service is based on daily mileage schedule or a minimum allowance per day.

Applicants will be expected to take a vvritten examination which will take about four hours including completion of "hecessary forms. Applicants must score at least 70 out of 100 on the test. They also must be able to pass certain physical and vision tests to be placed on the federal agency's eligibility list. Applications (Postal Service form 2479AB) are available from the local post office. Once eligible, applicants remain so for one year unless after 10 months they request a 12-month extension.

Maximum eligibility is two years. NOW PLAYING LAST TIMES SATURDAY 2 ALL TIME FUN MOVIES ALL JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT iTWAS SAFE TO 00 BACK TO THE MOVIES 'THE PINK PANTHER" STARTS 7:00 LAY-A-WAY A Doughboy Pool! Free gift worth NO INTEREST OR CARRYING CHARGES A DEPOSIT HOLDS YOUR POOL TILL JUNE 1st 1979. A UNIVERSAL PICTIM PG1 Established 1959 462-7305 509 SOUTH STATE ST. UKIAH Hours: MAIN ST. ENTRANCE TOO! SIR LEW GRADE Presents A TRODUCER CIRCLE PRODUCTION GREGORY UVURENCE PECK OLIVIER (AMES MASON A FRANKLIN SCHAFFNER FILM THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL if they we? And starrins LIUI PALMtR BOYS FROM BRAZIL Executive Producer ROBERT TOYER Musk by COLDSMFTH Screenplay by HEYWOOD GOULD From the novel by IRA LEVIN Produced by MARTIN RICHARDS and STANLEY OTOOU Directed by FRANKLIN SCHAFFNER STARTS ADDED SHORT HIT "T.G.I.F." TONIGHT THURSDAY 2 NIGHTS "DREYFUSS" TERRIFIC NEW HIT! Richard Private Detective.

go figure STARTS 10:391 RICHARD It Happened on September 30, 1955 The Day that Shook up a Generation! "SEPTEMBER 30,1955" IFILMED IN TECHNICOLOR RATED P.O. FEATURE STARTS 8:58.