The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · Page 3

4-BJ Saturday, Oct. 8. 1988 Book publisher is By Jerry W. Hrd Inquirer Stall Wmci ' In April 1977. Patricia Smith of Nor-rlstown visited her physician with news of a liquid protein fasting diet t(ial had helped her shed 66 pounds ip three months. .The physician. Howard Rosenteld. was concerned. Hut the 5-foot-5-inch Smith, who had once weighed about 240 pounds, was determined to continue the daily regimen of three to four ounces ot the protein, part of a routine prescribed in the best-selling book The Last Chance Diet . . . W hen Everything Else Has Failed. .Less than three months later, in her last visit to Rosenfeld, Smith was down to 141 pounds. That was July 7 1977. Nine days later, on the day belore her 35th birthday, she was dead. An Jury: Firm violated spirit of law CONTRIBUTIONS, from I B general election. Neither Shapiro nor Russo was a target of the inquiry. The grand jury found an "unusual pattern" of $800 contributions to gubernatorial candidates by the unnamed company's employees, their spouses and relatives, in donations solicited by company supervisors and officials. At one of the company's offices, the report said, nearly the entire professional staff made contributions of $800 to a candidate lor governor. At another office, the report said, almost all professional staffers, many of their spouses and the relatives of a company supervisor made S800 contributions Company supervisors lent more than S25.000 to employees, their spouses and other relatives so that they could make contributions, the report said. Kmployees testified, sometimes under court order, that they got interest-free cash loans from company supervisors, the grand jury said. Some of the money came in S100 bills, and one supervisor who made loans brought the cash to the office in a gym bag. The grand jury said that supervisors who handed out the money kept no records of who got loans or who repaid them. They testified they made the loans from cash that was "kept around the house." The campaign contributions were collected by company bosses in the space of "only a lew days," according to the report. The checks were forwarded to the executive secretary of the company's chief executive officer for delivery to the candidates. "Although there is no evidence that candidates for governor had knowledge of the scheme described here," the grand jury said, "actions taken by company supervisors to further what they believed were the interests of the company and its chief executive officer had the unfair effect of creating the appearance of an effort to 'buy' candidates for nomination and election as governor of New Jersey." It is illegal for any person or corporation to give more than $800 to a gubernatorial candidate. The grand jury said that no law was apparently broken in this case because the law is vague about loans that bankroll political giving. To close what it took to be a loophole in the current campaign-finance law, the grand jury recommended that loans to a potential contributor be limited to $1,600. Such loans, the grand jury said, should be made only by check, and clear records should show who had lent the money. The jury said the law should be toughened to ensure that no corpo-. rale employees or union members arc coerced by their bosses into giving money to politieans. And it sa.J that any supervisor who pressured an employee should be committing a third-degree criminal offense. Though it recommended no criminal penalties, the jury did say its research should be turned over to the state's Klection Law Knlorcement Commission lor investigation of possible civil wrongs. Klforts to reach officials at first Jersey were unsuccessful. Brennan. who sold the retail brokerage operation in January 1987 to Sherwood Capital Group, also could not be reached for comment. James Manion, a spokesman lor Russo, said that Russo stood ready to work with Kean to reform the campaign-finance law. Shapiro could not be reached for comment. Judge delays parent-test decision CHILD, from 1-B in divorce in December. The identities of the girl and her father have not been revealed. The Twiggs have requested that the girl be tested by the Johns Bop-kins University Immunogeneiics Laboratory, which is known lor highly sophisticated procedures of establishing parentage. It was Johns Hopkins that said that Arlena Twigg could not have been the biological Two are charged in l mud 'rcss Inti'rnatwntit TITUSV1LI.K. Pa. Two men have been charged in the death of a Crawford County man whose body was found on the floor of his unhealed home in February, stale police said. Police said Thursday they initially thought the death of Wilbert Walters, 82, of Titusville, was accidental. But police said they received infor The Philadelphia Inquirer c attorney for her family said she died of cardiac arrest "immediately upon starting to consume real food." Thus began what Montgomery County Court officials describe as perhaps the most complicated legal battle ever to be fought at the courthouse in Norristown. A wronglul-death suit was filed in April 1979; today, three thick court folders are filled with thousands of pages of exhibits, agreements, and depositions from authorities on diet and nutrition. The case may have ended Wednesday, when a Common Pleas Court judge issued a decision dismissing the suit against the book's publisher, the only defendant left. The six others had settled. The suit, filed by Smith's husband. David, alleged that she starved on the "protein-sparing fast" promoted . . , i E.-,'J-VSS'.-lrfSJ(JS-.'. - - w" V-Y ; . "v -- --v :-- 3 ' ''v..-'"' Tim Philnilelphia Inqunnt VICKI VAI.I'RIO HEAD IN HAND, two performers from the Makovei right side up. They did their stunts Moscow Circus put on a show for patients at in the hospital lobby yesterday, before visit-Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. That's ing patients in their rooms. The circus is on a Vladimir Anoufriev on top, and Alexsander 15-city tour of the United States. Coming to By Joyce A. Venezia IsMiimciJ Press ATLANTIC CITY - Donald Trump has scored big by sponsoring heavyweight boxing, professional wrestling and powerboat racing. Now he's betting that bicycling will be a crowd-pleaser, too. I rump, always looking lor a way to bring people to his casinos, will lend his name and financial support to the Tour de Trump, an eight-day race that will start May 7 in front of Trump Tower in New York City and end May 14 on the Boardwalk in front of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino. daughter ol either Regina or Krnest Twigg. At yesterday's hearing. Kllin said that the Twiggs do not want to "rip the child away" lrom the father, as the man's attorneys have charged. "They are willing to share her." Kllin said. lie also said the results could be kept secret, known only to the judge. "In all probability. Arlena Twigg is the child of the gentleman in Sara- death of man, 82 mation in August that Walters had been bealen to death and robbed. Timothy Rainey. 21, of Curwens-ville, Clearfield County, was arrested Thursday on charges of criminal homicide, robbery, burglary and theft. Identical charges were filed against Daniel Cox. 19. who was jailed in Virginia Beach. Va., on unrelated charges, police said. cleared by the author. Dr Robert l.inn. and that the publisher, l.yle Stuart, did "not make suggested changes in the book although he knew beforehand that the diet was seriously deficient. At the time the suit was filed, the federal FixmI and Drug Administration was reporting links between at least 15 unexplained deaths and liquid protein dieting The protein specified in the diet is to prevent the body from cannibalizing muscle tissue. Rosenfeld said In depositions that he had told Smith that the diet was "not medically sound" and that she had ignored his advice to quit despite bouts of vomiting, cramps and dizziness. "Her goal was 1X5 by July" for a visit to her parents in Michigan, Rosenfeld said. It was on that visit that she died. ir S . , -ill I - ' V r j v. I. , V -l f I" I ""-iff " the Boardwalk: 8-day bike race Trump Plaza president Mark Ktess said NBC was likely to televise the first and last days of the race. The race will oiler $250,000 in prizes, said race director Don llobbs, who started working in the new 'four de Trump office in Pleasant-ville, N.J., last week. Be said that the details lor the race were not complete but that the plans were lor 850 miles of racing in daily stages, about 18 teams, and a mixed Held of amateurs and professionals from the United Slates and outside, fach team will have about seven riders, he said. The race route has not been an sola." Kllin said, "and that can be determined by testing the maternal grandmother's blood and the lather's blood, because he will lind that in all probability, the Twiggs reared his daughter." Ginsburg demanded a delay, saying he wanted time to do his own research into the lads of the case. "I don't understand what the big rush is." Ginsburg said. "This child has been with this lather lor 10 years. They've been doing just fine. And what's the big rush and big emergency? Who's thinking about the child here?" "1 believe the Twiggs are thinking about it, Mr. Ginsburg." Kllin broke in. "They'd like to know il their daughter's living and if it's that child, and we have reason to believe that she is." Alter the hearing. Kllin said the judge's ruling delayed "the inevitable. I don't think there's any wav the testing can be avoidvd." he said. in suit over In March 198.?, Linn's insurer, without admitting liability, paid $100,000 to Smith's estate. In May of this year, insurers paid $19,000 on behalf of live other defendants, including the manufacturers and distributors of the protein used in the diet. That left l.yle Stuart Inc.. the Secaucus, N.J., publishing firm that is named alter its founder, as the sole defendant. On Wednesday, President Judge William W. Vogel filed a 31-page opinion that dismissed the case against Stuart. David Smith's attorney, Thomas 15. Rutter, appealed to state Superior Court. Albert li. Gerber. the attorney for Stuart, contended in an interview that the book accurately presented Linn's diet while warning readers to proceed only under medical supervi- VS'-V.5,' nounced, he said, "but the general plan is to start in New York and move in a counterclockwise direction through Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey." he said. llobbs said there would not be a women's race. "It's dil limit to run a men's and women's race concurrently," he said, "and because this is the first year of the event, it makes planning easier." The creator of the race, Jellerson-I M lot TclcProductions of Charlotte, N.C., approached Trump about sponsoring a boxing event, but when he declined, the company presented the 15 arrested at migrant camp Drugs seized in Gloucester County raid By John Way Jennings Police raided a migrant labor camp in Gloucester County and arrested 15 people, mostly lor disorderly conduct, alter a two-month investigation of drug dealing, authorities said. forty-six bags of cocaine valued at a total of $920 and a small amount of marijuana were teuneicd in the raid at 6.50 p.m. Thursday at Zli. Orchards Inc. on Route 322 in Harrison Township, near the Glasshoro line. Gloucester County Prosecutor Richard I'.. Ilickey 3d said yesterday. He said there was no evidence that the orchard owners were aware that drugs were on the property. Vincent Reed, of Glasshoro, was charged with possession nl marijuana and cocaine and posses dieting death A publicity blurb in the book's hardcover edition, first published in July 1976. said Stuart himself had followed the diet and lost 70 pounds under Linn's care "We may have been able to settle cheaply, but l.yle Stuart is a man of great principle," Gerber said. "He won't pay five cents to settle a case if he believes he's right." In Tiis opinion, Vogel wrote: "To hold l.yle Stuart liable for relying on his own author, a medical doctor experienced in the area of weight loss, would be to frustrate the purpose of the first Amendment and impose an overwhelming burden on the free flow of ideas in our society." Rutter, however, says Stuart sought the opinion of Dr. George Blackburn, a noted Harvard Medical School nutrition researcher, but Jhen ignored the warnings that Maximum term m cocaine case By Vernon Loeb Inquire Stalf Wrifr He lived high and fell hard. That is probably the best way to describe Mikal Da'ood, businessman and neighborhood drug kingpin who sold a lot of cocaine in his little corner ot North Philadelphia. Da'ood drove a blue Cadillac Kl Dorado convertible with a vanity plate that said "Mikal." He took lavish vacations to the Bahamas. He wore enough gold around his neck to stock a jewelry store window, lie called himself "the King." "lie lived high, sure," said police Sgt. Thomas J. Liciardello. And he fell hard late Thursday night when Common Pleas Court Judge Ricardo C. Jackson sentenced Da'ood, 43, of Norwood. Delaware County, to 10' 2 to 21 years in prison. The sentence was the maximum allowable on charges of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, conspiracy, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Jackson convicted Da'ood of the charges in May. Da'ood is a huge man, 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, with an aflinity for leather clothes and heavy, ornate gold jewelry. A photograph confiscated by police shows Da'ood resplendent in a jogging suit with an inscription on the back that reads. "Allah is God, Mikal is King, Understand that." When police arrested him in his Cadillac in July 1986, he was wearing 25 pieces of jewelry and had 17 more pieces in his trunk. The value of the jewery waS later put at $42,693. His arrest came as narcotics officers searched a rowhouse in the 1500 block of Glenwood Avenue that Da'ood shared with his girlfriend and used as a sale house for storing drugs. In a small upstairs bedroom, the officers found ,V pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value at the time of $700,000 as well as photographs, other personal effects and voluminous business records. The records pertained to Da'ood's flourishing drug business and the 24-hour convenience store he still owns at 30th Street and Lehigh Avenue, Lehigh Discount. Assistant District Attorney frank Keaney. who prosecuted Da'ood and two co-defendants, said Lehigh Discount was apparently the place from which Da'ood operated his drug business, distributing cocaine in varying quantities to small-time associates who then went out and sold it on the street. But Lehigh Discount was hardly a sale place to store drugs and keep business records, Keaney said, because police had raided it on numer- concept of a cycling race, Ktess said. llobbs said that two of the best-known international cycling events in the United Slates are the Coors Bicycle Classic, which is based in Colorado, and the CoreStates U.S. Pro Cycling Championship, a one-day road race each June in Philadelphia. "Cycling is definitely on the upswing in terms of popularity," Ktess said. "We felt it would be a good opportunity lor Trump Plaza, because we have long been committed to bringing world-class events to Atlantic City." And the name? "The answer is obvious Trump is hot. Trump sells." sion ol the drugs with intent to distibute. He was being held in the Gloucester County Jail alter he was unable to post $55,000 bail. Augustus Rose, who resides at the labor camp, was charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana. He was released on S1.500 bail. One man was charged with resisting arrest and possession of marijuana, and was released on $1,000 bail four men and eight women wvro charged with disorderly conduct and released (Vi their own recognizance. More than 25 police officers lrom the Gloiiies-ter County Prosecutor's oil ice Narcotic Task force took part In the raid, which also included officers from the Harrison Township and Gttiss-boro Police Departments and the Newlersey Slate Police. Blackburn had w'rftteft, on bk proofs. ' r'ij "-- '4, "He specifically pMn&i tUt that claims to science and mctffCljie were unfounded." Rutter saW. citing Blackburn's videotaped deposition. "There was a substantial risk that you would get very ill or dieT "If you know that that which1 you are publishing carries a substantial risk, you are liable." l.yle Stuart was out of the country and could not be reached for comment. His daughter, Sandra Lee. a journalist who helped Linn write The Last Chance Diet, said in an interview that the publisher took care to warn readers to proceed under medical supervision. "Kveryone was surprised when they sued the publisher," she said "It seems to be a clear first Amendment case." ous occasions looking for slolcn property. Keaney said Da'ood was a "big fence" who had been convicted on numerous occasions for receiving stolen property but never sent to jail. Da'ood moved "what would be the paper trail" of his drug business out of Lehigh Discount, Keaney said, transferring his business records to 1he little room on the 1500 block ol Glenwood Avenue. In that little room, in addition to the 3' 4 pounds ol cocaine, police found $15,000 in cash and dozens of crude business ledgers written on the back of cigarette cartons daily ledgers noting the distributing of specific quantities of cocaine to certain individuals and the amounts they owed. Police also tound a photo album ol Da'ood and his girlfriend, Hope Miles, containing pictures from a vacation they took to the Bahamas. "King Mikal and Queen Hope at the Bahamas. . . . We had a lovely time," reads an inscription inside the front cover. Miles, 22. of the 2300 block of North Broad Street, was convicted with Da'ood of the same three charges and sentenced Thursday to 11' 2 to 23 months in prison. A third co-defendant, Steven A. Johnson, 24,ol the 2300 block of West firth Street, was sentenced to 2' to live years lor the same charges. Nuns waiting for response from Vatican By Michael Morun rt.s socio fed I'rcss MORRIS TOWNSHIP. N.J. five nuns who barricaded themselves in their monastery to protect their cloistered lifestyles intend to continue their protest until they hear from the Vatican, one of the nuns said yesterday. The nuns are members of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, four of them locked themselves in the infirmary of the Monastery of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Car-mel on Tuesday, and they were joined by a fifth nun the next day. They began their unusual protest because they feared they were about to be evicted for resisting attempts by the Paterson diocese to liberalize the monastery. "We're just waiting for an answer to our appeal trom the proper authorities in Rome." Sister Maria said in a telephone interview Irom the monastery. "Hopefully, the holy father il'ope John Paul III will be informed at least of our situation. "I don't know how long it will take. I hope it's soon." Sainz de Barandal, lather general of the Carmelite order, said in a telephone interview yesterday from Rome that he had not heard of the situation. There are 13 nuns at the white-walled monastery, which was built in 1926 in what was then a remote rural area. The protesting nuns said their lives were disrupted by the August 1987 arrival ol a new prioress, Mother Teresa Hewitt, who introduced television, radio, brighter lighting, less prayer, and snacks. The prioress has not commented on the protest, and a church spokeswoman. Nancy McLaughlin, said yesterday that the diocese had no comment.