Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 17

City Heroin War in Police Arrests By NORMAN SINCLAIR State Journal Writer The battle for control of Lansing's heroin market surfaced this weekend when Metro Narcotics Squad agents named four men on a conspiracy warrant that included eight counts. Lawrence II. Nixon, 31, of 1316 W. Hillsdale, Willie Bonds. 26, of 1213 W.

Hillsdale, and Willie R. Jones, 45, of 821 W. Kalamazoo were arrested late Friday The fourth man Lincoln J. Nixon, 29, of 3415 Radford, was at large late Saturday. A FIFTH man, Jerry O.

Swan, 29, no listed address, was caught in the dragnet when police arrested Lawrence Nixon. Agents said a warrant charging him with armed robbery was outstanding from the Lansing Police department. Jones, Bonds, and the two Nixons are charged on a general conspiracy warrant to sell heroin. The complicated warrant then goes into seven counts of conspiracy to acquire and control heroin, to rob several occupied homes, to break and enter, to commit larceny, and to possess dangerous weapons. The lengthy warrant was drawn up by Assistant Prose- Thomas Rassmussen who spent a week writing it.

AGENTS ALLEGE that Lincoln Nixon controlled the major share of the heroin market in Lansing. Last Oct. 15, Lincoln Nixon was arrested for sale of heroin and was released on bond of $7,500. Agents said that previously Nixon was in partnership with another man, no named on a warrant, controlling the heroin market. With Nixon's arrest the partnership broke down and agents allege that Nixon's men and the unnamed dope dealer begain raiding each other's outlets or dope pads.

The conspiracy warrant is-s Friday contained the dates and the addresses of some of these dope pads that the Nixons allegedly conspired to rob at gun point. DURING THE past six months, police have watched as the dope dealers on the city's west side have robbed each Rarely were these robberies reported to police. In most cases when one dope dealer robbed another, they took all the cash and heroin they found in the house, according to the officers. The money they would keep, but the heroin they threw away since they could never be sure that the stuff was not laced with poison in anticipation of the robbery. Police have marvelled that no one has been killed in the robberies although most of the men dealing in heroin carry guns.

LINCOLN NIXON has yet to be examined for sale of heroin in district court on the October See ARRESTS, Pg. B-5, Col. 5 No Cure in Sight for Arthritis But Progress Has Been Made in Synthetic Joints Serf ace A wl I i Vv fas fr "Could be done for a person with hip problems except to cut and shift bone for better gliding surfaces or to place a cup or a ball in without a bonding agent. With a severe hip problem, a person would get rid of pain but his joint in all probability would be stiff. The area involved in the hip-joint surgery is the ball-shaped end of the tlugh bone that fits into a socket attached to the pelvic bone.

"REPLACING JOINTS with artificial parts, called "prostheses," is not a new By MILLICENT LANE State Journal Writer Dinosaurs had it centuries ago and more than 40 million Americans have it today. But still nobody knows what causes it. It is arthritis which affects flexible joint surfaces and can lead to immobility and nonstop pain. While medical techniques to treat arthritis have improved Over the years, there still is no cure in sight. There has been progress surgically in man-made joints, particularly in the hips.

three years with Dr. McKee. The hip joint surgery is not indicated for anyone in poor general health, Dr. Johnson said. It generally is for persons over 55 years of age who have extreme hip pain, usually from arthritis.

A patient's physician would determine use of the procedure in other hip diseases. "THERE IS good evidence that benefits from the surgery would last five to ten years and perhaps longer," Dr. Johnson commented. Years ago, he said, little BONE-JOINT surgery now is performed in three Lansing iospitals Sparrow, St. Lawrence and Ingham Medical.

Techniques now used here were perfected in England. One procedure developed through the work of Sir John Charnley, and another more recently came from Dr. G. K. McKee and Dr.

John Watson-Farrar. British doctors using their techniques have claimed high success rates, up to 90 per cent. There are four orthopedic surgeons in Lansing who now do bone-joint surgery Dr. Lanny Johnson, Dr. Ian Say-ani, Dr.

Floyd G. Goodman-and Dr. John A. DeBruin Jr. DR.

LANNY Johnson has been performing the hip-joint surgery for more than 19 months in Lansing. He is associated with Goodman and De-Bruin. The first surgery using the new procedures in Lansing was performed in St. Lawrence Hospital in 1970 by Dr. Sayani who was involved in hip and knee joint procedures for 15 years in England, including medical development.

The problem in the past was that these devices often worked loose and the patient once again suffered pain and walking became difficult. Improvement in the currently used procedures is laid to the use of a methyl methac-rylate plastic cement. Dr. Johnson said that when the cement first was used in this country, the federal Food and Drug Administraion labeled it as an investigational drug and attached rigid regulations to its use. DR.

JOHNSON and Dr. Sayani were among the first orthopedic surgeons authorized to use it. Dr. Johnson said the FDA and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons together achieved early release of this material for broad clinical use. Methyl methacrylate plastic cement became available in October for general use by orthopedic surgeons.

Before he used it on people, See PROGRESS, pg. B-5, coL 5 CAPITOL AFFAIRS Lyman Frimodig Dies; Connected With MSU Athletics for 50 Years MID-MICHIGAN State Journal Photo by GINGER SHARP Mr. and Mrs. Piatt Enjoy Walking Again SECTION The State Journal, Sunday, May 7, 1972 New Surgical Technique Aids Mason Man By CHARLIE HASS State Journal Writer Lyman L. Frimodig, 80, beloved pillar of Michigan State University athletics for more than 50 years, died Saturday morning at Sparrow Hospital.

"Frim," as he was known by thousands of Spartan athletes, alumini, staff members and fans, was also mayor of East Lansing from 1932 to 1937 after Me Can Once Again Walk Tall was at a time things were slow in the farm implement shop he has operated 22 years in Mason. He rose from his chair and walked around the office while his wife beamed at him. 1 IT'S JUST unbelievable' he remarked. "I get around so good. No pain anywhere.

and I can walk: with no effort." Piatt, who will- be 58 in June, said it's made a whole new life for him and his wife. They've been so busy that they forgot about their 31st wedding anniver sary in February. Before his operation when he and his wife went to Detroit airport, Piatt said, "that gals in those motorized carts would see me walking bent over and feel so sorry for me that they would pick me up and give me a ride. They don't give me a second look any more." PLATT USED a cane for three or four years and now has no use for a cane. He couldn't drive a car but can now.

And he stands straight and tall, his full six feet, one inch. liam W. Beardsley, MSU athletic ticket manger Saturday afternoon. "Whatever the university asked him to do, he did and he did it extremely well," Beards-ley said. Frimodig, a native of Calumet where he was a five-sport high school standout, began his association with MSU (then Michigan Agricultural College) in 1913 as a student.

IN FOUR years, he earned four varsity letters in both basketball and baseball and two in football to become the first and only Spartan athlete to be awarded 10 varsity monograms. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in agriculture, "Frim" served as basketball coach and principal at Calumet High School before entering the U.S. Army in 1918 and later earning a second lieutenant's commission. He returned to East Lansing and MAC in 1919 as a physical education instructor and freshman baseball coach and athletic business manager. He served in that latter post until 1980, and even in his retirement, "Frim" kept close See FRIMODIG, pg.

B-2, col. 2 Plans to Include Entire Tri-County Area Lansing to Extend Free Library Services By MILLICENT LANE State Journal Writer Elma Piatt had forgotten how tall her husband was. They both had forgotten how much they enjoyed walking and walking and walking. That's what they did on their trip to Europe. But a year and a half ago, Mr.

and Mrs. Francis R. Piatt of: Mason wouldn't have walked extensively let alone even go to Europe. HE HAD hip prqblems, problems that were acute. He could walk but he was bent over badly.

His troubles began when a tractor tipped over on him in 1953, he related in an interview. It gradually got worse for 10 years and the pain increased. "I had rays of my legs and was told that it was the old fracture in my hips that was causing it but there was nothing that could be done then," Piatt said. IN RECENT years, however, a technique called arthoplasty developed and perfected in Great Britain began to gain popular acceptance in this country. The procedure involved hip replacement surgically with an artificial ball and socket.

Piatt found out the surgery was being performed in Lansing as well as at the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and in Detroit. Piatt was admitted to Sparrow Hospital in December, 1970, and had operations on both hips. "ALL I know is the results," he said. "I was excited about it. Before the operation, never once did I have any misgivings about it I'd do it again." He was in the hospital for 51 days but, he said, it LYMAN L.

FRIMODIG serving on its city council for two years. "YOU WOULD have to call him Everything' or 'Mr. Athletic said Wil mm MT) Lansing. Public Library services may soon be available free to all residents of Ingham, Clinton and Eaton counties. Extension of these services to the entire tri-county area would become a reality under a policy revision which will be considered for adoption May 18 by the Lansing Board of Education.

provide book loans, reference and other services to smaller libraries in the tri-c area, he explained, along with financing restoration of the discontinued film service. Browand said the current fee card system would probably be discontinued immediately after the board adopts the suggested policy revision, with all other new services beginning July 1. THE DOWNTOWN library and its Jolly -Cedar branch are financed primarily with Lansing School District tax monies. In a budget-cutting move two years ago, the local board instituted a library card fee for anyone living outside school district boundaries. The current annual fee is $15.50 per family.

The policy change now be ing' considered by the nine-member school board would rescind the fee system and open up all library services to tri-county residents. CHIEF LIBRARIAN Kenneth Browand said the policy change would be financed with a $50,000 grant recently awarded to the Lansing library. The federal funds would also permit the Lansing library to Lake Cleanup Not Dead Just Buried THE LAKE board originally requested a grant of $986,250 to assist a $1,315,000 cleanup project, but the proposal has been revised, and the current request is for $799,500 to assist a $1,066,000 project. The remaining funds for the cleanup will come from assessments by the lake board against lakefront property owners, and the Meridian Charter Township and Ingham County governmental units. In anticipation of such an assessment, Meridian Township has allocated $18,000 in its 1972 budget to pay its first year share of such a levy.

PLANS CALL for dredging of Lake Lansing to an average depth of 10 feet, fish planting and beautification of the surrounding area. The original plans had been to dredge the lake from its present six-foot average depth, to an average of 15 feet. In December of 1970, it appeared the grant was on the verge of being approved, when it By STAN MORGAN State Journal Writer The Lake Lansing cleanup project is not dead, it is alive but hidden under a maze of federal red tape. Continuing an effort which "began nearly three years ago, Ingham County Drain Commissioner Richard L. Sode said he is still optimistic about obtaining federal funds to help finance the project.

A GRANT application submitted by the Lake Lansing Lake Board on July 31, 1970, is still under consideration for funding by the Environmental Protection Agency, he said. However, the application has undergone several updatings and revisions, including a recent request from the agency for the lake board to do additional studies concerning the environmental impact the cleanup would have on the lake and surrounding area. Also affecting the issue, Sode said, is a lack of funds among federal agencies for such cleanup projects. By JIM HOUGH If the world is as fouled up as on Lansing fifth grader thinks, we are doomed. Mrs.

Dorothy Robinson, fifth grade teacher at Pleasant Grove School, asked her students to write what they considered to be the "State of the Nation." Tami Clift began her report by saying: "Our Nation has had many problems in its time but today we have the most and the worst Tami went on in the three-page report to note that there are wars, bad foreign relations, too many people smoking and drinking, a great problem of world pollution, dangerous racial conflicts, serious poverty and malnutrition, too much crime (especially robbing and killing), too many people being killed by bombs and not enough people going to church. Her concluding paragraph said: "People are a big problem. In fact, they are the biggest. Sometimes I wonder if God wishes he never made this world. If only people could love each other, maybe the world would be a better place." From the mouths of babes Another Side But, thank goodness, there is another side to the story.

Two of Lansing's senior citizens made tearful reports of love to the Onlooker this week. Mrs. Daisy E. Figg, 7431 Delta River Drive, told with great emotion of the kindness extended to her by Girl Scout Troop 290 and four boys in her neighborhood. She said her large lot next to her home had grown high with weeds, brush, twigs and had become unsightly.

She asked one neighborhood child for help in clearing it up. Before she knew it, the girls and boys had organized a work session and had the lot looking as neat as a city park. "I'm so thankful to live in a neighborhood with such loving children," Mrs. Figg said. 'u See LAKE, Page B-5, Col.

1 MSU's Adams Hails Action Prof's Union Backs Bargainin; Surprise came after long debate at the AAUP's 58th annual convention which opened here Friday. Some 450 delegates arrived for the two-day session. The association has 91,000 members in 1,300 chapters at junior colleges, colleges and universities throughout the country. THE COLLECTIVE bargaining resolution said: "The association will pursue collective bargaining as a major additional way of realizing the association's goals in higher education and will allocate such resources and staff as are necessary for the vigorous selective development of this activity beyond present levels." The convention then fell into a parliamentary wrangle over how much of the AAUP's annual budget should be earmarked for collective bargaining. NEW ORLEANS (AP) The American Association of University Professors, in what was called a major policy decision, has voted 375-54 to authorize collective bargaining, a move which a former Michigan State university president hailed.

The resolution adopted 'did not specify whether professor pay scales would be involved, saying only that the AAUP "will pursue collective bargaining as a major additional way of realizing the association's goals in higher education." "YOU HAVE to recpgnize that collective bargaining is now the way of life," said Prof. Walter Adams, former president of Michigan State University and president-elect of the AAUP. The sharp turn toward the techniques of unionism, as opposed to strict professionalism, Mrs. Mabel Young, 919 Loa was crying when she called the Onlooker to say, "I never had anything so nice and so beautiful like that happen to me Mrs. Young explained that she lives alone and the neighborhood children, learning Mrs.

Young was about to celebrate her 69th birthday, came to her home with a beautifully decorated cake anr' a homemade birthday card. "It was hard for me to thank the kids through my tears and I wonder if you'd thank them for me in the Onlooker column," Mrs. Young said. Stat Journal Photo by DAVE WEBB Pleasant Looking Lake Needs Cleaning A.