The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 1

Port Huron schools face football showdowns IB Thursday September 15, 1988 Tomorrow's weather Sunny, cool Details, 5A Wednesday's lottery Daily: 736 Daily-4: 0042 Lotto: 10, 11, 17, 27, 36, 38 35 cents 'Dutch' Schmidt faces new tax evasion charges 3A Pcrt Huron, Michigcn copyright, ts Heraid company, A Gannott Nowspaper Sanilac harvest goes to pot Police confiscate $60 million marijuana crop No winners! Lotto pot climbs to $33 million Marijuana field found TOM Aiiken Road a Lj! iL-IJr LJLJ I II 1 III I Stilson I I I JL)i HI II I Montgomery IPe" II jl JLg LJLJ Ps I II II 1 1 -c I II I PeckRoad IT I II I I II 17, 27, 36 and 38. The $24 million prize was the second-largest jackpot in the history of the game in Michigan, lottery officials said. The jackpot was the largest since the record $28.9 million on Jan. 20 that was divided among five people. The lure of the large jackpot caused people to cross state lines to play Super Lotto.

there are suspects, said Sgt. David Hall, director of the Sanilac County Drug Task Force. Police will fly over the area again Friday to make sure they have located all the plants. The discovery was so large the task force enlisted help from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, state police, the state Department of Natural Resources, deputies from Sanilac, Saginaw and Huron counties and the Sani- By JAMES DONAHUE Times Herald FLYNN TOWNSHIP Federal, state and local officals have finished destroying 100,000 giant marijuana plants found growing in a remote section of 264-acre state game area here.

The plants would have had a street value of at least $60 million if they had been harvested. No arrests have been made, but lac County Posse. They used helicopters, horses and all-terrain vehicles to find and burn the plants, found in a peat bog, Hall said. "Some of them were found to be up to 20 feet tall," he said. The operation has been made difficult by thick underbrush and said.

"I'm glad we found it, but I just wish it was in somebody else's county," Hall said. Flynn Township -wwuc-i-) I COUNTY Timss MARLETTeJJ Herald L-Jl map BROWN CITY 1 chool first to learn o1 it x4 The Associated Press There were no winning tickets in the latest Michigan Super Lotto drawing, allowing the $24 million jackpot to grow to at least $33 million the biggest ever in Michigan. Lottery Commissioner Michael Carr said today a computer check found no plays matching Wednesday night's six winning numbers 10, 11, High 'n' dry 7 TrmmammSs I ri f.i It I i i molestation Hi1 II nil i ft 4 I UJJU ft More on Gilbert, 3D Grocery stores ran low on bottled water, batteries, canned tuna and bread as residents laid in supplies. Homeowners covered windows and doors with plywood and shatter-proofing tape. Early today, Gilbert appeared headed for Texas, possibly hitting land by Friday afternoon.

The National Weather Service issued a 1 Harbor worker Joe Kruszczynski of Port Sanilac lifts the sailboat "Breezin" from the Port Sanilac Marina harbor on South Texas gets Notification delay worries DSS director By TOM MURPHY Times Herald The St. Clair County Department of Social Services director wants to know why her office did not know of the Paul J. Wadaga case until two months after an investigation began. State law requires authorities, including law officers, school officials and teachers, to notify DSS immediately of any reasonable suspicions of child abuse or neglect. A written report then must be filed within 72 hours.

Although the St. Clair County Sheriff Department began its investigation in July, DSS Director Juanita A. Gittings did not hear about it until a meeting Sept. 7. "We're looking into it," she said.

"We're trying to determine what happened when. There was a breakdown in the system." She said she does not want to place any blame on the sheriff department, the St. Clair County Prosecutor's Office or Port Huron Area School District. She said she just wants to know of such matters sooner "so we can get help for these people right away." Sheriff Detective Rick H. LaRue said he understands the law to say he is not required to contact DSS unless the suspect is a parent or guardian.

LaRue began his investigation after a suicide attempt by a 23-year-old man. The man's parents told police that Wadaga's past association with the young man was partly to blame for the suicide attempt. Port Huron Area School District administrators talked with the parents of the man but did not contact DSS because no formal complaint was filed and because the man was over 18 years of age, Superintendent Larry J. Moeller said. TODAY Libbie M.

Anter Marjorie F. Burgess Ernest A. Erb Freeland N. Goddard Janice V. Kearney Hazel M.

Richardson George V. Septrion Dorothy M. Walsh Death notices, 2A Paid obituaries, 2A, 3D By TOM MURPHY Times Herald Port Huron school officials knew former teacher Paul J. Wadaga was suspected of molesting a child four weeks before a formal police investigation began. Superintendent Larry J.

Moeller said Wednesday that the parents of a 23-year-old man who attempted suicide discussed their fears in several meetings with school officials in early June. Moeller said the district could not further investigate or take action against Wadaga because the family declined to file a formal complaint. Police say the parents believed the man's past association with Wadaga was partly to blame for the suicide attempt. Wadaga, 48, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Harrison Elementary School who resigned Sept. 2, has admitted molesting 14 boys during more than 20 years.

School officials advised the parents to contact police. Until then, Moeller said, the district had received no complaints that Wadaga was molesting children. "We encouraged that the young man press charges," Moeller said. "But the family wasn't willing to formalize a complaint. "At that point, we could not go to others and say 'We have That's inconceivable.

We did not want to accuse on the basis that we had no charges. We proceeded as rapidly as we could with the data we had." There was confusion today about who first learned of suspicions involving Wadaga. Moeller said today that the family of the 23-year-old man told school officials they had already contacted the sheriff department before coming to school officials. County sheriff Detective Rick H. LaRue, who is investigating the case, said: "It's very possible that the family had contact with someone in the sheriff department, but the minute he would have said anything about the complaint, he would have been referred to me." See WADAGA, 2A INSIDE Applause 1 Horoscope 5B Business 2D Landers 5B Classified 3D Movies 4B Comics 5B News briefs 5 A Community 4C Seniors 3C Editorials 4A Spotlight 1C Health 2C Television 6B Four news sections 24 pages DEATHS REPORTED Fred Allen Elsie O.

Anderson 985-7171 Times Heald RICK BARRETT began to put about 200 local Gilbert Caribbean and left 500,000 Jamaicans homeless before it struck Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday, forcing thousands to evacuate. In Louisiana, 10,000 people had orders today to leave homes along the bayous. NASA delayed announcement of a launch date for space shuttle Discovery because the hurricane could disrupt operations at the control center in Houston. Wednesday as preparations sailboats into winter storage. ready for hurricane watch this morning along Texas' 370-mile coast, from Brownsville to Port Arthur.

"The highest probabilities that we have are in the Brownsville, Texas, area as far as the center is concerned," Robert Sheets, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said on CBS's "This Morning." The giant hurricane, considered one of the strongest ever, was blamed for dozens of deaths in the CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) Thousands from southern Texas to Louisiana's bayous shuttered homes and shops, packed up livestock and fled to higher ground today as Hurricane Gilbert roared across the Gulf of Mexico toward the U.S. coast. "This is a killer storm," said Gordon Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency of Management. "I feel sorry for anybody wherever this hits." IT WW I vet outlasts comrades, bottle By SEVIL OMER Times Herald An empty bottle of champagne didn't stop Edwin A. Sanford from toasting to his 99 deceased comrades Wednesday night.

"In all honor, here's to the 99. Here's to my friends that have passed away," he said raising his glass. Sanford, 94, of Port Huron, is the last surviving member of the Last Man's Club of Port Huron. His glass, though, wasn't filled by the 1928 Mumm's champagne, but from another bottle. "Opening the bottle was exciting," he said.

"Finding it empty was no surprise." The magnum, sealed in wax and twine, was presented to Sanford at the American Legion Charles Hammond Post No. 8 in Port Huron. The magnum has been stored since 100 World War II and Spanish-American vets formed the club 50 years ago. i 4 Times Herald DOROTHY NEATON Edwin A. Sanford, 94, wearing hat, joins a toast with WW II vets Wednesday in Port Huron.

He is the sole survivor of a World War I Last Man's Club. FOR HOME DELIVERY OF THE TIMES HERALD AND USA TODAY, CALL.