The Daily Mail from Hagerstown, Maryland • Page 14

TOCRTEEN-THE DAILY MAIL, Htgtntowa. Mi. Thundoy, April 8, 1976 AlcCroiy's, Newberry's and 7he Maryland Theatre: a pattern? Cnidlmud torn CNy i a McCrory stores legal department, in Yott said that as fir be knom, none of the fires at area McCrory stores have bees solved. speaking of cwne of the arson investigations, suet as the two in Hagerstown awl UK one in Pottstown," Banks said. Banks added quietly that be didn't feel that McCrory's hu suffered any unusual number of fires during tht three years.

"We have nearly l.WO stores and two or three fires isn't that many." Tbe corporation has suffered more than a "few fires" during that period, however', according to newspaper reports and to sources familiar with the Investigation of the store fires. A lire at a Leraer's shop (owned by McCrory Corp.) IB BlueflekJ, W. molted In loss of 1100,000. It was termed "electrical" to nature. A McCrory itore to the sub-, urbs of Memptia, Tetra.

burned In early 1774, resulting in a loss of nearly Tbe caue was i to be "suspicious" in nature. In addition, a number of other fires have been Investigated as part of the "pattern" Investigation. Tliey Include: An H.U Green store in Sac- casunna, N.J. suffered a major fire loss in October of According to newspaper records, officials to the town were at a loss to determine the cause of that blaze, which In over J300.MO damage. A McLellm store In Belfast, Maine was destroyed by fire in April of IfH.

According to Belfast's fire chief, the fire began in an adja- cent ttore aad then involved A of six stores burned In that blaze. TV ctuH of the fire look a Jon tine to determine, according to the Betfttt fire chief, who said'that the State Fire Marshall's Office finally said that only thing the; could possibly cocqe with was the wiring. Tbe store was never rebuilt. In Chelsea, the cause of a Newberry's blaze was never determined. Tbe fire, which occurred In February of 1974, caused nearly damage.

Eleven buikflcgj including a McCrory Store, were destroyed by fire in Chaflottesvllle, Va in Angus! of Jessup, arson investigator in the Virginia State Fire Marshall's Office, said that the cause of the lire Is actually still under investigation. This fire caused (120,000 damage to that McCrory store, just seconds before wtlcit not rebuilt. mute filled the store and ike The investigation of the two fire wu too kot to fight," be McCrory store fires Li officially inactive In Ragerttawn. All leads hi both cases have been exhausted, Mcordlng to Depaty Fire Chief Henry DeLauney. "AD we ire sun of is that both were set by persons who definitely knew what they were doing." DeLauney said.

DeUuney hu been working with a variety of fire officials and investigator! since the two Tires from the McCrory Corp. and from the federal bureau of A a a Firearms. "Tbe speed wiii which the two fires began led to Ihe assumption that they were set by eiperts," DeLauney said. "Why, in Ihe McCrory's store, a store employe left the basement area where Ibe fire added. Although toe flit it termed 'Inactive," chief.

DeLivaey uld to will Hver five up chief DeLMoejr uU. hope. day, will tun if "I want Uls one really bad," mint thoet Bra The giant firm that owned them continued from But I a filed for reorganization in May, so that status of that transfer became doubtful. In A i 1875, McCrory stockholders learned that the retail side of that company's buisness did not do well to 1974. S.

Klein stores were cited for poor earnings in McCrory's annual report, and that chain was phased out. Riklis told stockholders that the results of the Variety Stores a whole were not satisfactory, and that as a result, drastic steps were in order. Those steps included a program to reduce inventory, reduce expenses, eliminate unprofitable stores. The March 12, edition of Tbe New-York Times that the McCrory Corporation had begun a "slimming down" program to cut costs. In that program.

McCrory shut down about 160 variety stores, laying oa 1,800 workers in the process. The program, according to The Times report, was aimed at eliminating all but Ibe most profitable stores. In addition, The Times also said the move resulted in a 1,000 person cutback at the firm's headquarters in York, where the administrative staff was trimmed to employes. a similar to the now-defunct W. T.

Grant company, which was then closing down unprofitable stoes in its chain. While McCrory was phasing out some stores for business reasons, 'other stores were "phased out" by arsonists, for reasons known only to Just prior to the "pattern" of fires investigated by McCrory security, RiUls realized a kng- held dream-gaining control of a Las Vegas casino. Through AITS, a Boston- based tour-packaging company, Hiklis began an effort to obtain control of the Las Vegas i i a a i described in business circles as "a money machine." According to Business World magazine for March 10, 1973, it was Riklis' third attempt to crack Las Vegas-tbe first two a were a bv technicalities. "Die Riviera venture was successful, however, and it remains in Riklis' control to this day, still under AITS, Inc. Prior to 1968, the Riviera was not as profitable as it is today, according to Business World, which pegs its rising fortunes to its acquisition by E.

Parry Thomas, known as "Mr. Las Vegas." The hotel gained notoriety in 1958, when its previous owner Gus Greenbaum and his wife were murdered, gangland- style, in their bed. Loch Ness animal: horned beast CAMBRIDGE. Mass. UP) The Loch Ness monster, legendary inhabitant of a deep Scottish lake, is described by researchers as a long-necked creature with boras on its bead.

They their impression on a series of fuzzy photographs they say show monster swimming in Loch Ness last summer. An artist's enhancement of UK? pictures makes the beast resemble a giraffe with a short snout. Tbe photos caused a furor last November when their existence i was reported. The researchers published a detailed account of their findings in today's edition of Technology Review, a publication of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Although we mate no claim to being expert zoologists, we can find no combination of phenomena that account for Ihese data as wetl as the simple a a i a 3 a creaCure inhabits the loch.

they said. Tbe study was conducted by A a A i Science, a research group whose president is Robert H. Hlr.es, dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord. IvH, Tbe heart of their findings is a series of color photographs. One of the most dramatic shows "the head of a a wifh i a a symmetry ind icat ed, in half profile, with the nostrils and open mouth at the right and several borh-like projections at top." By i a a symmetry," they meant that the (eft half of the head looked like right half.

They said toe neck is about feel thick, the mouth nine inches long and one of the horns six inches ktog. Another picture depicted a luminous, pink btob attached to a a The researchers said it was about 20 feet long and appeared to be "Ihe upper torso, neck and head of a living creature." The objects photographed parsed in and out of the camera's view, they said. They could not have been rocks because the lake's bottom was out of the camera's range. Several times, they said, i a dappled shapes appeared on the film after the camera was bumped hard enough to make it swing Wildly. The study stirred up a new wave of speculation about the i a monster.

George R. Zug, curator of the i i i of i and Amphibians at (he Smithsonian I i i said, "1 believe a a i i a presence of large animals in Loch Ness but are insufficient to identify them." Sir Peter Scott, a British naturalist, even gave it a name Messiteras rhombopteryx, which in Greek means roughly "Ness i diamond-shaped flipper." However, a team at the Natural History Museum in London said it was unconvincec by the pictures and speculated that some of the objects on the film could be gas bubbles. There have been legends ol i throughout history. The first reported sighthig was in 565 A.D., when Saint Cohimba, the man who brought Christianity to Scotland, was said to have been frightened off by a SAVE.2J5 LEATHER WEDGIES Regular Mi.47 -MWSOWr SALE PRICE Rust color cross band or trimmed T-straps. Cushioned insoles.

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Abbul 300 homes there still lack water and sewage. Plans lor the former textile mill community include converting the old milt into an office complex with an art gallery, shops and restaurant and buikfcg True than MO torn- bouses. Ttae board abo approved leasing 30.1 acres of land at Glen L. Martin state airport to the Baltimore County Fair lor $5 and allocated another J74.I66 a i Balleslone Mansion in Rocky Point Park. TAX FOflMS PREPARED- BOOKKEEPING SERVICE 733-3470 The aim of the probe is to uncover any bribes, kickbacks or other illegal payments made by the companies here or abroad, the IKS said Wednesday as it unveiled a list of 11 questions the corporations will be asked.

The corporations are those wilh gross assets over $230 million, which the IRS routinely audits. One tytestion the IRS will pose is whether the corporation made any kind of payment to any government official here or abroad to boost its business. Another asks if corporate funds were used in any way to oppose any government, political party or candidate ui Ihe United States or overseas. A third requires the company to reveal whether it has any bank accounts not reflected oa corporate books and records. they lie, they'll have problems.

If they don't answer, they'll have problems." saki an JRS spokesman. "We're asking ibese people now everything but the color of their underwear." Several major corporations have acknowledged in recent months thai they paid millions of dollars in bribes, kickbacks and other illegal payments, often from secret bank accounts and slush funds. The IRS previously disclosed lhat as many as 35 major cor- poratkms are under investigation for possible tax frauds that grew out of payoff scandals. Now you can have your prescriptions fitted at Dart Drug's cost. Even oihei dius siorc Hageritoxsn will he reading thii ad in Because uhat Dan Drug is aboui 10 dj.

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