The Herald-Palladium from Benton Harbor, Michigan • 14

,14 A Hie Herald-Palladium, Cents Harbor-St Joseph, Michigan Saturday, November 3, 1S33 MICHIGAN tpestioii Eogler on LANSING, Mich. CAP) With the election just four days away. Senate Democrats on Friday accused Majority Leader John Engler, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, of "questionable, bookkeeping practices." An Engler spokesman dismissed the charges as last-minute political rhetoric. Sen. Joseph Conroy, D-Flint, held a news conference to say Engler has diverted more than $11 of unspent Senate office money into computer and Capitol restoration funds.

"This is money which should have lapsed back to the state's general fund," Conroy said. "But instead, John Engler has kept mat money for his own use in the Senate. We want the state's auditor general to look into this matter and find out what Engler has been doing with our funds." John Truscott, a spokesman for Engler. campaign against Gov. James Blanchard, scoffed at the charges and said Democrats have done the same thing.

"These are just Uth-hour desperation tactics, he said. They've known these things have gone oa TheyVe approved it If orchestrated by the governor as his (poll) numbers have dropped like rocks." Truscott also noted the practice of setting aside -unspent office money started under Democratic Majority Leader William Faust of Westland, a fact Conroy conceded. Faust, who has challenged Engler's practice, said from 1980 to 1984 the Senate returned more than $5.6 million to the general fund. Since 1984, when Engler became majority leader, onty $1.7 million has been returned. "You could buy a whole lot of computers in! schools, or plain reduce taxes, for $11 mflSon," Conroy said.

"I'm fearful he's (Engler has) spent it at his own discretion." Meanwhile, other election campaigns also planned to cram as many appearances as possible into the weekend to fire up their supporters. Blanchard was scheduled to attend rallies in Allen Park, Detroit, Taylor and Wayne County's Canton Township today and a homecoming rally Sunday in Pleasant Ridge. Engler planned nine appearances today, including a craft fair in Livonia, a high school football game in Southfield and a Moslem mosque in Rochester Hills. On Sunday, the Senate majority leader planned five stops, including a church pancake breakfast in Dearborn. entered the home stretch Friday.

Action included: Two Demcfcrats in tight races threatened lawsuits over Republican advertisements. Both Sen. Jack Faxon, D-Farmington Hills, and Adrian Mayor Jim Berryman accused the GOP of inaccurate charges. Faxon is being challenged by Southfield City Councilwoman Denise Alexander, while Berryman is challenging Sen. Norman Shinkle, R-Lambertville.

Both races are considered crucial in deciding which party controls the Senate. The two gubernatorial candidates 'fir' Going down Guard razes crack houses DETROIT (AP) The Michigan National Guard razed the first of up to 20 crack houses in Detroit on Friday, launching a $1.4 million project pushed by Gov. James Blanchard. Operation Crackdown started over the summer in Flint, Saginaw and Pontiac as a pilot program. State lawmakers approved $1.4 million funding to expand the program to Detroit and Muskegon.

Neighbors gathered near a home on Detroit's east side Friday as the first crack house was knocked down. Up to 20 will be demolished by Nov. 10, said Jana Goldman, spokesman for the Commerce Department Mayor Coleman Young said the National Guard is welcome to raze abandoned houses that Midland soldiers heading overseas MIDLAND, Mich. CAP) The 180 mid-Michigan men and women of the Army's 460th Supply and Service Life soon will be joining other armed forces in Saudi Arabia. "Deployment is imminent'' said Michael H.

Johnson, spokesman for the Lansing guard office. "They're realty to go." The troops, who are in Fort Knox, will prepare about 10 am Monday for deployment but actual departure time is unknown, said Sgt Charles KaminskL The problem right now is air access," Kaminski said. While the 460th's Family Support Group was scheduled to meet this morning at the Midland Armory, Sgt Michael J. Lasecki military liaison to the families said he expects few to attend. "Just about every one of the families that could go down to Fort Knox this weekend has gone," he said.

The soldiers on both the Midland and Fort Knox fronts were in good spirits, Lasecki said. "They are in the right frame of mind," he said. I 1 A 1 it are havens for cocaine traffic. ''Dan Pero, campaign manager for Republican gubernatorial candidate John Engler, said promoting the project in Detroit days before the Nov. 7 election amounted to a public relations stunt.

Blanchard spokesman is-- AP Laserphoto ABANDONED HOUSE: Michigan National Guard members from Bay City claw an abandoned house down in Detroit on Friday. Dale Arnold disagreed. "TO(M'raiisr Devil's Night vandalism yields more fires and arrests in Detroit (f Open Thursdays Until 8 p.m. OF ST. JOSEPH 1 Colli df A floors? Insuloie tbi) i Carpeting r-r DETROIT (AP) Despite the city's best efforts, three days of Devil's Night vandalism produced more arson fires and arrests than a year ago, Mayor Coleman Young said Friday.

There were 281 fires, up from 223 last year, Young told reporters and community leaders, many of whom carried flashlights and fire extinguishers in search of arsonists and their work during the period. "That is still too many fires," Young said, while insisting the city has was making progress. He pointed to the mobilization of 35,000 residents from 3,000 community organizations to report suspicious activity. "We've demonstrated our ability to keep Devil's Night that's the last time I'm going to use those words under he said. Young calls Devil's Night "the Halloween period," because he said it is a more positive tern-There were 141 fires Tuesday, up from the same date in 1989.

The total for Monday was 50, down 10 from last year, and 90 on Wednesday, an increase of 42 over last year. Twenty-two people were charged with arson, more than doubling the number in any previous Devil's Night Eighteen of those were adults, belying city claims that youngsters engaged in pranks; were responsible. The most arson arrests previously during a Devil's Night period were nine. Young said the city would begin immediately to prepare" for next year's Devil's Night "Our goal is to finally put an end to the utterly stupid practice," he said. caught violating the 6 pm to 6' a.m.

curfew, down from 378 a year ago. Devil's Night, the night before Halloween, traditionally has been a time for vandalism and mischief in Detroit But in the early 1980s pranksters switched from soaping windows and toppling trash cans to setting fires. The worst year was 1984, when 810 blazes were set over three days. Young's administration engineered a massive public relations campaign to combat arson, sponsoring street patrols and urging citizens to have a better image of their city. The operation featured telephone banks, billboards and special attention for three "hot spots" where the worst trouble was expected: in northeast Detroit near City Airport, the north-central part of the city and southwest Detroit The gathering at which Young released this year's statistics had the trappings of a pep rally.

The auditorium of the City-County Building was filled with community leaders, many sporting the campaign slogan: "My Heart is with Detroit" A 7-year-old girl recited a rap song boosting the city, and a 15-year-old delivered a speech titled, "Respect Detroit" The crowd repeatedly applauded Young's upbeat remarks. Tm proud of what we did," said Clarine Wysinger, an east side resident who participated in a senior citizens' patrol "We didn't have any fires in our neighborhood at all, but we've got to help those that did I've lived here all my life and I love Detroit" -1 MAYOR COLEMAN YOUNG 'Still too many fires' The mayor said he would press the City Council to restore $5.5 million removed from the budget to demolish abandoned buildings. The dry has razed more than 5,700 abandoned buildings in the last year. The Michigan National Guard on Friday began demolishing 14 suspected Detroit crack houses abandoned houses used by drug addicts as part of a statewide program. Young said he welcomed the help.

Asked whether it would have been more valuable before Devil's Night, he said' he didnt want to "look a gift horse in the mouth." Most of the this week's fires were located in the city's east side, an area rife with older wood frame houses. Most burned houses were abandoned, although five or six were occupied. The fires left 29 people homeless. A total of 326 juveniles were 1, Captured killer returning to prison 60(s ofWafffl Colors ale flori Robert Thomas Nauss who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison seven years ago, was arrested Tuesday outside his home in Luna Pier, on the basis of a tip from a TV viewer. czn SAVE RS to 12 PER SQ.

YD. lORE THAN JUST STAIN RESISTANT, ITS TOTALLY WORRY FREE. PHILADELPHIA (AP) A federal magistrate quickly dismissed a fugitive warrant Friday for a murderer captured in Michigan earlier this week and ordered him returned to the state prison he fled seven years ago. Officials at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford planned to' place Robert Thomas Nauss Jr. in solitary confinement, prison spokesman Alan LeFebvre said A four-minute hearing on the warrant was held before UJ5.

Magistrate Peter Scuderi just two hours after Nauss was flown to Philadelphia in a U.S. marshal's plane Friday afternoon Nauss, wearing a plaid shirt and green trousers, said nothing at the hearing and was led handcuffed out of the courtroom. He is expected to be arraigned hi 10 days on a Pennsylvania prison-escape charge. In the seven years since his escape, Nauss married and Gathered two children, never telling his wife or friends about his past as a former vice president of the Warlock motorcycle club and a convicted murder. Nauss, who also faces a federal drug charge, was convicted in 1977 of murdering his a former girlfriend, Elizabeth Ann Lande, in 1971.

Authorities say he beat her baseball bat, dismembered her body and buried the Her body was never found While serving the life sentence, he escaped from Graterford in 1983 with another convict by hiding in a wooden cabinet they had built in the prison furniture shop. The other convict, Hans Vor-hauer, was recaptured four years ago. TROOST BROSr 403 STATE STREET Downtown St. Joseph. Ml PHONE: S33-1583 PPPP Hours: 9:30 To 5:30 mciLt Monday thru Saturday DELIVERY Thursdays 9:30 To 8 p.m.

AND SET UP! Nauss, who had assumed the name of a former cellmate, Richard Ferrer, was arrested Tuesday outside his home in Luna Pier, Mich. Authorities were acting on a tip from a television viewer who had seen a segment of Fox network's "America's Most Wanted" featuring the murderer. i ISAs SeSm In Fins Hams Sinn 1233.