Traverse City Record-Eagle from Traverse City, Michigan • Page 1

Porno ring uses church 9 tax laws Copyright 1977 Traverse City Record-Eagle MARILYN WRIGHT Record-Eagle Staff Writer TRAVERSE CITY A nationwide child pornography racket is hiding behind the moral aura and tax-exempt status of a church. A four-month investigation conducted by The Record-Eagle has determined that the Church of the New Revelation of Kearny, N.J., is tied to an underground network that uses young boys for homosexual and pornographic purposes. The investigation has further disclosed that the "church" and several other organizations like it have been granted income tax exemptions by the Internal Revenue Service, which considered them to be charitable organizations. It was also learned that principals behind the homosexual pornography racket had duped at least two states into paying for the care of children while they were used for homosexual and pornographic' purposes. Plans to apply for similar aid in other states, in- Deluding Michigan, were in the works before they were uncovered police.

This new information reinforces the theory held by law enforcement and child care authorities across the country that child pornography is not the work of a few "sick" amateurs, but of interconnecting organizations designed to profit substantially through the exploitation of children. "It seems to be like spider webs strung out all over the nation," says Mason Spong, a New Orleans juvenile detective. Three supposedly "charitable" organizations have already been pinpointed by police as alleged "fronts" for the production of pornography using young boys. They are Boy Scout Troop 137 of New Orleans, Boy's Farm Inc. of Alto, and Brother Paul's Children's Mission, located on North Fox Island, which is part of Leelanau County just off Grand Traverse Bay.

In addition, three other corporations were set up as "tax dodges" and used as fronts for the production of homosexual child pornography, according to the confessions of Gerald Richards, now serving time in Jackson Prison on a criminal sexual conduct conviction. i a a i i i organizations as the Church Of the New Revelation and the Ocean Living Institute, both of New Jersey, and the Educational Foundation for- Youth of Illinois. He said all three were involved in promoting homosexual behavior between boys. (Richards was president of Brother Paul's Children's Mission and director of its nature camp, which was created and operated under the auspices of the Church of the New Revelation.) An investigation of incorporation papers in three states confirms that a central figure in all the organizations cited by Richards goes by the name of Adam Starchild, an alias according to New Jersey authorities. Starchild is listed as the president of the Church of the New Revelation and was the primary incorporator of Brother Paul's.

He is also listed as president of Ocean Living Institute and a trustee of the Educational Foundation for Youth. His name may be an alias but it's listed in the Kearny, N.J., telephone book and the man who answers says his name is Adam Starchild: In an interview with The Record-Eagle (see related story), he said the four organizations were not set up to be fronts for homosexual pornography but it is possible they may have been "used" for that purpose by Dyer Grossman, who has been identified as vice president of Brother Paul's, executive director of Ocean Living Institute and youth director for the Church of the New Revelation. (Grossman, a New York teacher, is currently considered a fugitive from justice with federal flight warrants issued for his arrest on two counts of criminal sexual conduct with boys. Also being sought is Ann Arbor millionaire Francis D. Sheldon, who owns the (Continued on Page 5) Dyer Grossman by police raverse Two Sections 32 Pages Traverse City, Michigan, 49684 Record-Eagle Monday, April 4, 1977 Price 20c Recovery begins in twister's wake By United Press International Sunny skies and mild breezes accompanied Michigan residents this weekend as they struggled to clean up the remains of a tornado rampage that killed one child, injured 29 persons and caused more than $3 million in damages.

The balmy weather was a sharp contrast to the violence of Saturday when more than 100 homes were damaged or destroyed as tornados sliced a 65-mile path through Olivet, Augusta, Bath Light turnout reported in city election TRAVERSE CITY Fewer than one- third of the city's registered voters were expected to vote in today's city election. A poll of the city's 10 precincts this morning indicated a "very light" turnout. Polls will remain open until 8 o'clock tonight. Traverse City Clerk James Tompkins said a total of 283 persons had voted at mid-morning today. The city also has a total of 300 absentee ballots, he said.

Thompson said that although this morning's vote was light, he expects several hundred more persons to vote today over the 2,878 persons who cast their ballots in the city's 1975 election. The city has approximately 10,000 voters, Tompkins said. Workers at the city's polling booths said this morning that the turnout at 10 a.m. had been "very light." A worker at Glen Loomis School where 19 persons had voted at 10:30 a.m., said the early morning vote was "about the slowest I can remember." A proposal for oil drilling on the city's Brown Bridge Dam property, a charter question to establish a special committee to oversee the Traverse City Light and Power Department, and four seats on the Traverse City Commission will be decided in today's election. Township and surrounding areas in south central Michigan.

"Look at it now," Ross Township Police Chief Dennis Wilkins said. "It's just hard to believe that yesterday (Saturday) was so nasty." Damage was estimated at more than $1 million in each of the three areas, but those figures were expected to soar as losses were documented. The lone fatality was Gary L. McKinzie, 5, of Flint, who was trapped in his father's pickup truck on Interstate 69 east of this hard-hit Eaton County community. The storm was the indirect cause Sunday of the death of Donald W.

Merritt, 43, of Eaton Rapids, police said. Merritt was electrocuted when he touched a live wire with a metal pole while clearing debris from his damaged house. Gov. William G. Milliken planned an inspection tour today of Augusta.

The town of 1,000 in Kalamazoo County suffered the worst devastation with 136 persons left homeless, 80 homes and businesses destroyed or damaged, according to Red Cross and local authorities. Two of seven persons injured required hospitalization. Electricity, gas and telephone ser- cice, knocked out by the storm in Augusta, were not fully restored by late Sunday. Broken water lines forced officials to ask for the loan of water tankers from a Air National Guard post. Olivet's funnel claimed 16 homes destroyed or damaged, although the Eaton County Sheriff's Office said "more than 100 buildings" showed some kind of storm damage.

In Clinton County's Bath Township, a twister destroyed or damaged 7 homes and injured nine persons. In each county, authorities cordoned off damaged areas and worked to clear streets. The strain of the catastrophe was evident Sunday when a crowd of Augusta residents reacted with angry shouts when they were told they had to wait for passes before they could return to the wreckage of their homes. Others were able to make a grim game out of searching for personal the Record-Eagle Snow tonight and Tuesday with possible accumulation of 4.to 6 inches. Low tonight near 20, high Tuesday near 30.

Complete weather details on page 2. Tainted peppers eaten by of Mexican restaurant in Pontiac put over 30 people in hospitals with botulism poisoning. Page 8. A railroad development group from Washington D.C. gets backing from the Northwestern Michigan regional planners to run the Ann Arbor rail line when the ConRail contract expires.

Page 3. Pancbo Gonzalez overwhelms the field to win the Grand Masters tennis event in Traverse City. Page 13. Aging 19 Obituaries 10 Calendar 20 Petrovich 21 Classified 26-31 Rolling Stone 22 Club clips 20 Sports 13-16 Comics 25 Stocks 11,12 Dixon 25 TV 22 New presses rolled today at the Record- Editoriais 4 Thostesdn 25 Eagle. The occasion is marked on page Landers 18 Weather 2 17.

possessions or even just recognizing smashed sections of their homes. "Joe, I found the upstairs bathroom," one woman cried out to her husband. "Wait, I found the downstairs bathroom, too!" "Everything's under control," a sheriff dispatcher said in a typical statement. "People are getting their valuables out of houses: We've got some Marine Reserves activated to help with security and clean-up." The storms traveled a northeast line along Interstates 94 and 69. from Cornstock east of Kalamazoo through Clinton County, occasionally dropping funnels along the way.

Parts of cars, buildings, trees and powerlines littered the entire swath. Augusta was the first major victim, and State Police Trooper Carl Goeman had no trouble figuring out what was happening. Bell granted $58.9 million rate boost LANSING (UPI) The state Public Service Commission today granted Michigan Bell Telephone Co. a $58.9 million rate increase about one-third of the firm's record-breaking $178 million request. The order made permanent a $22 million interim rate hike granted Bell last November and gives the company an additional $38.9 million.

The company has not yet collected the full $22 million annual hike granted in the interim increase, so the two figures do not add up to $58.9 million. Under the order, approved on a 2-1 vote, the rate for one-party residential service will increase about 6 per cent over the level approved last fall. That means basic one-party residential service will increase from a range of $5.84 to $7.64 per month to a range of $6.19 to $8.11 per month. Commissioner William Rails, the PSC's lone Democrat, sharply dissented from the decision. He claimed that the increase included nearly $22 million which will provide higher profits forthe utility's parent company, American Telephone and Telegraph.

Commission a i a Daniel Demlow, speaking for the majority, called Rail's figures "grossly misleading." As part of the order Bell will be allowed to file for a further rate increase after it settles with its employes on a new wage agreement later this year. Bell, the state's largest telephone company, serves over 1.5 million residential customers. Bell's rate hike request was filed last June, just more than a month after the company received permission to raise pay phone charges to 20 cents as part of a $52.2 million rate hike. Officials of the state's largest phone company said they needed the rate hike in order to meet rising equipment and labor costs; improve earnings and increase the firm's authorized profit level to attract new investment. They said they needed to recover about $100 million in cost-increases, including $21 million in-higher wages.

The officials said Bell's earnings in 1975 were the lowest in 17 years. Officials in the state attorney general's office, however, had labeled the request "incredible" because it was filed so soon after the firm was granted over $50 million in addition revenue. Hooping it up Despite the weatherman's dire forecast of heavy snow, spring is here and some people won't be deterred. Julie Scott of 510 West Eleventh St. is one of those people.

She marks the on-again, off-again warm weather by hooping it down the sidewalk. (Record- Eagle photo by Dann Perszyk) A new era begins By DONALD J. CLIFFORD Record-Eagle publisher If everything worked, the words you're now reading are blacker and clearer than they would have been in Saturday's Record-Eagle. And the pictures on this page and throughout the newspaper should be sharper than they could have been Saturday or in the whole 119- year history of The Record-Eagle. The reason is that today marks the maiden run of our new offset presses, which are designed to produce the highest quality of reproduction in daily newspapers today.

We believe the five-county Traverse Bay region we serve deserves nothing less. The addition of the new presses in their own new building next door is a milestone for the Record- Eagle but by no means marks the end of an improvement program begun two years ago. We have automated and improved'our typesetting capability to handle later news more quickly, modified the way the newspaper is put together to give more flexibility to the way it presents the news, redesigned the entire: newspaper to make it better organized, updated its features and comics, and honed our news-gathering: skills to the point where The Record-Eagle has: become acknowledged as one of the midwest's best hometown newspapers. The expansion project which includes installation of the new press reflects a continuation of our desire to keep finding better ways to serve our community. Physical expansion of our news, circulation, and classified advertising, departments will be completed soon.

But the improvement program will extend far; beyond as, we keep striving, every single to; produce the best newspaper possible. There's more about The New Record-Eagle on the cover of the Second Section today. We hope you enjoy.