Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 63

--v ---r --w--r Thursday June 29 1997 I Star-Telegram I Section A Page 31 Reid's Fort Worth girlfriend declined to discuss the case citing the advice of Reid's attorney who did not respond to repeated tele- phone messages seeking comment said that law enforcement could not take any action as long as Reid posed no apparent threat to himself or others "As far as I know I don't think being crazy's against the law" Sinclair said 4 74 -)0 71 4 'A potential menace' Long before he was accused in the Tennessee slayings Reid widely distributed psychiatric records from his stay at Rusk State Hospital a state mental facility in East Texas in the 1980s His condition was diagnosed as mild mental retardation and bipolar disorder with psychotic anti-social traits according to copies provided by Mead lin "Mr Reid is a potential menace to society and requires hospitalization in this facility for his own protection and for the protection and well-being of others" wrote psychologists Larry Davis and Billy Shelton in December 1982 "Very dangerous" and "extremely delusional" Dr Robert Sheldon wrote in April 1984 "He states that his 'grandmother is in heaven and I'm hoping to go there very soon because wanted to cut myself over the heart and was going to remove my heart and go to heaven" Sheldon wrote "If you want to go to heaven I will cut out your heart and you can go too' "This was said not in a hostile or belligerent way but in more of a positive context and a helpful way" Reid photocopied the records some 400 times and distributed them to neighbors on El Campo Avenue and to strangers at a Camp Bowie Boulevard convenience store Mead lin said He mailed the materials to then-Gov Ann Still out in the Still out in the Paul Dennis Reid Jr: Murder suspect says "I'm a scapegoat" Richards and to news organizations Copies of the letters indicate that he promised The Washington Post that it "will have the Watergate story all over again" if the paper exposed the mind-control experiments that he said the goverment was conducting on him He also passed out the records at the downtown Fort Worth YMCA where fellow member Dennis Hopkins remembers the 6-foot-3 Reid as a serious body-builder and a social klutz who pushed himself on women Hopkins who saw Reid at the on a daily basis for about two years turned the records over to several friends in federal and state law enforcement "I think the thing that upsets me so bad I did give these reports to people I did warn them" said Hopkins 56 a real estate zoning consultant Among those who received copies of Re id's records was Jim Sinclair also a member and assistant director of Tarrant County's Community Supervision and Corrections Department Sinclair 'You couldn't ask for a better person' Reid was charged with attempted capital murder and seven aggravated robberies that occurred in Houston between February and June 1982 including one incident in which he shot at the owner of a Ponderosa restaurant Twice found incompetent to stand trial he was committed to Rusk But some mental health professionals later concluded that Reid was faking or exaggerating his symptoms to avoid standing trial He was found competent in 1984 and received 20 years in a plea bargain He was paroled to a Fort Worth halfway house in 1990 Not everyone familiar with Reid's history considered him dangerous Officials at Tarrant County Mental HealthMental Retardation Services determined in September 1990 that he did not need medication or continued therapy after its staff psychiatrist Dr Chandralcant Patel examined the parolee for 40 minutes Patel could not be reached for comment Reid is described as odd but likable by many who met him in Fort Worth where he lived until early 1993 before moving to Oklahoma City where neighbor Sidney Sibel remembers Reid as a friendly guy who shared pastries from the supermarket bakery where he worked He often visited 4 )- to le tt r-Lf-ri-st nt al Id td it )Ie ft )- 11 to ly nt al Id td it )Ie ft Mak I I I If I I i i I () I 1 cold 1 4 --N 1 i 4 Six Flags Over Texas is touting Mr Freeze as the state's tallest fastest and most technologically I advanced roller coaster Said to cost about $6 million the ride was initially scheduled to open 1 in May More than 250 people have worked on the project since November and park officials said they are not sure when the ride will open What is a LIM? Train --ow- A linear induction motor (LIM) produces linear (Tram 1 I I 1 1 view force from a flat surface A ilioNb a Fins 1 0 Six Flags Over Texas is touting Mr Freeze as the states tallest fastest and advanced roller coaster Said to cost about $6 million the ride was initially in May More than 250 people have worked on the project since November said they are not sure when the ride will open I cold What is a LIM? A linear induction motor (LIM) produces linear force from a flat surface A lipph most technologically scheduled to open and park officials Train (front view) Fins From Page 1 prison and a mental institution Reassured she kept him as a ten apt and a close family fripd Reid's ice cream confession would not be the last time that he would alert people around him to his serious criminal and psycho't logical troubles Nor was it the last time that such warnings would go unheeded Reid 39 was indicted Wednesday in the fatal stabbings of two ice cream parlor employees in Clarksville Tenn about 50 miles northwest of Nashville He was arrested June 3 in the slayings of Nashville fast-food restaurant I workers Fort Worth police said they have not found evidence that Reid was involved in any local crimes '11qt police in Tennessee and Mi I are reviewing their records to see whether he could be connect cd to other robbery-slayings 2 One crime under investigation ils the 1993 killings of seven workers at a Palatine Ill fried chicken restaurant Meadlin says that Reid was at her home recovering from cosmetic surgery when -the Palatine slayings occurred "I'm a scapegoat Everybody is jumping on the bandwagon to say that I've done every crime across America" Reid said in a 11Ine 14 interview with The Ten- nessean newspaper in Nashville Reid has since declined all Xnicrview requests according to 41ttiff members at the Metro Jail in Family members and pbO Coaster From Page 1 Md is using the the technology for Mr Freeze 04 its sister company used in two last year for Paramount Parks Paramount is suing both colipanies claiming it lost at least I $10 million because the rides opened late ''Years ago you tried to stay from prototype rides" said 'Drimis Speigel president of Inter sAtional Theme Park Services a firm in Cincinnati "You didn't want the problems associated with them Let some: onc else work out the bugs Now lott want people to know you're in the industry You just ro: try! to give enough time to over- 4 came" problems rg 9 tiins trains mobility Flags Over Texas officials Alined to say when Mr Freeze vytIJ debut at the park Meanwhile tqnstruction crews are working on flip track and inside the coaster tunnel almost daily The coaster is powered with linear induction motors or LIMs which create a magnetic force to 1 push the train through the ride A i LIM is a typical motor that is opens over flattened When an electric current is applied it cre- ates a strong magnetic force Tra2 ditional coasters have chains and cables to pull them until gravity take On LIM coasters fins are I 1 ncd aeodnnoenut conductor hct oe force de he aacinnsttor eeatnrc at a train fin i ns 1 glides between two motors it acts along almost as if it is kfing a magnetic wave LIMs used in trains baggage-handling systems and in the shuttle btliit for the Senate in Washington DC said Harold Hudson vice president of engineering for Six Theme Parks the Mr Freeze tunnel 172 qMs thrust the coaster train from 1 aAitionary position to 70 mph in i over three seconds As it trayi the vertical track 40 LIMs i -15uh the train up to 218 feet reverse the direction of force and send the train back to the start of I the ride Those LIMs also act as I brakes so the train will not fly off thbvertical track The launch requires 5000 amps of electricity at 480 volts for about i three seconds said Jim Seay pres Malt of Phoenix Rides Trains car- 20 passengers and are shuttled out every two minutes is monitored throughout it ride and is adjusted by to accommodate different of the trains he said A braking system that ato uses the magnetic force of the LIMs brings the trains to stop at 11 the end of the ride Inside the tun Reid tie cassette player" Wayne Meadlin recalled pausing for a long laugh over the memory "He was serious as a judge He said 'Wayne I got me a demo tape' It sounded like the batteries were dead it was dragging so slow Just horrible" Reid had also vowed to become the best mechanic in Fort Worth After struggling with Wayne Meadlin's help to learn enough math to earn his high school equivalency degree he enrolled in college in Nashville and said he would become a lawyer Wayne Mead lin said Such grandiose plans were symptoms of Reid's disorder his psychiatric records indicate But to acquaintances unfamiliar with his illness they appeared to be harmless if unrealistic dreams "He said if you shot high and you only got halfway there at least you got somewhere" Wayne Mead lin said with a chuckle Dorothy Mead lin who takes care of children and raises birds at her home was likewise amused when the high school dropout referred to himself as "Dr Reid" "He'd call me up 'Well this is Dr Paul Reid Do I have any mail He's just a big tease" His doctors called him something else: delusional "Upon approach he salutes and says 'Hello sergeant" wrote Dr Sheldon in April 1984 'He is very grandiose stating that 'I am Dr Reid and I have a PhD and have gone to school 10 years at Baylor and graduated from the University of Texas and practiced medicine for years' His insight and judgment were totally impaired Psychotic" we go through in the industry and hopefully consumers are understanding and realize it's for the best" Delays are especially common when a park is opening a ride with state-of-the-art technology he said For example Six Flags Magic Mountain's new ride Superman: The Escape was delayed 10 months because it could not reach the promised speed of 100 mph It opened in the spring At Walt Disney World in Orlando the new General Motors Test Track attraction will open this summer park spokeswoman Diane Ledder said It was scheduled to open in the spring Riders in vehicles will get to top speeds of 65 mph and experience the test-vehicle process "They found they can improve the original design" she said She added that Test Track is the first of its kind and that modifications are being made throughout the testing process As the Mr Freeze delays continue a kind of anticipation has mounted that park officials have never experienced The coaster which is highly visible on the edge of the park and is one of Arlington's tallest structures has been the subject of rumor and speculation among coaster enthusiasts Six Flags observers say is closed-mouthed about the project which encourages speculation On a given day in the early hours of morning a handful of coaster watchers camp on the edge of Copeland Road hoping to catch one of the practice runs which have occurred after the park closes at 11 pm Mr Freeze fans also gab online to share the latest news about the ride Coaster enthusiast Gordon Peterson a Dallas computer consultant has been following construction since March He began posting daily updates on his own Mr Freeze Web site has spent hours at the park and has even been chased off the tightly secured construction site "Obviously it's one of the first of its kind" Peterson said of Mr Freeze "It's a much more striking roller coaster than others I enjoy helping to build excitement for theme parks and rides And once you have sources and have presented the information people tend to recognize you're interested and they'll go to see what you know It snowballs after awhile" The dissemination of Mr Freeze stories has been frustrating for Six Flags St Pierre said Inaccurate information gets dispersed and sometimes can scare people from the ride she said "I've never seen anything like this" she said "It's refreshing that people are excited but it has become a little bit problematic because they aren't always getting the full picture of what's going on and inaccurate information is getv ting out there" with Sibel's elderly father who lived down the street After he moved to Nashville he continued to correspond with and visit Mead lin and her son Wayne "He's off plumb a little bit but you couldn't ask for a better person" Wayne Mead lin said "Course he had a temper He didn't know how to handle that but he never got angry at my mom" Reid worked for more than a year at Mead lin's service station where he was adept enough at pumping gas wiping windshields and waiting on customers that his boss trusted him to run the station alone on Sundays But Reid was hopeless as a mechanic Reid's many shop slip-ups caused his temper to flare Wayne Mead lin said "One time he jacked up a customer's car by the center of the oil pan" Wayne Mead lin recalled "I said 'Paul you know better than that' He said 'I'm no blanketyblank mechanic" A fatherly lecture about foul language defused Reid's anger Wayne Mead lin said Unrealistic dreams or delusions? Some of Reid's peculiarities seemed like harmless quirks to the Mead lins such as when he moved to Nashville and declared himself to be on the road to country-music stardom On a visit to Fort Worth Reid showed off a demo tape an 8-by-10 glossy of himself in western wear a page-long biography and a business card with the stage name "Justin Parks" emblazoned in gold lettering "He brought a picture of him in his cowboy hat and he had this lit Star-Telegram and print St Pierre said The park had planned for the first time to heavily promote the ride in Texas' neighboring states If Mr Freeze opens in mid- to late-July the park may spend some of those dollars elsewhere she said "If we're into July it's a waste of money to market in outer markets" St Pierre said "We have to look at the return on our investment It's frustrating There are a lot of things you can't do until the ride is open We've got a lot of gadgets and fun items that are sitting there waiting to go" Park attendance without Mr Freeze has been solid St Pierre said Obviously the park would have liked it to open earlier but she said she doesn't expect attendance to suffer However it may not be as high as hoped she said Six Flags parks do not release attendance figures A definite attraction Fifty new roller coasters are being constructed this year throughout the world consultant Speigel said Coasters generate the greatest attendance increase for parks and when delays are experienced they often are forgotten by park guests once the ride opens he said "It's not good but it's not catastrophic" Seigel said "It goes away after awhile It's part of what tvL' Take a squirrel Open It mwryi cage motor out flat i i 1 7 4 1 11 Smooth the Apply AC 1 1 In I 7 -r -I- rotor bars Into rrrrri power and a conductor you have a i ta21814 1 LI LIM sheet i 41111 1 Th 1 technology I Track The ride 1 As the train hurtles down the A total of 224 linear launch track thrust by LIMs riders 1 1 6 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 induction motors (left) Wheel are pushed back into their seats 1 power Mr Freeze with assembly with a force 15 times their weight magnetic force Fins attached to the passenger trains act as 2 As the train climbs the first conductors and pass through the inversion riders feel four times their The LIMs are powered in weight Their heads face the ground sequence and their magnetic force as the train corkscrews through the pushes the train forward or backward inversion Crews have been working to stop A4 iki4 the LIMs from closing on the train's 3 The train tops the second L3mAllt IVp fins during testing The LIMs were inversion called the wingover Atio 4411ssoNislo removed frrommurtrhleedtriaa cstkwfoerek Riders again are upside down at rlOPP adjustments and one point in the inversion 4 Forty more LIMs push the train l- 11 to its highest point at 218 feet on the vertical track Riders feel about ow IN three seconds of weightlessness More than 200 feet of linear induction motors thrust 11114 going 446 witliiith ng up and down the vertical track passengers from a standstill As the train drops the LIMs reverse to 70 mph in just 378 Motors AN: the direction of force and push the 16-111- train backward to the start of the seconds -Awbr i ride 1 I I I I I I I I I I I 1111111 I 6 Take a squirrel rrrrri Open It cage motor out flat Smooth the Apply AC rotor bars into power and a conductor you have a sheet LIM More than 200 feet of linear induction motors thrust passengers from a standstill to 70 mph in just 378 seconds A total of 224 linear induction motors (left) Wheel power Mr Freeze with assembly magnetic force Fins attached to the passenger trains act as conductors and pass through the The Ms are powered in sequence and their magnetic force pushes the train forward or backward Crews have been working to stop the LIMs from closing on the train's fins during testing The LIMs were removed from the track for adjustments and is returned last week Motors The ride 1 As the train hurtles down the launch track thrust by LIMs riders are pushed back into their seats with a force 15 times their weight 2 As the train climbs the first inversion riders feel four times their weight Their heads face the ground as the train corkscrews through the inversion 3 The train tops the second inversion called the wingover Riders again are upside down at one point in the inversion 4 Forty more Ms push the train to its highest point at 218 feet on the vertical track Riders feel about three seconds of weightlessness going up and down the vertical track As the train drops the LIMs reverse the direction of force and push the train backward to the start of the ride cti MIAMI' net electrical cabinets 150 feet long and 7 feet tall contain controls that monitor and operate the ride Nearly three weeks ago Mr Freeze hit an ice patch so to speak during testing As the train's fins glided through the LIMs the rail-like motors closed onto the fins damaging the vehicle The LIMs were removed from the track Seay said Officials notified two other parks using the LIMs of the problem Six Flags Over St Louis which is also opening a Mr Freeze coaster stopped testing Six Flags Great Adventure which had been running its train for two weeks shut down the ride and removed the The LIM gaps can be only one millimeter out of alignment and technicians test to ensure those standards are met Seay said The LIMs which have been modified and "stiffened" to correct them from closing were remounted last week on the Arlington Mr Freeze and testing will continue he said All new rides must meet rigid standards set by Six Flags Seay said A special computer is used to help technicians monitor every aspect of the ride he said Six Flags will not open Mr Freeze irtiI it has been thoroughly tested and checked park spokes 4111 00 I liorlItotti i '0 kAllw0 0 e1 A 0 0:41111441 4111 1111 4 EBOVIIM '4In c4 mgaiii 1 411 1103-401-4 iir LUAU OW- Itto-14111111 'OA SoltwzmiAlb tro-g1421-111 ri- 4414 Motors --o---idef 4 41X111- 111110 of 1 0 )1 4110f (2 Angle of wingover is 120' 1k 136 ft aniiiallrditi ieli silit 111 Ili 4" S''Ir loas 4111111i1A FriatlIP ea 111041 Mai- woman Nancy St Pierre said "You just don't take any risks" she said "You go above and beyond Safety is all this business has to hang its hat on You want to open it and keep it open You intentionally throw in roadblocks to see how it reacts You test and push it beyond the limits and make adjustments according to what it does" Delays on LIM coasters built last year has Phoenix Rides entangled in a lawsuit Paramount Parks is suing Phoenix and its sister company Premier Rides Inc claiming it was damaged by at least $10 million when The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear coasters opened late at King's Island in Ohio and King's Dominion in Virginia They are the first coasters to use LIM technology The LIMs on Mr Freeze are essentially the same but they were fine-tuned for higher speeds and different thrust levels Seay said A Paramount spokeswoman said the coasters were scheduled to open April 1996 but did not debut until June 1996 She declined to discuss the lawsuit Seay also declined to comment on it except to say he expects a resolution soon "We have a very positive relationship with Paramount Parks and wet plan and look forward to doing new attractions with them in the near future" Seay said According to the lawsuit Premier Rides did not complete the roller coaster systems on time and the rides did not meet specifications Paramount spent more than $167 million on the coasters it said Paramount claims that the coasters were to accommodate 2270 riders an hour that Premier did not complete the control system and therefore only two trains could operate at once instead of four and that only five of six trains were operable because Premier miscalculated their weight according to the suit Also wheels on the trains were not suitable and had to be replaced according to the lawsuit Paramount added a "significant amount" of the catwalk and transfer track and more LIMs Fins on coaster trains had to be replaced twice the lawsuit said Paramount also said it advanced $26 million to contractors to help Premier get the rides open As Mr Freeze undergoes its own delays thousands of dollars allotted for huge promotions and advertising throughout the region are on hold Six Flags has shifted its planned Mr Freeze advertising toward one medium instead of spreading it to television radio I.