The Bangor Daily News from Bangor, Maine • 25

1 15 down east Bangor Daily News Friday February 11 1994 Insurance official says there are alternatives the Chaffee proppsals than the for' a couple McGinty believes the debate much closer of He' cited the Congressional Budget Of- to the Cooper and Chaffee He feels the analysis 6ri the Clinton plan Released earlier in report the claim that his the week which among other things asked if it was plan pould result in a $35-40 billion contribution to "administratively feasible to carry out the deficit reduction and just no basis to proposal maintain that belief any Further the Having had a good deal of experience at the national findings with the private studies that have and state level McGinty feels that the responsibilities concluded that the president and his advisers have of the Health Board and the state health substantially understated the average cost of health alliances that would be created under the Clinton insurance proposal might be too demanding and controversial Although the CBO analysis may have fueled the much money goes to Mississippi to provide care flames 0f the health care debate in Washington for By James Kaleigh Special to the NEWS WATERVILLE A few short days after first lady Hillary Rodham 'much publicized health care forum at the University of Maine in Orono Senior Vice President for Development of Maine JBlue CrossBlue Shield Frank McGinty look turn ip addressing the issue Thursday morning at Colby College- On Monday Mrs Clinton had sharp words for the insurance industry characterizing health care system as against families and small with insurance companies in Thursday McGinty who did not attend the UM forum jokingly said in an interview need to go that far to be McGinty feels that the Clinton administration has gone too far in demonizing the insurance industry chosen their villains he said Although McGinty did acknowledge that industry contributed its of problems he added administration) make a distinction between companies that have proven that the principles they are espousing can work like community rating and open enrollment and the companies that have traded off by excluding people from galling that they take every single problem in the system and somehow trace it back to the insur- We think something significant will be passed this Frank McGinty senior vice president for development of Maine" Blue CrossBlue Shield ance industry At the start there were two villains but the pharmaceutical industry has managed to break free" Still McGinty strongly applauded the efforts of the president and first lady in clearly defining the problem and conveying it to the American people with a sense of urgency do strongly support some of the major elements of the plan the Clintons have done a great job of keeping expectations on Congress to get something he said Security simplicity savings choice quality and responsibility are the six points that President Clinton emphasized in his health care reform address to Com gress and McGinty agreed that these are the most important principles must now decide which plan is most consistent with these Blue CrossBlue Shield of Maine does not officially endorse either the Clinton plan or any one of the alternative plans in particular but McGinty noted that would be more supportive of the Cooper or to its residents as compared to California? not going tobe an easily made decision and not going to be made without challenge Then the state alliances have even more potentially controversial responsibilities I think there is a chance in the world that people could do justice to those responsibilities in that McGinty said The Cooper plan though similar to the would not require universal coverage a prerequi- now McGinty stated think something significant will be passed this year Whether they be Republicans or Democrats nobody wants to go back home for the election in November without being able to say that they played a substantial part in addressing at least some of these problems" McGinty rhetorically asked it matter whether health care is truly a crisis or just a problem? site of the Clinton proposal But McGinty argues For the millions of uninsured and for all the people who are being told that cover the rest of your family but we cover you because you have diabetes it is a crisis not the way the system ought to work There are fundamental problems that really require attention and there are ways to address those problems and we will be a better society if we he said you prevent insurance companies from excluding people from age sex or disability and you essentially make it financially possible for everybody to buy the same plan that is available to any other American I think achieved universal coverage" The CBO analysis which has been widely regarded by the media as damaging to the plan BOAT TROUBLE IN ROCKLAND HARBOR Doctor named in civil suit 1 1 mam T4S '7' I ii mm ir- to tea 7 If -j VI I1 41 r'f 5" :4 V' I 1 A US COAST GUARD 40-footer comes to the rescue of a boat trapped by Ice and taking on water In boat belonged to a sea urchin diver who left the scene (NEWS Photg by Walter Griffin) Rockland Harbor The boat was quickly pumped and freed from the ice Harbor Master Ken Rich said the New Brunswick Quebec slash tobacco taxes By Beurmond Banville Of the NEWS Staff New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna said the province expected to lose $7 million in taxes in 1994 unless the smuggling and sale of contraband tobacco were stopped Ottawa estimated that as much as 40 percent of the $124 billion tobacco market was contraband in 1993 The government claimed that organized crime controlled up to 95 percent of the contraband tobacco in Canada The New Brunswick cut of $7 per carton of cigarettes was matched by Ottawa Adding Canadian and provincial sales tax cuts to the cost of a carton of cigarettes the cost of a carton of 200 cigarettes will drop by $1663 Canadian money The cuts in Quebec were even deeper than New The cost of a carton in Quebec was said to be $23 Thursday Quebec and New Brunswick were the only provinces following the lead of Ottawa Thursday New Brunswick was in a quandary about following lead It was also in the unenviable position of having its citizens smuggling cheaper tobacco products in from both the United States and neighboring Quebec unless tax cuts were initiated In the meantime Maine retailers along the New Brunswick border were waiting to see the effects of the tax cuts Tobacco along with milk and gasoline are major purchases in the United States by Canadians living near the border The Canadian federal government announced a tobacco tax cut of $5 per carton Tuesday and offered to match provincial cuts in tobacco taxes up to $10 per carton The cuts are an effort to reduce the amount of contraband tobacco sold in Canada It was estimated that tobacco smuggling was costing the provincial and federal governments $1 billion each per year in lost revenues More than 2 million Canadians reportedly bought contraband tobacco products in 1993 Ottawa not only cut its taxes on cigarettes but also announced an $8 per-carton tax on Canadian-manufactured cigarettes that are exported The government also added 350 law enforcement personnel to combat smuggling of contraband tobacco FREDERICTON New Brunswick In an effort to cut the flow of contraband tobacco New Brunswick followed the lead of its federal government and the Province' of Quebec Thursday and cut its tobacco tax by $7 a carton Coupled with the federal cuts in tobacco taxes announced Tuesday a carton of cigarettes in New Brunswick would cost $30 Friday as opposed to about $46 prior to the cuts A carton of Canadian cigarettes at Madawaska Thursday was selling for $2638 in Canadian money By Jeanne Curran Of the NEWS Staff Federal authorities in Bangor have filed a civil complaint against a Presque Isle doctor alleging that the physician failed to keep adequate drug records Asking for $300000 in penalties the civil lawsuit alleges that Dr David Scullion who gave up his state medical license last year violated the federal Drug Control Act of 1970 by failing to keep adequate records for a variety of drugs including narcotics Calling the court document detailed Assistant US Attorney James Moore who is handling the case declined Thursday to discuss the lawsuit and to say whether any criminal charges are pending Scullion is expected to answer the lawsuit and the matter could go to a civil trial said Moore Efforts to reach Scullion for comment on Thursday were unsuccessful The lawsuit filed Wednesday in US District Court in Bangor was the result of an inspection audit conducted in April 1993 by a federal Drug Enforcement Agency inspector The Maine Attorney Office also took part in the investigation Moore declined to release any details of the audit According to the lawsuit Scullion allegedly committed 12 violations of the federal drug act The violations included failing to keep biennial inventories of controlled drugs and failing to keep proper records of the distribution or disposal of seven drugs including four narcotics The lawsuit also claims that Scullion possessed controlled substances at his home which was an unregistered location under the federal act He also supposedly failed to keep proper records for receiving controlled substances Scullion voluntarily relinquished his medical license in June 1993 according to David Hedrick executive director of the state Board of Registration in Medicine The board issued no findings on conduct and accepted the relinquishment said Hedrick This week Scullion submitted an application to have his Maine license reinstated said the board director have to fully investigate the whole said Hedrick adding that it would be some weeks or months before the state board took any action want the civil lawsuit fully explained if the US attorney will share information with Hedrick said it would be speculation for me to say whether the board would take any based on the lawsuit In a prepared statement US Attorney Jay McCloskey said that the diversion of prescription medicines had become growing is important to monitor the drug transactions of physicians and other persons with authority to dispense drugs because they have the greatest access to controlled narcotic substances and therefore the greatest opportunity for diversion" McCloskey was quoted as saying Former Maine man pleads guilty to raping murdering teen called quality of life One of the primary elements of that is very little violent Briggs said people lock the doors in their homes they leave their keys in their cars has caused everybody to reassess that fundamental belief face it this is every worst wife Theresa was awaiting sentencing for driving the getaway car in the 1992 Plattsburgh bank robbery But under a plea agreement with federal authorities she will avoid jail time because her husband told her about killing Miss Nixon and Mrs Jones gave the information to police ELIZABETHTOWN NY (AP) A former Maine man pleaded guilty Thursday to abducting raping and killing a teen formally taking responsibility for a case that baffled authorities and the family for more than six years Robert Anthony Jones 30 made his plea in a brief appearance in Essex County Court A convicted bank robber Jones who resided in Bar Harbor in 1986 and 1987 already has a 15-year ijail sentence for four bank robberies including one in Bar Harbor in 1987 and one in Waterville in 1993 Under questioning Thursday by county District Attorney Ronald Briggs Jones ad Ray Brook pending his sentencing on March 14 On that day when Miss family has the opportunity to address the court the case will finally be put to rest Briggs said think find an emotional outpouring of comments at that Briggs said will be the final step in this Briggs said Miss murder caused irreparable to damage to the small-town feeling of AuSable Forks a hamlet at the edge of the Adirondack Mountains about 120 miles north of Albany of us live here because of the so- mitted that he kidnapped 16-year-old Kari Lynn Nixon on June 22 1987 as she returned to her home in AuSable Forks from a grocery store Jones 30 also confessed to taking Miss Nixon at gunpoint to a secluded cabin in Jay owned by his father raping her and then killing her with one gunshot to the chest Jones said he buried the body near the cabin Essex County Judge James Dawson accepted guilty pleas to kidnapping rape and murder charges and ordered that he be returned to a federal penitentiary in Delegation backs tuna fishermen Crack cocaine seized in drug bust BERWICK Seven people have been arrested in connection with a four-month undercover drug trafficking investigation by local and state police In two apartments in Berwick police seized 22 grams of crack cocaine one-half ounce of cocaine one-quarter pound of marijuana a small quantity of PCP and $2000 in cash said Berwick Police Chief Peter Hussey on Wednesday The drugs have an estimated street value of $6000 said Ken Pike a special agent with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency is crack showing up in Maine Pike said came out of New Hampshire so slowly coming up to Police suspect the crack was made in New York Police arrested Roxann Sullivan 33 of Berwick Eugene Martin 19 and Daron Jamison 25 both of Dover NH for possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute Harry Jamison 28 of Bronx NY was charged with trafficking cocaine Mark Malinick 26 of Gonic NH and Marcelino Castillo 30 and Gary Gilpa trick 40 both of Berwick were charged with unlawful trafficking of marijuana each side of the ocean But the industry believes there is just one stock If that belief were accepted it would make it easier to urge the eastern Atlantic countries to pass tough management measures This year the quota is not expected to change since Japanese fishermen agreed to bear the brunt of a 15 percent cut to quotas But next year the cut could be as high as 40 percent for American tuna fishermen That means big changes in a multimillion-dollar industry including many bankruptcies and many lost jobs said Richard Ruais executive director of the East Coast Tuna Association George Mitchell and William Cohen and Reps Olympia Snowe and Thomas Andrews turned up the political pressure on the National Marine Fisheries Service to check its data bn tuna The scientific review on how many tuna are actually in the Atlantic is crucial to setting quotas But for years fishermen have argued that the science is flawed At the heart of the disagreement with federal scientists is whether there are two stocks of tuna one in western Atlantic waters and one in eastern Atlantic waters or just one The fish are managed as if they are two different stocks because there are spawning grounds on Group urges agency to check numbers BRUNSWICK (AP) In an effort to help tuna fishermen the Maine congressional delegation has urged a federal agency to jump-start a planned review of its scientific work on Atlantic bluefin tuna The move comes as US tuna fishermen face a 40 percent cut in the total number of pounds of tuna they are allowed to catch future of the Atlantic blue-fin tuna fishery particularly in New England is very much in the delegation said The delegation made up of Sens 1.