The Bangor Daily News from Bangor, Maine • 1

SJangor Daily News I I Blanchard Ernest Cressler lead All-Maine team Cl mnniiiM RBRSRHtiniiUH CityPenobscot Bangor Third Surry brother appears in court in beating case B2 Bangor Courtroom escapee caught in 10 minutes B3 Maine businesses enter the new millennium Maine teens air views about violence B1 lb ff If') ci jLi 'lift 4 Vi) Governor attacks salmon program Federal gene studies flawed King says Panicky-' investors sell stocks Inflation data spur free fall NEWS Illustrations by Mary Ford at the Chicago Board of Trade watch the Dow lose points Friday (AP Photo by Ted Warren) Crazy season winds up Tax preparers deal with anger fear stress By Susan Young Of the NEWS Staff A federally supported stocking program that has left many Maine rivers with inbred inferior Atlantic salmon is at least partially responsible for the decline Gov Angus King said Friday in rebuttal to federal arguments to classify the fish-jn eight rivers as an endangered species In addition the stocking program which put millions of fish many of which were from Canada into rivers has left the state with no genetically distinct wild salmon worthy of federal protection King said summarizing comments the state filed on the last day for public comment on the listing proposal The governor called for an independent investigation of the fish stocking program and impugned the scientific studies the federal government used to conclude that the Atlantic salmon in the eight rivers are a distinct population worthy of protection under the Endangered Species Act Summarizing more than 75 pages of comments King said: believe the science we filed today utterly destroys the argument that this is a distinct population The governor spoke to eight reporters for an hour and a half in a telephone conference call about the comments before any of the documents he referred to were made available for review Based on studies by federal scientists the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that" salmon in the Maine rivers constitute a distinct population segment a subset of a species that can be protected under the federal act King said it was hard to believe that salmon could be considered one of the criteria for designate ing a distinct population segment See Salmon Page A6 By Noelle Knox The Associated Press NEW YORK The nation watched agape Friday as the stock market suffered a historymaking collapse that shook professional and armchair investors alike Already weary from days of heavy selling investors panicked after the government released a surprisingly bad inflation report As prices tumbled many who bought stocks with borrowed money were forced to sell to repay loans accelerating the downward spiral The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 61778 points or 57 percent to 1030577 by far its biggest one-day point drop ever At its lowest point the Dow was off 722 points The Nasdaq composite index home to the technology stocks whose popularity has evaporated dropped 35549 or almost 10 percent to 332129 had a semi-panic almost a full cascading said Ned Riley chief investment strategist for State Street Global Advisors real question have we reached the nadir of David Hummel a 23-year-old computer engineer has seen the $12000 tax refund he invested three weeks ago cut in half bears just growling roaming the streets just glad I have a wife I have to explain this said Hummel as he stared at the flashing stock quotes of the Nasdaq Marketsite in Times Square It was one of the worst weeks in US market history The Nasdaq fell a record 112516 points or 253 percent Traders Dow Pit afternoon cally is extended to Monday In Maine and Massachusetts Monday is Day a state holiday so the deadline gets bumped to Tuesday And a deadline worth heeding Maine Attorney Andrew General Ketterer Friday also a record The Dow shed 80571 points The 73 percent drop was the fifth-biggest since the start of 1987 New York Stock Exchange composite volume totaled 157 billion shares heavy but not a record The selloff decimated several sectors including computer software and semiconductors brokerage companies banks and transportation just said one trader smoking outside the New York Stock Exchange who give his name The trigger for the collapse was pulled in Washington where the Labor Department said consumer prices surged more than expected in March reflecting higher costs for everything from gasoline to housing The figures rekindled worries that the Federal Reserve not only would raise interest rates again but might be more aggressive in trying to cool down the economy in order to remove the threat of inflation The Fed has raised rates five times since June each time by a See Stocks Page A2 By Dawn Gagnon Of the NEWS Staff Once again time for the Income Tax Scramble a perennial fact of life that brings out some of the strangest behavior in people If among those dreading T-Day not alone According to the Internal Revenue most recent projections 2314 million tax returns will be filed this calendar year Though today is April 15 the date by which United States residents usually have to file their tax forms you can breathe a little easier this year because tax day falls on a weekend which means that the deadline automati issued a solemn reminder that his department has prosecuted 30 people for criminal tax law violations since last April 15 Of the cases 22 involved income tax violations seven stemmed from sales tax violations and two cases were felony thefts of sales tax funds For income tax preparers the end of the workday Tuesday will likely be greeted with a measure of relief Many no doubt have been putting in 18-hour days fueled by caffeine sugar and adrenaline According to some area preparers tax season action typically comes in two waves those who file early because anticipating refunds and those who wait until the last possible minute to file See Taxes Page A6 Jailed Hicks may lose everything but his secrets Fingerprinting bill in hands of lawmaker from Bangor year-old wife Jennie Hicks prosecutors expect he will face a minimum sentence of 15 years to jH life in prison Hicks who is I a suspect in the disappearance of two Maine women in addition to Jennie Hicks has been classified a serial killer by an FBI profiling team according to Maine police officials The designation would allow additional federal funds to aid in investigations should local law enforcement officials deem it necessary Maine police say they are interested in taking a fresh look at the unsolved killings of two other Arrest revives interest in unsolved murders See Page A4 women in the wake of capture But at least one police official does not believe it will do any good to travel to Texas to question Hicks not going to talk to Maine State Police Detective Joe Zamboni said Thursday evening lawyer let him even if he wanted to which sure he be a waste of our Detective Roy Vieregge of the Lubbock police said investigators would not question Hicks about the Maine cases but would certainly take note of any comments he made during interviews Meanwhile Hicks remains in jail on a $250000 bail bond that he is not expected to post He is considered a danger to the public and a flight risk which prompted the judge to set such a high bail according to Lubbock law enforcement officials See Hicks Page A4 By Renee Ordway Of the NEWS Staff LUBBOCK Texas While James Hicks sits in a small single cell in Lubbock County Jail the families of three Maine women who mysteriously disappeared are wondering whether he will ever reveal what happened to their loved ones Police and prosecutors in Lubbock seem highly confident they will prove that Hicks 48 attacked and robbed a 67-year-old Lubbock woman last week Because he was convicted in 1984 of fourth-degree murder in Maine for killing his 23- got a lot of work to do on Murray said of the bill as the Legislature paused in its work before finishing its remaining business during the week of AprS 24 The measure has had a rollercoaster ride in the Maine House while the Senate has consistently supported a version of the bill that would apply to new hires only On Thursday after approving the version the House reversed itself on the measure and approved an earlier incarna-See Prints Page A6 By AJ Higgins Of the NEWS Staff AUGUSTA While most Maine lawmakers will be enjoying their Easter holiday recess Lawmakers take action on rights spending powers See Page B1 Sen Robert Murray will be working overtime The Bangor Democrat holds the fate of the controversial mandatory school fingerprinting bill in his hands asm Task force to study proposal for Bangor methadone clinic DO The state will defer a final decision on how to proceed until no later than Jan 15 2001 although actions may be taken earlier should a based be reached Acadia Hospital has agreed to place on hold its pending application for approval to receive methadone for purposes of a maintenance program Commissioner Lynn Duby bead of the Department of Mental By Roxanne Moore Saucier Of the NEWS Staff BANGOR A task force that will study the issue of a proposed methadone clinic in Bangor over the next nine months was announced Friday during a joint press conference of city and state officials at Bangor City Hall Mayor Michael Aube and Kim Johnson director of the state Health Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services will appoint a task force to evaluate nature and extent of the opiate addiction problem in this and to develop a multifaceted approach to address it The task force which will include representatives of law enforcement the clinical community and the community at large also will review the possi-See Methadone Page A6 Aube Duby 2000 Bangor Publishing Co Periodicals postage paid at Bangor Mama 04401 Publication number USPS 041000 Office of Substance Abuse outlined the process: I.