Newsday from New York, New York • 3

'V', First rebuffed, he sounds alert on poisonous pets By Joseph W. Queen STAFF WRITES The citys Gnat Snake Hunt, which entered its second day yesterday with at least 30 venomous Asian water snakes still unaccounted for, was trig trouble gered by a snake buff who had 1 getting anyone to believe him. Tom Robertson Jr a snake handler. said he tried to tell authorities that the snakes being sold by Petland Discount v. were deadly, but no one wanted to lia- te1.

I told the police, the federal wildlife service I called a lot of places," he said. Finally, Robertson said, he called the city Health Department and they decided to check it out. Health inspectors called in a New York University biologist, who deter- mined the snakes being sold as harmless garter snakes by Petland Discount were actually highly poisonous Asian water anahaa knnwn i HwItmA gaalWh. The inspectors quickly learned that r. Petland had by mistake purchased 50 of the potentially deadly snakes end had put some of them up for sate at stores throughout the metropolitan area.

"Obviously, we want these snakes out of the publics hands as soon as poe-sible, said Betsy Segenreich, a science i associate with tbs American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "But 1 dont think theres any need for a panic. Redneck Kedbacks are not usually aggressive, but health officials said a 'NewMUp Jonathan Una Tom Robertson Jr. and snake reference book he used to warn Petland Discount Please see SNAKES on Page 27 Towering Builders Totter Eichner brothers suffer big setbacks UFIFboto Douglas Edwards in 1988. By Michael Moss STAFF WHITER TV News Pioneer Dead at 73 It, a hard fall from wham Eichnar Eichnar atnnd just last year as a pair of New Yorks more aggressive developers.

First lan Bruce Eichner was hit with state attorney general probe into CitySpire, his Manhattan tower that was illegally built too tall. Then his younger brother, Jonathan, was slapped with a $20-mil-lion foreclosure on the new but empty Brook lyn waterfront condominium prqject that he developed with Bruces backing. And Chase Manhattan has launched an internal NEWSOM, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14. 1990 THK ASSOCIATED PHESS NEW YORK Pioneering journalist Douglas Edwards, a World War II radio correspondent who became the nations first network television anchorman with CBS, died yesterday at his Florida home. He was 73.

Edwards, who spent all but 10 of his 56-year broadcasting career with CBS News, died of cancer in Sarasota, CBS News announced in Manhattan- He PB-tired in April, 1988. In 1948, then-CBS President Frank Stanton tapped Edwards to anchor its nationwide TV news broadcast, calling it "Douglas Ed-wards with the News. He held the job for 14 years, when he was succeeded by Walter Cronkite. The program won a Peabody -TDa Photo Bruce Eichner investigation after dis-Dntained forget contained forgeries." covering documents it says Then, on Sept. 27, a friend of Jonathan who is longtime investor in his real estate projects got nine "years in federal prison farsmuggling boatloads of marijuana into Miami.

The UJ5L attorney there says Please see EDWARDS Page 27 urvcxiJcnn0rsMyupraonwo8iooivHi(f06riivfQ0ioi siaurpftXMl ,3 jb a' Jjwi knee.