Nevada State Journal from Reno, Nevada • 8

Nevada State Journal Monday May 9 1963 Insurance: ertile NOTE: This Is tho second of two articles on the "quieter side of that seldom gets headlines but usually proves more lucrative than robbery or burglary By JACK STEVENSON '71 Journal Staff Reporter ire and theft insurance in a way is a gamble The compa ny bets you suffer the ef fects of arson robbery or burg lary among other things The insured pays a certain premium to cover his risk There are a number of peo ple who having paid insurance premiums for many years and having never a are suddenly victims of a bona fide burglary or robbery ortunately or unfortunately depending on how viewed the burglar only gets say $450 in cash and a shabby old coat Or an armed robber pulls his when only a few pennies in your pocket (nie other day you might have been carrying more mon ey) Reflecting on such twists of fate and looking back on past years of Insurance payments many an otherwise honest cit izen is tempted to boost his losses Mink coats and diamond rings are of course stolen all the time But we get more reports than believe of missing minks and diamonds from peo ple who never even came close to possessing such a veteran police officer said course we believe all of these reports and nei ther does the insurance compa ny But even if a claim is not paid by insurance the loss is sometimes deductible from in come taxes we do have to investi gate each and every the policeman said this takes up an awful lot of time Sometimes funny The oth er day somebody reported his car was stolen along with about $600 worth of clothing it happened we recov ered the car practically as this guy was making his complaint All of his effects were still in the vehicle and the entire lot worth $60 let along $600 Inflated igures Burglars arrested and con victed of a number of crimes are frequently frank to admit their transgressions Often however when asked what they did with the $600 in cash and the gold watch (val ued at $300 reported taken from the residence of someone or an other they reply mean $600? I worked that house over for two hours and all I ever got was a couple of bucks from a piggy bank and a half can of beer out of the Police have little reason to doubt the assessment of the burglar but proving that a re spectable home owner was lying in his teeth is something else again In a similar vein robberies are reported and as in a re cent series of armed robberies in Reno the culprit was de scribed by each of his victims (His description furthermore ield was published in local newspa pers) The robber eventually ar rested admitted robbing about six or seven different stores and motels But he vehemently denied "ever go ing near the Blank Blank Mo The motel clerk in this in stance fell under police suspi cion of having pocketed the money himself but again it be proved If a number of such crimes are not proved they are re membered by police for a long time Police and insurance company records have an even longer memory Someone who manages to get away with fraudulent insurance claims and phony reports of robbery is not likely to repeat the act successfully His insurance rates are also hiked proportionately to the amount of suspicion in which he is viewed as a risk by in surance companies Embezzlement is fairly com for 'Quiet Crime' mon in Reno and although in each single instance it usually exceed $200 there are some on a grander scale Most of the embez zlements are by employes who leave jobs in motels service sta tions casinos (the departing change girl usually makes it out of town with less than $200) and any other type of business which leaves relatively free ac cess to the cash register ew such embezzlements are ever prosecuted although resti tution is made in a number of cases usually with police as sistance Some embezzlements are matters of book juggling by employes in establishments run by out of town owners Within the past three months one such local motel owner be came suspicious of his manag er He sent in a few out of town friends to register at the motel He later compared his bill receipts with his bookkeeping receipts In this case the owner fig ured that in the course of one year he had lost more than $7000 Police were notified But the next day the case was cancelled when the com plaint was withdrawn (The manager had agreed to make restitution) A trickier or at least more legalistic fraud known in the vernacular of the trade as is relative ly easy to get away with (at least once) in this gambling community say authorities so called are sometimes difficult to prove one way or the other Assistant Washoe Dist Atty Gaynor Berry explained the as it might be executed Need Capital investment is needed for this one but only a short term operation irst a good bank account is estab lished then a business is opened Credit is set up the operator buys goods than he can possibly sell But he sells it at greatly re duced prices and collects money before his creditors call him to pay up his bills "Then he a great deal of money In a gambling game And not being able to pay off his creditors he files In bankruptcy The money of course has not actually been lost Except by the Berry said that this type of manipulation with credit is not at all uncommon and it occurs in numerous guises If carried out expertly it is difficult if not impossible to prove this type of fraud in court Shady businessmen of this type usually move their opera tions from one city to another where their can be re established Eventually they may come a cropper but even in this case if restitution is made to creditors they may not serve a day in jail Precipitation Below Normal April precipitation was far be low normal in Nevada accord ing to Manes Barton snow sur vey supervisor of the Soil Con servation Service He predicted: users served from reservoirs will have an ade quate water supply Water users served by di rect diversion will experience moderate to heavy shortages by mid summer April snowmelt was rapid with the May 1 snow line at much higher than normal ele cipitation was below average and as a result the forecasts have been lowered 10 to 20 per cent from those of a month ago Lake Tahoe currently at 622772 feet above sea level is forecast to rise 70 per cent of a foot from May 1 assuming the gates are closed May July 1966 streamflow forecasts In the Humboldt Owyhee Basins have been lowered due to below normal April precipitation low north of the main Hum vations Reservoir storage Is 130 per cent of the May 1 average Mountain soil mois ture Is fair to good with the top foor drying rapidly Tahoe Truckee Carson and boldt River will be in the 25 to 50 per cent of average range in the 70 per cent range south of the river and 48 per cent at the Palisade gaging station Central and southern Nevada I 1 CORNERSTONE DEDICATIONS Most Worshipful Grand Master rank Logar Jr officially dedicates and consecrates the cor nerstone of the Darrel Swope Junior High School during ceremonies conducted by the Grand Lodge of ree and Accepted Masons Sunday Conerstone ceremonies were also held yesterday for Sparks Junior High Agnes Risley School and Mamie Towles School (Journal Photo) Walker rivers May July 1966 forecasts range from 60 to 80 per cent of average April pre Auto Looted John McSweeney a school teacher at the Clear Creek Job Corps Conservation Camp re ported to Reno police iday evening that his car had been burglarized while it was parked in a downtown area alley McSweeney said he had left the vehicle unattended for about 45 minutes On returning he discovered that a suit a pair of slacks nine shirts a tie and a briefcase had been stolen He estimated his loss at about $125 ire Calls irefighters In the Reno Sparks Carson City area responded to the following alarms during the 24 hour period ending at 10 o'clock last night RENO 3:01 pm 337 Klrman Ave old mat tress and trash set ablaze by children playing with matches no loss pm 3465 Buckhorn Way roast on stove flared up scorched cabinets range hood and fan minor damage pm 3098 Kletzke Lane trash fire no damage SPARKS 10:13 pm 5501 Wedekind Rd wood pile no loss 2:31 pm 40 Greenbrae Drive car fire carburetor flareback no damage CARSON CITY No calls Appointments Announced streamflow will range from fair to poor Streamflow Is expected to drop off sharply particularly on smaller streams by early June unless heavy precipita tion occurs In the near fu ture Reservoir storage is good with May 1 1966 storage 130 per cent of average and 79 per cent of capacity April inflow was below normal with a 37 000 acre feet increase compared to the usual 58000 acre feet This was due to earlier than usual irrigation water withdraw als coupled with below normal April streamflow Carryover into 1967 will be lower than previously estimated Barton explained Soil moisture at the median and higher elevations remains fair to good Lack of precipita tion and high temperatures are rapidly drying the soil behind the receding snow Snowmelt continues at a greater than normal rate Ex cept at the higher and more sheltered locations most of the below normal snow pack has melted The May 1 snow pack as measured at a few key snow courses about the state ranges from 50 per cent to 0 per cent of average Assignment of personnel to wo key jobs within the Nevada Department of Health has been announced by Dr A Winne of the Bureau of Preventive Medicine Robert Bartholomew has been named public health ad visor on duty with the section of venereal disease Bartholo mew is a graduate of Dart mouth College where he was iMbr £1 ROBERT BARTHOLOMEW graduated in 1959 with a A in economics He joined the Public Health Service in 1962 and after inten sive training in epidemiology spent a year working in that field in the Los Angeles area Most recently he was a field supervisor in Los Angeles County Mrs Mary Williams who had been district supervisory nurse since July 1 1956 has accepted a similar post with the tuberculosis control divi sion Mrs Williams will be respon sible for recruitment of nurses and for their supervision and orientation She will serve as liaison between public health nurses and do advanced plan ning for clinics The long range plan for the project calls for clinics in sev eral of larger com munities in addition to Reno and Las Vegas The first will be in allon where clinics will be held twice monthly Later clinics will be held in Elko Ely Tonopah and other communities Mrs Vera Harri gan RN has been hired to work in the allon area and it is planned to hire other nurses as needed Mrs Williams a graduate of rench Hospital School of Nurs ing in San rancisco and of the University of Oregon recently returned from a course in re habilitation nursing at Rancho Los Amigo Hospital in Downey Calif MRS MARY WILLIAMS rl MIL xHMI I Gaming Before A lively battle over proposed liquor and gaming license fees is expected to engage the Sparks City Council at its meet ing tonight Tentative proposals already advanced would practically double existing fees and in spe cific cases would make them higher than those in Reno Councilman William Galt an outspoken proponent of the fee increases has said that there been a revision in gam bling license fees since 1948 while all other types of busi ness licenses have been raised has long been a favorite son in this community and time now that it began paying its share of the Galt said The City of Sparks In need of new revenue sources to balance its $24 million budg et which as recently adopted includes an ambitious build ing program The city has reviewed its ex isting fee schedules and has en acted or suggested numerous increases Other increases and some new levies are still under consideration The gaming and liquor fee in creases would as proposed in crease from $84635 (the amount derived during the past year) to an anticipated $200921 Proposed ordinances have al ready been drawn to increase the gaming and liquor taxes but the specific rate of increase has been left blank A series of meetings with con cerned businessmen and with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce have been con ducted and it is apparent a good deal of opposition to the proposed raises has developed More opposition is in the offing at 7:30 tonight when the council will hold public hearing on the proposed bills The Sparks Chamber of Com merce and its subsidiary Indus trial Commission stand opposed to the proposed increases as be ee Hike Plan Sparks Council ing discriminatory and unfair Chamber manager Bill John son and chamber president Al len Godfrey have said they object to some increase in the rates but do object to one which increases the fee by 137 per cent The chamber spokesmen and a number of small gaming and liquor businessmen warn that the proposed increase could keep some businesses out of town and in some cases could cause existing businesses to fold up Ernest Newton secretary of the Nevada Taxpayers Asso ciation has opposed a propos al by Councilman Galt that a surcharge of $2 per $1000 in gross receipts over $25000 be increased to $5 Galt later withdrew this pro posal but held firm In his de sire for certain gross receipts fees Proposed is $2 on each $1000 in gross receipts over $10000 on packaged liquor sales Newton maintains that any imposition of taxes purely on basis of size is unfair Varying fees penalize large operations he said Adding fuel to the fire of op position a citizens group to be known as the Spraks Business Association is in the formative stages Eugene Sprout and Neil Baker spokes men for the association say the group feels the proposed in creases are The group intends to pro test the proposed ordinances tonight and according to Bak er will also protest way figures have been used indis igures which have been quoted by some officials have not been researched Baker said but have simply been out of the Sprout said the new citizens group does not intend to be a trouble maker are not just organizing to harass We will back meas ures and proposals made by city council when they benefit the whole Currently slot machines in Sparks are taxed at a flat $65 The Reno fee is $60 proposal would assess $75 on each machine up to five in number $100 on each ma chine from 5 to 100 and $120 on each machine over 100 in num ber Galt said that craps games are now licensed at $750 while licenses for table games in Sparks are $200 He proposes a $750 fee on 1 to 3 tables $850 on each table between 4 and 9 in number $950 on each game between 10 and 19 and $1050 on each game over 20 in number Reno bar owners now pay $900 as compared to Sparks $450 sa 1 would charge $600 plus $2 per each 1000 over 10000 in gross re ceipts Galt said last night that his proposal would cost bar own ers about 45 cents per day in rate Increases while small slot machine operators would pay about a 5 cent a day In crease Sparks taxes on gambling and liquor are regres Galt said they overtax the little man benefiting the big operator rate increase proposal will still leave Sparks bar own ers paying considerably less than Reno Over all however the increases will simply help bring Sparks up to a par with he concluded Drugs Stolen Prescription drugs valued at $270 wholesale were reported stolen riday from the Key stone Owl Rexall Drug Store at 450 Keystone Ave Store owner Jim Henderson said it appeared that someone must have hidden in the store at closing time Reno Dealers Reply to Charges By ROBERT KAUTH Journal Staff Reporter most important variable in driving safety Is the have yet to find one au tomobile with any of the me chanical problems These are two of the reac tions from Reno new car deal ers to the current furor over automobile safety The controversy broke into headlines as the result of a book by attorney Ralph Nader at Any In his book Nader charged that the automobile Industry is contributing to the mounting highway death toll by building poorly designed and unsafe cars In wake of book and his testimony before con gressional committees have come: A call by the automobile Industry Itself for strict fed eral standards for safe auto mobile design publicized "call by manufacturers of oars with suspected mechani cal or engineering flaws Reno car dealers surveyed by the Nevada State Journal how ever tend to pooh pooh all the commotion Take the case of the big Chrysler for exam ple Several days ago Chrysler Corp called in 182000 vehicles for repairs because of a possi bly faulty installation of a front suspension system of some 1966 Dodge and Plymouth automo biles Earlier some other new car manufacturers had issued similar orders General manager Robert Sist tle said Modern Classic Motors had 50 such cars on the road all Plymouth Belvederes The firm is calling them In for checks as ordered by the manufacturer A bolt on a front arm strut is suspected of being loose have checked 16 mod els of this particular Sisttie said have yet to find one that had any prob lem we have had several calls so we are checking all the cars We want to satisfy the buyers so they will know that their cars are all Bud Helgren general manag HOME LOANS PAY BILLS ALL PURPOSE CASH Loans Secured by 2nd Mortgages on Real Estate We Purchase Notes and Trust Deeds CALL 786 1414 COMMUNITY MORTGAGE INANCE CO 1003 VIRGINIA ST RENO er of Johnson Chevrolet Co ex pressed a similar opinion but was more critical indirectly of Nader have had no major prob lem of any he said drove one of these cars all over last year and even know a problem existed until the fac tory told His reference was to the man failure to install a slush deflector on the underside of "a certain model I think 99 per cent of the problem is men Helgren maintained that au tomobile manufacturers spend $5 billion annually on safety improvements has been proven that the safety variables are (1) driv er (2) product and (3) road And the biggest variable Is the driver This has been proven at the Indianapolis He held that even if a motor ist were supplied with a helmet and put into a tank the driver would most likely suffer injury in a collision at 100 miles per hour A sales manager at another new car deaership who re quested anonymity put the blame on the press He said automobile in dustry should be commended rather than thrown to the dogs by the press It is just a lot of publicity to sell newspapers have been many safe ty improvements in automobiles through the years The manu facturers are not obligated to MgSsM me a filter cigarette that really delivers taste and eat my co call these cars back so the buy ers should be pleased because they are getting something (ser vice in checking the cars to be sure the bolts are tight) for Ralph Eldridge sales manag er for Richardson Lovelock Inc said of the compa nies over the years have had call ins One of the biggest was Buick after the war when it called back every new car some people claimed it was just to get a tax write off have been no se rious problems It Is a crime that this story ever reached its present proportions is not the nuts on the wheels but the nuts behind the wheels that cause the problems I have been driving for 52 years and never had an accident And I have never driven a car yet that I feel was safe Nader had described the Volkswagen as one of the least safe cars on the road and said often places unreasonable strains on the driving He said its German makers should be asked about the abil ity of the car to take collision forces from various angles the degree to which its fuel tank is exposed to rupturing the crash resistance of its door latches and its steering column the TUCKETT SERVICE APPLIANCE rilf jggnl of 786 3323 ME I SERVICE ON ALL MAKES and MODELS fade characteristics of its brake! its stability and its ac celeration capability in emer gencies These remarks were not tak en kindly to by Bill Strem mel of Bill Stremmel Motors Inc Reno Volkswagen deal ers Stremmel commented in America should be terribly proud of producing an engineer ing genius such as Mr Nader He can take one of the world's great automobile success sto ries and pick it to pieces with out even having an engineering background for his personal ref erence kind of makes a per son realize the problems faced by the Wright brothers: Thera are some people who airplanes A YOU CAN RELAX WHEN YOU HAVE GOOD CREDIT A good credit rating is established by paying your bills promptly Credit buying lets you enjoy the good things in life so pay your bills promptly and relax! CA0l4 rACBhfA tj Wisely Pay NEVADA CREDIT RATING BUREAU 0 BOX 2350 RENO NEVADA Robert Hodge General Manager APPLIANCE.