Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 29

Detroit iftcc Prcs In This Section Features Editorials Editorials Books Entertainment Travel Page 2 Page 5 Pages 6-12 Pages 13-18 SlCAY, APRIL 21, '974 olf Is Back i ne i inioer $cientistsGave4aNeivHomein the VP But the Biggest Hoivls Came from the People, 1 vfcsi jbUa MICHIGAN UPPER PENINSULA BY JULIE MORRIS Free Press Staft Writtr MARQUETTE In the wolf country of far northwestern Minnesota, a three-year-old, silver-gray timber wolf known as No. 12 roamed freely with his pack and thrived on the wild game the pack ran down. He probably never saw a human. But the comparatively civilized territory of Michigan's central Upper Penninsula where No. 12 and three other members of his pack were brought March 5, he has become a confused, frightened and disoriented animal, and he has been eating mostly garbage.

The wolves, brought here by Northern Michigan University researchers in one of the most unusual wildlife experiments ever tried in the U.S., may someday become the basis for re-establishing the timber wolf, a Michigan native, in the woodlands where the animal has been virtually extinct for almost 40 years. THE SCIENTISTS conducting the experiment took care to release the wild wolves in the unpeopled Huron Mountains northwest Marquette where the animals could find an abundance of deer, rabbits, badgers and other animals that make up the wolf diet. But the wolves, confused perhaps by their 300-mile airplane trip and by the men who fitted them with radio transmitter collars and shot them full of vitamins, have wandered down into human territory to hang arou-nd farms, little towns, airports and logging camps, scavenging for food. The wolves have not harmed any people. In fact, one woman who saw three of them In her backyard reported the animals don't seem to be very brave her dog frightened them off by barking.

Other people have spotted the wolves chewing on old cow skulls, digging up the heads and limbs of deer killed by hunters, foraging in garbage dumps and trotting across busy highways. As far as is known, they have A Measure of Success When Minnesota trapper Robert Himes (left) captured the four wolves destined to settle in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, they were sturdy hunters who killed wild game for their meals. But after their release (map), they became scavengers for a time, heading mainly for places where they could eat garbage. Today, three of them are beginning to live up to zoologist William Robinson's (right) expectations: They have settled down in Baraga County and have made two deer-kills in true wolf fashion. surprised at the animals' pattern of wandering.

"Imagine yourself just picked up and then set down someplace that you didn't know anything about," Weise said. "I kind of feel like they are just exploring and may run into villages they might, normally avoid if they knew their territory." No one has ever before tried to move wild timber wolves from their Please Turn to Page 4C, Col. I them as look at them," said a man who lives in the two-street village of Baraga, near where the wolves nave made several appearances. "Some guys in L'Anse (five miles east) offered a reward for killing one of them. Well, some people are afraid of the 'Big Bad TOM WEISE, 30, a bearded Northern Michigan University graduate student who is tracking the wolves by plane, said he was dismayed but not made only two wild-game kills, both deer.

Some people in the Marquette area haven't exactly given the wolves a warm welcome. "A lot of guys would as soon shoot True Confessions of a Credaholic: Buy Now, Pave the Way to the Poorhouse If getting less friendly. The letters were getting personal; and instead of saying you may have missed a payment, they were saying you may endanger your credit. I'd open the mall and it would be the same old thing: "When are you going to pay?" About this time, the home problems set in. My wife wis upset most of the time.

She was very unhappy, and we fought to the point where she said if you want to eat, give me some money; But I didn't have any money, so I got peanut butter. It wasn't easy. Every single creditor had a field day with me. I had a direct phone line at work, and these people were very smart, one in particular. He'd call on Tuesday because he knew I got paid on Thursday and he wanted to be first in line.

I would average one good phone call a day, even though a friend would Screen my calls. My phone would ring and ring, and I wouldn't answer it. Finally my friend would pick it up and say I was out to lunch if it sounded like a collection guy. By this time we were in too far to go for the biggie, the loan that would take care of everything. So I went back to Beneficial, which raised my line of credit to $1,800.

With interest, I paid $2,400. This took care of my past dues. THAT CHRISTMAS was "really dry. I didn't buy anything, and I told my. kids' that Santa Claus got caught in inflation.

The kids 'got a counle of toys, and my wife ended up a nightgown. It cost $7.99. All cash, no charge. Our line was that short. I was working seven davs a week, and I had nothing to show for it.

I was taking home more than $800 a month, yet I didn't have 30 cents. In January I went to mv doctor because I was having trouble with headaches. He told me I had high blood pressure and said it was nerves. He asked me if something was bothering me. but I didn't say.

But it was so easy to tell that it was my creditors hounding me. In March George sought help from a credit counseling service. It interceded with the creditors, convinced them to reduce George's monthly payments and to stop ohnn'n him. In return, he adheres to a new budget and turns over more than a third of his take-home pav to the service to pay his overdue hills. It will take him 27 months to get out of debt.

He continues: DEAD RINGER Friends of Belle Isle Fail to Rincr the Bell THAT NANCY BROWN Peace Carillon near the band shell on Belle Isle hasn't BONGGGG-ed in some time. And it probably never will. The 98-foot-tall tower was built in 1941 for $45,000. Money came from Detroit News readers who sent cash to Nancy Brown, a columnist. Bells cost more than could be raised, so an organ and amplifier were installed instead.

Then that broke and parts disappeared. The Parks and Recreation Department has "fond hopes" of replacing the missing speakers with an 8-track system that would play tapes of carillon bells. The Friends of Belle Isle had a more ambitious hope the real thing. But they found real bells, and modifications to the tower to support them, would cost $100,000. Tapes cost $6.95 each.

Crime in llie Courts MISSING: Jimmy Del Rio's wallet; no cash but lots of credit cards, he says. The rio-off came last Tuesday when Del Rio left his Recorder's Court chambers to do arraignments. He left his wallet in his chambers. When he returned, the wallet was gone. Del Rio, who packs a gun and boasts of a black belt in karate, usually keeps the doors to his chambers locked.

The Chinese Connection; IRENE SUN AND C.H. Wu. suburban Detroiters, were both born in China. Last summer they visited their homeland separately and each has been pestered by the FBI ever since. Wu works for GM and says FBI agents Brian Kobinsky and Jerry Fayed have come to his home twice and called several times.

Mrs. Sun, whose husband also works for GM, said the agents have asked her what she knows about a clandestine corral of commies bent on overthrowing the U.S. Wu got a similar spiel. Both say they don't know what the FBI is talking about, were at first puzzled and are now annoyed. An FBI spokesman said, mysteriously: "We investigate people in all walks of life." Porn Kings Moving Up THE FOUR Studio theaters are changing owners.

The new owners: Go brothels Stu and Burt. They're 'the former owners of three rat id movie houses: the ido, Pussycat and Playboy theaters. The Studio theaters have featured popular art fiims and Kaudie," "Never on Sundr.y." The. new owners i pwba'bly won't slwv pwn in t'v? Studios. The Gore-licks want to move up.

A year ago Stu Gorelick said: "I'd certainly say I nvre4 the Northland thnn the Lido." Waiting for the Dough LEE DELL WALKER was released in June 1972 from 18 years of imprisonment on a false murder charge. Last December, then-Sen. Coleman Young introduced a bill in Lansing to compensate Walker for his years in jail. The bill was sent to a committee, where Sen. Charles O.

Zollar, the Benton Harbor Republican, is sitting on it. Walker, now 61, had two back operations recently, could lie" 'Ho mnnpv When George P. got married fire years ago, he and his bride took out a $500 loan to furnish their new apartment. Two children, nine credit cards and seven loans later, George owed over $6,000, half his annual salary, and was so far behind in his payments that he couldn't charge a penny more. He's a what some experts call a typical credaholic: He doesn't drink or gamble, but he got hooked on easy credit and trapped by the economic slowdown and inflation that ha brought the loan delinquency rate to a 20-year high.

Here, in his own words, is George's story: BY GEORGE P. As told to Associated Press It's ironic that this should happen to me. My parents are moderate helievers in credit who would only take out a loan to pay an urgent medical bill. It started five years ago when my wife and I got married and we wanted to furnish our apartment. We took out a loan for $500 with the bank I work for.

About the same time, I got a Master Charge card in the mail, even though I was only making $100 a week. Soon after, the bank I worked for got its own credit card, so then we had two. THE FIRST TIME I used one was when I 1 needed five bucks and I didn't have any money in mv pocket, so I walked into the bank with my card. It was so easv, just like saying, We also pot two department store credit cards, one for big things like washing machines and the 'other run-of-the-mill purchases. Two years after our marriage, we had furnished our apartment and were paying off our bills nieelv.

I don't know whv I did it, but then I picked up another bank credit card. Excent that to mv friends and family a credit card is a status svmbol and the thing is to see who has the biggest walletful of them. With three credit cards, it was really easy to pick up $100 or so if I was running low. Then I derided to clean un our' finances. We owpd and had snerrf it on nothing nalv tangible.

We don't drink or gamble or travel, just spend a couple of bucks here and there." So I went to mv bank and took out a consolidation loan. Every time I couldn't make a pavment on my loan, I just put it on one of mv three credit cards. Then we needed a car. My first daughter was getting bigger, and we wanted to get away on weekends. So I bought a Vega.

I didn't have any money, so I borrowed $500 from Beneficial for a down payment. Then I got i loan from GMAC (General Motors Ac- was getting ripped off, but I needed a car. I also picked up an Exxon and Gulf card. THE PROBLEMS started when the bank cards started raising my lines of credit. They did it three times.

Every time my past-dues started to bump the ceiling, they raised the line. But even so, I was missing a payment on one of my loans every other month. This is about three years after we were married, when I first started to feel the pinch. It was bad. It began with written reminders to pay up, and I got worried.

But I figured I could get a loan to cover my past dues and catch up. About this time I got an invitation from the guy I dealt with at Beneficial to refinance the original $500 loan. This one cost me $1,800, but 1 only got a $900 cash advance. You never get as much as you think. Then I decided to consolidate my GMAC loan, so I went to my own bank, hut they turned me down.

They said the second loan was supposed to take care of all my problems. This was the first time I had ever been turned down for credit, and it bothered me. But they said I could probably get a loan at another bank, so I went to Franklin National. The bank gave me a $2,500 loan, ABOUT THIS TIME, my creditors were What arc the telhate signs of a credaholic? For those and more on the credaholic problem, see Page 4D in the Women's The best thing is that there are no more phone calls. I can answer my phone at work, and my wife stays home at night.

Now I know what I'm working for on Saturdays and Sundays. Fortunately I got in trouble when I was only 25 and couid straighten myself out. Thank God I wasn't 35 or 45 and shaky on the joh. "'ink it will i..