Nevada State Journal (Newspaper) - August 4, 1977, Reno, Nevada Are You One Of Lucky Page 20 Judge Studies Lovelock Building Case The Star C3PO with the aid of 20th studio employes signs his name in fresh cement in the courtyard of Mann's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles Wednesday The Star Wars android joins such box office favorites as Greta Garbo Clark Gable and John Wayne in the cement footprint gallery AP Photo Footprints Of Robot Heros Villain Implanted HOLLYWOOD UPI The Footprints of C3PO R2-D2 and Lord Darth Vader were enshrined in cement Wednesday on Hollywood Boulevard next to the tiny Betty Grable Thousands of yelling youngsters lined both sides of the street as the two mechanical robots ana their evil adversary in the movie Star Wars implanted their lower extremities in the wet cement in the forecourt of Mann's formerly Chinese Theatre R2D2 the hero emitting whistles sighs and beeps actually left prints of a set of wheels Then C3PO who resembles the fin Man in the Wizard of Oz clanked his way into the cement The crowd gave its greatest acclaim however to the villainous Vader who most closely resembles a human being Miss prints were the closest Not far away were those of the Marx Brothers and Bob Hope LOVELOCK UPI District Judge Howard McKibben says be will rule in a week on whether Penning County and Lovelock have the power to take control of their joint law enforcement facility away from the sheriff County commissioners and the Lovelock City Council voted in July to hire an independent administrator to run the facility because of complaints about Sheriff Ken Ellsworth's handling of the operation Relations between Ellsworth and the rest of the county government and city officials have deteriorated over the past year to where Lovelock officials asked for control of the law enforcement facility to be put in someone else's hands Police claim they have been denied access to their own prisoners in the facility and that the sheriff has been uncooperative and high-handed in running it Police say the lack of cooperation in the combined dispatch operation could endanger lives of Lovelock police officers The facility contains jails juvenile holding facilities and the offices of the police and the sheriff as well as the dispatch center It has been open 18 mouths The county commission and Lovelock council agreed to hire an independent administrative officer to run the facility for the benefit of both the police and sheriffs office But when com- missioners tried to take one candidate for the post on a tour of the facility Ellsworth and several armed deputies barred their entrance Ellsworth said he Is charged with operating the faculty for the benefit of Perching County's and will not relinquish control He said be was prepared to use force to make his point if necessary Ellsworth claims the facility cannot be taken from his control without going through the state attorney general He claims it was set up under Nevada revised Statute 277.140 which requires the attorney general's approval But Alty Richard Wagner said resolutions by the Lovelock Council and the Penning com- missioners at the time show the joint use contract was set up under different Statutes 277.045 awl 180 and that they do not require the attorney See LOVELOCK Col 1 Thursday Morning Aug 4.1977 Carson Grand Jury Probe Juvenile Facility Closed After Hanging Death that the grand jury be empaneled to investigate the apparent hanging of Tammie Lynn Axt in the juvenile wing of the Carson Jail At the same time Gregory has ordered the and Juvenile area closed immediately and its inmates to Reno's Wittenberg Hall Gazette Journal Carson Bureau Carson District Judges Mike Fondi and Frank Gregory have directed Crackling Lightning Boosts California Fire Total to 600 From Journal Wire Services More than 600 fires crackled through not dry California brush ana timberland Wednesday taxing the state's exhausted army of fire fighters A two-day electrical storm a lot of lightning but little rain scattered fires up and down the state which was already dangerously dry from a two-year drought By Wednesday officials were able blazes and U.S Forest Service crews were called in from other states As of late Wednesday night eight brush fires had been reported in the Reno area seven thought to have been caused by lightning The Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District reported three brush fires each of them contained to under half an acre Lightning fires were reported at Hungry Valley north of Sun Valley and Antelope Valley north of Lem- mon Valley A third fire on Hoge Road just north of Reno evidently was started by children playing with matches a Truckee Meadows spokesman said Bureau of Land Management fire fighters battled five Reno area brush fires Wednesday night Another 12 fires were reported by other BLM districts throughout the state Each was attributed to lightning but was contained by late Wednesday Two fires were reported on BLM property in the Honey Lake area north of Reno and three were being fought on the Range in the Pyramid Lake area All of the BLM fires were described as minor by a spokesman Gary Buzzini of the California Department of Forestry estimated 400 fires most of them small were burning in the Sierra Nevada mountain range which runs along the state's eastern border and many were unmanned We aren't prepared to handle any more Buzzini said Our manpower is committed We just don't have any people Buzzini estimated 20.000 to 30.000 of the 33 million acres over which the CDF has jurisdiction were ablaze Wednesday in the 25 million acres of national forestland in California an See FIRES Col 1 On the Fire Line A fireman shovels dirt on burning brush at the Marble Peak fire in the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California Several hundred fires are out of control in the drought-parched state AP Photo Doming Capsules Nationwide Alert LAS VEGAS UPI The FBI has issued a nationwide alert for Craig Otte accused of taking million after kidnaping a Las Vegas bank executive and his wife last May Officials believe Otte is still in the west but nave sent notices to FBI bureaus around the country Otte and Paul Kodelja 30 were charged with kidnaping Reno and Polly Fruzza Fruzza was forced to get the money from his bank while his wife was held captive Kodelja surrendered July 3 and is hek on 1150.000 bail Nevada Towns Blacked Out CARSON CITY UPI Electric power to two thirds of Canon City including the state government complex was knocked out at Wednesday In addition the area Glenbrook Silver City Gold Hill Virginia City and Dayton were without power during the 18 minute outage Sierra Pacific Power spokesman Walt MacKenzie said the was in the Brunswick Substation east of Canon City said the specific cause of the outage has not been mined MacKenzie said all power was restored ID 18 minutes except for one line leading to tlw Mason Valley area Strip Mine Signed WASHINGTON UPI Long-sought restrictions on strip mining became law Wednesday with the signature of President Carter who expressed regret that the legislation was not stricter During the signing ceremony in the White House Rose den attended by members of Congress coal state governors and environmentalists who battled for the for years the President said to a bunt of I'm not completely satisfied with the legislation I would prefer to have a stricter strip mining I'm concerned about some of the features that have been watered down Some concessions had to be made to industry to win passage of the measure the President said but I think that this provides us a basis on which we can make improvements on the I in yean to come Groin Deadlock Broken WASHINGTON UPI Senate and House conferees broke a deadlock on grain price supports Wednesday accepting a compromise which left final Carter administration terms nearly intact and apparently injured smooth for an 111 billion omnibus ten aod food stamp Route Fought By United Press International The president of Sierra Pacific Power Co says it would cost at least an additional million if it were forced to follow an alternate route for a pipeline across Nevada to bring hi cheap power from Utah Joe L Gremban company president said this added cost would fall on the consumers in Nevada He made the statement following the release of a Bureau of Land Management environmental Impact statement earlier this month which lists four alternatives to a route selected by Sierra Pacific Sierra Is seeking BLM approval for 286 miles of line between Western Nevada and Southern Idaho The company said the line Is needed to insure reliable and less expensive electric supplies for Sierra Pacific's Nevada and California customers Sierra Pacific would purchase cheap energy from Utah Power and Light Co and thin transport it to Nevada over the new line Gremban said See PIPELINE Page 1 Col I pending the outcome of the grand jury probe According to the sheriff's ment account Miss Axt was found hanging from the bars of her cell at about 8 Wednesday She had fashioned a noose from a two-inch strip of a towel She had been admitted at 8 p.m Tuesday at the request of her mother for being incorrigible Four hours earlier she had been released after spending several days in the facility for curfew violation One detective said the cell area is supposed to be checked on the hour but said he didn't know yet whether that had been done in the case of Miss Axt who was the only inmate in the female juvenile area at the time Carson Juvenile Master John Ray said that as far as he knew there was a check made between 11 and last Tuesday evening but I have no definite personal knowledge as to whether any other checks were made Ray said this is the first such death ever to occur In a Carson juvenile detention facility although he acknowledged that there were five suicide attempts there in 1976 alone It is something that can and does happen in almost every institution where people are contained If people are despondent to the point where they want to take their life the only way you can prevent them from doing it is by putting them in a bare room with no clothes on And that's something we can't do he added Ray said he believes Gregory's decision to shut the juvenile wing did not constitute an admission of recent charges that the facility is unsafe The action was normal under the circumstances he said He said the same thing was done in Douglas County when a young inmate burned to death in the jail there This is a temporary closure until the grand jury makes its said A civil rights suit was filed last April alleging that the juvenile facility was overcrowded at times lacked proper food and recreational activities and generally was detrimental to the physical and mental health of the youngsters detained there There were five suicide attempts there last year There is no super- vision They just don't have a staff It's just a mind-blowing Sam Wardle the attorney who prosecuted the suit said at the time it was filed The law says that if you put a juvenile in a detention center you can't say you don't have the money to give them humane conditions Either don't put them in don't enforce the law or build new he added Carson attorney Julian C Smith Jr Wardle's colleague said the same the aftermath of the Axt death When advised that word of federal funding for a new juvenile detention facility is believed imminent Smith said with apparent skepticism that It has been imminent for the past two years See CARSON Page 3 Col 1 Index 4 Sections 54 Pages Amusements Classified Comics Crossword Deaths Editorials Focus Horoscope Health Column Markets Recreation Sports State News TV Scout Weather 14.15 24 31 10 25 4 32 23 22 12 23 24 21 2
