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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1982)
Oregon daily _ _ emerald Wednesday, October 27, 1982 Eugene. Oregon volume 84, Number 38 Crazies ruin Halloween fun for small kids "Children love Halloween, and many grown folks do, too Come now, Billy Black Cat — call off your strike!" Spirits on Strike — Helen Ramsey In keeping with tradition, there will be Halloween activities in the Eugene area this weekend for almost every possible persuasion — '50s' fans, vegetarians, homosexuals, the exotic, the erotic and the well-to-do. Nary a strange nocturnal creature will be left out in the cold when it comes to the "fun and frolic of merry, scary Hal loween.” Except the children. "It's the crazies out there that ruin everything for the children,' says Marcia Dahlquist of Timewarp Costumes in Eugene "There s not much you can do about it." While Halloween warnings to parents from police and health agencies have become routine in the past decade, the recent epidemic of cyanide-adulterated Extra-Strength Tylenol and acid-laced Visine eye drops will undoubtedly redouble parental anxiety about letting their children trick-or-treat It's the “crazies,’’ that infinitesimal sliver of psychotics, who are blamed for ruining what was once a cherished insti tution for children and grown-ups alike Last year a Louisiana man shot and killed a 13-year-old trick-or-treater who showed up on his doorstep wearing an Army outfit and armed with a toy subma chine gun In Muncie. Ind , police found lick-on stickers featuring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck that had been spiked with LSD A Texas man, convicted of poisoning his son with trick-or-treat candy con Police discover eighth tainted Tylenol bottle CHICAGO (AP) — An eighth bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol containing cyan ide-laced capsules has been found among the scores of containers turned in to police by consumers, the head of the Tylenol murder investigation said Mon day Illinois Attorney General Tyrone Fahner identified the bottle as having lot No MC2873, which has not been previously linked to the murders, and he said it was purchased at a Frank’s Finer Foods outlet in Wheaton, III Fahner's task force is investigating the murders of seven people in the Chicago area who took cyanide-laced Extra Strength Tylenol. Fahner’s comments were in a sta tement released by telephone by a task force spokesman to the City News Bu reau of Chicago Telephone calls to Fahner at the task force headquarters were not returned Monday night. A law enforcement source in Wa shington said the bottle was turned in to police "some time ago, perhaps weeks ago (but) it was just processed today (Monday).” The source, who declined to be iden tified by name or department, said police mailed the package for testing to a Maple Plain, Minn., lab operated by McNeil Consumer Products Co., the manufac turer of the pain remedy. The bottle was sent with ‘a notation that it might be contaminated,” and tests confirmed the presence of cyanide, the source said. McNeil turned over the bot tle to the FBI It was at a Frank’s Finer Foods that Mary Reiner, one of the seven cyanide poisoning victims, purchased her fatal dose. However, the store where she made her purchase was in Winfield, not Wheaton. Meanwhile, NBC News reported Mon day night that officials are investigating whether a conspiracy to commit the Tylenol murders existed between a rela tive of one of the seven Tylenol victims and Roger Arnold. The Chicago Sun-Times had reported earlier Monday that an unidentified rela tive was under surveillance and con sidered a “prime suspect" in the case, but investigators denied that report RCYB denies involvement in bomb threat By Debbie Howlett 04 th» Emerald The Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade has denied that they are re sponsible for two bomb threats that interrupted a midterm exam Monday afternoon in Room 150 Geology. “Obviously it’s not the kind of thing we do," said Clare Chang of the RCYB “People who know what we do know this doesn't fall into what we'd do “When I heard about it, I laughed because it was so ridiculous (to think the RCYB would make the threat),” Chang said The bomb threats were received at the EMU main desk and the campus security office at the University about 12:45 p.m. The callers, a man and a woman, probably tape-recorded their message and played it back into the phone. They claimed they were with the RCYB, and they had planted a bomb in Room 150 Geology set to explode at 1 p.m “They said something about capi talist pigs," said Debby Martin, an EMU employee who took one of the calls. Police investigators said Tuesday that the RCYB is not suspected. "In essence my opinion, based on what we have learned, is that the RCYB is not involved — they're not the focus of the investigation," said Sgt. Rick Allison of the Eugene Police Depart ment. Allison said he is fairly certain that an "individual in the class is responsible. A pattern has developed over past years. Things have come to light," Allison said. "We take it very seriously. We re trying to investigate,” said RCYB member John Kaiser. "We see it as an attempt to paint us as off-the-wall and to isolate us." Kaiser said that using the RCYB's name in the bomb threat incident is a "classic example” of the way the FBI "plants ideas” to picture revolutionar ies as terrorists. "It's more than just a good way to get out of a midterm," Kaiser said “They believed that they'd be believed if they credited it to us. "An atmosphere has been created where somebody feels the system is behind them when they do things like this,” Kaiser said. taining cyanide, is scheduled to be ex ecuted this Halloween Understandably, parents are wonder ing what kind of society America has become when children aren't safe on the streets "AH of us have heard those kinds of (comments)," says Lt Dick Mann of the Eugene Police Department Parents are disappointed that their children can't experience what they experienced.” In at least one town (Dudley, Mass ), officials have voted to outlaw trick-or treating Some communities are combating the threat of poisoning or foreign objects in treats by setting up X-ray and visual inspection facilities Other cities, like Chicago, are sending out flyers to schools and churches that warn of the possible danger. Although the Eugene area averages about one incident of poisoning or hid den foreign objects each Halloween, police say there is little they can do to decease the hazard. "Usually it s a foreign object in either fruit or home-made goods," says Mann. "There’s nothing we can do to K^se** (the threat) The best defense is for the parents to educate their children.” Mann says that police patrols would be at about the same strength as any most other Friday or Saturday nights. "We certainly don’t place as much emphasis oo Halloween as we did 10 years ago But it’s still a big event The owner of ABC Costumes in Springfield agrees that Halloween is still big with area residents “Business is fine, no problem," says Dorothy Setera. But while adult costume rentals are brisk, Setera discontinued her line of children's costumes this year after 10 years in the business. "Ittfidn't used to be that way. It used to be that the kids would all go out and trick-or-treat," says Setera. "But not anymore, because of those people messing around with the candy. It's a shame for the kids." By Sean Meyers Photo by Bob Baker
