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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1963)
4 D ibs THUHSDAY. JUNE 27. 1963 MEOFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON Police ESevecoll iasoair Sftyimtis tio Uob Umicle Sam Editor's Not: It U fact, not fiction, that the tex colltcting Interne! Revenue Service (IRS) hires I spe cial police force to keep its employees ho n tit. even though a vest majority ere persona of scrupulous recti tude. Tha reasons tor main taining the force are out lined in the following dispatch. By JOSEPH D. HUTNYAN United Press International Washington - OJPli - A tele phone rings in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) bu reau. A jealous woman demands to know how an Internal Rev enue agent living in her neigborhood can afford to drive a fancy sports car, send his children to a private school and buy his wife a mink coat with his small sal ary. A convicted embezzler has rosy dreams of working where cash is stacked in big bundles. So he applies for a job with the IRS. A plumber working on a sloppcd-up toilet in an IRS of fice unhooks the pipe and finds the trouble. It is clogged with crumpled pieces of in come tax returns torn up by a dishonest IRS employee. A taxpayer being Inter viewed by an IRS auditor leans back in his chair, non chalantly blows cigar smoke toward the ceiling, and coos: "can't we make a little deal here." IT'S YOUR LAW ttnpttl for Law Main rVwy fill Editor's notei The following article was prepared as a public service by the Oregon State Bar and is not intended to be legal advice. Persons having a legal problem should consult an attorney. WHAT IS A TORT? A "tort" is a legal wrong or Injury committed upon the person or properly of an other. Examples are assault, battery, false imprisonment, libel, slander, malicious pros ecution, ulicnation of affec tions, and negligence causing personal injuries or property damage. The remedy provided by law to persons against whom a tort is committed la an ac tion for money damages. Lia bility arises from a breach of duty primarily fixed by law. In soma cases, the person wronged may have the addi tional remedy of Injuctlon or of specific restriction of property. The1 Injured party must act in a timely manner, since the statutes Impose lim itations on the time within which he may begin suit. A breach of contract Is not a tort. Neither is a tort nec essarily a crime, although In some Instances the same act limy be both a tort and a crime. For example, If one mun slushes another with a knife, he may be prosecuted criminally. He may' also be sued In a civil action for the injuries caused by the assault and battery. Not Static The law of torts Is not sta tic. It grows with the growth of society. In some instances it takes an net of the legisla ture to keep pace with the changing attitudes of society. I In other situations, new torts I are developed by the courts. For example, the invasion of a person's right of privacy has come In many states to be recognized as a remedial wrong - that is, a wrong for which the law provides a rem edy by way of money dam ages. Texas has not yet adopt ed this view. Torts . aro sometimes clas sed as follows: 1. Inlontiomii wrongs, such as trespass to land, assault and battery, false imprison ment and covcrsion of per sonal property. In all of these cases the act must be Inten tionally done. j 2. Negligence, such as care less operation of a motor ve hicle causing Injury to an other, ' 3. Strict liability, such as the keeping of dangerous ani mals, or the doing of a poten tially dangerous thing, which Is not a matter of common usage, such as blasting. ' I he law of torts, built up over a period of many years by the process of court de cisions and legislative enact ment, forms a silent but strong protection necessary In an orderly society. OSU Summer Session Enrollment Near 2,500 Corvallis -llll'll - Enrollment mont at Oregon Stulo univer sity's summer session is climbing toward the 2, SOU mark. The registrar's oftlcc said at the close of the first week registrations totaled 2,- 2(14, an Increase of 17 per cent over last year. Of those registered, 1,225 were graduato students. Dennis the Menace TT-irTTT I II -1 VI None of these situations is common among the huge corps of IRS workers who handle the billions of income tax dollars that U. S. taxpay ers send to the Treasury each year-but each has I occurred and could again. Pushes Button When-it does, it pushes a button in the investigative machinery of the Internal Revenue Inspection Scrvicc a unique enforcement agency The inspection force patrols the IRS from within. To put it another way, it polices the policemen and audits the au ditors. The agency is completely independent and answerable only to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. It was created only after income tax scandals of the late 1940's which Congress felt had un- dermlned public confidence in the revenue service. One of its most important functions is checking out the character background of new IRS Job applicants. Those who apply also have their Income tax returns audited for the preceding three years and are required to file a statement of their financial assets. These statements are used by the inspectors when the IRS receives an anonymous tip that a certain agent seems to be living beyond Ills means. Inspectors can check what the employee's financial standing was when he joined the service. If he has suddenly accumulated wealth, he will be called in to explain. Acre Directs The 825 man IRS police force Is directed by Assistant Com mlsBioncr Vernon D. (Mike) Acres who stresses that he Is not out to malign the character of revenue per sonnel. "We see our role as being right down the middle," he told UPI In an Interview. "We are completely objec tive. Our job is to protect the employees as well as the taxpayer." He said statistics indicate that the average IRS work er Is honest and stays out of trouble; that 60' per cent of his Investigations are re solved In favor of the em ployee. This is backed up by gov ernment records which show that during the last fiscal year, only 215 out of the 60, 000 IRS workers were dis missed for criminal acts. ; Acrcc said some IRS em ployees niny dread a visit from one of his inspectors but (hero are still nuiny who are thankful. He mentioned an incident in North Carolina. "A witness dropped a bombshell at a bootleg trial when he testified that the Revenue agent Involved ac tually did not , destroy the liquor from the still but sold it back Into the bootleg trade," Acree recalled. "Wc sent a team in on the case, and we were able to go Into n swamp and, niter consid erable digging, produce the broken necks of 148 out of 150 Jugs." Acrcc said the report was passed on to the Judge and the witness was indicted for perjury. Check Unwanted One of the Inspection divi sion's big jobs Is keeping un desirables out of the IRS, which seems to have an at traction for ex-convicts, em bezzlers and potty and grand larernlsts. The files contain the case of a mun who fal.-.ificd his application and already was working as a revenue agent before inspectors discovered he had been fired from his last job for misappropriating money. In another case, a man who had served a prison term for larceny admitted that his girl friend took a job with the IRS "to steal $40,000 so we can get a new start." One of the sources of great est temptation is the cash that some taxpayers send along with their returns. To check on this, Acree's office periodically sends "controlled mail" throughout the various IRS divisions. This is an old police trick which calls for routing the envelope in such a manner that the inspectors will know exactly where it goes astray, if it does. The employee with flexible morals who decides to filch from the IRS usually must destroy the taxpayer's return to cover his tracks. But this is where he often gets tripped up. Clog Pipes Acree mentioned a case where an IRS clerk was tear ing up the returns and flush ing them down the toilet in the ladies' room. The culprit was arrested after a plumb er discovered what had clog ged the pipes. Acree said the IRS now is cracking down extra hard on those who try to bribe their way out of a tax bill. For years, he said, it had been suspected that many bribes went unreported. The agent merely turned down the would be corrupter and let it go at that. The order now, according to Acree, is to report even subtle suggestions that can be taken either way. "We feel now that it isn't enough to say, 'No, you can't buy me," Acree said. "The man making the bribe offer is violator of criminal law and ought to be brought to justice." He said that since the new order was issued last October, 92 cases have been reported. Not everyone who filches money from the IRS does it for personal profit. Take the case of the "Robin Hood Lady." "It's one of our most un usual cases," Acree recalled. "She would stash a couple of empty envelopes on her desk with the addresses of her favorite charities. "When no one was looking, she would slip cash out of a taxpayer's return and into one of these envelopes which then would be promptly mailed.'' Vili VHand Garden Shop Next to Piggly Wiggly...771 STEWART AVENUE FIREWORKS FUCHSIAS Some Beauties Left - 2,49 4 29 All the Law Allows ORTIIO Insecticides and " Fertilizers Gift Sets for BABY SHOWERS J American Greeting CARDS for Every Occasion SIMPLICITY PATTERNS PAY ELECTRIC BILLS HERE! MVS ftfFKl nfiMmk k i cat lie wr.PT nefuiufl fmK Awn SKOOTiNS 6UR51ARS ALL fViWSt' GRAND OPENING North Riverside Beauty Salon & Barber Shop SAT., JUNE 29 Plan to be with ut this Sat. for your Barber & Beautician work. Servicemen AIRMAN OF MONTH Airman Second Class Gary W. Maxson, son of Mr. and Mrs. (Jury W. Muxson, 208 West Clark st., Med ford, has been selected outslniuling nlr man of the month In Ihc 808 Medical group in Mountain Home, Idaho. Maxson, an Air Force medi cal supply specialist, was cho sen for the honor In recount- Hon of his exemplary conduit and performance of duty. Free Gifts from tht Boeuty Shop for each patron FREE CIGARS CANDY plus i Big GRAND PRIZE to tech 10th Berber Patron worth 2 bucks- AN All STATION Aviation Electronics Tech nician Third Class Leon W Todd, son of Mrs. Elizabeth Lambert, Eagle Point. U scrv lug at the Naval Air station, Norfolk, V. The air station supports the t air arm of Ihc Second r'Uct ! which has commitments in the Western Atlantic and the Caribbean. We plan to Pleat each patron in our thopt ft make (hit the family Berber ft Beauty shop for this vicinity. We hope you drop In and My "howdy" whether you need barber or beauty work or not. We thank you. PLENTY OF FREE PARKING Art & Mary Jane Broyles 1238 NO. RIVERSIDE, MEDFORD WITH BAND Army He. Jack Allen Hanv i Ilton, son of Mrs. Eleanor , Hamilton, B'JB East Main st., ! Medtord, and Orvillo E. Hani' j Ilton, 310 North 10th st., Central Point, Is serving with : the 21st Army band at H j Lewis. Wash. Hamilton plays trombone : with the band, the same In I strumrnl he formerly played ! with the Crater High Jihool. j Hamilton entered the Army i In November, IBrJI, and r I rived at Ft Lewis alter at- ' tending three-months band i school In Kt. Oi-d. Calif, ; '1 KB.5.38 $f4Q fl eate llffl '' J'ast-drying.loolsclcan $074. ' 'tV '"' GAlT AL O Fr BP with water. 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