thursday, October 5, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 5
oped
Marine recruitingscandal taints 'few good men' image
The Marine Corps proudly proclaims
that it wants "a few good men" to join
the ranks. But we have gathered evidence
that Marine recruiters have been employ
ing unsavory and illegal tactics. As a result,
the Marines are stuck with thousands of
unfit recruits.
Some of them had stand-ins take their
intelligence and physical exams for them.
Others were admitted after the recruiters
had falsified their school and criminal
records.
Officially, the Marine brass claim the
problem is not serious. They blame it on
a few recruiters. But Senate investigators
see it differently. They have heard the
horror stories of recruiters who claim they
were bullied and threatened into increasing
their enlistment quotas.
jack anderson
One former Marine recruiter told of
receiving threatening calls in the middle of
the night. Another recruiter told us he had
never met an honest recruiter in the four
years he had been signing up men.
The recruiters who have been brave
enough to blow the whistle have been
rewarded with ugly threats, menial jobs
and ruined careers. The Marine Corps
meanwhile, is desperately trying to keep a
lid on the exploding scandal. But the con
gressional investigators intend to blow the
lid wide open.
Festival Frauds: Fairs and carnivals have
long been a part of the American scene.
But behind the cotton candy, kewpie dolls
and amusement rides, there is a sordid side
to the carnival business.
The traveling shows are often conduits
for stolen goods and narcotics. Some of the
rides are unsafe. But the most widespread
vice is gambling.
Those games of skill on the midway
are often fronts for multimillion dollar
gambling operations. The con men who
run the games can change the stakes from
stuffed animals to cash at the throw of a
dart.
The games, of course, are rigged. The
unsuspecting victims are fleeced. One game
alone has been known to clean up $95,000
in a night. The take is seldom reported to
the Internal Revenue Service.
It is the responsibility of the local
police to investigate the seedy carnival
operators and arrest the offenders. But
this seldom happens. Now we're be
ginning to learn the reason.
Apparently the carnival operators are
generous in handing out gifts and cash to
city officials. In Cleveland, for example, ;
grand jury is considering charges against
some city councilmen who allegedly
accepted cash payments to allow illega
gambling at the carnivals.
There have been similar investigation;,
in other cities. In Atlanta, the FBI is
investigating the connection of city
officials to carnival gambling. The evidence
was gathered by an FBI informant who
posed as an operator of the gambling
games.
The informant, Gene Sorrels, called on
city officials. They were unaware that he
had a microphone in the heel of his shoe,
with FBI agents nearby, taping every word.
A transcript reveals that one high offi
cial was supposed to be paid $39,000 os
tensibly to provide security at the carnival.
But he promised on the tape that the 10
officers who policed the carnival would
make no gambling arrests.
The pious voice of a civil rights activist
was also recorded. He promised to use his
influence to protect the carnival in ex
change for cash.
A city councilman is also heard on the
tapes asking for 20 percent of the take for
letting gambling games operate. The coun
cilman also offered to arrange a liquor
license if the carnival operator wanted to
open a bar.
$12.50 per copy.
Under the Dome: Thanks to taxpayers,
U.S. congressmen are able to live like
royalty. They get free medical treatment,
low cost meals, cut-rate haircuts and a
whole host of little extras that average
Americans can't afford.
Now they have given themselves a gift
they can share with their constituents. It's
an expensive, hard-cover picture book
called Art in the United States Capitol
Each representative will receive 50 free
copies to pass out; each senator will get
100. Ordinary citizens can purchase copies
from the Government Printing Office at
Outer Space: U.S. lawmakers do not
seem too excited about the possibility of
life on other planets. They recently slashed
$2 million from the federal budget that
would have financed new efforts to finding
creatures living in out., space. The project
was scuttled after Capitol Hill's resident
efficiency expert, Sen. William Proxmire,
D-Wis., selected it for his "Golden Fleece"
award.
Campus spies: Harvard University is at
loggerheads with the CIA over the agency's
"infiltration" of the nation's oldest
campus. Harvard officials don't want the
CIA to engage in any covert recruiting,
and the agency is insisting it can recruit
in any manner it pleases. The college
authorities are hoping that Congress will
step in and legislate an answer to the
dilemma.
PREPARATION FOR
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