Friday, October 4, 1985
Pago 2
Daily Nebraskan
New
est
Rv The Associated Press
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Woman, son tell of
71
(LP1
7 W t J
BATTLE CREEK A 14-year-old Nor
folk boy told an audience at a high
school that he was part of a cult that
sacrificed animals and "cast spells and
curses."
Wayne Bloomquist said he was in
volved with a group of Satan worshipers
who met at night near lakes and
bridges and in a cemetery, Bloomquist
said 100 to 150 peoole from the Norfolk,
Madison and Pierc e area make up the
cult. Most are mali, he said.
Advance word of Wednesday's pres
entation by Bloomquist and his mother,
Anita, was spread through church bul
letins, said Del Fuelberth, Battle Creek
superintendent of schools. Clergy,
teachers and school officials from the
area made up the audience of 150 to
200 people. No students were present.
"I want to visit with the rest of the
community people and see if this is
something we want to put before the
kids," Fuelberth told the Norfolk Daily
News after listening to the Bloom
quists. "I guess I'm still dubious."
When asked Thursday about the
presentation, Madison County Sheriff
Vern Hjroth said "there's no basis for it
whatsoever." Hjorth said he knew of no
reports of satanic cult activities, but
ttle Creek siresi
said the sheriffs department and Nor
folk police would Investigate claims
made by the Bloomquists.
Bloomquist said satanic groups in
the area have names such as the scor
pions, the Devils and the Warlords. The
youth said worship and black magic by
the groups included a "communion"
where members cut themselves and
draw enough blood for each to drink.
Cats, dogs and cattle were sacrificed,
he said.
1 hope the beast in
side me does not
make me kill my
mom, my dad, my
brother and my sister
"We tried to raise spirits, like a
seance, and cast spells and curses," he
said.
Bloomquist said he is no longer
involved with the group. Mrs. Bloom
quist said her son was exorcised by a
student at Nebraska Christian College
in Norfolk and another man.
Bloomquist said his duty with the
cult was to recruit young people. One
tactic was pretending to have car trou
ble on a country road, then trying to
lure youngsters who would stop by tell
ing them to come to a party. He said
members stole from family and friends
and would "rob places" to raise money.
Mrs. Bloomquist said she became
concerned when she found a copy of
the Lord's Prayer while cleaning her
son's bedroom that had its last line
altered to read, "I hope the beast
inside me does not make me kill my
mom, my dad, my brother and my
sister."
Mrs. Bloomquist said she became
frightened when she walked into
Wayne's empty room one morning, heard
a scratching sound and saw a picture of
Christ on the wall that was spattered
with a red substance. The room was
then padlocked, but "these things still
continued," she said.
Asked by someone in the audience if
she feared retribution from a cult mem
ber for telling her story, Mrs. Bloom
quist replied: "Emotionally, you are not
scared because you know you have
Christ behind you."
Court holds handgun makers,
sellers liable in criminal attacks
ANNAPOLIS, Md. People who make
or sell small, cheap handguns should
know they are used mainly by criminals
and therefore can be sued by victims
shot in criminal attacks with the so
called Saturday Night Specials, Mary
land's highest court ruled Thursday.
The unanimous Court of Appeals
decision was the first in the nation to
hold that the manufacturer or marke
ter of a handgun is liable for damages
simply because the weapon is eventu
ally used by a criminal to wound or kill.
The decision was hailed by gun foes
as a major victory in their protracted
battle to halt the sale of handguns in
the United States. But National Rifle
Association spokesman Dave Warner
called the ruling a "very bad decision"
that could deny a cheap self-defense
weapon to people who can't afford
expensive guns to protect themselves
and their homes.
The ruling applies only to Saturday
Night Specials and not to better qual
ity, more expensive handguns. It also
applies only in Maryland, although
spokesmen on both sides of the gun
control issue said it could influence
rulings in similar cases in other states.
The liability question reached the
Court of Appeals in a case filed by Olen
J. Kelley of Silver Spring, who was shot
in a 1981 holdup of a supermarket in
the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Kelley, who recovered from wounds
in the chest and shoulder, sued Rolm
Gesellschaft, a West German firm that
designed and marketed the weapon
that was used to shoot him.
Before considering Kelley's lawsuit,
the U.S. District Court in Baltimore
asked the state court for a ruling on
whether the manufacturer could be
held liable under Maryland law.
The 7-0 state opinion by Judge John
C. Eldridge said that because of "cheap
quality materials, poor manufacture,
inaccuracy and unreliability," Satur
day Night Specials are "virtually use
less for the legitimate purposes of law
enforcement, sport and protection of
persons, property and businesses."
The court said "the manufacturer or
marketer of a Saturday Night Special
knows or ought to know that he is mak
ing or selling a product principally to
be used in criminal activity."
Josh Sugarman, a spokesman for the
National Coalition to Ban Handguns,
said the ruling creates "a whole new
ball game foi us" in trying to stop the
production of handguns and trying "to
force manufacturers. . .to pay the price
of the havoc they are wreaking in this
country."
Howard Siegel, Kelley's lawyer, said
the ruling is an especially strong one
because it requires a person bringing a
suit to prove only that he was shot dur
ing a criminal act and that the weapon
was a Saturday Night Special. At that
point, there is automatic liability for
the maker, distributor and retailer of
the weapon, he said.
Siegel said he thinks the ruling
could eventually halt the production
and sale of Saturday Night Specials.
FBI study s drug connection in crash
ATLANTA An airplane owner who
died in a crash with 15 fellow parachu
tists was an "acquaintance" of a par
achutist who plunged to his death in
Tennessee last month while carrying a
fortune in cocaine, the FBI said
Thursday.
"How well acquainted they were, we
do not know at this time," FBI agent Ed
Home said of David L. Williams, 35, of
Atlanta, who died in his plane Sunday,
and Andrew C. Thornton of Lexington,
Ky.
Williams' plane had been grounded
two days before the crash because of
fuel contamination, and after the crash
sugar was found in its fuel, investiga
tors said.
Thornton, 40, fell to his death in
Knoxville, Tenn., when his main para
chute failed to open and his reserve
parachute didn't open properly. A duf
fel bag loaded with 75 pounds of
cocaine, worth about $20 million, was
strapped to his waist.
In his pocket was a key bearing the
serial number of a plane that crashed
the same night 60 miles south of Knox
ville, apparently on autopilot and with
no one on board.
Shortly after Thornton's death,
authorities found a parachute and three
duffel bags of cocaine hanging from a
tree in Fannin County, Ga., near the
Tennessee border.
This week, Butts County, Ga.,
authorities found a bag containing
clothes, maps and books in a pond near
the field where Williams' plane took off
before crashing.
"In one of the books, it had the
number on the wing, the fuselage, of
the plane Thornton supposedly was in
written over the diagram of one of the
planes," Butts County Sheriff Billy
Leverette said Thursday.
eWSBTiaKerS A roundup of the day's haPPenings
Italy's Communist Party newspaper L'Unita began
printing capitalist stock prices for the first time since its
founding in 1924. Milan stock exchange closing prices
were published this week in response to letters from
hundreds of readers.
A Boston Man has been fined for yelling racial slurs
in a restaurant in what the prosecutor believes is the first
conviction of a restaurant customer under a 1984 state
law. Kenneth J. Tobin, 23, was convicted by a six-member
Dedham District court jury of discrimination and disor
derly conduct in 1984 in a Dedham restaurant. He was
fined $250 and placed on one-year probation.
At least 6,928 accidents involving toxic chemicals
have occurred in the United States since 1980, killing 135
people and injuring nearly 1,500 others, according to a
federal EPA study. The report found that about five acci
dents occur each day involving the release of toxic gases.
Causes of the accidents ranged from human error to valve
problems and failure in storage tank pressure.
Telling his fans, "This has been the greatest year of
my life," blue-collar rocker Bruce Springsteen ended a
15-month world tour that brought his music to 5 million
people. During his Los Angeles concert, Springsteen, 36,
talked about his politics and encouraged his audience to
donate money to his favorite local food bank charity and
danced tenderly on stage with his wife, model Julianne
Phillips, ending the encounter with a long kiss.
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