Page 2-Tuesday, May 18, 1982-The Michigan Daily
Massive search
ends in capture
ofPolishbandit
WARSAW, Poland (UPI) - A Robin
Hood-type bandit .wanted for murder
and terrorizing local officials was
wounded and captured by police who
tracked him down in one of Poland's
most massive manhunts in years, of-
ficials said yesterday.
Newspaper accounts said the bandit,
identified only as Jozef K., was shot in
the arm and head during a weekend
police operation that included crack
"Tiger Brigade" commandos, dogs, a
helicopter and two armored cars.
An accomplice was also captured,
the newspapers said.
"IT WAS the biggest such operation
in post-war Poland" a police
spokesman said.
An official source said Jozef K., who
hid in the forest east of Warsaw for 18
months recovered consciousness in a
hospital and will eventually be able to
stand trial.
The drastic manhunt ended a
decades-long career of crime.
SZTANDAR Mlodych newspaper said
Jozef K., born in 1934, spent 17 years
behind bars, jailed six separate times
for offenses dating back to his army
desertion.
He was released on parole in Septem-
ber 1979, but two months later attacked
a village administrator ina small town.
In October 1980, the newspaper said, he
shot and killed a railway guard and
escaped into the forest 100 miles
southeast of Warsaw.
The official Communist Party daily
Trybuna Ludu said some 70 people took*
part in the final operation, guided by a
special task force.
"OFFICERS and rank-and-file
policemen worked for several weeks
nonstop," said Sztandar Mlodych in a
graphic description. "They set traps,
resorted to cunning methods - to no
avail.
On May 14, they learned the suspect
was in the forest near the village of
Drocowka. They launched a quick ac-
tion. Urgently alerted, special com-
mandos from the Tiger Brigade came
from Warsaw.
"The forest was surrounded so that
no one could leave it. Snipers and
police with two armored cars stood by.
Six guards with dogs entered the forest
with commandos in bulletproof vests.
Overhead, a chopper with a special
crew was flying." The bandit was
finally captured.
Brybuna Ludu said Jozef K. "tried to
create around him the aura of a gentle
offender who stole only that which was
not private property," namedly state-
owned material.
Today
The weather
Expect a typical humid Ann Arbor summer day with variable cloudiness,
a high in the 80s, and a chance of afternoon thundershowers. O
Two old friends
PRESIDENT REAGAN has sent "best wishes" to a Texas bear he
posed with while campaigning in the Lone Star State in 1980. Reagan
responded to a letter from Abner the bear, a former Baylor University
mascot who now lives at Texas Safari Ranch, which is a drive-through
animal park in Clifton, Texas. Mick Cloer, the park's public relations direc-
tor, composed the letter, addressed "Dear Dutch." He sent along two copies
of a photograph showing Reagan with his hand on Abner's head, taken at the
Waco airport in April 1980. "There was a consensus... that I was 'too old'
to continue my services for Baylor.. . some even claimed that I used a hair
coloring to preserve my youthful appearance," Abner's letter said. The let-
ter was signed with a paw print. Reagan's reply, addressed to Cloer, said,
"Thank you for your letter and my very first message from a bear ... Ab-
ner covered quite a bit of territory in his day and obviously deserves a restful
retirement."o
Happenings
Films
CFT- Love and Death, 4, 7:30 p.m.; Annie Hall, 5:45, 9:15 p.m.,
Michigan Theatre.
Miscellaneous
Ann Arbor Lunch and Learn - University Chief Finacnial Officer James
Brinkerhoff, "The University of the Future," noon, Campus Inn.
Rudolph Steiner Inst. - E. Katz, "Christ and Karma," 8-10 p.m., 1923
Geddes Ave.
Museum of Art-Art Break with Barbara Krause, "Leonardo's Return to
Vinci,, 12:10 -12:30 p.m., Art Museum.
Botticelli Game Players - noon, Dominick's.
CEW- informal drop-in, 12 -1:30 p.m., Center Library.
Ann Arbor Go Club -7 -11 p.m., 1433 Mason Hall.
Extension Service - North American Bethological Society, noon,
Michigan League.
To submit items for the Happenings Column, send them in care of
Happenings, The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI. 48109.
The Michigan Daily,
Mother charged with-
trying to hire killer
SPOKANE, Wash. (UPI) - A mother
accused of trying to hire a killer to mur-
der the prosecutor and judge who sent
her rapist son to prison for life, knew
what she was doing, the prosecutor
argued Monday.
Ruth Coe's defense lawyer claimed
however, the Spokane woman was suf-
fering from depression and was on
medication at the time and that police
entrapped her into offering $500 to an
undercover officer posing as a hit man.
OPENING arguments at the trial of
Coe, wife of a former newspaper
managing editor and the mother of
Spokane "South Hill rapist" Fred Coe,
35, centered on her mental capabilities
at the time she was allegedly trying to
hire a professional killer.
Coe, 61, is accused of trying to kill
Spokane County Prosecutor Donald
Brockett and Sueprior Court Judge
George Shields.
Special prosecutor Mary Kay Bar-
bieri told visiting Judge Robert County,
who is hearing the case without a jury
at the defendant's request, that Coe had
her "wits about her" when she attem-
pted to hire an undercover agent posing
ass hit man.
ACCORDING to Barbieri, Coe told
the agent, "if I had my druthers, I'd
like to have Brockett made a vegetable
... and have his diapers changed for as
long as Fred's in jail."
Barbieri said the defendant also told
the hit man "killing him will be good
enough."
Defense attorney Carl Maxey argued
his client has become a person of
diminished mental capability and was
entrapped by police at a time when she
was "at the peak of her anxiety - she
had no defenses."
MAXEY SAID there was not
specific or general intent by Coe to
arrange a murder-for-hire and the
evidence would show police set up con-
tacts with her.
Evidence would show, Maxey said,
Coe had become a manic depressive,
had threatened suicide at times and
was taking large amounts of
medication.
He said the conviction of her only
son, the death of a best friend, being
"scorned in the community," plus the
drugs she was taking acted together to
put her in an extremely vulnerable
position.
Vol. XCII, No.10-S
Tuesday, April18, 1982
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