WhiteBoard News for July 27, 1994

This item comes from Steve Hastings:

Seattle, Washington:

Date: 4-3-86. Day: Thurs. State-County-City: Texas-
Collin-Plano. Location: First Tx. Savings. Net Catch:
$8,500.

And so it went through all 56 entries in a meticulous
handwritten log kept by one of the most successful bank
robbers in U.S. history, the FBI says.

According to court documents, Johnny Madison Williams Jr.
has confessed to robbing 56 banks in Texas, California
and Washington state over eight years, often with the
help of his wife. He was arrested last Saturday.

The man the FBI dubbed The Shootist -- for his habit of
firing shots into the air at the start of his thefts --
once got $43,500 for a day's work. Sometimes he left
empty-handed. His total take, as recorded on the neatly
printed two-page log that agents found among his
belongings: $879,357.

Williams' arrest ends the longest unsolved string of
bank robberies ever investigated by the FBI, said
Roberta Burroughs, an agency spokeswoman in Seattle.

"He is by far the most calculating and surgical bank
robber in the past second half of the 20th century,"
said Officer Louis Quezada, spokesman for the police
department in San Jose, California, where the Shootist
struck three times.

Williams and his wife, Carolyn, both 43, are charged
with four counts of bank robbery and one count of use
of a firearm during a crime of violence. All the
charges are in connection with four holdups in
Washington state.

The couple was jailed pending a hearing Thursday. They
face up to 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on
each bank robbery count.

Federal investigators would provide little background
on Williams and his wife.

What they did say: Williams was born in Waukegan, Ill.,
lived for a time in Texas, had a home in Los Osos,
Calif., and once worked as a data processor. Mrs.
Williams was born in Dallas and drove a 1987 Sterling
sedan with Washington plates. They married 14 years ago.

They were arrested at a suburban Seattle motel
following anonymous tips stemming from a story about
Williams on a San Diego TV news program.

The FBI says Williams did the dirty work: Donning the
disguise, leaping over the counter, confronting the
teller and demanding money after firing his handgun
into the ceiling once or twice. She drove the getaway
car while he hid in the trunk, the FBI says.

Most of the robberies were on Fridays -- sometimes two
months apart, sometimes two in one day.

"One of problems in locating him was because of the
method he used," Burroughs said. "Entering a bank and
firing shots in the ceiling made it difficult for
people inside to give good description because most of
them were scared to death and probably attempted not to
make eye contact with him."

According to the Shootist's log, the first holdups were
in 1986 in Texas and California, and they spread to
Washington state in 1991. The most recent robbery was
July 1 at a bank in Kirkland, east of Seattle, where
more than $11,000 was stolen.

FBI agents wouldn't comment on a motive, but said the
Williamses were not typical bank robbers.

"Normally what you see by and large are people that
have either a drug or alcohol problem. Bank robberies
tend to be more crimes of opportunity rather than
something extremely planned out," said FBI spokesman
Dick Thurston in Seattle.

He refused to characterize the pair as a modern-day
Bonnie and Clyde.  "I certainly wouldn't want anybody
to romanticize this type of offense," Thurston said.
"To do that would be sending the wrong message."
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Washington, District of Columbia:

Referring to a Virginia Tax Review article, "Tax
Myopia, Or Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be
Tax Lawyers," Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary
Cynthia Gibson Beerbower quips: "I am more worried
about tax lawyers growing up to be babies."
==========

London, England:

You yearn to express your untamed, "modern primitive"
soul, but worry that Dad will cut off the credit card if
you get a tattoo?  Try the latest technique: Luminescent
Pigment Tattooing, which can give you a skin illustration
that's invisible by regular light, but glows vividly in
the ultraviolet lights of a nightclub.

LPT was popularized in London, where it's often seen
under the black lights at giant parties called raves.
San Francisco's Tattoo City is one of the first U.S.
parlors to offer LPT.

Beyond shy clients, artists say the UV-sensitive
pigments -- billed to be as safe as regular tattoo dyes
-- have found favor among tattoo aficionados, who use
the UV-sensitive pigments to enhance elements of their
tattoos -- such as the fire from a dragon's mouth.
==========

Moscow, Idaho:

A former University of Idaho student who crashed
through a third-story dorm window while "mooning"
friends on the ground is seeking $940,000 in damages
from the school.

Jason Wilkins and his parents, of San Jose, California,
filed the claim last week, contending the university
was negligent.

The accident occurred January 22 in a university
dormitory.  Wilkins climbed on top of a heater, dropped
his pants, leaned against a window and fell through,
according to police.

Wilkins suffered back injuries, cuts on his limbs and
deeply bruised buttocks in the fall, the claim said.

The claim contends the university was negligent in
failing to warn dorm residents of the danger of upper-
story windows, to provide a reasonably safe residence
environment and to properly supervise residents.
==========

Warsaw, Poland:

A jumbo-sized poisonous plant bred in the Soviet Union
and brought to Poland in the 1970s is spreading like
wildfire across the country, stinging people badly in
what the media calls "Stalin's Revenge."

Towering up to 13 feet tall with leaves the size of
open umbrellas, the plant was concocted during
biological experiments in Kazakhstan, under Stalin.

It was supposed to be used as cattle feed.  Cows fed
with it did produce richer milk, but it also turned out
to be bitter.

In the worst cases of stinging, victims have been scarred.
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