TWO ACCUSED IN CITY HALL DRUG RING

GARY, Ind. (AP) -- The city's chief computer programmer and its
payroll clerk ran a $1,000-a-day cocaine business, even taking calls
in City Hall, authorities alleged.

FBI agents arrested Arthur L. Harris, 46, and Karen Laverne Shivers,
41, at their apartment Monday and said they seized five ounces of
cocaine, six ounces of crack cocaine and $6,000.

Federal agents said they taped three telephone conversations in which
Harris, speaking from a phone in City Hall, arranged to sell crack.
Harris, the computer programmer, was charged with distributing and
possessing cocaine, and maintaining a crack house. Shivers, the
payroll clerk, was accused of maintaining a crack house.

Both were suspended from their jobs, and hearings were planned to
determine if they would be fired.

``This is tragic ... to have a couple of bad apples here. It just
really makes it tough on the city,'' Mayor Scott King said.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry