ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, November 16, 1996            TAG: 9611180063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-3  EDITION: METRO 

IN THE NATION

CIA chief booed by blacks in Watts

LOS ANGELES - A mostly black crowd booed CIA Director John Deutch on Friday at a forum where he insisted no evidence has been found to support rumors that agency operatives trafficked in cocaine on Los Angeles streets.

``Our employees do not want any Americans to believe the CIA is responsible for this kind of disgusting charge,'' Deutch said. ``The CIA fights drugs. The CIA does not encourage drugs.''

The meeting, held at a high school in Watts, degenerated into jeers and catcalls as residents angrily accused the government of covering up its knowledge of drug sales in America's inner cities in the 1980s.

- Associated Press

Briefly

* Medicare fees for primary care physicians will increase an average 5 percent next year, while payments to surgeons and other specialists will decline, federal health officials said Friday.

LENGTH: Short :   29 lines