Gary In

As the nation impatiently waited Tuesday for primary results from Indiana's Lake County -- and the city of Gary in particular -- Hoosiers had a sinking feeling. Once again, Gary was going to be the butt of a joke. Brian Howey, a syndicated political columnist in Indianapolis, watched the news broadcasts until 3 a.m. with a growing sense of dread. Cynthia Solomon, a retired accountant from Fort Wayne, buried her head in her pillow and groaned.

The most dangerous U.S. city for crime is Gary, Ind., whereas Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo in New York, was ranked safest for a third year in a row, based on 1997 statistics, a publisher said. The Morgan Quitno Press in Lawrence, Kan., ranked cities of more than 75,000 people by six crime criteria, which showed the next safest were: Newton, Mass.; Greece, N.Y.; Thousand Oaks, Calif.; and Clarkstown, N.Y.. The statistics are compiled annually by the FBI.