Banner Graphic, Volume 17, Number 159, Greencastle, Putnam County, 9 March 1987 — Page 2

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THE BANNERGRAPHIC, March 9,1987

Three specific felonies cited

Charges seen in Iran-Contras case

c. 1987 N.Y. Times News Service WASHINGTON working for the special prosecutor in the Iran arms affair expect to bring indictments and are studying a broad range of criminal charges against current and former government officials, according to lawenforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation. They said the investigators were focusing on at least three specific felonies: conspiring to defraud the government, obstructing justice and making false statements to the government. The officials said the special prosecutor, Lawrence E. Walsh, and his staff had not ruled out anyone, including senior Reagan administration officials, as suspects. But they stressed that the investigation was still in a relatively early stage and that it would be irresponsible to rule out potential targets without reviewing more evidence. According to the officials, Walsh will make decisions in the next several days on granting immunity to witnesses who may shed new light on the case. The officials declined to provide any names. Walsh has already granted immunity to the secretary of Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, the former National Security Council aide who has been at the center of Walsh’s investigation. The comments of the officials, who declined to be identified, provided the most complete account so far of the work of the special prosecutor, whose formal title is independent counsel. One official said the investigation was focusing on a strong possibility of a broad criminal conspiracy involving administration officials and private individuals tied to the sale of American arms to Iran and the purported funneling of proceeds to the Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries.

Going dutch

Free needle exchange for addicts in Netherlands

c. 1987 N.Y. Times News Service AMSTERDAM Parked next to a canal not far from the famed Rijksmuseum here is a burgundy bus equipped with a condom dispensing machine as well as trays of small plastic vials containing Methadone, the heroin substitute used in the treatment of drug addiction, and hundreds of syringes intended for people who have not overcome the habit. The bus is designed in part to distribute Methadone, but also to enable heroin addicts who refuse to give up the drug to exchange their used syringes for new ones in order to avoid being infected by AIDS. The use of contaminated needles is generally thought to be a major factor in the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The free exchange of needles, which began in the Netherlands two years ago in an effort to stop hepatitis B infections among drug addicts, is likely to become common elsewhere in Europe, as several nations are preparing to follow the

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LAWRENCE WALSH No one ruled out

“Conspiracy is offering a framework for the investigation,” said the official, who, like others interviewed, spoke on condition he not be named. The law-enforcement officials said investigators had become increasingly convinced that crimes had been committed and that some individuals made attempts to cover up facts in the case. While obstruction of justice is usually a difficult crime to prove, one official said the cover-up “may have been comically obvious here,” making obstruction charges a distinct possibility. “My advice is that you not rule anything out,” he said. Law-enforcement officials would not offer a timetable for indictments; last week, one of Walsh’s chief deputies, Guy Miller Struve, indicated in a court appearance that the grand jury in the case was still sifting through evidence and was not close to considering indictments. But the officials said Walsh’s investigation was being expedited

Dutch model. Yet, the free exchange of syringes for drug addicts also represents a difficult moral and political choice in Europe, as in the United States, where no such programs exist despite the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic. For many West European health officials, common sense and logic indicate that making safe hypodermic needles available will reduce the risk of infection among drug addicts. The concern is fueled by statistics. In Italy, more than half of the 100,000 drug addicts are thought to be infected by the AIDS virus. In France, which has recently permitted free exchange of syringes in drug stores, the incidence of infection is estimated at 30 percent. Yet, the choice is made difficult by the existence of contrary or uncertain evidence, some of which indicates that, the exchange of needles is not effective in stopping the spread of AIDS among drug addicts, while it does bear the risk of increasing drug addiction itself.

nPUTHAMjNH 1 ” "yOURINVITATIQN Dinner \ Regular Daily Menu available also. |Don’t forget Tues. Night is Mystery Menul|

because of congressional plans to grant limited immunity to several people also being investigated by Walsh. When Congress grants immunity to witnesses in exchange for their testimony, prosecutors are generally barred from using that testimony and any leads it produces in seeking criminal charges. That makes it important for Walsh to have as much evidence in hand as possible before immunity is granted. Among those who may receive congressional immunity are North and Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, the former national security adviser. In an interview last week, Walsh declined to discuss most details of his investigation and was cautious in discussing information already publicly known. But he acknowledged that he was uncomfortable with the time pressures placed on his inquiry. “If it weren’t for extraneous circumstances, we would take our time in these prosecutions and do a very careful approach as to all sides,” he said, adding that he understood the need of Congress to act quickly on immunity and legislation. “It’s important for them to do it while the public interest is still aroused, and I understand their needs,” he said. “But it does put us in a bit of a hole because we have to act more quickly than we would like to.” Walsh said he had made extensive efforts to compromise with Congress and was meeting once a week with lawyers for the House and Senate investigating committees. “I really hope there will not be a battle, and I do not think there will be, partly because we diffuse all of these problems in these weekly meetings,” he said. “We’re very frank with each other, and I think there’s a mutual confidence.” He also noted that an agreement

The debate is particularly sharp in Switzerland, where, after months of argument, pharmacies were given permission by the government late last year to sell syringes to anyone who wanted to buy one. “Our teams of volunteers know that free syringes help to slow down the rate of infection,” Roger Staub, the head of a private group that helps AIDS victims, said. “I am sure of this. Our policy is that every addict should have his own syringe.” The chief medical officer of Zurich, Gonzague S. Kistler, opposed the new regulation. “I don’t believe that it will change drug addicts’ behavior very much,” he said. “And so, for me, to give out freely an instrument absolutely necessary for suicidal behavior poses ethical problems, especially when you know that the effect is rather questionable.” “At the moment of use, the addict doesn’t go to the pharmacy to get a new needle,” he went on. “He wants paradise and he wants it now.”

Crewman blames self for open doors

ZEEBRUGGE, Belgium (AP) Salvage experts began efforts to raise the half-sunken ferry Herald of Free Enterprise so 82 bodies believed trapped inside can be retrieved, while weeping relatives identified 22 of 53 bodies already recovered. The Dutch company Smit Tak of Rotterdam on Sunday sent two salvage ships with giant cranes to the British ferry lying on its side on a sandbar about 1,000 yards offshore. Crews began work in near-freezing temperatures to attach steel cables to the orange and white hull. The task likely will take several

Greensburg buildings must be razed: Expert

GREENSBURG, Ind. (AP) Three buildings damaged when a downtown roof collapsed are beyond repair and must be demolished, a Ball State University architect has concluded. Muncie architect J. Robert Taylor, who also teaches at Ball State, said Sunday that two other buildings damaged during the collapse can be repaired. A 30-year-old woman was killed Friday when the roof and walls of the adjacent Elks Lodge fell on her downtown bridal shop. Three other people, including the woman’s fiance, were injured. Officials found the body of Gina A. Herbert Saturday under nearly 25

reached several days ago by his staff and the House investigating committee would give lawmakers access to prosecution documents dated before last Dec. 4. It was on that day that the Justice Department requested the special prosecutor. Earlier Walsh urged the department to withhold a number of prosecution documents requested by Congress and to forward the requests to his office, a move that had worried lawmakers. Robert J. Havel, a spokesman for the House panel, said the compromise with Walsh was “agreeable to us.” “I’ve tried to avoid anything that could be distorted to our disadvantage,” he said. Other federal law-enforcement officials said the criminal charges now being considered by Walsh’s staff included these: —Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States, which occurs when there is a conspiracy to commit “any offense against the United States or to defraud the United States or any agency thereof.” The maximum penalty is a prison term of five years and a SIO,OOO fine. —Making false statements, which occurs when someone “makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations” in any matter “within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States.” The crime is much like perjury, except it does not require that the suspect be under oath when the false statements are made. The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a SIO,OOO fine. —Perjury. The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $2,000 fine. Obstruction of justice is a broad term that encompasses several federal crimes, including destroying or altering evidence needed in a criminal investigation.

Imagine that 3,200-yr.-old fragrance BEIJING (AP) - Archaeologists excavating a 3,200-year-old tomb have found a bronze jar containing what may be the world’s oldest wine, a state-run newspaper said today. The English-language China Daily said the wine predates Roman wine discovered in a shipwreck in the Mediterranean and previously considered the world’s oldest vintage. A gourd-shaped jar containing the wine was found in a tomb in Luoshan county in Henan province, the report said. Chemists at Beijing University drilled two holes in the bottom of the jar to extract the liquid. It quoted Li Zhuming of the university’s Chemistry Department as saying the wine’s alcohol content had diminished considerably and tests were needed to determine whether it was made from grain or fruit.

weeks, said Raymond Nossent, a spokesman for the ferry owner Townsend Thoresen. Work was suspended at sunset Sunday and expected to resume this morning. The 7,951-ton ferry rolled onto its left side just after leaving the small port of Zeebrugge on Friday night when massive amounts of water surged into the haeee headed for Dover, England. Relatives of passengers went Sunday to a makeshift morgue in a basketball court to identify the 53 bodies recovered so far. Names and nationalities of the 22 identified by Sunday evening were not released.

feet of rubble in Gina Ann’s The Wedding Place, the bridal shop she had opened in January. It was directly west of the lodge. Both buildings, which stood on the north side of the town square, cannot be repaired, Mayor Sheldon Smith said. In addition, Taylor recommended the demolition of a two-story building that housed apartments and a former doctor’s office on the east side of the lodge. Two other buildings, one housing a jewelry shop and another with a small store, can be repaired, Smith said. Friends and associates recalled Ms. Herbert as a newcomer to

world

Abshire certain Reagan knew of no Contra money

By MERRILL HARTSON Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) President Reagan’s adviser on the Iran-Contra affair says he’s convinced the president never was told that Nicaraguan rebels were benefiting from the secret U.S. arms sale to Tehran. Retired NATO Ambassador David M. Abshire denied a published account Sunday that Reagan, according to a line of defense once weighed by former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, was told on two occasions by Poindexter in 1986 that the Contra rebels got “an ancillary benefit” from the arms sales. “There is one Ronald Reagan, he’s deeply honest, he’s deeply dedicated, and he tells the truth,” Abshire said on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.” “And when he says he has no knowledge, he has no knowledge.” Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and Sen. Bob Dole, the Republican leader, said on ABCTV’s “This Week With David Brinkley” that if Reagan knew about a diversion, it could have serious consequences. Byrd said it would be “a shattering blow,” but “I prefer not to go beyond that until we do know.” Dole said “it would shake it up a bit, but I don’t think we need to be paranoid about that ... to try to speculate now what would happen I don’t think would serve anyone’s interest.” Poindexter did not tell Reagan about an illegal diversion of money, The Washington Post said Sunday, citing an unidentified legal source. But the Post, citing “a source close to the president,” said the White House anticipates that Poindexter, if granted some immunity to testify before congressional investigators, would tell lawmakers “he had direction and authority, directly or indirectly” from Reagan, to act in the president’s behalf. Reagan, returning to the White House on Sunday from a weekend at Camp David, Md., brushed aside reporters’ questions about Poindexter and any testimony the former aide might give to Congress. “I’m not going to take any questions,” Reagan said. Richard Beckler, Poindexter’s attorney, declined comment when reached by telephone late Saturday. Poindexter, in previous appearances before House and Senate in-

Of the 543 passengers and crew aboard the Herald of Free Enterprise, 408 survived. The 82 missing are believed dead, putting the likely death toll at 135 and making it the worst ferry accident in the area in modern times. British and Belgian investigations into the cause of the disaster have just begun, but speculation has focused on the theory that water entered through loading doors in the bow, sloshed to the port side and tilted the boat over. A London newspaper, the News of the World, said a member of the crew, 28-year-old boatswain Marc

Greensburg, but one who had become involved very quickly in community affairs. Debbie Asche, manager of the Koffee Kup Restaurqjit and president of the Greensburg Retail Merchants Association, said the petite, spunky woman had worked since last Thanksgiving to get the shop ready for opening to open in late January. She said Ms. Herbert, a divorced mother of two sons, had just celebrated her 30th birthday last month and talked of marrying Dwight Wilson, 45, later this year and possibly moving from Metamora to Greensburg. “She saw the need for a business like that, and she was doing great,”

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DAVID ABSHIRE Believes president vestigators, has invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

Reagan has said he was unaware of any diversion of arms sales proceeds to the Contras, and the president’s position on tha question has been backed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, in its report of Jan. 29, and the Tower commission, in its report of Feb. 26. Both reports concluded there was no evidence Reagan knew of the money transfer. In other developments: —lnvestigators working for the special prosecutor examining the Iran arms deal expect to bring indictments and are studying criminal charges against current and former government officials, The New York Times reported in today’s editions. The newspaper cited unidentified law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation as saying investigators are focusing on at least three felonies: conspiring to defraud the government, obstructing justice and making false statements to the government. The officials said special prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh and his staff had not ruled out anyone, including senior Reagan administration officials, as suspects, according to the Times. The officials declined to provide names. Several weeks ago, Reagan urged members of Congress to grant limited immunity to Poindexter and former aide Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, to compel their testimony on the ar-ms-to-Iran affair and the possible diversions to the Contras.

Stanley, believed he left the doors open and was blaming himself. A company spokesman, Paul Ellis, confirmed that Stanley was “in a state of emotional shock” and “blaming himself.” Ellis said the company has ordered its ferry captains to personally supervise the closing of doors before their voyages begin. Ellis said the directive was “a commonsense measure, since the open door is a theory we can do something about.” In the past, loading doors often have been left open in the initial moments of departure to allow ventilation of exha last fumes.

Ms. Asche said. “She took a chance, and went for it.” Ironically, the roof collapsed at 5:35 p.m., about the same time the Elk’s Club trustees were voting elsewhere in Greensburg to close down the century-old three-story building because of structural defects. But before the trustees could get back to close the building, as recommended by contractors, they learned of the accident. Smith said the Elks building and other old adjoining buildings along the town square receive routine fire inspections. But unlike other counties, Decatur County does not have an inspector.