Banner Graphic, Volume 17, Number 213, Greencastle, Putnam County, 11 May 1987 — Page 2

A2

THE BANNERGRAPHIC May 11.1987

Is Hart's loss Reagan's gain?

c. 1987 N.Y. Times News Service WASHINGTON The Republican political strategist allowed himself a full-throated laugh. “I don’t mind sharing the headlines with Gary Hart for the next week or so,” he said, bellowing. Normally, White House officials dig and scratch for every inch‘or minute of publicity, but last week they could not contain their smug delight. Just as the Iran-contra hearings began on Capitol Hill, the troubles of Hart, culminating in his withdrawal from the 1988 Democratic presidential race, commanded the attention of the capital and the nation and blurred the impact of an event that holds new dangers for the Reagan administration. ‘‘l can’t deny that it has been a great media diversion,” said Marlin Fitzwater, President Reagan’s spokesman, unable to suppress a broadening grin. But White House officials also know that this distraction will not last for long. As he answered endless questions from reporters all week, Fitzwater’s sighs grew deeper and longer. The president’s advisers were feeling “a kind of resignation,” he said, and preparing for at least three months of charges and countercharges whistling past the Oval Office on a daily basis. In the first week of hearings, these officials evolved a defensive strategy that tries to convey an image of a White House that is conducting “business as usual.” The president, never particularly known for his heavy workload, has been meeting and traveling and speaking at something approaching a hectic pace.

FINAL 2 WEEKS S

Get it together j with l Watchers. I til Ift JOIN NOW FOR ONLY sh iS7.OOJ oks^raaßßaasp !?r\'f'.S)CS v v. , '.«. i : :, '-'' >W ~y\%-V*y rrrv ivv' 1, - r ' »..'■.'' ' | •Y'f w ‘ ■ ■>,. A y7 ? ».waSwMl I Hp :i ' •' ,• \ v-'-Y».«Wfc if BF : •,■. • -i «rs m 1 .••>.•• ; 4 '•- ■ ■•■' 'MXAmn^ feiiSMSf#'’"'

Receive our special bonus offer. Join Weight Watchers for $7.00. Stay 10 consecutive weeks (not including week of registration) and receive your 11th and 12th meetings free. Total savings of $27.00. Call Toll Free 1 800 692-6020 New and renewing members, please plan to arrive one half hour before starting times. MEETINGS: GREENCASTLE: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH: Judson Drive Tues: 7 00 p m Offer valid now through Mav 24, 1087 Offer valid in Franchise 81 onlv Offer valid lor new and renew ini> members only I his offer not v alid lor current members missing one week Off er not valid W 1 ,IW. h V °‘ U,r r '"° ()ffer J not valld for senior c iti/ens vvht. already receive special rates \Vtii>hi Watt hers and Quick Start are trademarks ol WEIGHT WATCHERS INTERN VTIONM INC ' WEIGHT WATCHERS INTERNATIONAL, INC 198 T

But behind that facade of detachment, the president’s legal and public relations advisers are nervously monitoring the hearings. Like a police bomb squad, they have the assignment of defusing potentially explosive testimony as quickly and efficiently as possible. In private, as well as in public, these officials say that the president will be exonerated of any illegal conduct. In one of many debates with reporters last week, Fitzwater was asked about the president’s conversations with foreign governments that might have contributed funds to the Nicaraguan rebels, known as contras. “As long they’re legal,” the spokesman said of those funds, “so what?” But Reagan is not being tried in a court of law. He is being judged in a political forum, where he is subject to a range of damaging verdicts, from detached ignorance to willful incompetence. And after a week of testimony from Richard V. Secord, the retired Air Force general who helped organize the Iran-contra arms deals, some White House aides fear that a summer of slow torture lies ahead, a steady drip of accusations that could eventually erode Reagan’s political position and potency. “We’re supremely confident that we have no problem in a legal sense,” Fitzwater said in an interview. “Our only problem is a political sense. What damage does it do to public support for your program over the next two years? You can’t answer that day by day, it’s something that won’t be known until it’s all over.”

McFarlane: 'Directive clear'

WASHINGTON (AP) Former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane told Congress today that President Reagan had made it clear to him that the administration should help Nicaragua’s Contra rebels “hold body and soul together” during the period of a congressional ban on military aid. “The president repeatedly made clear in public and in private that he did not intend to break faith with the Contras,” McFarlane said in sworn testimony as the House and Senate committees investigating the IranContra affair opened their second week of hearings. “He directed that we make continued efforts to bring the movement into the good graces of Congress and the American people and that we assure the Contras of continuing administration support to help them hold body and soul together until the time when Congress would again agree to support them.” McFarlane emphasized that he had stressed to aides “that we were to operate at all times within the law, and that in particular we were not to solicit, encourage, coerce or otherwise broker financial contributions to the Contras.” He said at the time, in 1985, he did not believe that such financial support was necessary because a foreign country widely reported to be Saudi Arabia was providing money to keep the war against the Sandinista government going. McFarlane said he turned to two staff members to carry out Reagan’s wishes: Lt. Col. Oliver North and Donald Fortier, North’s superior at the National Security Council. Fortier was to cultivate congressional backing for renewed support for the Contras, he said. North was told to “be a visible sign of the president’s strong personal support, to show the Contras that they would not be forgotten or abandoned even though we could not

Meese asks for Wedtech probe

WASHINGTON (AP) Attorney General Edwin Meese asked today that an independent counsel conduct a criminal investigation of his ties to scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp. In a statement, Justice Department spokesman Terry Eastland said that “the attorney general desires that this matter be resolved as promptly as possible, and in a forum that will prevent partisan political exploitation.’’ “For these reasons, Mr. Meese ... has asked the Department of Justice to act as expeditiously as possible to ensure that an independent counsel investigate all questions that have been raised,” said the statement.

Banner Graphic (USPS 142-020) Consolidation of The Daily Banner Established 1850 The Herald The Daily Graphic Established 1883 Telephone 653-5151 Published daily except Sunday and Holidays by Banner Graphic. Inc. at 100 North Jackson St., Greencastle, IN 46135. Second-class postage paid at Greencastle, IN. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Banner Graphic, P.O. Box 509, Greencastle, IN 46135 Subscription Rates Per Week, by carrier *1.20 Per Week, by motor route *1.25 Mail Subscription Rates R.R. in Rest of Rest of Putnam County Indiana U.S.A. 3 Months *17.40 *17.70 *19.00 6 Months *32.25 *32.80 *36.70 1 Year *63.00 *64.00 *72.70 Mail subscriptions payable in advance . . . not accepted in town and where motor route service Is available. Member of the Associated Press The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper.

THE HUMAN SPINE The function of any of the following organs or body areas may be affected by nerve interference or irritation caused by a misalignment of a vertebra (spinal bone) where the nerves pass through the spine to that area. N chiropractic EARS ADJUSTMENTS NOSE CAN CORRECT THROAT THESE MISA- — ARMS LIGNMENTS SO HEART NATURE CAN SMALLINT ESTINE LARGE INTESTINE GENITAL ORGANS ■Hi N LEGS AND FEET DR. DAVID MOHR, Chiropractic Physician Call 653*4447 for aoat. m “Specializing in Spine and Nerve Rehabilitation” * ' Hi MOHR CHIROPRACTIC CENTER, p.c. Mk U.S. 231 S. Greencastle *

life , JMPWE gBIPf • B % H B&B jfl BffKlrl if h S 3.

provide them with financial support.” North also was to help the Contras develop political legitimacy, he said. McFarlane said the Contra policy was a failure because it relied too heavily on covert action. But he said Congress must share the blame because it sent a series of conflicting policy signals. “We need this incident to shock us into realizing that our short-sighted behavior could well take the country to the brink of disaster,” he testified. Earlier, Sen. Warren Rudman, RN.H., said in a televised interview that such testimony would not necessarily indicate that the president acted improperly. “No one has ever said that the president could not make efforts to have private aid, foreign aid for the Contras,” Rudman said on NBCTV’s “Today” show. Although McFarlane faces questions about an apparent attempt to cover up the president’s role in approving an early shipment of arms to Iran, Rudman said that information will probably come from

A letter from Meese’s attorney, Nathan Lewin, also released today, asked that the investigation of Meese be conducted by James C. McKay, an independent counsel who already is probing the lobbying activities of former White House aide Lyn Nofziger on behalf of Wedtech. On April 6, Meese acknowledged to reporters that he had interceded in May 1982 as White House counselor on behalf of Wedtech, directing his White House staff to ensure that the Army gave fair consideration to Wedtech’s effort to win a $32 million contact to build engines for the military. Wedtech subsequently was awar-

1 Black box' reveals plane's demise

WARSAW, Poland (AP) Police found the flight recorder from the jetliner that crashed near Warsaw and killed 183 people, and one report said the pilot radioed moments before the crash: “This is the end. We are saying farewell.” Hundreds of rescue workers picked through debris from the LOT Polish Airlines plane in a wooded area where police rescue crews on Sunday found the flight recorder, or “black box.” A special government commission listened to the recorder’s flight data but released no statement. “The commission is studying, reading and analyzing recordings of conversations between the plane and the air traffic control tower, the

other witnesses. “I believe that the key testimony that will come before the committees in terms of the president would have to be three people,” Rudman said. He said the three would be Adm. John Poindexter, McFarlane’s replacement as national security adviser; North, and former presidential chief of staff Donald Regan. “I don’t think anyone else can throw light on that subject,” Rudman said. While McFarlane has testified several times before various congressional committees about the secret sale of U.S. weapons to Iran, he has had relatively little to say so far about the diversion of payments to the Contra rebels battling the leftist government of Nicaragua. If Reagan did order aid to be provided to the guerrillas after Congress halted direct military help in 1984, it would “tarnish the president’s image,” Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said Sunday on ABC-TV’s “This Week with David Brinkley.”

ded the no-bid contract. It was revealed later last month that Meese’s investment manager, W. Franklyn Chinn of San Francisco, sat on the board of directors of Wedtech beginning in 1985. Meese invested $60,000 in a “limited blind partnership” with Chinn. The statement issued today also said that the attorney general “has acted to terminate the limited partnership under California law.” Wedtech is the focus of a federal investigation into allegations that the company paid off more than a dozen federal, state and local public officials to help it win contracts.

recordings of the black box, and pieces of the plane at the crash site,” said Stefan Pozniak, a spokesman for the Transport Ministry, in a telephone interview. A Polish television report said the pilot, Capt. Zygmunt Pawlaczyk, told the Warsaw airport control tower in the final moments before Saturday’s crash: “This is the end. We are saying farewell. Goodbye.” The station said its report was based on an airport recording. Today marked the second day of mourning declared by the Polish government for victims of the crash, this country’s worst commercial air disaster and the world’s worst air accident this year. Movie houses and theaters were closed, and state radio

Let us help you with your insurance needs. After you purchase that new car or truck, stop by and see us. One of our 5 professional sales representatives are ready to serve you. •Ray Brush ‘Keith Gossard *Rick Bittles •Brad Collins •Pill Hunter Let us also show you how you can save money by combining your automotive & homeowners insurance together. Mnp INSURANCE BONDS f 101 E. Washington St., Greencastle, Ind. I y °ur Wndependenfx ragry 653-4176 “You can do better with us. ”

Sen. Daniel Inouye (DHawaii),left, joins Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.) at the podium in the Senate caucus room where the Iran-Contra hearings are taking place. Sen. Inouye, chairman of the Senate committee investigating the IranContra affair, Sunday repeated his contention that President Reagan knows more about the scandal than he has publicly admitted. (AP Wirephoto).

Inouye, chairman of the Senate investigating panel, also repeated his contention that Reagan knows more than he has admitted publicly about the Iran-Contra scandal. Reagan, during a trip Sunday to Alabama, was asked about the McFarlane report and said, “Let’s just for a few moments decide there’s enough controversy and we’ll leave it in Washington this day.” McFarlane is also expected to describe the administration’s policy framework that led to development of the covert operations. McFarlane’s appearance in the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing room is his first sworn public testimony since he was hospitalized in February for attempted suicide by drug overdose. During last week’s hearings, leadoff witness Richard V. Secord outlined a sweeping panorama of clandestine operations, secret bank accounts, code names and cover stories developed for the Iran arms sales and Contra aid missions with, he said, the blessing of top administration officials.

Oldest heart transplant survivor dies MARSEILLE, France (AP) —- Emmanuel Vitria, who was the world’s longest surviving heart transplant recipient, died early Monday after living for 18 years with the heart of a young sailor, hospital officials said. He was 67. Vitria died at 5 a.m. at Salvator Hospital of respiratory problems brought on by a heart problem, said his doctor, Jean-Raoul Monties.

played somber music. At least 22 Americans were among those killed on the New York-bound plane. A statement issued by the civil aviation board said it was too early to state the reasons for the crash. But according to witnesses and the state radio, one of the engines of the Soviet-built Ilyushin-62-M apparently caught fire about 25 minutes into the flight and the pilot radioed he was returning to Warsaw. The plane plunged into a wooded area three miles short of the runway at Okecie Airport, exploded in a ball of fire and broke into hundreds of pieces.