Banner Graphic, Volume 21, Number 281, Greencastle, Putnam County, 2 August 1991 — Page 2

THE BANNERGRAPHIC August 2,1991

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Kentucky gambler buys French Lick Springs

FRENCH LICK, Ind. (AP) The French Lick Springs Resort, once a haven for dice and cards, has been sold at auction to a Kentucky businessman for $2.6 million. Luther James of Louisville, a convicted gambler, bought the 90-year-old resort Thursday less than five minutes after the auction started. Included were the 485-room hotel and 434 acres with two golf courses, a tennis center, health club, riding stables, restaurants and shops. “WE PLAN TO RESTORE the property to its prior stature as the premier resort in the Midwest,” James said. “The legend of the French Lick Springs Resort will soon be reawakened.” James was one of four eligible bidders. The bidding started at $500,000 and included the four until it neared $2 million. At that point, James and another man who declined later to identify himself, vied for the resort More than 100 people crowded the resort’s secondfloor Roost Room, according to auctioneer Ross Dove, chairman of Ross-Dove Co. of Foster City,

Cheney: War was ‘almost a healing process’ for nation

WASHINGTON (AP) The Persian Gulf war was a “catharsis” for America that lifted its burden of guilt over the Vietnam War, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney says. “It was almost a healing process for a wound that had been open for a long time,” Cheney said Thursday. THE SECRETARY reflected on the year since Iraq invaded Kuwait in a wide-ranging interview with wire service reporters in his Pentagon office. Cheney argued that even though Saddam Hussein still remains in power in Baghdad, much was accomplished in the allied effort to oust him from Kuwait “We stopped aggression dead in its tracks and rolled it back,” Cheney said. BESIDES SHOWING that America will stand by its friends, Cheney argued that Saddam had been denied access to the world’s oil and suffered “great damage” to his military, once the fourth largest army in the world. “I think that left to his own devices, it would be many years before Saddam Hussein could threaten his neighbors,” Cheney said. The secretary said Iraq retains

Layoffs temper hope that recession is ending

NEW YORK (AP) While most economists say the recession is ending, major corporations have announced thousands of layoffs in recent weeks, raising doubts over whether the recovery has really begun. Airlines, banks, computer Banner Graphic (USPS 142-020) Consolidation of The Dally Banner Estabilebad 1850 The Herald The DeUy Graphic Established 1883 Telephone 853-5151 Published daily except Bunday and Holidays toy Banner Graphic, Inc. at 100 North Jackson St, Greencastle, IN 40135. Second-class postage paid at Greencastle, IN. POSTMASTER: Send adGaoo changes to The Banner Graphic, P.O. Box BOS, Greencastle, IN 40135 Subscription Rotes Per Week, by carrier «1.40 Per Week, by motor route. -1.45 Mall Subscription Ratos R.R. In Rest of Rest of Putnam County Indans U.S.A. 3 Months -21.00 -2XOO *25.00 0 Months -40.00 *45.00 *50.00 1 Year *78.00 *BO.OO *OS-00 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.

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Calif., which handled the sale. JAMES HAS BEEN owner of James Vending Corp., an amusement machine business in Louisville, since about 1970, said Shirley Brunner, bookkeeper for James Vending. James, 56, pleaded guilty in 1973 to conspiring to operate a gambling business involving bookmaking and received two years’ probation. In 1982, he was convicted of being involved in a gambling business using video card games distributed by his James Vending Co. Brunner said James has owned Breckinridge Inn in Louisville since 1988 and bought the Quality Inn across the Ohio River in Clarksville, Ind., earlier this year. He also owns a Louisville nightclub, the Toy Tiger Lounge, and rental property, she said. NORMAN RALES, 70, a Potomac, Md., businessman had been trying for two years to sell the hotel he bought in 1986. Besides the $2.6 million price, James will assume a $550,000 loan he must repay to the town of French Lick. He will take control of the resort in September,

“the residue of a system (Saddam) created to try to produce a nuclear weapon,” and it is vital that international pressure continue to deny him access to any new sophistivated technology. “IF WE LOOK AT the situation in the Gulf today, there are still problems, no question about it, but you can’t find a single person who ... said this effort was going to eliminate the problems in the Middle East. It’s still the Middle East,” the secretary said. Cheney pointed to “significant progress” being made in the region’s peace process in light of the U.S.-Soviet push for a peace conference, but he declined to predict that it will become a reality. At home, Cheney said, the war “had an enormous effect far beyond anything I’d anticipated” in terms of how it changed for the better the nation’s view of itself, its military and its role in the world. “I THINK IT was a catharsis ... that sort of lifted the burden that the country had bom, almost without being aware of it, since the war in Vietnam,” he said. Asked if he agreed with National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft’s statement that there is no credible evidence that U.S. servicemen are

makers and chemical companies are among large employers saying they will eliminate jobs in coming months. THIS NEWS contrasts with statistics that many economists say show the economy is improving. On Thursday, for example, a widely watched survey of corporate purchasing managers showed the nation’s manufacturing economy grew for the second straight month in July. On Wednesday, the government

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still alive in southeast Asia, Cheney replied “I can’t say that ... . We simply can’t afford not to check out every lead that comes to us.” The secretary said that the current controversy over photos purporting to show U.S. officers were still alive “has obscured the fact that we are probably making more progress than we ever have before” in getting information about the more than 2,000 unsolved MIA cases. HE CITED THE newly opened office in Hanoi as evidence of such progress, as well as the improved access to crash sites being offered by the Vietnamese. The secretary complained that “unscrupulous operators” were making the Pentagon’s work more difficult by “trying to play upon the grief of the families ... to make a buck” with reports of information about their loved ones. He called the issue one of the most difficult he’d encountered during his 20 years in public life, because of the emotions it arouses “and partly also because of a national sense of guilt about the war in southeast Asia and the way our troops were treated when they came home. “TO SOME EXTENT,

said its main economic barometer, the Index of Leading Economic Indicators, rose 0.5 percent in June, its fifth straight increase. THE NUMBER OF Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits also has been falling. Some economists say the discrepancy between the layoff announcements and their own optimism can be explained. “I don’t know that these latest announcements are anything but the last and more moderate set of layoffs you encounter late in the business cycle,” said Roger E. Brinner, chief economist at the forecasting firm DRI-McGraw-Hill Inc. “Are there more companies laying off employees now than there were six months ago? I don’t think so,” he said Thursday. BRINNER ALSO said the latest layoffs are primarily in industrial companies, which typically see a recovery six months later than con-sumer-oriented companies. It is also significant that while larger companies are laying off people, small and medium-sized companies are hiring, said Bruce Handler of Dun & Bradstreet Corp. “More and more people are entering the labor force,” he said. “Smaller firms are hiring a disproportionate amount of employees. When firms gradually increase their payroll it never makes the news.” But Handler expressed concern that the recovery could be a weak

S. Africa government supported Inkatha as early as ’74

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - As far back as 1974 the government was supporting the Inkatha Freedom Party to undermine the rival African National Congress, a newspaper said today. The Weekly Mail, which on July 19 broke the story of secret government donations to Inkatha, based its latest report on an interview with a former intelligence officer who defected to the ANC in 1986. LONDON’S Independent newspaper carried an interview Thursday with the same man, Mar-

according to terms of the sale. Ken Fischer, a representative of Ross-Dove, said James will release details about his plans for the hotel after the sale is final. The brochure describing the hotel to potential bidders said it will take $lO million to sls million to modernize guest rooms, hallways and meeting rooms. RON MONTGOMERY, president of the local chamber of commerce, said the community needs the hotel to draw tourism and help bolster the area’s shaky economy. The sale was “very positive” for the community, said Chamber of Commerce board member Roger H. Weisensteiner. “Now we can get going again.” The hotel is one of the area’s top employers when business is good, Weisensteiner said, and the guests it brings to town are the lifeblood of local shops and businesses. THE RESORT’S POPULARITY reached its peak in the 1920 s and ’3os when the wealthy were drawn to its mineral waters and illegal gambling. Older citizens remember when taxis lined city

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If the Persian Gulf War healed a wound America had been suffering from since the Vietnam War, it certainly created wounds, especially for the Kuwaiti oil industry. The U.S. Secretary of Defense admits there are still

everybody was reminded of that because of our success in the gulf and the warm welcome (the troops) received” upon their return, Cheney said.

FIVE OF THE eight recessions since World War II have experienced a “double dip,” in which the economy expanded for one quarter before resuming its contraction. Though Handler said he doesn’t believe this will happen, he foresees anemic growth of under 2 percent in the gross national product, or the total output of the nation’s goods and services. Economist John Lonski of Moody’s Investors Service Inc. said he’s less optimistic about the recovery than many of his colleagues. “WE ARE CRAWLING out of the recession,” he said. “These layoffs would not be announced if they (the companies) believed this would be a more typical recovery.” Among job-reduction announcements in recent weeks: • Du Pont Co. said it will reduce costs by $1 billion in the next two years. Analysts say it could result in 10,000 job reductions. • Unisys Corp, said it will eliminate 10,000 jobs and another major computer maker, Digital Equipment Corp., said it plans about 9,000 layoffs. Computer disc drive maker Seagate Technology Inc. laid off 1,200. • Chemical Bank and Manufacturers Hanover Trust said their pending merger will eliminate 6,200 jobs. That followed news that Citicorp may lay off up to 17,000 workers worldwide.

tin Dolinchek. The disclosures of covert funding of Inkatha and other conservative black groups have created a confrontation between the government and ANC and threatened efforts to negotiate power-sharing with the black majority. The ANC is South Africa’s main opposition group. It has long accused the white-led government of siding with Inkatha in black factional fighting, which has killed more than 6,000 people in recent years. DOLINCHEK SAID South

streets waiting to take hotel guests to one of the casinos that made the area a center of activity for sporting society in the spring and fall each year. The state finally shut down the casinos in 1949, and the hotel was forced to make it on its own as a resort and convention center. LEGISLATION THAT would have allowed casinos to operate in French Lick failed in the state Senate this year, but local promoters hope it will be revived. It’s not clear, however, whether James could be directly involved in a casino operation because of his gambling convictions. “There is a very rigorous (background) inspection that takes place for the owners and the operators of casinos,” said Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, the casino bill’s Senate sponsor. “Someone with two gambling convictions would find it very difficult to be licensed by the state for casino operation.” However, the hotel might thrive on money that would roll from casinos outside its brick walls.

problems in the Middle East, not the least of which is the many wellheads that continue to burn out of control, as this is in across a lake of crude oil in the Ahmadi Oil Field. (AP photo)

Queried about the continued presence of the U.S. troops in Kuwait, Cheney said the 4,000 members of the 11th Armored Cavalry are still scheduled to be

House freshmen drive to revive 1789 amendment

WASHINGTON (AP) The House’s freshman class has begun working toward an addition to the Bill of Rights the right of Americans to be protected from seeing Congress voting instant pay raises. James Madison included that proposal in the list of proposed constitutional amendments he introduced in 1789. But 202 years later, it’s three states short of ratification. REP. JOHN Boehner, ROhio, found that the amendment banning midterm pay increases didn’t have an expiration date, making it technically alive before 15 state legislatures. He suggested it as a project for the newest members of Congress, and 35 of the 43 first-term lawmakers agreed. The proposed amendment would require lawmakers to wait until after the next congressional election to begin collecting any raise they vote themselves. “THIS IS THE first step in trying to do something that will force Congress to be more responsive to the citizens,” said Boehner. “This is one amendment that’s clearly in line with the way people feel,” added Rep. Charles Luken, D-Ohio. “While many of our constituents may be very happy to

Africa’s former intelligence service, the Bureau of State Security, had set up an operation that maintained contact with Inkatha leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s office starting in 1974. The idea was to monitor Inkatha as part of efforts to bolster support of that group among blacks and diminish the role of the more militant ANC, said Dolinchek. But the Weekly Mail said there was no evidence Buthelezi knew that Inkatha was dealing directly with state intelligence, rather than other government departments.

withdrawn Sept. 1. Kuwait has asked that they stay longer, and the secretary left open the possibility they might, saying the issue “has not been resolved.”

grant a pay raise they want to have the opportunity to vote on that,” said Rep. Jim Moran, DVa. Bochner, who until January was a state representative in Ohio, was optimistic about the proposed amendment’s chances. “THERE AREN’T many state legislators around America that wouldn’t love to have the opportunity to slap the hand of the United States Congress,” he said. Bochner on Thursday introduced a resolution urging the legislatures of Alabama, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington to consider the proposed amendment. Most of those states already require their own lawmakers to stand for election before a pay raise takes effect, Boehner said. THE RESOLUTION was introduced as the Senate prepared to take final action on measure that would bring senators’ pay up to $125,100, the same amount House members already get. Boehner said he spent last weekend trying to convince angry constituents that his salary wasn’t going up.

THE INDEPENDENT quoted Dolinchek as saying the CIA “participated on the fringes of the scheme,” bolstering Buthelezi’s image among American policymakers and securing money for him. But it did not elaborate. The Weekly Mail did not mention the alleged CIA connection. It cited 23 incidents in which it claimed the security forces sided with Inkatha in black factional fighting, but gave no evidence. Inkatha had no immediate comment on the reports.