Indiana Gazette (Newspaper) - February 5, 1997, Indiana, Pennsylvania Wednesday February Vol 93 No 164 24 Pages 2 Sections 1997 Indiana Printing and Publishing Company Indiana Pa Fifty Cents million verdict Jury finds Simpson liable for murders Milestone Mario Lemieux scored late in the third period Tuesday the 600th goal in his career and the cap to a 64 victory over the Vancouver Canucks Page 14 INSIDE By MICHAEL FLEEMAN Associated Press Writer Mostly cloudy and cold tonight with flurries and a low of 22 Thursday will be partly sunny with a high of 37 See Page 12 Tuition theft A woman who pilfered from her parents savings ac count so she could pay her sons college tuition has won the sym pathy of a federal judge who sentenced her to just one day in jail Page 9 Apples woes A year ago Apple Computer Inc was in trouble The compa riy suffered a big loss during the critical holiday season saw its market share shrink and pron ised to streamline operations Page 10 Air disaster The ball of fire fell from the sky with a deafening roar Rushing to the scene of the helicopter crash that killed 73 soldiers in northern ia faint the Obituaries on Page 18 BROWN Phyllis L 78 Indiana FOREBACK 61 Frederick Md Alva 76 Mar chand STEWART Virginia 70 Dayton RD 2 1 LATE DEATH RISING Helen Miller 86 Indi ANDERSON LepK 64 Indi ana of New York Dear 24 Lottery Midweek 10 HE VOICE INFORMATION SYSTEM 4658100 Headline News This SANTA MONICA Calif time it fit The accusations the evidence the notion an amiable star could slash two throats and leave his two young children without a mother it all struck a jury as true In a hot stuffy courtroom full of i cops and tears a jury decided it was payback time and Simpson was to dp the paying Jurors slapped Simpson with an million judgment on Tuesday night deducing from evidence old and new that he was liable for the slashing deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron ald Goldman the night of June 12 1994 The decision didnt be unanimous but it was 120 And that was just the The jurys findings of malice and oppression triggered the second phase to determine punitive dam ages money assessed to punish Simpson The panel returns Thurs day for a hearing on Simpsons financial status For relatives of the the end of their painful 2Vfeyear odyssey drew near Shouts of Yes rose in the courtroom as the verdict was read Afterward the victims sobbing rel atives hugged each other and their lawyers We finally have justice for Ron and said Fred Goldman the aggrieved father who doggedly pursued Simpson to civil court after October 1995 acquit tal 6 As the verdict was read the 49yearold Simpson stared straight ahead as one of his lawyers Phillip Baker gently patted his back The Simpson team then walked out of the courtroom and into a maelstrom Outside the building a crowd estimated by police at gathered and chanted Killer killer killer before Simpson emerged to a mix ture of boos and cheers On his way home he dashed into an ice cream shop to buy a cup of chocolate cookie dough ice cream for his 11yearold daughter Sydney Reached by telephone his home Simpson told The Associated Press Im sitting with my kids right buthe refused further comment v The the verdict spared TV networks the choice of Simpson or President Clinton who was giving his State of the Union address The verdict delayed more than three hours to allow lawyers and families to get to the courthouse came just as the president wrapped up his hourlong speech At one point Simpsons policees corted trip to the courthouse in his black Suburban was televised live nationally on a split screen just as Clinton began his address Later Clinton said We have to respect the jury verdicts that Ameri cans bring in a situation like The million represented the value of Goldmans funeral and the loss of his companionship to his parents family did Continued on Page 6 We finally have said plaintiff Fred Goldman celebrating after Tuesdays verdict with daughter Kim center AP photo and wife Patti GOP to Clinton Turn words into We are al ways getting ready to live but never Ralph Waldo Emerson American essayist poet and philosopher This newspaper is printed paper Please recycle By DAVID ESPO Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON Summoned by President Clinton to seize the days and the Republican law makers are trying to turn the chal lenge back on the Democratic White House to show the way to a balanced federal budget with tax relief Words are nice Were waiting for the Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said Tuesday night after Clintons State of the Union address before a packed House chamber and a nationally televised audience Is this truly the end of big government as we know it or will we find dozens of new Washington spending programs in the presidents budget And despite bows all around to the ideal of cooperation there was am pie evidence that partisanship was alive and well Lott scheduled the opening of Senate debate for today on a consti amendment to balance the budget a key Republican priority that Clinton argued against Tuesday night as unnecessary and unwise and a potential threat to Social Security For his part the reelected presi dent opened his remarks with a message that the political tables were turned from two years ago when the GOP un questionably was ascendant I think I should start by saying Thanks for inviting me he declared to the delight of Demo crats Clinton received a presidents cus tomary standing ovation as he en tered the House chamber But this was a night unlike any other and even his audiences attention was split between the speech and word that a verdict was imminent in the Simpson wrongful death case in California The president in front of House Speaker Newt Gingrich plans a series of events to cash in on momentum AP photo States representatives 5 Whats the verdict Sen Rick Santorum asked a group of reporters as he left the hall following Clintons 60minute speech during which the president urged Congress to complete three items of unfinished in balancing the budget re opening the new welfare law to restore benefits to legal immigrants and enacting campaign finance re form by He outlined steps that would boost education spending by 20 percent to billion for fiscal 1998 including tax breaks for college Americans he said must have the best educa tion in the To build public support for his proposal Clinton arranged a trip today to Georgia the first in what the White House would be a series of appearances the 1998 budget he will send to Congress on Thursday would balance the budget and provide middle class tax relief to pay for education and health care to help raise a child to buy and sell a He noted that there were just over days remaining until 2000 and added let us seize the days and the For their formal response licans turned to Rep Watts of Oklahoma the only black GOP member of Congress The strength of America is not in Watts said The strength of Ameri ca is at home in lives well lived in the land of faith and But for all the partys effort to showcase Watts it is the response of Lott and other GOP leaders matter most in the months ahead beginning with Clintons and his return trip to the Capitol next week to meet with congressional leaders privately I am very pleased that President Clinton has so heartily endorsed the Republican said Rep Tom DeLay of Texas the House GOP whip The president has proven time and again that he can talk the talk The question tonight is Can he walk the walk Said Sen Pete Domenici chairman of the Senate Budget Com It just seems like there was an awful lot of government in this speech Were going to have to evaluate that carefully He cant possibly get everything he For their part Democrats have expressed nervousness privately that Clinton will be top quick to make a deal with Republicans They offered only words of support in response to the speech though I expect Wall Street will like the speech because of the priority the president places on balancing the budget and Main Street will like it because of the practical solutions hes proposing to the everyday needs of working said Sen Tom Daschle of South Dakota the Senate Democratic leader Clintons speech was studded with themes from his tion campaign and included a call to continue the fight against crime drugs especially to commit additional billions to better schools Varner Transfer police to council By RANDY WELLS Gazette Staff Writer Indiana Borough Mayor Varner has suggested it may be time to transfer responsibility for the daytoday operations of the boroughs police department from the mayor to the borough council Varner also disclosed Tuesday evening that he proposed to Indi ana Police Chief Ronald Crytzer that one or the other of the two men resign as a way of ending their ongoing disagreement over how the boroughs police depart ment should be structured and allegations that the mayor acted illegally t And although Varner did not say so directly two comments he made in recent letters suggest he has decided 1997 will be last year as mayor Varner will hold a press confer ence Friday morning in theAtri um in downtown Indiana to discuss his intentions for the spring primary i Varner on Tuesday evening de r to make any oral during the portion of the borough council meeting reserved for the mayors report Instead after the meeting he mem bers of the news media copies of recent correspondence between himself and borough manager borough solici tor and Crytzer One of the letters asked 4he Public Safety Committee and the full council to consider the trans fer of supervision of the police department from the mayor to the borough manager For months Varner has vigor tried to convince council that four police department ser geants should be assigned to functions rather than acting mainly as administrative division commanders Varner wrote that transferring authority for the police depart ment from the mayor to the borough manager would relieve me from the responsibility for the activities that I then and still believed to be contrary to the best interest of the taxpaying citizens of Indiana Varner emphasized any trans authority should only apply to the remainder of his term in office Other correspondence shows the mayor suggested a resolve to allegations that Varner engaged in official oppression against the chief and may have violated the states wire tap laws Crytzer took those allegations to the Indiana County district attor ney who in turn asked the state attorney general to investigate In a letter to Crytzer on Jan 25 1997 Varner suggested the two men sign a document that he said would settle the dispute The docu ment stipulated that if Varner was convicted of any of the charges he would resign from office if the mayor was cleared of the charges Crytzer would resign The state attorney general later ruled there were no grounds for criminal prosecution of the may or but Crytzer said the office did not adequately address his allegations and the chief in tends to pursue the charges Twice in his letters Varner hints he has decided not to be a candi date for reelection He began a recent letter to council by writing As we now begin our last year of public service together as mayor and council And Varner started a Jan 3 letter to borough solicitor Wayne Kablack by writing As I begin my last year of eight as the mayor of Democrats lukewarm on governors budget Kangaroos Thursday Eat Ribs And Wings With Corn On The Cob Baked Beans And Cornbread Let Your Loved Ones Know How You Feel By Sending A Love Line Look For The Love Lines Coupon In Todays Naps Cucina Mia Wednesday Chicken Piccata Order Valentine Flowers Early Floral Designs By Mary 4655250 By PETER DURANTINE Associated Press Writer HARRISBURG Gov Tom Ridges plan to give tax breaks to families more money to local schools and business loans to blighted neighborhoods does not go far enough Democrats This budget has no focus par when it comes to creating Rep Ivan Itkin ny said They complained that the Re publican governor looks too favor ably on businesses as he has in his previous budgets and neglects middle class taxpayers The budget presented by Gov ernor Ridge today represents just more Senate Minori ty Leader Robert Mellow of Lacka Proposal at a 5 wanna County said Big tax breaks for big corporations and nothing but a token tax break for only the poorest working people of But Democrats are in the minori ty in the Legislature which means they will likely have little control over spending Knowing this they offered an olive branch of sorts in ry Were going to have to put partisanship on the back House Minority Leader H William DeWeese said Were going to have to work with Governor While the Greene County Demo crat applauded Ridges mil lion proposal to reduce personal income taxes for working poor families he still chided the gover nor The idea that the working poor need a break is DeWeese said Democrats scoffed at Ridges proposed million increase for local as woefully inade quate after a year in which the governor gave no additional mon ey to schools budget is not a said Philadelphia Sen Schwartz ranking Demo crat on the Senate Education Com It is a missed Overall the budget was charac as lackluster and having no by Philadelphia Sen Vince Fumo ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Com Republicans interrupted Ridges budget address 27 times with ap plause as he touched ori key points such as business tax changes in workers compensation rates job creation moving people off welfare and loans to help poor neighborhoods open new business es and provide iobs At least two Republican House members however were reading newspapers as the governor out lined his billion spending plan for the 199798 fiscal year that starts July 1 AMBASSADOR DIES Pamela Harriman ambassador to France seen here with French President Jacques Chirac died today at 76 Story on Page 5
