Evansville Courier and Press from Evansville, Indiana • 6

AS The Evansville Courier Wednesday October 16 iww THE THOMAS CONFIRMATION Kennedy Specter go at each other Sen Coats foresees Thomas Specter that Ms Hill had committed perjury before the committee "Are we an old dub insensitive at best and perhaps something miwf Kennedy mini "Will we strain to concoct any excuse to impose any burden to tolerate any unsubstantiated attack on a woman in order to rationalise a vote for this nomination?" Kennedy said there was no proof that Ms Hill had lied at any point during the hearing "And shame on anyone who suggests that die Kennedy said That brought Spader to his feet "We do not need characterisations libs in this chamber from the senator from Specter said Kennedy then took the flow again and angrily pointing his fin-ger at Specter said "I stand by my rejection of the condusians that have been made fay the senator from Pennsylvania I reiterate that the way that Professor Hill was treated was Kennedy spokesman Paul Donovan remarks wen not taken as a reference to personal history But outride the Senate conservative groups and individuals did just that One protester carried a sign with the message: "Senator Chappaquiddick You're All passions on the generalised subject of sexual Specter said following a 15-minute floor speech by Kennedy "When the senator from Massachusetts seeks to terrify the women of America that they cannot be properly treated he is During the Judiciary barings over the weekend Specter of Pennsylvania had drawn attention to what he characterised as comparative silence on the sexual harassment issue The floor fight was triggered when Kennedy defended accuser Anita Hill and called the suggestions by By The Associated Press WASHINGTON In a hitter exchange on the Senate floor Republican Arlen Specter on Tuesday challenged Edward standing to speak out for women saying "we do not the Massachusetts views on what constitutes shameful behavior As the Senate neared its 62-48 vote confirming Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court the two Judiciary Committee members went at each other "The women of America should not listen to the senator from Massachusetts who is trying to arouse demands that all allegations be thoroughly examined but "this must be done within the appropriate boundaries and cannot be done in a circus-like atmosphere where reputations are ruined on prime-time television" Simon expressed regret over how Ms Hill was treated The Tri-State lawmakers offered varying reads on the sexual harassment charges and vary-ing reasons for their votes: Ford said he voted against Thomas because of "cumulative based largely on philoe-phical concerns "When Judge Thomas tried to some of his earlier views as mere political theory I lull concerns I do not know which Clarence Thomas to believe I do not feel he can simply so many of his earlier a Simon also voted against Thomas for philosophical rear sons He said he fears Thomas is too far right and will move the court further in that direction Coats said he voted for Thomas because "his qualifications were well expressed and and there were inconsistencies in Ms testimony McConnell said 1 believe Clarence but stopped short of saying Ms Hill was lying "I don't have to reach that point In America you are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise This was essentially a one-on-one swearing contest with no corroborating Dixon said since "both were credible and since it is impossible to get to the bottom of this matter I think we have to foil back an our legal eystem and its presumption of innnranon for those Lugar said he found Thomas "the more credible of the two (but) there is no way of knowing who is telling the JOYCELYM WBMECKB Courier Washington bureau WASHINGTON Clarence Thomas may have won confirmation to the Supreme Court Tuesday night but he emerged from the ugly process "a very wounded individual" Sen Dan Coats said Goats BrlncL was one of four Tri-State senators who voted for Thomas The others were Alan Duron D-I1L Richard Lugar Blind and Mitch McConnell R-Ky The other two Tri-State senators Paul Simon D-Ill and Wendell Ford D-Ky voted against Thomas Senators decried the way sexual harassment allegations were aired and the effect of the process on Thomas and the Senate think going to came out a bitter man but a very wounded Coats mid "I think he will go to great pains to make sure in cases an- these kinds of issues that he is extraordinarily objective going to be a cloud cast over his decisions and very intense scrutiny" Lugar paid the confirmation procedures "have taken on a status of almost total warfare" "The situation is no longer a discussion among members and examination of qualifications and views but an attempt by opponents to literally destroy the reputation character and career of the Lugar said "It is this element of human destruction that I think is profoundly An outraged McConnell said the Senate should insist the person who leaked the FBI report containing law Professor Anita allegations be found and punished expelled from the Senate or fired from a Senate staff Ford said the way the charges were made public "was deplorable" The confirmation process THOMAS Continued from Page A1 Clearly the senators felt that some flowery oratory on the issue of sexual harassment would play well with the folks at home in the hows of flow debate before they confirmed Thomas in an unusually fast roll call (10 minutes! Republican after Republican stood up to urge that America pay more attention to the problem and to say that all American women should now understand the rroedto come forward in a timely way even as the senators announced that they had not believed Anita story Democratic Sen Dennis Do-Concini the only Democrat on the Judiciary Committee who helped the Republicans discredit Ms Hill said his mother had confided an incident of sexual harassment to him And other senators talked about calls and conversations they had had with women Sen Sam Nunn IVGa who voted to confirm said the hearing "underscored the need for the men of this country to do some serious soul searching about how they treat their female colleagues in this and he urged vio-tims of sexual harassment to come forward Democratic Sen A1 Gore who voted against Thomas as he had planned to do before last week I aid revolution in thought about relationships between men and women is shaking the Senate and the Sen Arlen Specter R-Pa repeated his assertion that Ms Hill had perjured herself even though the Democrats cried as Sen Edward Kennedy said "The treatment of Anita Hill is what every woman fears who thinks of lifting the veil and revealing her sexual harassment" Kennedy said on the flow Although Republican colleagues had been polite to him while he was keeping a low profile in the hearings even Orrin Hatch the Utah Republican who is friendliest with Kennedy Joined the effort to hush him with brutally pointed references to "a bridge up in Hatch later apologized for the apparent reference to the accident at Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts in 1969 "That is what is so scandalous about said Democratic Sen Patrick Leahy of Vermont during a break from the flow debate "All these senators getting up and saying that American women should come in and say harassed Who would want to do it after seeing how Anita Hill was smeared? There is the stench of hypocrisy in that AP Laserphoto Clarence Thomas and his wife Virginia talked to reporters Tuesday evening after the Senate approved Ns nomination to the Supreme Court Thomas said the ordeal of his confirmation should be put in the past so healing can begin BINGOi BIG PROFITS BIG PROBLEMS Bingo controversy threatens campaign to restore P47 aircraft By BYRON ROHRM Courisr staff writer to canvas local businessmen to raise money to retire the bank note and finish the project Easley said last week $250000 might be needed difficult to raise money for something like that if not experienced at it But if people can be assured that the money will be spent properly it be difficult to raise that much said Easley says Whetsel deserves support that the P-47 Commission has not lent done most of tiro cleaning and polishing and has sunk a lot of his own money in it The (P-17flnmmiaalnn) baa managed a let of bingo games and done a fair amount of talking but done anything to restore the plane" If the credibility gap is closed Whetsel says he has no problem with doing a lot more cleaning and polishing still like to be able to shove the project into high gear and get the P-47 Thunderbolt on display thia summer because 1992 will mark the 60th anniversary of the first P-47 which rolled off the U8 41 line in the summer of 1942 Whetsel said he and fellow production workers toiled day and night for six weeks to get that first plane into service In his view next Evansville Freedom Festival would be agreat occasion to mark the anniversary with tiro unveiling of the restored plane Finishing the plane in that time even with Btrong community support wouldn't be easy Whetsel acknowledges Portions of tiro plane salvaged five years ago from the lake in Florida have been parceled out to volunteers Many pieces are in his own garage Though many puts hove been cleaned up and restored much work remains ate one recent afternoon Whetsel sat in his living room Next to his favorite chair in like-new condition was a "Pilots Manual for a P-47 Photos of P-47s were on the coffee table partially concealed by tiro clipping of a recent news story about the bingo controversy Twanttodowhatlstartedouttodalstartedwith the idea that we could get this thing Whetsel says "And see the thing done if I live long Harmon has claimed that tiro refusal led to the illegal bingo charges and says the whole controversy has partisan politics at its base He paints out that Hasler who formed the P-47 Foundation group is Evansville office manager for US Rep Frank Mo-Closkey Both he and Prosecutor Levco are Democrats However Andy Easley head of a local civil engineering firm and also a part of tiro foundation says tiro charge is "totally Joyce EnnfcScott another foundation member is a Republican he said Whetael sides with Hasler Easley and the foundation Whetsel claims the commission has mismanaged the project and its funds and threatened to resign when Harmon its president and its treasurer local attorney Kathryn Peters refiised Whetsel's repeated requests for a financial statement Whetsel said he is especially concerned about a $5000 donation given by Ed Frits of Evansville and earmarked for the purchase of parts Whetsel who said he has been dose to all restoration activity from the beginning said he can account for only $760 in spending fin: parts "Since I have my signature on tiro $50000 note from the bank I think I have a right to a financial Whetsel said Harmon who also signed the bank note acknowledged that neither he nor Ms Peters who is stepdaughter had responded to letters from Whetsel Ms Peters has not returned phone calls However Jeanine Harmon her mother said Ms Peters had not responded to letters "because he sent a letter threatening to resign She said 'Good I hope he Jeff Hannon said Whetsel "has been nothing but trouble for us from tiro Tam trying to make Frank dream come said Hannon have spent a day a week out of my business to make money for that airplane Fkank Whetsel does not have anything else to do but irritate Whetsel said he also got no reply from Harmon or tiro P-47 Com mission after relaying an offer by Easley Bingo was supposed to be the salvation of the dream to display a restored P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plane identical to 6300 that rolled off Evansville assembly lines during World War IL Now it may have helped to shoot it down There was a time when Frank Whetsel 80-year-old grandfather of the P-47 restoration project had just one big problem: how to get the plane that had spent 40 years at the bottom of a Florida lake re-turned to presentable condition Whetse! a wartime production worker at the old Republic Aviation plant where UfJ 41 plant is now located cnnid handle that But today not sure he or anyone else can restore the credibility Whetsel is both a founding member and a vehement critic of the P-47 Heritage Commission which is embroiled in a very public controversy after starting a bingo last May in the former Gym at Fourth and Sycamore streets Just two months later Mark Acker manager of the Coliseum charged that the P-47 bingo was being run by a professional in violation of state law and that it competed unfairly with the Coliseumb bingo game run by tiro Veterans Council In September Indiana Secretary of State Joseph Hogsett filed a complaint with Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco accusing the commission of failure to register with the state as a bingo operator The P-47 group discontinued the bingo after Levco filed the charge Levco went on to charge Victor Farrow the operator of the bingo with professional gambling Farrow has pleaded innocent- His trial is set for Nov 25 in Superior Court Farrow a reputed associate of two other Carolinians whose bingos in other Indiana citiaf are under investigation came to Evansville from South Carolina to run a bingo at the same location for the Miami Indians While allegations were surfacing a group calling itself the P-47 Foundation went to the P-47 Courier photo by DAVE LUCAS Frank Whetsel examines a string of machine gun bullets for the P-47 aircraft he is restoring Commission and to Citizens Bank offering to take over the plane restoration and responsibility for the remaining $33000 in principal on the Citizens loan But commission president Jeff Harmon said the real goal of tiro P-47 Foundation of which Coliseum manager Acker is a member was to take over the bingo The commission refused the offer and Hannon said Tuesday the refusal stands Brian Hasler who formed what he refers to as the P-47 Foundation denied charges In any case said Hasler a nonprofit organization must be in existence five years before it can legally run a bingo in Indiana That cuts his group out BINGO Continued from Page A1 hibited a charity from running bingos in more than one county It also would have limited organizations to one bingo per week and limited prizes to $1000 per game and $5000 per day The one-county provision alone would have addressed the major concern of most charity bingos in Evansville earlier this year It would have closed tiro large bingo hall run in Downtown Evansville fay the Miami Indians which at one time ran halls in as many as six Hoosier cities The Indians left Evansville on their own in May and have scaled back their operations to three cities and Dobis said thev will pect for change depends on how serious the Legislature perceives the issue to be and how much momentum is behind it Momentum for change has grown since the last legislative session ended in June Indiana Secretary of State Joseph Hogsett initt-a ted a program in August to encourage the public to report possible bingo violators to his office One complaint already has prompted Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco to file felony charges of promoting professional gambling against tiro P-47 Heritage Commission and Victor Farrow who operated the bingo in Downtown Evansville again attempt to change tiro bingo law in the next legislative session which convenes in January But Rep Dennis Avery D-Ev-ansville said he fears no changes will be made lawmakers agree in advance not to link the proposal to any other gambling measures "If someone tries to attach an amendment to the bingo bill to legalize casino gambling or something like that I think it is destined to Avery said Td like to see some sort of agreement worked out before tiro session to see that occur because I think some changes need to be Bauer said he believes the pros Both are accused of foiling to register the bingo with office as required by law The P-47 Commission is accused of violating another portion of the law that forbids charities to have a third party run the games Seventeen other complaints from across the state are under review fay office to determine whether they should be forwarded to the county prosecutor for possible criminal action HogBett said his findings will be forwarded to the Legislature to recommend possible changes in the bingo law next year Meanwhile county prosecutors who are independently inves-tigdiinfr bingo ooerators also are asking that the law be tightened and tougher penalties imposed A violation of the current bingo law is a Class infraction punishable by a maximum fine of $500 Monroe County Prosecutor Bob Miller in Bloomington said the fine is hardly enough to deter big-time operators of justify the time and expense of investigating them Levco said he was able to file stiffer charges against Farrow and the Pt47 Commission in Evansville because they allegedly foiled to register their bingo He contends that since the bingo was not registered with the state it constitutes promoting professional gambling under another provision of the criminal code professional gambling is a Class felony punishable by up to four years in prison and a imnmimi fine of $10000 Miller said the leaser penalties of the bingo law might apply if the suspected bingo is registered The bingo that Miller has launched an inquiry against is registered to the Southern Congress of Racial Equality in Bloomington It is one in a network of bingos that The Courier has linked to former South Carolina bingo promoters Louis Hallow and Johnnie Gautier Both are being investigated fay a Delaware County grand jiuy in Munde fin: possible bingo violation)!.