The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 1

the Salina Journal WEDNESDAY Serving Kansas since 1871 Salina, Kansas August 16,1995 Teens freed; shooting takes bizarre turn JPolice seek more tips las arrests lead nowhere By SHARON MONTAGUE The Salina Journal Two Salina teen-agers who confessed to being involved with the Saturday drive-by shooting of June Anita Glendening and triggered a search for a third recanted their story and were released from detention, police said. third suspect, Antwon Pierce, 15, was identified by the two as the sjiooter, was cleared of any involvement iin! the incident, said Salina Police Chief Jim Hill. wouldn't speculate on why Bret Jason Summers, 15, 255 S. llth, and Daniel Freidhof, 17, 756 Highland, con- fessed to the crime, or why they implicated Pierce. "It's real perplexing to us," he said.

"Why these two individuals would have identified Mr. Pierce, we do not have the foggiest idea. Mr. Pierce said he does not even know these two individuals." Hill said investigators had begun looking again at other tips called in about the case, and he asked that anyone with information about the shooting call the Salina Police Department, 826-7210, or Crimestoppers, 825-TIPS. Crimestoppers is offering a reward of at least $1,000 for information leading to a conviction, said Assistant Police Chief Glen Kochanowski.

Glendening was hit in the forehead by a ricocheting bullet about 11:10 p.m. Saturday. She had just left the Fourth Annual VICTIM'S PROFILE Anita Glendening, a newlywed, has had a lifelong affection for horses. Page 3 Draft Horse Show at the Bicentennial Center. She and her husband, Ronnie, were in the center's south parking when she was hit.

The horse show was part of the Tri-Rivers Fair. Glendening was in serious condition Tuesday at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. Witnesses said they saw a black or dark blue pickup with an extended cab leaving the area about the time the shot was fired. The pickup reportedly had silver mark- ings on the sides. Freidhof and Summers were arrested Monday after the two were stopped while driving near the police station in a pickup matching the description of the suspect vehicle.

Hill said the teens were interviewed separately. Each confessed to the crime and fingered Pierce as the shooter. The two were jailed on aggravated battery charges. But the stories the teens told began to unravel as investigators worked through the day Tuesday interviewing friends and acquaintances of Summers and Freidhof. Hill said people had seen Freidhof Saturday night at another location far from the Bicentennial Center.

"It would have been pretty much physically impossible for him to have been at the scene at the time of the shooting," Hill said. Officers searched throughout Monday night and Tuesday for Pierce. A family member got in touch with Pierce late Tuesday, and he went to the police department voluntarily with his attorney, Hill said. Pierce told investigators where he was Saturday night and whom he was with. Lt.

Mike Sweeney was able to confirm Pierce's alibi. "Investigators are satisfied that he was not involved," Hill said. Investigators talked again with Summers and Freidhof, and they recanted, Hill said. Hill said investigators had gotten several tips leading to Summers, Freidhof and Pierce, with several people identifying See FAKE, A2 Emotional Ito pulls out from ruling on tapes 1 Detective's remarks involve judge's wife By Trio Associated Prosi LOS ANGELES His voice choked with emotion, the O.J. Simpson trial judge disqualified himself Tuesday from ruling on explosive tapes involving his po- lice-captain wife and Detective i Mark Fuhrman but stopped short of turning the entire trial over to another judge.

$, The prosecution, however, ar-; gued that Superior Court Judge Lance Ito should remove himself completely from the case, which he has overseen for more than a year. "I love my wife dearly," Ito said from the bench, halting to fight for composure, "and I am wounded by criticism of her, as any spouse would be. "I think it's reasonable to as- sume that could have some impact," Ito said of his reaction to remarks by Fuhrman, a star witness in the case who spoke disparagingly of Capt. Margaret York, the judge's wife. Disclosure of specific racist remarks Fuhrman made on the tapes and the comments about Ito's wife threw the trial into chaos and threatened a substantial delay.

"This is a blockbuster! This is a bombshell!" defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. said. "This is perhaps the biggest thing that's happened in any case in this country in this decade." The defense team suggested outside court that Fuhrman should be indicted for perjury based on his taped comments. Attorney Robert Shapiro told reporters that prosecutors' attempt to remove Ito was an exercise in "forum shopping" as they sought a judge less likely to admit large portions of Fuhrman's The Associated Press Superior Court Judge Lance Ito pauses to compote himself Tuesday after acknowledging he was wounded by disparaging remarks made about his wife, police Capt. Margaret York.

offensive remarks. Cochran went further and said it was an outright bid for a mistrial. "Today the wheels came off the wagon of their case and all the world can see it," Cochran said. "They want a delay. They want to upset this jury.

They want a mistrial, it seems to us." S0o FUHRMAN, Page A2 Perot's conference drew all kinds of people By GORDON D. FIBDIIR JR. Salina Journal Fresh from three days in Dallas as a delegate to the United We Stand America National Conference, Salinan Mike Wilson said he doubted a third political party will etnerge from the forum, which attracted about 3,500 people nationwide. I don't think there's much chance for UWSA to start a third party," he jsajd. "It would be a tremendous amount of work, If there are good conservative candidates out there we like already, why form a third party?" Besides, he said, talk of a third party was a "very minor" part of the conference.

Also, Wilson believes UWSA membership is too diverse for a separate party. "It's mostly Republican, but there are some Democrats and independents," he said. He attended a workshop on tax reform, and participants couldn't reach a consensus on a flat tax, national sales tax or other plans. "It was evenly divided," said Wilson, who is for the First Congressional District of UWSA of Kansas. Founded by billionaire businessman and 1992 presidential candidate Ross Perot, UWSA functions as an educational, nonpartisan and nonprofit group to inform the pub- lic about government policy issues.

There were 36 scheduled speakers who addressed the crowd from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. the first two days. The third day, 8 a.m. to noon was devoted to 13 workshops on such topics as balancing the federal budget, health care reform and foreign trade and job creation.

The goal of the conference, Wilson said, was to educate delegates on issues. "Over the years, UWSA on the local level developed issues that were important and sent them on to the state level (and then) to the national level. What Perot did was select speakers who would talk about those is- sues," Wilson said. Addressing the delegates were many presidential candidates, but also such speakers as Bernadine Healy, former director of the National Institutes of Health; Barbara Jordan, chairman of the Commission on Immigration Reform; Laurence Kotlikoff, economics professor at Boston University, and Marcy Kaptur, former urban advisor in the Carter Administration. When Perot took the podium, he didn't mention running for president.

"He would prefer not to run. He would like to stay in the background and keep things going," Wilson said. Medicare cuts could devastate Roberts says it's not an attempt to slash By LINDA MOWERY-DENNING The Salina Journal There could be more critical times ahead for rural hospitals across Kansas if Washington lawmakers are successful in their attempt to slash $270 billion from the Medicare budget over the next seven years. Some of the state's 127 hospitals might not survive, according to a report from the Kansas Hospital Association. "The cumulative effect of the previous reductions have left most Kansas hospitals in a fragile financial condition when providing services to Medicare beneficiaries," the report said.

"The continued erosion of Medicare updates, which have not kept up with medical inflation since 1986, threatens the very existence of health services in many Kansas communities." Kim Hardman, administrator of the Decatur County Hospital in northwest Kansas, sees a growing threat to the hospital industry. "Health care already is in critical condition, so this is just another thing that threatens an industry that's already struggling," he said. "Historically, it's the hospitals that have taken the hit every time. They just keep squeezing and squeezing and squeezing." The first hit came in the early 1980s when the program's reimbursement method was changed. Instead of actual costs, hospitals were paid for their services based on pre-established rates.

At the same time, payments were adjusted in favor of CONGRESS, A9 iKlcVeigh, Nichols plead innocent attorney says trial impossible By The Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY Timothy JWcVeigh and Terry Nichols pleaded in- Tuesday to the worst terrorist at- tadk on American soil, and defense attor- 1 's complained the crowd at the ar- gnment showed a fair trial would be ossible so near the bombing site. I plead not guilty," McVeigh, dressed in prison khakis and blue slip-on sneakers, told U.S. Magistrate Ronald Howland. 1 "Your honor, I am innocent," Nichols, dressed in a blue blazer, a light blue oxford shirt, khaki trousers and polished brown shoes, said at a separate hearing. Both men could face the death penalty in the April 19 bombing of the Alfred P.

Murrah Federal Building, wjjich killed 168 people and injured more (ban 500. TJ The courthouse where McVeigh and Nichols appeared is across the street from the site of the explosion, which killed the 14-month-old daughter of The Associated Press Timothy McVeigh appears in federal court with his attorney, Stephen Jones. Sharon Coyne, a deputy court clerk who attended the arraignments. "We believe in the law and that they are innocent until proven guilty," Coyne said. But defense attorney Michael Tigar and Stephen Jones, the leader of McVeigh's defense team, maintain a fair trial is impossible so close to the site of the bombing because so many judges, court employees and potential jurors knew victims.

"These people are in a sense the victims of the case that is going to be tried," Tigar said. "It is inappropriate to ask these people, possessing the feelings that they evidently do, to sit in dispassionate judgment upon these events." Jones has hinted that keeping the case in Oklahoma City could foster more violence. "The worst mistake that could be made for our criminal justice system and for confidence in our institutions and indeed for domestic tranquility would be to do anything other than to give our client an absolutely fair trial," he said. Tigar protested the seating of Nichols' mother, brother, sister and brother-in- law at the back of the courtroom. Most of the front third of the courtroom was packed with court employees who were let in through a back door before the front doors were unlocked.

"Didn't anybody have enough respect for the family to let us sit up front?" Terry Nichols' brother James asked. Amazing maize The Associated Press A maze is carved out of a 3-acre section of Jim Wit tor's cornfield in Shippensburg, Pa. The maze will enter the Guinness Rook of World records when the annual Shippensburg Corn Festival opens Saturday. INDEX Almanac A8 Classified B7 Encore Friday Lottery numbers A9 Scoreboard Includes events, movie listings, Comlca A7 Llfeaporta Thursday Money B10 Sports horoscopes, TV log, weather and on Crossword A7 Lifestyles B1 Obituaries A9 TV Week Sunday, the crossword puzzle Editorials A4 A3 Religion Saturday USA Weekend B4 B3 Saturday Sunday COASTAL RESIDENTS BRACE FOR HURRICANE FELIX PAGE A6 FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FANS LAY MICKEY MANTLE TO REST PAGE B3 I.