The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 1

mmtammMmmmmvM mm 1 ff -l 3 Watching the new year ring in The TV book Castle on Castle Perspective, B7 t0 Who's in and what's out Pace, EIOQ fir.x The top fives of fun Entertainment, F13 undav News burn 1992, The News Journal Co. Wilmington, Del. A Gannett newspaper Volume 18, No. Volume 18, No. 52 $1.50 FINAL EDITION i Dec.

27, 1992 Sanford 56 Sun Valley 39 Ursuline42 Strath Haven 31 Padua 63 William Penn 56 St. Elizabeth 62 St. Mark's 34 Sports, C1 lo DeloQ it9 a otiestioe of life or death 9 tle more than two months have sent a chill through the criminal defense bar in the state. Many defense attorneys point to the new death penalty statute as the catalyst for the death sentences. In November 1991, four Philadelphia men were sentenced to life for gun-See DEATH All In two months, four men have been sentenced to die.

Was the new capital punishment law the catalyst or were the decisions inevitable? review by the state Supreme Court justices. Another man, James Red Dog, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to death by a judge without a jury decision. That sentence has since been upheld by the state Supreme Court, and Red Dog is scheduled to die in March. Four death sentences imposed in lit Then the law changed. In 1992, 11 men found themselves in the same position, convicted of first-degree murder and defending their lives in penalty phases.

Three Robert Allen Gattis, Jer-maine Marlow Wright and Cornelius Ferguson have been sentenced to death. All three sentences are undergoing By TEDCADDELL Staff reporter WILMINGTON In 1991, seven convicted murderers stood before Superior Court juries and waited to learn if they would receive the death penalty. All seven enjoyed the mercy of the jurors and were sentenced to life instead. Operation Restore Hope lifl ALL eturnOayatth A meeting of minds for Clinton 1 I. JCtr im ii i i 'l- i- -i-" It.llFaii.lp; s-t Troops poisod for last towns Guns reportedly -starting to vanish By JEFFREY ULBRICH Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia Italian, Canadian and U.S.

troops laid final plans Saturday to take over the two remaining towns targeted in Operation Restore Hope. Although lawless gunmen still roam the country, U.S. envoy Marines' status report A7 Robert Oakley said Saturday that guns were beginning to disappear. Oakley said in an interview with the Voice of America that he has told Somali clan leaders in Mogadishu and Baidoa that the U.S. -led forces "would destroy technicals" if they return to the cities.

An armored reconnaissance party leading two Italian companies left Mogadishu Saturday and stopped 15 miles outside Gaila-lassi, 90 miles north. They were expected to move in this mornjng. Canadian paratroopers and U.S. Army troops were poised for a helicopter arrival Monday in Belet Huen, near Ethiopia. The Canadians plan to guard the feeding centers there something the Americans have not done.

American, French and Belgian troops have already secured Mogadishu, Beli Dogle, Baidoa, Kis-mayu, Bardera and Hoddur as hubs for feeding the starving. Unsolved slaying still torments grieving family By ANN STEWART Staff reporter HARRINGTON Every now Day-after shoppers find bargains By SUSAN BAER The Baltimore Sun LITTLE ROCK, Ark. How will policy wonk Bill Clinton spend New Year's Eve? With 1,509 of America's best and brightest sharing ideas instead of noisemakers and party hats. As they have done every New Year's weekend for the last eight years, the Clinton family will be at the "Renaissance Weekend" in Hilton Head, S.C. The four-day retreat is short on partying at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, everyone joins hands, sings "Auld Lang Syne" and "God Bless America" and hugs and long on talk.

Social policy talk. Economics talk. Legal talk. Self-examination talk. This year, more than 200 organized talks, all for a registration fee of about $800 per couple.

Clearly Bill Clinton's kind of gig: The non-partisan Renaissance Weekend was started in 1981 by South Carolina businessman Philip Lader and his wife, Linda. Lader, now president of Bond University in Australia, defines his vision for the group: "An extended family of gifted individuals who share commitment to the transforming power of ideas and relationships and to gather informally with the objective of personal and national renewal." A virtual "Who's Who" come to life, the exclusive society includes many of Clinton's Oxford chums, fellow governors past and present, numerous members of Congress, and intelligentsia from the worlds of business, government, acade-mia, science, religion, the media, the arts. Many members of Clinton's administration in the making Secretary of Education-designate Richard Riley, policy adviser Bruce Reed, transition board member and former Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin, for instance are Renaissance regulars. Others in the eclectic group include former John F.

Kennedy adviser Ted Sorenson, biophysicist Estelle Ramey, Reagan and Bush speech writer Peggy Noonan, tennis star Stan Smith, former Miss America Phyllis George, humor columnist Art Buchwald, Bush's Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander, Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edel-man, "Fortune" editor Marshall Loeb and former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh. "People tend to open up at this in a personal way," says Cynthia Schneider, an art history professor at Georgetown University who has been attending for 10 years. "Somehow, all these people manage to forget who they are in real life." Unas Archie of Middletown tries to find his car Saturday In the lammed parking lot at Christiana Mall. By SARA-ELLEN AMSTER Staff reporter Sudler. "We're buying all Christmas stuff for next year Santa Clauses and angels." Tinamarie Sudler also was returning gifts and spending Christmas money from her grandmother.

She exchanged clothing and fragrances and bought speakers for her portable CD player. "Macy's was awful," she said. "I had to sit down because people were just pushing and shoving." Others, too, approached with bags of gifts v' ss CHRISTIANA Brian Troutner, 16, thought he had found the perfect earrings for his girlfriend. He gave her everything else first and saved the best for last. But when she unwrapped the box Christmas Eve, it was empty.

And the day after Christmas, Brian was back at J.C. Penney in Christiana Mall for an explanation and a refund. "I was shocked," recalled Brian, of Bethel Township, as he stopped to rest with his father, Jerrold, and 12-year-old sister, Tara. My girlfriend "looked at me like I was nuts. She thought it was a joke at A 1 -tx -I v.

and then, Diana Rhinehardt is on her job as a waitress when she spots a white-haired woman across the room, and just for an instant her heart leaps. "One day I saw a customer who looked so Rosemarle Sud-ler (left), daughter Tlnamarie and sister Kathy Lewis of New Castle. first. I ve been walking around all day trying to find something else for her, and I can't find anything!" Shoppers were out in force Saturday searching for post-holiday bargains and returning the unwanted. "I just got here at 12 o'clock, and it's been ytL.

a much like my Mom that I broke down," said Rhinehardt, 38, of Milford. "I just thought for a minute that it must be her, but of course I knew ii i i uj Cathy Osborne (left) and Jean Farris have lunch at Christiana Mall. Farris is holding a red sweat shirt she planned to exchange lor another color. Both women are from Newark. DONOVAN like a maanouse, saia vendor Sherry Hefner, 20, who was selling stockings and Santa caps at half-price.

In the food court, Tinamarie Sudler, 27, of New Castle, her mother, Rosemarie, and aunt Kathy Lewis sat surrounded by shopping bags. Rosemarie Sudler said they had found bargains galore, spending about $200 on items that would have cost $500. Some monev went for The White House they didn't want. They had to search long and hard to snag a parking space. Peggy Stanley's stroller was filled with gifts to return, including new pants that had a hole in them.

She was with her children, Katlyn, 2, and Megan, 1, and her sister Polly Beaird, 24. "My husband picked up the wrong shoe size," said Stanley, 22, of Elkton, laughing. Jean Farris, of Newark, goes shopping every year the day after Christmas. She was wearing a Christmas sweater she bought three years ago Dec. 26.

This year, she came with her friend, Cathy Osborne, to return the bright-red sweat shirt from her husband. How did she break the news to him? "I just said, 'Do you have the Farris said. "I don't really hate it. I just would prefer another color." TRANSITION it couldn't be It's been nearly VA years since Rhinehardt's mother, 70-year-old Dorothy Donovan, whs killed in her Harrington farmhouse. She was stabbed more than two dozen times as she lay in bed.

Her family still is grieving for the gentle woman who loved her church and her garden, who was stubbornly independent but also very close to her children and grandchildren. And they are still wondering what could have happened the night of June 22, 1991, See UNSOLVED A6 ornaments to replace those shattered when their Christmas tree tumbled over Christmas Eve. "We're having a ball," said Rosemarie Brian Troutner of Bethel Township, needed a replacement gift for his girlfriend. Clinton and Congress: How long will the honeymoon last? A2 fo. Editorial: Cabinet choices fill campaign promises but might need to be changed B7 Cal Thomas on Hillary Clinton, "the shadow president" B1 0 Colin McEnroe: Some modest proposals for the president-elect E6 Staff photos by Fred Comegys 52 SELL WITH CLASSIFIEDS.

CALL 324-2600. FOR HOME DELIVERY, CALL 324-2700 OR (800) 235-9100. Index Business 01 Classified 01 Crossword E7 Oear Abby E7 Editorial B8 Letters B8 Lotteries B3 WeathenCold Movies F2 Mostly sunny and cold. Highs In Obituaries B4 the low or mid-308. Lows In the People ES 20s.

Increasing cloudiness to-Public Diary 83 night Mostly cloudy Monday with Scoreboard CD rain or snow possible. Highs In Spoils C1 the 30s. DETAILS, 62. Weddings E4 "A cesspool of complaints" Apartment tenants complain about everything from no heat to cockroaches and the manager has been fined for dumping sewage, Article, B1. Sports flash Football: Texas suspends star Basketball: Bol has new role with 76ers Football: Raiders beat Redskins Football: Saints throttle Jets fr- "4O90U52527.