The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 1

j' --ir Whipping up the perfect picnic Life Leisure, D1 Bank machines may rely on eye scan Business, B5 Rocks win with a grand slam it Sports, CI 1 996, The News Journal Co. A Gannett newspaper Wilmington, Del. 118th year, No. 76 400 New Castle County stores, sue all other stores WEDNESDAY May 29, 1996 FINAL EDITION flme News faults workers in blackout PSC told basic goof cut off 'juice' Analysts say Israeli race too close to call With the Palestinian territories sealed off and 26,000 police and soldiers on guard against violence, Israelis vote today in a national election that will determine the future of Middle East peacemaking. Schools and government offices are closed.

Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu campaigned until the last minute Tuesday. Polls give Peres so slim a lead that political analysts said the outcome was still too close to call. See articles, A2 in the ground." Cosgrove would not say whether any action had been taken against the employees. He also would not estimate the economic impact of the power outage, which lasted seven hours in some parts of the peninsula. The cost to the company was minimal, he said.

"It wasn't like a winter storm that takes down lines." Delmarva Power will work to resolve claims resulting from the outage "honestly, fairly and promptly on an individual basis," Cosgrove told the commission. the units more thoroughly, or one at a time," the blackout would have been averted, Perry said. Instead, because there were no labels, 32 non-modified control relays were installed in 16 circuit breakers and eight more were placed in other locations. It was not an error expected of trained personnel, Cosgrove said. "When we tell our media relations person to put out a news release, we don't tell her to be sure to spell the words correctly.

When we send our linemen out to install a pole, we don't tell them the big end goes and costing between $10 and $20 in a remote terminal unit of the Keeney substation near Newark. But the two-man crew installed improper relays and when they threw the switch to return power, "there was smoke and the system went dark," Frank J. Perry, vice president of production, told the Public Service Commission. A series of events, beginning with a cost-cutting modification of the relays to avoid purchasing new later, death car surfaces UM)U mm On i I All Three guilty of Whitewater fraud ones, led to the biggest power outage since the East Coast blackout of 1965, chairman Howard E. Cos-grove said.

A couple of years ago, Delmarva Power determined the relay units had become inadequate. But a company engineer found that snipping off a metal prong on each relay allowed it to work, Perry said. The problem, though, was that "the modified relays were not adequately labeled," he said. The technicians did a visual check but did not test the individual control relays. "If they had tested one of the bodies.

Ballistics tests will be conducted to determine whether that gun was involved in the shooting, Davis said. Neighbors, lured by police cars lined up along Confluence Court, gathered and stared silently toward the gray-and-red house with electric candles twinkling in the windows. Debbie Johnson, who lives several houses away from the couple on West Mill Station Drive, said she had passed Grant Walter out walking the family's black Labrador about 7:30 a.m. See SHOOTING A6 3 j6 By JAMES JEFFERSON Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. In a major blow to President Clinton's hopes of laying the Whitewater scandal to rest before Election Day, his former business partners, James and Susan McDougal, and Gov.

Jim Guy Tucker were convicted of fraud Tuesday. Within hours, Tucker, a Democrat who succeeded Clinton as governor, said he would resign July 15. A federal jury in the first trial to emerge from the the Arkansas real estate case deliberated eight days before convicting all three defendants, despite the president's videotaped testimony for the defense. "At 5 p.m. today, the cover-up began to unravel," said Tony Blankley, House Speaker Newt Gingrich's spokesman.

Asked whether the verdict meant the jurors did not believe his testimony that he did not discuss il- By JANE BROOKS Staff reporter DOVER Delmarva Power Light Co. officials Tuesday blamed human error for the May 14 power failure that cut off electricity to 300,000 customers on the Delmarva Peninsula. It should have been a routine job replacing 40 control relays, each about the size of an ice cube Decades Divers find more skeletal remains inside By ESTEBAN PARRA Sussex Bureau reporter SEAFORD Captivated by the mystery of human bones found in a submerged car, onlookers watched Tuesday as police fished John Stewart's 1965 Cadillac from the watery grave that has held it since 1968. "This is his car," said Joan Banks, who was a teen-age acquaintance when Stewart, who was in his 40s, and his employee, Carolyn Thomas, 23, disappeared Jan. 16, 1968.

"This closes the mystery." Banks was just one of the more than 20 people who stood in the muddy median strip near the U.S. 13 overpass where Delaware State Police one week ago found skeletal remains in the car submerged 20 feet in the Nanticoke River. No one is sure what led to their death. Pending a positive identification, police spokesman Cpl. Preston A.

Lewis said investigators believe the remains are those of Stewart and Thomas, both of the Seaford area. Stewart's credit card was found among the remains. More skeletal remains, including a second jawbone with a set of teeth, were found Tuesday morning by police divers before the car was pulled out of the water. See CAR A6 Newark Police suspect murder-suicide By TERRI SANGINITI Staff reporter NEWARK A West Branch couple who neighbors said were getting divorced were found shot to death Tuesday afternoon in a case police were investigating as a murder-suicide. HIGH LOW 67 51 Details on B2 mm Business B5 Movies D6 Classified C7 Obituaries B2 Comics D7 People D2 Crossword D6 Public diary B4 DearAbby D6 Scoreboard C2 Editonal A8 Sports C1 Letters A8 Television D8 1 1 II II II I llll MMII I 23 0ll4690152233''l Special to The News JoumalRALPH FRESO vyhere it has rested since 1968.

Police prepare to haul away a 1965 Cadillac pulled from the Nanticoke River, couple found slain Whitewater sure to dog president into A4 legal loans, Clinton said: "I doubt that but you ought to ask them." One juror, Risa Briggs, 41, said, "President Clinton is a very credible witness, but his testimony didn't really relate to the transactions we were dealing with." She said she didn't see any reason for further investigation of Clinton. McDougal was convicted on 18 of 19 counts of fraud and conspiracy, and Tucker was found guilty on two of seven counts one each of fraud and conspiracy. His wife was convicted on all four fraud-related charges against her. McDougal, 55, faces 84 years in prison and $4.5 million in fines. His 41-year-old ex-wife faces as much as 17 years behind bars and a $1 million fine.

Tucker, 52, could get up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Living wills on agenda in Senate By NANCY KESLER Dover Bureau chief DOVER The issue of death and dying returns to the Senate's agenda Thursday. Lawmakers are expected to take up legislation that would allow peo- School ratings passes B1 pie greater say in specifying in advance what life-sustaining procedures they want used in cases of terminal illness or coma. A living will allows an individual to refuse care, including food and water. S.S.

1 for S.B. 72 would allow people to name an agent to carry out their wishes should they become incapacitated; a surrogate could be appointed if no agent was named. "I wouldn't be surprised if there are further amendments offered in the Senate," said Sen. Patricia M. Blevins, D-Elsmere, the bill's cosponsor.

"I don't know where this thing will end up." Supporters say they would be content to have the bill pass without further amendment in the interest of getting a law on the books without further delay. Gov. Carper has said he would sign the bill if it isn't significantly changjt. The News JoumalGINGER WALL Sharon White, a friend of Susan and Grant Walter, comforts her son Ricky Tuesday after he learned of the couple's death. ffwith sax greai KICKS 0 Neighbors identified the pair as Susan J.

Walter, 36, and Grant L. Walter, 46, of the first block of Confluence Court. Newark police spokesman Pfc. Curt Davis said police were called to the home in the upscale West Branch development after the woman's co-workers at W.L. Gore Associates Inc.

asked them to check on her. Police discovered the two bodies about 2:30 p.m. upstairs in the four-bedroom home. A handgun was recovered near By GARY MULLINAX Staff reporter WILMINGTON The five-day Clifford Brown Jazz Festival gets under way tonight when saxophonist Sonny Rollins plays two sets with his sextet at Wilmington's Rodney Square. Rollins was in a band led by Wilmington native Brown and drummer Max Roach in 1956 when Brown was killed in an automobile accident at age 26.

"I'm really pleased to come to Brownie's home town," said Rollins, who is considered one of the most important figures in mainstream (bebop-oriented) jazz, thanks to such albums as "Saxophone Colossus" and "Tenor Mad- TT Mb jazz i est Brown changed my life in that he was such a humble person to be such a great musician," Rollins said. "He sort of gave me an idea of how I should be in that part of my own life." About 45,000 people are expected to attend the eighth annual festival; many of them from other cities on the East Coast. The largest crowds are expected for the more accessible "smooth" jazz due later in the week including trumpet player Rick Braun on Saturday. Admission to the festival is free. Visitors are encouraged to bring blankets or beach chairs.

Food and beverage vendors will be lined up next to the square. 3 and Colonial lot, Washington Street and Delaware Avenue. Tonight: Sonny Rollins (two sets) Thursday: Betty Carter, Terence Blanchard Friday: Boney James, Norman Brown Saturday: Tania Maria, Poncho Sanchez, Rick Braun, Keiko Matsui Sunday: Bela Fleck the Fleck-tones, Tuck Patti lifestyle, was a good influence on Rollins, who joined Brown's group after overcoming drug problems. "My relionship with Clifford EZZ 7 V4 What: Clifford Brown Jazz Festival When: 7-10 p.m. today through Fit, 1-7 p.m.

2-5 p.m. Sun. Where: Rodney Square, 11th and Market streets, Wilmington Admission: Free Information: 571-5899 Parking: Free parking at Wilmington Parking Authority lot, Eighth and Orange streets; Brandywine Gateway lot, 13th and King streets; ness," the latter with John Coltrane. Brown, a major trumpet innovator for his temperate.