The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 1

Jobless rate climbs to 5.6 percent Business, El Indiana runs away from Hens 85-68 Sports, B1 13th centurv Scotland to 20th century Newark pacejcf The News bum 1995, The News Journal Co. A Gannett newspaper 500 Wilmington, Del. 117th year, No. 244 SATURDAY Dec. 9, 1995 I KENT SUSSEX 3 1 Before Newt, dm Pont ran GOPAC wmm "We didn't make contributions a secret.

We made no effort to keep the donors a secret. Frank A. Ursomarso, former GOPAC treasurer Region expecting heavy snowfall By NAN CLEMENTS Staff reporter Ho Ho Snow. Delaware's due to receive its second dose of the season today. New Castle County will get the most, with 2 to 4 inches expected before the precipitation turns to sleet and rain by mid-afternoon today.

Weather authorities say to expect slippery roads as temperatures drop. Kent County may get 1 or 2 inches, Sussex none. was a modest operation, its capital-letter name a clever melding of the Republican Party's nickname, the Grand Old Party, and the standard abbreviation for a political action committee, an organization that solicits and distributes campaign contributions. Today GOPAC's Delaware roots are largely forgotten. Instead, it is associated with Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was an up-and-coming conservative congressman when du Pont bequeathed him the organization in 1986.

GOPAC became an early adjunct of Gingrich's political em- candidates. Du Pont launched GOPAC strictly as a state and local operation, although there was a broadly national rationale and it was coordinated with the Republican National Committee. GOPAC's original purpose: to groom a Republican farm team by electing legislators throughout the country who could become future congressional candidates. Of course, if it became a vehicle for du Pont's budding presidential aspirations, that was all right, too. See GOPAC A16 pire, now under scrutiny by the House ethics committee and the Federal Election Commission.

The election commission is questioning whether GOPAC un der Gingrich became involved in congressional elections, including Gingrich's own in a Georgia district, when it was legally allowed only to support state and local By CELIA COHEN Staff reporter -It was 1979. Pierre S. du Pont IV, Delaware's first-term Republican governor, was having thoughts about becoming a national player. He gathered his political brain trust Secretary of State Glenn C- Kenton, Union Park auto dealer Frank A. Ursomarso and a national consultant named Douglas Bailey and they kicked around some ideas.

They came up with GOPAC. In those early days, GOPAC Wilmington police chief gets bonus of $4,500 By TRIF ALATZAS Staff reporter WILMINGTON City employees are enduring their third straight year without a pay raise, but not Police Chief Samuel Pratcher, who received a $4,500 bonus this week. Pratcher, who is paid $67,000 a year (not counting the bonus), received the money Thursday to put more distance between what he is paid and what the two inspectors who report to him are paid. Pratcher requested the bonus called "incentive" pay from (0) IKQT i. I I I I i i Ill Yrt i fete t.

Concord Mall i ti Regal Cinemas Inc. 5 of Knoxville, plans to build a 16-to 18-screen movie complex in the new Regal Cinema commits to Brandywine By MAUREEN MILFORD Staff reporter Brandywine Town Center, the proposed mall at Concord Pike and Naamans Road, will become home to the largest theater complex in the state. Regal Cinemas, which owns 121 theaters in 16 states, confirmed Friday that it has agreed to build a 16- to 18-screen theater complex and family entertainment center by Thanksgiving next year. Plans for the Regal theater are expected to be disclosed at a Tuesday news conference held by developers Ernest F. Delle Donne and John W.

Rollins Sr. "We've been looking to get in that general area North Wilmington for four years," said Keith Thompson, Regal's vice president of real estate development, based in Knoxville, Tenn. "We know, based on the population and demographics of the area, that the market is not adequately served." Thompson said Regal's planned complex would include a Fun-scape center featuring enclosed miniature golf, video batting cages, bumper cars, go-carts and a soft play area for small children. The $125 million total mall proj- mall Saying goodbye ABOVE: Air Force personnel, part of the United Nations peacekeeping force headed for Bosnia, file into their chartered Boeing 747 early Friday morning at Dover Air Force Base. The plane was scheduled to land in Bosnia after a short stopover in Germany.

RIGHT: Sgt. John Lynn says goodbye to his wife Julie and his son Christopher before Air Force personnel leave Dover Air Force Base for Bosnia. Christopher will have his first birthday two weeks after his father lands in Bosnia. Stories, A1 7. The News JournalGARY EMEIGH I' i 'm Lt ill) imnrimtil Mayor James H.

Sills Jr. this month after outlining the discrepancy. In a memo to Pratcher, Sills wrote "that the overall job and command of responsibilities and risks of the chief of police justify a greater salary differential than the present 3.3 percent between the chiefs salary and the two subordinate police inspectors." 'But Sills said he was not making a commitment for a similar incentive next year. Sills said he'd try to correct the difference in the salaries in the next budget, which begins in July. Pratcher has two inspectors who each receive base pay of about $60,000 annually.

But, with incentives, each makes more than that. In the memo, Sills said he is "philosophically opposed to providing financial incentives to the chief of police unless the city is prepared to also provide similar financial incentives to directors of other departments." But he said he made the exception because of the financial discrepancy. "It just sends the wrong message to the rank and file people," said City Council Finance Committee Chairman Robert F. Pop-piti, who plans to run in the Democratic primary against Sills next year. "Nothing against Sam Pratcher, but to give a bonus at a time when we're not giving employees raises, I think it's demoralizing." The union representing the city's 244 police officers has been negotiating for a raise in recent months.

Union officials said they didn't have a problem with Pratcher's bonus, saying he deserved it. The News JoumalLESLIE UDRY ect, which is still in the approval stage, was more hotly debated than any shopping center development in Delaware history. It calls for 1.1 million square feet of retail space on 97 acres. The land had been the site of the Rollins' Brandywine Raceway harness racing track for 36 years. The developers are also expected to announce they have signed Best Products a catalog showroom retailer, as an anchor tenant.

The company has said it expects to relocate in 1996 from its current site on U.S. 202 to a store in the mall. Bruton lauded as quiet force Mourners remember him 7u Cops collar bandit with taste for burglary HIGH LOW vv tt' 42 23 Details on A4 as a gentleman, integration pioneer and fine ballplayer. By TdM TOMASHEK Staff reporter WILMINGTON William Havon Bruton, a good and gracious man and a great athlete, was buried on a sunny Friday afternoon in Delaware. Bruton, 69, a former major-league baseball standout who died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack, was honored by approximately 300 family members and friends at Congo Funeral Home before his burial in Gracelawn Memorial Park in Minquadale.

The Rev. Clyde H. Knotts said the service was a celebration of Bruton's life, which was measured not by the statistics he compiled in 12 seasons with the former BostonMilwaukee Braves and Detroit Tigers, but by his acts and achievements within his nation, community and circle of friends. Wilmington Mayor James H. Sills Jr.

spoke of his feelings about Bruton before reading an official proclamation to Bruton's widow, Loretta. "Bill Bruton has left the nation a rich legacy," Sills said. "He was an outstanding athlete, baseball player, and he achieved a certain level of excellence in his performance which will serve as a model and inspiration to our young people for years to come. "But more importantly, Bill had a certain attitude and behavior which I believe will serve as a model and inspiration for years to come an attitude and behavior that stand in sharp contrast to those of El DearAbbv C4 Business A18 Editorial Classified C4 Automotive D1 Movies Stolen goods included $4,000 and a 20-pound box of chicken wings By J.L.MILLER Dover Bureau reporter DOVFR A bandit with a taste for Mongolian food, chicken wings and Tasty Kakes has been nabbed by city police after a string of burglaries at area restaurants. Friday night, his menu included fried fish, stewed tomatoes, mixed vegetables, bread and butter, fruit drink and gelatin, with tartar sauce on the side.

In prison. Steven M. Trasser, 21, of the first block of Spruance Road, was being held on $44,500 bond Friday at Delaware Correctional ('enter near Smyrna, facing 41 counts of burglary, theft and criminal chief, according to documents at Magistrate Court 7 in Dover. Trasser was collared early Thursday outside the Mongolian Restaurant, 645 N. Du Pont Highway, when a patrolman saw his car parked outside and the restaurant's front-door glass broken out, court records show.

The tread on Trasser's sneakers matched footprints left at other restaurants that were burglarized in the last several months, according to court records. On Trasser's menu of alleged break-ins were: Ripe Tomatoes, S. Du Pont Highway. Pizza Time, 1225 S. State St.

Cnpriotti's, 321-F Independence Blvd. Leo's Pizza, 510 Jeffrie Blvd. Domino's Pizza, 789 Walker Road. See FOOD BURGLAR A16 Obituaries A19 Public Diary A6 Employment E5 Real Estate Tab Comics C5 B1 Sports Special to The News JournalTIM SHAFFER Widow Loretta Bruton is consoled by pallbearer Otis A. Heady Jr.

after Friday's funeral. Sills was the first of many to praise Bruton the man, whose casket was covered by an American flag, acknowledgment of his military service from spring 1944 until October 1947. Bruton volunteered for the U.S. Army immediately after he graduated from Parker High School in Birmingham, Ala. Ben Wiltbank and Nathan "Doc" Hill, Delawar-eans involved in youth activities, cited Bruton for his enthusiastic support of their work.

Reflecting Bruton's interest, his family has suggested that, instead of flowers, any donations in Bruton's name be made to Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Delaware. See BRUTON A16 Crossword C4 Television C2 50 many athletes today. rtlwwitliwaulHiri.ii1.