Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 1

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J- I II -l'J- 150th Year No. 129 Chicago Tribune 7 Sections HOW WMAQ-TV MISREAD THE CHICAGO MARKET pringer nasco enas 3 accused of selling damaged jet parts U.S. says scheme targeted foreign, domestic airlines In an effort to punch up ratings, news VP Joel Cheatwood r. hires a talk-show host as commentator, losing anchor Carol Marin, who quits, saying she won't 1 A appear on same newscast as Jerry Springer. After two commentaries, management and Springer agree to split, leaving the station with ratings headed the wrong way.

TODAY'S TRiSUNE THE NBA PLAYOFFS Hawks fly; Bulls crash The Bulls can't stop Mookie Blaylock, fall into a 1-1 tie with the Atlanta Hawks in their conference semifinal series. Blaylock and Steve Smith combine for 53 95 103; points as the Bulls lose their first home playoff game since 1995. GAMEMAKER: Deadly Blaylock sinks an incredible 8 of 9 three-pointers. Lincicome: Clang, clang, clang! Wake up, Bulls. Ditch Rodman.

Revenge: Hawks guard pays back Bulls for Game 1 call. The report: Highlights and lowlights in Sports. BUSINESS Greenspan fires back Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan firmly defends his recent interest rate rise, and won't rule out another one. FRIDAY Movie reviews Bruce Willis slam-bang "The Fifth Element" and Billy Crystal and Robin Williams' "Fathers' Day" open. WEATHER Friday: Early rain, windy; high 56.

Friday night: Clear; low 36. Saturday: Partly sunny; high 61. Complete report, Sec. 2, pg. 7.

DETAILED "NDEX, PACE 4 7T- If TOM ill to hi! wM1 lift 11 mm illiii Tnbune pnoto oy Tony Bruno located in the NBC Tower, got 1,467 calls Tuesday from people saying they didn't support Springer. Rating the Chicago-area nightly news shows Executives at Channel 5 hoped commentary by Jerry Springer would help raise the newscast from its No. 2 spot in the Chicago market. Instead, ratings during the important May sweeps fell. Weekday ratings Percent of area households viewing the 10 p.m.

newscasts By Steve Johnson Tribune Television Critic Now Chicago will never know what Jerry Springer about Dennis Rodman. The tabloid talk-show host's commentary about the quintessential tabloid talk-show guest which WMAQ-Ch. 5 management had promised for Thursday's 10 p.m. newscast the previous night was canceled during the day Thursday, along with the rest of Springer's commentary appearances. The mutual decision marked the latest installment in a saga thatduring a week of declining ratings for WMAQ-TV news, continued public outcry, allegations that Springer's first commentary contained a lie, and more is starting to look like it might be bizarre.enough to meet the subject criteria for Springer's nationally syndicated talk show.

"It's been wild and woolly," said Joel Cheatwood, WMAQ-TVs vice president of news, one of the people who brought Springer in and one who didn't argue when he asked to head for the exit Ron Magers, the anchor who remained behind, with apparent reluctance, after longtime partner Carol Marin quit May 1 over Springer and other issues of news values, said, "I'm trying to recover By Matt O'Connor Tribune Staff Writer Shedding light on a shadowy underground market for airplane parts, federal prosecutors Thursday charged three Chicago-area businessmen in an alleged elaborate international scheme to sell damaged engine components that were scavenged from two commercial jets destroyed during the Persian Gulf war. Federal authorities allege that the Alsip businessmen doctored documents accompanying the parts, then sold them to more than 10 domestic and overseas airlines. Officials, dismissing a threat to safety, believe they have tracked down most of the bad parts by tracing a complex chain of purchases. But even after a global investigation over five years, authorities do not know exactly how many parts were salvaged from the engines by the schemers. Those charged are three employees of a defunct used aircraft parts brokerage who were assisted by a contact in Kuwait They are Robert Mansfield, former chief executive of Navaero Aviation who lives in Evergreen Park; and two former salesmen, Dennis McCormick of Northbrook and David Dohm of Tinley Park.

Parts illegally salvaged from crashes, along with counterfeit parts and other substandard components, are a closely watched problem for the nation's airlines. Federal authorities have cracked down, result-See Parts, Back Page Suburbs have own shepherds 2 Catholic bishops tend growing flocks By Dariene Gavron Stevens Tribune Staff Writer At first, the question caught Father Gregory Rothfuchs by surprise: Who do you think our new bishop is going to be? In the days before the installation of Chicago Archbishop Francis George this week, Rothfuchs found himself patiently explaining to his Naperville parishioners that they already have a bishop and that the new Chicago archbishop will have no direct impact on them. Certainly amid the hoopla surrounding George's installation, it is easy to forget that nearly a million parishioners who live just outside the borders of the massive Chicago archdiocese answer to a different pastoral leader. And they are divided between two very different dioceses: that of Joliet which covers seven counties, including DuPage, Will and Kendall and Rockford which covers 11 counties in northern Illinois from McHenry and Kane on the east to the banks of the Mississippi River. As for the leaders of those dioceses, while they are well-known within their spheres, they are scarcely household names.

Bishop Joseph Imesch is i the leader of the Joliet diocese, and Bishop Thomas Doran heads the Rockford diocese. And they not George or, before him, Cardinal Joseph See Bishops, Back Page ii the from the events of the past week, and Tm not at the point where I want to talk about it" But for all of the strange twists, the story is probably too meaty for a "Springer" episode: It looks to many observers like the tale of a television station's executives trying to dictate to viewers what they should like and viewers refusing to take that dictation. "It reaffirms one's sense of the mighty public and the capacity of public opinion, when directed toward an unpopular and unwise decision, to finally be triumphant," said Bruce J. Evensen, a professor at DeP-aul University's School of Communication who has followed the flap closely. "I can't think of anything more reassuring to critics of television news, and local television news particularly, than to see Carol Marin making her stand and to see tens of thousands of viewers who felt the same way indicating that they stand with her," Evensen said.

What had begun as a vigorous public debate over the substance of news even before 19-year veteran Marin resigned turned into an object lesson in what Chicago-ans will and will not stand for with their news. But with the ratings in decline, the decision to bring See Springer, Page 24 Because of the thousands of jobs and millions, if not billions, of dollars bases generate for the economies of their states and congressional districts, most members of Congress would almost rather vote for a tax increase than accept the loss of a big military installation in their jurisdiction. Since 1988, Congress has faced four rounds of politically painful closings, the last three undertaken by independent commissions created to insulate the base-closing process from political interference and pressure. The last round of cuts, approved in 1995 by a commission headed by former Sen. Alan Dixon (D took out 28 Army, 33 Navy and seven Air Force bases.

Since the cutbacks began, Dli A See Bases, Page 12 I I I Carol Marin's I farewell broadcast 1 0 springer's debut niiijiiiiiiuiiiiuiniuuiii, 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 its Imi Dbb.1 nat3 iad tm Iml APR. 28 JPR.29 IPR.30 Mi 'mi JKATS MATS ISY7 Source: Nielsen Media Reports Chicago Tribune Costa Ricans find profit in save-the-turtles effort Pentagon drops bomb: More bases on block 9 Bin Central America, Clinton pushes free trade. Page 19. Jeiner Vallejos mixes drinks for the tourists who have made their way to this remote Pacific Ocean beach. Vallejos grew up in a nearby village, and he remembers when the turtle eggs were a dietary staple.

Whisk them up with garlic, onion, bell pepper and a little oregano, fry them in oil and presto: endangered species omelet. "Back then we didn't realize," said Vallejos, 21. "Now they're seeing fewer and fewer turtles." These days, Vallejos and other residents are part of the effort to protect the leatherbacks at Playa Grande, which is a microcosm of the fragile and sometimes uneasy alliance of resi- By Bonnie DeSimone Tribune Staff Writer LAS BAULAS MARINE NATIONAL PARK, Costa Rica Where there once were millions, there are now thousands, but hatching season on Playa Grande is still an impressive sight. Baby leatherback turtles, no bigger around than the palm of a hand, nose their way out of eggs buried past the high-tide mark on the beach and shuffle awkwardly toward the sea on tiny flippers. Once in the water, the males will never touch land again.

The females, grown as large as 800 pounds and guided by an extraordinary homing mechanism, will return in 8 to 10 years to nest and start the cycle again. This nightly miracle takes place'close to the hotej where By Michael Kilian Washington Bureau WASHINGTON The Clinton administration threw Congress into an uproar this week with three scary words from the Pentagon: more base closings. The idea was as politically unnerving as a call for an end to federally funded highway construction or a proposed cut in Social Security benefits. If the administration prevails, well-known installations like Illinois' Rock Island Army Arsenal, Florida's Homestead Air Force Base and the Navy's Mof-fett Field in California could go on the scrap heap. The U.S.

maintains some 400 major military bases nationwide after post-Cold War downsizing in the last 10 years eliminated or congo'idated 97 others. ft''" See Turtles, Back Page The an site and from Photo by Michael JusticeThe Image Works placid leatherback turtle can grow to awesome size. At a threatened nesting in Costa Rica, onetime egg hunters developers are learning how to profit prefrvation through eco-tourism..