Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 1

A STAR EDITION Page 4 PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS Friday. Jan. 4, 1987 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF R. BUDD DWYER Tt? 1 1 ill i NS ft xv- iff I .4 i SS im mil First he noticed that the furniture in the Harrisburg office of -state Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer was arranged differently than it had been for other press conferences.

"That was my first inkling that something was wrong," said veteran television reporter Gene Schenck of WGAL-TV in Lancaster. "The other thing that was odd was that he insisted on closing the door to the room. It is never closed, and there was no reason to close it today." A reporter came in late and left the door ajar. Dwyer got up and shut it. Schenck felt no less uneasy as Pwyer, who was to be sentenced today for his conviction on bribery-conspiracy charges, launched into a disjointed, 30-minute tirade that he delivered red-faced and with perspiration pouring from his brow.

"I'm a Vietnam veteran and I just started picking up bad vibes," Schenck said. "When a couple TV crews started to leave, he said something like 'Don't leave, you don't want to miss the show' or words to that effect. "That's when the hairs stood up oh the back of my neck. I put down my notebook and tape recorder and leaned over to Channel 33 reporter Nell McCormick and said, 'Has it occurred to you this man may kill himself?" Moments later, Dwyer, 47, proclaimed, "it's too late for me," and he pulled a Magnum pistol rom a manila envelope. He held the gun up high in his right hand and warned the two dozen or so horrified onlookers that anyone approaching him faced danger.

"Stay away, this thing will hurt someone," he said. The altered layout of the room, with a long table between Dwyer and most of the others in the room, would have made reaching the pdium difficult. "It had to be a practiced move," Schenck said. With its six-inch barrel, the gun looked big even against Dwyer's 260-pound frame. "No, No! Budd, don't do this!" screamed several people gathered in Dwyer's office suite in the state Finance Building.

Dwyer then put the gun into his mouth and fired a single shot in full view of the reporters, photographers and aides gathered in the room. Associated Press by Paul VatNs State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer Staff writers Paul Maryniak, Joseph Daughetij Ann Gerhart, Tyree Johnson, Leslie Seism and Tom Cooneyand the Associated Press contributed to this report. It was written by. staff writer- Michael Sokolove.

Moments after the shot rang out, someone cried, "Dear God in heaven." A witness recalled that the sound of the gun going off "was not a deafening bang, but more like a very loud pop." Some in the room gasped or cried; Wire service reporters ran for telephones. James "Duke" Horshock, Dwyer's press secretary, shouted for reporters not to panic and to "show a little decorum." Most of the television and still photographers kept their lenses focused on Dwyer. "I was standing on a chair between two television guys," Associated Press photographer Paul Vathis reaches into manila envelope wrote in a story for the wire service. "Nothing went through my mind ex- -cept to keep shooting." Dwyer died instantly at about 11 a.m., said Dauphin County Coroner William Bush. Until the charges of corruption in office surfaced, the affable Dwyer seemed to have gracefully bridged two seemingly disparate worlds as he passed from a small-town history teacher and football coach from the rural northwest corner of the state into the world of statewide politics.

His modernization of the treasurer's office won him praise from members of both political parties. A Republican, he was first elected a state representative in 1964 at the age of 24. Two years earlier he had been teaching a high school course called "Problems of Democracy." In the sentencing that was scheduled for today in federal court in See DWYER Page 25 TV's Dilemma: How Much to Show and puts the 6-inch barrel ot the Magnum .357 into his mouth He Wouldn't Let Them Leave By DAVID FRIEDMAN Daily News TV Critic Seconds after the grisly final chapter in the Budd Dwyer saga played itself out in Harrisburg yesterday, another drama, this one behind the scenes, began unfolding in the newsrooms of Philadelphia's three network affiliates. 1 1 The Issue: Does a TV station broadcast suicide simply because it has tape available? News directors Randy Covington (Channel 3), Ned Warwick (Channel 6) and Jay Newman (Channel 10) had approximately one hour to wrestle with that question yesterday. This is what they decided, and why: At Channel 6, which has the region's most-watched news programs, the decision was made to show Dwyer firing the fatal shot into his mouth on the noon news.

Before the Dwyer report aired, however, co-anchor Chris Wagner warned viewers of the story's "tragic and terribly graphic" nature. "You're walking a tightrope in situations like this," Warwick said in a phone interview. "On one side, you have your journalistic responsibility to tell the whole story. On the other, you have matters of taste and sensibility." Channel 6 has no specific rules for such cases, Warwick "In this particular instance, we had a short amount of time to assess all of the video," he said. "Given that this-was a news conference by an important political figure, involving an important political story that we had been covering on a continuing basis, we decided it was appropriate to take the story up to the point we did and not beyond." "Beyond" meant the moments after Dwyer pulled the trigger.

"We felt that when Dwyer pulled the trigger and immediately disappeared from sight that, as horrible as the story was, those pictures were appropriate," Warwick said. "Not afterwards, though, when there was a great deal of blood and confusion." Art Moore, director of station promotion and advertising at Channel 6, said the station received between See TV NEWS Page 24 State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer was not yet ready to conclude the press conference he had called yesterday morning in Harrisburg when he noticed several television crews starting to dismantle their equipment. Holding up his hands, Dwyer said, "You don't want to take down your equipment yet," according to a taped transcript. He then reached into a large envelope, pulled out a 357 Magnum pistol and, in a halting voice, began his final address to reporters.

"When eh, and I he is heard saying. A woman cries, "Budd, no." A man urgently repeats, "No, no, no, no no, no." Dwyer: "Please leave the room as this will There were more shouts and pleas of "Budd! Budd!" Dwyer cautions those present to stay away, saying, "Don't, dont, don't. This thing will hurt someone." Dwyer placed the gun in his mouth and fired. Moments Jater, he was pronounced dead..