The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 1

Gwynn joins club, Sports 5B 1:1 I Ei7 A A. a. 3 wttt Saturday, August 7, 1999 1 72nd Year Serving Vermont 50 cents, four news sections neighbors Heads up, bargain hunters! State's surplus swells -f- -x jl- i I rl i i 1 If' j- i LEFT: Siona Smith, 62, shown in this photo from her family, was found dead Thursday night in her home. RIGHT: Dana Osmond- Shepard, A i t. Suspect charged with slaying 62-year-old By Leslie Wright and Abbey Duke Free Press Staff Writers COLCHESTER Jean and John Morin still can't believe it happened, not in secluded and sleepy Mills Point where people know each other but mind their own business.

Just a stone's throw from the Morins home, Siona Smith, 62, was violently killed in her home. Thursday night, John Mo rin found her on the floor, wrapped in a blanket, stabbed to death, police say, by a drunken and jealous woman with whom she shared a boyfriend. "I can't get used to her not being around. I had to keep touching myself," Jean Morin said striking her thigh in disbelief. "She would do anything for you." For the Morins, the nightmare started at about 10:30 p.m.

when John Morin awoke to the sound of his English sheep dog barking. A woman's voice outside his window called out, "John, John, I can't get a hold of my mum. Will you come help me?" He recognized the voice. It was Smith's daughter. She had driven to her mother's house with a friend because she hadn't been able to reach Siona Smith by phone.

The two talked on the phone Jir i i 32, of Col chester pleaded innocent in Vermont District Court in Burlington on Friday to a charge of murder in Smith's death. looked around she told him to check the bedroom. At first he saw only an empty bed with the sheets neatly turned back. "I said, 'She's not in and then I saw the J. ADAM PIKE RIESNER, Free Press Siona Smith's house in Colchester where she was killed early Thursday morning.

Champion deal completed with $75 million land sale 1 I i vv at ''top ADAM PIKE RIESNER, Free Press dead bodies before. He feared the worst The rest of Smith's body was wrapped m.a blanket or a robe, Morin sa- See STABBING, 7 A purchased by the Richard King Mellon Foundation for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department to be preserved as a wildlife refuge'. Another 26,000 acres were bought by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Silvio Conte National Wildlife Refuge, and 5,600 acres will be held by the Fund while another $1 million in federal funding is pending. Local residents and state officials saw the purchase as a victory.

"Keeping this land as a working forest and guaranteeing open access were particularly important to the Vermonters whose See CHAMPION, 7 A 1. hvi ft Fabulous furniture finds (if you know where to look), HOME ID Pop star serenades Vt actress Former Miss Teen in Martin video By Susan Green Free Press Staff Writer In Ricky Martin's latest music video, the teen heartthrob romps on a beach, glides through the woods and gazes into the adoring blue eyes of a former Miss Teen Vermont. A Ch a 1 te Ayanna, 22, of Dorset Charlotte Lopez when she was crowned Miss Teen USA in 1993 is featured in the video which premiered Friday on MTV and VH1. Martin sings his new song, "She's All I Ever Had," a slow-tempo weeper about a dead young man mournfully remembering the Ayanna Martin girl he left behind "He picked me from a photo my agent submitted," Ayanna explained during a phone interview from Los Angeles, where she has lived for five years. "Ricky told me he was looking for something spiritual.

He wanted someone sweet and pure who has a loving quality, not a raunchy sex symbol." The qualities Martin saw in her as well as Ayanna's moxie as a foster child wowed the Miss Teen USA judges and won her many fans as she toured the state after her victory. Ayanna left Vermont in 1994 to attend the University of California-Irvine while she also looked for work in Hollywood. Within See MARTIN, 7 A Volume 172, No. 219 Index Classified Comics Crossword-Deaths 1E 4C 2B Horoscope-Home Landers -3C 1D 4C 1C 5C 3C 4A 7D 5B Living- Money-Movies- Opinion Real Estate-Sports TV list 3C Tht Burlington ftm Praia is available (or home or orfice tWrvery. Call toll-frw a 1-800427-3128.

llll 1L (1T ii II Extra $7M might bring tax cuts By David Gram The Associated Press MONTPELIER Vermont ended fiscal 1999 with a surplus $7 million bigger than expected, its reserve funds full and a second round of tax cuts possibly in the offing, state officials said Friday. Finance and Management Commissioner Thomas Pel-ham said Vermont had "moved from being a state that kind of lived hand-to-mouth to a state that is managing its fiscal affairs both on the revenue side and the spending side on a very solid footing." He said he would join a Vermont delegation traveling to New York next week to ask analysts and two top bond rating houses to improve Vermont's investment grade, which would allow the state to borrow money at a lower rate. Pelham and Administration Secretary Kathleen Hoyt said they and Gov. Howard Dean had worked hard for several years to "steer away from the edge of the cliff," as Pelham put it, by building up the state's reserve funds, paying down its debt and trying to keep new borrowing to a minimum. Pelham said the good news had come "because of our determination and absolute success and it (the credit) should be shared with the Legislature, I think to keep spending down." Vermonters will share in the good fiscal news: A 4 percent reduction in the state's income tax is due to take effect Jan.

and the 5 percent sales tax will be eliminated for clothing items up to $110 Dec. 1, in time for holiday shopping. Pelham and Hoyt said when the Legislature reconvenes in January, it might be able to consider further modest reductions in some taxes. Hoyt cautioned further cuts will depend on an economy that continues to be strong. She said state tax cuts could be jeopardized if federal cuts limit state revenues, since the state income tax is based on a taxpayer's federal tax.

For now, all is rosy. Fiscal forecasts indicate the state's fiscal 1999 performance ending the year with a $77 million surplus should be followed by an estimated $48 million surplus at the end of fiscal 2000 in June. J1' IF 'if" u. Kyodo News via The Associated Press accordingly." The company sold Pondi-min, the brand name for fenfluramine, the "fen" part of the fen-phen combination, and its chemical cousin Redux until September 1997. That was when the Food and Drug Administration pushed for their withdrawal, citing a study that linked the drugs to potentially fatal heart-valve damage.

jj Canaan HoyJ AverillVs 6ore Lewis Cf i lK I Lemington Jv v. A i Brighton Btoomfleldy i 0 I- IF Ferdinand, Bturjswtelfe. rN- of Newark East vV Lli Xaidstone legs. I said, 'Call the cops Morin recalled. Smith was face down and her feet were turned at an odd angle.

A former Chit- tenden County Sheriffs deputy, Morin had seen Agreement details, 7A their snowmobiles on the property. As under past ownership, however, Vermont residents will not be able to ride mountain bikes or horses, or camp overnight on any of the land. The deal does call for renegotiation of recreational uses within two years. The land, purchased by Wilhelm Merck, a member of the Merck pharmaceutical family, is part of a $26.5 million deal brokered by Virginia-based Conservation Fund for more than 130,000 acres of former Champion land. A parcel was Hiroshima to test-fire another ballistic missile with enough range to reach the United States; Taiwan's war of words with China has escalated; and India and Pakistan recently skirmished over Kashmir.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi pledged anew that Japan would continue to endorse a world without nuclear weapons, despite the recent deterioration in global security. Hienncitmn nf state of Fee Ownership impUdi UUil Ul Silvio Conte Wildlife Refuge Champion lands 09 every day, Morin said. Morin pulled on a pair of sweat pants, grabbed a flashlight and walked the short distance to Smith's house. He made Smith's daughter stay outside while he Special Treatment Areas Potential Millsite gathered for a silent prayer in the Peace Memorial Park at 8:15 a.m. the moment a U.S.

atomic bomb exploded above the city on Aug. 6, 1945. Hanging over the solemn commemoration were more recent concerns about Asian tensions, from North Korea's threat of a missile test to the nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan. for more than three months, starting in October 1995. Her attorney said she suffers fatigue and breath and V- i Lovett shortness of likely will need surgery to replace two heart valves as her ailment progresses.

Fearful Japanese commemorate Memories of bombing more poignant with recent tensions By Nancy Bazilchuk Free Press Staff Writer A Massachusetts timber investor purchased 84,000 acres of former Champion International forestland in northeastern Vermont on Friday from a conservation group for $7.5 million. The sale completes a complex public-private deal that ensures the land will be free from development and available for limited public use. Portions of the land also will be protected as natural areas. The state of Vermont and the Freeman Foundation paid $8.5 million to purchase easements on the property allowing area outdoorsmen to hunt, fish, hike and ride In a Yomiuri newspaper poll this week, 70 percent of respondents said they were fearful a war might break out near Japan. "India and Pakistan are building atomic weapons because they've never experienced a nuclear disaster," said 66-year-old Hiroshi Takei.

"We need events like today's memorial to educate people." Lovett is among more than 3,100 people nationwide who have sued American Home Products and subsidiary Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories over health problems they say were caused by the drugs. At least a dozen cases have been settled, some after trials began. "We made a statement that they can't do this to people," Lovett said. "What By Katsuml Kasahara The Associated Press HIROSHIMA, Japan -In a nation increasingly worried about regional tensions, the residents of Hiroshima on Friday recalled the moment 54 years ago when an atomic bomb decimated the city and killed 140,000 people. About 50,000 people Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi offers a bouquet to Korean atomic bombing victims Friday in Hiroshima.

Woman with heart ailment wins $23 million in diet drug lawsuit Tommy Wallace must ap prove the award. A ruling is expected within 30 days. American Home Products attorney Bob Schick said the company will appeal. "This is just one jury's opinion," Schick said. "Through sympathy, they wanted to award money to Ms.

Lovett and they answered the jury questions that company has done makes you lose faith in a lot of things. Maybe they'll learn their lesson." The award includes $1 million each for her physical impairment and future medical care and $20 million in punitive damages. The rest compensates her for pain, mental anguish and past medical care. State District Judge By Mike Finger The Associated Press CANTON, Texas A 36-year-old woman who faces lifelong heart problems she blames on the diet drug combination fen-phen was awarded $23 million Friday in the first such lawsuit to reach a jury. Debbie Lovett claims she suffered heart-valve problems after taking the drugs.