The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 2

TODAY'S WEATHER Vermont skiers make tracks in Warren Miller's new film 8-man football has its day Mostly cloudy. High 62 Low 50 PAGE 18A tr SPORTS LIVING uxbn Friday, November 4, 1994 Vermont 's Newspaper 35 cents, two news sections Police move dliraw ke Mom confesses to killing kids r-m I S.C. boys found at bottom of lake By Eric Harrison Los Angeles Times ATLANTA For nine days, Susan Smith's story never changed: A gunman had taken her children. There was no ransom demand and no suspects. The police did not even have a crime scene to search the gunman took it with him.

Smith said he had driven off into the night in her car with the toddlers Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months leaving her screaming after them in the middle of the road. Smith stuck by her story even when a nationwide search for the car turned up nothing but false leads. Her hometown of Union, S.C. and much of the nation stood by her, despite unconfirmed rumors that she had failed lie detector tests. Everyone was touched by the frightful poignancy of the two missing boys.

It was every parent's nightmare. Thursday, it became a nightmare of a different sort. Smith, 23, arrested and charged with two counts of murder. The warrant showed she had confessed. "The vehicle, a 1990 Mazda driven by Smith, was located late Thursday afternoon in Lake John D.

Long near Union," Union County Sheriff Howard Wells said in a brief statement to about 300 reporters and spectators outside sheriffs headquarters. "Two bodies were found in the vehicle's back seat." A startled gasp went up from the crowd when he said Smith had been arrested. Identification of the bodies would have to await an autopsy. 0 ALMN KLLETT, Free Press Officer Jennifer Colvln works In the cramped records area at the Burlington Police Department on Thursday. Financing for a new department will be on Tuesday's ballot.

Residents are Invited to tour the existing police station at 82 S. Wlnooskl Ave. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Traffic worries neighbors near proposed station 0 By Sona Iyengar Free Press Staff Writer i- Four days before Tuesday's vote on raising taxes to pay for Burlington's proposed police station, those for and against the plan are taking to the streets. Supporters of a new building at 1 North Ave. say police department staff have' suffered long enough in rundown, cramped quarters. include city councilors and officials, police commissioners, police department employees, city union representatives, business leaders and residents backed by about $5,000 in donations. the other side is a group of" two to three dozen residents hp say the site, once home to Acme Paint and Glass, could better be used for other purposes, such as a community center.

They have about $300. Burlington residents will vote ti 't -fT ,1 JlNortttSt Monroe St I Peart 'if Cherry St. Free Press Crime team gets results, 5A Tuesday on increasing the police tax rate 1.24 cents per $100 of assessed valuation about $15 more a year in property taxes for the owner of a $120,000 home to pay for a $2.5 million police building. The measure requires a simple majority to pass. Bond issues for a new station have failed three times in the past, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for that Jeffords angers veterans, 8A Backus, is no better, they say.

"Although I'm a Republican, I just can't vote for Jim Jeffords," said Richard Trudell, 49, of Winooski, "He's voted on the Democratic side too long and supported too many liberal ideas." Clinton dubs MA UVIIOT Ql station PIT! KINOALL, Free Press Barbara Moran (left) and Ula Rees aren't Interested In having a proposed police station In their neighborhood near Battery Park. Fla. jury recommends death for clinic killer The Associated Press Susan Smith has been charged with the murder of her two sons. She and husband David (right) pleaded for their safe return after she claimed they were kidnapped In a South Carolina carjacking. Smith, Wells said, was incarcerated in an undisclosed location.

After his statement, the sheriff refused to answer questions. For nine days the tragedy held much of the United States transfixed. Reports of possible sightings of the boys came from as far away as Seattle. As late as Thursday, Smith had appeared on national television with her estranged husband to plea for her boys' return, proclaim her innocence and express hurt that anyone would suspect her of lying. "It hurts to know that I would be accused or even thought that I would ever do anything to harm my children," Smith said on the NBC's "Today Show" while clasping the hand of David Smith, 24.

Alex and Michael's great-grandmother expressed shock at the day's events Thursday. "I just couldn't imagine that Susan would do that. She always seemed to be such a devoted mother," Sara Singleton said. "Is there ever an explanation for murder?" Singleton asked. "Two little innocent children? There is no explanation for murder." sentencing occurs early next month.

Hill showed no emotion when the death sentence was recommended. He was convicted of the first-degree murders of the doctor, John Britton, 69, and the unarmed escort, retired Air Force Lt. Col. James Barrett, 74, as they arrived at a women's clinic. Before sentencing, Hill broke his courtroom silence.

"You have a responsibility to protect your neighbor's life, to use force if neccessary to do so," said Hill in a flat, almost matter-of-fact tone. "In an effort to suppress this truth, you may mix my blood with the blood of the unborn and those who have fought to defend the oppressed," be said. JJ I' 'A financing method. Developer Antonio Pomer-leau, a former police commissioner, bought the old Acme Paint and Glass'building specifically for a new police station. He has agreed to sell Burlington the renovated building for $2 million.

The additional $500,000 being Conservatives feel left out of Senate election sought by the city would pay for communications equipment, security systems and furniture. The station would be paid for with a lease-purchase agreement, which would work much like the mort- See POLICE, 5A lican John McClaughry won 23 percent of the vote in his run against Gov. Howard Dean. That year, 23 percent of Vermont voters deserted the Republican and Democratic parties to vote for conservative presidential candidate Ross Perot. Voters have two conservative independents to choose from in the Senate race: Mills, a small-businessman in Burlington and See SENATE, 5 A But he was troubled by the domino effect a vote for conservative independent Gavin Mills could have.

"There's a possibility you could give it to Backus, which would be worse," Trudell said. The conservative vote could be a deciding factor in the U.S. Senate race. Recent polls showed Backus trailing Jeffords by 10 points or less, and the pool of conservative voters is large. In 1992, conservative Repub The Washington Post PENSACOLA, Fla.

After telling the court he was willing to mix my blood with the blood of the unborn," Paul Hill on Thursday heard a Florida jury unan-i 1 recommend that he be ex ecuted in the Paul Hill electric chair for the shotgun murders of an abortion doctor and an escort last summer. The jury's 12-0 vote is not binding, but Escambia County Circuit Judge Frank Bell said he would give the recommendation "great weight" when Hill's final Yds fly Betsy Llley Free Press Staff Writer LUMONTPELIER Conserva-tiTC Vermont voters face a dilem-rmrin the 1994 U.S. Senate race: Neither of the leading candidates represents them on gun, anti-: abortion, constitutional or property-rights issues. Many are traditional Republican voters angry at U.S. Sen.

James Jeffords, for a vot-mg record they say is too liberal. His Democratic challenger, Jan Inside: An answer to mystery fumes XFumes that felled emergency rodm attendants were likely the result of a bizarre chain of chemical reactions In the patient's blood Initiated by a black-market Cancer drug, officials announced Thursday. Story, Page 4A Volume 1 67, No. 308 Index Cuomo 'Comeback Kid' 1 By Elizabeth Wasserman and Nicholas Goldberg Newsday ALBANY, N.Y. The banner proclaimed "The Comeback Kids." The music played was the theme from "Rocky." But as President Clinton championed Gov.

Mario Cuomo's recent turnaround in the polls during an upbeat campaign rally in Albany on Thursday, a new public opinion poll found that New York's gubernatorial race is still a horse "I'm here to ask you to make Mario Cuomo the real comeback kid," Ginton told a cheering and placard-waving crowd of 2,500, to pass on the moniker he claimed for himself after the 1 992 New Hampshire primary. Clinton called the race between Cuomo and Republican challenger state Sen. George Pataki "one of those classic American elections: a race between hope and fear, tomorrow and yesterday." Pataki saw the race differently. During a whirlwind tour of cities in upstate New York, starting in Albany as the president was enroute, Pataki said Cuomo and Clinton represent the type of big government that he's trying to fight. "Whenever you have Mario Cuomo and Bill Clinton in the same spot, the taxpayers better be ready to hold on to their wallets," Pataki said.

Meanwhile, despite a series of polls this week showing Cuomo as far as 1 3 points ahead of Pataki, a poll released Thursday by the respected Marist Institute for Public Opinion indicated that Cuomo is leading by 7.5 percentage points. Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist poll, said the Cuomo campaign was clearly boosted last week when New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani crossed party lines to endorse him. Movies 15A Kation5A Opinion 10A Sports 6B TV list 16A Towns 4B Vermont 1B Workup 2A aassified-10B Comics17A Crosswd158 Deaths- 2B Forum 11A Landersj17A Living -12 A Mofiey -7A OOUaMUS, The Associated Press A child takes the high road on his way to President Clinton on Thursday In Albany, N.Y. Clinton was campaigning for Gov. Mario Cuomo..