News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 6

4A NEWS-PRESS, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 1998 News irmm ike North In the news: Ohio Bribery suspected in Flynt case have had with the Flynts. "I don't know the guy. I wouldn't be dumb enough to get involved in something like that," Larry Flynt said by telephone Friday, when reached on his honeymoon in the island of St. Martin in the Virgin Islands. Flynt, 55, married girlfriend Liz Berrios last weekend in Los Angeles.

"I think it's rather reckless for a prosecutor to make those sort of remarks without doing a thorough investigation," Larry Flynt said. The indictment against the brothers alleged that the witness was 14 when he bought the sex videos in the Hustler News Gifts store. Beatty told the guardian he was "sitting on a gold mine" and that Jimmy Flynt was prepared to pay up to $50,000 for the witness' cooperation, Deters told reporters. Prosecutors say they are still investigating what relationship Beatty may UNDER FIRE: Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt signs a copy of 'The People Vs. Larry Flynt" in his downtown Cincinnati store.

A man was charged with trying to bribe a key prosecution witness in the obscenity case against Flynt and his brother, and prosecutors suggested Friday that the Flynts were behind the tampering. Personalities (ail I'cyX a tfi The Associated Press IN TRIBUTE: Entertainer Harry Belafonte, left, raises his crystal Marian Anderson Award as Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell, right, and Sue Perrotty of First Union Bank applaud Saturday. Entertainer receives humanitarian award Man accused of offering in obscenity case against The Associated Press CINCINNATI A man charged with trying to bribe a key prosecution witness in the obscenity case against Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and his brother could receive five years in prison if convicted. Howard Beatty, 44, of Cincinnati was arrested Thursday on a felony charge of bribery and was in custody Friday pending arraignment in Hamilton County Municipal Court. The witness is the teen-age boy who is expected to testify that he bought sexually explicit videos at the Flynts' downtown bookstore, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said Friday.

Beatty offered the boy $50,000 if in brief sales of company stock by the carrier's executives. Union executives said they were concerned about the stock price decline and timing of insider stock sales. They say stock sales and other operational issues may have caused the airline's- stock to close more than 40 percent of its value since March. The union's master executive council voted Friday to have union lawyers look into the matter. NEW HAMPSHIRE Boy nearly drowns trying to save sister BARRINGTON A Massachusetts teen was fighting for his life Saturday after trying to save his younger sister from drowning in a New Hampshire lake and going under himself.

Daniel Ludwig, 15, was reported in "very critical condition" Saturday in the Intensive Care Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Witnesses said the boy tried to rescue his sister, but went under as people on the platform pulled the girl from the water. NEW JERSEY Veterans get medals at ceremony FORT DIX In an emotional ceremony here Saturday, New Jersey veterans of the World War II campaign to liberate the Philippines were awarded medals issued by the Philippine government. Some 130 veterans were on hand to receive the Philippine Liberation Medal, said Sean Jackson, spokesman for Sen. Robert Torricelli, who presented the awards.

Torricelli wrote to Philippine Ambassador Raul Chaves Rabe earlier this year asking that he intervene to expedite the delivery of the medals to the more than 500 New Jersey veterans on a list to receive them. NEW YORK Third storm-related death reported PLATTSBURGH A 19-year-old tubing with friends is the third person to die after torrential rain storms drenched parts of upstate New York causing river currents to swell and a freight train to derail. The body of Megan Patterson was found at the mouth of the raging Saranac River that feeds Lake Champlain near Plattsburgh after a three-hour search with boats and airplanes, police said Saturday. Patterson of Liverpool was riding inner tubes with her sister and a friend Friday afternoon when the swift current took her away. Pataki trying for Democratic support ALBANY George Pataki, hoping to become the first Republican since Nelson Rockefeller to win re-election as governor of New York, has launched a campaign to snare Democratic voters.

That should come as no surprise in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by an almost 5-3 margin and where four years ago Pataki won the governorship largely because voters had grown tired of Mario Cuomo after three terms. The latest piece of that plan was unveiled Thursday when lifelong Democrat Herman Badillo, a former congressman and one of New York City's best-known Hispanic politicians, switched to the Republican Party. OHIO Power outage scare preventable COLUMBUS A power outage scare caused by combination of high demand from a heat wave and maintenance problems could have been eased by deregulating Ohio's electric industry, critics said Saturday. Already shorthanded because of mechanical problems at three major power plants, energy supplies were pushed nearly to maximum output when temperatures climbed into the mid-90s Thursday and Friday. $50,000 to witness publisher of Hustler he would change his story to favor Larry and Jimmy Flynt or refuse to testify, Deters said at a news confer-.

ence Friday. Deters suggested the Flynts may have given Beatty the name of the witness. He said Beatty approached the boy and his guardian 10 days after prosecutors notified the Flynts of the juvenile's identity June 15. "Ten days later, miracle of miracles, Howard Beatty shows up and attempts to bribe this kid," Deters said. "There is only one way this guy could get that name." The Flynt brothers and their lawyer, H.

Louis Sirkin, said they had nothing to do with Beatty and had no knowledge of the alleged bribery attempt. The heat wave drove demand for power near record levels. American Electric Power, Akron-based FirstEnergy and Cinergy of Cincinnati all asked residential customers and businesses to cut usage. Educators work to safen schools CINCINNATI Although school is out for the summer, Ohio educators remain busy trying to improve security and keep students safe in light of several deadly shooting sprees at schools across the nation. Last month, a student at Crestwood High School was found with a hit list of fellow students, said John Stanford, deputy director of research services for the Ohio School Boards Association.

In 1997, the National Center for Educational Statistics surveyed 1,234 public schools around the country. The survey revealed that 96 percent of schools used a visitor sign-in policy as an effective safety measure. PENNSYLVANIA GOP leaders prepare for elections HARRISBURG Pennsylvania Republican leaders gave party officials from around the state a pep talk for the fall election pumping up GOP candidates but also offering words against overconfidence. Republicans dominate elected offices across Pennsylvania, including both U.S. Senate seats, the governor's office and control of both chambers of the General Assembly.

The party is seeking to re-elect Gov. Tom Ridge and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, as well as members of the state and U.S. houses of representatives.

WEST VIRGINIA Industry group supports plan CHARLESTON An industry group's response to a proposal by six governors to soften a federal smog-reduction plan mirrors one suggested by an aide to Gov. Cecil Underwood but that does not mean it was staged, the group's spokesman said. "While (the governor's plan) is more than what we wanted, we're willing to work with it. We're willing to support the initiative," Dave Flannery said Friday. Flannery is a Charleston lawyer who works for the Midwest Ozone Group.

His group includes more than 30 companies, trade organizations and associations, including American Electric Power Co. and Allegheny Power Co. VERMONT Groups debate forest protection law ST. JOHNSBURY Leaders of the national Wise Use movement said Friday that legislation designed to protect the northern forest will eventually lead to a federal takeover of 26 million acres of private land. National and regional property rights groups and Associated Industries of Vermont held a conference Friday on the legislation sponsored by Sen Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

The ultimate aim of the Northern Forest Stewardship Act is to drive north country residents off their land, said Chuck Cushman, a national property rights activist and Wise Use organizer. VIRGINIA Missing man found dead in pond HAMPTON A man walking his dog early Saturday was startled to discover a dead man floating in the pond behind his house on Pine Lake Court. It was a man who lived less than a mile away and had been missing since late Thursday, Hampton police said. Carney Hutchison, 63, had Parkinson's disease and was in the early stages of Alzheimer's, said Lt. Don Bordeaux.

News-Press wire sen-ices "This is news to me," Jimmy Flynt said. "It doesn't make any sense We want our day in court." Larry Flynt returned to Cincinnati last year and announced his intention to get arrested on obscenity charges. He said he wanted a rematch of the case he lost in 1977, when he was convicted of pandering obscenity for selling Hustler in the county. That conviction was thrown out, and Flynt was never retried. Larry and Jimmy Flynt have pleaded innocent to 15 charges of pandering obscenity, conspiracy, disseminating material harmful to juveniles and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

All of the charges are linked to the sale of sexually explicit videos. If convicted, both men could face up to 24 years in prison. Their trial is scheduled for January. York's Metropolitan Opera and the first black performer to sing at the White House. In 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow her to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, so the concert was switched to the Lincoln Memorial, where 75,000 people heard her perform.

"The world wanted her gift, and she gave it to them, but in return they had to accept who she was," Belafonte said at an awards ceremony held on a section of Broad Street called Avenue of the Arts, near City Hall. "The purpose of art is not just to show life as it is but to show life as it should be. The artist must be the constant teller of truth," he said, quoting from his mentor, the late singer and actor Paul Robeson. "Marian Anderson was just such an artist," Belafonte added. Black artists and athletes such as Anderson, Robeson, Duke Ellington and Jesse Owens snowed Belafonte he could rise above the poverty into which he was born, as well as racial injustice, he said.

Rendell said Belafonte, who made his name with the chart-topping "Banana Boat Song," was chosen for using his celebrity to help people, "for dreaming that he could make a contribution and make this world a better place, for refusing to sit idly by." few minutes of the broadcast. "I didn't totally break down," she remarked. Molinari never seemed at ease with the job, and ratings indicated that viewers never really warmed to her. The show, which will continue, drew little more than a million viewers most weeks since its debut in September. For her part, Molinari seemed to yearn for meatier work and is reportedly considering doing political commentary in the future.

On her last show, she interviewed an author who wrote about improperly prescribed drugs and an expert who talked about growth spurts in teen-agers and she helped a decorator prepare a dinner table. She seemed most comfortable during her most serious interview, with a former ambassador to China talking about President Clinton's trip. Molinari, coached to flatten her New York accent for TV, happily regressed on her final show. She talked about "payin' bills" and what was "comin' up" next, and was looking forward to the "summ-ah." At the end, she thanked CBS for letting her switch careers, saying the stint brought her "a lot of joy and a lot of learning." AP File Photo The news KENTUCKY Three sentenced in shooting spree NICHOLAS VILLE Three Lancaster men were given six-month sentences for shooting into homes, businesses and an electrical substation that cut power to 7,000 central Kentucky residents. Kenneth Caudill, 24, Harold McElroy, 21, and Robert Middleton, 23, pleaded guilty in April to 14 counts of wanton endangerment, criminal mischief and menacing in connection with the July 1997 shooting spree.

Each faced five years in prison. Lewis: Troops shoud be in Mexico OWENSBORO A Kentucky congressman said U.S.. military forces should be pulled from Bosnia and deployed along the Mexican border to stop the flow of narcotics and illegal immigrants. Rep. Ron Lewis was part of a seven-member congressional delegation to visit the U.S.-Mexico border last weekend.

The group went to border patrol stations near Del Rio and Eagle Pass, Texas, and talked with federal agents. Lewis, R-Cecilia, said agents along the Mexican border are working hard to keep drugs out of the United States. MASSACHUSETTS Mouse cloning info in the wings FALMOUTH A crowd of more than 300 scientists at the Frontiers in Reproduction Research symposium waited eagerly for the rumored breakthrough hews that a mouse had been cloned. But instead, all they got Friday night were tantalizing scraps about what if it proves to be true could possibly be as exciting as the cloning of sheep. But Yanagimachi told a deflated audience that an agreement with a scientific journal temporarily precludes him from revealing details of his work.

He wouldn't even disclose the name of the journal, but left the impression that it would be published in the coming weeks. Flynn announces run for Congress WATERTOWN He's hardly made it a secret, but on Saturday former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn decided to remind everyone he's running for Congress. Two months after he dropped out of the race for governor to make a try for Washington, Flynn formally announced he's a candidate for the seat Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II will vacate at year's end.

In a speech, Flynn sounded the themes he's been known for for decades in the Bay State, "to help working families and the needy, to create jobs to promote social and economic justice." MICHIGAN Comedian honored at university KALAMAZOO "Home Improvement" star Tim Allen received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from his alma mater Saturday. Allen presence at Western Michigan University's graduation ceremony was kept under wraps until the last minute to keep the focus on graduates, university officials said. In a short speech, Allen told gradu- ALLEN nugget of wisdom would be that it's better to make bold choices in life, than no choices at all or even mild choices. "If you're idle, you don't get anywhere," he added. MINNESOTA Union threatens suit over stock sale BLOOMINGTON Northwest Airlines pilots' union is threatening to file a shareholder lawsuit over 'J' Harry Belafonte earns first Anderson award The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA Entertainer Harry Belafonte led several hundred Philadelphians in a chorus of "Day-O" on Saturday after Mayor Edward Rendell presented him with the city's first Marian Anderson Award for humanitarian efforts.

Belafonte, 71, a singer, actor and civil rights activist who has won Tony, Grammy and Emmy awards, received a crystal sculpture and a $100,000 check in the name of Anderson, the late opera singer. The award pays tribute to artists whose leadership benefits humanity. Belafonte has served as host of the World Summit for Children at the United Nations and as a Goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. He spearheaded efforts to benefit African famine relief in 1985, including the "We Are the World" concert. A friend of the late Rev.

Martin Luther King Belafonte also participated in the 1963 Freedom March in Washington. Anderson, a Philadelphia native who died in 1993 at age 96, was the first black soloist to sing at New CONNECTICUT Fugitive arrested at funeral service TORRINGTON A Massachusetts fugitive who came out of hiding to attend his father's funeral was arrested following the graveside service. Acting on a tip, police arrested Shaun Stolfi, 31, of Cambridge, as he was leaving after the service Friday at Hillside Cemetery in Torrington. Stolfi has been wanted in Massachusetts for six years in connection with an unarmed robbery of an elderly person and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, said police in North Adams, Mass. Youth hockey coach banned ENFIELD A youth hockey coach, who punched one of his son's teen-age opponents after a game in March, has been banned from coaching for a year and ordered to perform community service.

Karl Eckoff, 48, of Wilbraham, also was granted a special form of probation during his sentencing on assault, risk-of-injury and breach-of-peace charges, Eckoff was accused of punching a 15-year-old player in the nose following a game at the Enfield Twin Rinks on March 15. ILLINOIS Supermarket opens after collapse NORTH RIVERSIDE A supermarket where a roof collapse injured 13 people reopened Saturday, but an 82-year-old woman who spent two hours trapped in the rubble remained hospitalized. Authorities were still investigating what caused a 40-by-40-foot section of the roof over the produce department to collapse Friday at Dominick's Finer Foods in this suburb just west of Chicago. Rose Domenick was listed in serious condition Saturday with fractures and facial injuries, said Loyola University Medical Center spokesman Mike Maggio. Japanese man receives sword back EVANSTON More than 50 years after Keiji Hirama surrendered his sword to U.S.

forces in Palau at the end of World War II, the sword was returned to him. The sword's last owner, former Marine Wayne O'Hara of Nashville, presented the 3-foot sword to Hirama at the Japanese Consul-General's house in Evanston. "Many things have happened since the war that are good between our countries," O'Hara said. "I return this as a gesture of friendship." Hirama received the sword with white-gloved hands, inspected it and smiled. "Yes, it is definitely mine," he said in Japanese.

INDIANA Mental hospital escapee caught LAFAYETTE A man who escaped from the Logansport State Hospital was captured by city police about 35 miles away. Police said an informant tipped them off that Robert Grimes, 19, had fled the hospital in a state-owned van and was parked in Lafayette. Officers found Grimes on Friday evening and took him into custody. Police said Grimes had been committed to the hospital because he had been considered a danger to himself and possibly to others. Man convicted in murder SOUTH BEND A fourth defendant charged in a slaying that investigators say sparked a series of racially motivated revenge shootings has been convicted.

Jimmy Bailey, 20, of South Bend, was found guilty Friday in St. Joseph Superior Court of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and robbery in the shooting death of 17-year-old Annie Fulford. Bailey admitted being at the Mishawaka trailer home where Fulford was shot but denied taking part. Molinari ends her stint as television hostess Leaves CBS for new Harvard post, pregnancy The Associated Press NEW YORK Susan Molinari ended her disappointing career as a television hostess Saturday by revealing she's embarked on another nine-month production: She's pregnant with her second child. The former congresswoman and keynote speaker at the 1996 Republican national convention made her last appearance as host of "CBS News Saturday Morning." CBS and Molinari agreed to end the unsuccessful experiment last week.

Molinari, who's I VTitei i in MOLINARI taken a fellowship at Harvard, told her audience that she and her husband, retiring U.S. Rep. Bill Paxon, were due to have a baby in February. They have a 2-year-old daughter, Susan Ruby. "We'll have a lot to keep us busy," she said.

She was misty-eyed but in control, not talking about her exit with co-host Russ Mitchell until the final.