The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 10

FROM THE FRONT PAGE THE COURIER-NEWS A-10 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 1996 Kid porn allegedly flowed in N.J. Cable watchers lose protest voice Restrictions part of new law 'Cable operators will now be able to respond to competition more effectively without being burdened by unnecessary rules and Decker Anstrom, Nat. Cable TV Association Free on bail McGuire, who is free on $1,612 bail, is also wanted in the United States. On Jan. 2, a federal grand jury in Newark, N.J., charged him with conspiracy, interstate transportation of child pornography and receiving, distributing and reproduction of child pornography.

The 33-count indictment, which also names Eugene Leithiser of Litchfield, charges that films and videotapes that McGuire made in Spain were copied and distributed in New Jersey. U.S. federal prosecutors contend that Leithiser bankrolled the child pornography operation. Innocent plea Leithiser pleaded innocent at his Jan. 26 arraignment before U.S.

District Judge Joseph E. Irenas in Camden, N.J. Leithiser was released on his own recognizance. A trial date originally scheduled for March 1 1 was canceled. McGuire, 50, cannot be extradited to the United States because an extradition treaty requires that U.S.

citizens arrested in Spain must initially face charges in that country. McGuire, holder of U.S. and Irish passports, was arrested in November 1994, was jailed for a year and then freed on bail under the condition that he appear at a local court every two weeks. Before his arrest, McGuire had lived in Spain for 10 years and taught computer science at a Valencia school. None of the 27 children identified by Valencia police as appearing in the films were students of the school, the daily newspaper El Pais reported.

Of the 27 children, only one was a girl. Nine Spaniards are also charged in the case in Spain. Children between the age 8 and 16 engaged in sexually explicit acts while being filmed. MADRID, Spain (AP) An American faces a 135-year prison sentence for allegedly forcing children to perform in pornographic films which were then distributed to the United States and other countries, authorities said Tuesday. From 1987 to 1994, Thomas McGuire forced children between the ages of 8 and 16 to engage in sexually explicit acts while being filmed, a prosecutor in Valencia said Monday, according to a court official reached by phone.

Although trial has not begun it could start as early as this summer the prosecutor made the sentence recommendation during Monday's proceedings, the court official said on condition of anonymity. WASHINGTON (AP) Cable TV customers soon will lose the ability to contest rates for popular cable programs directly to the Federal Communications Commission, agency officials said Tuesday. Instead, customers will have to rely on their state or local governments to file complaints to the FCC on behalf of cable customers. Congress required the FCC to make the change as part of a larger telecommunications law. The FCC on Tuesday ordered changes to its complaint procedures and proposed other rules that would change the way the FCC regulates the cable television industry.

Take effect quickly FCC spokesman Brian Foucart said new complaint procedures would take effect "in a couple of days" upon the rules' publication in the Federal Register. Customers have been allowed since 1993 to protest directly rates for expanded basic service, which makes up the vast majority of regulated cable services. On most cable systems, networks such as ESPN, MTV and USA are part of expanded basic service. Premium services such as HBO are not regulated. Responding to public outrage over rate gouging, Congress in a 1992 law directed the FCC to craft rate regulations and permitted customers to contest expanded basic rates by filing complaints to the FCC.

Under the 1992 law, the FCC was not bound by a deadline to investigate a complaint, but Congress told the FCC in its new procedures to make a decision within 90 days. Refunds awarded If the FCC finds that the rate is unreasonable, it can order a refund. The FCC has ordered millions of dollars in refunds. Cable companies also will no longer be required to give customers prior notice of any rate changes that occur because of a regulatory fee, franchise fee or any other fee or tax. However, companies still are required to notify customers before they make rate and service changes.

The new telecommunications law deregulated rates for customers of small cable TV systems about 20 percent of the nation's 61 million cable subscribers. It also directed the FCC to deregulate rates for all other customers by March 31, 1999, or sooner if a cable company competes against a telephone company for cable customers. "Cable operators will now be able to respond to competition more effectively without being burdened by unncessary rules and regulations," said Decker Anstrom, president of the National Cable Television Association. Seeking comment The FCC said it would seek public comment on whether telephone companies should have to provide cable services to a certain number of people in a given market before the existing cable company's rates are deregulated. That proposal drew criticism from two of the FCC's four commissioners.

James Quello and Rachelle Chong said Congress did not include such a penetration or market-share test in the new law and the FCC shouldn't, either. "If Congress had intended a higher standard, I believe that it would have specified" one, Chong said. mm BimfllllVE 4 i WW nnm Ml il I UIWHff A w-- Six Flags Season Ticket! savings on a To get ouu-av, Big Savings: Whether you choose the Individual Season Ticket for 9 only plus tax or a Family Season Ticket (valid for up to four family TOUR: Rolls for 60th year members andor friends) for 5 I plus tax. You'll enjoy unlimited visits to Six Flags Great Adventure Theme Park Sr and Six Flags Wild Safari Animal 1 aSfcser Park and the Season Ticket pays for itself in less than two visits! i ouh Q5 You'u also receive your Season Ticket Value Book that offers more than $300 in discounts on in-park food, VyJS beverages, merchandise and games! Your Season Ticket Value Book also contains free one-day ticket coupons championships and 75 national championships claimed by members of the Somerset Wheelmen. Zack, who became president of the Wheelmen last year, said that Joe Sal-ing and his wife, Dottie, deserve much of the credit for pumping new life into the organization during the late 1960s and 1970s.

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So Big. So Fast. So Close! tinued through August. Kaczynski was added to the Berkeley payroll on July 1, 1967, Felde said, though he did not begin teaching in the math department until late September. University of California at Davis officials said Scrutton's transcript showed he took four classes while at Berkeley only one of which, "History of Mathematics," involved the math department.

The other three courses were on computer science, anthropology and philosophy. But whether Kaczynski and Scrutton even were on campus at the same time remains unclear. "They could have come in contact," Felde said. "The key is to find out when Kaczynski showed up in Berkeley." Federal agents have turned up similarly tentative evidence that Kaczynski may have been in a position to cross paths with three other victims. uewmig your dix nags Season Ticket is easier than ever.

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University of California officials confirmed Tuesday that Hugh Scrutton, who was killed by a bomb in 1985 in Sacramento, had attended classes at University of California at Berkeley when Kaczynski may have been on campus. University spokeswoman Marie Felde said Scrutton, a math major at University at California at Davis, completed a summer session at Berkeley that began in late June 1967 and con- Leader's expertise from life NEW YORK (AP) Gloria Feldt, who married at 15 and had three children by the time she was 20, was named president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America on Tuesday. Feldt, 53, head of Planned Parent-hood's Phoenix-based affiliate since 1978, called on the organization to renew its fight for abortion rights and social programs so that other women have more choices than she had when she was a teen-ager. "Congress is well on the road toward the stated goal of some of the people elected in '94 to eliminate abortion rights altogether and proceed from there to dismantle family planning and sexuality education," she said. Feldt succeeds Pamela Maraldo, who left in August after two years during which she tried to shift the 80-year-old organization's focus to health care reform and general family medicine.

The national federation has 152 affiliates with 1,000 clinics in 49 states and the District of Columbia. It performs more than 130,000 abortions a year, about a 10th of the national total. In her West Texas youth, Feldt said, she "lived what religious political extremists want to impose on all Americans." She said she would have been a better parent if she'd waited longer before having children. "After my third child was born, a light bulb went off in my head," she said. "If I ever had to support these children, there was not one thing I could do." If you're looking to purchase a new car, you'll get one of the best rates in town with a United Jersey Bank Car Loan.

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