South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 3

Sun-Sentinel, Sunday, August 6, 1989 3A VCHLs A'liWJ 'BellSouth reaches tentative accord "All of our management people are available for use to step in where needed," said NYNEX spokesman John Bon-omo. "They will be reporting first thing today to the critical areas." NYNEX serves seven Northeast states: New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and parts of Connecticut. CWA represents 40,000 NYNEX workers; IBEW 20,000. CWA spokeswoman Clara Allen said only informal negotiations by telephone were held Saturday because of staunch union opposition to the company's proposal to have workers pay more for health insurance and other differences. In Atlanta, CWA spokesman Tim Ryles said the tentative agreement was reached shortly after 11 p.m.

He could not immediately provide details of the contract, which is subject to cause little immediate impact on service but ultimately could snarl repairs, installations and directory assistance. Saturday marked the first of two major deadlines in the negotiations between the CWA, IBEW and the regional companies spawned by the 1984 breakup of American Telephone Telegraph. Contracts with three of the other "Baby Bells" Ameritech, US West and Southwestern Bell expire Aug. 12. Those three companies employ 131,000 union workers and provide phone service in 24 states.

The strike against NYNEX was announced in New York by CWA Vice President Jan Pierce, who said the unions and the company were far apart on wages and even further apart on the contentious issue of health insurance. Numerous other issues also were unresolved, including use of subcontractors, differential pay for night work and other work rules, he said. the last time it negotiated with the unions. The Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers announced the strike against New York-based NYNEX well before the deadline, saying many differences remained. So great were the differences that no formal talks were held Saturday.

The unions rejected new contract offers from Bell Atlantic and Pacific Telesis and strikes against those companies were possible as well. The tentative agreement with Atlanta-based BellSouth on a three-year contract was announced in the final hour of the existing contract. Details were not immediately available. The companies said management personnel would replace union workers in the event of strikes. The companies and unions agreed that strikes would The Associated Press WASHINGTON Unions representing 60,000 workers struck NYNEX Corp.

early today while a tentative agreement was reached between BellSouth and 64,000 phone workers in the Southeast. Strikes loomed at two more "Baby Bell" regional phone companies but negotiations continued early today. At Bell Atlantic, the unions agreed to bargain past the midnight expiration of their contracts. On the West Coast, the unions and Pacific Telesis negotiated as their deadline approached. In all, 221,000 telecommunications workers were covered by the talks to replace contracts that expired at 11:59 p.m.

Saturday. The four companies provide service to 24 states and the nation's capital. NYNEX serves most of the Northeast. It was struck for nine days in 1986, NORTHEAST Sun-Sentinel wire services Town salutes Coolidge NORTHAMPTON, Mass. Only three Republicans are left in this town, jokes the man who started the annual Calvin Coolidge foot race, "and one of them is in bad health." Luckily, Democrats are willing to participate.

The annual 10-kilometer "I do not choose to run" honors a president who was "more of a man for brisk walks," said Paul Walker of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce. Coolidge, mayor of Northampton in 1909, would not have much of a constituency now, said Russ A. Kotfila, who started the run as part of a Coolidgefest in 1983 on the 50th anniversary of the 30th president's death. Victim jogging again NEW YORK The woman who was attacked and raped by a gang of youths in Central Park four months ago has started jogging again as part of her rehabilitation, one of her doctors said. "She jogged a couple of times around the facility," Dr.

Craig Foster said. The 28-year-old investment banker is recuperating in Wallingford, Conn. Labor backs candidate NEW YORK Labor unions, including many representing New York City workers, have mounted their most intense campaign in recent years for a mayoral candidate, Borough President David N. Dinkins of Manhattan said. The unions have contributed about $218,000 to the Dinkins campaign about 11 percent of his $1.9 million total so far, according to reports filed with the city's Campaign Finance Board.

Ml i A A A SOUTH Carpenter charged BREVARD, N.C. A carpenter who had been living under an alias in Transylvania County has been charged with escaping from a Florida prison 16 years ago. Michael Raymond Mazur, 38, who has been living under the name Michael James Wherry, was charged on a fugitive warrant on Thursday. Mazur escaped from a state prison near Tallahassee on April 8, 1973, sheriff's Sgt. Geoffrey Shepherd said.

He was nearly halfway through a three-year sentence for possession of heroin and opium. Ex-officer captured TALLADEGA, Ala. A former Alabama police officer who escaped from prison 12 years ago while doing time for murder was found in Texas, where he had been living under an assumed name with a different wife and children, authorities said. The short-order cook known for years in San Antonio as Ben Francis Hurst turned out to be former Lt. Jimmy Ray Hurst, 56, convicted in 1973 of killing his wife's boyfriend, authorities said.

Circuit Judge William Sullivan, who sentenced Hurst to life in prison for shooting Charles "Cooter" Mann, said the Alabama Bureau of Investigation told him Hurst's identity had been confirmed. Judge criticizes HUD DALLAS A federal judge, in a ruling that lambasted city and federal housing officials, said Dallas helped create a segregated public housing system and must help pay to dismantle it. In his ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer blasted the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the city and the Dallas Housing Authority for what he called a "long, unbroken history" of segregation in housing. Nuclear informants claim bias The New York Times At least four workers who complained about safety and environmental problems at four military nuclear plants run for the government by private contractors say they were ordered by their superiors to see psychiatrists or psychologists.

The workers and their lawyer say that they think the orders came as retaliation for the charges they made. In two highly publicized cases the charges against the contractors were confirmed; in the others, they have been denied. "They ask, 'How do you feel about your i mother? Do you kiclc the It's humiliating, degrading." Edwin L. Bricker, Hanford employee Each of the workers says that the implication that they were suffering from mental problems was part of a long campaign of harassment that included such tactics as demotions, ridicule in front of co-workers and threats to revoke the security clearances that are required for their jobs. Three went to the psychologist or psychiatrists at least once; one refused but fears retaliation for his refusal.

All of the companies deny having ordered the use of health professionals inappropriately. Workers who have made public accusations of wrongdoing by the government and its contractors have complained for years that they have been punished for calling attention to the problems. The Department of Energy has previously acknowledged to Congress that it has done a poor job of protecting such whistle-blowers in the plants it owns. A spokesman for the department, Philip Keif, said last month that a response was being prepared to charges that the department and its contracts are retaliating against employees by referring them to mental health profes- sionals. "Obviously, we don't employ a policy to harass in such a he said.

Thomas Carpenter, a lawyer representing the four workers, complained about the referrals in a letter on July 1 3 to James Watkins, the secretary of energy. "The use of psychiatric fitness-for-duty examinations in whatever context essentially has been retaliatory, punishing dissidents by labeling them mentally incapable of service to their country," wrote Carpenter, who is with a watchdog group, the Government Accountability Project. i He said the tactic was intended to damage the employees' careers and "sense of self-worth." One of the employees, Edwin L. Bricker, who operates equipment processing nuclear materials at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington State. He said his sessions with two psychologists included such questions as "how do you feel about your fellow workers, your employer, and do certain things tick you off?" "They ask, 'How do you feel about your mother? Do you kick the "I was terribly embarrassed," Bricker said.

"It's humiliating, degrading." Rep. Ron Wydeni who has become a specialist on Hanford. said of the psychological sessions: "This is an old strategy that goes on in totalitarian countries. It's incredibly grotesque that Sunday Advocate photoPATRICK DENNIS Balloon falls A deflated balloon plunges to the ground on Sat- Mock, 52, of Paonia, died an hour after the urday at the National Hot Air Balloon Champion- accident. Witnesses said the balloon was at an al-ships in Baton Rouge, La.

Balloonist Robert titude of 2,000 feet when it deflated and fell. BILL Tough battles loom for Cosigress in fall Problems await legislators after break MIDWEST Rustlers saddle up ST. PAUL, Minn. Horse owners are increasing security to protect against saddle rustlers who cut through fences and locks to raid stables. Since April, more than 110 saddles with an estimated value of more than $65,000 have been reported stolen from Twin Cities-area stables and individuals.

Highlights of the savings and loan bill adopted by Congress early Saturday: COST: The estimated bailout cost is $159 billion through 1999. Congress' General Accounting Office estimates the cost, with interest over 30 years, at $285 billion. Of that, $157 billion will come from the taxpayers. CAPITAL: In the most important reform in the bill, owners, 120 days after enactment, will be required to invest more of their own capital in their institutions. The provision, aimed at discouraging risky investments, requires owners to back every $100 they lend with $1.50 in tangible capital.

By 1995, the standard will be $3. Many of the accounting loopholes that allowed owners to avoid capital requirements have been closed. FINANCIAL STANDARDS: The bill pushes Ls back into home mortgage lending and out of risky investments such as speculative commercial real estate projects and junk bonds. ANTI-FRAUD: The Justice Department will receive $75 million a year for the next three years to uncover and prosecute fraud at both Ls and banks. Maximum fines for financial institution fraud are being raised from $5,000 a day to $1 million.

SOURCE: The Associated Press leadership of a chamber bitterly divided and virtually paralyzed by the resignation of former Speaker Jim Wright over ethics charges. "It's friendlier," said Rep. Newt Gingrich, the No. 2 GOP leadership official. "The entire mood of the House is more productive." But while Foley has restarted the machinery of the House, which has responsibility for initiating tax and spending bills, he has yet to define a legislative agenda for the Democratic majority.

"As far as the issue of comity, I think there is a much better relation between the two parties and cooperation between the two leaderships here in the House," Foley said. He said that the House had passed about 150 bills since he assumed the speakership, as many as had been passed in the previous five months. But Democratic leadership aides say that progress thus far has come on legislative nuts and bolts that have not been a true test of leadership or party cohesion. September and October, when Congress returns, will be a time of ideological definition for Democrats, they said. "The major substantive battles are yet to come," said Rep.

Vin Weber of Minnesota, an influential Republican. "We will be seeing the issues that will translate into the next election: child care, taxes, economic growth. The stage could be set for some fairly good battles." A long list of problem issues lies ahead: whether to use federal money or The Associated Press WASHINGTON A sense of businesslike calm pervaded the 101st Con-, gress as legislators left for a monthlong vacation, but storms loom when they re turn to face a series of long-deferred divisive issues, from child care to the minimum wage. "We've gotten the easy stuff out of the way," said Rep. Mickey Edwards, a member of the House Republican leadership.

"September and October are going to be much tougher." For the moment, members of Congress were content to marvel at what they had accomplished so far despite a year marred by ethics problems and internal conflicts. Leading the list was a compromise bailout plan for the nation's ailing savings and loan industry, the costliest financial rescue in the nation's history. The bill, which also imposes strict new controls on the industry, was worked out in concert with the White House. The House also finished initial work on the 13 spending bills that are the essentials of keeping the government running, and steps had been taken toward strengthening the Clean Air Act and meeting the year's budget deficit reduction target. The Senate, too, was well into the process of dealing with spending measures.

"We've picked up ground," said Rep. Robert Michel, R-I1L, the House minority leader. Michel and others gave credit to new Speaker Thomas Foley, who two months ago assumed WEST Gang kills girl, 7 LOS ANGELES A 7-year-old girl, shot in the head while she was playing in a housing project, has become the latest victim of gang warfare in Los Angeles, police said. Kanita Haley died late Friday in the hospital after spending two days in critical condition on life support systems. According to police, she was playing baseball on Wednesday in the Watts section of Los Angeles when someone opened fire from a passing car, apparently aiming at a 20-year-old man and his friends.

Judge denies bail SEATTLE A federal judge denied bail to three foreign businessmen accused in a scheme to sell sophisticated computer equipment to the Soviet Union. U.S. District Judge Carolyn Dimmick said on Friday there was a significant risk that the men would try to flee the country. Shiv Mohan, 40, of New Delhi, India; David Whyte, 35, of Mississauga, Ontario; and John Townsend, 43, a Briton living in New Castle, Australia, were arrested on July 21 in Buffalo, N.Y. to offer tax credits to subsidize child care; whether to tan flag burning through a law or a constitutional amendment; how to concoct a new and stronger clean air law; and whether to seek a compromise on the minimum wage.

it's being pursued here. Ray Booth, the psychologist who first saw Bricker said that in four and a half years at Hanford, he had interviewed about six workers after they had complained about safety..