The Star Press from Muncie, Indiana • Page 3

The Star Press Thursday, January 29, 1998 Page3A News digest Clinton seeks suBioort in America's heartland. I C7-V -Of' i- By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHAMPAIGN, 111. Far from the embarrassing tempest in Washington, President Clinton was welcomed with thunderous cheers in the nation's heartland Wednesday as Vice President Al Gore urged Americans to "join me in supporting him and standing by his side." "We have had an incredible day," Clinton enthused. But before he could fly to his next stop in Wisconsin, Air Force One got stuck in the mud taxiing for takeoff an unfortunate bit of symbolism for the besieged president. A backup plane was brought in.

Bouyed by the rousing reception here and at his State of the Union address, Clinton did not comment directly on the allegations of an affair with a young intern and a cover-up. But he might have had his problems in mind as he joked about the boisterous music and overflow crowd that greeted him at the University of Illinois. "I wish I could take the pep band with me for the next month or two wherever I go," the president said. He came here to extol his education initiatives and his call for a Social Security fix. Clinton told the mostly youthful audience he had never worried about Social Security at their age.

"I thought I would live forever, always young," said Clinton, The Associated Press WORKING THE CROWD: President Clinton gives a thumbs-up as he works the crowd after a speech Wednesday in Champaign, III. Officials admit intelligence gaps because the charge was not aggravated first-degree murder because of his age, he was not eligible for the death penalty-FCC to move forward on free TV time plan WASHINGTON Heeding President Clinton's call, the FCC is drafting proposals to require broadcasters to give political candidates free air time or even deeper discounts on ads than currently available. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard told reporters Wednesday that a plan was in the works. His statement came a day after Clinton made the suggestion in his State of the Union address. Kennard offered no specifics, but said the FCC would begin a proceeding in the next 2 months to offer a number of proposals to reform the campaign finance system.

Broadcasters could face new requirements as a condition for receiving federal licenses at no charge. The FCC, he said, is not likely to take any final action before November elections. WORLD India orders death for 26 in Gandhi assassination POONAMALLEE, India A mammoth conspiracy trial ended with convictions Wednesday for all 26 people tried in the 1991 suicide bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the political heir of India's Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. All 26 were ordered hanged. "The nation stands vindicated," declared D.R.

Karthikeyan, the federal police officer who led the investigation. Tamil Tiger rebels from neighboring Sri Lanka assassinated Gandhi for allegedly betraying them by brokering a peace accord with the Sri Lanka government in 1987. Gandhi, the son and grandson of India's prime ministers, was campaigning for his Congress Party in southern India on May 21, 1991, when a woman handed him flowers, then detonated a pound of plastic explosives strapped to her body. The explosives, packed with 10,000 metal pellets, killed Gandhi and 16 others, including the Sri Lankan Tamil bomber, who went by only one name, Dhanu. Europeans attempt around-the-world record CHATEAU D'OEX, Switzerland Despite a lack of wind and a small leak in the pilots' capsule Wednesday, a European team trying to be the first to circle the globe in a balloon has already improved on Its previous bids.

The Breitling Orbiter 2 hot air and helium balloon floated up into the icy cold, blue skies above the snow-covered Alpine resort of Chateau d'oex early Wednesday. The tall silver balloon was expected to reach Monte Carlo early today, Greece by Friday and Israel on Saturday. A previous attempt by Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard and Belgian pilot Wlm Verstraeten failed last January when kerosene fumes in the cabin choked off their air supply and they splashed into the Mediterranean Sea just 6 hours after takeoff. Earlier this month Piccard's crew had to abandon a launch attempt after a loading accident hours before the balloon was scheduled to lift off. Five Saudi septuplets not growing properly DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Five of the Saudi septuplets born this month are not growing as fast as they should because they don't have the proper milk, hospital officials said Wednesday.

message in big block letters in the snow on the banks of the Mississippi River: "IMPEACH." All 12,000 tickets for the University of Illinois event were quickly grabbed up, distributed by the school and Democratic supporters. what U.N. weapons inspectors have yet to find. What is known about Iraq suggests a continued erosion of military strength. The Defense Intelligence Agency reported "significant weaknesses" in Iraq military readiness, leadership, morale, logistics and training.

Hughes reported "limited efforts" by Iraq to preserve and expand missile technology and weapons of mass destruction capability. And Tenet said Iraq remains strong enough to threaten small regional neighbors and internal opposition groups. U.N. weapons inspections provided U.S. intelligence with a wealth of information about Iraqi capability, and led directly to the destruction of more chemical and biological weapons than were destroyed in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

But Oakley said the intelligence on what Iraq possessed before the inspections, and what might survive today, was spotty at best. Tenet was at pains to describe Iraq's strategic position as weakened as a result of an international trade embargo and U.S. military containment of Iraq. Saddam, Tenet said, "is trying to exploit the diplomatic situation to his benefit. At the end of the day, he's a desperate man in terrible shape.

We have this man in a box." now 51. Passing farm fields and businesses, Clinton's motorcade drew friendly waves from hundreds of people. "Fact, not fiction," read one sign outside the arena. "Kill the overkill," said another. In La Crosse, there was a told lawmakers that Iraq probably had little in the way of a chemical or biological arsenal but might have weapons production facilities.

"My personal believe is that Saddam has somehow protected the essential knowledge and some few capabilities that he still has at his command to continue weapons of mass destruction production at some later time," Hughes said in Wednesday's hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "That's why he's being so difficult with us now to protect that core capability he's managed to conceal from us." Although the three officials did not address in open session the increasing likelihood of U.S. air strikes on Iraq, their testimony underscored the difficulty of grappling through military means with Iraq's potential weapons capability. Defense officials have said repeatedly, if anonymously, that they are concerned that the U.S. conventional arsenal would be incapable of penetrating some of Iraq's most hardened targets, such as deeply buried bunkers that may house biological or chemical weapons labs.

And the testimony Wednesday about the uncertainty over what Iraq has and where weapons or production facilities may be located suggests the Pentagon might not be able to guarantee that air strikes can destroy By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATE Death penalty charges filed against former cop INDIANAPOLIS Prosecutors said Wednesday they would seek the death penalty for a former policeman charged with murder in connection with the slaying of a reputed drug dealer. The alleged accomplice of former Indianapolis Police Department Patrolman Myron Powell also is facing a death penalty charge in the case. Michael A. Highbaugh, 33, allegedly fired the shot that killed David (Big C) Hairston, 29, on Dec. 11.

The Marion County Prosecutor's Office filed court papers seeking the death penalty against Powell and Highbaugh if they are convicted of murder. The papers said robbery was the aggravating circumstance that qualified the two for the death penalty. Prosecutor Scott Newman said he needed to send a strong message to corrupt cops, especially in light of Powell's admission that he used his uniform to gain entry to Hairston's home. Indianapolis entrepreneur honored with stamp INDIANAPOLIS The U.S. Postal Service honored a pioneering black businesswoman in her hometown Wednesday with a stamp bearing her portrait.

Indianapolis native Madam C.J. Walker became a millionaire by manufacturing hair-care products and cosmetics for black women in the early years of this century. Walker, who died in 1919 at the age of 51, also earned a reputation as a philanthropist to African-American institutions such as the NAACP and the Tuskeegee Institute. "The Madam C.J. Walker stamp pays tribute to a woman who will forever serve as a role model for all women, both young and old.

Despite many social and economic barriers, Madam C.J. Walker realized her dreams of business success by relying upon a unique combination of steadfast determination and entrepreneurial spirit," said LeGree S. Daniels, a member of the Postal Service's Board of Governors, at Wednesday's first-day-of-issue ceremonies in the Indianapolis theater bearing Walker's name. NATION Woman scheduled to die loses another bid for life AUSTIN, Texas The state's highest criminal court Wednesday rejected pickax killer Karla Faye Tucker's bid to keep from becoming the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War. The Court of Criminal Appeals turned aside her argument that the state's clemency process was unconstitutional.

Tucker, who is scheduled to die Tuesday by injection, has asked the Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute her sentence to life in prison. The TUCKER board can deny her request or forward a recommendation to Gov. George W. Bush. Tucker, 38, was condemned for murdering a man and woman with a pickax during a 1983 break-in.

The former rock band groupie and drug-addicted prostitute has insisted she found God behind bars and would be content spending the rest of her life in prison doing his work. Teen gets 62 years slaying of baby sitter EVERETT, Wash. A teenager was sentenced Tuesday to 62 years in prison for raping and killing a 12-year-old baby sitter. David Daniel Dodge, 18, killed Ashley Jones while the 4-year-old boy she was baby-sitting pretended to be asleep on a couch. The boy later said he thought the killer was an alien.

"Ashley got her justice today," said her father, Steve Jones. "This does not bring her back. This does not take away our hurt, but this is closure to this chapter of our lives involving David Dodge." Dodge stunned friends and prosecutors by pleading guilty as an adult to first-degree murder, rape and burglary charges shortly after he was arrested in the September slaying. At the time, his mother said he entered the plea to get out of prison some day. He could be eligible for parole "4 -BP Ht 1 i ft Arafat threatens to resign over stalled peace talks DIPLOMACY: U.S.

intelligence officials really don't know what weapons Iraq has. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Even as the United States considers a possible attack against Iraq, top intelligence officials acknowledged Wednesday that there were big gaps in what they knew about Iraqi chemical and biological weapons. The problem is particularly acute now that U.N. weapons inspections have ceased due to Iraqi refusal to allow access to sensitive sites, doubly so because U.S. military commanders might be hoping to damage Iraq's weapons capability with air strikes.

"There are enormous gaps in what we know about where they were in development of these weapons of mass destruction," said Phyllis Oakley, the State Department's chief intelligence official. "The number of off-limits sites has been whittled down, but they're large enough that we don't know what they've moved into them, and if we can't get at them, we don't know." Oakley, along with CIA Director George Tenet and Army Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, -ft? i i. 5 i.miL.

It ft 1 i The Associated Press FAMILY: Joyce Seipei, mother of murdered activist Stompie Seipei, and her daughter, Elizabeth, listen to statements being made at a hearing Wednesday in Johannesburg. Ex-policeman casts doubt on Winnie By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JOHANNESBURG, South Africa A former policeman cast doubt Wednesday on an alibi used by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, testifying that telephone taps of President Nelson Mandela's ex-wife indicated she was in Soweto when four young men were assaulted at her home. Madikizela-Mandela has always insisted she was in Brandfort, a town 190 miles southwest of Soweto, from Dec. 29-31, 1988, when the four young men were abducted from a church home and severely beaten at her Soweto home. The policeman's testimony came as hearings resumed on 18 human-rights abuses, including murder and torture, allegedly committed by Madikizela-Mandela and her township gang a decade ago when Mandela was still in jail.

Former police Lt. Col. Daniel Bos-man told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that a tape from Madikizela-Mandela's phone showed she was home during at least part of that time. 1 i 1 But the babies were not in any danger, said Suad Habib, a pediatrician at the maternity hospital in the southern Saudi city of Abha where the babies were born 8 weeks early. The five smallest babies should be fed a formula specially designed for premature infants that is easier to digest and higher in calories than the regular formula they are drinking, Habib said.

But the hospital ran out of the formula months ago, said Mary Soloman, head nurse of the hospital's neonatal section. As a result, the five babies are "not growing at the normal rate," unlike their bigger siblings, which have been nursing from their mother since Friday, Soloman said. All the babies are still in the hospital. The hospital has ordered fresh deliveries of the special formula but doesn't know when it will get them, Habib said. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GAZA City, Gaza Strip Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has threatened to resign if the United States pressures him to accept Israel's skimpy territorial offer, aides said Wednesday, underscoring Palestinian gloom over the stymied peace process.

It was not clear how serious Arafat's threat was or if he was simply using it as a negotiating tool. Arafat has not groomed a successor and his resignation would likely bring the peace process to a complete halt a scenario the United States would not want to see happen. In a blow to U.S. efforts to revive the process, Arafat also rejected a U.S. proposal for Israel to withdraw troops from West Bank land in very small steps, each followed by Palestinian compliance with Israel's demands on security and other issues.

"The step-by-step formula for withdrawal is rejected," Arafat's spokesman Nabil Abourdeneh said in an interview Wednesday. 'There are agreements that have specific outlines and formulas a three-stage withdrawal. Security is a different issue." Abourdeneh appeared to contradict James Rubin of tJie U.S. State Department, who said earlier this week that Israel and the Palestinians had accepted the U.S. proposal in principle.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was considering the plan. Having returned empty-handed from last week's Mideast talks in Washington, the Palestinians are pushing for an Arab summit to put pressure on Israel. The Palestinians are in a difficult PAYING kisses Sheik radical Islamic honoring Yassin with and The Associated Press TRIBUTE: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the group Hamas, during a dinner Tuesday several Muslim scholars. Arafat presented a copy of the Koran in honor of his "struggles sacrifices on behalf of the nation." position and need to ask for the help of their Arab brothers, especially now that it is obvious the Israeli position is far from peace," Palestinian Cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman said Wednesday. The Palestinians are frustrated over continuing delays in implementing the three West Bank troop pullbacks Israel promised a year ago.

Vague wording in the agreement has created a huge gap of expectations. The Palestinians, who have full or partial autonomy in 27 percent of the West Bank, believe the pullouts must leave them in control of nine-tenths of the territory. The Associated Press SNOWBOUND: Traffic stands still as cars try to turn around on Interstate 40 west of Asheville, N.C., Wednesday. Most of the Appalachians, including Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, was buried in more than 2 feet of snow Tuesday and Wednesday. The North Carolina National Guard rescued 500 motorists on this section of 1-40..