The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 1

Weather details, A4 Powate SlhlD MGdODHS PDSDDUgJ Page A3 NATION: WORLD: Imelda wants her shoes back fi -PageA36 SPOilTS: 'Bows beat Portland State, 6-4 Page C1 1 i i Sen.Kennedy plans to wed this woman Page A14 TODAY'S OUTLOOK: Mostly sunny; high mid-80s. NEWS SUMMARY ON PAGE A2 7 tar-Bulletin Sf Advertiser Final Edition $1.50 HONOLULU, March 15, 1992 Trail of apology 9 damage control follows- the Tbomiiiciiiig check list INSIDE: More names of check bouncers disclosed PAGE A1 8 Which party will scandal hurt most? PAGE A1 8 7X, -V'." ..4 -A 7 to $119,906 over the 39-month period under investigation. A member of Congress is paid $129,500 a year. He apologized for the overdrafts, but said many of his constituents have told him, 'We're with you, we support you, you've done good things and hang in Some constituents, however, weren't so kind. "I don't think they (in Congress) have any idea of what's going on with the ordinary citizen," said Walt Duggan, 62, of Coon Rapids.

"Once they get up there they're in a fantasy land." In Providence, R.I., the Democratic opponent of GOP Rep. Ronald Mach-tlcy sought political advantage. "Ron Machtley is a smart guy. I think he knew how that bank operated," said state Sen. David R.

Carlin. "I find it very difficult to believe that Ron Machtley did that by mistake." Rep. Marilyn Lloyd, said in a statement that she worked hard to keep her personal finances in good order and "never knowingly" wrote a check without sufficient funds. She said she had learned on Friday she had eight bad checks to her name totaling about $2,100. Some members had far smaller matters to disclose.

Rep. Bob Wise. said the House bank never told him he'd bounced a $1,000 check six years ago. The bank, he said, simply held it for four days, then put it through when his paycheck was deposited. Associated Press Red-faced lawmakers scrambled yesterday to explain their trails of rubber checks written at the House bank and asked folks back home to forgive and forget at the ballot box.

"I'm ready to take my medicine," Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn said in telephone interviews with reporters in his home state. He has said he wrote 125 bad checks totaling $47,987. As recently as last week, Rep. Bob Davis, had refused to say whether he'd written any bad checks.

But he spent part of his day at a town meeting in Gaylord, confessing to more than 800 of them and labeling himself "one of the worst examples" of the 355 current and former House members who wrote checks on insufficient funds. Even so, he sought to minimize any political damage, saying: "No taxpayer's money was ever on the line. When I overdrew I was covered by other congressmen's money, not public money." He went on to say: "No laws or rules were broken because it really wasn't a bank but a cooperative check-cashing fund." In places such as Coon Rapids, Minn, and Providence, R.I., lawmakers put their spin on the potentially devastating "Rubbergate Affair" in advance of a full public disclosure ordered by the House. The first soundings weren't encouraging. A Newsweek poll found that 78 percent of 513 people surveyed nationwide yesterday said they're unlikely to re-elect a lawmaker who is among the worst offenders.

Rep. John Tanner, said three of his checks totaling $3,800 were overdrafts. "It's not a happy time for me he said. "I think people understand between an inadvertent mistake and a pattern of abusive behavior. The scrambling came as The Associated Press learned that former Rep.

Tommy Robinson, and Rep. Bob Mrazek, top the list of worst abusers among current and former House members. Robinson denied ever writing a bad check, stating: "I would dispute that to the end of time." Mrazek, a Democrat running in a senatorial primary in New York, could not be reached for comment. In Coon Rapids, five-term Democrat Gerry Sikorski said his stomach churned and ached as he leafed though his banking records and found he had written 671 bad checks on the now-closed House bunk. At a jobs and education fair sponsored by Sikorski, he told about 100 people that his overdrafts added up 1 1- What's Inside 7 sections, 302 pages By Terry Anderson Associated Press I should have known better.

After 2VS years in Lebanon, you get to be able to smell danger. Unfortunately, my nose went numb. The day before they got me, four men in a new Mercedes had tried to kidnap me as I drove back to work from lunch in my seaside apartment. They screeched past me at a turn and tried to force my car to the curb. I whipped my car around theirs and kept going.

They chased me and tried again, but I got away with a sharp right turn down a side street. They gave up as I neared a Lebanese army checkpoint. The next day, I just got up as few hundred yards from mine, the Mercedes reappeared. The men, armed with pistols, leaped out and yanked open my car door before I could move. Mell was lucky.

They wanted me. He was left at gunpoint, standing at my car as my unshaven young captors shoved me into their car. It would be almost seven years before I would be a free man again. In that time, I was moved to nearly 20 places underground cells, secret hiding places, even ordinary apartments but with windows covered with sheet metal in Beirut, South Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley. Like all the hostages, I spent much of my time blindfolded and chained.

Some were beaten. Some See Captivity, Page A2 Editor's note: AP Chief Middle East Correspondent Terry Anderson was kidnapped by Shiite Muslim fundamentalists seven years ago tomorrow. He was released last Dec. 4. Since then, he has been vacationing in privacy in the Caribbean, where he remains.

These are his thoughts on the anniversary. usual and went to keep a 7 a.m. tennis date with AP photographer Don Mell. I don't know why. Maybe too many chances taken successfully had made me too sure of my safety.

It didn't last. As I stopped to drop Mell off after the game at his apartment a Money B4-8 Movies E14.1 5 Obituaries A41 People A4 Police beat A4 Sports C1-10 Today E1-15 Travel F1-10 TV info TV Week Weather A4 Arts E10 Books E8 Classified G11-48 Crossword E8 Editorials B2 Focus B1-3 Gardening G8 Health D1-3 Home G1-10 Horoscope E7 The Honolulu Advertiser produces the main news, Sports, Focus. Money, Travel and Health Science sections of the Sunday paper. The Star Bulletin produces the Today and Home sections. Hawaii Newspaper Agency produces TV Week and Dining Out.

cam artist array of charges facing a. Hawaii fugitive Todd Mueller was living high life till caught by FBI He is wanted in Honolulu for that scam, for allegedly printing up his own bogus checks and for allegedly siphoning off about $40,000 from a number of Hawaii estates in a complex probate court scam, police say. The Dec. 19 bust was classic Mueller. He had summoned a limousine, and was headed out of his swank hotel to meet it when "I was rushed by about 15 FBI agents," Mueller recalled dryly.

Mueller, who was wanted in Chicago and Honolulu, said he convinced the FBI his name was Kenneth Maxwell to avoid extradition. It took six weeks and a nationally televised crime show before federal agents realized who they had captured, Nobriga said. Now, Mueller admits that "I'm not doing too good." He has been indicted on federal credit card fraud charges in New York; is wanted for more credit card violations in New Jersey; is wanted on escape and other charges in connection with a forgery case in Chicago; and will face fraud charges in Hawaii. He is being investigated by the FBI in connection with a crosscountry and international credit card scam that yielded someone "several hundred thousand dollars," Nobriga said. Nobriga said someone fitting Mueller's description walked into an See Mueller, Page A5 year-old former Hawaii resident was staying at the upscale Manhattan Plaza Hotel when he was arrested.

Mueller's recent exploits are the latest in a long string of pranks and complex deceptions. He served a five-year sentence in the Hawaii prison system for theft and is widely known among criminal justice officials here as an accomplished sharp-ster with an odd sense of humor. He made crank calls to Honolulu police detectives who tried to track him. And Mueller admits he used his considerable skill at fabricating documents to produce a bogus court order that got his long-time friend Roy Hartsock released from the Oahu Community Correctional Center. By Kevin Dayton Advertiser Capitol Bureau It was a fast, flashy ride, but escape artist Todd Mueller has landed with a thump in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.

Mueller, who called The Advertiser last week to request news clippings and talk to a reporter, said he managed to escape from Cook County Jail in Chicago and a police station in Atlantic City. He was finally collared by FBI agents in New York, just as he was about to step into his limousine. Honolulu police detective Henry Nobriga confirmed Mueller is wanted for both escapes, and said the 24- Todd Mueller "I'm not doing too good." 2ST3B.