Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 6

Thursdiy, December 24. 1992 Star-BuHctin 1 THE NATION lilYOfl ITO38 IIPI mum Baird's isle cousin sands aloha to Clinton By Devi Sen Laskar Star-Bulletin Bill Clinton is receiving warm wishes from a Kaneohe doctor today after the president-elect picked his cousin to be the nation's first female attorney general. Dean Baird, a doctor with Trip-ler Army Hospital, is a first cousin of Zoe Baird's. Zoe Baird, now a Connecticut resident, was a White House legal aide under the Carter administration and presently holds the title of chief counsel for Aetna Life and Casualty Co. "We're really proud of her, the family is really proud of her," Dean Baird said today.

"She's worked very hard. She deserves this position. We plan on sending her a telegram today. "She's a few years older than I am, and she went to law school. I went to medical school.

So we went our different ways, but we're pretty close. We still keep in touch. Our fathers are brothers." Dr. Baird, who's been living in Kaneohe for the past six months, said he hasn't seen her recently. "We went home for Thanksgiving, and she didn't make it for the holidays," he said, "And I don't think we're going back for Christmas.

But I'm sure we'll see her sometime soon. "She's been very successful in everything she's ever done. It was a nice surprise for us." 2 deported teens cllowed back in U.S. OMAHA, Neb. Two high school students yanked out of classrooms and deported to Mexico will be allowed to return to their families ia Omaha, a congressman said today.

The U.S. Justice Department overruled the Immigration and Naturalization Service and will allow the youths, Ambrosio Lopez, 17, and Augustin Antunez, 16, to return to Omaha, Rep. Peter Hoag-land said. They had been arrested at Omaha South High School on Nov. 6.

The boys were in the United States illegally, but their parents live in Omaha legally. Both families had been trying to obtain legal citizenship for their children. Hoagland said the families will be able to face their legal situation together. Klcn erects new cross in town square CINCINNATI Ku Klux Klan members put up a cross early today on a downtown square to replace one destroyed by protesters, and a man was briefly taken into custody for trying to knock it down. The 10-foot wooden cross was erected in the same spot as the first one, about 200 feet from a Hanukkah menorah that was put up under federal court order in response to Christmas trees the city provides for the public square each year.

The new cross, weighted with heavy bags at its base, was erected shortly after midnight. At about 8:30 a.m., a man pushed the cross to a tilt. He was released at the scene without being charged, but police said he might face charges later. The Klan received a city permit to erect a cross by using the same religious freedom argument that a Jewish group had used to get permission to display the 18-foot menorah on the square. Navy recruiters ordered women to strip REDDING, Calif.

Two Navy recruiters ordered as many as 10 women applicants to strip so the men could take their measurements, the Navy says. One of the recruiters was disciplined; the other may face charges, authorities said. Investigators said the women were falsely told that stripping for measurements is a standard part of the recruiting process. Some complied. The misconduct took place at the recruiting station in Redding over a year's time, the Navy said.

Details of the case were reported yesterday in the Redding Record Searchlight newspaper. Petty Officer 2nd Class Trevor Briggs, 26, was punished for fraternization or improper actions with applicants, the Navy said. Navy lawyers hope to decide by the end of January whether to charge Petty Of ficer 1st Class Scott Crews, 30. Bckker to seek January parole hearing HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. Televangelist Jim Bakker will ask for a parole hearing next month after serving three years for fraud and conspiracy.

Bakker was sentenced to 45 years in prison in 1989 for bilking followers who had paid more than $160 million to become "lifetime partners" in his PTL empire. After an appeals court threw out that sentence, U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen sentenced him to 18 years and this week further reduced it to eight years. Bakker's lawyer Jim Toms said yesterday that under an eight-year sentence, Bakker would have been eligible for parole last April. Parents steal presents from kids' pcrty CHICAGO Students left a school Christmas party in tears after some parents who had volunteered to distribute the gifts stole 200 of them.

Marshall Taylor, principal of Friedrick von Schiller School in the Cabrini-Green housing project, described the scene as "chaos, complete chaos" after the parents tore open packages and helped themselves yesterday. The gifts toys, clothes, games and other items solicited from local companies were supposed to go to 325 fifth-through eighth-graders. Montgomery Ward a principal sponsor of the event, replaced about 150 of the gifts last night. Some students were taken to Montgomery Ward stores to receive the replacements, while others were to receive them through the school today, said Rob Kasenter, vice president of human resources. "The parents have set a wonderful example for the kids of what not to do," Taylor said.

A few gifts discarded by the parents were recovered. From Star-Bulletin news services Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Presidentelect Clinton today said he would name Zoe Baird to be the first woman ever to serve as U.S. attorney general as he completed the choice of a Cabinet designed to deliver "the energy and the experience America needs." Baird, 40, is a former Carter White House legal aide who is chief counsel for Aetna Life Casualty Co. Her appointment was the highlight of a news conference at which Clinton rounded out an exceptionally diverse Cabinet with these selections: Former Arizona Gov.

Bruce Babbitt for interior secretary. Babbitt, 54, is a colorful outdoorsman who sought the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. He is an outspoken advocate of preserving federal lands and protecting the environment. Babbitt is president of the League of Conservation Voters. He served two terms as Arizona governor.

Rep. Mike Espy of Mississippi for agriculture secretary. A major Clinton campaign supporter and fellow member of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, Espy, 39, was a strong contender for the post early on. But some farm and environmental groups objected and Clinton was considering other candidates as late as yesterday. Former Denver Mayor Federico Pena for transportation secretary.

Pena, 45, who became Denver's first Hispanic mayor in 1983, has been serving as head of Clinton's transition team studying transportation issues. Los Angeles attorney Mickey Kan-tor to U.S. trade representative. Kan-tor, 53, was chairman of Clinton's presidential campaign. Clinton said his Cabinet would "combine the energy and experience that America needs," noting that his choices "come from all across America, from diverse backgrounds." Espy, a Clinton campaign ally, would be the fourth black in the Cabinet, a milestone.

Pena would be the second Hispanic. Clinton also announced his choice of Dr. Joycelyn Elders to become U.S. surgeon general, effective in June, when the term of Angie Novello expires. Dr.

Elders, who is black, also will be an assistant to the secretary of health and human services. John Gibbons, head of the congressional Office of Technology Assessment, was named White House science adviser. Gibbons, according to sources, is close to Vice President-elect Al Gore. Baird was the third woman tapped by Clinton for his Cabinet fourth if Clinton's choice for United Nations ambassador is counted. "She is tough, tenacious, and gifted," Clinton said.

Baird and her husband, Yale Law School Professor Paul Gewirtz, are expected to spend part of the New Year's holiday with the president-elect and his wife. She is also a protege of some of the country's top legal power-hitters, such as Lloyd N. Cutler, President Carter's White House counsel, and Warren M. Christopher, Clinton's transition director and choice for secretary of state. In June, BusinessWeek named her one of the 50 top women in business, describing her as a "strategic activist" Associated Press Christmas rush: A shopper at the Galleria Mall in Dallas talks on her cellular telephone while rushing between last-minute purchases late yesterday.

Rudolph's nose unwelcome sign 66 Of all the terrible things people can do in the world, painting red noses on reindeer doesn't strike me as the worst thing possible. Scnpps Howard News Service WAUKESHA, Wis. Rudolph's red nose is shining so bright in all the wrong places this year. According to state Department of Transportation officials, deer on a number of the "deer crossing" signs along Interstate 94 between Milwaukee and Minneapolis are sporting red noses. The yellow signs with silhouettes of leaping deer are intended to alert drivers to the danger posed by the unpredictable animals.

Ed Friede, the state's chief traffic engineer for southeastern Wisconsin, said crews can change Rudolph to a Donder or Blitzen easily if the nose has been put on with a sticker or tape. If the nose glows because of paint and it can't be removed, crews must replace the sign, which costs: $100; Friede said. According to attorneys for the state Department of Transportation, anyone who defaces traffic signs, faces a fine of $25 to $100 and 30 to 60 days in jail. Anyone who turns in someone who has defaced the sign and helps in the prosecution can share in half the fine. 99 who is "party to all major policy decisions at Aetna and is shaping the insurer's stance on public issues such as healthcare." Prior to being hired by Connecticut-based Aetna two years ago, Baird served as a senior attorney at General Electric Co.

With the Cabinet selections completed, policy aides had Christmas deadlines to submit option papers on a wide range of budget, policy and legislative issues. Hundreds of sub-Cabinet jobs, many of them critical federal agency heads, need to be filled. Relieved of the grueling appointee-selection process, Clinton took a winding, three-mile jog through downtown? Little Rock on a brisk, windy, 30-degree morning. He then stopped at the neighborhood YMCA for a workout. Working himself hoarse and ragged to fill the Cabinet by Christmas, Clinton tried to appease Democratic interest groups that demanded more women and minorities, while dispelling the suggestion that he was filling political quotas.

"It's clearly frustrating to have quotas implied because the governor is not for quotas," spokesman George Stephanopoulos said yesterday. JohnSobotik Sharing. Now there's a sign of the season. John Sobotik, an attorney with the agency, said he didn't know, if anyone ever been caught. "Of all the terrible things people can do in the world, painting red noses on reindeer doesn't strike me as the worst thing possible," he said.

FROM PAGE ONE CHRISTMAS: A tale of peace amid battles fi 1 1 i rK 1 weeks earlier. Elisabeth had named the rooster Hermann for portly Hermann Goering, the Nazi Luftwaffe commander whom she did not like. "When I returned," Fritz recalled, "the medical student was looking after the wounded American, assuring him the cold had prevented infection. "The tension among them soon disappeared. One of the Germans had a loaf of rye bread.

An American had instant coffee. By then Hermann was ready to eat and mother said "Komm, Herr Jesus," she said, "and be our guest." "There were tears in her eyes," Fritz said, "and I looked around the table and saw that the battle-weary soldiers were filled with emotion. Their thoughts were many, many miles away. Now they were boys again, some from America, some from Germany, all far from home." The soldiers fell asleep on their heavy coats soon after dinner. They exchanged Christmas greetings the next morning and everyone helped make a stretcher for the wounded American.

"The German soldiers then advised the Americans how to find their unit," Fritz said. "My mother then gave all of them back their weapons. 7 "At that moment, she had become a mother to all of them. She asked them to be careful and told them 'I want you to come home someday where you belong. God bless you The soldiers shook hands and marched off in opposite directions.

It was the last time Fritz or his mother, who died in 1966, saw any of them. Fritz said the cottage was destroyed in a forest fire in 1947, six years before his family left Germany. Fritz recalled his mother would often say "God has been to our table" when she talked of that night in the forest. Peace be with you, too, on this day. WEINBERGER: Bush pardon stops probe Continued from Page A-l Bush were the most politically volatile since then-President Gerald R.

Ford pardoned President Richard Nixon in 1974 for any crimes committed in connection with the Watergate scandal. "First, the common denominator of their motivation whether their actions were right or wrong was patriotism," Bush said in a statement. "Second, they did not profit or seek to profit from their conduct. Third, each has a record of long and distinguished service to this country." Bush issued the pardons less than a month before leaving office, in a culmination of an arms-for-hostages scandal that plagued President Reagan's two final years in office and periodically dogged Bush himself. "Now the Cold War is over," the president said.

"When earlier wars have ended, presidents have historically used their power to pardon to put bitterness behind us and look to the future." The best known of these was Ford's pardon of Nixon "for all crimes" known and unknown during his presidency. Ford issued the pardon on Sept. 9, 1974, exactly one month after Nixon resigned the office. Nixon was never charged with any crime. Weinberger's case involved charges that in 1987 he concealed from congressional investigators his personal notes that detailed events in 1985 and 1986 involving the Iran-Contra affair.

Weinberger had pleaded not guilty and said he was being unfairly prosecuted because he would not provide incriminating information about Reagan. George is a former CIA deputy director of operations was found ment in the political and legal climate of our country: the criminalization of policy differences." He said those differences should be addressed politically without the Damocles sword of criminality hanging over the heads of some of the combatants." The proper target, the president said, "is the president, not his sub-" ordinates; the proper forum is the 1 voting booth, not the; courtroom." News of the pardons were relayed to former President Ronald Reagan by his top aide, Fred Ryan. Reagan was at his Bel-Air home on 1 Christmas Eve. i "President Reagan was pleased to hear the news of the pardons issued today to Cap Weinberger and other government officials" Ryan said from Reagan's Century City office. There had been opposition to a pardon among some White House aides, one well-placed source said in mid-November.

There was con-, cern that Bush's place in history might be tarnished by a pardon and that a pardon would be used as -a political issue by Democrats in 1996. Weinberger was indicted June 16 for allegedly concealing his notes about the arms shipments to Iran. Prosecutors uncovered the 2,000 pages of notes in 1991 at the Library of Congress. The material details discussions among Reagan and his top aides including then-vice president Bush about the Iran initiative. Weinberger has always said he hadn't known about the 1985 Iran arms shipments at the time they! occurred.

Weinberger also was indicted for allegedly lying when he said he hadn't known about Saudi Arabian contributions to the Nicaraguan Contras. Walsh was furious about Wein-t berger not turning over his notes feeling that he could have won cooperation from other Iran-Con-' tra figures if he had gotten them earlier, sources familiar with the investigation have said. Associated Press Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, shown in this file photo, won a Christmas Eve pardon from President who called him a "true American patriot." Continued from Page A-l who was working in a Red Cross hospital. By late December, however, the cottage was no longer out of harm's way. German troops had surprised and overwhelmed the Allies on Dec.

16, turning the Ardennes Forest into a killing field. Elisabeth and Fritz tried to block out the sound of gunfire as they sat down to a Christmas Eve supper of oatmeal and potatoes. "At that moment, I could hear some noise outside, quiet human voices," Fritz remembered. "Mother blew out the little candle and we waited in fearful silence. "There was a knock, careful and full of anxiety.

Then another (knock). My mother went to the door." When she opened it, two men were standing outside. They spoke a strange language and pointed to a third man sitting in the snow with a bullet wound in his upper leg. "We knew by then they were American soldiers," Fritz said. "They were cold and weary." Elisabeth invited the men in and asked her son to get six more potatoes from the shed.

Fritz said his mother and one of the American soldiers were able to converse in French. "From him we learned about the German offensive and how he and his comrades had lost their battalion and wandered for three days in the snowy Ardennes Forest, hiding from Germans," Fritz said. A short time later, four more weary soldiers came to the cottage. These men, however, were German. "I was almost paralyzed with fear," Fritz said.

"While I stood still Elisabeth and Hubert Vincken in a 1961 photograph. side and took the situation in her hands. "I had always looked up to my mother and was proud to be her son. But she rose to be my hero in the following minutes. It was, if I may say so, her finest hour." "Frohliche Weihnachten," Elisabeth said to the German soldiers, wishing them Merry Christmas.

She then invited them to dinner. But before allowing them in, Elisabeth informed them she had other guests inside that they might not consider friends. "But she reminded them that it was Christmas Eve," Fritz said, "and told them there would be no shooting around here." The German soldiers agreed to store their weapons in the shed. Elisabeth then went inside to collect weapons from the Americans and locked them in a desk drawer. "At first, it was very tense," Fritz said.

Two of the German soldiers were about 16 years old and another was a medical student who spoke English. Fritz was sent out to fetch a rooster he had captured several guilty earlier this month on two felony counts of lying to Congress about his knowledge of a secret Iran-Contra network to resupply rebels in Nicaragua. There was no immediate comment from Walsh, who has spent six years delving into the arms-for-hostages affair. Walsh scheduled a news conference in Oklahoma City, later today. The pardons were announced by the White House while Bush was spending Christmas Eve at his Maryland mountaintop retreat.

Pardons were also granted to 18 other individuals who were not involved in the Iran-Contra affair. In a slap at Walsh, Bush said the independent counsel represented "a profoundly troubling develop siarea, my mumer weni uui-.