The Post-Star from Glens Falls, New York • 11

The Post-Slar, Glens Fulls, Y. Thursday, October 3, 2002 B5 -STATE I NORTHEAST Brow McCall apologizes, returns letters to archives Politics Joe Torre, Yankees manager, endorses Pal aki By MARC HUMBERT Associated Press ALBANY Democratic candidate for governor H. Carl McCall, seeking to put behind him what Republican Gov. George Pataki's allies have dubbed "Lettergate," apologized Wednesday for creating the appearance that he tried to use his public position to help relatives get jobs. And, McCall said he had returned to the state archives his state comptroller correspondence that had sparked the "If this is where they were going to go, they needed to have gotten there a little quicker," said the head of Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion said.

"They made a one-day story into a six-day story." Miringoff also said that with McCall not as well-known as Pataki, such lingering controversies did not work to the comptroller's advantage. "All these little dots have formed a picture, not the one his campaign wanted," the pollster said. McCall. had the documents removed from the archives Friday, the same day the New York Post began reporting he had written letters to business executives on comptroller stationery boosting the job prospects of his relatives. In the letters, McCall fifth straight American League championship.

"The Yankees are winners. George Patakf a winner," Torre says in the 10-second spot that is to air in New York City through the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs that began Tuesday with the Bronx Bombers beating Anaheim Angels, 8-5, at Yankee Stadium. In announcing the new Pataki ad, Torre said: "Whether on the field or in life, I have always believed that you stay with a winner, especially in tough times. Gov. Pataki is a true leader who helped bring our state together when we needed it most." Independent pollster Lee Miringoff questioned what had taken McCall so long to return fhe letters.

While McCall has steadfastly maintained he did nothing wrong, he said Wednesday that he regretted "the appearance that some of these letters cause." rf "While I never sought to leverage my public position, nor mix my government role with my personal and professional relationships in these or any letter, my use of government stationery has unfortunately given this impression and I sincerely apologize for this," McCall said. "I am proud of my service as a public official and my record of integrity," McCall added. Meanwhile, Pataki, looking for a political threepeat, unveiled a new television advertisement Wednesday featuring Yankee skipper Joe Torre, whose team is battling for its Study finds phone counseling helps smokers quit the habit Political ad court hearing rescheduled for Monday had reminded the executives that the huge state pension fund, which he controls, had investments or other Jinks to their companies. McCall, who has keen comptroller since 1993, has said he routinely sent such letters and that he believes there is nothing wrong with that practice. In his statement announcing the documents' return, McCall said a review of the material which included some 10,000 letter found 61 that mentioned resumes and he said he was making copies of those letters available.

Pataki has been critical of McCall's letter writing. "It is not appropriate in your public position ta seek personal favors," Pataki said on Saturday. and the college's own newspaper reported that Tim Bishop's team falsified rape statistics." State Supreme Court Justice Robert Roberto ruled the campaign must remove direct references to the college and its administration in the ad, but did not order it pulled. An edited version of the ad, which began running last week, aired on Long Island radio stations Wednesday. Bishop, a Democrat who took a leave of absence from the college last spring, has denied the accusation, saying, "I'm disgusted Mr.

Grucci would sink so low." The race for Grucci's seat is considered one of the most competitive in the country. Vice President Dick Cheney appeared at a Grucci fundraiser earlier this year. The ad was based on two articles in a Southampton College student newspaper in the early 1990s. Calling it quits Smokers who received telephone counseling for tobacco cessation were twice as likely to quit smoking than those who did not, according to a study published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. Abstinence rates In percentages With phone No phone counseling counseling By FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press GARDEN CITY (Nassau County) A Long Island college suffered a setback Wednesday in its attempt to immediately halt a congressional candidate's radio ad accusing his opponent, a former provost, of being lax in pursuing campus rape allegations.

A hearing set today in state Supreme Court was postponed until Monday at the request of the Felix Grucci re-election campaign of Felix Grucci, R-Brookhaven, said a lawyer for Southampton College. That means a version of the ad can keep running until then. In the ad, which began airing last week, a female narrator says "the college administration under provost Tim Bishop discouraged some attacks from being reported, 0n" 20.7 9.6. month Infhs 159 6-7 months 117 52 By STEPHANIE NANO Associated Press A decade after California became the first of 33 states to set up "quitlines" for smokers, a study found that telephone counseling works for those who want to kick the habit. Smaller tests done before the free services actually started showed the technique was effective.

But researchers at the University of California at San Diego, which runs the state's quitline, wanted to see if that was true once the program was in operation. Their findings, reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine, show that smokers who were counseled stopped smoking at twice the rate of those who did not get such help. "These statewide telephone counseling services really help people," said researcher Shu-Hong Zhu, who directs the help line. "All they have to do is pick up the phone." Two years ago, Renee Haa-panen turned to the California Smokers' Helpline when she was determined to quit. Now, as she makes her rounds as a gas meter reader, she does not need to take 0ne 7.5 4.1 year Vtw mm: Did you howl Teen gets prison for fatal accident HUDSON (Columbia County) A teenager who was drunk when the car he was driving crashed on New Year's Day, killing a friend and paralyzing another passenger, was sentenced Wednesday to 1 to 3 years in prison.

Kristopher Goodrich, 18, pleaded guilty in August in Columbia County Court to criminally negligent homicide. He could have received up to 4 years in prison. Legislation named after the 17-year-old victim, Sean French, was signed into law by Gov. George Pataki on Friday. It allows judges to immediately suspend the licenses of 16- and 17-year-olds being charged with driving while intoxicated or driving while ability impaired.

Goodrich had been stopped 18 days before the accident for driving while his ability was impaired, authorities have said. State: Beware of snake migration ALBANY Timber rattlesnakes are beginning their annual migration to winter dens, and state officials are warning people to stay clear. "Encounters between humans and the snakes may increase at this time of year," state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Erin Crotty said Wednesday. However, killing rattlesnakes, a threatened species, is against the law, she said. Rattlesnake populations have dwindled in New York.

Once, the snakes were found on Long Island and in mountainous terrain throughout the state, except in the. higher elevations of the Adirondacks, Catskills and Tug Hill region. The snakes now exist mainly in southeastern New York, the' Southern Tier and in the peripheral eastern Adirondacks. The snakes' dens are usually on open, steep slopes that have rock fissures. Timber rattlesnakes are venomous and their bite can be fatal to humans if left untreated.

DEC officials recommend that a person watch the snake from a safe distance and then carefully retreat. Police: Ex-cop fires rifle, hits teacher NEW YORK A former police officer firing a rifle from his apartment window struck a preschool teacher taking children to a playground before he was arrested after an hours-long stand-, off Wednesday, police Brian Berrigan, 33, was arrested by Emergency Service Unit officers who found him sitting at a table inside his fourth-floor apartment at the Stuyvesant Town apartment complex in Manhattan, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. He was charged with attempted murder, attempted assault, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. Berrigan had worked for the police department for two years when he was dismissed in 1997 after a routine drug test detected cocaine in his system, Kelly said. None of the children from the Manhattan Kids Club preschool was injured, and the teacher was expected to be released from Bellevue Hospital, Kelly said.

fYom wire reports Attention Prostate Cancf.r Survivors: It" you or anyone you know is affcctcil by or concerned about prostate cancer and wish to receive information on the local Man to Man support groups, special events or general information about prostate cancer, please call Glens Tails Hospital Oncology and Support Servic es at 926 6629. Papers: Amorous St. Patrick's couple had been on three-hour sex odyssey Social Security Disability requires you to be disabled for 12 months in order to obtain benefits. However, you can file prior to 12 months if it is apparent that your disability will last at least that long. It is a slow process.

Call today to schedule a free, no obligation telephone conference with an Attorney. We can help! Workers' Comj), Social Security DB, LongTermDB, Personal Injury SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine "For approximately three hours defendants Harper and Florence engaged in sex acts at several public Manhattan locations, including St. Patrick's Cathedral, where numerous parishioners and tourists gathered to honor the Feast of the Assumption andor enjoy the beauty of the cathedral," Semmel's court papers said. The couple's alleged antics resulted in WNEW-FM's firing the two DJs. Ap I ALL WE 0 fchcixcudv.NY 12305 Kl Vfll'IM a smoking break.

"I knew it wouldn't be easy. And it was so worth it," said the 39-year-old from Ventura, who was motivated by high blood pressure, a friend who had quit and her wish to avoid wrinkles. Most of the quitlines were started in the last three years, and some states are using their share of the 1998 national tobacco settlement to pay for them. States like telephone services because they reach more people than group programs, are available nights and weekends, and spare participants from having to find transportation or day care, said Angela Geiger, director of 10 state quitlines that the American Cancer Society runs from Austin, Texas. "Quitting smoking is really, really hard.

So we've tried to make these quitlines as easy as possible for the person trying to quit," she said. To test the California service, the researchers enrolled 3,282 callers in the study. All received a packet of self-help information in the mail. One group received an average of three counseling sessions. A second group only got counseling if they called back as instructed.

Fritz, did not return calls seeking comment. Officer William Smith, of the Midtown North precinct, said in a misdemeanor complaint that he heard Paul Mercurio say on the "Opie and Anthony" show that he was speaking on a cellular phone while watching the couple in action in the cathedral. About 5 p.m., Smith arrested the couple after they had sex in a vestibule just a few feet from worshippers, police said. The incident had been part of a regu-' lar feature in which couples could win prizes for having sex in public places. Mercurio, 42, a producer for the show, was charged separately with public lewdness for calling the show to give commentary over a cellular phone.

Court papers filed by Assistant District Attorney Nathan Semmel said Mercurio led the couple from place to place and assigned point values for each site on the list. MCO i cat; We're More Than Just Fireplaces Gas Wood Fireplaces Gait Logs Gnu Inserts ias Stove Mantled fj Surround Wood Stoves Hearths Cahlnrta Chimney Hearth Accessories Off Gas Stoves Stoves on FIP.EPLACE $1499 NOW 3 SO Factory Certified jt'fff' ruiiy ii ibui uu MAjtSTlC VI RMl 'N I Jl( iuiiiviiuu.ii Silverman. selpiK Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce Presents By SAMUEL MAULL Associated Press NEW YORK The arrest of a Virginia couple for allegedly having sex inside St. Patrick's Cathedral was just the climax of a mid-Manhattan public sex odyssey that had gone on for at least three hours, court papers filed Wednesday say. The papers did not list all the stops the couple allegedly made, but law enforcement sources familiar with the documents said they included the Disney store, F.A.O, Schwartz toy store, Carnegie Deli, an ATM vestibule, the back seat of a taxi and a hotel lobby.

The couple, Brian Florence, 37, of Quantico, and Loretta Lynn Harper, 35, of Alexandria, were arrested Aug. 15 by a police officer who heard a running account of their adventures on a radio show. They were charged with public lewdness. The couple's lawyer, Miranda AD "We Keep The Home Fires Burning if I n- Company) Thursday, October 3rd 4 to 7 pm Saratoga Springs City Center, 522 Broadway FREE ADMISSION! Mo registration required! Food Sample Booths Beverage Sample Booths 3 Cash Bars serving $1 Beverages OVER 50 DOOR PRIZES WILL BE GIVEN AWAY THROUGHOUT THE SHOW INCLUDING: Two Round-Trip Tickets on Southwest Airlines 200 oAsiiNiis btoves AA nUU Off All H50n All PaIIpI ww tUiHW Clearance SARATOGA HONDA Route 9 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 TILE CENTER OF SARATOGA 4249 Rte. 50 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 THE POST-STAR 76 Lawrence St.

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