Rutland Daily Herald from Rutland, Vermont • 1

1794 HERALD The Oldest Family-Owned Newspaper In the United States Vol. 139 -No. 64 Rutland, Vermont Copyright Blue Cross: Health Plan Wont Work Blue Cross and Blue Shield told a Senate committee Tuesday that participating in the gov-emorVhealth insurance plan could jeopardize the solvency of the company. By BRYAN PFEIFFER Vermont Press Bureau MONTPELIER The states largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, said Tuesday that Gov. Howard B.

Deans health insurance plan was poorly crafted and destined to fail. In surprising testimony to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, a Blue Cross executive said the proposal relied on unreasonable timetables and unrealistic assumptions about the formation of networks of hospitals and doctors designed to control health spending. Dean dismissed the notion that Blue Cross testimony would put his plan at risk, even though his administration had counted on the insurer to be a key player in expanding health insurance to poor Vermonters. The chairwoman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, Sen. Helen S.

Riehle, R-Chittenden, said Blue Cross bombshell could slow down the health plans timetables and she expressed concern about the soundness of its Alexander J. Shak, Blue Cross senior vice president, told Riehles committee that the insurer supported the principles and objectives of the governors plan to expand coverage to poor Vermonters and save money in the Medicaid pro-gram. But participating in the initiative would put Blue Cross at serious financial risk, he said, explaining that the insurer would be required to cover thousands of Vermonters without assurances of enough money from the state. For that reason, Blue Cross says that unless the plan is redesigned it cannot offer in-(See Page 10: Health) Staff Photo by Peter Carvelli Buildings to Be Razed Marble Bank will soon demolish these three buildings it owns on Merchants Row north of the bank to make room for additional customer parking. The bank also plans to use a portion of the property for a park.

(See story, Page 1 1.) Negligence Is Charged oman Car Death Cisneros To Face 1 Special Counsel By PETE GREGG Southern Vermont Bureau WOODSTOCK It was not quite three years ago when police found 42-year-old Cheryl Jesso Lunna lying dead in her station wagon, which was overturned and submerged in a Bethel brook. Police said the Rochester woman, who was driving alone, had drowned. On Tuesday, her estranged husband, Douglas Lunna of Stock-bridge, pleaded innocent to a two-count grand jury indictment relating to Cheryl Lunnas death. Douglas Lunna, 52, was charged in Woodstock Superior Court with careless and negligent driving, fatality resulting, and leaving the scene of an accident, fatality resulting. Both felonies are punishable by forced her car off the road, sending it over a steep embankment into Camp Brook.

There were two sets of skid marks at the scene, authorities say. Prosecutors say Douglas Lunna who, after a 24-year marriage, had filed for divorce against Cheryl Lunna just two months before the accident was the driver of that other vehicle. The short indictment said Douglas Lunna (failed) to exercise due care in overtaking another vehicle being operated by Cheryl Lunna. The indictment was released publicly for the first time Tuesday. It is the result of a three-day grand jury hearing last month.

Windsor County States Attorney Patricia Zimmerman said Tuesday (See Page 10: Charges) up to 15 years in prison. He was freed on conditions pending trial. The charges came almost a month before the statute of limitations on careless and negligent driving would have expired. Tuesdays arraignment brings to a head a two-and-a-half-year joint investigation between the Windsor County states attorneys office and Vermont State Police into an unattended death they had always considered suspicious. According to police and prosecutors, sometime after 10 p.m.

on April 26, 1992, Cheryl Lunna was driving along Camp Brook Road in Bethel on her way to her night-shift job at Merry Maids in Randolph. Authorities say another vehicle came up behind Cheryl Lunna and StaffPhotobyVytoSurinskuN Souvenirs Driver Vinnie Santise, stranded in Rutland since city police impounded his tour bus Sunday night, heads back to New Jersey on Tuesday with the bus and two tickets that the company, Academy Tours, was issued. Tour passengers had been sent home Sunday on another bus line because Academys license to operate in Vermont was under sus- K) By DAVID JOHNSTON The New York Times WASHINGTON Attorney General Janet Reno has concluded that Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros misled federal agents about payments he made to a former mistress, and has asked a judicial panel to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the matter, according to court papers unsealed Tuesday. In effect, Reno said that Cisneros lied to investigators before his appointment in 1993, significantly understating how much money he had given to Linda Medlar, his former mistress. While Cisneros had earlier acknowledged making such payments, he told FBI agents that he had never paid her more than $10,000 a year when in fact, Reno said, he paid her between $42,000 and a year.

Cisneros, who has denied any wrongdoing, said Tuesday that he would remain in office while he fights the charges against him. I am disappointed by the decision, he said at a news conference at the housing agencys headquarters Tuesday afternoon. But I am hopeful that the investigation will be completed expeditiously and I am confident the independent counsel will conclude that I did not engage in any criminal wrongdoing. Depending on Cisneros intent, his statements could be considered a felony, making false statement to a federal agent, which could be punished by a fine or imprisonment. (See Page 10: Cisneros) Panels Budget Plan Disliked By Dean, GOP By JACK HOFFMAN Vermont Press Bureau MONTPELIER The House debate over the 1996 state budget will make for strange bedfellows Wednesday, with the Dean administration and House Republicans lined up against the $988.5 million spending package.

Administration Secretary William Sorrell said Wednesday he would prefer that the House didnt pass the budget drafted by the House Appropriations Committee. He declined to say whether the House should send the bill back to committee or simply vote. to cut some expenditures during the debate. I wouldnt presume to tell them how to get from here to there, said Sorrell. We just hope they can get there.

According to Sorrell, there are two major problems with the budget that will be presented to the House for debate Wednesday. He said the spending plan committed money to programs in 1996 that would be needed to (See Page 10: Budget) Herald Staff SOUTH ROYALTON Vermont Supreme Court justices grilled attorneys representing Killington Ski Area, the state and the town of Mendon Tuesday over whether restrictions placed on Kill-ingtons land meant the property had been, in effect, taken without compensation. The question ultimately facing the court is a procedural one: whether Kill-ington has exhausted its options for developing 1,600 acres it owns in the Parkers Gore East section of Mendon and whether its lawsuit against the state and the town is legally ripe for trial. But the questions pitched at attorneys in the hearing room at Vermont Law School Tuesday afternoon lad more to AP Photo by Craig Lino The Vermont Supreme Court hears arguments in a case Tuesday as students listen at the Vermont Law School in South Royalton. From left are justices Denise Johnson, John Dooley, Ernest Gibson and James Morse and acting Justice Alden Bryan.

What if people are allowed to ski there from December through March, but no other time? And do black bears actually live in the gore, or just travel through it? (See Page lk Court) do with the facts of the case and their relation to land use law: If the ski area may not develop its property specifically for skiing, but is allowed to log there, does that constitute a so-called taking? -to; SPORTS SOUTHERN VT Team morale broke down due to rules infractions, says Brattleboro Police Chief RUTLAND Plaza movie theaters close until nine new screens open in May. PAGE 11 POP SCENE Bruce PAGE 5 NLRB files unfair labor says he will CSC baseball coach. owners. practice complaint against apply for managers Major League Baseball town Doodles page i post. Complete weather forecast, Page 2 PAGE 15 PAGES.