The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 1

Raleigh NC Thursday February 4 1988 25C V-f-'1" 'TfilMiTititimiM gtiiitrtiiiafiirtfj'iriir Aflrkffiy hi 3 --K rejects coiitra EB3 ed Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd D-WVa said debate would be limited to 30 minutes The administration still can seek additional aid through the regular appropriations process a route that is more easily blocked by the Democratic-controlled Congress but one that the White House almost certainly will try The House leadership has said it will propose its a package of purely humanitarian aid for the contras so they will not be totally See HOUSE page 5A age Rep Martin Lancaster a freshman Democrat from Golds-boro had said he was undecided until Wednesday The 12 Republicans who voted to reject the plan were Christopher Shays of Connecticut Jim Leach and Thomas Tauke of Iowa Constance A Morella of Maryland Silvio Conte of Massachusetts Paul Henry of Michigan Sherwood Boehlert Bill Green Frank Horton and Amory Houghton Jr of New York Claudine Schneider of Rhode Island and James Jeffords of Vermont Defeat of the package which included $36 million in lethal assistance means that for the remainder of Reagan's term the White House will not be guaranteed another congressional vote on the issue that has dominated his Central American agenda If the House had approved the contra aid the Senate would have been required to vote on the issue today Though the issue is moot Senate Republicans are expected to call a vote for symbolic reasons The New York Times report- By TOM KENWORTHY The Washington Post WASHINGTON The House striking what could be a mortal blow against the centerpiece of President Reagan's Central American policy narrowly rejected his request to provide $3625 million in new aid to the Nicara-guan contras Wednesday night The 219-211 vote killing the aid package came at the end of a divisive 10-hour debate and a furious lobbying campaign in recent weeks that included an 11th-hour concession to Congress Noriega North reportedly planned to train rebels page 3A Nicaraguan defector may get $800000 from US page 5A At the end 207 of the House's 257 Democrats and 12 of its 177 Republicans joined in voting against Reagan All 11 members of the North Carolina delegation voted along party lines with eight Democrats opposing contra aid and three Republicans supporting the pack The Associated Press Anthony Kennedy is cheered by law students in California after his confirmation American Eagle flies again IRlWWSBtetle -a NJ bans surrogate contracts Court lets dad keep custody of Baby By ROBERT HANLEY New York Times News Service TRENTON NJ The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that commercial surrogate-motherhood contracts are illegal but upheld the father's custody of Melissa Elizabeth Stern the child at the center of the Baby case Except for affirming William Senate confirms Kennedy Unanimous vote fills court seat By AL KAMEN The Washington Post WASHINGTON The Senate voted 97-0 Wednesday to confirm Judge Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court ending a bitter seven-month struggle between President Reagan and the Democratic-controlled Senate over the direction of the high court Kennedy 51 a federal appeals court judge from Sacramento Calif will be sworn in Feb 18 as the nation's 104th justice He will take a seat vacated in June by centrist Justice Lewis Powell Jr and like Powell he is likely to cast a deciding vote in cases involving civil rights civil liberties abortion and church-state issues Kennedy will be the youngest justice when he joins the court He and two other conservatives appointed by Reagan represent the potential for many years of conservative rulings a prospect that disturbs See UNANIMOUS page 7A and Elizabeth Stern's custody the 7-0 opinion overturned all aspects of the ruling in the case last March by Superior Court Judge Harvey Sorkow The ruling restored the parental rights of the baby's mother Mary Beth Whitehead-Gould meaning that she can seek a new custody hearing The justices also threw out Sorkow's order almost a year ago allowing Mrs Stern to adopt the baby now 22 months old And having restored Mrs Whitehead-Gould's parental rights they also ordered a new court hearing to set rules for her visits with Melissa She is now permitted to see the girl two hours a week in a Bergen County youth shelter in Hackensack "We thus restore the surrogate See FATHER page 6A Staff photo by Bob Bridges Barbara English of American Eagle escorts passengers getting off a commuter airline resumed service Wednesday with 36 flights at plane from Richmond Va at Raleigh-Durham Airport The bankrupt RDU Story page 10B Federal officials seek remedy to Robeson County's problems Reagan slated to give anti-drug talk at Duke parities that exist in the county said Davis an administration of justice specialist with the agen-i cy's Community Relations Division Davis and Cloyd Hall said they wanted to collect information related to complaints by Concerned Citizens for a Better Robeson County a coalition of activists who claim to represent eight citizens groups and thousands of county residents Those community leaders say Robeson is plagued by an array of social economic and racial problems They say those problems are aggravated by insensitive and possibly corrupt officials See JUSTICE page AA spokesman said About 350 guests were expected to attend the meeting at the Bryan Center US Secretary of Labor Ann McLaughlin will be the keynote speaker her talk will be followed by a panel discussion Malcolm Gills dean of the Duke Graduate School and vice provost of academic affairs will moderate the panel of health government and company officials The afternoon session at which Reagan is scheduled to speak will be held at Cameron Indoor Stadium and will be open to 6000 students faculty members and guests Duke students can pick up tickets at the Bryan Center today Cameron will be open at 11:45 am Monday and the session will start at 1:30 pm Reagan is tion He said AIM would send several lawyers to help defend the two Indians who took 17 staff members of The Robesonian newspaper hostage to protest what they called a corrupt and unfair justice system Eddie Hatcher 30 and Timothy Jacobs 19 were charged Tuesday with hostage-taking and federal firearms violations the day after a 10-hour standoff with local and federal agents They surrendered Monday evening only after Gov James Martin agreed through a staff member to look into the men's allegations of corruption in local law enforcement agencies The Justice Department officials came to Lumberton to assess racial social and economic dis DURHAM President Reagan will visit Duke University Monday to speak during an afternoon session of a conference on substance abuse in the workplace university officials said Gov James Martin and Duke President Keith Brodie had invited Reagan to the conference sponsored by the university and the governor's office White House spokesmen said Wednesday that Reagan had accepted the offer Nancy Reagan who has been active in anti-drug campaigns will not join him The morning session of the conference "Substance Abuse in the Workplace: Strategies for the 1990s" is open to invited business and civic leaders educators and government officials a Duke By JOE DEW Staff Writer LUMBERTON Two US Justice Department representatives met with Robeson County officials Wednesday to discuss the county's economic and social problems which some community leaders say were at the root of Monday's hostage-taking at a Lumberton newspaper The meeting was held to search for a way to bring "stability and integrity" back to Robeson County said James A Davis one of the Justice Department officials Also Wednesday a leader of the American Indian Movement said that AIM leaders would have an emergency meeting later this week to discuss the Robeson situa President Reagan expected to speak about 2 pm Gordon Carpenter the White House spokesman in Durham said Reagan was expected to arrive at Raleigh-Durham Airport about 1 pm and leave about 3 pm It will be Reagan's first visit to Duke University KEMA SODERBERG Meese's denial of payoff offer challenged made today Under the lQ)OME West Bank violence Lumbee supported for Robeson judge A group of 41 Triangle political leaders and activists is portraying the primary contest for a new Robeson County Superior Court judgeship as a is about to occur Sources did not disclose the exact wording of the memo's pivotal 10 words which Meese said "have given rise to this speculation" about an alleged bribery plan Nor could it be learned whether the payment in question had been made or was being proposed Supporters of the proposed Iraqi pipeline wanted guarantees by Israel that it would not oppose the project or launch a military at- See SOURCES page 6A sources said involves Swiss oilman Bruce Rappaport and then-Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres' Labor Party raises questions about Meese's statement Monday that he does "not believe that it fairly implies a violation of the law was committed or contemplated" Nathan Lewin Meese's lawyer contends that the memo written by longtime Meese friend Robert Wallach about a proposed $l-billion pipeline deal in Iraq does not constitute any illegality sources said Lewin's reported stand is based partly on the fact that Rappaport as a Swiss citizen would not be covered by the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act But other lawyers not involved in the case but experienced with the 1977 act disputed Lewin's arguments saying that the law could well cover the activity outlined in the memo The federal law prohibits US citizens from bribing foreign officials and specifically stipulates that the attorney general may take legal action to stop a violation if it appears one RONALD OSTROW and MICHAEL WINES The Lot Angeles Timw WASHINGTON The key portion of a classified memo that is the prime focus of an independent counsel's investigation 10 words that Attorney General Edwin Meese III insists imply no wrongdoing refers directly to a possible financial payment or contribution by a Swiss businessman to an Israeli political party sources said Wednesday This description of the crucial part of the memo which other A Palestinian protester is shot to death by Israeli troops and a Palestinian woman dies of a wound sustained Monday Page 3A Lobbying reported A former official in the Business Administration says GOP presidential hopeful Sen Robert Dole telephoned the top administrator to help secure a no-bid government contract Page 1 3A The weather A 60 percent chance of rain with highs in the upper 50s and lows in the upper 30s Paee 2A battle between a "kingpin" of a closed political system and a 'great Racy supermarket tabloids growing tamer candidate" with judicial temperament In a letter to about 300 Triangle residents the group appealed for donations for the campaign of Julian Pierce a former legal-services program director Pierce faces Joe Freeman Britt district attorney for Robeson and Scotland counties in the Democratic primary May 3 The letter was signed by Steve Schcwcl president of Carolina Independent Publications Inc of Durham which publishes The Independent a biweekly newspaper "We arc all people who feci it's See DOME oace6A Examiner and The Sun have a combined weekly circulation of 23 million Miles suggested that the main reason the tabloids no longer deal with grisly murders sex crimes or other disturbing subjects is because 90 percent of those buying the tabloids are women chiefly white women of middle-age or Index Amusements 7D Deaths 3C Auto IE Editorials 10A Business 5B Scene ID Classified AC Sports IB Comics 5D Television 6D Phones Main number 829-4500 Classified 829-4600 Circulation 829-A70O 1 9RB The News and Observer Publish ing Company All rights reserved But "sex" is a word rarely used on front pages Nudity is taboo Blood and human and animal deformities are nowhere to be seen Instead "miracle" diet plans celebrity gossip and inventive astrologers and psychics crowd the pages "The supermarket managers don't want us to upset their patrons" sighed Tony Miles executive publisher of Globe Communications His firm's publications The Globe The National By JON NORDHEIMER New York Timet Newt Service BOCA RATON Fla Now the shocking inside story can be told! The tabs are going soft After years of rapid circulation growth based on a formula of sex luridness the occult and Hollywood gossip the six major supermarket tabloid newspapers which together reach an estimated 50 million US readers per week have run into a weakening market Worse yet in the view of several editors in the field the unpardonable is happening: Blandness is replacing brashncss the merely rude is pushing out the lewd There is still a lot of glorious humbug to be found in headlines like "A SPACE ALIEN MADE ME PREGNANT" in the current Weekly World News or "CAT EATS PARROT NOW IT TALKS (Says: 'Kittycat wants a cracker')" in the most recent coDy of The Sua older "These women will not buy See SUPERMARKET page.