The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 1

ENE' BSERVER i RALEIGH NC WEDNESDAY MARCH 16 1994 FINAL EDMON 50 CENTS vq(' 11 ld feeble and in jail Cost of no-parole bills is 'nursing prisons' ''') 04 "4- Nt t'fr 1 :7: AK' US pushes Israel to give PLO a role Carolina's future prisons under Gov Jim Hunt's proposal now before the General Assembly to adopt a new punishment for criminals: life without parole The special crime session has stalled while lawmakers fight over three bills to keep inmates such as Gibbs locked away for says 78 years old and dying at McCain Correctional Hospital It's the state's old-age home for killers rapists and drug dealers a razor-fenced pen filled with men in wheelchairs and men with canes and men whose feet rarely leave the ground as they putter around in the prison's greenhouse or attend ceramics classes It's also a snapshot of North orth Diabetes is destroying the vision of David Rhodes 85 McCain Correctional Hospital's oldest prisoner STAFF PHOTO BY LAURA DORTON SEE PRISONS PAGE 14A SEE PRISONS PAGE 14A SUSPECT RETURNS TO SCENE Secretary of State Warren Christopher urges Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to consider the plan for a Palestinian police force in Hebron BY STEVEN GREENHOUSE THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON In a new effort to restart Middle East peace talks the United States urged Israel on Tuesday to consider PLO proposals that would put a Palestinian police force in control of Hebron US officials said According to US and Palestinian officials the Palestine Liberation Organization is also insisting that international observers be sent to the West Bank town and INSIDE perhaps to other parts of the Israeli-oc- Defiant cupied territories to help protect Pales- Israeli tinians While taking pains not to appear to be settlers forcing Israel into specific concessions rally Secretary of State Warren Christopher met Tuesday with Prime Minister Yit- 9A zhak Rabin and urged him to consider the Palestinian proposal as a step toward resuming talks The PLO broke off the talks after an Israeli settler killed Palestinians in a mosque in Hebron on Feb 25 The agreement that Israel and the PLO signed in Washington in September calls for a Palestinian police force in Jericho and the Gaza Strip which are now occupied by Israel Under that framework accord the Israelis pledged to withdraw from Gaza and Jericho on the West Bank and to start negotiations for Palestinian self-rule in the entire West Bank The details were to have been worked out by December and the withdrawal from Gaza and Jericho was to have been completed by April 13- But the details proved elusive and no talks have been held since the killings in Hebron One administration official said that Washington was not formally adopting the latest PLO proposals but was not averse to them and was urging Israel to consider them At Tuesday's meeting Christopher did not urge Rabin to accept any specific proposals but he emphasized that more needs to be done to bring the PLO back to the table administration officials said Rabin is to meet President Clinton today Israeli officials said that they were loath to accept preconditions to reopen the talks But American and Palestinian officials said that increased security in Hebron could provide the outline of an agreement to resume the talks "7'- 7 1 e-e :3 I ic' fi Ai 0 ''''k A 4'1'''ti'' 't 'N4'- i'''''-' 4 ft''' -1 1 1' '''e 4' "4 41' g''''4 4 tt 'c 4 1 el I 14-''''1- il i i i 7 0 1 I I ''l i et1if I ''-'1 i4 14' t11' i '''4N 1 i i 41 1 kik fcrl'' I 1 ii i 'a l'ir i simiW 1- stit i i i I i I 4 4- i' t' 'I- 11 4 11 si d' 4- If "'N rt I I 1 1 Ns -i i ''-'1" '44'" if k4 1 0--- i o'': i '4 i 1 'i': :1 1 21 "r'''': -A" ''''r' i ''''f' Igi 0'417 4'Ni': i 11 0': 44A'' 4 l'1 '''e- 4440 IA i li i 'r 2 A' i) 4' 'N -I ks I iv -4 tct t- rn40041 i 17 I p' -2 i'' 7- i cipt11: I I 1''r'" -i L'-: 7 OF KILLINGS ity and employ hundreds of people Initial plans call for Bell Howell Phillipsburg Co to move employees into Gateway Centre said Dennis Farkas senior vice president and general manager of Bell Howell Phillipsburg Co of Lehigh Valley Pa Bell Howell is a conglomerate that makes a range of information-processing equipment the subsidiary is one Kenneth Junior French is escorted after the jury in his murder trial from Luigi's restaurant killing rampage in Fayetteville on Aug visited the scene of a people were slain Story page 3A STAFF PHOTO BY HARRY LYNCH MIDEAST PAGE 14A Howell subsidiary to 0 1 BY TODD RICHISSIN STAFF WRITER MAIN Osborn Gibbs hasn't tipped a jug of bourbon since 1988 but he says that last swig is killing him just as surely as it killed that woman the one he shot in the throat He was boozed up when he shot her That's why he's here he Fetzer wields some power stirs anger The mayor won't confer with his colleagues on the council when he picks members of the Raleigh Housing Authority board BY JOHN WAGNER STAFF WRITER RALEIGH Mayor Tom Fetzer ignited a firestorm of criticism from the City Council on Tuesday by asserting that from now on he alone would appoint board members of the Raleigh Housing Authority State law allows Fetzer to name authority members without his colleagues' consent but for as long as anyone can remember the entire council has voted on the appointments a real slap in the face" said southwest Raleigh representative Eric Reeves who learned of Fetzer's plans in a memo distributed Tuesday morning Fetzer's action came just a day before the council was to go on a tour of public housing complexes as part of a renewed effort to address the beleaguered authority's maintenance problems And it left many members wondering what Fetzer who has been criticized before for not working closely enough with the council is up to "It almost appears designed just to make council members more unhappy with his conduct rather than to help matters in any way" said at-large member Charles Meeker "Tom Fetzer's promise of teamwork has vanished" In an interview Fetzer said he is puzzled about how some of the council members had reacted to his memo "I didn't write the state statute" he said "I didn't ask for the authority But I've got it and I intend to use it If I'm the one responsible I'm going to appoint the members" As a practical matter Fetzer said council members could continue to vote on who they'd like to see appointed but he will make the final decision Meeker and other members said Tuesday that they will consider seeking special legislation from the General Assembly to codify what for years has been the council's practice of appointing the housing board's nine members The legislature passed a similar measure for Durham in 1971 at the request of city leaders there But short of legislative action which likely wouldn't occur anytime soon the council has little recourse It is not allowed to establish an appointment procedure that conflicts with state law Fetzer said he thought it made more sense to have a single person responsible for the Housing appointments "If recent history is any guide then these appointments by corn-SEE FETZER PAGE 14A Prison cap raised: Gov Jim Hunt immediately raises the number of inmates that can be held in the prison system by North Carolina Page 3A Suspended: A high school principal in Alabama is suspended with pay after students say he tried to interracial couples from a prom Noilon Page 5A 4 0 Hill ACC the Bell The firm is putting'a small mail-sorting technology lab in the Gateway Centre and may add a much bigger site BY CARRICK MOLLENKAMP STAFF WRITER A subsidiary of giant Bell Howell Co plans to open a software and hardware development laboratory in Cary marking the 1110 first presence for the international technology company in the Triangle While the lab will employ a modest 25 to 30 people within the next few months it may be the precursor to a larger move that would include a major research and development site The company is seeking a large parcel of land in Cary one that could support a 200000 square-foot facil Drifter confesses to 1990 slaying 6 when four open lab of the world's largest makers of sophisticated high-volume mail sorting systems "You just turn cartwheels for a company like this" said Cary Mayor Koka Booth Company officials would confirm only that the smaller research facility was being opened in the Triangle Cary beat out Austin Texas and Charlotte for the research lab Farkas said home county a particularly brutal slaying in which a teenager was strangled slashed and then thrown into a pond It also gave investigators a starting point for the grisly trail of slayings that followed the 28-yearold drifter through at least two states And while the Barnwell slaying was different in many respects it established a pattern that would be repeated in virtually every case "The cause of death was always the same" said Barnwell County Sheriff Joey Zorn who took Wallace's confession Monday in Charlotte NC "The victims were all about the same age the same race And there was always a personal connection These were people he knew" AFTERNOON EVENING It will be sunny and windy today 54 low 25 Weather Page 78 P11 SEE rd 17701-7 rt 1 4 '''----'7 Si-' i 'i'''' i --I 'Zt -T it 41- -v--- i 4 t- 'lx'--: 1 oi 4 i 44 f''''' '0i-' -i I 3 'f 1 ti'-': i i 1 A- -'414 1 i 1' 7 4v -k-r 4 i- It -7 Iifi3ii '0-- i' -v t'' -4 i 0 t-4 -IA-' 4 1 I I '441 "eit' 1 2 1 I a I F' li i 't '4- 't 11 ---i''''' 1 1-' 1 -T- i I )40- If i 'i'' 't T4 '''4 1 "2 l' 5 ''''4--1 i' '''--z-i 5 il- '4 Ves -4 rhZ' 1 )1 zi io401i' 044i' g- i '4 -1 4' 4 -4 I ''''1-I' 1 61'f 1 ilii' iiAi I 0- 1 ir iN I It i--- A :1 Z' Id -414Y 1 er4- 4( 1' 1 a4r' 4 4 4 1i 1 --40- 1 1 1 14 e'7 t4-- liv 1 1 At ri le 1 If 44 --4 it' -)' 711 A 414 Y- tet -4 t- 1 k't 4 5 ''''-0---1 I 0' -I i 01 1- 1 --( -t -1: l'i 47 v' 4 1 t44' i -e 1 4 "0- -i 41 4 1 i- 3 in Cary Reports of a larger facility are "speculation and I can't comment on that" said Farkas "Right now we've made no plans no commitments" The parent company headquartered near Chicago is a world leader in mail processing database publishing and document management Customers like the SEE BELL HOWELL PAGE 14A For Wallace though it was this act of violence that apparently weighed most heavily on his conscience all these years Almost immediately after his arrest on Sunday he told police he had important information about a murder case in his hometown Back in Barnwell Zorn immediately knew what Wallace wanted to talk about Wallace had long been the prime suspect in the Bethea case but there was never enough evidence to charge him "Henry felt he owed it to the victim's family to come forward" Zorn said Tuesday "At least they would know what had happened to her" Wallace was charged Sunday with killing 10 Charlotte women SEE CONFESSION PAGE 4A Business 9C Landers 2D Classified IF Metro 111 Comics 8D Sports I Deaths 68 TV 6D Editorials 16A Weather 78 Food 1E WednesDAY 1 o1994 The Neva and Observer Pub losihn9 Company MI n9hts reserved I 111! 8o2Plooli0l0 7 7 Kathy Love is comforted after leaving a hearing held for a serial killer suspect charged with murdering her sister Story page STAFF PHOTO BY JIM BOUNDS After being charged with murdering 10 women serial killer suspect Henry Louis ki Wallace tells a South Carolina sheriff he brutally killed a young woman BARNWELL BY JOBY WARRICK STAFF WRITER SC Even after being charged with slaying 10 women Henry Louis Wallace still had one dark secret he wanted to get off his chest He waited until his hometown sheriff arrived from Barnwell on Monday afternoon then blurted out a confession in the killing of Tashanda Bethea The surprise statement solved a 4-year-old murder in Wallace's MORNING A little cooler: with a high of 'It Honored: Duke's Grant is selected for the Associated Press' All-America basketball team and Dave Odom of Wake Forest is named coach of the year Sports 7 Pogo IC Gant goes: Injured outfielder Ron Gant is released by the Atlanta Braves throwing his future in doubt and touching off a dispute about how much money the team must pay him Gant coming off career highs of 36 homers and 117 RBIs last season broke his right leg Feb 3 in a dirt bike accident Spotis Page SC cr-N k- 1 -ts 1 i MW0M11 Big Israeli rally: Tens of thousands of right-wing demonstrators protest Israeli government's peace policies World Page 9A Tourney time: The Tar Heel women's basketball team seeded third in the East Regional begins NCAA Tournament play against Georgia Southern sports 1 sbtal ban 41 ii I.