.. LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 10, 1997 - 5A Israeli politicians debate policy after helicopter crash Lis Angeles Time JERUSALEM - Just days after 73 Israeli soldiers were ed in an accident as they flew to southern Lebanon, law- makers from governing and opposition parties alike have 'urged the government to re-examine its policy of continuing Israel's costly occupation of Lebanese territory. The recommendation grew out of an unusual meeting this past weekend that brought together veteran security officials -and politicians from the political left and right, including sev- :eral who have called previously for a unilateral Israeli with- tawal from southern Lebanon. "'Underlining the urgency of the debate, seven Israeli sol- firs were wounded yesterday in a clash with Hezbollah rrillas inside the 9-mile-wide strip of security zone in anon that Israel declared in 1985. -Prme Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also met late yesterday with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, sought to stem the growing debate over a unilateral pullout from Lebanon, vkere 27 Israeli soldiers were killed last year. The renewed discussions were sparked by last Tuesday's midair collision of two -army helicopters carrying troops to duty in Lebanon, the worst air force disaster in Israeli history. Netanyahu called on members of the Knesset, Israel's par- tiament, and other public figures to refrain from joining the ' ate about a unilateral withdrawal. "This talk, during days of mourning and turbulent emo- tiens, is likely to encourage the terrorists in Lebanon to jierease their attacks on Israeli soldiers," he said. Others from across the political spectrum also criticized the discussions, including Yossi Sarid, the leader of the leftist Meretz Party. Sarid, whose party has long been associated With the Israeli peace movement, said he rejected the idea of a unilateral withdrawal. Such a move would "paralyze civil- ian life in the north" of Israel, he said. The meieting Saturday night to discuss Lebanon took place at tlhe home of Gideon Ezra, a former deputy chief of the Shitn Bet security service and a member of parlia- ment fromi Netanyahu's Likud Party. Other participants included Michael Eitan, who heads the Likud faction in parliameuzt, Labor Party lawmaker Yossi Beilin, who has called for a unilateral Israeli pullout, and several retired Israeli ginerals. "We sltuouldn't wait for a peace treaty, Beilin told Israel's Channel One television news. "We shouldn't give the other side the right to veto what we should do." The group decided to submit its recommendations to Netanya'hu and Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordecai, but declined to release specifics. Yoel Marcus, a commentator writing in the independent daily Haretz, last week stopped short of advocating a unilat- eral pull cut from Lebanon but said it had become "Israel's lit- tle Vietnm." It "haunts us like a curse," he wrote. Even as debate continued over Lebanon, however, Israeli and Palistinian leaders appeared to have made progress yes- terday ii their first formal discussions since last month's agreement on an Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank town of'Hebron. Netanriyahu and Arafat emerged after nearly two hours of discussiions at the Erez crossing between Israel and the Palestirian-controlled Gaza Strip to say they had agreed to resolve outstanding issues of the Hebron deal in several joint committees. "We agreed on a mechanism to resolve these issues and advance them," Netanyhau said. "We are continuing in a spirit of cooperation to resolve all our outstanding probleims." JOHNATHAN SUMMER/Daily Zerrick Lake and Janeece Freeman, members of the University Gospel Chorale, sing "Shebach and Total Praise" during a ceremony to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Trotter House. Trotter House celebrates years pilot plans to fly the route of Amelia Earhart in July Hartford Courant e sun is slipping behind the hills of rOa central Texas, and Linda Finch, in jeans and a plaid flannel shirt, is at the tbitrols of her three-seat Beechcraft Baron. '-She peers through the deepening dusk, scanning the terrain 500 feet below as she looks for her farm. The engines drown out all but the most determined attempt at conversation. But Finch smiles easily as she banks the One and finds a steeple that has become her aerial signpost. 'For a few minutes - but only a few = she has forgotten about the chaos her everyday life has become. t Finch, who turns 46 next month, is preparing for the aviation challenge of her life: flying around the world on the route Amelia Earhart was following when she disappeared 60 years ago this July. 'he two-month trip will take her ie than 26,000 miles in about three dozen legs. On the longer legs, the San Antonio aviator's plane will be so heav- ily loaded with fuel that some might call It a flying gas can. Pratt & Whitney, *hdse Wasp engines powered Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E, is underwriting the flight at a cost of $4 million. Finch's adventure begins March 17, when she takes off from Oakland, Calif. She is rebuilding an Electra nearly tical to Earhart's and has assembled t*Wasp engines from spare parts. Finch spends her days tending to ev'ry detail of the Electra's restoration, haggling with parts suppliers, screening requests for interviews and preparing a middle school curriculum that's tied to the flight. She also is juggling the demands of her own two businesses: a chain of nursing homes and a construction oper- *n. She's raising a 2-year-old grand- daughter, too, and trying to squeeze in gti occasional date with the director of a Dallas aviation museum. "We weren't out of control at all until World Flightjust exploded," Finch says. Like Earhart, Finch wants to show children that big things can happen Aen they set high goals and work hird. That's something Finch, who dropped out of school at 16 to get mar- knows well. She is now a million- a , at least on paper. A doting grandmother and at times a generous employer, Finch claims not to be as driven as she was in her late 20s and 30s, when she built hu-r first busi- ness with money scraped together from friends, family members and former employers. But Finch is a demanding boss, and her single-mindedness cain be intimi- dating. "She's tough. She's one of the most wired, focused people I've ever met,"said Fred Patterson, who sorld Finch the Electra - one of only tw( remaining in the world. "She's got a lot of balls up in the air, and she canjuggle teem real well." Finch's 300-acre farm, near Mason, Texas -- "It's 200 acres. of rock," she insists - has become hcr retreat. Being a pilot wasn't a passion when she was a child. As a. teen-ager she thought it would be fun tio fly a Corsair, a gull-winged World War II fighter. But Finch doesn't remember how she even knew what a Corsair was. She started taking lesisons informally in 1973 or 74, and got her pilot's license around 1979 when her nursing home business took off. "It was just something I was going to do, and I had time bo do it," Finch explained. She paid for the lessons by setting aside the $20 a week she had budgeted for lunch. She found she lovedI flying. "It's an immense freedom. It's almost like being in another 'world," Finch said. She understands wiy Earhart rarely used her radio to report her position: It broke that feeling of'absolute indepen- dence. In the late 1980s, Finch restored a T- 6 - a World War II -training aircraft - to race it and pertorm in air shows. Entering this male -dominated world wasn't easy. "I don't pay a lot of attention to the discrimination stufE: I just go about my business," Finch saii. She reasoned that 'if she was persistert, she'd get her way. She did, but it took quite awhile. It got a little easier after Howard Pardue, an air show organizer, let Finch perform at his annual show in Breckenridge, Texas. But to fly in for- mation with the Confederate Air Force, a loosely organizred group of vintage- aircraft pilots, Firch needed the group's approval. For three years she showed up at the pre-flight buiefings. AUDIT Continued from Page 1A schools and teaching physicians into forfeiting millions of dollars of fees billed in good faith by threatening puni- tive damages if they do not settle audits based on the retroactive application of (federal) regulations," according to a recent written statement by the AAMC. "Unless fair audit standards are estab- lished, our nation's medical schools, teaching hospitals and faculty practice plans will be required to forfeit millions of dollars to the Federal government which will undercut their ability to ful- fill their education, service and research missions,' AAMC said in the statement. Jacobs said he is not sure when the audit will take place, but it probably will not be finished for at least six months. He said the audit has nothing to do with the quality of care the Medical Center provides. "I think we are a very good universi- ty," Jacobs said. "This relates to a billing technicality. It has nothing to do with our commitment to patients." - Daily Staff Reporter Katie Wang contributed to this report. OMIBUDS Continued from Page 1A ASSIST-ME hasn't only been used by students, however. Walters said profes- sors have made inquiries about where to direct a student who has a problem. "Many professors felt they did not know where to send a student," Walters said. "This is a streamline to help at the University the best we can." Engineering first-year student Jason Taylor was impressed with this student resource. "I think it is a good effort by the University to promote more student outreach services," Taylor said. Ecuador's Congress names new pres. in deal with military TROTTER Continued from Page 1A La Voz Mexicana President Roberto Rodriguez, an LSA senior, said his early memories of the Trotter House are "ones which provoke images of gathering and the sharing of our community." Black Student Union member Delano White said Trotter House holds special importance for him. "I've had fun here. I've had meetings here. I've had argu- ments here. I've grown here," said White, an Engineering junior. Later in the program, architecture Prof. James Chaffers and Heather Watson, an architecture graduate student, announced plans to renovate Trotter House. The renovations include a "high tech" conference room and an art gallery. Glenn Eden, an employee in the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs, said the event was symbolic of Trotter House's achievements. "It unifies what it means to have a culture and not just a way of life --- academicallysocially and politically,'he said. Program coordinators also honored retired Regent Nellie. Varner (D-Detroit) and presented a plaque honoring Smith's father. Smith ended her address to the University community with words her father once said: "Be good to each other and have the courage to right the wrongs." The Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador - In a deal worked out with Ecuador's powerful military, Congress named the vice president to the top executive post yesterday, ending a political crisis that threw this small Andean country into chaos. Lawmakers selected Rosalia Arteaga, 40, as Ecuador's president early yesterday to replace deposed chief executive Abdala Bucaram. Congress ousted Bucaram on Thursday for "mental incapacity," and his refusal to step down sparked a cri- sis in which three people claimed the presidency. Congressional leaders and military commanders worked out an agreement early yesterday that puts Arteaga "tem- porarily" in power until Congress amends the constitution to clarify who succeeds a deposed president. At that point, Arteaga would return to being vice president and Fabian Alarcon, Congress' original pick for chief executive, would become interim president. Elections would be held within a year and the winner would begin a four-year term in August 1998. Arteaga's selection as president is a rarity in Latin America, which has seen only two female presidents before her - Violeta Chamorro in Nicaragua and Isabel Peron in Argentina. "She is an ambitious woman, Bucaram said after learning of Congress' decision. The unanimous vote in Congress brought relief to Ecuadoreans, who watched street protests against Bucaram become increasingly violent and culminate in a nationwide 48-hour strike last week. People had feared the military might intervene. Police yesterday removed the barbed wire that had kept protesters away from the government palace, and fam- ilies again wandered through the area, enjoying a quiet day in Quito's colonial center. Bucaram continued to insist he was the constitutionally elected president, but conceded that he had lost power to "con- spirators" supported by the armed forces. "What is being formed in Congress is a civilian dictatorship," he said in his stronghold of Guayaquil, where he flew Friday night after barricading himself in the national palace for three days. Stand Out In YOUR Next Presentation.,- I Don't Panic!! If you think you're pregnant... call pus-we listen, we care. PROBLEM PREGNANCY HELP 769-7283 Any time, any day, 24 hours. Fully confidential. Serving Students since 1970. Use Color: It Stands Out!s I-s~* w a Invent Your Future! SRI International is recruiting at University of Michigan B.S., M.S. in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science Communications, Signal Processing, Hardware, Software. Summer student/Co-op interest is also welcome. Thursday, February 13 6*-s " This Werd Feb 12ln i 0. - ANI 'BI- SOME COMPANIES OFFER YOU THE SUN, THE MOON AND THE. STARS. WE'RE A LITTLE MORE DOWN VO EARTH. As a new graduate, you will hear career promises from varied companies. Many will offer the opportunity to be entrepreneurial, innovative and creative. But take a good look. Do they have competitive products? Market demand? The resources and stability for the long run? 10,000 Maniacs meets Grateful Dead EDDIE FROM OHIO Feb 20 BL1iND PiG