2- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 15, 1997
McDougal sentenced in Whitewater
McDougal gets
reduced sentence in
Whitewater probe
The Washington Post
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - James
McDougal, a former partner with the
Clintons in the failed Whitewater
Arkansas land venture, was sentenced to
three years in prison yesterday after the
Whitewater independent counsel asked
for a reduced sentence because of the
assistance McDougal gave prosecutors.
McDougal, 56, could have received
up to 84 years in prison for the 18
fraud and conspiracy convictions. But
independent counsel Kenneth Starr,
in asking U.S. District Judge George
Howard Jr. for a reduced sentence,
said that McDougal offered informa-
tion on "a wide range of matters,
including matters previously
unknown to us."
"He has assisted us and continues to
assist us in having a fuller, broader, deep-
er understanding of that evidence;' Starr
said. McDougal led investigators to new
documents and witnesses, Starr said.
Starr said his office had given the
judge, under seal, more information on
McDougal's cooperation. Howard said
it was the information provided under
seal that led him to impose a reduced
that," McDougal replied.
Asked if he thought the Clintons
broke the law in the 1980s, McDougal
sentence. said, "I wouldn't want t
Starr would not reveal what that evi- ment on whether any ot
dence was, saying that to do so could broken the law or not"
compromise the continuing Whitewater An Arkansas jury r
investigation. verdicts last May again
Starr is looking
into whether the
President and
Hillary Rodham 1 wouldn't want to
Clinton were
involved in various make a judgment on
o make a judg-
ther person has
reached guilty
nst McDougal,
his former
wife Susan
and then Gov.
Jim Guy
Tucker on
charges that
they defraud-
e d
McDougal's
Madison
Guaranty
Savings and
L o a n
Association
and the fed-
eral Small
real-estate transac-
trnra-saen asswhether any other
tions in Arkansas W~hf8yOhf
and whether there r
were efforts later,
both in Arkansas the law or not
and in Washington,
to cover up or con-
-
ceal those transac- Former
tions.
McDougal said
during his trial last year that he believed
the president and first lady would be
absolved of any wrongdoing. Outside
Little Rock's federal courthouse yester-
day, a reporter reminded McDougal of
that statement and asked if it was still
correct. "I wouldn't go to the bank on
- James McDougal
r Clinton associate
Business Administration.
Charges said the three schemed to get
$3 million in illegal loans, including a
$300,000 loan for Susan McDougal,
through a small-business investment
company owned by David Hale.
During the three-month trial, Hale
testified that then Gov. Bill Clinton
pressured him in 1985 to make the loan
to Susan McDougal as part of an effort
to help the state's Democratic "political
family."
In videotaped testimony, Clinton
a
Classes starting NOW
for the June 16 exam!
the leader in test prep and
admissions counseling
4:
E
4)
-r
t0
denied he had ever discussed the loan
with Hale. McDougal said he knew of
no wrongdoing by Clinton.
Throughout the trial, McDougal vili-
fied Hale, saying the former judge was
lying to save himself from a long prison
sentence. McDougal also denounced
Starr's prosecutors, calling them
"Republican gangsters" who were pursu-
ing a "political prosecution." He vowed
he would never cooperate with Starr.
But after his conviction, McDougal
began assisting the independent counsels
investigation. Susan McDougal, who
refuses to talk to prosecutors, has said her
former husband told her he planned to
change his story to match Hale's account
of Clinton's alleged involvement.
Howard also ordered McDougal to
pay more than $4.2 million in restitu-
tion and a $10,000 fine. After his prison
term, McDougal must serve three years
of probation.
A former aide to the late Sen. J.
William Fulbright (D-Ark.), McDougal
is a longtime friend of Clinton. In the
free-wheeling 1980s, McDougal and his
wife were owners of the Little Rock thrift
and embarked on a series of ambitious
land deals, including Whitewater, the
real-estate project in which they were
partners with Bill and Hillary Clinton.
It was disclosures about the
Whitewater project that led to the
appointment of an independent counsel
and spawned a wide-ranging investiga-
tion into other matters.
GM sees
earmnns
rise 76
percent
* First-quarter revenues
show largest rise in a
decade
Los Angeles Times
DETROIT - Despite persistent
labor woes, General Motors said
yesterday that first-quarter earnings
improved 76 percent over a year ago
on the strength ,of its best domestic
performance in a decade.
The company attributed the earn-
ings improvement to strides in cut-
ting manufacturing costs while
introducing a slew of new car and
truck models in the U.S. market.
"It's clear that we are moving in
the right direction," said John Smith
Jr., chair and chief executive.
The company reported net profit
of $1.796 billion, or $2.30 a share,
compared with earnings of $1.019
billion, or 94 cents a share, a year
ago, when earnings were depressed
$900 million by a two-week strike.
The biggest improvement came in
North America, where GM earned
$764 million compared with a
strike-induced loss of $279 million
a year ago.
It was the best financial result in
North America since 1988.
"Slowly the company appears to
be putting all the pieces together,"
said David Andrea, an analyst for
Roney & Co. in Detroit.
The results were better than most
analysts expected. GM shares rose
five-eighths of a point to 53 5/8 on
the New York Stock Exchange.
But there is growing concern
about the outlook for auto sales.
"Vehicle demand is not growing
much and incentives are increas-
ing," said John Casesa, analyst with
Wertheim Schroder & Co.
' "That environment puts pressure
on profit margins," Casesa said.
There is also worry about GM's
continued rocky relationship with
its unions. A strike at two Ohio parts
plants in March 1996 shut down
most of the company's assembly
operations for two weeks.
The company was hit with two
local strikes in the first quarter -
costing about $40 million in profit
- and is now confronting a week-
long strike by the United Auto
Workers at its Oklahoma City car
assembly plant.
Thirty local contracts are still not
signed.
Despite having to offer richer
sales incentives to customers, GM
said its net profit margin -- income
as a percent of net sales - was 4.8
percent in the quarter, up from 2.3
percent a year ago.
hIn'Mnth Americ. i t was 3.1 W.
P AROUND THE WORL
Female cadet alleges
rape by classmate
NEW YORK - A female cadet who
is facing dismissal from the U.S.
Military Academy for allegedly having
had consensual sex last year with a
male classmate on the grounds of West
Point said yesterday that she was raped
by that classmate. She also charged that
the Army has botched its investigation
of her case.
In a Manhattan news conference that
the Army said is without precedent for
a woman attending West Point, Su Jin
Collier, a 19-year-old from El Paso,
Texas, said that she had ended a four-
month "friendship" with a second-year
classmate in May when he became abu-
sive with her. The unnamed classmate,
she said, subsequently lured her in
November to his dormitory room,
where she said she was "sexually
attacked:'
"I am confident that after all the
facts are properly developed, I will be
permitted to remain at the institution I
truly love;' said Collier, who could be
expelled from the academy if officers
there rule that she violated rules against
having sexual intercourse with a class-
mate on the military reservation. A
hearing at West Point is scheduled for
Thursday.
The cadet's lawyer said Collier has
twice been sexually assaulted.
Author Michael
Dorris dies at 52
CONCORD, N.H. - Michael
Dorris, an adoptive parent of children
with fetal alcohol syndrome and author
of a prize-winning book on the subj
has died, a family friend said Sun
He was 52.
Dorris died here Thursday or early
Friday, said Rep. Peter Burling of
Cornish, the New Hampshire House
minority leader.
Dorris won a National Book Critics
Circle award in 1989 in the non-fiction
category for "The Broken Cord," an
account of how fetal alcohol syndrome
affected his oldest son, Abel, who di*
1 -800-KAP-TEST
www.kaplan.com
AROUND THE NAT$j
High Court: Crack penalties not racist
WASHINGTON -The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday rejected a claim that stiff
penalties for dealing crack cocaine amount to racial discrimination and refused to
reconsider the 10-year prison term given a black man whose first criminal offense
was selling crack.
The action came as no surprise. It marks at least the third time in the last three
years that the justices have turned away a race-bias challenge to the crack coca*
laws.
Nonetheless, prominent blacks have continued to raise the issue. The latest
appeal was signed by Los Angeles attorney Johnnie Cochran and Harvard Law
Professor Charles Ogletree Jr.
"There is a perception among African Americans that there is no more unequal
treatment by the criminal justice system than in the crack vs. powder cocaine
racially biased sentencing provision," they said.
In 1986, after the sudden cocaine overdose death of University of
Maryland basketball star Len Bias, Congress passed a new drug law that
imposed a 10-year mandatory federal prison term on people caught with at
least 50 grams - roughly one-tenth of a pound - of crack cocaine. A s
er of powder cocaine would have to get caught with 5,000 grams or moreTo
get the same 10-year sentence.
F a m i H ol Curretly Erolled Students
Fu Faculty and Staf
Expansion greeted
as end of depression
MOSCOW - Russian leaders
declared an end to the post-
Communist era of economic depres-
sion yesterday with news of the first
growth in quarterly economic indi-
cators since capitalism dawned in
Russia.
The proclamations were based on
figures that included a mere 0.2 percent
rise in gross domestic product - hard-
ly cause for jubilation in most devel-
oped countries.
But coming after at least six years
of steady and severe shrinkage, and
coinciding with other signs of
improving economic health, the
slight January-March expansion was
greeted here as the start of a long-
awaited turnaround.
"The great depression of the Russian
economy that has been in evidence for
decades has halted," proclaimed Yuri
Yurkov, chair of the State Statistics
Committee, at the periodic briefing that
until this quarter had been a dispiriting
venue. "It is time to end the lamentation
that everything is about to collapse"
Russia suffered a 6-percent redu-
tion in GDP in 1996-half of it in
first three months. That was the sixth
straight year of economic erosion and a
particularly bitter showing because
growth had been predicted.
Zaire rebels want
president to go
GOMA, Zaire - Zairian rebels
President Mobutu Sese Seko they
want him to leave the country and said
they made good on their threat to
resume their push toward the capital if
the ailing dictator did not step down by
yesterday.
Rebel chief Laurent Desire Kabila
had given Mobutu three days to resign
or watch the rebels - who in seven
months have captured nearly half the
mineral-rich country - advance- on
Kinshasa.
- Compiled from Daily wire reports.
, ye Diverse o
44e
Apply For Occupancy
Beginning July through December
April 15thandl16th
1A \Y\AWh\\11 It1fA Reasonable Rates
No Security Deposit
Utilities Included in Rent
Academic and
International Community
45 Day Notice to Vacate
Close Parking Available
Free Commuter Bus
Language Programs
Programs for Children
Community Center
Near Classes, Work, Shopping
YX On-Site Day Care in the
Child Development Center
The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fail and winter terms by
students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fail term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are
$85. Winter term (January through April) is $95, yearlong (September Jhrough April) is $165. Oncampus s
scriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.'
The Michigan Daily is a member of the Associated Press and the Associated Collegiate Press.
ADDRESS: The Michigan Daily, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 481091327.
PHONE NUMBERS (All area code 313): News 76-DAI.Y: Arts 7830379; Sports 647-3336; Opinion 764.0552
Circulation 764-0558; Classified advertising 7840557; Display advertising 7640554; Billing 7640550.
E-mail letters to the editor to dailyettersfumich.edu. World Wide Web: http://www.pubumich.edu/daily/.
NEWS oS.Cohan, Managing Editor
EDITORS: Jeff Eldridge, Laurie Mayk, Anupema Reddy, Will Weissert.
STAFF: Janet Admy, Regen, Anderson, ,rian Campbell, Greg Cox, Jeff Enderton, Sam E' ""land. Megan Eley. Mara Hackett, Heather
Kemins, Kerry lJaus, Amy lein, Jeffrey Koseeff. Marc Ughitdae. Carrie Luria. Chris Mtinhi. Tim O~Conniel, Katie Plocna, Susan T. Port,
Alice Robinson, Encka M. Smith, Ann Stewart, Ajit K. Thevarah, Michelle Lee Thompson. Kate Wang, Jenni Yachnin.
EDITORIAL iiM Mwh, Editor
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Paul Sevile.
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Jam Staffer.
STAFF: Emily Achenbaum, Kristin Arola, Elen Friedman, Samuel Goodstein, Heather Gordon, Scott Hunter, Yuki Kunyurk. Am Leser S
Lockyer, James Miller, Partha Mukhcpadhyay, Zachary M, Raimi, Jack Schilleci, Megan Schimpf, Ron Steiger, Elilere Weber.
SPORTS NlholaIs . Cotsonika, Managing Editor
EDITORS: Alan Goldenbech, John Lerol, Will McCahli, Danlele Rumors,
STAFF: Nancy Brer, T.J. erke, EvanBraunstein, Cris Fara, ,Jordan Field, John Friederg, Kim Hart, Kevin KssibOfski. Josh leinbaum
Andy Knudsen, Chad Kuja, Andy Latack, Fred Link,.B.J. Lura, Brooke McGahey,Afsum Mohamadi, Sharat RaJu, Proey Reddy, Sara Ramnt.l
Jim Rose, Tracy Sander, Richard Shin, Mark Snyder, Gerry Sollenterger Nita Srivastava, DarrStillman, Jacob Wheeler.
ARTS Braan A. Gnatt, Jennifer PtMul, Editors
WEEKEND, ET. EDITORS: Greg Porkrer, Elan A. Stayros.
SUBEDITORS: Use Hrwin (Music), Ch*stopher Tkaero (Campus Arts), Bryan La,, , (Flm).E1abeth Lucas(Books), KellyKintaris (Tn/New
Maea).
STAFF. Dean Sokopoulos, Coin Bertos. Eugene Bowen, Neal C. Ceruth, Anlthe Chelam, Karl Jones, Emily Lembert. Kristin Long.
Stephanie Love, James Miller,.Aaron Rennie, Julia Sth, Anders SmithUndasl, Philip Son, Prashant Tamaskor, Michael ZIberman.
PHOTO Mark Frlean, Sere Stilhman, Editors
STAFF: Josh Giggs, Jennifer Bradley-Swift. Aja Dekieva Cohen, Rob Gilmore, John Kaft, Margaret Myers, Jully Park, Kristen Schaefer,
Jeannie Servas...Addie Smith, Jonathan Summer, JoeWestrate.Warren Zinn.
COPY DESK Rsbeoca Beta., Editor
STAFF: Lydia Alpach, Elizabeth Lucas, Elizabeth Mills, Emily O'NellI, Matt Spewak, David Ward, Jen Woodward.
ONLINE Adam Poll*ok, Editor
STAFF: Carlos Castillo. Elizabeth Lucas.SeneceSutterScott Wilco.
GRAPHICS Tras Hn s Editor
STAF: UseG "l". ""ils"-Bow"s"ae"-r Sms." ""'*o K-"e'""'al'r'y MCo'miek.'"'""R"eft *Wt.
.. " a Ua