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. 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