-NATION/WORLD The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 13, 1998 -9 frelebratinL5 Pu rim Lawyers' expenses become another sticking point in Texas tobacco deal DALLAS (AP) - The private attorneys who helped Texas fight Big Tobacco ran up $1.75 million in expenses in 1996, including a $952 lunch and $1,995 to charter an airplane. Then the real spending started. The expense accounts for the lawyers and their staffs have ballooned to almost $40 million since state Attorney General Dan Morales stopped requiring itemized reports at the beginning of 1997. Now Gov. George Bush is demanding a full accounting. it is just one of several complications that could cause the state's $15.3 billion settlement with the industry to fall apart. Morales, a Democrat who is not seeking re-elec- tion, worked out the deal with the tobacco companies in January. Bush, a Republican who is running for re- election this year, did not oppose the settlement, in which he played no role, but immediately attacked as excessive the additional $2.3 billion the tobacco com- panies agreed to pay in lawyers' fees. Then a couple weeks ago he turned his attention to the separate issue of lawyers' expenses - $5 million claimed by Morales' staff and the scantily document- ed spending by their private partners. He is still wait- "Thaut's a lie. That's not even part of the settlement." - Tom Banning Spokesperson for the private attorneys ing for details. All that has become public so far are the 1996 expense accounts. Those records show $437,000 in wages to seven staff attorneys and an unknown num- ber of clerks, $300 in coffee service, $18,000 on doc- ument storage and $12,954 on furniture. The tobacco companies already have reimbursed the attorneys for $40 million in expenses without questioning the lunch tab and chartered airplane. The private lawyers who worked for the state on a contin- gency basis also have received a $50 million down payment on their fees. Karen Hughes,. a spokesperson for Bush, said the expenses are clearly excessive because they are three times higher than those in a similar Florida case that took longer to settle. Bush has filed a legal motion to intervene in the stt- tlement because of the expenses. Although Morales has arged that both the legal fees and expenses will be paid by the tobacco industry and not the taxpayers, Bush said he fears Texans could get stuck with part of the tab after an arbitration panel sees the numbers. "It is possible that the taxpayers would have to make up the difference if the independent court review says that the tobacco industry does not have to pay the entire amount," said Debbi Head, a spokesperson for the governor. "That's a lie," countered Tom Banning, a spokesper- son for the private attorneys. "That's not even part of the settlement" He would not comment on any specific expenses. Meanwhile, several state lawmakers, counties and hospitals are asking the federal judge who approved the deal to drop a provision that they say would bar them from obtaining damages for treating smoking- related health problems. The tobacco companies say that would be a deal-breaker. An armed Israeli soldier dances with a clown during the annual Purim rade In Tel Aviv yesterday. More than one million Israelis lined the city's "atreets to watch the parade marking a carnivai-like Jewish holiday. 1.. investigators lame crew for i' resort tragedy kVIANO, Italy (AP) -The crew of silent prayer for the victims of one of Aarine fighter jet that flew too fast the deadlidst training incidents since I dived too low through the Italian the end of the Cold War. >s may face manslaughter charges "On behalf of President Clinton and killing 20 people in a cable car, the the American people, I wish to apolo- Ses said yesterday. gize," he said. Italian prosecutor said he would Italy said it wants to prosecute the tinue his investigation into the acci- fliers, but under a NATO treaty the it but, in general, Italians seemed United States has the right to refuse, sfi d with American assurances the and it is expected to do so. The crew rines would face some sort of pun- will remain at Aviano until a decision is nent in the United States. made. V Marine investigation board placed Pentagon spokesperson Kenneth blame squarely on the four-person Bacon, asked whether there was any w, who they said broke the rules on chance that the marines would be hand- fast and how low they couldfly. ed over to Italian authorities, said "it ir commanding officer said he would be very unusual.: convene the military equivalent - But he added the matter has been ieriminal grand jury. taken up by the U.S. commander in The cause of the mishap was air- chief in Europe, Gen. Wesley Clark, W error," Maj. Gen. Michael who would make the final decision. Long, president of the investigation Massimo Bi, Italy's undersecretary rd, told reporters at the U.S. air base of defense, told reporters at Aviano the wiano. board's report was enough to hold the 'e A-6B Prowler severed two of crew "criminally responsible" and said ski lift cables, sending a gondola lie agrees with the findings of the h 19 skiers from six countries and Italian air force. Werator to their deaths ott the The mayor of Cavalese said "it isn't wy slopes. The plane struck the true that the U.S.A. wanted to close this lei just 370 feet above the ground. with a note of reprimand ...' They want he incident soured Italian- to punish those responsible." erican relations, sparking protests at The board looked at many factors, ano, calls to close U.S. bases but concluded that just one thing ughout Italy and charges that caused the tragedy: the crew's decision eriean fliers routinely "hot-dog" in to fly lower than the authorized 1,000 ian airspace. feet and to exceed the authorized speed esterday, U.S. Ambassador Thomas of 450 nautical miles per hour by 100 lietta knelt at the Cavalese ski lift in nautical miles per hour. riath enthusiasts o celebrate Pi day SLos Angeles Times ew subjects seem more dispassion- K, dull to some) than mathemat- many people, sitting in ai exam m struggling to remember the for- a for the area of a circle hardly tires visions of fun and games, e less mystic revelation. his Saturday, however, thousands of ple around the world will unite to songs, recite poetry, perform irre rites and eat ritual food in honor heir favorite number. he number is pi, 3.1415926535 ... ad m. It's the number you get when fvide the circumference of a circle its diameter, and it can't be expressed fraction. It goes on forever. uch so-called "irrational" numbers ied so offensive when they were t discovered by the early Greeks, arding to some accounts, that peo- were actually murdered for letting the secret of their existence. , day ceremonies, appropriately h, take place on March 14, at 9 p.m. (That's the third month, the i day ... and so on.) he variety of celebratory modes is rst as long as pi itself, with dozens Websites devoted to the number's otees - or piets, as they are called. ted, along with formulas for calcu- tg pi, are pi carols, poems and other of pi trivia for honoring the day. ,e's even a Website dedicated to the bration of "pi approximation day," * takes place on July 22: 22/7 is action that comes closest to the value of pi. Some people even cel- e 2 pi day. June 28 (6/28). ie high holy day, however, is March At the Exploratorium science muse- in San Francisco, the faithful usual- a'her around the "pi shrine," a small s plate engraved with pi to a hun- d- digits along with other obscure i- 0al symtbols. circumanmbulate th' shrine 3.14 times, said Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman. They don't measure the distance exactly, however. "A little more than 3 is good enough for us," he said." Since pi goes on forever, you can't ever really pin down its exact value to the last decimal point. There is no last decimal point. There is "all kinds of pi stuff" that goes along with the celebration, said Hipschman. Last year, someone com- posed music based on the number pi, lie said. People add more beads to a ritual pi string - now up to 1,600 digits of pi, each digit represented by abead signify- ing a number from zero through nine. And of course, they eat pie. All kinds of pie, including chocolate, apple and peach. "Sometimes we have pie fights,"said Hipschman, "but we try to avoid that. It's kind of messy." What is it about pi that makes it so much more than just a number? For one thing, pi day is Albert Einstein's birthday. But that's just a coincidence that adds icing to the cake, like the fact that the first 144 digits of pi add up to 666, which some people equate with the devil. Certainly, knowing the value of pi to 51 billion digits, as recently calculated on high-powered computers, is not par- ticularly useful. Yet, writes William L. Schaff in his book, "Nature and History of Pi," "probably no symbol in mathematics has evoked as much mystery, romanti- cism, misconception and human inter- est as the number pi." Schaff, along with dozens of other pi aficionados, is quoted in a new book devoted to pi, and published just in time for pi's special day. Titled "The Joy of Pi" by computer expert David Blatner, it's a feast of pi facts and faie is. just the tittg for people who can't seem to get their fill of pi. COME SEE THE WORWD'S LAGS SLCIN OF UNlYERSTY OF MICHIGAN ANNI INL CHAMPIONS T*SHIRTS, SWE I HITS, AND HATS AT THE ABSOLUTE LOWEST PRICES!