2A - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 6, 1995 " 4 anS racist remairk Glt Angeles Times LOS ANGELES - Jurors in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson returned to work for the first time in a week yesterday and were immediately con- fronted with electrifying evidence that Detective Mark Fuhrman disparaged interracial couples, bragged about mak- ing up charges and repeatedly used a vicious racial epithet. One witness, Kathleen Bell, fought back tears while telling the jury that Fuhrman told her during theirfirst meet- ing that blacks should be "gathered together and burned." Then a second witness, Natalie Singer, recalled a 1987 conversation in which Fuhrman told her: "The only good nigger is a dead nigger." Yesterday marked the first time ju- rors have heard evidence of Fuhrman's alleged racism and willingness to lie under oath. Bell and Singer took the stand to start the session, which ended on a note likely to end any lingering doubt in jutors' minds about whether Fuhrman everuttered the racial epithet--apoint that even prosecutors concede at the same time they dismiss its signficance in the Simpson case. Near the conclusion of the court day, defense attorneys at last played for the jury an excerpt from a tape-recorded interview in which Fuhrman could be heard using the word, which aspiring screenwriter Laura Hart McKinny tes- tified he said 42 times. "They don't do anything," Furhman said of women police officers during the excerpt played for the jury. "They don't go out there and initiate a con- tact with some 6-5 nigger who's been in prison seven years pumping weights." "That was his voice?" Simpson attor- ney Johnnie Cochran Jr. said after the tape was played. "That's his voice," McKinny an- swered. "No doubt about it." Just before that, a second excerpt was read to the jury, one in which Fuhrman said, "We have no niggers where I grew up." McKinny began to say she consid- ered that Fuhrman's "least inflamma- tory and offensive" usage of the word, but Judge Lance Ito, who has come Judge stops indictment of Gov. Tucker WASHINGTON - In a far-reaching decision that could narrow the duties of all independent prosecutors, a U.S. district court judge yesterday quashed a Whitewater independent counsel indictment brought by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr against Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Henry Woods in Little Rock marked the first time a defendant has ever successfully challenged the scope of an independent counsel probe, even though politicians have debated the issue since the position was first created in response to Watergate more than 20 years ago. Tucker, a Democrat who succeeded President Clinton as governor of Arkansas in January 1993, hailed the ruling as a major victory in his bitter legal wrangle with Starr. But in reality, the riling may mean more for the Clinton administration than it does for Tucker, who still must answer a second indictment brought against him by Starr, Currently, there are four independent prosecutors investigating Clinton and his appointees, and the administration has often complained about the prosecutors' ability to conduct unfettered, wide-ranging inquiries. If the ruling causes the courts to more narrowly define the jurisdiction of the independent counsel - as Woods ruled - it could have an impact on all of these probes. White House officials declined to comment. AP' PHOTO Defense attorney F. Lee Bailey questions witness Kathleen Bell yesterday during the 0.1. Simpson trial. Yesterday's testmon marked the centerpiece of the defense atakon Fuhrman, who testified he found a bloody ,glove outside Simpson'shose,. under fire for sanitizing thejury presen- tation, sternly cut her off and ordered the jury to disregard that comment. Yesterday's testimony marked the centerpiece of the defense attack on Fuhrman, who testified he found a bloody glove outside Simpson's house. It was unveiled in court even as new information was coming to light regarding an explosive element of the inquiry into Fuhrman's back- ground. According to materials obtained by the Los Angeles Times under the Cali- fornia Public Records Act, an attorney wrote to state and federal prosecutors in 1978 accusing Fuhrman of being one of several officers involved in beating sus- pects after a Boyle Heights incident in which two police officers were shot. Intheletter, dated Dec. 5, 1978, well- known civil rights lawyer Antonio Rodriguez describes beatings he said occurred in the wake of a Nov. 18, 1978 shooting - an inci dent that Fuhrman appears to have alluded to in his inter- views with McKinny. Rodriguez's letter described "a con- fused mass of beatings and unjustified false arrests," most of them by unnamed police officers. One officer, however, was identified by his last name, "As they (two suspects) exited the police car in back ofthe station, without any reason or provocation on their part, they were assaulted and battered by several officers," Rodriguezwrote,"in- cluding one by the name of Furman (sic)." In court, jurors recoiled visibly at the accounts delivered by the three women, portraying Fuhrman as a liar and racist. Throughout their testimony, panel- ists wrote furiously in their notepads, documenting evidence the defense hopes will lead to Simpson's acquittal. All listened attentively as the detective's voice filled the room. Some took notes, but most listened and stared at the overhead display that reduced the audiotape to a transcript. GAO report s Social Secunty s handling of disability Despite nearly a decade of warnings, the Social Security Administration has done little to stop scam artists from securing millions of dollars in illegal or questionable disability payments for immigrants, government investigators reported yesterday. In a report to Congress, the General Accounting Office concluded that So- cial Security has failed to hire enough bilingual caseworkers or investigators to stop the so-called "middlemen" from steering immigrants into the agency's biggest program for the disabled, Known as Supplemental Security In- come, or SSI, the $25 billion program was set up two decades ago to provide a basic living allowance to poor Ameri- cans who are too old, handicapped or disabled to work for a living. But a loophole written into the law by Con-, gress allows certain immigrants to qualify as soon as they set foot on U.S. soil. The result has been a sharp increase in the number of foreign-born people receiving SSI benefits. Today, more than 700,000 immigrants are drawing checks worth $4 billion a year. It is double the number just five years ago, making immigrants one of the fastest growing segments of SSI. Lewis' Labor Day Telethon raises record funds for MD LOS ANGELES - Jerry Lewis' annual Labor Day telethon raised record $47.8 million for the battle against muscular dystrophy, official said yesterday. The 30th annual telethon, which be gan Sunday and ended Monday, w broadcast live to 80 million viewers from CBS' studios in Hollywood, with segments from New York, Branson Mo., Nashville and Hawaii. A handful ofdemonstrators pickete in wheelchairs outside the studio Mon day, arguing that the donations don' got where the money is needed. Jim Brown, an MDA spokesman, sai more than 80 percent of the proceeds g directly into research or patient care, HURRICANE Continued from Pageg A onto a pier to take pictures of heavy surf. Hurricane Luis, its winds diminish- ing to near 130 mph late yesterday, is forecast to veer slightly northeast of Puerto Rico-perhaps sparing the U.S. commonwealth island a direct hit. But because the storm's counter-clockwise winds are so broad and strong, Puerto Rico, was bracing for hurricane-force winds early today. The storm's strength is not expected to decrease. Luis is a Category Three storm - Hugo and Hurricane Andrew, which leveled the suburbs and farm- lands south of Miami in 1992, were both stronger, Category Four storms. Citizens in low-lying and coastal towns here spent yesterday boarding up their homes and businesses,. Perhaps thousands of tourists were stranded on the islands, which were hard-hit by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Officials told those without confirmed F 4IW xs ." .dt .v.'. r t FJ' reservations to not even bother coming to the airport, as almost all flights off the islands were overbooked. And Luis's path has been eerily simi- larto Hugo, which raked overthenorth- east coast of Puerto Rico killing one person and causing $2 billion in dam- age, before slamming into South Caro- lina, where high waters and winds caused wrecked havoc. Puerto Rico's young and sea-loving governor, Pedro Rossello,spent yesterday urging coastal dwellers to move to shelters. Many Puerto Ricans live in shaky wooden houses or concrete homes topped with flimsy tin roofs. in addition to the possible high winds, there is the danger of wide- spread flooding and mudslides. Rossello warned that Luis could be the worst hurricane that Puerto Rico experiences in decades. Civil-defense officials, monitoring the storm from the inside of a 16th- century Spanish fort in the colonial quarter of old San Juan, were telling their fellow-islanders to expect the worst - even as the computer models used by the National Hurricane Center were predicting the storm to pass slightly north of the commonwealth of 3.5 mil- lion people. In Loiza, a small seaside town east of San Juan, it looked as if hundreds of homeowners had evacuated their dwellings - though only a handful showed up at local hurricane shelters. Many residents said they were plan- ning to take refuge in the better-built homes of their neighbors or were driv- ing to relatives or friends further in- land. Ana Molina, a nursing student in Loiza, stood in the yard of a neighbor and said she was going to leave her wooden home near the beach and spend the night with her husband and three children at her brother-in-law's. Molina knows hurri- canes. Hugo ripped off the roof of her house and soaked and destroyed most of the family's belongings. "We sold out of plywood yesterday," s aid Carmen Marquis, owner of Gon zalez L umber Y ard in Loiza, where workers were covering the stores with wood yesterday afternoon. At a nearby hurricane shelter, lo- cated in a three-story high school, Carmen Alvarez struggled to tie her pillows and possessions in a plastic bag and admitted that she was scared-but felt secure. Only a dozen people had appeared at the shelter by mid-day, but workers said they expected some 500 evacuees by nightfall. A cross the island here, grocery stores, gas stations, fast-food joints, as well as governmen t Offices, banks and schools, ivere shuttered by noon. Residents were advised to store water and food. - DuringHugo in 1989, waterand sew- AROUND THE WORLD A . Qatari foreign Mmster apparently shot i royal feud NICOSIA, Cyprus - Qatar's for- eign minister has been shot in the legs by a daughter of the emirate's former ruler, who was ousted in a coup in June, diplomatic sources said yesterday. Sheik Hamad bin Jasim Al Thani was rushed to London for treatment after the shooting last week, said the sources in Qatar, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The sources said they did not know how seriously he was wounded. The minister had reportedly been singled out as the key man behind the coup against Sheik Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, who was overthrown by his 45-year-old son, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The minister is a distant relative of the deposed ruler and his family. The 65-year-old former emir was in Switzerland when his son seized power in a bloodless coup. The feud within the Al Thani family has raged behind the scenes since be- fore Qatar gained independence from Britain in 1971. Several family mem- bers have been living abroad in self- exile for years. The shooting has not been official) reported in Qatar. N. Ireland peace sumitostponed as Ish p out DUBLIN, Ireland - Pleading for a few days to settle differences with Brit- ain, the Irish government withdrewyes- terday from a summit intended to pave the way forNorthern Ireland peacetalks. The key issue was Britain's insis- tence that the Irish Republican Army make some commitment on disarma- ment before its allies in the Sinn Feir party could join all-party negotiations. Sinn Fein has rejected the demand. British Prime Minister John Majoi had planned to meet Irish Premier Johr Bruton at Chequers, Major's official country residence near London. Those plans collapsed as civil ser- vants from both governments deadlocked on the precise terms for talks and the Irish Cabinet agreed in Dublin that the summit would have to be postponed. "The purpose is to allow some more time to attempt to resolve outstanding differences," said a statement from Bruton's office. - From Daily wire service. Open a Totally Free Checking account and get left holding the bag. Get a FREE Alto Sports nylon duffle bag (26"x13"x 11.5") for opening a Student -Totally Free Checking accoun t. Unlike other checking accounts i town, with Totally Free Checking you can write unlimited checks and use our ATMs as often as you wish - FREE. Totally Free Checking features: No pecheck charges. No minimum ance requirement.* No monthy service charges. Free Great Lakes ATM card. And we'll even b y back unused competitor checks (up to The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $90. Winter term (January through April) is $95. year-long (September through April) is $160. On-campus subscriptions 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 Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 481091327. PHONE NUMBERS (All area code 313): News 76-DAILY: Arts 763.0379; Sports 747-3336; Opinion 764-0552 Circulation 764.0558; Classified advertising 764-0557; Display advertising 764-0554; Billing 764-0550. E-mail letters to the editor to daily.letters@umich.edu NEWS Nate Hurley, Managing Editor EDIt ORS. Jana han Berndt, Lisa Dines, Andrew Taylor, Scot Woods. ST AFF: Patience Athin, Cathy Boguslaski, Kiran Chaudhri, Jodi Cohen. Sam Dudek. Lenny Feller, Ronnie Glassberg, Jennifer Harvey, Daniel Johnson. Amy Klein, Stephanie Jo Klein, Tali Kravitz, Frank C. Lee, Timothy Lord, Gail Mongkolpradit, Tim OYConnell. isa Pw is, Zachary M. Raimi, Megan Schimpf, Maureen Sirhal, Matthew Smart. Vahe Tazian, Michelle Lee Thompson, Dbbie Weinstein, Maggie Weyhing, Josh White. CALL NDAR EDITOR: Jos White. EDITORIAL Julie Becker, James Nash, Editors ASSOt lATE EDITORS: Adrienne Janney. Joel F. Knutson. STAFf Bobby Angel, James R. Cho, Zach Gelber, Ephraim R. Gerstein, Judith Kafka, Chris Kaye. Jeff Keating. Jim Lasser, Ann Marke., Ent Mint sh.artha Mukhopadhyay, Scott Pence, Jean Twenge,.Matt Wimsatt. SPORTS Antoine Pitts, Managing Editor EDITORS: Dairen Everson, Brent McIntosh, Barry Sollenberger. Ryan White. STAFF: Scott Burton, Chrs Carr, Nicholas J. Cotsonika, Susan Dann, Sarah DeMar, Alan Goldenbach, James Goldstein. Ravi G ' ' Jos'ua.' Jlie Keating ' Brett Krasnove John Leroi, Marc Lightdale, Dan McKenzie, Rebecca Moatz. Chris Muiphy, Monica Polakov, Jed Rosenthal, Danielle Rumore, Brian Sklar. Tim Smith. Dan Stillman, Doug Stevens, Michelle Lee Thompson. c s r ARTS Heather Phares, Alexandra Twin, Editors EDITORS: Melissa Rose Bernardo (Theater), Emily Lambert (Fine Arts), Brian Gnatt (Music), Joshua Reich (Film), Jennifer Buckiey (Weekend), Kari Jones (Weekend).