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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1985)
world beat Meese probe findings nulled WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Office of Government Ethics staff members concluded that Attorney General-designate Ed win Meese III violated govern ment ethics rules, but the agen cy director overruled them and found there was no violation, Meese’s lawyer said today. Leonard Garment, attorney for the White House counselor, confirmed that the investigators found violations in the federal appointments of two men who helped Meese financially. But Garment said the preliminary finding was changed after he was given a chance to submit a rebuttal, Meese faces confirmation hearings Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee and the committee chairman. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., “has officially requested” the two staff members and their boss to testify, according to panel spokesman Mark Goodin. The staff report was overruled by David H. Martin, director of the ethics office, who wrote Thurmond on Jan. 24 that “Mr. Meese is in compliance with ap plicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest.” Martin did not return several phone calls to his office. The findings by the staff members focused on Thomas Barrack, a California real estate developer who received an In terior Department position, and John McKean, who became head of the Postal Board of Governors. McKean lent Meese $60,000 in two loans and Barrack helped arrange the sale of Meese’s California home, including len ding some of his own money to one of the purchasers. Both mat ters were covered extensively in the report of an independent counsel, who investigated Meese’s behavior and found he violated no criminal law. Garment said Meese received no favored treatment in the McKean loans — even paying higher than market rates — and added that Meese did not in itiate the postal governor’s job. ........... That was done by another White House official, Michael Deaver. Garment added that Meese was not aware that Barrack was financially involved in the sale of his home when Barrack received a federal appointment. Garment said Meese believed Barrack only helped find a buyer without making any financial commitment. "The staff recommendations were overuled by the head of the Office of Government Ethics as part of their routine recom mendation and review pro cess,” Garment said. At the White House, deputy press secretary Larry Speakes declined comment saying, "I don’t have anything on it specifically, except Ed Meese will be testifying tomorrow. I presume the Senate will have an opportunity to ask any and all questions.” The ethics standards, among other things, forbid an official from taking actions that “might result in, or create the ap pearance of.. .giving preferen tial treatment to any organiza tion or person.” They also urge an official not to take actions that create an impression that he has lost "complete in dependence or impartiality of action.” In another development, Common Cause, the self-styled citizens’ lobby, purchased a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post that quoted 20 newspaper editorials arguing that Meese should not be the next attorney general. Said Speakes, “I wouldn’t pass judgment on what Com mon Cause does with their money.” Beirut captive appears on tape LONDON (AP) — A U S. Em bassy political officer who was kidnapped in Beirut almost a year ago was shown on a videotape Monday saying he and two other missing Americans were well. In Washington, Cable News Network reported that U.S. of ficials saw another videotape last summer that showed jour nalist Jeremy Levin and two others assumed to be captives in Beirut. But the administration urged that the matter be kept quiet at the time. The report said State Depart ment sources had confirmed the existence of the tape. Depart ment spokesman Bernard Kalb, however, refused comment on the CNN report. The tape obtained by Visnews, a London-based inter national television news agen cy, showed William Buckley, political officer of the U.S. Em bassy in Beirut, standing alone against a blank wall and holding a copy of a Beirut newspaper dated Jan. 22. "Today, the 22nd of January 1985, I am well and my friends Benjamin Weir and Jeremy Levin are also well. We ask that our government take action for our release quickly,” Buckley said in the 56-second video. The tape did not identify the Americans’ captors nor specify any demands for their release. The only previous demand has come in calls from a group iden tifying itself as "Jihad Islami,” Islamic Holy War, calling for all Americans to leave Lebanon. Witnesses saw Buckley being kidnapped last March 16 and the Rev. Benjamin Weir, a Presbyterian minister, being kidnapped last May 8. Levin, the Beirut bureau chief of the Cable News Network, has been missing since March 7 of last year and was presumed to have been abducted. In Washington, Kalb said, “We obviously welcome this evidence that William Buckley is alive and well and the indica tion that Jeremy Levin and Ben jamin Weir are also well.” He said the release of all the kidnapped Americans "remains a top administration priority.” The Cable News Network report said a tape "came into the hands of State Department officials through Arab sources” last July. The tape shows Levin holding a newspaper dated July 5, 1984, and two other people who are apparently hostages, according to the report. The tape shown in London made no mention of two other Americans missing in the Lebanese capital, even though some of the anonymous phone calls have referred to five Americans. The two are Peter Kilbum, who failed to report for work as librarian at the American University of Beirut last Dec. 3, and the Rev. Lawrence Jenco of Joliet, 111., head of the Catholic Relief Ser vices office, who was seen be ing kidnapped on Jan. 8 this year. Visnews managing editor Kevin Hamilton, who showed the tape to reporters at Visnews headquarters in London, releas ed no information on how his agency had acquired the tape. He said no demands from the captors had come with it. "We do not see ourselves as intermediaries or negotiators,” Hamilton said. "We simply ob tained the video.” Jihad Islami is believed made up of fundamentalist Shiite Moslems loyal to Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Islamic extremist groups also have claimed reponsibility for suicide bomb attacks on U.S., Israeli and French installations in Beirut as part of a campaign to drive all Westerners out of Lebanon. Panel scolds U.S. schools WASHINGTON (AP) — A panel of children’s advocates charged Monday that millions of poor, handicapped and minority students are being cheated by America’s public schools and that the rush to raise standards could make life worse for those at the back of the class. They said the plight of these children, and the ways the schools and government at all levels have responded to it, "support the worries of those Asho fear the development of a permanent underclass in America.” "The United States cannot af ford to leave underdeveloped the talents of millions of children who happen to be bom different by virtue of race, language, sex or income status,” said the panel headed THE JOURNEY HAS BEGUN An impressive technological journey began over three decades ago at Hughes Aircraft Company. Today, with more than 90 diverse technologies ranging from sub-micron electronics to large scale systems. you'll find Hughes people forging new discoveries, new futures. Become part of the Hughes tradition of technological firsts. Our more than 92 different technologies involve expertise in: Electrical, Mechanical, Manufacturing or Industrial Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Electronics Technology. Requirements may vary. Check with your placement office about Hughes' company-wide opportunities at any one of 12 Southern California locations and Tucson, Arizona. Or contact Hughes Corporate College Relations. Dept. NC, Bldg. C2/B178. P.O. Box 1042, El Segundo, CA 90245. Equal Opportunity Employer Proof of U.S. Citizenship Required Hughes representatives will be on campus February 12 (See your placement office for an appointment.) HUGHES ON CAMPUS by former U.S. Commissioner of Education Harold Howe II and Marian Wright Edelman, presi dent of the Children's Defense Fund. They charged that minority and poor children "do not mat ter as much... to some school officials," and that, in Howe’s words, "state and local financ ing of schools adds up to a con spiracy to spend more money on rich kids and less money on poor kids.” Howe also charged that Presi dent Ronald Reagan has presid ed over “an anti-childhood ad ministration." He said he "did not look for any relief' in Reagan’s second term. Howe and Edelman chaired a 17-member board of inquiry that conducted a two-year study of the schools for the Boston based National Coalition of Ad vocates for Students. Several foundations supported the study, including the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Founda tion. the Johnson Foundation and others. The 162-page report, “Bar riers to Excellence: Our Children At Risk,” exhorts the public and educators to put equal opportunity back at the forefront of the school agenda, where the emphasis in the past few years has been on raising standards and striving for excellence. The report criticized school districts that set up smaller classes for gifted youths. That "detracts from resources available to all other youth,” said the report, which ad vocates keeping the gifted in regular classes. At a crowded news con ference in an elementary school auditorium, Howe said “the doors of schools are more open than they were 20 years ago" for poor people, blacks, Hispanics and students with learning pro blems. But, Howe added, "we found a lack of commitment to making these students suc cessful once they are in school.” Reports such as “A Nation At Risk,” the influential 1983 study by the Reagan administra tion’s National Commission on Excellence in Education, have generally called for tougher standards across-the-board. Howe and Edelman said schools are using tests ex cessively and doing little to help students overcome weaknesses identified on the tests. The dropout rate for blacks is nearly twice that of whites, and at the high school level blacks are suspended three times as often, they said. | PREPARE FOR: APRIL | MCAT s educational VMW CENTER rtst PKEmRxriON seeoausrs sect ibis Call Days. Eves & Weekends COURSE BEGINS IN EUGENE SAT. FEB. 16th 485*5609
