GUARANTEED THE
BEST BUY IN TOWN!
The AT-200 *5
• Chromoly Frame & Jumbo Fork
• 1993 Shimano Altus C-10
21-Speed Shifting
Hurry! Sale Ends
10-31-93
EUGENE
lesport
th Avanua a Euaaha • 343-1
HOURi
M S.i « 6
Sum U' f)
446 East 13th Avanua • Eugaha • 343-5362
Accidents Happen.
Make sure
you’re covered!
• Check Out Student
Health Insurance
• Additional Catastrophic
Coverage
Enrollment Period
Sept. 20-Oct. 8
Student I lealth Center
Room 101 • J46-J702
Glitz masked perversion, sons say
EESESZEn
l.OS ANGELES (AP) — By
Hollywood standards, jose
Menendez* life was a classic
success story — a Cuban
immigrant who married a
beauty queen, had two good
looking athletic sons and built an entertainment
industry fortune
But his sons say the glitzy surface of their privi
leged life hid the dark secret of their father's sex
ual perversion They ended up shotgunning their
parents to death in their Beverly Mills mansion
Kor sheer drama, it was a bloody finale worthy
of Shakespeare,
Now. Krik and Lyle Menendez have lifted the
i urtain on a life they say was a private corner of
hell Testimony about their father's alleged sexu
al torture has been so extreme that some choose
not to believe it.
Defense team adviser Paul Mones says extreme
abuse amounting to torture can drive a son or
daughter to kill.
"Denial and shock permeate the fabric of these
ijises," the attorney says in his Iniok When a Child
Kills.
In two weeks of grim testimony. Krik and Lyle
tearfully portrayed their father as a sadistic demon
who suxually tortured Krik for 12 years and raped
Lyle at age seven. They said shame kept them
silent through the years.
"I just wanted mure than anything else that
when 1 died no one would find out this was hap
pening to me," Erik said.
The brothers contend death threats from their
parents, brought on by Lyle's threat to expose the
alleged sexual abuse if it didn't cease, led them to
kill. Prosecutors claim greed for inheritance mon
ey was the motive.
Among those who view the brothers' terrifying
tale with skepticism is author Ronald Soble. who
is writing a book on the case.
Soble. who began researching the story soon
after the August 1<I8Q killings, said he looked hard
for someone to corroborate sexual abuse claims,
but found no one
"I do totally believe Jose was extremely strict
with his sons and vou could argue that he was
mentally abusive." Soble said. "He did run his
dinner table like a corporate meeting. I believe he
did take a strap to these kids
"But I have to tell you in all umdor 1 have a great
deal of difficulty with the testimony of the broth
‘He did run Ns dinner table
like a corporate meeting. I
believe he did take a strap to
these kids.'
Ronald Soble.
writing book on case
i*rs that (he father raped them ! just could not find
anvone who suggested to mo that he forced his
sons into these gross sex nets
"Of course. I wasn't there," Soble said ' ' ■ 1
there are those who would argue only the bri :s
know."
Trial witnesses have painted lose Menendez as
a controlling, dominating father. His sister, Marta
Cano, 1 what she admired most about him was
his ahilitv to intimidate people.
"He was a great humiliator." said author
Dominick Dunne, who is covering the trial for
Vanity Fair "The people who were above him
admired him enormously ... but anyone who
worked under him despised him. He had a savage
manner of speaking to people,”
Menendez saved his company. Live Entertain
ment, from imminent bankruptcy and turned it
into a profitable business. As chief executive of the
video distribution company, he was earning a
$500,000 salary and was due for an $850,000
bonus the year he died.
The Menendez family revered Jose's success and
sought to preserve that memory. But in recent
months, relatives have come forward to describe
his dark side.
“They had a beautiful image of what the family
name was," Cano said. "1 wish 1 never had to
change that,”
Menendez's mother, Maria, a constant specta
tor at the start of trial, stopped attending w'hen tes
timony turned to abuse. Family intimates say she
disapproves of the defense.
Business associates have yet to testify. In fact,
not a single witness has come forward to say a
good word about Jose.
His longtime personal assistant. Marzie Eisen
lierg, said Friday she believes the public, is getting
a one-sided view of her ex-boss.
"1 can't say anything bad about him," she said.
But she acknowledged his demanding style.
1-800-COLLECT
America’s Inexpensive Way
To Call Someone Collect
Dial it instead of “0" and save up to 44%.
For long <SMMn» ooiJ*ci c*U« Vi AT*T <?j»rmiar duL«J 3 oar u.ujrr-n* ouu