^ — jL By the
1 Associated Press
%** LjP %f Edited by Brandon Loomis
Canners to sell only ‘dolphin-free’ tuna fish
WASHINGTON - Two U.S. tuna
tanners, including the world’s larg
est, said Thursday they will no longer
buy or sell tuna captured along with
dolphins. Environmentalists who have
long sought to protect dolphins from
fishing nets strongly praised the deci
sions.
The actions were announced by
companies selling the StarKist and
Bumble Bee brands. A third company
selling Chicken of the Sea brand said
it would step up efforts to protect
dolphins.
Environmentalists and lawmakers
said they hoped the move would save
some of the estimated 100,000 dol
phins that die annually in huge nets
used to catch schools of tuna.
“StarKist will not purchase any
tuna caught >n association with dol
phins,” said Anthony J.F. O’Reilly,
presidentof theH.J. Hein/Co., which
owns the StarKist Seafood Co.
“StarKist will sell only dolphm
frcc tuna,” he said at a news confer
ence.
The change could cost consumers
“a couple or more cents” per can,
O’Reilly said, adding that he hoped
sales would increase with the an
nouncement and that some increased
costs “will be compensated by in
creased volume.”
StarKist has a 35 percent share of
the U.S. tuna market and is the world’s
largest tuna canner.
San Diego-based Bumble Bee
Seafoods Inc. followed suit a few
hours later, saying it “would now
implement its plan to end the pur
chase of tuna caught in association
with dolphin.”
‘‘Our tuna cans will begin to re
flect the dolphin-safe label in U.S.
stores within the next three months,”
the statement said.
Van Kamp Seafood of St. Louis,
seller of Chicken of the Sea brand,
said it would ‘‘further enhancements
to its established campaign for the
protection and preservation of dol
phins.”
Leslie Schcclc of Greenpeace,
which backs a worldwide boycott of
tuna caught with nets, called the
announcements ‘ ‘ without a doubt one
of the biggest steps that could be
taken in order to preserve dolphins in
the Eastern Tropical Pacific in proba
bly the last 20-30 years.”
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who is
sponsoring legislation to require can
ncrs to label tuna that is caught by
nets that ensnare dolphins, said the
announcement made StarKist “not
only the largest but the most enlight
ened tuna canncr in the world. “
“Now Charlie the Tuna has a rea
son to smile,’ ’ said Rep. Barbara Boxer,
D-Calif., author of the Dolphin Pro
tection Consumer Information Act of
1990 in a statement read by Bidcn.
Charlie the Tuna is an animated char
acter used in StarKist tuna advertise
ments.
But the American Tunaboat Asso
ciation said the new policy was merely
a political response that threatened to
destroy the U.S. tuna fleet, reduce
tuna stock and do little to help save
dolphin lives.
“Foreign boats, which operate free
of stringent U.S. quota, will simply
sell their catch to a growing European
market and elsewhere,” said August
Fclando, association president.
StarKist President Keith Haugc said
the company would require its sup
pliers to have observers on their ves
sels to certify the dolphins are not
caught w ith tuna.
He said the company would oiler
assistance in finding financial back
ing for fishermen w ho want to hall net
fishing and refit byats to move to
other waters.
Environmentalists say about
1(X),000 dolphins are trapped and killed
each year because the dolphins, lor
reasons no one has been able to ex
plain, swim where tuna swim.
Firm alleges Franklin fund path
OMAHA - A firm retained by the
National Credit Union Administra
tion says it has charted what hap
pened to all but S900,000 of the money
allegedly missing from a failed Omaha
credit union.
The financial report prepared for
the NCUA by Robert L. Kirchner of
Financial Advisory Group Ltd. of
Omaha was submitted recently to the
Senate appropriations subcommittee,
which has jurisdiction over the NCUA.
Mary Jane Harvey allegedly spent
$689,547 in Franklin Community
Federal Credit Union funds for per
sonal purposes — more than seven
times the personal spending attrib
uted to her son, E. Thomas Harvey
Jr., the NCUA said.
Some S93,900 in Franklin funds
went to benefit the son, who was the
failed credit union’s chief account
ant, according to the report.
The mother, 69, is a retired Pres
byterian Church staff member who
helped Franklin chief executive
Lawrence E. King Jr. at the credit
union and in some of King’s other
ventures.
The spending report by the firm
retained by the NCUA covers nearly
five years from Jan. 1, 1984, until
Nov. 4,1988, when the Omaha credit
union failed and was closed by au
thorities.
The report showed the credit un
ion needed $42.2 million at the time
of the closing for its books to balance
— $41 million to cover what it owed
depositors and another $1.2 million
that it should have received in invest
ment interest and from other sources.
Instead, the credit union had assets
totaling $3.2 million fora shortfall of
$39 million. Nearly all of that $39
million has been spent, and little will
be recovered, NCUA officials have
said.
Of the S42.2 million, the NCUA
now can explain what happened to all
but $900,000, a decline from $2.8
million in unexplained spending shown
in a report last June.
Harvey, 47, programmed Franklin’s
computer so that funds coming into
the credit union could be diverted
into a secret account, a federal grand
jury alleged last year.
The grand jury made that allega
tion concerning Harvey when it in
dicted King and his wife, Alice Plochc
King, on financial charges stemming
from the credit union’s collapse.
The Harveys have pleaded guilty
to one count each of income tax eva
sion and bank fraud. They have coop
erated with federal prosecutors and
were expected to testify at the trial of
the Kings. They have not been sen
tenced.
Last year’s grand jury indictment
alleged that about $1 million of Fran
klin Credit money went to the Har
veys during Franklin’s last five years.
The new report placing the amount at
S783.447 contains the first breakdown
showing how much allegedly went to
benefit Mrs. Harvey and how much to
benefit her son.
The NCUA has taken more than
50 boxes of collectibles from the
Harveys, including stamps, valuable
Indian dolls, hand-painted boxes and
jewelry.
After negotiations lasting a year,
‘‘wc’rc satisfied we have everything
we’re entitled to from the Harvey s,”
Robert Fenner, NCUA general coun
sel, said from Washington.
Fenner said the collectibles proba
bly have a total value of less than
S500.000. They will be sold, he said.
Neither of the Harveys could be
reached for comment.
The federal indictment of the Kings
said $10.2 million in Franklin funds
allegedly went for personal spending
of the King family from 1984 through
1988.
The latest NCUA report increased
that figure by $585,(XX) to a new total
of $10.8 million.
King faces 40 felony charges stem
ming from the credit union’s finan
cial collapse. His trial, scheduled to
start June 4, apparently will be post
poned because he has been found
mentally incompetent to stand trial.
He is undergoing treatment at a
federal medical facility in Rochester,
Minn. His competency to stand trial
will be re-evaluated in four months.
Mrs. King has asked that her trial
be separated from that of her hus
band. She is charged with one count
of conspiracy and 11 counts of fraud.
A breakdown of what happened to
the S42.2 million:
• Interest paid to depositors, $9
million.
• Operating expenses of Franklin
and the affiliated Consumer Services
Organization, $9.7 million.
• King family personal spending,
$10.8 million.
• King-owned businesses, S2.1
million.
• Harvey family personal spend
ing, 5783,000.
• Other Franklin expenses, S2.4
million.
• Assets at close, S3.2 million.
• Unexplained, $900,(XX).
• Money spent in 1983 and earlier
years. $3.3 million. All spending items
except the S3.3 million apply to the
years 1984 through the Nov. 3, 1988,
closing.
Nebraskan
Editor Amy Edwards
472- 1766
Managing Editor Ryan Staavcs
Assoc News Editors Lisa Donovan
Eric Pfannar
Editorial
Page Editor Bob Nelson
Wire Editor Brandon Loomis
Copy Desk Editor Darcla Wiegert
Sports Editor Jeft A pel
Arts A Entertain
ment Editor Michael Deeds
Diversions Editor Mick Dyer
Gtaphics Editor John Bruce
Photo Chief Dave Hansen
Night News Editors Jana Pedersen
Diane Bray ten
Art Director Brian ShellIto
Graphics Editor John Bruce
General Manager Dan ShaftiI
Production Mar ager Katherine Policky I
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473- 7301
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Bush says he won’t overrule
EPA’s decision on Two Forks
DENVER - President Bush says
he’ll stand by the Environmental
Protection Agency’s decision on the
fate of the proposed Two Forks Dam
project.
“I’d be disinclined to overrule a
decision that’s been given this much
study and consideration,’’ Bush said
Wednesday in Washington, D.C.,
during a session with 11 newspaper
outdoor writers and columnists, The
Denver Post reported.
“I have great confidence in Wil
liam Reilly. 1 think he’ll look into this
matter from every angle.”
The massive dam project, proposed
southwest of Denver on the South
Platte River, hinges on the EPA’s
decision on a pending veto.
Reilly, the EPA administrator, said
last month h>s agency still is leaning
toward scuttling the project, citing
potential environmental damage. The
decision will be made by LaJuana
Wilcher, EPA’s national assistant
administrator for water, probably in
early fall.
Sen. Bill Armstrong, R-Colo.,and
Denver Mayor Federico Pena have
said they will press for Two Forks
approval in Washington, but Bush
said, “The buck stops in there,’’
gesturing toward the EPA’s offices.
“The decision will be made by Bill
Reilly.’’
The Two Forks project, a 615
fool-high dam proposed by the Den
ver Water Board and 42 suburban
cities and water districts, has been a
subject of controversy between de
velopers and environmentalists for
more than 20 years.
The dam would cause the inunda
tion of 30 miles of prime trout stream
and nearly 10,000 acres of habitat for
mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, wild
turkey and other animals. It also would
threaten fragile wildlife habitat down
stream in Nebraska.
Some city and suburban Two Forks
backers had held out hope that Bush
would overrule EPA officials. Metro
politan Water Providers spokesman
Bill Van Schoonevcld said the proj
ect had a belter chance of being ap
proved by Bush than Reilly.
E. Germans Parliament
chooses prime minister,
apologizes for Holocaust
EAST BERLIN - East Ger
many’s Parliament chose Lothar
de Maiziere as prime minister on
Thursday and embraced his sweep
ing agenda for quickly uniting the
foundering nation with West Ger
many.
The nation’s first freely elected
legislature also apologized to Jews
for Nazi atrocities and promised to
make reparations to Israel and seek
diplomatic lies.
By pulling dc Maiziere’s broad
coalition government in power, the
Parliament set up a transitional
government whose prime goal will
be to negotiate the terms of creat
ing a single Germany.
Before Parliament met, mem
bers of the coalition agreed that a
united Germany should remain part
of NATO and that East Germany
should merge its currency with West
Germany’s by July 1.
The coalition also backed a rapid
process for unification.
However, it demanded that East
Germans retain some social bene
fits, including housing and job
guarantees, as the nation sheds four
decades of socialism for the com
petitive free market
The historic decisions will be
followed by unification talks with
West Germany and the four World
War II allies that divided the coun
tries: the Soviet Union, United
States, Britain and France.
The 400-mcmbcr Parliament put
dc Maiziere and his 24-mcmbcr
Cabinet in power by a vote of 265
108, with nine abstentions. Eight
een lawmakers were absent
The government replaces the
Communist caretaker government
that had been running the country
since East Germans overthrew the
hard-line regime of Erich Honeckcr
in October.
In a remarkable string of con
ciliatory gestures, Parliament rec
ognized the legitimacy of Poland’s
postwar borders, which include
former German lands. It apologized
lor East Germany’s role in the
Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslo
vakia m 1968, which crushed the
Prague Spring reforms.
The lawmakers also apologized
for the deaths of 20 million Soviets
during World War II. They ended
four decades of denials by East
Germany’s former Stalinist lead
ers that the nation played no role in
the deaths of 6 million Jews during
the Holocaust.
“Persecuted Jews should be
granted asylum in the future in
East Germany,” the Parliament
declaration said.
Israel has long demanded repa
rations and an East German apol
ogy lor Nazi crimes as a condition
for diplomatic relations.
Yossi Ahimeir, a spokesman for
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Sha
mi{, said that “at first glance, it
looks like a positive announce
ment.”
But Parliament Speaker Dov Shi
lansky, a survivor of the Dachau
concentration camp, said he would
never grant forgiveness for the
killing of 6 million Jews during
World War II.
De Maiziere, a 50-year-old
lawyer whose conservative coali
tion finished first in the nation’s
first free elections March 18, rose
to power by promising Western
prosperity through quick unifica
tion.
His compromises with the left
leaning Social Democrats, who fin
ished second in the elections, indi
cate East Germany will demand
some sort of social safely net for its
citizens when it negotiates with
West Germany.
The coalition accord calls for a
retention of current unemployment
benefits, retirement insurance and
aid to the disadvantaged. It says
East Germans should be guaran
teed a place to live and that rent
increases should be tied to wages.
The accord on terms of reunifi
cation contained several compro
mises that could put de Maiziere at
odds with his mentor, West Ger
man Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
The accord calls for a 1-1 con
version of East German marks for
West German marks when the
nations merge their currencies.
West Germany’s central bank
has proposed a 2-1 rate for all but
small savings accounts.
The coalition agreement follows
Kohl’s demand that a united Ger
many be part of NATO.
The Soviet Union wants a new
Germany to be neutral. West Ger
many now is in NATO and East
Germany is part of the Soviet-led
Warsaw Pact.
The strategic future of a unified
Germany will be the main negoti
ating point when the superpowers
take part in the unification talks,
perhaps next month.
The coalition agreement also
said the merger of the two coun
tries should be based on a West
German constitutional provision that
permits direct incorporation of East
German territory into West Ger
many.
The. Social Democrats had de
manded a more gradual system of
unification, with East German states
voting separately on unification
Kohl and de Maiziere both la
vor the faster process.