By The
Associated Press
Edited by Jennifer Mlratsky
Justice Department sues
to block Microsoft buy
WASHINGTON — Microsoft
Corp.’s $2 billion purchase of In
tuit Inc., the biggest software merger
ever, was dealt a potentially fatal
blow Thursday. The government
sued to block the deal as a threat to
competition.
The Justice Department’s anti
trust division charged that
Microsoft’s buying of Intuit, Inc.
— maker of the highly popular
Quicken personal finance program
— was likely to “lead to higher
prices and lessened innovation”
in the growing market for such
programs. The suit was filed in
U.S. District Court in San Fran
cisco.
The merger “threatens to harm
consumers in other important areas
of commerce,” such as home bank
ing services for personal comput
ers, the department said.
At the very least, the lawsuit
delays the merger, a stock swap
valued at $ 1.5 billion when the deal
was announced Oct. 13, 1994.
Microsoft’s stock price has since
increased, boosting the price tag to
more than $2 billion, the Justice
Department said.
Microsoft said it’s prepared to
strongly defend the merger in court.
“(Xir enthusiasm for bringing
Microsoft and Intuit together is very,
very strong,” Microsoft Chairman
Bill Gates told reporters in a con
ference call after the suit was filed.
“This merger is very clearly in the
interest of consumers.”
Microsoft and Intuit agreed not
to close the deal until resolution of
Quicken’s Appeal
Intuit Inc. survived years of
challenges from big companies,
including Microsoft, to dominate the
market for personal finance software.
More than 7 million copies of its
Quicken program have bear sold,
Personal finance software
1994 market share
Source: Justice Department, AP research AP
the Justice Department’s lawsuit,
said Steven C. Sunshine, a deputy
assistant attorney general who
handled the case. WilliamNeukom,
Microsoft’s chief counsel, de
scribed the agreement differently.
Neukom said the companies would
not close the merger without “two
court days’ notice to the Justice
Department.” He declined to elabo
rate.
Both sides are seeking an expe
dited trial, but no date was set.
Neukom declined to discuss
whether there have been any settle
ment talks with the government,
but said the company cooperated
fully with the investigation. He
added that the company will vigor
ously contest the suit.
' >1 ^ ■
«%jNews...
in a Minute
Spanish cake denied
SOUTHINGTON, Conn.—The manager of an ice cream store has
been suspended after refusing a customer’s request to write “Happy
Birthday” in Spanish on a cake, telling her, “This is America.”
Ana Dicklow had gone to the Carvel store Saturday to get an ice
cream cake with a Spanish “Happy Birthday” greeting for her 80-year
old father.
Dicklow said she offered to spell it out for store manager Fred Craig
or write it herself on the frosting, but Craig said: “Nope. This is America
and I’ll only write it in English.”
“If someone had a match on me, I would’ve blown up!” she said. “Why
would anybody think this way any more? It’s very backward.”
At first, Craig was unrepentant: “Idon’tfeel it’s discriminatory. I was
just statingmy feelings,”he told the Meriden Record-Journal on Wednes
But in a second interview, after his suspension without pay pending
a company investigation, he said he realized his comment was “really
stupid.”
“I feel I brought dishonor to the company,” he said.
At the privately owned Carvel Corp., officials said Thursday that
customers often ask for Spanish-language writing on cakes and that the
requests are fulfilled.
“What Fred did was very distressing and surprising,” said Randall
Mathieson, Carvel vice president and general counsel. “Anybody who
knows Carvel recognizes that we’re-a virtual United Nations.”
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Senators want to take time
on anti-terrorism proposal
WASHINGTON — President
Clinton ’ s request for new tools to com
bat terrorism won a bipartisan wel
come at a Senate hearing Thursday.
But several senators urged a go-slow
approach to ensure the protection of
civil liberties.
“I am concerned that we not go too
far and that we not go too fast,” said
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. He urged
that law enforcement agencies be given
more powers “to assure that there is
never another devastation like Okla
homa City.”
“I don’t want us to panic,” said
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del. He said a
key to preventing future terrorist acts
is to identify danger signals in ad
vance.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole,
R-Kan., leadoff witness at the packed
hearing, presented a Republican anti
terrorism plan that he said demon
strates “America will not be paralyzed
into inaction by those who have com
mitted this evil deed” that killed more
than 100 in Oklahoma City.
But Dole, too, said there was “no
big rush” to pass legislation.
“The American people deserve the
straight story,” he said, “and the
straight story is that America is not an
impregnable fortress.”
Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of
the Judiciary Committee, was seeking
a three-part deal. It would include
support for Clinton’s proposals, the
addition of long-sought GOP curbs on
appeals by condemned prisoners, and
a pledge that Republicans would not
otter amendments to repeal last year s
assault weapons ban.
Democrats were resisting the death
penalty appeals change.
Jamie Gorelick, the deputy attor
ney general, presented Clinton’s anti
terrorism plan, which she said carried
a price tag of $1.25 billion over five
years, including an addition of $150
million to the current 1995 budget.
Clinton’s proposal, which she
called “a strong and solid and cohe
sive approach,” includes:
-Hiring about 1,000 new law en
forcement personnel to investigate,
deter and prosecute terrorist activ
ity.
-Allowing the FBI to obtain credit
reports for counterintelligence and
counter-terrorism cases; relax the stan
dards for authorities to obtain tele
phone records identifying numbers that
were dialed and where calls origi
nated.
-Requiring hotel and motel opera
tors as well as airlines, bus companies
and other transportation carriers to
provide records to the FBI in national
security cases. These records now are
provided to state and local law en
forcement, but the FBI must obtain
them voluntarily.
FBI Director Louis Freeh testi
fied there are “serious gaps in the
federal criminal laws presently used
to combat terrorism.” He said there
is a need for a more comprehensive
approach.
Wednesday, April 26,1995
►DEATHS: As of 11 am. EDI 98,
including 14 children.
►INJURIES: More than 400
►MISSING: Approximately 105
►SUSPECTS: Brothers Terry Lynn Nichols
and James Douglas Nichols were charged
Tuesday as conspirators with Timothy
McVeigh. The three allgedly built bombs in
Michigan. The Nichols brothers are.not
charged in the Oklahoma bombing.
►INVESTIGATION: A slightly revised FBI
composite sketch of “John Doe 2" was
recognized by a motel manager in
Junction City, Kan. He remembered him
as a guest who drove a Ryder rental truck
and stayed there two days before the
bombing.
• Nitrates, one of the components
believed used in the bomb, were detected
at the site of an explosion Feb. 21 near
the Kingman, Ariz., trailer where McVeigh
once lived.
• The governments toll-free hotline:
1-800-905-1514.
AP
Canada looking at gun control
TORONTO — Justice Minister
Allan Rock says a tough, universal
gun control law is necessary to stem
crime in Canada—and could head off
the formation of private American
style militias.
Gun control opponents complain
that the clear reference to the Okla
homa City bombing, that has been
linked to a private militia, is
fearmongering.
A gun control bill in its final stages,
with a parliamentary committee con
ducting a month ofhearings before the
House of Commons gives final ap
proval, probably before summer.
The justice minister says he will
accept only minor alterations, and
passage is near certain.
The government’s bill would stiffen
jail terms for people convicted of us
ing guns in the commission of a crime,
crack down on firearms smuggling,
restrict ammunition sales and require
registration of all of the estimated
seven million guns in Canada by 2002,
including handguns, rifles and shot
guns.
Rock told the parliamentary com
mittee earlier this week that a univer
sal firearms registry will make it harder
to create private militias, such as those
targeted in the bombing investigation.
He referred to the Oklahoma City
bombing to bolster his arguments.
“Registration will provide infor
mation to police about whether some
one is stockpiling firearms,” the jus
tice minister said. “Isn’t that what
authorities should know, whether
someone is stockpiling guns, creating
their own militias?”
Opponents say that’s a scare tactic.
“I haven’t seen any sign that any
body is trying to create a militia in
Canada,” said David Tomlinson, presi
dent of the National Firearms Asso
ciation. “As usual, the Canadian gov
ernment is reacting to events in the
United States.”
/Oun lobbies in Canada are not
nearly as powerful nor as organized as
those in the United States. The Na
tional Firearms Association, an
Alberta-based group, is made up
largely of rural and small-town gun
owners. It’s membership is only about
30,000.
However, there is a lot of opposi
tion to the gun control bill, much of it
from rural Canada, particularly in the
north where guns are a way of life.
Other critics say registration will
do nothing to reduce crime, but in
stead would make criminals out of
law-abiding citizens. Some gun own
ers say they will refuse to obey the
new registration law.
“It’s a mockery of a bill,” said
Olympic shooting medalist Linda
Thom. “We want it killed.”
Even Americans will feel the ef
fects.
Under the bill, people visiting
Canada to hunt would require a tem
porary license and registration certifi
cate to bring a gun into the country.
Heroin usage increasing in many areas
WASHINGTON—Heroin use
appears to be increasing in many
parts of the country, with some crack
users switching to heroin for its
price and availability, the nation’s
top anti-drug official reported
Thursday.
“Heroin ofhigh purity continues
to be a major story in many areas of
the country with use in the North
east and South having stabilized at
a high level or with increasinguse,”
said Lee P. Brown, director of the
White House Office on National
Drug Control Policy.
Brown’s quarterly report on na
tional trends in drug abuse also said
that heroin is attracting younger
users and that cocaine and mari
juana are readily available across
the country.
While older users still dominate
the heroin market, researchers in
New York, Colorado, New Jersey,
Connecticut, California and Geor
gia interviewed by Brown’s office
said that younger users are increas
ing.
Police in New York, Seattle and
Washington reported similar trends,
but treatment providers said the
average heroin user they see re
mains essentially the same: over 30
years old and male.
“Street sales of heroin are re
ported as brisk, with areas like
Connecticut reporting as many as
seven or eight sellers on a single
street corner,” according to the
report.
The $10 to $20 bag is the fa
vored unit of distribution. New York
and Delaware reported lower-price
units, $3 to $5 per bag, while Los
Angeles reported bags selling for
$20 to $40.
“In Atlanta and other areas where
heroin is becoming increasingly
popular, crack and cocaine dealers
are changing their product lines
completely — getting out of co
caine and into heroin,” the report
said. It said some crack users in the
Northeast are switching to snorting
heroin because it is cheaper, more
plentiful and carries less of a stigma
than crack.
Maryland police also reported
that crack dealers were switching
products.
Another report found that users
spent $49 billion on illicit drugs in
1993, down from $64 billion in
1988. That decrease largely re
flected dropping prices, the report
said.