News Digest
Wednesday, August 30, 1995 Page 2
.__._ *■ y? -._ •*/•„, ' - , ■ ___
Simpson trial tapes reveal chilling words from Fuhrman
LOS ANGELES—The calm, con
trolled voice of Detective Mark
Fuhrman sliced through the O.J.
Simpson courtroom Tuesday, spout
ing racial hatred and advocating po
lice violence, including murder, on
tapes he made with a screenwriter.
It was the same voice j urors heard
months earlier when the investigator
who found the bloody glove swore
under oath that he had not spoken the
word “nigger” in the last 10 years. On
the tapes recorded since 1985, he is
heard saying the word repeatedly.
The tapes were played to help Judge
Lance Ito determine if they are rel
evant to Simpson’s murder trial.
For the Los Angeles Police De
partment, the tapes were the worst
blow since the Rodney King beating
case set off an investigation of racism
and brutality that culminated in the
1992 riots.
Jurors were not present to hear the
racial rhetoric roll off Fuhrman’s
tongue as casually as any other words'
he used in the hours of tapes recorded
by screenwriter Laura Hart McKinny.
They also did not hear Fuhrman’s
declarations about the probable cause
police need to arrest blacks.
“Probable cause?” he asked sar
castically. “You’re God.”
The last tape that Fuhrman made -
amonth after themurders of Simpson’s
ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald
Goldman - revealed his feelingof self
importance at being involved in the
investigation.
“I’m the key witness in the biggest
case of the century,” he said. “And if
I go down, they lose the case. The
glove is everything. Without the glove
- bye-bye.”
In the tapes, he says an attorney
told him: “For the rest of your 1 i fe, this
is you: You’re 'Bloody Glove
Fuhrman,’ that’s it.”
Referring to the unidentified attor
ney, Fuhrman adds: “He says you
might as well make it pay off. If you
don’t make it pay off, all you’re doing
is going through all this heartache for
nothing. Go for Shapiro. He’s an
Fuhrman has filed a lawsuit against
defense attorney Robert Shapiro for
allegedly leaking information about
Fuhrmanls past. *
On the tapes, Fuhrman says: “If
I’m wrestlingaround with some nigger,
and he gets me in my back, and he gets
his hand on my gun, it’s over.”
In the hushed courtroom, Simpson
wiped tears from his face.
Tm the key witness in
the biggest case of the
century. And if I go
down, they lose the
case. ”
MARK FUHRMAN
recorded on tapes he made with
a screenwriter
As shocking as Fuhrman’s racist
statements were, they were upstaged
by his pro-violence stance.
“Most real good policemen under
stand that they would love to take
certain people and just take them to
the alley and blow their brains out,”
Fuhrman declares.
In another excerpt, he boasts: “We
shoot to kill ‘em.... The only way you •
can stop somebody is to kill the son of
a bitch. And what’s the big deal? If
you’ve got a reason to shoot some
body, you’ve got a reason to kill him.”
Fuhrman, who recorded the tapes
With McKinny for her work on a fic
tional screenplay about the Los Ange
les Police Department, spoke of gain
ing a feeling of “control, power.”
The tapes were played as McKinny,
a North Carolina screenwriting pro
fessor, sat on the witness stand with a
pained expression. During one por
tion of the taped interviews, she was
heard laughing at Fuhrman’s remarks.
Simpson attorney Gerald Uelmen
gently questioned her about the cir
cumstances of the taping as he pro
jected onto courtroom screens tran
scripts of sections that were heard and
others from tapes that had been erased.
As members of the courtroom au
dience flinched at some of Fuhrman’s
language, Uelmen asked McKinny:
“Do you remember any discomfort in
hearing that?”
“Yes, very uncomfortable,” she
said in a near whisper. “But I was in
the journalistic mode...”
The tapes were uncovered late in
the trial, and the defense won a legal
battle for access. They turned out to
be the most powerful weapon in a
defense assault on Fuhrman as the
pivotal figure in an alleged plot to
frame Simpson.
The defense contends the tapes
portray Fuhrman as a liar and show he
is capable of planting evidence against
Simpson. It was Fuhrman who re
ported finding the bloody glove be
hind Simpson’s house the morning
after the June 12,1994, murders.
Loyola University law professor
Laurie Levenson called the tapes “ap
palling,” and said it renews anxiety
over racism that has troubled the LAPD
for years. She said Fuhrman’s com
ments could cast doubt on all police
testimony against Simpson.
ygvJNews...
in a Minute
Photographer shoots one too many
SANTA FE, N.M.—A lawyer in town to lecture on sexual harassment
said a man sneaked up while she was shopping, pointed an instant camera
up her skirt and took a picture.
When the same “creep” did it to her again about 10 minutes later Friday,
three to Five young men chased him down and pinned him in the parking lot,
she said, and the police were called.
“I’d say it’s slightly more than ironic to be there discussing sexual
harassment and the workplace and to have this happen,” said 43-year-old
Diana P. Scott of Los Angeles.
Richard Marquez, 38, was arrested on charges of creating a public^
nuisance and disorderly conduct.
Scott - who said she has “very good legs” and was wearing a very short
skirt - was browsing in a shop when she heard a whirring click.
She said she turned and realized a man had taken a picture up her skirt.
She said the man ran out, but when she heard the click again, she got angry.
Police Capt. Ray Rael said officers found photographs on the man, and
Scott identified herself as one of several subjects in the photos. Rael said
the man was photographing women’s underwear.
Scott was in Santa Fe to lecture at the American Law Institute.
Satanism rumors bring suit
CINCINNATI — Procter & Gamble Co. sued an Amway Corp. em
ployee Monday for allegedly spreading rumors linking P&G to devil
worship.
The Cincinnati-based consumer products company filed the federal
lawsuit in Salt Lake City against Randy Haugen of Ogden, Utah, seeking
more than $50,000 from the high-ranking Amway distributor. Amway is a
competitor of P&G.
TTie lawsuit claims Haugen used Amway ’ s voice mail system to spread
the rumors to other Amway distributors.
“We have been fighting this outrageous rumor for over 15 years,” said
James J. Johnson, P&G senior vice president and general counsel. “Through
out that time, people associated with Amway have played a role.”
The rumors typically claim that P&G’s moon-and-stars trademark is a
satanic symbol.
Deadheads sue for injuries
ST. CHARLES, Mo.—Four Deadheads are suing for injuries suffered
when a deck collapsed at a campground after a Grateful Dead concert.
The lawsuits, each seeking more than $25,000 for negligence and
personal injury, were filed against campground owner Pinewoods Enter
prise Inc. and promoter Douglas Bledsoe. Calls to the company and
promoter Tuesday weren’t immediately returned.
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Editor Doug Kouma mjww
Photo Director Travis Heying Professional Adviser Don Walton
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Magnesium-based medicines pose
serious health risk, experts say
CHICAGO—Swilling antacid
or gobbling tablets for your upset
stomach could cost you your life.
Fourteen deaths, 31 hospitaliza
tions and four cases of disability
linked to magnesium poisoning
have been reported since 1968, re
searchers from the Food and Drug
Administration reported in the Au
gust issue of the American Medical
Association’s Archives of Family
Medicine.
“Maalox and Mylanta - people
just drink them like water,” said Dr.
Man C. Fung, lead author of the
report. “They don’t even think about
it.”
Consumers and doctors often un
derestimate the danger and may not
recognize the symptoms of magne
sium poisoning from overuse of
antacids and other medications,
wrote Fung and Drs. Michael
Weintraub and Debra L. Bowen.
Symptoms can include clumsi
ness, weakness, paralysis, drowsi
ness, confusion and coma.
Magnesium is an important nu
trient in foods and in drinking wa
ter. It is common in over-the-counter
antacids, laxatives and pain reliev
ers.
Taken as directed, such prod
ucts are safe, Fung said by tele
phone from the University of Penn
sylvania Cancer Center, where he
is now on staff.
Excessive use, though, espe
cially by susceptible people, can
lead to magnesium poisoning, he
said. Susceptible people include the
elderly, longtime diabetics, people
who have had digestive surgery and
anyone takingmedications that slow
the digestive system, such as nar
cotics and some antidepressants.
' Elderly people are susceptible
because their kidneys, which rid
the body of magnesium, are not as
efficient. Longtime diabetics some
times suffer nerve damage to the
bowel, which allows more magne
sium to be absorbed by the body.
Relatively high levels ofmagne
sium are found in many laxatives
containing citrate of magnesia, milk
of magnesia and Epsom salts, the
researchers said.
Many antacids contain lower but
still significant amounts of magne
sium, including, in many cases,
Maalox, Mylanta, Gaviscon, Di
Gel, Gelusil and Rolaids, the re
searchers said.
However, Turns and some types
of Maalox and Mylanta contain no
magnesium. Fung said brand name
alone doesn’t always indicate
whether a product contains magne
sium; consumers should look at the
list of ingredients on the label.
Pain relievers containing mag
nesium include Doan’s, Arthritis
Pain Formula, Ascriptin and
Bufferin.
Robert Kniffin, a spokesman for
Mylanta’s manufacturer, Johnson
& Johnson-Merck Consumer Phar
maceuticals Co., said, “Our prod
uct is safe when used in accordance
with the package labeling, which is
quite clear.”
In one case reported by the FDA
researchers, a 69-year-old woman
with a history of heart disease, dia
betes and digestive surgery devel
oped slurred speech and weakness.
She was taken to the hospital .where
she rapidly fell into a coma and
nearly died.
The symptoms suggested a
stroke. But a lab test revealed her
blood-magnesium level was more
than five times higher than normal.
Doctors treated her for magnesium
poisoning and she recovered com
pletely. The woman had been
consuming up to two large bottles
of Maalox daily for indigestion and
constipation.
Postal shooting leaves two hurt
PALATINE, 111.—A postal worker
described by co-workers as a “beauti
ful guy” walked into work Tuesday
and shot and wounded two men he
regularly joked and ate lunch with,
police and fellow employees said.
Dorsey S. Thomas, 53, was arT
rested 20 miles away near his home in
Northlake. He was to appear before a
U.S. magistrate in the afternoon.
Co-workers at the mail-processing
center had no idea why Thomas, who
union officials said had an exemplary
record in about 20 years of service,
would shoot his friends. Police of
fered no theories.*
“I can’t figure out why he did it,”
said clerk Maude Kelly, who had
worked with Thomas and the victims
for about 20 years. “We’ve been here
for alongtime. He wasjust a beautiful
guy. We would joke and laugh to
gether.”
Thomas arrived for the start of the
7 a.m. shift in this suburb 31 miles
northwest of Chicago, walked to the
second-floor sorting area and fired
two rounds into the chest of clerk
AP
Steve Collura, witnesses and police
said.
Thomas then ran downstairs and
shot clerk Mike Mielke in the jaw and
chest, then hit him with the semiauto
matic pistol, according to witnesses.
Collura, 45, and Mielke, 41, were
hospitalized in stable condition.
Worker Cynthia Murray said she
was on the first floor when she heard
two quick shots, then saw panicked
employees trying to leave the build
ing.
“People were just falling all over
each other,” she said. “I saw people
trample over people and I saw the
smoke from the gun.”
Thomas, a tall man with graying
hair, processed registered mail ana
had little contact with the public.
Co-worker Willie Little said she
had seen no indication of tension
among the three men.
A recent report by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention found
that murder was the second leading
cause of death on the job for postal
workers and third for all workers.
On July 9, a postal worker was
accused of killing his boss at a mail
processing center in City of Industry,
Calif. On March 21, a former postal
worker killed four people and wounded
another at a Montclair, N.J., post of
fice. V