Edited by Michelle Gamer News Qgest
Monday, January 29, 1996 Page 2
DuPont standoff ends peacefully
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. —
An heir to the du Pont fortune was
captured by SWAT team members
Sunday as he stepped outside his
mansion to fix his boiler, ending a
48-hour standoff that began with
the shooting death of a top wrestler.
John E. du Pont, who had been
without heat since police cut ofThis
boiler system Friday night, told ne
gotiators he was cold and was leav
ing his house, said Newtown Town
ship Police Chief Michael Mallon.
He did not carry one of the many
weapons he kept on his 800-acre
estate. No one was injured in the
capture.
“His intent was to make repair to
the boilers because he was without
heat,” Mallon said. “Within a few
moments our SW AT teams were on
the location and they made a cap
ture.”
Police, who had cleared the en
trance to the estate hours earlier,
picked up du Pont at about 3:30
p.m. and took him to the police
station for arraignment.
He arrived kneeling in a black
van, his hands handcuffed behind
him. Wearing a jacket advertising
his world-class wrestling center and
team, Foxcatcher, and running
tights, du Pont looked dazed as an
officer grabbed him by the hand
cuffs and lifted him out of the van.
“Hegave up peacefully,” Lt. Lee
Hunter said.
The capture ended a standoff
that police said began Friday after
noon with du Pont shooting Dave
Schultz, a wrestler living on du
Pont’s estate.
From the beginning, police in
sisted on negotiating instead of at
tacking for their own safety: Du
Pont’s prowess with weapons ap
proaches Olympic-level marksman
ship and he had an extensive arse
nal that at least at one time included
an armored personnel carrier.
The standoff capped a longtime
slide into despair for the 57-year
old du Pont, according to wrestlers,
acquaintances and relatives.
Schultz, 36, who won an Olym
pic gold medal in 1984, worked as
acoachatdu Pont’s 14,000-square
foot Foxcatcher National Training
Center while training for a come
back at this summer’s Games in
Atlanta. Several other wrestlers also
lived on the estate, and others trav
eled there each day to train.
Du Pont paid the wrestlers and
coaches for the private Team
Foxcatcher more than $300 a week
and contributed $500,000 a year to
USA Wrestling, the sport’s Olym
pic committee.
Du Pont is a great-great grand
son of E.I. du Pont, the French-bom
industrialist who founded the chemi
cal company. As one of hundreds of
heirs to the family fortune, he was
worth an estimated $46.2 million in
1985, according his ex-wife’s law
suit.
News
in a
1 Minute*8
Man uses statue to Mil nuns
WATERVILLE, Maine — Four nuns were beaten and stabbed after
a prayer service in their convent, and a man who allegedly bludgeoned
at least one of them with a religious statue was in custody.
Two of the nuns died and the other two remained hospitalized
Sunday.
“This may be one of the most heinous crimes ever committed in
Maine,” said spokesman Stephen McCausland ofthe state Public Safety
Department.
Mark A. Bechard, 37, of Waterville, who had a history of mental
problems, surrendered without resistance when police arrived.
Bechard, who was known to the nuns and had worshiped in their
chapel previously, was also known to police.
“We have dealt with Mr. Bechard in criminal matters and mental
health matters,” said Morris, adding that the suspect had been involun
tarily committed to a mental hospital in 1994. He would not elaborate.
Mother Superior Edna Mary Cardozo, 68, died of head injuries
Saturday night at Kennebec Valley Medical Center in Augusta. Sister
Mary Julien Fortin, 67, died early Sunday of multiple stab wounds to the
face and head, said hospital spokeswoman Mary Plumer.
A third nun was in stable condition and the fourth was in serious
condition Sunday.
Boy takes school bus for joy ride
TABOR CITY, N.C. — A 13-year-old boy took off in a school bus
and led police on a chase, trying to run patrol cars off the road as he drove
90 miles through parts of two states.
The youth drove as fast as the bus would go, which isn’t very fast
because North Carolina school buses have mechanical speed limiters.
“We went 46 mph the whole time,” said Tabor City police Officer
L.D. James. “But I’ll tell you, that boy could drive that thing. He was
crazy.”
At some points during the middle-of-the-night chase, the youth tried
to run patrol cars off the road, driving from side to side, and drove with
the bus lights off, police Chief R.V. Wooster said.
He took the bus from South Columbus High School, near his home in
Tabor City, about 1 a.m. Saturday. The keys apparently were left in the
uus.
The bus eventually turned into a driveway at West Brunswick High
School in Shallotte, about 30 miles southeast of Tabor City. The gate was
closed so the driver parked, set the emergency brake and stepped out of
the bus.
“When he came off that bus, he was smiling and laughing,” James
said.
The youth was turned over to his parents.
Zoo offers animal love tour
SANTA ANA, Calif. — It’s an animal lover’s ultimate fantasy.
For those into amorous iguanas or hot two-toed sloths, the Santa Ana
Zoo is holding its 2nd Annual Sex Tour in honor of Valentine’s Day.
The adults-only tour Feb. 10 brings people into the boudoirs of their
furry and feathered friends. To set the mood, champagne is served.
“It’s fun, it’s interesting, and everyone blushes,” zoo spokeswoman
Leslie Perovich said.
It’s an educational program to explain the mating habits of animals
and reproductive efforts by zoos to preserve endangered species, Perovich
said.
The curator and veterinarian who guide the tour offer no guarantees
that animals will be amorous. But if they are, visitors are in for an eyeful.
Take the two-toed sloths for instance. Their foreplay involves rub
bing rumps—dancing cheek to cheek, so to speak. Soon the sloths are
anything but lethargic. They’re airborne, hanging face to face from their
front legs.
And the green iguana is a rough Romeo. His partner often ends up
scratched and bitten.
The tour costs $15, which includes champagne and a continental
breakfast.
Ethiopians protest
rejection of blood
JERUSALEM — Police fired tear
gas, rubber bullets and water cannon
at thousands of Ethiopian Jews who
stormed the prime minister’s office
Sunday to protest a national policy of
rejecting their blood donations.
The anger over the discarded blood
donations reflects years of simmering
frustration in Israel’s Ethiopian com
munity, which has remained an
underclass since Ethiopians first im
migrated to Israel a decade ago in
dramatic airlifts.
Protesters stoned theprime minister’s
office and police hurled the rocks back,
injuring dozens of demonstrators and
police. The crowd dispersed only after
Prime Minister Shimon Peres promised
an investigation.
“I can understand them,” Peres told
Channel Two television. “But it is
hard for me to justify what they did ...
I am sorry they did not restrain them
selves.”
Israeli media revealed last week
that Israel for years has discarded blood
donations from Ethiopians for fear the
blood might be tainted with the AIDS
virus. Government officials defended
the policy, saying that Ethiopian im
migrants have a higher risk of AIDS
infection than other Israelis.
More than 10,000 Ethiopians, some
in skullcaps and others with
dreadlocks, filled the street in front of
the prime minister’s office Sunday
and spilled into nearby fields and park
ing lots.
They held signs reading, “We are
black, but our blood is red,” and
chanted, “Shame on the state.”
“Why do they throw
away our blood?
Because we are
Ethiopian, and because
we don't have
representatives in the
government."
PE8ACH MARESHA
Ethiopian protester
“What’s the difference between me
and you?” protester Pesach Maresha
asked a white reporter. “Why do they
throw away our blood? Because we
are Ethiopian, and because we don’t
have representatives in the govern
ment.”
Maresha held a sign saying, “The
dream has gone to hell.”
Leaders of the Ethiopian commu
nity met later Sunday with Peres and
the ministers of immigration and
health. Peres promised to form a com
mittee with Ethiopian representatives
to investigate the blood situation, said
Shlomo .Molla of the United Ethio
pian Jewish Organization.
Molla said the committee also
would look at discrimination against
Ethiopian Israelis.
“Tlie blood problem is just a symp
tom,” he said. “The issue is black and
white. We are Jews. We are Israelis.
But we have to struggle to be equal.”
Senate leaders encourage
another try at budget plan
WASHINGTON — Congress
should make another try at a balanced
budget compromise before resorting
to the piecemeal approach of limited
savings and tax cuts being promoted
by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, two
Senate leaders said Sunday.
“I think we’re close enough,” said
Senate Majority Whip Trent Lott, R
Miss., citing what he said was grow
ing support in the Senate for a biparti
san plan to balance the budget over
seven years.
Gingrich, R-Ga., last week said the
effort to find common ground with
President Clinton on a balanced bud
get was hopeless, and proposed at
taching up to $100 billion in savings
and $29 billion in tax cuts to a bill
raising the nation’s debt ceiling.
Gingrich called it a “down pay
_ ment” toward a balanced budget.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the
Press,” Lott said there would have to
be some conditions on the debt ceiling
bill to get it through Congress, but he
was not enthused about Gingrich’s
down payment idea. “I think that’s too
small. I think we need to do more. We
can do more.”
Later, Gingrich said he and Lott
conferred about the budget on Sun
day. “We agree that any route that gets
us to a balanced budget is a good one,”
he said.
Gingrich has said that even if Re
publicans and moderate Democrats
reached a compromise, Clinton might
veto it.
The Clinton administration, after
showing some initial interest, has be
come increasingly negative to the idea
of making a “down payment” on elimi
nating the federal deficit.
Assassin
takes over
own defense
TEL AVIV, Israel — His defense
in disarray, Yitzhak Rabin ’ s confessed
assassin cross-examined prosecution
witnesseshimself Sunday, often inter
rupting pol ice to correct their accounts
of the shooting.
Cordial and casual in a sweat shirt,
former law student Yigal Amir took
over defense questioning in a chaotic
six-hour court session after one law
yer resigned and the second stumbled
badly over the Hebrew language,
bringing laughter from the packed
courtroom and a despairing sigh from
Judge Edmond Levy.
Amir has admitted shooting
Rabin after a Nov. 4 peace rally in Tel
Aviv, saying he believed that Rabin’s
peace policy put Israelis in greater
danger of Palestinian attacks.
Last week, Amir, 25, gave contra
dictory testimony over whether he in
tended to kill the prime minister or
only disable him so as to force him
from office. That was registered as a
plea of not guilty. Amir is charged
with murder and faces life in prison.
Goldberg, who moved to Israel
seven years ago from Houston, fre
quently fumbled over his words in
Hebrew, and his client joined the court
room audience in laughing at
Goldberg’s mistakes.
“God help us,” sighed Levy. Ap
pearing frustrated by Goldberg’s line
of questioning, the judge allowed Amir
to cross-examine the prosecution wit
nesses himself.
The former third-year law student
easily switched from defendant to law
yer. He cheerfully demanded answers
from ballistics experts and the police
officers who interrogated him after
the murder.
After a screening of a videotaped
re-enactment of the killing, Amir
turned to beam at his sister, then stood
and announced the re-enactment was
incorrect — although earlier he had
signed a form agreeing it was a true
representation of the slaying.
“How did you ever get so far in law
school?” Levy asked.
Amir asked officer Moti Naphtali *
whether he had looked like an emo
tion-driven murderer seeking revenge
for Rabin’s peace policies, or a sol
dier who had killed a terrorist.
Naphtali responded that Amir was
“as cold as a fish.”
i-1
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