House reviews Clinton’s
secret fund raising memos
WASHINGTON (AP) - House
impeachment investigators reviewed
secret memos involving alleged
fund-raising abuses in President
Clinton’s campaign under a judge’s
order Wednesday. Meanwhile, the
president’s lawyers demanded to see
the sensitive materials to wage a
“vigorous defense.”
The White House accepted an
invitation from the House Judiciary
Committee to make a defense before
the inquiry, and possibly even call
witnesses, but demanded access to
the fund-raising memos and addi
tional investigative material related
to Monica Lewinsky and presiden
tial accuser Kathleen Willey.
The committee set a tentative
schedule to conclude next week with
final hearings and a vote on articles
of impeachment. If any articles are
approved, the matter could go to the
House floor the week of Dec. 14.
Lawmakers then could vote to send
Clinton to trial in the Senate, censure
him or do nothing.
Israel suspends withdrawal,
provides a list of demands
JERUSALEM (AP) - Stung by a
vicious attack on an Israeli soldier,
the government announced
Wednesday it was suspending fur
ther troop withdrawals until
Palestinians comply with a list of
demands - including publicly aban
doning plans to declare a state in
May.
Palestinian officials rejected the
demands outright and charged that
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu was looking for excuses
to knock the peace process off track.
In Washington, the Clinton
administration was sharply critical
of the new Israeli conditions and said
the accord “should be implemented
as signed.”
The Israeli government said its
decision was prompted in part by the
attack on the soldier and a civilian
earlier in the day by a Palestinian
mob in the West Bank city of
I T—l—\
Ramallah.
The ambush followed the stab
bing death earlier Wednesday of an
Arab street-cleaner in Jerusalem,
apparently by an Israeli extremist.
North Koreans make moves
for missile test-launch
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. spy
satellites detected preliminary North
Korean preparations for another mis
sile test-launch, and the activity
drew a warning from the United
States on Wednesday that further
missile tests would have serious con
sequences for U.S.-North Korean
relations.
“The United States does view the
North Korean missile program as a
serious threat to the region,” State
Department spokesman James P.
Rubin said Wednesday, “and we con
tinue to press North Korea to cease
all development, testing and export
of missiles and missile technology.”
The North Koreans have been
moving parts of their new Taepo
Dong missile from storage to a
launch pad since about Nov. 20, seen
by U.S. spy satellites.
Former Agriculture secretary
acquitted of all charges
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former
Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy
was acquitted of all counts
Wednesday in a corruption case
involving sports tickets and travel
that he accepted from companies
that did business with his depart
ment.
The acquittal followed a seven
week trial that focused on Espy’s
attendance at parties and sporting
events while he was President
Clinton’s first agriculture chief in
1993 and 1994.
The jury deliberated nine hours
over two days before finding Espy
innocent of all 30 counts.
The accusations included three
charges - that Espy had violated a
90-year-old federal law banning gifts
to meat inspectors - that would have
carried a minimum sentence of one
year each if he had been convicted.
-7-\-*-1
Police discover small drug
operation during traffic stop
A routine traffic stop led police to
a small drug trafficking operation
Tuesday evening.
Lincoln police stopped a 40-year
old man on 241*1 Street between
Dudley and Orchard streets and
arrested him for driving on a sus
pended license, Sgt. Ann Heermann
said.
The man had a small plastic bag
of marijuana in his pocket, and in his
car police found some small rocks of
cocaine.
Police then obtained a search war
rant for a room at the Oak Park Motel,
926 Oak St., where the man had been
staying.
At the motel police found
cocaine, crack-cocaine, marijuana
and $5,520 cash.
A 21-year-old woman who was in
the hotel room when police arrived
was cited for possession of marijua
na, and the man was cited for posses
sion of a controlled substance with
the intent to deliver in addition to the
driving offense.
Teen-agers robbed of coat,
cash Tuesday in Woods Park
Two teen-agers were robbed as
they walked through Woods Park
early Tuesday morning.
The two 18-year-olds told police
they were approached by two men
with bandannas over their faces
around 1 a.m., Heermann said.
The robbers took one teen’s coat,
a $645 loss including $303 cash, and
made the other teen empty his pock
ets, a $570 loss including $350 cash
and other items, such as a cell phone.
The victims ran to Village Inn,
29th and O streets, where they called
police and gave descriptions of the
suspects.
They were described as black
men age 18 to 21 with black hair and
brown eyes. One suspect is 6 feet tall
and 200 pounds. The other suspect is
5 feet, 8 inches tall and 170 pounds.
Construction company
robbed of tools, truck
Thiwves took $16,275 worth of
tools from a construction company
Monday night and then stole a truck
to transport their loot.
They entered by prying a door
open on the south side of the R & C
Construction offices, 3211 S.
Seventh St., Heermann said.
Then thieves helped themselves
to tools in the shop, grabbed the keys
to one of the trucks and left. The 1986
Chevrolet truck was valued at
$5,000.
Compiled by senior staff writer
Josh Funk
Two men caught in $14,000 check scam
By Josh Funk
Senior staff writer
Two men stole $jj 4,000 from
Norwest Bank on Tuesday as part of an
intricate payroll check scam.
Lincoln police arrested the men
after a bank official became suspicious
about some of their deposits,
Investigator Paul Wandell said
Now police are looking to connect
the scam to a larger fraud operation.
When they were caught at 11:15
a.m., the men, who are from California,
had with them $14,000 cash and about
20 other fraudulent payroll checks yet to
be deposited
Both 29-year-old men came to
Lincoln in early November and opened
accounts at Norwest using Nebraska
state ED cards.
“They come early and became
account holders at these banks, which
makes it easier to cash and deposit these
checks,” Wandell said.
Last Friday the two men started
depositing die checks in their accounts
through ATMs around Lincoln.
Tuesday morning, the men started
cashing personal checks from those
accounts at several different Norwest
bank branches.
But it was their deposits Friday
night that made bank officials wary.
Each man made multiple deposits -
some into his own account, some into
the others’. Two of the deposits in each
man’s account were made at ATMs
across town from each other, at nearly
the same times Friday.
When bank officials noticed those
accounts being liquidated Tuesday, they
called police.
The two men were stopped near 27th
Street and Highway 2 and arrested on
second-degree forgery charges after
police searched their car.
Police expect to file additional
charges. The men will be arraigned
today.
Wandell said this scam is probably
part of a national scheme.
“The problem is these guys were
just hired to pass the checks,” he said.
They are not the ones producing the
checks.”
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