Senate hears custody case
■ Gonzalez relatives play
public ‘tug-of-war’in front
af panel.
WASHINGTON (AT) - Elian
Uonzalez’s Florida relatives squared
iff at a Senate hearing on Wednesday,
vith one cousin suggesting the boy’s
father is signaling he wants him to stay
n the United States despite his protes
ations to the contrary.
A great uncle insisted the child be
etumed at once to Cuba.
Also weighing in on the side of
:hose seeking to keep the boy in the
United States was Alina Fernandez, an
iut-of-wedlock daughter of Fidel
Uastro, who fled the country in 1993
ind is one of her father’s fiercest elit
es.
“You cannot allow this unilateral
/ictory on behalf of a dictator,” she told
he Senate Judiciary Committee.
As the tug-of-war played out in
font of the Senate panel, lawmakers
ippeared as divided as ever on what to
lo about the 6-year-old, who survived a
shipwreck and the death of his mother
ast November only to become the cen
:er of an international political storm
over his custody.
Marisleysis Gonzalez, a cousin
who has been caring for Elian, told the
committee she believes the boy’s
father, Juan Gonzalez, is trying to sig
nal in frequent phone calls to Miami
that the boy should stay put.
She suggested that Castrp’s govern
ment was not allowing him to state
such views openly.
“He knows that his son is in a coun
try of freedom where he is protected,”
she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
But Manuel Gonzalez, a great
uncle who unsuccessfully sought tem
porary custody of the boy, countered:
“Help return this child to his father,
who needs him.”
“The way I think is that that child is
going through a shock. He doesn’t
know where he is. And one must act
urgently and give this child the atten
tion he needs,” Manuel Gonzalez said.
Congress is considering legislation
by Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla., that
would confer citizenship on the young
refugee and block a ruling by the
Immigration and Naturalization
Service that he be returned to his father.
A federal judge in Miami will
decide later this month whether to
intervene in the INS decision.
Congressional leaders have agreed
informally not to attempt to bring up
the bill before the court has ruled.
Although Mack’s bill enjoyed an
initial burst of support, enthusiasm for
it has waned as the boy’s relatives play
out their custody battle in public.
Congress has the power to confer citi
zenship, but it has never done so for a
minor child or against the wishes of a
parent.
Mack said he only intended to
prompt “a true discussion of what’s in
the boy’s best interests.” Wednesday’s
hearing helped accomplish that, he
said.
Citing “dramatic testimony on both
sides of the issue,” Sen. Orrin Hatch,
R-Utah, Judiciary Committee
Chairman, said. “This problem needs
to be resolved.”
But Sen. Patrick Leahy ofVermont,
senior Democrat on the panel, argued
that Congress has no business dealing
with the issue at all.
“A young boy belongs with his par
ent, not with distant relatives,” Leahy
said. The actions “of well-meaning
people on both sides have only made
(the situation) worse,” he added.
U.S. oil reserves to stay closed
WASHINGTON (AP) - With oil
exporting nations apparently poised to
ncrease production, the Clinton admin
stration urged lawmakers Wednesday
o let diplomacy work and not press for
he emergency release of oil from gov
ernment reserves.
“We have to play it smart” and not
werreact, said Bill Richardson, energy
;ecretary. He was optimistic the OPEC
>roducers would boost production and
ease what has become a worldwide 2
nillion-barrel-a-day oil shortfall.
“Let the results of our energy diplo
nacy work. So far the signs are good,”
lichardson told the House International
lelations Committee. Many committee
nembers said oil should be released
rom the federal emergency reserve to
:ase tight supplies and high prices.
Meantime, oil prices soared
Wednesday on commodity markets,
vith the benchmark US. crude rising to
t new nine-year high and heating oil,
gasoline and natural gas contracts also
•allying on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
Officials from Saudi Arabia,
Venezuela and Mexico were to meet
Thursday in London. They are reported
ly seeking to work on a production
increase proposal to be presented at a
meeting of Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries oil producers
March 27. Mexico’s oil minister said
Wednesday in Paris that current world
oil markets warrant more production.
The administration has made
known it is ready to draw down oil from
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve if gaso
line costs continue to climb. Supply
shortages caused a huge price jump in
heating oil in January and February, but
those prices are beginning to decline.
But when pressed by lawmakers
Wednesday, Richardson said this was
not the time to make available any of the
565 million barrels of oil in the govern
ment reserve.
“It’s important that we be prudent,
that we not overreact,” Richardson said.
Still, he noted that President Clinton has
not ruled out using the reserve oil -
probably in a swap where oil companies
^ It’s important
that we be
prudent, that we
not overreact.”
Bill Richardson
energy secretary
would borrow oil and return it to the
federal reserve later - if the supply
crunch continues.
“I don’t understand your hesitance,”
replied Rep. Sam Gejdenson, D-Conn.
“We’re being held hostage” by the oil
cartel.
“Why has the administration sat idly
by?” asked the committee chairman,
Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y. He
introduced legislation Wednesday that
would bar military assistance to any oil
exporting nation involved in price
manipulation.
Credit options may openjor ebay
■ Wells Fargo’s stake in
[ntemet company gives
3uyers, sellers more options
3nline; transactions’ speed
nay be increased.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Wells
~argo & Co., the nation’s seventh
argest bank holding company, has
aken a minority stake in online auc
ioneer eBay Inc.’s Billpoint sub
iidiary in a move that will allow a
greater number of buyers to pay by
credit card.
EBay, which brings together buy
ers and sellers for items as diverse as
uxury cars and Pez dispensers, pre
viously had offered links to outside
:ompanies who could process credit
;ard transactions, though this will be
he first time credit-card payments
:an go directly through eBay. Most
xansactions were being completed
ising money orders or checks.
Under terms of the deal, in which
Veils Fargo takes a 35 percent stake
n Billpoint, the bank’s bill-process
ng technology could speed up trans
tctions considerably. Deal closings,
vhich can take a week or more, could
jecome almost instantaneous if buy
;rs and sellers switch.
“Sellers can instantly accept
credit cards online, and buyers can
tow buy items with the ease, speed
tnd protection to which they’ve
UCCU1I1C dllUMUIllCU, bdiu CDciy
chief executive Meg Whitman.
Wells Fargo’s stake in Billpoint,
the cost of which was not disclosed,
also could position the bank holding
company as a key player in the race to
process all forms of billing over the
Internet.
Research has found consumers
are clamoring for such services as
they increasingly conduct business
and personal transactions on the Web.
Consumers also appear willing to pay
a reasonable fee for such conve
nience, offering the potential for
huge profits to the compandor com
panies that capture the market.
“The real value we see in this is to
be the Internet’s payment processor,”
said Dick Kovacevich, president and
chief executive of Wells Fargo.
“Ninety percent of what we’re doing
is making sure that payments can be
done fast and securely across the
’net.”
Several smaller companies
already offer third-party bill process
ing for consumer-to-consumer or
consumer-to-small-business transac
tions. And several consortiums are
rolling out services that allow banks
or brokerages to receive merchant
billing information and to debit pay
ments from customer accounts in a
seamless process for the consumer.
EBay said Wednesday it would be
inviting certain groups of sellers to
sign up for the program and then will
niaKc it avanaoie ior an u.o. sellers
within the next few weeks to try to
give the auction site a chance to work
out any potential problems.
After a three-month “no fee”
introductory offer, Billpoint will
charge sellers 3.5 percent of the
transaction amount plus 35 cents. For
transactions less than $ 10, the charge
will be a flat rate of 35 cents.
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Death-row inmate
to be free Monday
HOUSTON (AP) - A man
who has been on death row for 16
years in the stabbing death of his
roommate was ordered freed with
in five days by a judge Wednesday
because state lawyers missed a
deadline in the case.
The inmate, Calvin Jerold
Burdine, 46, is being held uncon
stitutionally, U.S. District Judge
David Hittner ruled. However,
Hittner gave prosecutors the
option of re-trying Burdine.
Burdine’s murder conviction
was thrown Qut last year by Hittner
because his lawyer allegedly slept
through long segments of his 1984
trial.
The judge gave the state 120
days to give Burdine a new trial or
set him free. That time ran out in
late January.
In his ruling, Hittner said the
state must adhere to the same rules
as defendants.
“A similar procedural error by
defense counsel in a capital case
could result in a defendant’s exe
cution,” Hittner wrote.
The state responded to the rul
ing by asking the 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals to keep Burdine
in prison.
Burdine’s attorneys met the
ruling with guarded optimism.
“He understands that this fight
isn’t over yet,” attorney Robert L.
McGlasson said after telephoning
the news to his client. “But it was
very nice to share a conversation
with him about the meals he wants
to have with his elderly parents.”
Burdine was convicted of the
1983 stabbing death of W.T. Wise.
Burdine told police he argued with
^ I don't want
them to think
I'm going to
roar down those
streets and in
those bars. I'm
not like that any
more."
Calvin Jerold Burdine
freed inmate
Wise and moved out of their trailer
because Wise, 50, wanted him to
work as a prostitute. He claims
another person stabbed Wise.
Burdine told The Associated
Press in an interview last month
that if released, he could make his
home at Lake Livingston, 75 miles
northeast of Houston, or go to
Oklahoma.
“The state of Texas don’t have
to worry about Calvin Burdine.
We’ve got 80 acres in Oklahoma,
and I can get out there and fish and
relax - out of sight and out of
mind. I don’t want them to think
I’m going to roar down those
streets and in those bars. I’m not
like that any more.”
Unless the appeals court steps
in, Burdine must be freed by
Monday. A spokesman fof the
Texas Department of Criminal
Justice said the judge’s orders
would be obeyed.
-_l
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