Albany Times Union (Albany, NY) back issues from December 1998:
HOUSE PANEL EXPANDS INQUIRY.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Republicans on the House impeachment panel moved Monday to subpoena FBI Director Louis Freeh and a former federal prosecutor and to gain access to their secret memos laying out alleged fund-raising irregularities in President ...
PAY HIKE BILL ON TABLE.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: JAMES M. ODATO Capitol bureau Who wants 38 percent more in pay? An apparent majority of state legislators do. But no one knows for sure if they'll get the chance to vote on such wage increases in time to see it in their checks next year. Many ...
VACCO ACCEPTS THE COUNT.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: LARA JAKES Staff writer Attorney General Dennis Vacco appears to have given up his re-election fight, as lawyers for the one-term incumbent withdrew legal challenges Monday to thousands of votes cast in the race. For the last month, Republicans have refused to ...
COMPLACENCY ENDANGERS EFFORT TOWARD AWARENESS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: SYLVIA WOOD Staff writer Lenny Hoffman often surprises people, especially teens, when he tells them he has AIDS. ``I've had the virus for 10 years and I don't look it,'' said Hoffman, 31, a Rensselaer County resident who appears fit and athletic. ``I'm what ...
TIME FOR LIFELONG GIVER TO RECEIVE.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON Staff writer Jose Malave would do anything for his children and grandchildren -- and he did -- for as long as he was able to work. But the endearing, personable native Puerto Rican is a proud man. His family never knew each morning after ...
GYMNAST GETS PROTECTIVE ORDER AFTER ACCUSING DAD OF STALKING.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: PAULINE ARRILLAGA Associated Press HOUSTON -- A month after winning legal independence from her parents, Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu obtained a protective order against her father Monday, accusing him of stalking her and threatening to harm her friends. ...
BOX OFFICE FLOPS RATE A UNIVERSAL BOOT.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Professionally speaking, Casey Silver just met Joe Black. The Universal Pictures chairman was forced to resign Monday after his movie division suffered a terrible year, culminating with the holiday weekend's disastrous opening of the expensive sequel ``Babe: Pig in the City.'' ...
PAVAROTTI TAKING THE ROAD TO MANDALAY, LAS VEGAS-STYLE.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Luciano Pavarotti soon will be transposing his iffy high Cs into a crooner's higher fees. The 63-year-old tenor is visiting the land of Elvis and Sinatra, with an engagement at a Las Vegas casino featuring a shark tank and a drive-in ballroom. Pavarotti is to christen a ...
ELLEN DEGENERES LASHES OUT AT NETWORK AND HOLLYWOOD.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Ellen DeGeneres says she went into a deep depression after ABC canceled her show earlier this year. ``Everything that I ever feared happened to me. I lost my show. I've been attacked like hell. I went from making a lot of money on a sitcom to making no money," she said in ...
AIDS ACTIVISTS FIND U.S. PREVENTION EFFORT LACKING.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: ERIC ROSENBERG Times Union Washington bureau WASHINGTON -- The federal government scores high marks for bankrolling AIDS research but rates poorly when it comes to pushing prevention programs and helping developing nations battle the deadly disease, the advocacy group ...
SEPARATISTS' PARTY HEADS FOR A WIN IN QUEBEC ELECTIONS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: DAVID CRARY Associated Press MONTREAL -- Quebec's pro-independence government was re-elected Monday but won only 43 percent of the popular vote, likely dampening its zest for holding a secession referendum soon. The outcome means a new term of up to five years ...
RENO DELAYS RULING ON ICKES INQUIRY.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Janet Reno postponed a decision Monday on whether an independent counsel should investigate a former top White House aide who is accused of lying about aid for a union that contributed to Democrats. ...
$3 BILLION PLEDGED TO PALESTINIANS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: BARRY SCHWEID Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The United States and 42 other nations pledged more than $3 billion Monday to help alleviate Palestinian poverty. Yasir Arafat declared himself satisfied, but also heightened tension with Israel by declaring Jerusalem ...
LOTT'S LEADERSHIP POST ASSURED.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: ALAN FRAM Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Republican senators will re-elect Majority Leader Trent Lott without opposition today despite the restiveness that cost House Speaker Newt Gingrich his job. Instead of producing a challenge to Lott, R-Miss., Republican ...
HIGH COURT CONSIDERS CENSUS METHOD.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: MARK HELM Times Union Washington bureau WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration asked the Supreme Court Monday to allow it to use a new method to conduct the 2000 census that would likely benefit the Democrats by lowering an expected undercount of minorities. ...
JEWISH GROUPS PUSH FOR RELEASE OF HOLOCAUST ITEMS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: LAURA MYERS Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Jewish groups said Monday they will use a conference on art and property looted by Nazi Germany to press for the release of the ``last prisoners'' of World War II. The four-day conference, sponsored by the State ...
COMPLIMENTS TO LEBRUN FOR HIS HUNTING COLUMNS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: GEORGE NIGRINY Glenville My compliments to Mr. Fred LeBrun on another job well done. His Tuesday and Thanksgiving columns on hunting were both insightful and thought provoking. As a fellow outdoorsman and hunter, I lament the passing of our American hunting traditions. ...
YERBURY COMPROMISING SAFETY OF GUILDERLAND.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: PHILIP CURLEY Guilderland Guilderland Supervisor Jerry Yerbury is compromising the safety of the town by refusing a federal grant of $375,000 to hire new police officers because of his personal vendetta against Police Chief James Murley. Chief Murley states ...
HEROIC CATHOLIC FIGURES CAN STILL INSPIRE TODAY.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: SR. JOAN SCHERMERHORN Latham The Nov. 24 editorial betrays a fear that the U.S. Catholic Bishops' recent statement on ``Living the Gospel of Life'' will put ``political pressure'' on Catholic politicians in opposing abortion. Contrary to ``political'' ...
`FLYING LEMONS' STORY DOESN'T HELP READERS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: JAMES M. KOKERNAK, Ph.D. Assistant professor Electric Power Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy - As many Capital Region residents plan their holiday travel, the infrequent flier could not help but be alarmed by the front page Nov. 22 ``Flying lemons plague ...
MR. RENO, HUNTING HAS PROUD PLACE IN OUR SOCIETY.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: TIMOTHY P. BONIN Guilderland Surprise, surprise, Robert Reno is at it again (``Uh-oh, it's deer season again,'' Nov. 23.) Infamous for poking fun at death, Mr. Reno has stooped to a level known only to liberal columnists who act more like social engineers than ...
WHY DOES INSURANCE COVER SEX CHANGES?(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: LINDA STULTS Rensselaer There was an article in the Nov. 8 paper, in the Life & Leisure section, titled ``Family transformation.'' It had to do with a husband and wife that became wife and wife after the husband underwent a sex change. Within the article, ...
ALBANY CREATED SOME OF ITS PARKING PROBLEMS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: RICK WEEKS Albany This is in reply to Alderwoman Carol Wallace's statements at the open hearing and in the Times Union Nov. 15. I am a state worker and a resident of Albany and a constituent of Carol Wallace. Why do you think Mayor Jerry Jenning's wants more ...
. . . AND FINISH UP.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Whether or not the state Legislature summons the nerve to vote itself a pay raise during its return to Albany this week, it could do any number of other things that would be even more constructive. The Legislature's adjournment last summer, even after returning to pass ...
LEGISLATURE, PAY THYSELF.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... The issue before the New YorkLegislature this week is whether its members deserve a raise. More to the point, it's how big a raise is warranted, how it should be paid for and what kind of Legislature the state will have as a result. It's been nine years since legislators' ...
SOMEDAY, THE OLD-TIMERS WILL RULE THE WORLD.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: ROBERT RENO If you want to know why John Glenn's boring trip into orbit was such a riveting national event, it's because hurling one of them into space is precisely what so many of us have wanted to do with a beloved elder who drives too slowly or demands to be instantly ...
OVERCOMING NORTH KOREA'S PROBLEMS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: TONY P. HALL Say the word famine and televised images of Africa come to mind: Walking skeletons scrambling for bags of food, crowding refugee camps, children who are sick or dying. This African lens has distorted our perception of the way most famines look, though, and ...
MIND-SETS HAVEN'T CHANGED MUCH IN RUSSIA.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: NINA L. KHRUSHCHEVA MOSCOW -- First it was the Jews. Then the Romanovs, the nobility and the kulaks. After 1991, it was Lenin and the communists. Now, it seems, it's the Jews again. Like history in the Karl Marx aphorism, Russian hatreds repeat themselves. Luckily, the ...
KEEPING AN EAR ON THE POLLS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: GARRY WILLS Henry Hyde is pressing his doomed effort at impeachment, saying he has a constitutional duty that does not allow him to ``listen to the polls'' and let the President off, just because many people are saying that they do not want an impeachment. ...
PROSECUTION CONCLUDES ARGUMENTS IN ESPY TRIAL.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press WASHINGTON -- A prosecutor asked the jury in Mike Espy's corruption trial Monday to look past any sympathy for President Clinton's former agriculture secretary and convict him of taking illegal favors on the job. Espy abused the public ...
NEW BACKGROUND CHECKS DELAY GUN PURCHASES.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press Told he would have to wait at least a half-hour to buy a 12-gauge shotgun for grouse hunting, Eric Thompson rolled his eyes Monday and leaned on the store counter. The hot line to the federal computer system was busy, he was informed by a ...
FORECASTERS EYE WARNINGS OF POTENTIAL RAINFALL TOTALS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The heavy rainfall that helped produce the deadliest storm season in more than two centuries will get increased attention from forecasters in hurricane seasons to come. Extraordinary rain dumped into the mountains of Central ...
IMPEACHMENT PANEL LOOKS AT YELTSIN'S MILITARY ROLE.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press MOSCOW -- A parliamentary commission seeking to impeach Boris Yeltsin debated Monday whether the president, as commander-in-chief, was responsible for the stunning decay of Russia's once-mighty military. Lawmakers accused Yeltsin of ...
PAIR OF 18-YEAR-OLDS HELD IN 5 FATAL SHOOTINGS.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press DALTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- An 18-year-old was arrested Monday and accused along with a friend of methodically shooting to death five people: his father, mother, grandfather, brother and his brother's girlfriend. Authorities said the ...
AGENCY'S AUDIT FAULTS IRS ON WEAKNESSES IN SECURITY.(MAIN)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service used unarmed bicycle couriers to transport millions of dollars in taxpayer checks and hired employees for sensitive positions before completing their background checks, according to an audit released Monday. ...
JUDGE FINDS VICTIM OF SCAM MENTALLY INCOMPETENT.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: MELISSA GRACE Staff writer A 94-year-old woman whose house and fortune were allegedly stolen by her home health care nurse has Alzheimer's disease and is mentally incompetent to handle her legal affairs, a judge ruled Monday. State Supreme Court Justice ...
`VISIONARIES' PLAN HIGH-TECH HAVEN.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: ALAN D. ABBEY Business editor Developer William Bantz and two partners Monday unveiled an ambitious plan to create a full-service support operation for high-tech businesses they hope will lead to a massive $200 million downtown office complex near the Hudson River. ...
MAN FOUND SHOT BEHIND WHEEL DIES.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: BRUCE A. SCRUTON and MIKE FRICANO Staff writer Troy A man who was shot early Monday evening managed to drive about a block before he passed out and later died, city police said. Police initially thought they were responding to a report of a car accident, but ...
NIXON IS ROLLING OVER IN HIS GRAVE.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: DAN LYNCH The comment jarred me. It was made by a lawyer representing one of the Albany cops accused of beating up a suspect in handcuffs. The initial charges had been thrown out on a technicality. John Dorfman, the special prosecutor in the case, had managed ...
2 BOSSES CLEARED OF PAYING NO-SHOW.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: CATHY WOODRUFF Staff writer After acquitting two former Rensselaer County department heads on official misconduct charges Monday, jurors said there was bad management but no criminal conduct in the supervision of an employee who didn't show up for work. The ...
TWO FORMER ADVERSARIES WORK TO AID NONVIOLENT FELONS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press NEW YORK -- Item: What civil rights leader was spotted breaking bread at the Four Seasons on Monday with a combative TV judge who once had him arrested? The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has unsuccessfully run for mayor, had lunch at the East Side ...
TOP COURT REMOVES FRANKLIN TOWN JUSTICE FROM OFFICE.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press ALBANY -- The state's top court on Monday formally removed from office a town justice that a state commission had said ``neglected nearly every aspect of his duties'' over an 18-year career in Delaware County. The action by the Court of ...
TEACHER SAYS FEARS FOR HER LIFE LED TO TRANSFER REQUEST.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press NEW YORK -- A teacher accused of being racially insensitive for using a book titled ``Nappy Hair'' requested a transfer out of her Brooklyn school district on Monday because she fears for her life. ``I can't take the fear and wondering ...
POLICE SERGEANT FACES FIRING IN STRIP-SEARCH CONTROVERSY.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Associated Press SYRACUSE -- A police sergeant will be fired after being accused of illegally strip-searching residents in poor neighborhoods, city Police Chief James Foody said. City police officers took people off the street and searched them in an ...
REPORT EXAMINES PRISON, COLLEGE AID.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: JOHN CAHER State editor After a decade of increasing prison spending and decreasing allocations for higher education, New York is sending far more minorities to prison than to college, a new report shows. A study funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and slated ...
PROPOSED LAW WOULD INCREASE INSURER LIABILITY.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: JOHN CAHER State editor The family of a Saratoga Springs woman who died after her HMO delayed approval of a liver transplant is lobbying for legislation that would make insurance companies legally accountable for denying or delaying treatment. ``I get nothing ...
9 NONPROFIT GROUPS PROPOSE A NEW STATE BUDGET.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: JAMES M. ODATO Capitol bureau Nine special interest groups, fearful that the post-election state budget will be more austere than the current spending plan, Monday released a ``People's Budget'' in an attempt to inspire generosity. The coalition called for ...
MULTIPLE-RAPE BILL'S PASSAGE URGED.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: Associated Press NEW YORK -- Citing the case of a serial rapist terrorizing Manhattan's Upper East Side, state lawmakers and police demanded Monday that the state Assembly approve legislation requiring judges to dole out consecutive sentences for multiple rapes. ...
CAPITAL REGION ALMANAC.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... This almanac of community news provides coverage of local governments, local courts and police calls from selected communities in our region. Government listings focus on communities in Albany County, and police calls are taken from the actual police blotters from larger communities ...
ALBANY A PIONEER IN EDUCATION FOR BLACKS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: RICK KARLIN Staff writer In 1816, a small group of black men led by Revolutionary War veteran Benjamin Lattimore built the Albany School for People of Color on what is now Broad Street in the city's South End. It was the start of what retired educator Marian ...
SURVEY'S POSITIVE REVIEW UNDERWHELMS CDTA.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: PAUL ZIELBAUER Staff Writer AlbanyA new survey ranked the Capital Region's mass-transit system in the top 30 percent in the nation for cost efficiency, but local transportation officials downplayed the results and questioned the survey's accuracy. The ...
ARROYO TESTIFIES SHE LIED ABOUT GUILT OF FIANCE DURING HER ARRAIGNMENT.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: MIKE HUREWITZ Staff writer Donna M. Arroyo, testifying for the prosecution after pleading guilty in the contract murder of her estranged husband, testified Monday that she had lied at her arraignment when she said her fiance was not involved in the plot. ``I ...
CLINIC CLEANLINESS FACES BUDGET AX.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: LARA JAKES Staff writer They've been portraying the county's Health and Mental Health clinic as dirty and run-down, but legislators are now poised to cut two janitorial jobs from the Albany County payroll. Responding to lawmakers' concerns about cleanliness, ...
MAN SHOT IN SCHENECTADY.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: CAROL DeMARE Staff writer Schenectady A 31-year-old city man was in fair condition Monday with a gunshot wound to his stomach after an argument at a Stockade apartment, police said. A New York City man is in custody. Wadell Johnson underwent surgery at Albany ...
MAN DENIES CHARGES OF CHILD MOLESTATION.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... Byline: -- Melissa Grace - ALBANY -- A 67-year-old Latham businessman pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he sexually assaulted a 9-year-old boy and that he paid a woman thousands of dollars to bring him other young children. Leonard R. Lefkowitz, of 14 Alpine ...
JAMES IVAN ANDERSEN, SR.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... TROY -- James Ivan Andersen, Sr., 74, died on his birthday at St. Mary's Hospital in Troy. Husband of G. Jean Moran Andersen of Troy. Born in Troy, he is the son of the late Luridz G. and Sophia Hansen Andersen. He is retired from the Iron Workers Local #12. Mr. Andersen was a veteran of ...
FRANK H. BELOW, SR.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... ALBANY -- Frank H. Below, Sr., 63, of Albany died Sunday November 29, 1998 at his home after a short illness. Born in Albany he lived there all his life and was the son of the late John and Catherine Enos Below. Frank was a self-employed contractor who worked in the Albany area for many ...
MARY BRUMBERGER.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... ALBANY -- Mary Blanch Adams Brumberger, age 85, died Sunday, November 29, 1998. Born in Italy, she lived in Albany and New York City for many years. She was a homemaker. Daughter of the late Gregorio and Mary DiRubba Vaccariello Blanch. Mother of Joseph Adams, Jr. and Patricia Dean, both ...
ALLAN M. CLARKE, JR.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... SARATOGA -- Allan M. Clarke, Jr., 77, of Bayberry Drive, Clifton Park, died on Sunday, November 29, 1998 at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, following a brief illness. He was born on July 23, 1921 in the Bronx, NY and was the son of the late Allan M. and Loretta McCormac Clarke, Sr. He was ...
RUTHANN COHEN.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... BURLINGTON, MA -- Ruthann Cohen, age 56, of Arborwood Drive, Burlington, MA, died Monday morning at the Mass General Hospital in Boston. Ruthann was born in Albany, NY and was a school teacher in the Lexington, MA school system for many years. She is survived by a brother, Marvin Cohen of ...
ARTHUR DESROSIERS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... COHOES -- Arthur Desrosiers, 102, of Heritage House Nursing Center, Troy and formerly of Cohoes, died Sunday, November 29, 1998 at the Nursing Center. Husband of the late Viola Gildea Coutu Desrosiers and the late Louise Lajeunesse Nadeau Desrosiers. Step father of Fawn Hanecak of Cohoes, ...
JANET B. DORMAN.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... BROADALBIN -- Janet B. Dorman, 72, of Bornt Road, Broadalbin, died Sunday evening at Amsterdam Memorial Hospital after being admitted earlier in the day. She was born in Broadalbin on December 6, 1925, the daughter of Smith and Gertrude Hickock Sawyer and was a 1943 graduate of the former ...
IRENE MYERS ELLEN.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... ALBANY -- Irene Myers Ellen, 86, died Monday, November 30, 1998 after a long illness. She was a resident of Ohav Shalom and a member of the Bethany Reformed Church. Mrs. Ellen was predeceased by her husband, Willard Ellen. Sister of the late Ralph Dawson, Alden Myers and Ethel Leith. She ...
FLORENCE JO FREEMAN.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... MIDLAND, MI -- Florence Jo Freeman, 86, of Midland, MI, died Friday, November 27, 1998 at the MidMichigan Medical Center. Wife of the late Richard Don Freeman. Mother of R. Don Freeman of New Jersey, Dr. Stuart V. (Songsri) Freeman of Washington and Kayleen F. (Edward) Nichols of ...
MARY B. HENDERSON.(CAPITAL REGION)
Dec 01, 1998 ... HUNTER -- Mary B. Henderson, 93, known professionally by her maiden name, Mary A. Benjamin, doyenne of autograph dealers in the United States, died of natural causes on November 30, 1998 at her home in Hunter, NY. Following her graduation from Barnard College in 1925, Miss Benjamin joined ...