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Show Saturday, December By TOM VAN DYKE Knight-Ridde- r San Francisco George Pope Morris, early 1 9th- - century American journalist, quoted in Carmel, Calif. ?s planning report. , Oliver North .' Deep in the CARMEL, Calif. heart of Carmel' s urban forest, a battle rages between a venerable ( Spike Lee North selling 'John Hancock' By The Associated Press Spike Lee says people who want to see his film "Malcolm X" are instead being given tickets to other mov ies. The director said his office had received 45 phone calls from people who said they received tickets for "Home Alone 2" or "Aladdin" when they paid for tickets to "Malcolm X." No single theater chain was involved, he said. "I'm not here trying to spin some great conspiracy tale," Lee said Thursday. "It's the first time I've ever heard of this. That's why it's hard to find that it's a coincidence." e The film's distributor, Warner Bros., said employees hired for the holiday rush were one possible explanation for the problem. The mix-u- p was "a random event that is probably attributable to human error," said D. Barry Reardon, president of Warner's domestic theater distribution. The movie has grossed $35 million since its release Nov. 8. k V K J c 1 Yosemlte Natona Park Monterey pine and the vacation home of a San Francisco lawyer. The tree's massive roots are lifting the floor and foundation of the house. Its trunk is buckling the wall of the master bedroom. Owner Paul Levy wants to cut it down to prevent further damage. But this is the "Year of the Forest" in Carmel, and anyway, you need a permit to touch a single bough. So far, Levy and the woodman are out of luck. "The house is an intrusion on that tree!" forest and beach Commissioner Gary Girard told the When Levy wanted to cut down the tree, he began the permit process with city forester Gary Kelly, who is charged with protecting Carmel's "urban forest." Kelly said the tree is about 65 years old and has maybe 0 to 20 years to live. His recommendation: Cut it down and plant new ones to reju1 ry - ,. outbreak of common sense." nev. CALIF. now." ...... Levy says he's "waiting for an IDAHO Newspapers Touch not a single bough'. In youth it sheltered me, and I'll protect it 21st-centu- Ll QBE: i-- "Woodman, spare that tree! ,' Pacific Ocean S V-Angeies venate the forest. 200 miles 200 km 1 MEXICO"""-- rt 1 Monterey Herald when the tree's fate became public debate earlier this month. The commission denied Levy's request to cut down the tree and the matter moved to Carmel'scity council. The debate there ranged from one man who suggested the tree be cut down and turned into pulp for the Sunday newspaper, to others who read poems and likened the tree to the elderly who are cast aside because of their age. But the commission disagreed. Girard, a landscape architect, said Levy "knew what he was doing" when he built the addition over the tree roots 20 years ago. "It didn't sneak up on him in the middle of the night," he said. Some members of the council agreed. "We'ie not talking about ruining a fine home. It's an insignifi- this little back room," says city council member Barbara Livingston, adding that cant addition, the tree "is a magnificent speci- men." "I like pine trees," says Levy, Oliver North's company is selling bulletproof vests to police, and he's selling his autograph to help police raise money to buy them. The former national security aide whose secret arms program for Nicaraguan rebels unraveled six years ago was awarded a key to the city at a ceremony Thursday attended by about 250 people. Afterward, he gave autographs and posed for pictures for a $250 ' til 'k ' f , Today's birthdays: actress Cicely Tyson, 53; actor Tim Reid, 48; anthropologist Richard E. Leakey, 48; actress Elaine Joyce, 47; actor Robert Urich, 46; singer Janie Fricke, 45; actress Jennifer Beals, 29; actress Alyssa Milano, 20. - 1 Bill -- Says. j 1 U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene has ruled that the ban on abortions before 20 weeks gesta-- ; tion was unconstitutional, but he upheld restrictions on the practice when a woman is 2 weeks preg-- j 1 nantormore. ; "Mike has said all along that he doesn't want to spend taxpayer money tilting at windmills and defending a law that clearly will not be upheld," said LaVarr Webb, Leavitt's deputy chief of policy. Webb also said it was unlikely the state will appeal Greene's decision on a 1974 law requiring women to notify their husbands of a planned abortion. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Pennsylvania. Woman acquitted in pimp's shooting - A woman NEW YORK (AP) was acquitted Friday of attempted murder and assault after claiming she shot and wounded her pimp out of self defense. Elizabeth Dugan gasped, dropped to her chair and wept after the verdict was read. Outside court, she said, "I want to thank the jury for being fair and honest." Dugan, 21, said she shot Robert Staudinger, 27, twice in the back of the head after he put a gun to her head and tried to rape her Dec. 19, in 1991, at his apartment-offic- e Manhattan. Staudinger acknowledged running an escort service and Dugan, from Paramus, N.J., said she was one of his prostitutes while a freshman at New York University. U.S. Marine hurt by snakebite ABOARD THE USS TRIPOLI A U.S. Marine was admit(AP) ted to the USS Tripoli's sick bay on Friday for treatment of a potentially deadly snakebite, the first Marine casualty of Operation Restore Hope. Capt. J.R. Hutchison, the skipper of the helicopter carrier stationed 1 xh miles off the Somalia coast, said a mole viper bit the Marine in the upper left arm when the man rolled over in his sleeping bag. telemarketing SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -Heeding a plea from Utah's head consumer advocate, a legislative subcommittee has approved legisd lation to stem the tide of that fraud telemarketing bilks consumers around the country. The bill, which would require telemarketers to post a $50,000 bond and face stiffer criminal penalties for repeat offenses, now will be considered by the 1993 Legislature. "In the past two months the increase in telemarketing fraud has been incredible," Division of Utah-base- Consumer Protection director Francine Giani told the business and labor interim committee Wednesday. "We've been getting 15 (complaints) a day, sometimes more, sometimes less." Most complaints come from elderly people living out of state, but who were defrauded by telemarketers in Utah, she said. Giani suggested Utah bring its telemarketing fraud law into line with other states that have cracked down on scam artists plying their trade over the telephone. The most common scam occurring recently is callers posing as bank employees and telling consumers that the bank's computers have lost account information and the bank needs the account numthe information bers to into the bank's computer system. Scam artists can use those numbers to withdraw money from the unwitting consumer's account. Other successful ploys include inviting callers to dial an 800 number and then switching the caller to an expensive 900 number without his knowledge or consent, or requiring the caller to dial a 900 number to redeem a prize that also requires costly shipping and handling fees to receive. Scams of penny stock offers, precious metal or gem investments, phony travel promotions and bogus loans also plague consumers. Repeated warnings and tips published by the state to help consumers avoid telemarketing scams apparently aren't working. So Giani hopes making it more difficult for fraudulent telemarketing operations to set up shop will stop the problem. The $50,000 bond that would be required by telemarketers is intended to weed out scam artists, she said, noting that legitimate telemarketers support the bonding er Tortilla Flat. Not even the city planning department knows for sure how old the house is, but Livingston says it may have been built in 1909. That makes the tree about 18 years younger than the house. Levy says that because he uses e the home only for vacations, be residents of Carmel may biased against him. Livingston says the controversy is "an example of a newcomer to town someone who doesn't understand what value people in Carmel put on full-tim- trees." Trees like this form an "upper canopy" of greenery and are essential to the beauty of Carmel. says Liv ingston. The council will take a look at , the tree and the house on Jan. and bring the request up for a vote the next day. 1 1 sting. The officer was stopped Monday night by five of his precinct colleagues for driv ing a unmarked, police-issu- e truck with an expired license tag. Officers David Geary and Jeffrey Blewett were dismissed during a three-hou- r hearing by Police Chief Robert Kirchncr, who had promised to deal swiftly with the case. Police department hearings for the other three officers, who remain on leave without pay, probably will be next week. i contribution. Former Police Chief David Howells, chairman of the bulletproof vest campaign, said North "exemplifies the highest ideals and attributes of an American citizen. " A salesman at North's Guardian Technologies in Virginia said the vests cost between $500 to $600. would fight fraud in but not when they're uprooting his house. And, besides, he says, the house may outweigh the tree for historical value because it is located in the area of Carmel known as the setting for John Steinbeck's NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Two white police officers were fired Friday for using excessive force to subdue a black motorist who turned out to be an undercover officer working on a prostitution 1 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -Gov. elect Mike Leavitt is unlikely to appeal a federal judge's decision to strike down Utah's ban on all elective abortions and a spousal notification statute, a spokesman A3 Policemen fired in wake of beating part-tim- Leavitt not likely to battle ruling - Page Tree takes on house and ma y win Pesnlo """ THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, 19, 1992 t The chief said after the hearing that the officers' testimony showed the beating was not racially motivated. The FBI has been trying to determine if the black officer's civil rights were violated. The beaten officer, Reggie Miller, said he was partially safsfied with the outcome. AP Photo Saying goodbye Louise Ray, mother of Ricky Ray, walks away his coffin during a memorial service at the First Baptist Church in Sarasota, Fla., on een-age- Friday. Ricky, one of three hemophiliac broth-froers who contracted the AIDS virus from tainted blood products, died Sunday in Orlando, Fla. m arrested in death of principal r 650 pupils from to sixth grade, there were tears and hugs from adults who were linked to P.S. 15 through programs Daly By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press Writer - A teen-agNEW YORK was arrested Friday in the killing of a principal whose death brought hundreds of mourners to the school he had made a safe haven in a dangerous neighborhood. P.S. 15 in the Brooklyn borough's Red Hook section was the site of a steady stream of visitors Friday, many of them carrying flowers to mark the death of Patrick Daly. Mayor David Dinkins was among them. "We must as best we can celeas was the brate a life case when we lost Robert Kennedy and John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X," Dinkins grade-scho- er offered. ol well-live- 6 er AP Photo d, said. Police said Daly apparently was caught in crossfire whjn a shootout among three people broke out Thursday morning at a housing project where the principal had gone to look for one of his pupils. ' ' Inside, children were encouraged to write about their memories of Daly or to draw as therapy to cope with the loss. "I'm going to miss him," said D'Anna Smith, a third-grade- r. "When he'd bring us to lunch, we'd stand in line and sing songs." father of three The had gone to look for a fourth-gradwho left school after a fight when he got caught in the shootout police said was triggered by a drug dispute. Patrick Daly Daly, who had been at the Shamel Burroughs, 17, who lives in the project, was charged murder. Two with second-degre- e other people were being sought, said Vincent Pizzo, chief of detectives for the city Housing Police1 Department. Outside the school, which has school as a teacher and administrator for 26 years, often walked children home through a maze of 25 project buildings where drug dealers have set up shop and the sound of gunfire is not uncommon. Such efforts on behalf of his school were featured in a March 1991 NBC Nightly News report titled, "Things That Work." After the show aired. District Superintendent Bill Casey recalled, Daly wondered "what all the fuss was about because he just saw it as part of his daily routine." As far back as 20 years ago. Daly was walking pupils home, said Ramon Estepa Jr., who was in the sixth grade then. "Most of the teachers were scared to walk the kids home," Estepa added. After putting flowers and wreaths at the site of the shooting and observing a moment of silence, Dinkins told mourners that violent crime in Red Hook had fallen in the last year and that the city wouldn't backtrack from those gains. "We're not going to let thugs take it away," he said. But Estepa wasn't sure. "It's not good to stay out here when the cops leave," he said. "I don't recommend anybody living here." Maine island plans secession from Portlam By STEVE STECKLOW Knight-Ridde- r Newspapers - With a PORTLAND, Maine downtown that consists of a general store and a post office, and a police force that takes the winter off, tiny Long Island hardly seems a likely hotbed of revolution. But don't let that forested bump in Casco Bay just 21: miles long of a mile wide and three-fourtfool you. Seething over huge property tax increases and an unresponsive mainland government, 173 scrapd residents voted py, last month to deoverwhelmingly clare their independence and secede from the city of Portland. year-roun- Beginning in July, their ocean-frosoil will be rechristened the new Town of Long Island. Moreover, it may be the start of a trend; Portland's five other populated islands are threatening to take simi- nt lar action. "You can compare this to the American Revolution," said Mark Greene, a high school biology teacher who led Long Island's secession drive. "Go right ahead. It's not corny, it's real." The secession movement may be real, but so is the tricky and delicate task facing Long Island setting up a government from scratch with minimal resources. Despite the giddiness that followed the Nov. 3 vote, many around here remain skeptical that Long Island's transition to democracy will go smoothly. "It's not going to work," predicted Doris Wood, a secession opponent who, when she is not behind the cash register in the island's general store, serves as constable, school bus driver and school custodian. Her dire forecast: "Too many fights, too many arguments, too many disagree- ments." "We've seen the people that run the city of Portland, I tell you," said Bob Brayley, 66, a lobster-mawho will serve as one of the island's first town officials. "We will not run the town of Long Island like the city councilors run Portland. If we do, we'll go bank- n, rupt." For years, Long Island residents grumbled about being shortchanged on city services because of their distance from downtown Portland a ferry ride across 4 Vi miles of water. Unlike mainland Portland, the island has only a volunteer fire department, a volunteer-staffe- d brary, no health center and a sinschoolhouse gle, with kindergarten through fifth te li- m Portland's city manager, Robert Ganley, also sees trouble ahead. "Unless you run a government you don't know how difficult day in and day out it is to do it," he said. "I think they're going to struggle." But members of the group that led the hard-fough- t, culmidrive to free Long Island remain vote nating in a 129-4- 4 confident and optimistic the island can do a fine job governing itself. th grade. Indeed, although Long Island does possess some scenic rocky shorefront and attracts hundreds of summer vacationers, the overall effect is more coarse than quaint. The spindly ferry wharf has been condemned. Buildings dating to World War II, when the island served as a Navy ship refueling depot, stand empty and vandalized. cars rattle Old-mod- el around. ' But how rapidly the new Town of Long Island can better itself remains in question. That's because of the terms of the divorce settlement the island negotiated with Portland. Under the agreement, worked out by three arbitrators last summer, in advance of the referendum, the island must absorb SI. 3 million of Portland's debt, in exchange for $600,000 worth of city property on the island. As a result, secession leaders concede that their original plan to immediately slash property taxes by a third is at least several years away. "The bottom line is they are not going to save tax dollars," said islander Betty Felton, a retired Woodbridge, N.J., schoolteacher who opposed secession. "It w ill be many, many years before they pay off their indebtedness to the City of Portland. And meanwhile, they're going to find that they are disadvantaged when it comes to purchasing, they have no clout w hen it comes to issuing bonds. Right now, they are scrounging to raise money." |