| Show Researcher Gets an Assist in By Tim Fitzpatrick Tribune Staff Writer The US Justice Department's decision to join in a scientific fraud case at the University of Utah is the culmination of an eight-yea- r battle by the researcher who first brought the situation to the U's attention only to find himself out of a job "I couldn't let it go it stayed with me even though at one point I thought there was nothing I could do" said J Thomas Condie who as a senior research technician in the U medical school laboratory of John L Ninnemann found discrepancies in Dr Ninnemann's work on the tissue of burn victims in 1982 The Justice Department last month joined in a lawsuit filed by Mr Condie seeking damages for the alleged fraud The case marks the first time the US government has intervened in a scientific fraud case under the False Claims Act The research in question was funded by the National Institutes of Health which prompted the Justice Department's involvement "The government's action in assuming responsibility for the case reflects our insistence that scientific research especially when federally fuhded be truthfully reported" said Stuart M Gerson assistant US attorney general "The government 8-Ye- Fraud Suit Against ar and made false statements on progress reports and applications for grant renewals submitted by the universities University of Utah officials declined comment but the university's attorney assistant Utah Attorney General William Evans said he had yet to receive a complaint "To the extent we understand the plaintiff's position we deny adamantly any liability or wrongdoing and will deWe fend it vigorously" he said " don't feel we have anything to hide" The case was the subject of three separate reviews by U of U faculty committees over the course of five years and all three came to different tolerate the falsification of scientific data in support of research will not grants" The complaint alleges damages to the government in the amount of $12 million and under the terms of the act the damages could be multiplied three times The suit names as defendants Dr Ninnemann the University of Utah and the University of California at San Diego where Dr Ninnemann transferred in 1983 Dr Ninnemann left UCSD in 1988 and is believed to be working in Colorado He could not be reached for comment The complaint alleges that Dr Ninnemann falsified his research conclusions The first committee chaired by Dr James McGreevy concluded there were only "clerical data errors" in the research and no discipline of Dr Ninnemann was necetsary Mr Condie who had presented the committee with copies of lab notes and finished scientific papers he said were inconsistent said he was asked to resign after the committee issued its conclusion Mr Condie resigned "under duress" and he appealed the decision to higher university authorities which led to the formation of a second committee chaired by school dean Walter Stevens That committee found that Dr Ninnemann had "selected" certain data and Dr Ninnemann was reprimanded and required to write a correction letter to a journal that had published the research The university later offered to find Mr Condie another job on campus but none could be found with the same title and salary He moved out of state but he later found out that the correction letter also contained discrepancies His persistence eventually led to the formation of the last committee chaired by Dr Jay Mason which issued a e now-medic- St 4 teLocal gaffe Ztibunt See Discord Rends Utah Special Olympics Staff Scandal Topples Officer et By Chris Jorgensen Tribune Staff Writer The executive director of Utah Special Olympics resigned Saturday after it was re- vealed she took a friend on a personal vacation to Florida with airline tickets donated for a fund-raise- r has served as director for nearly three years left her $40000-a-yea- r post amid allegations that she used tickets that were supposed to be raffled off for a fundSheral Schowe who raiser "The Board of Utah Special Olympics regretfully accepts the decision of Sheral Schowe to resign" said Board President David Christensen "Under her leadership Utah Special Olympics has reached new heights and positively impacted the lives of special olympians their families and the community at large" Allegations of a misuse of the donated airline tickets are "unfounded" said Ms Schowe but she decided to resign because "the continued excellent reputation of Utah Special Olympics is more important than my continued employment as director "If I were fighting this situation alone I would fight to the wall Because of my position as executive director Special Olympics would have to be in this fight and I will not allow Special Olympics to be tarnished by this series of events During the fast six months at least three Utah Special Olympics board members have resigned for what they say are ethical reasons and four staff members have quit or been fired The former board members and employees say the program lacks financial accountability and management is poor Airplane tickets were donated by American Airlines specifically to be raffled off during a winter Special Olympics fund-raise- r and some of the tickets went unsold With money tight and Christmas rushing up quickly Ms Schowe said she decided to use the unused tickets as bonuses in lieu of cash for g three employees The tickets carried deadlines of Dec 31 and r and try it was too late to organize a to raffle the tickets again she said One of the USO employees Dal Zemp said he couldn't use the tickets because he was moving out of town to take another Special Olympics job and gave them back to the company "I put no qualifications on those tickets at all when I returned them" said Mr Zemp who hard-workin- 1 worked for the USO as assistant executive director "So I returned them to the organization for whatever they wanted to do with them I looked at it like they would soon be worthless because of the deadline" In May Ms Schowe said she found those tickets in a drawer and decided to call American Airlines and as she'd hoped the deadline was exempted for a specific date She said she and a friend used the tickets for a vacation to Florida "It was a personal trip on a personal ticket that was given to me by a person in a personal manner" Ms Schowe responded She said the personal use of the donated tickets may have been poor judgment but said she used the tickets with pure intentions "I don't think using the tickets was out of order for someone who had donated in excess of 65000 out of their own pocket to an organization to be reimbursed in some way with services rather than cash It happens with all organizations" she added Ms Schowe said she has paid for numerous items the program needed and never sought reimbursement "I'm not the kind of person that goes around saying 'Hey I've spent more money on Special Olympics again I saved their necks again I gave them more money of mine' I'm not a complainer I haven't complained to the board about spending my own money" she said "But I certainly can document every penny I've spent and it certainly was in excess of a first-clas- s ticket to Florida for two" But it was "more than clear" the unused tickets were to be returned to American Airlines said Carter Bibbey the sales promotion director for the airline when the tickets were donated And Ms Schowe was very familiar with the stipulations under which the tickets were donated he added "There is positively no way" Ms Schowe could have misunderstood the unsold tickets were to be returned promptly said Mr Bibbey "If the tickets are not bid on to raise money no one gets them It's that clear" said Mr Bib-be- Interviews Uncover v Mistrust Dissension i - 1 By Chris Jorgensen Tribune Staff Writer When trouble started brewing within the Utah Special Olympics organization last spring program officials scrambled to do something about it After some searching IMO board president Kevin Cushing found Maxcomm a Sandy-basemanagement consulting firm The firm responded quickly and conducted interviews with the organization's small paid staff and many of its board members The group provided the analysis a donation as a service to the community Maxcomm executive Travis Anderson told The Tribune 't ' t f 4 i fr 4 tr I - - rg ' vt't - i f4)s' e ' 4- 4At '16--- i 0 )i 4 i 1 i " 'tSv ' k 1 " :' : ' a vilr ' d ' Ales 4 ' ' -"It '' $00104 i' ""' I w7 t I i alt ‘ " :itv ' U AAte' i t - ) '211V' 401111r140: f '0-'- ": 4'" i T a ' ' -- 4: I 47 d elkeis ' v: -- - ''''' ' eo 40' Maxcomm's report concluded "very capable and dedicated" but were "obviously USO employees were v ' - J in a lot of — '' 3' '"' 40s k‘ I 1 1 0 ‘‘ ' 11 Il t ' 14 - Nt Zt : N"'' - 1a ' t V- :' 'y ': Nftt -- I : - 7! t4‘ - ' 1 ' : f' 1 e it - - 'iF40004ilfig' 1 - 0 i- 'x6' ' 1 4iti- 1 — 44100°3) 1: ' —Tribune Stott Photo by Lynn g Utah Special Olympics Director Sheral Schowe said allegations she B-- 3 N '''‘ - 4 P°°1S"' The highest bidders were given vouchers which they mailed to Mr Bibbey in return for tickets to several locations in Florida "I took it on the word of Special Olympics that those tickets were for purposes only" he insisted "And that the vouch-Se- e Column 6 1 -- V ' : fund-raise- flit li ly: 1 -- - 441t '' - T tf ' :44 - ' " : ' :3 IN:: r liII ' i I ii - A ' i '''' R Johnson used donated airline tickets for personal use are "unfounded" Bangerter Tells Hungarians !o Go Carefully on Prayer Issue By Paul Roily Tribune Staff Writer BUDAPEST Hungary — In a debate that would envelop the passions of Utahns the leading political party in the most progressive Eastern Bloc country since the fall of communist rule wants religion back in the schools In a discussion that caught the interest of Gov Norm Bangerter Count Stephen Bethlen finance director of the Hungarian Democratic Forum said future generations need the infusion of "basic Christian values" to fully break the communist shackles and progress with the West into the 21st century "We are a very religious people" said Count Beth len a member of the new parliament and a central figure in Hungary's ruling party "Even 45 years of communism could not destroy this" He blamed the economic and cultural stagnation in the Eastern European countries on the abolition by the communists of prayer and other religious services in the public schools "Prayer and religious services in the schools are European traditions" said the count a descendant of Hungarian royalty whose family left Hungary during the reign of communism and returned last year to help build a new country Gov Bangerter who is embroiled in his' own religion-in-schoo- contro- ls versy said that schools should be about careful initiating By John Keahey Tribune Staff Writer HATCH TRADING POST San Juan County — The first thing a visitor to this remote trading post deep in the Navajo Reservation notices is the air conditioning It's cold almost to the point of uncomfortable And it blows all the time Sherman Hatch doesn't mind He perches on a stool behind the counter enjoying the steady supply of cold air made possible earlier this summer when electricity finally reached the trading post bringing it into the 20th century "And it's quiet here" Mr Hatch 66 said after using superlatives like "wonderful fantastic" when asked how he liked having electricity "You can go outside and hear yourself think" He was referring to the constant noise that he and his wife Laura lived with for 34 years noise from a diesel generator than ran 12 hours a day seven days a week That generator was the trading post's only source of power In addition to the noise it broke down a lot leaving the trading post in the dark and the soft drinks warm of i ten for days at a time The power was brought in by Utah Power & Light crews headquartered in Blanding 25 miles northeast of here Right now the trading post is the only structure connected to the power line which was installed in six weeks UP&L officials say they will use the line to connect homes owned by Navajos as demand for power increases "We now sell blocks of ice and ice cream and we don't have to if worry about everything melting the generator breaks down- - Mr Hatch said When that happened in the past Mrs Hatch said they would have to box up their frozen meat and haul it 18 miles to Ismay Trading Post for storage until repairs could be made Mr Hatch is the third generation in his family to operate the trading post which sits on 318 acres of family-owne- d land in the middle of Utah's portion of the Navajo Reservation He arrived at age 4 when his parents moved e back to Hatch to take over the Column 1 op-Se- B-- 3 ' 4 the schools" said Mr Rajk who boasts of many jail stints because of his involvement in an underground newspaper that condemned the communist party Mr Rajk also has famous ancestry in Hungarian history His father who had the same name was executed as a "spy against the people" by the communists in 1949 It was students' attempts to exhume his body and bury it again in a heroes' cemetery that started the Budapest uprising that led to the brutal Soviet assault in 1956 Mr Rajk who was 7 years old at the time of that assault spent two years internment with his mother in Bucharest Romania his first taste of imprisonment to be sure we're not offending some kids who are required to be there" he said Utah and Hungary are similarly desituated in the church-and-stat- e s bate of the Utah population are members of the Church of Saints Jesus Christ of Latter-dawhile the Catholic Church claims more than 70 percent of the Hungarian population Opposition party member Laszlo Rajk sounding like the American Civil Liberties Union said there should be no praying in school settings because of the potential for oppression of those whose beliefs east them in the minority "We believe in religion but it should be through the churches not d Gov Bangerter has been criticized for saying he would ask for state funding to help two school districts defend themselves against a lawsuit for allowing prayer at graduation exercises But playing devil's advocate to Count Bethlen during a diplomatic meeting with the leading Hungarian party the governor expressed his own concerns about protecting the religious minority when allowing prayers in an educational setting "We think we can allow the students to have prayers at graduation exercises which is voluntary while we have to be very careful when having prayer in the classroom We have -- UP&L Power Line Brings Trading Post Up to Date state-endorse- prayer 10-ye- Two-third- y - Jm--- "0vidvicowemsvare'VAPAVEIN05MOVOIMMIVIROPMAtr")rV4 - - 1 '4: 41474 T A 04 —! 1 --- r' ls — 4 -1 A 0 i'' 4144 ' I r — '“1 $ 144 ' IT r- ' - - ''''' -- - — s t VA 1 ' 3 I '' 1 - 4 ' " 1 '‘' trl 4 4 ---- -4 it:' ' ‘: ' ''i ' - 4 ade''' r'''''PL - -: i' 4' r44't J- - t )4 ' - I I i t 1 4 - r'- - I I TO' -- 11 vs ttk 'I t e c ft t -4- Sherman and Laura Hatch enjoy their trading post in comfort after power was connected to the - 4 1-44--- - t -"- twiiit ito 044 10 It 4' - I- - i i (1 A' tt :4 4 I e4 t I 1 :yk 1 ''''t - ' ' ! 4 4 '' I I ' I I t N 1 I I 3 ' 4"tto4 'es-- - kr 1 - tc lk ill t At ie c- til4 ' t'la 44a 4it S 1 ' 1 - PP tt t Leery 0AIt' e 1 1 t 14( 4 4t--- 1 ' 11141447 14 i ''''''S " 4 - s IA ) -‘ 14 "1 ve 62 tk - — a ti'-- r4 0' ' i A -- — :! "i - A"- '' 3 0 4 ' - - I 1‘ ''''''' -- '"'""' A - ois )111'4 1 ''''1 I - - 0 ' N0'"444 I P- Ab-- - r" - e '- -- "4" 1 (tot t 4 it01414 1 A: st lit'' ' 4 - -''' — 41 11144ftd:" 1 1 :r t ' tr tpcommmomorwitoomempaw t e Column 5 B-- 3 r:t-- - y 1 i ” See 1 4 : - i 1bi 0 t Several staff and board members t'd 41 '14"e° 040 - individuals" rillIPIONFORIMPPPIRMANowntront il pain" "Every team member we talked to was very concerned about the deteriorating quality and image of the Utah Special Olympics" the report stated The organizers complained of "four overriding concerns" that included a lack of effective leadership from USO Executive Director Sheral Schowe Maxcomm also detected a mutual lack of trust between Ms Schowe the employees and the outside stakeholders as well as a lack of proper financial management and accountability Ms Schowe responded to the report by saying its conclusions were tainted by a handful of employees and board members who lacked dedication and experience "Most of the employees who complained are the ones who have since been terminated or laid off or fired and those are employees who are no longer here" she said "The former staff members were all around the same age they were all good friends and they all socialized together and they stuck by one another And if one person had a complaint everyone had a complaint" But Maxcomm said they didn't feel any kind of conspiracy was underfoot to oust Ms Schowe After a telephone call from a USO employee who remains a strong ally for Ms Schowe Mr Anderson said the call "deepened my suspicion that the problems in the organization were really not due to one or two staff members out to get the director" Several individuals also said they had caught Ms Schowe "lying more than once" the report stated " Our concern was that these comments were coming from most of the team members not just one or two t N y fund-raisin- : r 4 Column 4 8-- 3 Sunday Morning—September 2 1990 Section B Page 1 Utah Special Olympics Director Resigns Plane-Tick- U — ' 14 141 t'3 ' P ( - - lc a It0J 1 - —Tribune Stott Photo by Jeff Ahed building this summer A gas generator that previously sup plied power frequently broke down blacking out the post V 1 |
