I- vr 3 Ripken MVP Holiday feast Quick and easy SHOWERS A 40 percent chance of showers Wednesday. HI 78 Sex abuse Oakley teacher's aide accused of abusing 5-year-old. Page IB Orioles' shortstop becomes first AL player named MVP from a losing team. Page ID recipes for relaxed L043 Page 1C Million Pip 12A ASHEVILLE TIMES ZEN VOICE OF THE MOUNTAINS Multimedia Inc. Wednesday, Nov.
20, 1991 mm zr. 'zzzn Water Authority board to include Maas, Ferguson Authority members received numerous telephone calls, letters and postcards promoting a Maas appointment, and the group Citizens For Safe Drinking Water took out two large advertisem*nts in the Citizen-Times touting the candidate. Then the executive Committee of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, on which Ferguson serves, responded by plac board in order to accommodate both the nominees. Wood then privately asked for and got the support of Mayor Ken Michalove and commissioners Chairman Gene Rainey, as well as the other members of the authority, he-said. Tuesday's meeting had been expected to be a showdown.
Following the nominations of Maas and Ferguson last month, sup- porters of Maas, an environmen i By Clarke Morrison STAFF WRITER It was the ultimate political solution. Faced with the tough choice of angering either the environmental community or business interests, the Asheville-Buncombe Water Authority agreed Tuesday to expand so that two competing nominees could be appointed to the board. Both water expert Richard Maas and banker Ernest Ferguson will join the authority, contingent on Asheville City Council and Buncombe County commissioners agreeing to increase the number of members on the authority from seven to eight. Authority Chairman Richard Wood said the idea occurred to him over the weekend to enlarge the authority members. But following Tuesday's compromise inspired by Wood, both sides said they were satisfied.
"For those that might relish fighting and conflict, I apologize," Wood said. "I thought it would be unfortunate if both of them could not serve. "Both of these men are tremendous individuals and are qualified to make a contribution to the com- munity and the Water Authority." Authority member Norma Price commended Wood "for having the wisdom of Solomon. I felt the choice was most difficult." Member Bill DeBruhl, who nominated Maas, praised the action because he said it had succeeded in See Board on page 9A Richard Maas Ernest Ferguson ing its own ad supporting Fergu- son, and Chamber President Louis Bissette voiced tal studies instructor at UNCA, mounted a campaign to get him on the authority. the chamber's support of Ferguson through letters to SWEET FREEDOM vM SOllSH.aDGDGGl) A "The president ought to feel pretty good about this.
This was an issue where it was very hard for us to demand party loyalty. This was a tough one. REP. VIN WEBER R-MINN. A ii I ft Tax-free riches Many high-income Americans exploited shelters, loopholes THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Being rich and avoiding federal income tax is not as easy as it used to be.
-'But 397 couples and individuals, with incomes of $200,000 or more, found a way. That's how many high-income earners showed no tax liability on returns filed in 1989, the Internal Revenue Service said in a report Tuesday. The average income for this group: $575,000. An additional 4,192 high-income tax return filers paid less than 5 percent of their earnings in federal taxes; 8,495 paid 5 percent to. 10 percent, and 19,114 paid 10 percent to 15 percent.
All told, 32,198 couples and individuals with annual incomes of $200,000 or more paid less than 15 percent of their earnings in federal taxes. On the other hand, more than 80 percent of the 737,659 high-income filers paid 20 percent to 30 percent. The IRS found 2,377 returns reported incomes of $100,000 to $200,000 but paying no tax. The 397 of the richest Americans who paid no tax on returns filed in 1989 compares with 472 in 1988 and 595 in 1987. The IRS has been reporting on high-income non-taxpayers since 1977, when there were 53.
The peak year was in 1986, when 613 were reported. See Tax on page 9A fo: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON The House on Tuesday sustained President Bush's veto earlier in the day of a bill that would have lifted his ban of federally financed abortion counseling. Democrats had thought they had the muscle to override Bush for the first time, but fell a dozen votes short. The outcome left Bush with a perfect 24-0 record for making his vetoes stick, and was a blow to House Speaker Thomas S. Foley, who convened the override debate immediately after the president's action with a prediction that "We have the votes" on the hotly disputed abortion issue.
But Foley didn't; the 276-166 tally was a dozen short of the two-thirds necessary. Foley, in a rare speech on the House floor, condemned the veto as motivated by "a mistaken principle." At stake was an overall, $205 billion spending bill for education, labor and health programs. But the fight was centered on a provision that would block for one year the Bush administration's rule banning abortion counseling at federally supported family planning clinics. That provision has been attacked as a "gag rule" by critics who say it shackles doctors and prevents pregnant women from obtaining information pertinent to their right of choice. White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said, "We're pleased that the Congress has sustained the president's veto and urge them to send the appropriations bill back down to us without the prohibition on HHS regulations." "We would like to be able to sign the appropriations bill as soon as possible.
This one provision was the cause of the veto in the first place," said Fitzwater. v-. Fitzwater said the veto was "not a political decision. It's one based on the president's principles and beliefs. Hell continue to hold that position." Supporters did not have the two-thirds override strength in the last House vote on the measure, either.
The bill had cleared the Senate 72-25, more than the two-thirds veto-proof majority, earlier this month. "The president ought to feel pretty good about this," said Rep. Vin Weber, a leading anti-abortion lawmaker. "This was an issue where it was very hard for us to demand party loyalty. This was a tough one." Fifty-three Republicans and one independent joined 222 Democrats in voting to override the president Forty-three Democrats voted with 113 Republicans'to sustain.
"What happened was the White House worked very, very hard," said Rep. Steny Hoyer, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. "I think the president loses on this. I don't think the American public agrees with him." In vetoing the bill, Bush contended he was not trying to restrict counseling for pregnant women. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Freed U.S.
hostage Thomas Sutherland waves after arriving at the Rhein-Maln Air Base In Frankfurt early Tuesday morning. After receiving a bouquet, he said he hadn't seen flowers In more than six years. StoryPage 8A Trade deficit climbs to eight-month high Pathologist: Hodgin's death unusually savage THE MORNING REPORT A five-minute capsule of the day's news, business, sports and television. Page 2A By Paul Clark 8TAFF WRITER Blood-spatter patterns suggest David Lovin killed David Keith Hodgin much more savagely than Lovin suggested, according to the state's case Tuesday. Memorial Mission Hospital pathologist Dr.
Carl Biggers testified that blood on a hallway wall at Hodgin's condominium indicates Lovin shot the 86-year-old cafeteria manager three times May 23, then pulled his head back to stab him in the neck before slitting his throat. Hodgin, the manager of Cafeteria at River Ridge Market Place, lay dying on his living room carpet when Lovin fired two more shots into his former employer's head and stomach, Biggers testified, The state is pursuing the death penalty against the 19-year-old Fairview man on the theory that the slaying was even worse than what the state recognizes as a typical first-degree murder. If the Buncombe County Superior Court agrees, Lovin could face the death penalty. Lovin was arrested at Asheville 1 Regional Airport hours after Hodgin was killed in his Fairview condo at 13 Willow Run. Lovin was carrying Hodgin's wallet and car keys, but had no cash on him.
He said "Keith" had given him money for his plane ticket, testified Sgt. Wil-See Death on page MM 12 i 7 pint- Source; U.S. Dept. ofCommtne AP economy. Financial markets were not bolstered by the trade report, which showed a higher-than-ex-pected deficit.
The Dow Jones industrial average of 30 stocks plunged 41.15 points as Investors expressed more fears about the durability of the recovery. President BuBh tried to bolster confidence by contending that the recession has ended and that sound underlying fundamentals, in the form of lower interest rates and falling Inflation, should set the stage for a "good in the months ahead. Still, Bush conceded that the economy is sluggish and, in a speech broadcast to a meeting of the Southern Newspapers Associa- See Trade on page 11A THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON The U.S. trade deficit widened to $6.79 billion in September, the poorest showing In eight months, as Americans' appetite for foreign goods outpaced a rebound in exports, the government said Tuesday. The Commerce Department said that the September trade deficit was 4 percent bigger than a revised $6.53 billion imbalance in August despite the fact that exports rose to their second highest level ever.
The Bush administration hailed the rise in exports as good news for American manufacturers. But private economists were more downbeat, contending that slumping growth in some of America's major overseas markets spelled more trouble for a faltering U.S. ASTROLOGY 6C BUSINESS 5-8B CLASSIFIED 13-3QC COMICS 6-7C pROSSWORD 7C DEATHS 4B ERMA BOMBECK 2A BILLY GRAHAM 6C LIFESTYLE 1C MARKETS 5-7B MOVIES SC OPINION 4-8A SPORTS 1-5P TELEVISION 4C Vol. 122, No. 334 60 Pun '1991, Asheville CMzen-Hmeg Publishing Co..
