Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 1

A II IK I- SPORTS UConn routs Notre Dame; Whalers win PAGECl Satellite dishes facing challenge Dylan and Smith: rock poets on tour CALENDAR PARTLY SUNNY Higtiinthemid-30s PAGE B12 ENTER, El he Ife ipf Established 1764 ft! Thursday, December 7, 1995 Volume CLVII, Number 341 Copyright 1 995, The Hartford Courant Co. Special counsel to investigate charge against five charges against Gingrich, it was highly critical of a $4.5 million book deal he signed late last year with publishing mogul Rupert Murdoch. After several weeks of criticism, Gingrich then renounced the agreement. "At a minimum, this creates the impression of exploiting one's office for personal gain," the committee said in a letter sent to Gingrich Wednesday night. In several of the other com- plaint." In an interview after the decision was announced, Johnson said, "I am very pleased the committee is taking this action." Asked how difficult it was to get the unanimous vote, Johnson said, "It's like asking you to become a high jumper and you've never run track.

The" committee consists of 10 members, equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. While the committee did dismiss By JOHN A. MacDONALD Courant Staff Writer WASHINGTON The House Ethics Committee unanimously agreed Wednesday night to hire a special counsel to investigate one of six charges filed against House Speaker Newt Gingrich. At the same time, the committee said it will take no additional action in the other five complaints, which it dismissed. Opp osition rry .4 mountuij promotion of a television course he taught at a college in his home state of Georgia.

The complaint against Gingrich is that a political action committee he headed improperly funneled money to a tax-free foundation to support the course. Tony Blankley, a spokesman for Gingrich, said the speaker was "very gratified" by the committee's action. Blankley said the committee dismissed "all but half of one com ft'. i 1 1 1 3W Newsstand 5Qe Gingrich plaints, such as using the House floor for commercial purposes, the committee found a technical violation of House rules, but decided to take no action. Rep.

Jim McDermott of Washington, the senior Democrat on the committee, had nothing to say after the committee's action was, announced. Some Democrats had predicted Please see Gingrich, Page A13 State tax 'stunning; results By LARRY WILLIAMS Courant Staff Writer In amounts ranging from 15 cents to $2.6 million, delinquent taxpay ers plunked $34 million into the state treasury during the recently concluded tax amnesty and have promised to pay at least $6 million more. The $40 million take could rise to $75 million when all applications are processed, Revenue Services Commissioner Gene Gavin said Wednesday. The state's goal for the three-month amnesty had been $31 million. "In baseball terms, grand slam," said Gene Gavin, commissioner of revenue services Wednesday.

"Unbelievable. I'm stunned by these results." And there's more to come, he said, from new enforcement initiatives the state has undertaken in the past five months. He predicted another $100 million in back taxes and nearly that much in annual rev? enues will be reaped from those enforcement efforts. i "Tax evasion is no longer a gen-. tleman's sport," Gavin said, donning the black cowboy hat that, in posters displayed in the tax department, symbolizes the plan tough with delinquents who didnji take advantage of amnesty.

"The people of Connecticut should want the department tcgo' after those people and businesses who are not paying their fair share; and we're going to do it," he said "It's not going to be business as usual." 'K The enforcement programs1 ari' aimed at out-of-state entertainer; and athletes, who owe income taxes for the fees or salaries they earn here; purchasers of goods and services from out of state who owe sales taxes to Connecticut; building contractors who work "off the books," competing unfairly with contractors who collect the sales tax on their services; and owners of yachts and other vessels who didn't' pay sales taxes. 1 Gavin spoke at a press confer ence in the atrium of the Xerox Center, the Hartford office building that houses the state tax dozen employees watched" the announcement from a second floor landing, breaking into applause at the news that $40 million was in hand or promised. The $6 million in pledges came from 280 applicants for installment Please see Tax, Page A15 the Pulitzer Prize, journalism's highest honor. rK. In his columns and news reports, he described and analyzed most of the major national and internatkmr al news events and developments, and the leading public figures of his era.

R.W. Apple, Washington bureau chief for the Times, said Mr. Reston. was known for bringing along many, talented journalists who shaped the news of the past and who will continue to shape the news in the future. Please see Award, Page A3 7 Committee Chairwoman Nancy L.

Johnson, R-6th District, announced the committee's action just after 8 p.m. She gave no indication when the committee would hire the special counsel or who it would be. The deal was essentially the same one Johnson had first proposed to committee Democrats on Tuesday. The counsel's job will be to investigate a charge that Gingrich violated House or Internal Revenue Service rules in the financing and ulan State is split on sending U.S. troops By MICHAEL REMEZ Courant Staff Writer 1995, The Hartford Courant WASHINGTON If Connecticut residents are any indication, President Clinton still has a way to go in selling Americans on his plans for keeping the peace in Bosnia.

The latest CourantConnecticut poll shows state residents are as deeply divided as they could be over whether U.S. soldiers should be sent to the war-ravaged Balkans. Many believe the peace will not last, that U.S. forces will get stuck in the former Yugoslavia and that they will get drawn into the ethnic fighting. CouranMSI Connecticut Poll Administration officials have been trying to assuage similar fears on Capitol Hill for the past two weeks.

Wednesday, architects of the peace agreement appeared again before lawmakers, arguing the mission will end the fighting and that all possible steps are being taken to reduce the risk to American peacekeepers. "That may be the intent, but people are skeptical it will in fact work out that way," said G. Donald Ferree director of the poll. "Clearly, the Connecticut public has grave doubts about this mission." Just under half 48 percent of those surveyed said they support sending American soldiers as part of the international peacekeeping force. The same percentage oppose sending troops.

Asked whether they think U.S. troops would be able to come home soon in close to the one-year time period discussed by the Clinton administration 43 percent said yes, while 50 percent Please see Poll, Page AM The budget impasse has put President Clinton's plan to put 100,000 more police on the streets in limbo. Please see story, Page A3. Medicaid programs, Clinton vetoed the bill with the same pen President Johnson used in 1965 to sign the legislation that created the health insurance programs for the elderly and the poor and disabled. The massive GOP budget bill that Clinton killed included a host of proposals to overhaul the federal government by revamping Medicare, Medicaid and welfare and slashing taxes.

gto Bosnia Constituents object to deployment Combined Wire Services President Clinton's effort to win quick support in Congress for his decision to send 25,000 ground troops to Bosnia and Croatia appears to be stalling on issues of emotion and military detail. Grudging approval from the Republican leadership is colliding with strong resentment from rank-and-file representatives, who say their constituents overwhelmingly oppose a role for American forces in the Balkans. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole suffered a double blow this week in his reluctant bid to support the deployment. First, the opposition of fellow Republicans forced him to delay a vote on a Bosnia resolution, then his chief lieutenant, Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, broke ranks.

"I've been talking to folks in Mississippi," Lott said Wednesday, "and they want no part of this." Meanwhile, a huge U.S. transport plane brought American troops to a tattered airfield in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday to start the first concrete preparations for the NATO peace mission: lighting the runway and turning on the radar. Twelve Air Force and Army officers were on board the camouflaged C-130 Hercules along with equipment to refurbish the 40-year-old airfield before 20,000 U.S. troops start arriving later this month. They'll start the first work reconstruction and repairs needed to station 60,000 NATO troops who will arrive in the region after Serb, Croatian and Muslim leaders sign a peace treaty in Paris Dec.

14. To the north, 45 NATO staff officers and soldiers nearly half of them Americans flew into the Croatian capital Zagreb in a heavy snowfall to set up NATO's Please see Bosnia, Page A14 1 3 EAI changes strategy EAI chairman John T. Golle said the company will shift direction from cities to urban towns. Page A15 9 SECTIONS Am Bueinma Classified Comics Crossword Editorial Dl ES A3 E7 Legal Notice D2 Local News Bl Lottery 2 Movie Caieodar Obituaries BIO Soort CI ES Web site http:www.courant.oom Stephen Dunn The Hartford Courant CLEANUP DETAIL It looked a bit Wednesday morning like Lafayette and hi horse were leaving In a cloud of dust. Actually, Steve Wyman of Meriden was steam-cleaning th horse after vandals sprayed yellow paint on the statue across the street from the state Capitol in Hartford.

Clinton vetoes GOP budget bill James Reston dead at 86; winner of two Pulitzers Clinton's long-promised veto clears the way for negotiations between the Democratic president and the Republican Congress over how tc balance the federal budget. Both say they want to do it over seven years. Having vetoed the GOP formula, Clinton promised to present his own plan today. According to administration and congressional sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, Clinton's new plan is expected to: Save $49 billion on welfare, about $15 billion more than he proposed in June but well below sav- Please see Using, Page A13 Combined Wire Services WASHINGTON President Clinton Wednesday vetoed the Re- Eublican blueprint for a balanced udget, sending the heart of the GOP fiscal and ideological agenda into a new round of congressional negotiations and an uncertain fate. Clinton, in an Oval Office ceremony, said, "Today I am vetoing the biggest Medicare and Medicaid cuts in history, deep cuts in education, a rollback in environmental protection and a tax increase on working families." To emphasize his difference with Republicans over the Medicare and Combined Wire Services WASHINGTON James B.

"Scotty" Reston, the retired New York Times columnist who was one of the most influential journalists of his time, died Wednesday night at his Northwest Washington home, his family announced. He was 86. Mr. Reston died after a long bout with cancer, according to his son Thomas. In a career that spanned half a century, Mr.

Reston became a confidant of presidents and a conduit for high-level diplomacy. He twice won.