Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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. . Peru shoots down plane carrying U.S. missionaries ■ Peru claims the plane was flying without a flight plan in an area used by drug traffickers by Rick Vecchio Associated Press LIMA, Peru —A plane carrying American missionaries that apparently was mistaken for a drug flight and shot down over the Amazon had received clearance to land and, moments later, Peru’s air force fired on it without warning, relatives said Sunday. The relatives’ comments were at odds with the version given by Peru’s military, which said the plane failed to identify itself and was flying without a flight plan in an area frequented by drug traffickers. Missionary Veronica “Roni” Bowers, 35, and her infant daughter, Charity, were both killed by the Peruvian gunfire Friday, apparently by a single bullet that passed through the woman’s body and entered the child’s skull as she sat on her mother’s lap, her brother-in-law said. The single-engine plane, which was being tracked by a U.S. counter-drug surveillance plane, had contacted the air tower in the jungle city of Iquitos and received landing clearance about 10 minutes before it was downed, said Richmond Donaldson, father of pilot Kevin Donaldson. “Here was a plane following a regular route. Drug runners do not follow regular routes,” he said. “There was the contact with the tower that these other planes should have heard,” the pilot’s father said. “They should have checked the plane’s numbering. It was just recently registered.” After being hit by the gunfire, the Cessna 135 crash-landed in the Amazon River near the jungle town of Huanta, some 626 miles northeast of Lima. The survivors clung to the pontoons in the river waters. Peruvians rescued the pilot, 42-year-old Kevin Donaldson, who suffered a crushed leg bone and severed arteries in his foot caused by the gunfire, and the husband and son of the woman killed in the shooting. The husband, Jim Bowers, 37, was debriefed by Peruvian authorities before returning home to North Carolina on Sunday with the couple’s 6-year-old son, Cory. Donaldson was reportedly headed to a Philadelphia hospital for suigery. U.S. officials announced late Saturday that drug interdiction flights over Pern were being suspended pending a full investigation. A-key dispute is whether the seaplane had a flight plan when it took off Friday morning front a section of the Amazon River where Pern, Brazil and Colombia are separated. President Bush said Sunday that U.S. officials had been helping Peru’s military identify possible drug smugglers by providing information, such as tail numbers for planes without a flight plan. Felons, fugitives receiving illegal federal benefits by Larry Margasak Associated Press WASHINGTON — Felons and fugitives are receiving tens of millions of dollars annually in illegal federal benefits, largely because program administrators aren’t checking law enforcement records, government investigations show. Medicare, for example, paid more than $25,000 for services to an inmate convicted of killing his mother and more than $97,000 to a facility that treated nine inmates whose crimes included arson, attempted assault, burglary and breaking and entering. Federal laws prohibit most prisoners from receiving Medicare and Medicaid payments. Fugitive felons, along with probation and parole violators, are barred from getting Supplemental Security Income for needy individuals who are aged, blind or disabled. While some state or local laws include provisions that could qualify prisoners for Medicare and Medicaid, officials of those programs haven’t tried to determine which jurisdictions might allow the benefits. "The government is aiding and abetting the flight of fugitive felons," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-lowa, the Finance Committee chairman. "Government programs are paying to help convicted criminals stay on the lam." j The issue has come to the attention of investigators from the Health and Human Services Department, the Social Security Administration, Congress and the state of Louisiana. Among the problems identified, according to congressional and federal agency documents provided to The Associated Press. ■ $32 million in Medicare fee-for service payments were made on behalf of 7,438 incarcerated beneficiaries from 1997 through 1999, with a strong likelihood that most payments violated the law. ■ $75 million in federal Medicaid funds was paid to Louisiana State University medical facilities from 1997 through this year. A top Louisiana state auditor, Daniel Kyle, questioned why federal officials approved the disbursements when federal regulations do not permit them. ■ At least 27,700 fugitives were paid $76 million in Supplemental Security Income benefits since August 1996 contrary to law, and the total may increase by $30 million annually if the payments continue, the AP reported in December. We are concerned... because, in general, no Medicare payments should be made for services-rendered to prisoners unless certain strict conditions are met by the government component which operates the prison," said Michael Mangano, acting inspector general at HHS, in testimony prepared for a Senate hearing Wednesday. Grasslcy agreed. "The Social Security ;uid Medicare progr.uns don’t have a penny to spare for undeserving populations. They’re already being squeezed to the limit," he said. In most cases, investigators learned that information that could stop m;uiy of the illegal payments was available, but Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security ollicials maile inadequate elloris to get the data. Bush defends record by Brigitte Greenberg Associated Press WASHINGTON — On Earth Day, Bush Cabinet members defended the president’s environmental policies as a measured approach that balances the need for clean air and water with demands for energy and other natural resources. "We have made a number of decisions that are very pro-environment, but unfortunately they get overlooked when there’s something that people can challenge," Christie Whitman, the Environmental Protection Administration chief, said Sunday. "I would hope that we look at the total picture. Are we making the air cleaner, the water purer, are we better protecting the land?" she said on CBS’ "Face the Nation." Environmental groups and some Democrats criticize Bush for rescinding several Clinton administration initiatives. They also say Bush is pushing for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge at the expense of the environment. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000, said the administration has been influenced by right-wing interests that would have him drill for oil on pristine lands and allow too much arsenic in water. "When you get loose about the amount of arsenic in water, which we’re worried causes cancer, when you say you’re going to drill in one of the most beautiful places the good Lord has given us in America, the arctic refuge, that’s not sensible centrism," Lieberman, D Conn., told CBS. The latest Newsweek poll found that 41 percent of Americans feel Bush is committed to protecting the environment. Lieberman, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said Bush was "outside the mainstream of where most Americans are" on the issue. In recent weeks, Bush has endorsed a treaty seeking a worldwide phase out of a dozen highly toxic chemicals; announced plans for a new standard within nine months on arsenic in drinking water; and upheld Clinton administration regulations requiring thousands more businesses to report releases of toxic lead. The Green Party’s defeated presidential candidate, Ralph Nader, said he believes the administration rolled out its environmental policies in recent weeks in response to polls that show Americans think Bush is unfriendly to the environment. "They’re retreating because they can’t be overtly anti-environment in this country and not lose votes. No major party can do that overtly," Nader told "Fox News Sunday." Specifically, environmentalists criticize Bush for rescinding a Clinton order that would have limited arsenic in drinking water to no more than 10 parts per billion; for proposing limits on the ability of environmental groups to get rare plants and animals added to the endangered species list; and retreating from a campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. On arsenic, Whitman said the administration would prefer to base its policy on science rather than politics and wants further study to determine what the proper level should be. Delta Air Lines, pilots union form tentative agreement by Keith Parsons Associated Press ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines and its pilots union reached a tentative agreement on a new contract Sunday, ending fears the nation’s third-laigest airline would be crippled by a strike by the end of the month. The agreement, which requires the approval of the union’s rank-and-file, came during a weekend of talks with the National Mediation Baird in Wellington. “This agreement will make Delta pilots the best paid in the industry and will provide other industry-leading improvements,” company chairman Leo F. Mullin said in a statement. “Delta people in every job deserve our special gratitude for their consummate professionalism during the negotiating process.” Delta and its 9,800 pilots have been trying to agree on a new contract for 19 months. The Air Line Pilots Association stud the contract included pay increases of 24 to 34 percent for Delta pilots between now and 2005 and pay increases of 63 percent by 2005 for pilots at Delta Express, the carrier’s lower-cost unit. The union said the contract also includes retirement, job security and vacation improvements. “We are pleased that we were able to acltieve a collective agreement tlirough the collective bargaining process and without government intervention," union spokesman Charles S. Giambusso said. “This is proof that if both parties are Committed to the process, a solution beneficial to everyone can be reached.” A Delta spokesman said the company would not discuss details of die agreement Sunday. “It’s a huge contract, and obviously we haven’t had time to discern everything that’s been going on over the last five days,” spokesman Russ Williams said. The airline—stung by lagging sales caused by the labor unrest—ltad lobbied for the White House to intervene in the dispute. The company hoped President Bush would appoint a presidential emergency board to study the disagreement. Under the Railway Labor Act, which governs airline and railroad labor contracts, a presidential emergency board can be appointed to study the situation and recommend a contract. The appointment of a board would automatically put any job action on hold for 60 days, after which the pilots could strike unless Congress acts to mandate a contract. Bush has vowed to block strikes at major airlines this year to help protect the economy and traveling public. Pilots at Ohio-based Contair, a Delta regional carrier, have been on strike four weeks after federal mediators declined to seek White House intervention. Radical Islamic leaders gather in Iran for intefadeh conference by Afshin Valinejad Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran —Angered by what they call aggression against Palestinians, some of Israel’s most radical foes began gathering in Tehran on Sunday for a conference of resistance groups oiganized by Iran. Iranian state-run television and ratio heralded the Tuesday-Wednesday meeting by broadcasting patriotic Palestinian songs and footage of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops. Billboards publicized the event with pictures of a stone-throwing Palestinian wearing a headscarf. The attendees included some of Israel’s worst enemies — Khaled Mashaal, a leader of the radical Islamic Hamas movement; Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah; and Ramezan Abdullah, head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They will discuss how to support the Palestinian intefadch, or uprising, that bcgiui in September. "Wc would like and will try to undcnnine the security scheme of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and show that lie cannot do anything," Mohammad Sadcq Hosscini, an adviser to Iran’s minister of culture, told The Associated Press. "The aim of the conference is to unify all ol the Palestinian and Ix'baiiese ‘We would like try to undermine the security scheme of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and show that he cannot do anything.’ Mohammed Sadeq Hosseini An adviser to Iran’s minister of culture resistance groups, to bring them closer and to encourage them to work closely to support the intefadeh," he said. Organizers in Iran and Hamas officials speaking front areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority said there were no immediate plans for a separate meeting between Hezbollah’s Mashaal and Hamas’ Nasrallah to discuss a closer coordination between the two groups. Salah Zawawi, the Palestinian Authority’s ambassador in Tehran, told the AP that he expects the conference to be "fruitful" in gathering Muslim support for the Palestinian cause. "I think our Iranian brothers arc doing something very helpful for us by holding such a conference, ;uid I see it as very positive," he said. He said it was unlikely Palcstiniiui leader Yasser Arafat would attend, but expected other Palestinian officials to be present. The official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted conference spokesman — Jalil Sazegarnejad as saying that the gathering also aims to push for a referendum on the future of the Palestinian territories among the "real inhabitants of Palestine." It will also support calls for an international criminal tribunal in The Hague "to bring to justice those involved in crimes against the innocent Palestinian children, men and women," he said. The opening ceremony will be attended by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Mohammad Khatami and parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karroubi. Palestinian supporters from other countries will also attend the conference, IRNA reported. The Guinean parliamentary speaker Boubacar Biro Diallo, part of a delegation from the African country, said the violence that has left more than 460 people dead since September was among the "most savage crimes taking place iiv the occupied hinds,” according to IRNA. World Briefs ■ Protests rage, leaders talk trade at Americas summit QUEBEC (AP) — With tear gas from violent clashes still hanging in the air, the leaders of 34 nations rich and poor debated how to strengthen democracy across the Americas and foige the world's laigest free-trade zone. President Bush said he strongly disagreed with protesters who demon strated at the summit against free trade. “Trade not only helps spread prosperity, but trade helps spread free dom,” he said. Canadian Prime Minis ter Jean Chretien opened the summit Friday night with assurances that, in time, free trade “will assure a higher standard of living and a better quality of life for all peoples in the hemi sphere.” But some leaders expressed reservations. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said few of the gods set out at the first Summit of the Americ as, in Miami in 1994, have been met. ■ NASA to let tycoon visit space station WASHINGTON (AP) — Califor nia tycoon Dennis Tito will be allowed to visit the International Space Station as a tourist despite concerns about his safety, a NASA official says. The space station’s international partners are ex pected to meet Monday and sign an agreement to let the Russians deliver Tito to the orbiting lab for a one-week stay, the official said Friday. Tire visit is to be “an exception” and does not mean that the space station is now open to receive tourists on a regular basis, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Tito paid the Russians $20 million to ride aboard a Soyuz spacecraft with a Russian crew scheduled to dock with the space sta tion in May. If he makes the flight, Tito will become the first person ever to buy his way into space. ■ Navy admiral will spare sub skipper from court-martial WASHINGTON (AP) - The ad miral who commands the U.S. Pacific Fleet has called the commander of USS Greeneville to an administrative hearing in Hawaii today to punish him for his actions in the collision that sank a Japanese fishing boat in February, de fense officials said Friday. Adm. Thomas Faigo decided to punish Cmdr. Scott Waddle at a hearing known as an “admiral’s mast,” rather than institute a court-martial proceed ing, the officials in Wasliington and Honolulu said, speaking anonymously. Hugo’s decision is in line with the rec ommendation of a three-admiral court of inquiry which investigated the Feb. 9 collision off Honolulu that sank the Japanese ship and left nine Japanese missing at sea. The session at Pacific Fleet headquarters in Pearl Harbor will be conducted under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It will mean the end of Waddle’s Navy career, although he will not face the prospect of prison. Waddle has apolo gized for the collision and accepted full blame. ■ Bad weather delays South Pole rescue effort PUNTA ARENAS, Chile (AP) — Blowing snow and low visibility forced a rescue team Sunday to post pone for a day a risky flight from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole to evacuate a sick American doctor. Ronald S. Shemenski, 59, is the only physician among 50 researchers work ing at the Amundsen Scott-South Pole station in Antarctica and recently suf fered a gall bladder attack. He has been diagnosed with the potentially life threatening condition known as pan creatitis. Worried that Shemenski’s condition could worsen in the coming months, when ;ui airlift out of Antarc tica would be virtually impossible, res cuers ;irc attempting an evacuation now. Aviation experts say this is the first time a plane has attempted a bind ing at the South Pole during the polar winter, where temperatures are now 75 degrees below zero and skies arc nearly pitch-black some 20 hours of the day.