Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Jackson’s supporters to appear at arraignment BY TIM AOLLOY THE ASSOHli’EU PRESS* LOS AIGELES - Michael Jackson: family, friends and fans areplanning a massive show of upport when the pop supersta is arraigned on child molestaion charges later this week. Fans nd family of Jackson, includin his brother Jermaine, scheduld a news conference Monday t the family’s complex in Encio to announce their plans fo the singer’s arraign ment, wich is scheduled for Friday iiSanta Maria. Jacksn’s fan clubs plan to have car and buses travel to the courthase in northern Santa Barbara County from through out Southern California and even Las Vegas, said Angel Howansky, a freelance publicist who is help ing coordinate the event. “We’ve had fans calling from out of state who are flying in just for the arraignment,” said Howansky, who added that she was helping without pay. Also Monday, more than two dozen Jackson lawyers, accoun tants, bankers and managers will meet at the Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss the singer’s business af fairs, said Jackson family friend Brian Oxman. “There is to be a meeting of the brain trusts for Michael’s management,” Oxman said. “Rumors will be set to rest, and it’s to explain how Michael is to handle further actions in con nection with his business. They have not specified what it is or who is to be doing the speak ing.” Jackson spokesman Kevin McLin provided details Sunday of the Encino event, but said he couldn’t provide any information on the Beverly Hills meeting be sides confirming it had been scheduled. Jackson, 45, is charged with seven counts of performing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under 14 and two counts of ad ministering an intoxicating agent. He’s free on $3 million bail pending the arraignment in Santa Maria. Bbod sample casts doubt or Princess Diana accident BY JILLAWLESS THE ASSUMED DRESS LONDN — British police have doubts bout the authenticity of the blod sample that led French investi&tors to conclude drunk driving aused thecar crash that killed Pincess Dima, a newspa per reputed Satinday. The Tmes of London reported that seiior officirs were con cerned hat no DINA test was con ducted t prove ths blood sample belonge<to Henri ?aul, chauffeur of the c? that crahed in a Paris underpss on Auj 31,1997. Priness Diana her boyfriend Dodi Fiyed andPaul were all killed n the ejash, which a French :ourt rule! in 2002 was an accideit caused V Paul’s speed ing andbeing undr the influence ofalcahol. ;---1-r A police spokesman said Saturday the force had no com ment on the Times report. French police inspector Jean Claude Mules, who played a cen tral role in the investigation, told The Times there was no mistake about the blood sample. "We are very serious people and no errors are allowed,” he was quoted as saying. Many people continue to be lieve that Diana was the victim of a conspiracy, however, vari ously pointing to the royal family and intelligence agencies. British coroner Michael Burgess, who opened an inquest into the deaths of the princess and Fayed this week, has asked London’s Metropolitan Police to investigate whether there is any evidence the deaths were not the result of a "straightforward road traffic accident.” The Times said there were "high-level concerns” that Paul’s blood could have been mixed up with another sample in a labora tory or the mortuary where his body was taken. It said the sample tested con tained extremely high levels of carbon monoxide that could have rendered Paul incapable of driv ing. Fayed’s father, Mohammed A1 Fayed, and Paul’s parents have repeatedly said they are not con vinced the blood sample tested was Paul’s and have drawn at tention to the high carbon monox ide level. A French court-designated ex pert said in 1999 that the carbon monoxide level was due to Paul inhaling gas from the car’s air bags. Pentagon auditors spent hours doctoring files, investigators say BY LARRY MARGASAK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - Pentagon au ditors spent 1,139 hours altering their own files in order to pass an internal review, say investigators who found that the accounting sleuths engaged in just the kind of wasteful activity they are sup posed to expose. When the auditors in the New York City office learned well in ad vance which files a review team would check, they spent the equiv alent of more than 47 days doctor ing the papers and updating records from several audits, the Defense Department’s inspector general concluded. Administrative staff, audit super visors and other employees also participated in the scheme. The fabrication at the Defense Contract Audit Agency "certain ly violates the spirit and intent” of government auditing standards and rules on ethical conduct, ac cording to the.inspector general’s report obtained by The Associated ■ Press. The fabrication was discovered in 2001, but the report on it was not disclosed until Tuesday. The defense agency, which au dits government contracts, is the same one that recently reported that Vice President Dick Cheney’s former company, Halliburton, may have overcharged the Army as much as $61 million for gaso line in Iraq. The audit agency ran up some charges of its own when its audi tors worked on altering the records. The task of rewriting the files was so daunting that auditors came in from other offices to help make the changes, costing tax payers more than $1,600 in travel expenses. The agency "is supposed to be the watchdog for defense con tracts,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a constant critic of government waste. "Altering audit work papers could under mine the accuracy of the Pentagons cost reports. Falsifying official reports is a crime, and those involved must be held ac countable.” To stop any fabrications in the future, the review teams only give 48 hours advance notice of the files they want to inspect. The advance time under the old policy was -much longer. Discipline was proposed for the manger who directed the alter ations, but was never imposed be cause the official resigned, the re port said. Daniel Tucciarone, executive officer of .the audit agency, said a second senior management offi cial who "had not been forthcom ing and acted inappropriately to conceal information” was pun ished. Tucciarone told the AP that the agency took “’appropriate disci plinary action in all cases” but added that federal privacy law prevented him from releasing sueh information about individu al employees. The revisions were so perva sive that the work continued even after the review team arrived to inspect the auditors’ files. The New York branch manager di rected a senior auditor to delete electronic backup files of original documents, the inspector general said. The report said agency.em ■ ployees believed that “’upgrading” the working papers was a normal and acceptable practice and that they did not try to hide what they were doing. The inspector general uncov ered the file deletions following a tip to a fraud, waste and abuse'hot line. This is not the first time that Pentagon anti-waste investigators were found to have altered docu ments. The AP reported in 2001 that the inspector general’s office itself destroyed documents and re placed them with fakes to avoid embarrassment in a review of its work. USA Today journalist ‘panicked’ as newspaper investigated his stories THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Pulitzer Prize finalist Jack Kelley says he “pan icked and used poor judgment” during an investigation into his stories for USA Today that led to his departure from the newspa per. While defending his work with the paper and saying he still stands behind every story written during a 21-year career there, Kelley told The. Washington Post he resigned because he made an indefensible mistake in attempt ing to defend himself. Specifically, he said in an ef fort to prove he had spoken with a human rights activist in. Yugoslavia, he encouraged a translator who was not present during a 1999 meeting with the ac tivist to -impersonate another -translator who was there. He told the Post the woman who agreed to help him called the USA Today journalist as signed to investigate the matter last fall and verified Kelley’s ac count. 'T resigned because I felt I should no longer work at USA Today because of what I’d done,” Kelley told the Post, saying he had “panicked and used poor judg ment.” He said his action stemmed from his belief that the investiga tion was “a witch hunt to drive me out of USA Today.” | www.dailygamecock.com Students and Advisors Join Us! For the18th Annual Student Leadership Training Conference USC Russell House Saturday, February 7th, 2004 8:30am - 4:00pm USC Students $25 Non-USC $35 ■ Over twenty Educational Workshops offered ■ Workshops for all Leadership levels and interests ■ The opportunity for leaders to interact with and team from each other and experienced Student Affairs professionals * A good time and new friends! __eadership Programs • Russell House #235 • (803) 777-7130_ Carolina Student Judicial Council is accepting applications for new members. Applications are available on line at www.csjc.org under the Recruitment tab. i H Applications are due February 6 to the Office of Student Judical Programs. *CSJC consists of graduate and undergraduate students whose purpose is to uphold tie deals of the Carolinian Creed by hearing and deciding outcomes for studmts alleged with violations of the Student Code of Conduct. Join Air Force ROTC at the University of South Carolina GREAT careers Pilot Nurse Engineer Lawyer Navigator More Great benefits Travel Full Medical & Dental Care Build Leadership & Management Skills Starting Salary & Allowances: $35,000 30 Days Vacation with Pay Tuition Assistance for Graduate Degrees Job Security > ... and you may be eligible I for one of our scholarships! For more information, call 777-3450 or visit the Air Force ROTC web site www.afrotc.com