European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 6, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday february 1989 the stars and stripes Page 7 mayor s discreet settlements stir uproar Pawtucket . A quietly arranged lawsuit settlement payments to the sex mistress and two aides of a former mayor have sent City Hall into an up Roar with threats that the City Council May strip the current mayor of some of his Power. Mayor Brian j. Sarault who is preparing to run for a second term in this aging Industrial City says he was just cleaning up the tray of garbage left by his predecessor Henry s. Kinch. Some City Council members upset that they weren t consulted before the claims against the City were settled want to end the mayor s Power to Settle claims unilaterally. From a business standpoint it May have made sense to Settle these said councilman John q. Calista. But the fact remains the Public perception is one of rumours innuendos Lack of Confidence and  the Council was never notified of settlements before either. Why Are we being held to a different Standard Sarault replied. We be been More open around Here and i m getting kicked inthe Teeth for it. Each of the problems i be been re solving they re left Over from the pre Vious administration which left me a tray of garbage that i have to clean up said Sarault who faces re election in no vember. I literally did t have a pen in my desk when i took  the controversy in this City of 73,500 began in May when the Council discovered that Kinch who declined to seek a fourth term in 1987, had awarded him self and eight aides a total of $128,000 in Severance pay before leaving office. The situation attracted a wider Audi ence in Early january after headlines about Sarault s agreement to pay former City clerk Penny Maynard $40,000 to Settle a sex discrimination complaint. She accused Kinch of firing her after their extramarital affair ended. That had All the makings of a class b movie Sarault said. There was no comment from Kinch who did not return a reporter s Telephone Calls. Sarault and City solicitor Fred Joslyn said they settled the Case because May Nard stood a Good Chance of winning a much larger judgment at trial. Council members complained they were never notified about the settlement which was reached in october. Their complaints reached fever pitch when two other settlements were revealed one with Joslyn himself whom Kinch fired from a City finance Job be cause he leaked information to then councilman Sarault. If the newspaper reporters had t walked in there who knows if it Ever would have come out said councilman James Doyle a Sarault opponent. Council president Raymond w. Houlejr. Said mayors have never made a prac Tice of disclosing settlements. I m in my 20th year on the Council Houle said. In All those years never once has any City solicitor Ever reported to the Council on any Case nor has any Council member Ever questioned the City solicitor about any  at a recent Council meeting Sarault promised to keep the Council better in formed about settlements. A motion by one of his opponents to strip the mayor of his Power to Settle cases was deferred. Most of the Council members said they were satisfied by the mayor s promises but Doyle remained unconvinced. He s giving us a Little Pat and saying of City Council we be forgotten you in the past but Well come along and pick you up now " Doyle said. I think Well have to wait and  . Judge says sat tests biased against females new York not new y9rk state s method of awarding Merit scholarships to High school students on the basis of their scores on Scholastic aptitude tests discriminates against females a Federal judge in Manhattan has ruled. He ordered the state to Chang its selection process. In a preliminary ruling Friday . District judge John m. Walker said the state s exclusive use of sat standardized achievement tests scores to award Empire and regents scholarships violated the equal Protection clause of the Constitution. After a careful review of the evidence Walker said this court concludes that sat scores capture a student s academic achievement no More than a Stu Dent s yearbook photograph captures the full Range of her experiences in High  for reasons that experts have not fully explained boys consistently outscore girls on the widely used tests and the performance Gap Between the two sexes has been growing every year. Lawyers said the ruling is the first in the country to declare that sat results which have been widely criticized discriminate against any group. The tests usually taken by students in their Junior year in High school have become an ubiquitous feature of american life and Are widely used in helping to determine admission to colleges and graduate schools. They Are used exclusively to set minimum standards at hundreds of colleges nationwide according to critics of the tests. Critics of the testing companies said they believed the decision opened the door to a wide variety of attacks on the tests. Robert a. Schaeffer a spokesman for the National Center f9r fair and open testing said the decision was a major Victory for the critics that would encourage challenges to Many current uses of standardized tests. When the trawler sea venture Heads to Dock at Astoria ore., it normally in t ice covered. But it was t Normal times last week As freezing Ocean ice fishing Spray made the fishing nets of vessels inoperative. The solution was to head into port wait out the cold snap and allow the nets to thaw. Retired Reagan remains Active in California los Angeles a Ronald Rea Gan left the White House two weeks ago to retire As elder statesman in his be loved California. But instead of lounging around the Pool he s been Busy lining up work and visiting old haunts. The sex president has signed a Book Deal Worth up to $7 million. Lined up a $50,000-per-speech lec Ture contract. Opened his Century City offices where several offers Are pouring in. And there Are also social demands his 78th birthday party monday night at the ritzy Bistro gardens. A feb. 23 Palm Springs gala Honor ing Elizabeth Taylor. A feb 25 private Welcome Home dinner. The change of address has t caused any slowing Down of their schedule said spokesman Mark Weinberg. They Are very Active and on the  Reagan and his wife Nancy Haven t even taken time yet to visit their Santa bar Bara county Mountaintop Rancho Del Cielo. Rumours they might sell the ranch have repeatedly been denied by his staff. Shunning the reclusive lifestyle of Many celebrities the couple often Ven Ture from their Bel air Home to Dine at Chasens an exclusive los Angeles restaurant to attend sunday Church serv ices or to visit friends. Secret service agents drive Reagan from his $2.5 million Hillside Home to Century City a distance of 5 Miles where he takes a private elevator to his 34th-floor office suite at Fox Plaza and spends about six hours daily at his desk. Foreign dignitaries visiting Reagan have included ugandan president . A Weri a mus Eveni and japanese prime minister Noboru Takeshita. He has received a Telephone Call from Henry Kissinger a Telegram from Brit Ain s Prince Charles and Flowers from neighbors. Reagan invited news photographers to his office last week to take pictures of him at his desk before a private office lunch with his former agent Mca inc. Chairman Lew Wasserman. Reagan is apparently Fielding corporate Board membership offers with Mca and the los Angeles dodgers base Ball franchise seen As sure bets. He also is being sought for radio television an motion pictures. Hours after relinquishing the presidency to George Bush on Jan. 20, Reagan told cheering supporters at a los Angeles inter National Airport rally that he had been asked to Star in a sequel to bedtime for Bonzo the 1951 comedy in which he shared Star Billing with a Chimpanzee. Only this time they wanted me to play Bonzo he joked. However longtime Friend Irving Swifty Lazar who said he was working on an unspecified project for the sex president dismissed As ridiculous the Prospect of a Reagan movie comeback. There Are Many invitations for a variety of opportunities but president Rea Gan has no current plans to appear in any movies Weinberg said. However the nation May hear Reagan on saturday morning radio again expressing his thoughts and opinions Lazar said. For now Reagan s priority is his memoirs a b9ok for Simon & schuster that he promised would be an honest and straightforward look at where we have been with some thoughts on where we re  he is working on the Book every Day going through files and handwriting his thoughts on a Legal pad Weinberg said