European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 9, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a the stars and stripes wednesday october 9,1991american freed by Iran returns to Home Aiken . Apr a telecommunications Engineer jailed in Iran for five years on spying charges returned Home monday night. Jon Pattis 54, saluted reporters when he got off the plane at in Augusta ga., a few Miles from his Hometown of Aiken. Asked How it Felt to be Home he said  he quickly embraced his Mother Catherine and his sister Ellen who were waiting in a car parked nearby. After talking with a state department official Pattis went to his mothers Aiken Home. His sister said he would not Grant any interviews. A a he a Home. That a it. There a nothing to discuss a said Ellen Pattis 45. She said she woke up earlier monday to the news that her brother was coming Home. A i just almost went through the roof a she said earlier. A a we re overjoyed. We re very very Happy. He sounded fantastic. It was a great Way to Wake up in the  Jon Pattis called his sister and 79-year-old Mother on monday to Tell them he had been released. A have you Ever seen an entire family jump up and Down at the same time we Are especially grateful to the iranians for his release a Ellen Pattis said. Her brother worked for Cosmos engineers of be Thesda md., at Iran a main satellite ground station at Assad bad 200 Miles Southeast of Tehran. He was arrested after the station was bombed by iraqi jets during the Iran Iraq War in 1986. Iranians blamed Pattis and suspected he was a spy. He was quoted in a 1986 television interview As Saemg he had been supplying the Central intelligence Agency with information since 1969 on Iran a Economy military and Oil and telecommunications Industry. In 1987, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The state department denied in 1986 that Pattis had been working for the . Government. His aunt said there a no truth to the allegations. A i done to think there a anything to that whatsoever a said Ann Verene who lives next door to the patties. A i think somebody wrote what he said and he read  Jon Pattis graduated from Aiken High school in 1955 and from the University of South Carolina in 1959 with a degree in electrical engineering. His loth Grade biology teacher remembers him As being Independent quiet and a  a i would not have suspected of him of being involved in what they have accused him of being involved in a said Mary Lou Barlow now retired. Ellen Pattis was ecstatic but guarded in her conversation about the Campaign she waged to get her brother released. A a there a my Mother to consider a she said. A i do not want to stress her out any  a Jon Pattis walks to waiting car monday in Augusta Abrams pleads guilty to Contra Aid cover up by the los Angeles times Washington former assistant Secretary of state Elliott Abrams a prime architect of the Reagan administrations support of the nicaraguan rebels pleaded guilty monday to two counts of withholding information from Congress involving secret efforts to fund the contras. Abrams 43, who could be sentenced to a maximum of two years in jail and fined $200,000 on the Misdemeanour convictions showed no contrition in entering his guilty pleas or when Reading a statement on the courthouse Steps. Instead Abrams strode briskly to the Bank of microphones nodded to repeaters and said he believed at the time that the activities on which he testified in 1986 were a proper and  a i take full responsibility for my actions i made in those  Abrams pleas came Only Days before the five year statute of limitations would have barred his prosecution on the charges. He became the second ranking official to plead guilty since investigators turned their attention to prosecuting those involved in attempts to cover up the military assistance to the contras Aid that Congress had specifically outlawed. Last july Alan d. Fiers jr., former chief of the Ciao scentral american task Force entered a similar plea. Fiers cooperation led to the indictment of Clair e. George former head of Cia Covert operations on 10 felony counts of lying and obstructing investigations of the Iran Contra affair. Under his plea agreement Abrams the Only state department official convicted in the Iran Contra affair promised to cooperate in Independent counsel tons a he said adding that he is a proud Lawrence e. Walsh a nearly 5-year-old to have Given 12 years serving the United probe of the worst scandal to ensnare the states government and of the contrib Reagan administration. . District judge Aubrey Robinson set sentencing for nov. 15. Abrams is believed to have information that could incriminate one or More people serving As ambassadors in the Region during the Contra Effort. But Craig a. Gillen chief prosecutor in the Case declined to discuss the areas in which Abrams might prove helpful. Instead he contended a it is significant on the face of it that a former assistant Secretary of state admitted he had purposely withheld information from Congress. Both of Abrams admissions dealt with siesta on he was asked about articles in e los Angeles times detailing an elaborate secret network set up to Supply the nicaraguan rebels. On oct. 10, 1986, the Senate foreign relations committee looking into Nicaragua a Downing of a Contra resupply plane on which the Only survivor was an american questioned Abrams about an article on the Supply network. Abrams said a we have been kind of careful not to get closely involved with it and to stay away from it a referring to the network. He added a we do not encourage people to do this. We done to have conversations we done to Tell them to do this we done task them to do  according to the criminal charges to which Abrams pleaded guilty he actually a then and there Well knew that it. Col. Oliver North had been in Contact with people supplying the contras had conversations with people supplying the contras and had asked and encouraged them to Supply the  in the second count Abrams admitted withholding information from the House intelligence committee on oct. 14, 1986, when he was asked about a report that saudi Arabia was helping Supply the contras. Under the Law each Misdemeanour count carries a minimum punishment of 30 Days in jail and a $100 Fine but judges in the past have suspended the jail  claims beliefs forced him to take Money for preaching Montgomery Ala. A Alabama gov. Guy Hunt says his primitive Baptist beliefs left him no Choice but to accept $10,000 in a love offerings from churches he visited on trips using state owned aircraft. He contends prosecution would violate his right to Freedom of religion. His lawyers made the argument in court papers filed on the eve of a Federal court hearing tuesday in which the attorneys hoped to head off criminal charges against the governor who also claimed immunity from Alabama a ethics Law. The Alabama ethics commission ruled sept. 20 that there was probable cause to believe Hunt broke the Law by taking donations while on the preaching trips. The Case was referred to state attorney general Jimmy Evans who was about to take the matter to a grand jury when Hunt sued in Federal court to Stop him. On monday attorneys for the ethics panel and for Evans asked . District judge w. Harold Albritton to throw out Hunts lawsuit. A this unprecedented request by a sitting governor for Federal intervention into matters of state criminal Law enforcement is ill conceived and indeed illegitimate a Evans said. Drug firm to Appeal award Over birth defects Corpus Christi Texas apr a jury awarded $33.8 million to a couple whose child suffered birth defects linked to an anti nausea drug millions of women took during pregnancy before it was pulled off the Market in 1983. The firm that manufactured the drug says it will Appeal. Ernest and Marilyn Havner were awarded $30 million in punitive damages and $3.8 million in compensatory damages last week in a lawsuit Over the drug Ben pectin which Marilyn Havner took while she was pregnant in 1982. Bende tin caused some children to be born with deformed limbs said the couples lawyer Barry j. Nace. The a nigh a maker said scientific evidence shows that Bende tin does not cause birth defects. Merrell Dow pharmaceuticals which made Bende tin said it pulled the drug off the Market in 1983 because of the costs of lawsuits. The pharmaceutical company will Appeal spokesman David Thompson said monday. Merrell Dow has prevailed in 33 of 35 Bende tin lawsuits he said. More than 30 million women used the drug Between 1957 and 1983. Fire kills pregnant woman 4 others Dallas up a smoke from a soldering predawn fire killed a pregnant woman and four members of her family monday fire officials said. Two men were found dead inside the burning single Story House in the City soak Cliff Section. Two women and a boy were taken to a Hospital where they died fire department spokeswoman Carolyn Garcia said. A the cause of the fire was a natural  leak at the water Heater a Garcia said. Investigators determined the fire was accidental. Garcia identified the victims As Lester d. Carter 69 jewel f. Carter 70 Lester e. Carter 31 Karen Burton 35 and David Wayne Burton 10. A the 35-year-old female was pregnant a Garcia said. A doctors at Parkland Hospital performed an emergency a Section to try to save the child. The unborn child was  Garcia said the Dallas county medical examiner ruled the child a death was not a fire fatality. A we have every reason to believe that had these people had a smoke Detector they would have probably gotten out of the House a Garcia said. The Home did not have a smoke alarm Garcia said. Ironically monday was the beginning of fire prevention week in Dallas. Inspectors from the Dallas fire departments fire prevention Bureau went door to door monday replacing dead batteries and giving free smoke detectors to residents whose Homes did not have them. A they went to 17 houses. Only three had a working smoke Detector four needed batteries and the rest had nothing a Garcia said. She said some of the detectors and batteries were donated others were bought out of the fire departments budget. A we feel its Money Well spent a she said