European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 6, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday november 6, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 7recent Mia probes fail to show americans still held Cheney says Washington apr recent Pentagon investigations of promising leads have failed to yield any evidence that . Service members Are still being held As captives from the Vietnam War defense Secretary Dick Cheney told senators tuesday. Cheney outlined the defense departments intensified efforts to resolve the mystery surrounding thousands of americans who disappeared during the Southeast asian conflict. He said studies of photographs and purported eyewitness accounts had failed to produce any clues. A we must naturally pursue every Lead that comes our Way a Cheney said. A but each time we Rush to answer these false alarms our resources Are diverted from solid leads and productive lines of inquiry. A individuals who repeatedly provide false information Well intentioned or not should be called to account for their  Cheney denied that the defense department had tried to withhold information from family members. All of the Pentagon a files will be made available except for classified material he said. Sen. Jesse Helms r-n.c., said about 2,500 americans were lost in Southeast Asia while conducting secret missions for the government a their names have never been released a Helms said. However Cheney said that was news to him. A a there a no separate list of men who were lost on Covert operations he replied. Cheney testified before a special Senate committee investigating the Fate of the missing americans. Except for Cheney All of the panels witnesses were put under oath. A it is to put people on record under oath to understand where we Are beginning from a said sen. John f. Kerry d-mass., who chairs the committee. A it is not a Perry Mason moment when somebody a going to leap up and say a they re Here they re Here a a the defense department still lists 2,273 americans As missing in action. Almost All of them Are considered to be dead but Many of their families remain sceptical about their official status. A the problem now is that the Trust is broken Down Between the american people and the Congress and the president on this Issue a said sen. Robert c. Smith r-n.h., vice chairman of the committee. Kerry and Smith spoke in separate interviews. Reports of live americans sighted in Southeast Asia and photographs of questionable authenticity have rekindled thoughts that somewhere in the Jungles americans languish at the hands of communist captors. This in t the first time Congress or the White House has tried to put this Issue to rest but things arc different now the chairman said. The vietnamese arc More cooperative than before and so is the Pentagon which in the past has been accused of giving the Brushoff to families of the missing keeping too much information secret and dismissing evidence that May have merited further attention. Tuesdays witnesses before the committee were from the Pentagon and the defense intelligence Agency. Witnesses later in the week Are to include . Officials based in Southeast Asia who Are working on the search for missing americans. The committee also plans to hear from representatives of veterans groups missing americans relatives and Bui tin a former vietnamese communist party member who defected to the  from wire reports West Palm Beach Fla. William Kennedy Smiths lawyers asserted for the first time that Smiths accuser willingly had sex with him and then cried rape after the two got into an argument. The glimpse of Smiths defense was contained in court papers filed monday after a third Day of jury selection for his trial. The 31-year-old Nephew of sen. Edward m. Kennedy d-mass., is accused of raping the woman now 30, on March 30 at the Kennedy family a Palm Beach estate. As of monday no members of the six person jury had been seated for the trial. Opening arguments Are set for dec. 2, a the defense will seek to show that the woman and Smith argued after haying had consensual sex a his lawyers said in a document hinting they might claim revenge was her motive. No details of the supposed argument were Given. His lawyers argued previously that emotional instability and traumatic experiences such As abortions spurred her to fabricate the accusation. But rulings by judge Mary Lupo have sharply restricted their ability to make such claims to jurors. In court papers monday Smiths lawyers also asked the judge to allow testimony about the alleged victims past cocaine use. Prosecutors say such evidence _ is irrelevant because she did not use Ruar Hinn Angels no test As William Kennedy Smith arrives for jury selection monday drugs the night of the alleged , ply Beach Ccu courthouse. 1 a they also asked of   about an alleged incident years ago in which the woman broke a car Antenna in revenge after arguing with another woman. A the incident concerning the car Antenna is relevant to show True intent in the rape Case the defense said. The lawyers argued that the woman similarly took an urn and other items from the Kennedy estate a not because she needed a evidence to prove that she had been raped a but As  members of the guardian Angels the Volunteer anti crime group based in new York picketed outside the Kennedy estate sunday and outside the courthouse monday. Their Leader Curtis Sliwa said they urge both sides in the trial to a keep it  at court monday lawyers questioned eight new prospective jurors a for a total of 22 Over three Days. Thirteen candidates have been placed in the Pool for future questioning and nine were excused. A new Issue emerged monday when one woman candidate Florence Sakolsky said the judges trial schedule which envisions holding court on saturdays might make it difficult for her to observe the jewish Sabbath. Sakolsky told the court for example that she would not be Able to ride in any vehicle to and from court from Sundown Friday to saturdays Sunset. Although Lupo initially wanted to excuse Sakolsky Lead defense attorney Roy e. Black objected and the judge permitted the lawyers to question Sakolsky a saying later she would Quot Iron it  pee wee oks Deal to avoid trial Sarasota Fla. A an attorney for pee wee Herman said monday that the actor has agreed to Lead no contest to an indecent exposure charge stemming from his arrest in an adult movie theater. Under the Deal the pee weeks playhouse Star whose real name is Paul Reubens a would pay a $50 Fine Dius court costs and perform 50 hours of Community service. He would be free of a conviction on the Misdemeanour charge because prosecutors said Thev would not seek a guilty finding. If convicted in a anal Reubens could have faced 60 Days in jail and a $500 Fine. A a n a it was an offer too Good to refuse attorney Ron Dresnick said. A pee wee wants to get the whole thing behind him and to avoid the personal trauma of a  j Reubens 39, grew up in Sarasota and lives in studio City Calif. He was arrested at an adult theater in Sarasota on july 26 after detectives said they saw him masturbating twice in 10 minutes during showings of pornographic movies. Soon after Reubens was arrested prosecutors offered him a $500 Fine and a years probation and Community service in Exchange for a guilty plea. Those negotiations collapsed when authorities released a booking photograph of Reubens with Long hair Ponytail and a Goatee very different from the animated childlike character he plays. After Reubens arrest lbs dropped reruns of the saturday morning children shit pee weeks playhouse. On oct. 29, prosecutors offered Reubens the Deal he has agreed to accept. Sarasota county judge Judy Goldman had set a hearing on that offer for tuesday. Dresnick said he and Reubens would not show up tuesday but expected the judge to set a plea Date possibly for late this week. Reubens attorneys maintained he would have been cleared at a trial. They said the testimony of undercover detectives was questionable and a theater Security camera videotape showed Reubens in the lobby during the time when he allegedly was inside exposing  . State offices May be closed on 5 Days by the new York times Albany . A seeking ways to close the states $700 million budget Gap the admin Sara Tion of gov. Mario m. Cuomo is considering a plan to shut Down most state government offices on five weekdays before Jan. 6. Under the plan most state employees would be told to stay Home a and to forfeit their pay a on the Day after thanksgiving As Well As the thursdays and fridays after Christmas and new years Day. Administration officials stressed monday that the plan could be revised or abandoned. Nevertheless it indicated How grim the search has become for a deficit reducing program. The proposal to shut Down offices would probably save the state from $120 million to $160 million