O.J. trial resumes; Ito `on a mission'

  Paul Leavitt; Sally Ann Stewart; Jonathan T. Lovitt ; Tony Mauro

  04/26/1995

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 10A

  (Copyright 1995)

  Testimony resumed in the O.J. Simpson murder trial Tuesday with Judge Lance

  Ito displaying a new, no-nonsense attitude after recent private meetings with

  jurors, whose complaints included the pace of the trial.

  Ito, who has been criticized for letting the lawyers argue too much, moved

  several times to speed the proceedings along.

  "He's finally acting like a judge, a man with a mission to finish this case," said

  former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson.

  Defense lawyers, cross-examining police scientist Andrea Mazzola, pressed their

  attack on the way blood evidence was collected. Mazzola admitted she used one

  swab to collect three blood stains from Simpson's Bronco, although that's not the

  way she was trained to do it. -- Sally Ann Stewart and Jonathan T. Lovitt

  GULF WAR SICKNESS: The CIA is reviewing Persian Gulf war intelligence

  data to resolve whether troops were exposed to chemical agents. "Nothing has

  yet surfaced that leads the CIA to disagree with the Department of Defense

  conclusion that chemical weapons were not used," spokesman Mark Mansfield

  said. More than 34,000 veterans and 10,000 active-duty troops blame illnesses on

  gulf service.

  NAVY SEXUAL HARASSMENT: Three instructors at the San Diego Navy

  Training Center were convicted of various charges after a seven-month probe of

  sexual harassment and fraternization with recruits. One was court-martialed, and

  two got non-judicial punishments. All were reprimanded and docked pay; one

  also was demoted a rank. Charges were dismissed against a fourth for lack of

  evidence. In November, seven others got non-judicial punishments. The Navy

  said initial accusations that male instructors demanded sex for grades from 16

  female students were unfounded.

  POSSIBLE BOMB PLOT: Brothers Sean Patrick and Brian Scott Bottoms of

  Madison, Tenn., were arrested Monday on charges of possessing explosive

  components. Police said the arrests followed a tip that the men may have been

  plotting to kidnap John Seigenthaler, former publisher of The Tennesseean and

  ex- USA TODAY editorial page editor, and Nashville talk show host Les

  Jamison. Among items found at the brothers' home: three pipe bombs, and

  materials to make more.

  -- A New Mexico bomb squad exploded a grenade found in a vending box

  outside the Albuquerque Journal. The device had no pin in it; it wasn't known if

  it would explode.

  ALSO TUESDAY . . .

  -- PRESIDENT'S WIDOW FAINTS: Lady Bird Johnson was released from an

  Austin, Texas, hospital after fainting at a dinner party at the Lyndon Baines

  Johnson presidential library Monday. Johnson, 82, had a stroke in 1993. Long

  periods of intense activity have caused fainting spells, says her former press

  secretary and friend Liz Carpenter.

  -- SICK BUILDING: Reliance Insurance Co. must pay Polk County, Fla., $25.8

  million because mold in a new courthouse sickened hundreds of workers, a jury

  in St. Petersburg decided. The county had insurance for faulty workmanship in

  the 10-story, $32 million building in Barstow. It closed in 1992. Repair cost:

  nearly $40 million.

  High court hears parade arguments

  Supreme Court justices offered little support to a homosexual group that claims a

  constitutional right to march in Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade. The South

  Boston Allied War Veterans Council says it alone decides who marches. At

  issue: the right to associate privately with whomever one chooses, and equal

  treatment under the law.

  "For a court to tell a private entity how to celebrate St. Patrick's Day is

  antithetical to the First Amendment," said Justice Anthony Kennedy.

  Chester Darling, lawyer for the Veterans Council, said parade sponsors have the

  exclusive right to shape its content: "My clients exclude messages, not people."

  John Ward, lawyer for the Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of

  Boston, said the parade is an "open recreational event" and excluding

  homosexuals is illegal. -- Tony Mauro

  Contributing: Steve Timko.

  PHOTO,b/w,AFP; PHOTO,b/w,AP