Asheville Citizen-Times from Asheville, North Carolina • Page 1

1 IMlCfiti. IS NASTY Mj -4 fr I Wind, heavy rain and thunderstorms today and tonight- HI 58 L0 50 LFL Playoffs: Stcclors, Chargers; Cowboys, 49ers primed for shootouts Page ID Youth council gets teens involved with community Page 1C Students face gun charges Page IB OUTLOOK: Clearing after a stormy Sunday. SFOTUGIIT Details on page 10A ASHEVILLE TTZEN MES Multimedia Inc. it -k -k Saturday, Jan. 14, 199S VOICE OF THE MOUNTAINS Eta si WDll5irii wwm warns Board acknowledges 2 employees fired for alleged kickbacks dren are run efficiently.

Last year the Opportunity Corp. assisted more than 900 families, and mm I has assisted 25,000 families since its inception in 1965. But Edington confirmed that two employees were fired last month because of alleged kickbacks. An investigation is taking place. Last week Dee Williams was dismissed as executive director of the norpnnv.

Shp Vina said ttiA By Paul Clark and Paul Johnson STAFF WRITERS The board of the Opportunity Corp. of Madison-Buncombe Counties defended itself and denied accusations of wrongdoing Friday as investigations of the non-profit group proceeded on a state, local and possibly federal level. "We are interested in clearing the air," Opportunity Corp. board Vice Chairman Arthur Edington said Friday afternoon. Edington, a retired school administrator, spoke for the, board following an hour-and-10-minutes closed The closed session to discuss personnel took place at the agency's office in the West-gate Shopping Center in Asheville.

Edington said there has been no mismanagement of money, and programs to help low-income people, the disabled, homeless and chil- was following legal counsel and wanted to gather information on matters involved in the allegations, Edington said. He declined to discuss the reasons for Williams' dismissal, citing personnel matters. Williams said she fired a supervisor and department head because of mismanagement and kickbacks involving the agency's emergency fuel supply. Edington acknowledged that Williams fired two employees in December involved in an "alleged kickback scheme." Edington wouldn't elaborate on who the employees are or the circumstances. A due process hearing will be held on the firings, though no date has been set, Edington said.

The board will wait to hear from the Attorney General's Office, he said. The board was surprised by Williams' allegations because she never brought her con- See Agency on page 6A VI agency, with an annual "ee Williams budget of $2.6 million, lacked oversight of pub- lie money. As a result programs were mismanaged, she said. Friday's comments were the first response from the board. The board held off responding because it JOHN COlTTLAKlSanZEN-TIMES Lonnle Burton, acting executive director of Opportunity leaves a closed meeting of the administrative board Friday.

I Russians press (Grozny assault Rebels fighting back furiously v. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GROZNY, Russia Chechen rebels held onto key parts of Chechnya's capital Friday, defying withering Russian rocket and artillery attacks on a city shattered and largely deserted after two weeks of fighting. For days, Russian troops have seemed close to i i A i 4 9 i outgunned and outnum 4 i i- Flood watch issued for WNC FROM STAFF REPORTS Heavy rainfall that was to start early Saturday could lead to flooding in Western North Carolina over the weekend. Two to 4 inches of rain is possible in the mountains and foothills through Sunday, the National Weather Service forecast Friday. "It looks like a pretty good chance (for flooding)," said Hank Moore with the Weather Service station at the Asheville Regional Airport "We've got a real slow-moving storm up from the Gulf states that has a lot of moisture in it" The rains could cause creeks and streams to rise suddenly, creating hazardous situations.

Motorists should be careful about washed-out or flooded sections of roads, the Weather Service said. "Should the rains come heavy and suddenly, some rock or mud slides are also possible given the recent freezing and thawing of the ground," the Weather Service bulletin said. The expected heavy rains will bring back memories of the most recent flooding in WNC that caused more than $11 million in damage. In the middle of last August, torrential rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl drenched the region. The Aug.

16-18 rains caused an estimated $11.4 million in damages to roads, bridges, homes and businesses from Watauga, Caldwell and Catawba counties west to Jackson and Haywood counties. Moore said people who live in flood-prone areas should monitor nearby creeks and streams when it begins raining and motorists should not drive through standing water. bered rebels resisted fiercely, even though their leader has admitted Russia can't be defeated militarily. The fall of Grozny would be an important symbolic victory for Russia, and eventually would enable it to install some provisional government But it would not give President Boris Yeltsin's government firm control over Chechnya. The Chechens have vowed to continue the war from the southern mountains, where many guerrillas are based.

The Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev, also has a base in the mountains, according to Russian reports. Commanders appeared to be using their artillery Btrength to try LOCATION: 900 miles southeast of Moscow on the north side of the Caucasus Mountains. POPULATION: 1.3 million in 1989 census. Mostly ethnic Chechens with a sizable Russian minority. CAPITAL Grozny, 400,000 ETHNICITY: Related to the Turks and speak a Caucasian language.

RELIGION: Sunni Moslem ECONOMY: Major oilfield, 1 chemical and construction materials plants, food canneries, timber, woodworking and furniture. HISTORY: Conquered by Russians in late 1850s, and Included in Russian Republic following the Communist revolution. In 1944, Stalin deported entire population, some of whom returned only after 1957. Declared independence from Moscow fal 1991. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GROZNY A boy wearing a Russian army helmet plays on a skateboard despite heavy artillery and rocket bombardments Friday.

Professor: Chechnya war endangers Russian reforms Russian Army appears close to storming the region's capital city of Grozny. The Chechens are a Muslim people completely 'unrelated to the Slavic Russians. Their Connecticut-sized nation is on the north side of the Caucasus Mountains between the Black Sea and the Cas- pian Sea. Most Chechens describe themselves as a proud people who, when attacked, call on a centuries-old warrior tradition and a deep-seated belief in taking revenge on their enemies. They invoke the legendary leader, Shamfl, who led the By Dan Voorhls STAFF WRITER Why should the average Western North Carolinian care about the fighting in Chechnya, a place they may have never heard of until last month? It's a good question with a good answer, says UNCA professor Ted Uldricks, who specializes in modern Russian history.

The brutal conflict began when the Russians invaded the small area in south ern Russia Dec 18. After one bloody failed attempt just after Christmas, the Chechens when the Caucasus revolted against Czarist Russia from 1825 to 1859 before finally making peace with Moscow. But the Russians traditionally have viewed the Chechens as bandits and criminals. There is some truth to it After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Chechnya became the former nation's organized crime capital. The Chechen mafia operates in all former Soviet cities and is spreading into Western Europe.

Bloody though it may be, the fate of 4 See Chechnya on page 6A to break the Chechen re- sistance and clear the way for Russian ground attacks. It was the second day of major artillery attacks, and dozens of rockets slammed into southern districts of the dty where rebel fighters were concentrated. Holiday retail sales drop; economy slowing down? Simpson Trial Race issue reappears; lawyers clash over detective's alleged slur. Page A The Morning report A five-minute capsule of the day's news, gports, business and television. Paget A Still, sales for all of last year were up 7.6 percent, the strongest showing since they rose 10 percent In 1984.

Kevin Sigriat of Norwest a Minneapolis bank, said discounts may account for some of the December dropoff. "Consumers may be buying as much but paying less," he said. He also said the decline will not necessarily lower fourth-quarter economic growth figures due out Jan. 27 because higher inventories could take up the slack. Analyst project the economy was on target to grow more than 4 percent last year.

Friday's data triggered a rally on Wall Street The Dow Jones industrial average rose nearly 60 points and bond prices were up sharply. Uon. "The economy may be a lot less robust than prior data had suggested. This is a very shocking development," said economist Elliott Tlatt of Donaldson, Lufkin Jcnrette Securities Corp. in New York City.

The weakness in this report should open up the debate as to whether the Fed has to raise rates" at its Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting, said his colleague at the securities firm, Marilyn Schaja. "We think that the odds are still in favor of a Fed tightening, but the odds have clearly been lowered." The Commerce Department also said that November sales were sharply lower than previously thought, They advanced Just 0.2 percent in November, instead of an earlier estimate of 12 percent 7-84 EXTRA. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON The first decline in retail sales in eight months at the height of the Christmas shopping season suggests to stunned analysts that Americans' spending spree may finally be slowing.

Despite the tail-off, sales grew more rapidly for all of 1994 than they had in a decade. The Commerce Department Said Friday that sales dropped 0.1 percent in December, the first decline since a 1 percent plunge in April. Analysis said a long-awaited slowdown in consumer spending may be under way as inter-cot rate increases begin to take a tolL Still, they predicted that an ever-wary Federal Reserve will boost rates at the end of the month for a seventh time since February to choke off infla- JC 4C MB BILLY GRAHAM RELIGION BUSINESS CLASSIFIED, COMICS -240 MOVIES OPINION 4-5 SPORTS J-5D TELEVISION TV tpotngM 4-5C 28 70 STATE NLWS DEATH3 41 PtfM Vol 12ft, Nc, 14 1995. Astevm CWnwvTune Publishing Co..