j HTATE SCI |T%HE battalion E BATTAl. p-p Fired Enron 7A Tuesday, January 22, 2002 auditor may testify I WASHINGTON (AP)—'Congressional the island^ investigators in the Enron probe pressed li^onday tor public testimony by a fired •dglings de ,: auditor who says the Arthur Andersen ere taken Bcounting tirm shares the blame for ne of the • Enron’s collapse. I Dismissed over the destruction of thou- uerearaa sands of Enron-related documents, David more almost- ke Pontchan; erry across J breakssaten eorges rippec ands. The • pped by air >irds were Id ery traditiom ■ same place trris. chief b ildlife Sen Louisiana. N BRIEF on gets heart ■uncan told investigators that Andersen hkd ample information when it evaluated tie controversial partnership arrange- ■ents at Enron that were a big factor in its Rnkruptcy. Enron kept hundreds of mil lions of dollars in debt off the balance sleet for several years. I Duncan "did not sit there and say ’Enron Id all this information from us and there fore we couldn’t count right,”’ said Rep. Ji i Greenwood, R-Pa., who heads a House p;nel investigating the collapse. “It was lore of... 'we made mistakes.”’ I Rather than giving a "mea culpa,” Duncan Ive “a wea culpa; he did not p>oint the finger | Enron,” Greenwood said Monday, charac- Irizing the comments the tired auditor made last week to congressional investigators. I Duncan’s lawyers sought to delay his pub lic testimony, scheduled for Thursday before le House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, arguing that Duncan needs more time to prepare. But Greenwood, who chairs the sub committee, rejected the request, saying Duncan “doesn't really need to recall every detail of what he did for Enron. We're focused on the destruction of documents. We’ll subpoena him if we have to.” Andersen chief executive Joseph “Berardino is saying that the company found fault with Duncan’s destruction of documents. He (Duncan) needs to defend himself,” said Greenwood. If Duncan testifies, the hearing will pit him against Andersen's legal department and company management in Chicago. Appearing Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Berardino criticized Duncan and defended attorney Nancy Temple, who advised the Houston office by electronic mail on Oct. 12 about the firm’s document destruc tion policy. That was just four days before Enron announced more than $6(X) million in third-quarter losses and took the first step in disclosing details of the partnerships. Berardino said Duncan displayed “at the least ... extremely poor judgment” for his part in discarding the documents in October and November. Berardino said Temple reminded the Houston office of the policy to do away with some, documents “because account ants are pack rats ... We save lots of stuff that’s not relevant.” But Duncan told investigators “it was unusual” for a company lawyer to empha size the document-destruction policy. Meanwhile, a lawyer for Kenneth L. Lay, Enron’s chairman and chief executive, said Lay disposed of millions of dollars in Enron stock before the company’s collapse last year because he needed to raise cash to repay loans, not because of concerns about the health of his company. Attorney Earl J. Silbert said Lay had put up shares of his Enron stock as collateral for other investments. On at least 15 occa sions between February and October last year. Lay returned shares to the company to repay $4 million he had received through a credit line. However, Silbert also said that Lay held onto some stock, detailing one transaction in which Lay exercised options to purchase 68,000 shares of Enron stock on Aug. 21. “He continues to hold that stock today,” Silbert said. ’HIA (AP)- man who le; » the woifc t of a selko- ;ial heart r; d from a r: nearby h TlMtS — riday Si® . & 9:00 etCI- 1 NG Won Each Vh oef Profiles pport Groups ■STDs idsofDwFsriy PoiicyiPrccttMW MciMtecjjChjiM Board of Regents in August. UT’s fee was proposed at the UT System Board of Regents meeting in January, when students were not in class. I “Students here just don't typically protest,” said Cindy Lawson, director of University Relations at A&M. “The administration has had pretty open discourse with any fee. Students had opportunity to ask questions and give feedback,on numerous occasions.” 1 Student Body President Schuyler Houser said no survey of student opinion has been conducted, but not because students are unconcerned about the issue. I "Truly, there are several other big issues right now that require student involvement and demand a lot of time," Houser said, referring to last week’s survey on Bonfire 2002. 1 Bowen's forums about the enhancement fee have been sparsely attended, but so many students attended a recent Bonfire 2002 forum that it had to be moved from an MSC meet ing room to Rudder Theatre. I UT President Larry Faulkner held a forum last Thursday attend ed by a reported 200 students hoping to learn more about the issue. I Dunman said YCT at A&M has also been busy fighting the pro posed plan to offer automatic admittance to the top 20 percent of economically disadvantaged students in 253 Texas high schools. [ Houser said one reason for the difference in student input is that, if approved, UT's fee will affect current students, while the most pop ular of A&M's plans for collecting the fee will affect future students. [ "It is always more attention-grabbing when you know some thing will significantly affect you," she said. Houser said the enhancement fee was proposed with the least amount of impact on current students because many have already set their four- or five- year financial plans. I Long said the students he has spoken with oppose the fee, which averages to between $3,000 and $4,000 more for the aver age four-year degree program. "If A&M is trying to recruit lower income students, this fee will counteract that," he said. Bush ^ Continued from page 1 esale onds Certified 1/ ie ~azos Valle/ luntlcV f79 aJ DoHege W\ x TX 7? 84 ! i-8916 972 to send their children to private schools. Bush said Florida is making enormous strides in public education, especially among poor minority students. “We’re closing the learning gap,” Bush said. “I took enor mous grief for some of these initiatives, but if you stay the course and show some results, the fears begin to subside.” Bush also discussed the controversy surrounding Elian Gonzalez, the six-year-old Cuban refugee who was returned to Cuba in 2000 over the strenuous objections of his Miami relatives and the Cuban- American community in south Florida. The incident brought to the surface deep feelings of suspicion and distrust among the various ethnic groups of south Florida. These tensions were exacerbated by the Clinton administration’s handling the issue. Bush said. “The case should have been left to a local judge so custody could be decided based on what was best for the child,” Bush said. “But Clinton elevated this into a federal issue, and it hurt a lot of people in our community.” Florida is second only to Texas in the number of death row prisoners executed each year, but Bush said carrying out the sentence of death is the hardest part of his job. “1 believe in the death penalty, but I’m not God, and signing a death warrant is really hard,” Bush said. Bush is running for a second term as Florida’s governor in the November general elections. WELCOME BACK STUDENTS! 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