The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 73

VALLEY EDITION Go Anmlm CIRCULATION: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1998 COPYRIGHT 1 998THE TIMES. MIRROR COMPANY FCC 124 PAGES DAILY 25 DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER IffKJXil DAILY 1 J8SJ73 SUNDAY SATURDAY JOURNAL i i 'I GOP Defections Appear to Doom Impeachment Vote Congress: Eight House Republicans now say they'll oppose Clinton's ouster. Additional wavering party colleagues could deliver the death blow to removal effort By JANET HOOK and MARC LACEY, times staff writers WASHINGTON Efforts to remove President Clinton from office appear all but dootned in the House of Representatives, with several Republican lawmakers now saying they would vote against impeachment and even more GOP members leaning toward a "nay" vote. 7 7' 4 ('. fX 1 Last of 46 State Officials Sign Tobacco Accord by CAROLYN COLE Lo Angeles Times Devon Powery Moore rests with son Wilmer amid debris in Mangrove Bight.

They sought refuge in a school when Mitch hit the island. After the Storm Mitch tore apart tiny Honduran island of Guanaja. Now residents wonder what's next. By JUAN1TA DARLING, times staff writer GUANAJA, Honduras Little Brian Suazo's birthday will always remind his family of the moaning winds that destroyed their house and swept away his crib when he was only hours old. He entered the world just as the 100-mph winds of Hurricane Mitch seized his home in Guanaja, the most eastern of the three Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras.

The winds continued for three terrifying days, battering the once-lush island in a preview of what lay ahead for the rest of Central America. Perhaps nowhere else are the abiding changes wrought by Mitch stamped more clearly. Gratitude that the storm killed only eight inhabitants easily gives way to fear that it ripped away the future for the remaining 8,000. Here, Mitch scattered the McLaughlins of Savannah Bight, a family clustered in one seaside neighborhood before a house knocked off its stilts killed the matriarch, Miss Florentina. Here, the Moore clan of Mangrove Bight spent three days standing up in a flooded, kindergarten as Mitch splintered their houses and washed away their dream that Please see STORM, A14 In recent interviews, eight House Republicans told The Times that, barring the discovery of damaging new evidence against the president, they would vote against impeachment.

It would take only 11 Republican defections to keep articles of impeachment from going to the Senate, if House Democrats remain united behind the president. Even if, as expected, a handful of Democrats break ranks and vote for impeachment, the Republican majority is narrow enough that GOP impeachment advocates would need to hold onto every possible Republican to succeed. Yet there now are enough Republicans who say they are leaning against impeachment to put the GOP move to drive Clinton from office in serious danger. And if the number of doubters who have yet to declare their intentions reaches into the dozens, as some Republican vote-counters now maintain, the process bogs down completely. "There are at least 50 Republicans who feel this matter has gone on for so long that it is leading nowhere," said Rep.

John Edward Porter of Illinois, one of the GOP lawmakers who has declared that he would vote against impeachment given current evidence. "If you DASH QUITS Sam Dash resigned his position as ethics advisor to Kenneth W. Starr. A21 don't have the votes for impeachment and I don't think they do we should vote a resolution of censure," Porter said. Such compromises have been dismissed outright by Henry J.

Hyde chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who maintains that his panel's job is to vote for or against impeachment based on the evidence. Although independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr's testimony Thursday was once going to be the beginning and the end of the committee's inquiry, Hyde and fellow committee Republicans now seem to be expanding the witness list and the scope of their review-to matters well beyond Clinton's effort to keep secret his affair with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky. With Hyde's self-imposed year-end deadline looming, he is facing a political conundrum: Even if, as expected, he successfully navigates articles of impeachment through his committee in coming weeks, the case may very well die on the House floor if all 435 members of the 105th Congress are convened next month to pass judgment.

The schism within the Republican Party is a hopeful sign for Democrats eager to censure the Please see HOUSE, A20 a Big Slice Out 7 At the Golf Emporium in Santa the exDensive titanium drivers By MYRON LEVIN and HENRY WEINSTEIN TIMES staff writers The record $206-billion tobacco settlement became a certainty Friday, as the last of 46 state attorneys general signed onto the accord that eliminates the greatest single legal threat facing the tobacco industry. The deal will provide $25 billion to both California and New York over the next 25 years, and lesser sums to the other states triggering major battles across the nation over whether to spend the windfall for anti-smoking campaigns or for roads, schools and government operations. The states' approval of the deal had seemed a foregone conclusion, and as a Friday deadline loomed only Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maryland were still seen as potential holdouts. But all three came into the fold, saying the deal, while imperfect, provided more financial and public health benefits than they were likely to win in court. Please see TOBACCO, A12 Space Module Blazes a New Trail in Orbit By RICH ARDC.

PADDOCK TIMES STAFF WRITER BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan Zarya, a high-tech space tugboat and control module, rose into the sky Friday fron the windswept steppe of Central Asia, becoming the first segment of a new International Space Station to be launched into orbit. With a burst of flame and a thunderous explosion, the unmanned, $300-million unit successfully reached orbit atop a Russian -made Proton rocket 14 years after NASA began drawing up plans to build a new space station. Please see SPACE, A8 of Golf Shops -m Democrats May Find Unity Elusive Politics: Seeds of discord among top three state leaders threaten ambitious agenda. Photos McLaughlin's mother died in storm. for long Republican reigns.

Although each member of the triumvirate has professed a commitment to unity, the seeds of disagreement, particularly between Burton and Villaraigosa, have already been sown by differences in style and the demands of their constituencies. So Davis' most troubling political problem could be his fellow Democrats. "We've got a lot of people trying to make their place in history," said Assemblyman Dick Floyd (D-Wilmington), a legislative veteran of Please see UNITY, A25 VALLEY NEWS PIERCE PRESIDENT OUT The Pierce College board voted not to reappoint President E. Bing Inocencio. 1 FLOW THROUGH A Burbank filtration plant closed over possibly tainted water is set to reopen.

Bl TOBACCO FUNDS Mayor Riordan, city attorney disagree over use of tobacco settlement money. Bl WEATHER: Mostly sunny, with breezy conditions below the canyons and passes. Highs in low 80s. Lows near 40. B8 INDEX TO FEATURES 0NA4 Armando stayed behind to clean up and rebuild.

He cobbled together a woodshed-size shelter from scrap wood and steel, his sweat mixing with tears. A Associated Press Clinton in Asia The president warns Japan on trade and North Korea on nuclear arms. A4 Heists Taking Crime: Popular titanium clubs worth up to $400 apiece are an easy target for thieves. By JEFF GOTTLIEB TIMES STAFF WRITER Police got the alarm call at 3:28 a.m. But by then, it was too late.

Burglars using a technique seen in golf shop heists throughout the country rushed into the Alta Vista Country Club in Placentia on a recent Monday, grabbed $11,270 worth of premium titanium clubs and made their getaway long before police arrived. The thefts began about three years ago, reflecting the increased popularity of clubs with heads made from the strong, lightweight metal, which allows golfers to hit balls farther than traditional steel clubs do. Titanium, which is also i PL. CMJRS. A23 By MAX VANZI and VIRGINIA ELLIS TIMES STAFF WRITERS SACRAMENTO Fresh from a heady election victory, a powerful new troika of like-minded Democrats Gray Davis, Assembly Speaker Antonio Villarai-gosa and Senate President Pro Tern John Burton seems poised to take charge of state government and move on an extraordinarily ambitious agenda.

After Republicans, Democrats for the first time in 16 Armando years have the power needed to mold California government to their image they have captured the governor's office and they hold comfortable majorities in both houses of the Legislature. So what could be wrong with this picture? Potentially, plenty. "Three times, Democrats have had the governorship in this century, and three times they've blown it," said Tony Quinn, a veteran GOP analyst, citing internecine wars between Democratic governors and legislators that helped pave the way mi xvi jl jlvvjl the opening of a Palestinian airport in the Gaza Strip next week. The steps are part of the Wye agreement signed at the White House on Oct. 23 after a hard-fought nine-day summit.

The interim agreement is meant to build SETTLERS LIVE ON THE EDGE Future is uncertain for those bordered by Palestinian-controlled areas on three sides. A5 Palestinians Are Euphoric 1 -i nn a a xun wxx wwv-wk miueasi; uispuie over release oi prisoners uouus West Bank celebrations. Jewish settlers mou rn loss of land. By TRACY WILKINSON TIMES STAFF WRITER KABATIYA, West Bank-Firing assault rifles into the air, Palestinian police marched into towns and villages in the West Bank on Friday as Israel gave up land it has occupied for 31 years. Israel transferred an additional 9' of the West Bank to full or partial Palestinian control, fulfilling a crucial step in a new U.S.-brokered peace agreement.

The relinquished land was fragmented and desolate; still, Friday's handover represented the most concrete movement in nearly two years of a stalemated peace process. In addition, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners and approved on the 1993 Oslo peace accords and avert renewed warfare. In it, the Palestinians agreed to fight terrorism and anti-Israel incitement. It is the withdrawal from land, however, that is the most dramatic aspect of the accord and is exacting PIwtePAt.ESTfNlANS Aft ROBERT LACHMAN Lot Angela Timet Ana, Richard Guerrero holds some of that are favorite targets of thieves..