Suicide Spurs Debate of Admiral's Integrity
WASHINGTON, D.C.: In the wake of the suicide of the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Pentagon officials and lawmakers are asking whether Admiral Michael Boorda deliberately wore Vietnam combat decorations he knew he was not entitled to wear. Arizona Senator and former Vietnam POW John McCain came to the admiral's defense and said Boorda could have made an honest mistake. But others in the military suggested that such an error was inconceivable, particularly for a man who had run a naval personnel office for years. Boorda shot himself in the chest Thursday soon after learning that a reporter would be questioning him about two "V's" he wore with Vietnam War campaign medals. "The V is more prestigious than the medal itself because it means the decoration was won under fire," says Pentagon correspondent Mark Thompson. "Generally the citation will explicitly state if the soldier can wear the 'V'. Boorda's citation mentions combat operations but does not authorize him to wear the 'V'."

In two suicide notes, Boorda said he was taking his life because he feared the investigation into his decorations could tarnish not only his reputation but that of the Navy as well. Boorda was the Navy's top uniformed officer and succeeded Admiral Frank Kelso as chief of Naval operations after the Tailhook scandal. Inheriting an institution battered by sex harassment and drug use charges, Boorda made it his mission to emphasize the need for honor among Naval forces. Boorda was highly respected in both military and civilian circles. Friday, Defense Secretary William J. Perry praised Boorda in a speech at Maryland's Andrews Air Force Base, making no mention of the decoration controversy. Perry said Boorda was an extraordinary patriot who cared most about rank-and-file sailors. "Nobody had more pride in his sailors," said Perry. "Mike's legacy -- the Navy he helped to create -- will live on." --Chris McKenna

Hard Bargaining
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Pyongyang upped the ante in its on-again, off- again confrontation with South Korea Friday when a small troop of North Korean soldiers crossed the demarcation line of the demilitarized zone separating the two nations. Seven soldiers ventured 20 to 30 yards into the South's territory and fired rifles in the air but retreated an hour later after South Korean border guards returned14 warning shots. North Korea hopes its latest violation of the 43-year-old armistice between the two nations will draw the U.S. back into direct talks with Pyongyang over peace on the Korean peninsula, says HNN's David Jackson. "For years the North has tried to go around the South and negotiate directly with the US. Basically, North Korea figures Washington is easier to bargain with than South Korea, but U.S. policy has been to insist that the future of the Korean Peninsula be settled between Pyongyang and Seoul." Although both countries are still technically at war, having never signed a peace treaty, both see reunification as inevitable. With each incursion, Jackson says, North Korea is trying to improve a bargaining position made weak by recent famines and its international status as a pariah. The 1953 armistice ending the three-year Korean War allows just 35 soldiers on each side of the zone, permits soldiers to carry only sidearms and prohibits gunfire. Pyongyang has declared the armistice meaningless and has repeatedly demonstrated its scorn for the pact. In early April, 100 North Korean soldiers -- heavily armed with machine guns, rifles and mortars -- entered the demilitarized zone on three consecutive nights. North Korea also ejected foreign cease-fire observers from its territory and closed its offices in the truce village of Panmunjom. After the April incursions, President Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young-sam suggested that the two Koreas meet with the U.S. and China to discuss a permanent peace accord. North Korea indicated that it is interested in signing a longterm peace accord but only with the U.S., not with Seoul. --Chris McKenna

The Race Is On
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Almost before Bob Dole had finished announcing that he will resign his from the Senate on June 11, a fierce scramble began between two Mississippi Senators over who would replace him as majority leader. Majority whip Trent Lott and Republican Conference chairman Thad Cochran have both declared their candidacy. The two men have been rivals for much of their time together in Congress, which began when both were elected to the House in 1973. They have distinctly different styles and their relationship has been exacerbated by Lott's leapfrogging the senior Cochran and beating him to the position of majority whip in 1994. "They have never liked each other," says HNN's James Carney. "Lott is more conservative and at heart is really a House member who happens to be in the Senate. He belong to the more Gingrich-style Republicans. Cochran is not nearly as conservative or brash as Lott." Dole's unexpected announcement has drastically altered the character of a contest that Lott would have been favored to win. "Everyone expected this contest to be played out in November when the more moderate Republicans, like Nancy Kassebaum and Mark Hatfield, who are not seeking reelection would have left." Two other Senator might be candidates for the position. Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma, who might forego the opportunity to be majority leader and seek the position of majority whip and Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico, a longtime friend of Bob Dole. "If either of these men decides to declare their candidacy, they will probably drain votes away from the conservative Lott," says Carney. --Lamia Abu-Haidar

Rumors of War
MOSCOW: Ultranationalist Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky predicted civil war if President Boris Yeltsin does not form an election coalition to keep Communist boss Gennady Zyuganov out of the Kremlin. Civil war would flare as early as the fall, Zhirinovsky said, if Zyuganov wins the presidency at the June 16 elections. Zhirinovksy added Yeltsin should offer posts to non-communist candidates in exchange for their support. The coalition Zhirinovsky proposes is a serious issue for Russian presidential candidates as the election draws near. Yeltsin and Zyuganov are neck and neck in the polls, and an endorsement from one of the other challengers might put Yeltsin over the top. "Zhirinovsky is controlled by Yeltsin's camp," says HNN's Yuri Zarakhovich. "They are holding his KGB file over his head. As a result, Yeltsin can count on Zhirinovsky to come out with a tough anti-communist stance. Yeltsin, who cannot condemn Zyuganov too strongly at the risk of alienating voters, is using Zhirinovsky to remind voters that Communism is bad."

On Wednesday, former eye-surgeon turned candidate Svyatoslav Fyodorov met with Yeltsin and to propose a national unity government with representatives from all the parties. Yeltsin said he would consider the plan, while Valentin Kuptsov, Communist Party campaign organizer, called the idea quite reasonable. "People are scared of a civil war," adds Zarakhovich. "That is the reason for all this talk of coalitions and national unity governments. No matter who wins, Yeltsin or Zyuganov, the loser will continue to oppose them, and in Russia, where the legal structures are not as solid as those in the United States, a civil war is possible." --Terence Nelan

Did Frustrated Prosecutor Bite Back?
MIAMI, FLORIDA: U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey announced Friday that he will resign from his job as a federal prosecutor after a Miami newspaper reported accusations that he bit a topless dancer on the arm. "The strain on my family has been so great, I am returning to private practice and I owe it my family to do this," said Coffey at a press conference at the federal courthouse. Coffey's resignation comes one day after the Miami Herald reported that the prosecutor was under investigation by the Justice Department. According to the Herald, a dancer at the Lipstik Adult Entertainment Club accused Coffey of struggling with her during a private session in February and breaking the skin of her arm with his teeth. Coffey went to the Lipstik with a bottle of champagne because he was depressed after a devastating defeat in a high-profile drug case, reports the paper, but he denies ever biting the dancer while there. The federal prosecutor is a Clinton administration appointee and Dole campaign aides suggested today that the incident could be used in Florida during the election. Over the last month, Dole has repeatedly attacked federal judgeships but recently has begun to attack prosecutors as well, targeting Clinton appointees in Arizona and California. Meanwhile, Coffey's accuser has remained unnamed. The Herald reports the 28-year-old married woman fears what her neighbors might think and quotes her as saying: "Nobody in this neighborhood knows what I do. Nobody knows about this." --Chris McKenna

'Doing Well By Doing Good'
WASHINGTON, D.C.: In an effort to promote corporate responsibility, President Clinton brought 100 top business executives to the White House to demonstrate to them that companies "can do well by doing good." The executives heard from a dozen companies the President spotlighted as good corporate citizens that have excelled at creating family-friendly workplaces, offering generous health-care and retirement benefits and upgrading worker skills. Clinton is trying to support the needs of American workers at a time when corporate profits are skyrocketing and wages are stagnating. The issue came to the forefront in January, when AT&T laid off 40,000 workers, and promptly saw its stock price rise. Just this week, ConAgra's stock rose nearly 18 percent the day after announcing 6,500 layoffs. HNN Business Editor Bill Saporito reports that companies will keep downsizing as long as they see their profit margins rise. "As Clinton hands out awards, the same old stuff keeps happening," Saporito says. "You're not going to put an end to restructuring as long as companies continue to be in the mode to redeploy assets. The question is how to do it fairly. That's what this conference tried to address." Clinton avoided calls from the left, including his own Labor Secretary Robert Reich, to take a more activist approach to combating stagnating wages and job insecurity. Earlier this year, Reich advocated reforming the tax code to reward corporations that avoid layoffs by retraining workers, among other things. Clinton, eager to distance himself from the big-government label, is urging companies to take these steps voluntarily. Saporito says that will only happen when companies realize that worker-friendly policies can help the profit margin. "Corporations will change when they see other companies getting a return on their investment," Saporito says. "It makes sense to have a loyal and dedicated work force and not treat workers like replaceable parts. As companies discover the payback, they will begin to make changes." --Josh Dubow

Weekend Entertainment Guide
MUSIC . . . THE ROAD TO ENSENADA: Both Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett remain tantalizingly mum about their breakup. But Lovett, a caustic songwriter, could be expected to have the last words. Here they are, in 12 choice cuts of 'The Road to Ensenada' (MCA). Listen for the testimony and you may be persuaded that the whole marriage was fieldwork, research under fire for an album of wily recrimination. As with any Lovett collection, this one has its share of the funky-flaky. The opener, '(You Can Have My Girl but) Don1t Touch My Hat,' finds the Texan in a possessive frenzy about his "John B. Stetson." 'Promises,' meanwhile, is naked Lyle, skin flayed, soul raw with grief that could be whispered from a jail cell or an unquiet grave. The melody is plain, the guitar accompaniment plaintive: the song enshrouds you in its desperate beauty. "The primal emotions on 'The Road to Ensenada' -- feelings of guilt, betrayal, failure, vengefulnessÐthese can also be found in something like 95 percent of all country songs written by people who were never married to Julia Roberts," says HNN's Richard Corliss. "But only about 5 percent are as potent as the tunes here -- whoever inspired it, this is Lovett's solidest package in a long, ornery career. It proves there's no misery, public or private, so deep that good music can't lift you out of it. Lovett's album plunges and soars like the mood of any lover, and here reaches a wry affirmation -- one you can square-dance to."

BOOKS . . . ANTS ON THE MELON
BOOK REVIEW: 'Ants on the Melon' (Random House; 158 pages; $21) is something of a miracle: the first book of poetry by an 83-year-old woman, sightless now from glaucoma, who resides at a retirement community in Claremont, California. But this slim volume distills a lifetime of writing. A graduate of Mount Holyoke and Radcliffe, Virginia Adair in her green years was considered a poet of promise. Thanks in part to the demands of marriage (in 1937 to the historian Douglass Adair Jr.), motherhood and teaching, she stopped publishing but kept on writing. Literary fame meant nothing; her delight was in the solitary pleasure of creation. The 87 poems in 'Ants on the Melon' are a fraction of her oeuvre, which runs into the thousands. Occasional verse for such magazines as the Atlantic and the New Yorker has earned Adair in recent years a coterie of fans (other poets notable among them). One dazzled critic (Eric Ormsby) has called her "the best American poet since Wallace Stevens." "Adair is less gnomic than Stevens," says HNN's John Elson, "more passionately personal; even on dark themes, her writing, like his, has the elegant fizz of brut champagne." One terrible night in 1968 Douglass Adair, then a teacher at the Claremont colleges, walked into their bedroom and killed himself. His widow's agony and incomprehension, in poems reflecting lost love, all but leap from page to reader's eye.