ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
Jim Bakker wins lawsuit by 'partners'
BRYSON CITY, N.C. - PTL founder Jim Bakker came out the winner Monday in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by thousands of followers who claimed ``partnerships'' sold by the ministry could be transferred and inherited.
Bakker, 56, was the only defendant in the class action suit filed by more than 160,000 former PTL supporters. The supporters were seeking more than $120 million for partnerships they paid for in the 1980s.
A jury ruled in favor of the former PTL leader after deliberating less than three hours. The plaintiffs' lawyers said they would appeal.
PTL supporters sent as much as $7,000 each to Heritage USA in return for free lodging and use of other facilities on the resort's grounds. But partnerships were oversold and many members claimed they never received the promised benefits.
``This membership is not inheritable nor is it tax deductible,'' defense attorney Nelson Casstevens said Friday, reading from the back of a partnership membership card.
Videotapes featuring Bakker also confirmed that the partnerships could not be transferred to other people and became null and void if the person who owned the partnership died.
- Associated Press
Book: Nixon had dim view of Clintons
NEW YORK - Richard Nixon thought Bill Clinton was a coward and a fraud for avoiding the draft during Vietnam and deemed Hillary Clinton ice-cold and a radical, according to a book excerpted in The New Yorker.
The new book, ``Nixon Unplugged,'' written by Monica Crowley, Nixon's foreign policy assistant from 1990 until his death in 1994, recounts the former president's feelings both before and after Clinton became president.
Though Nixon's respect for Clinton improved after Clinton invited him to visit the White House, the relationship was tarnished because neither of the Clintons attended Pat Nixon's funeral in 1993, according to the book excerpted in the magazine's July 29 issue.
Crowley recorded Nixon's comments in a diary each night.
She said Nixon believed that those who served in the military during the Vietnam War ``had more honor and integrity in their little toe than Clinton will ever have.''
``He is a coward and a fraud,'' Nixon told her. ``He was no conscientious objector; he was a selfish, spoiled brat.''
On Hillary Clinton, who was a lawyer on the Watergate committee, Nixon said: ``She's a radical. If she gets in, whoa! Everybody had better fasten their seat belts.''
After Clinton invited Nixon to the White House to discuss foreign policy, Nixon appeared to soften his views.
He enthused how Clinton was a ``very earthy'' guy, who spoke conversationally and used swear words. However, his opinion of Hillary Clinton did not change.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB