ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 8, 1997 TAG: 9704080075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
FTC to see if beer ads target teens
WASHINGTON - The Federal Trade Commission has opened an inquiry into whether two major beer marketers - Miller Brewing Co. and Anheuser-Busch - aim advertising at underage drinkers, company officials said Monday.
Both companies said they are cooperating with the agency, and one, Anheuser-Busch, issued a statement saying, ``We do not target our advertising toward young people, period.''
Both Miller and Anheuser-Busch mounted ad campaigns last year on MTV, according to Advertising Age, which said an estimated half of the MTV audience is underage.
Stephen K. Lambright, vice president and group executive of Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc., said the company had not received either a subpoena or any form of legal notification from the agency.
Instead, he said, the brewer contacted the agency on its own and ``volunteered to provide them information on our overall media buying practices.''
Last week, President Clinton said he wants to keep advertising for hard liquor off radio and television and to return to the status quo that existed for a half-century before distillers lifted their self-imposed ban last fall.
He asked the Federal Communications Commission to study the impact of lifting the ban and to recommend possible federal action. Wine makers and brewers have freely advertised all along.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Drill instructor pleads guilty to sex charges
ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - A former drill instructor pleaded guilty Monday to having sex with 11 trainees in violation of Army rules but denied charges he raped eight women under his command.
Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson, 32, said he had sex with subordinates in his office, his home and at a hotel on another military base. In most cases, he said, the sex was initiated either by the woman or by both partners.
The 13-year enlisted man, who is married, pleaded guilty to a total of 16 counts alleging he had sex or otherwise engaged in improper conduct toward a subordinate at the Ordnance Center and School at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
He pleaded innocent to 21 counts of rape and to 57 other counts, including forcible sodomy, robbery and extortion. He could get life in prison if convicted of a single count of rape. His trial could begin this week.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bootleg medal maker keeps Pentagon contract
NEWARK, N.J. - A company that was fined $80,000 for selling 300 bootleg Medals of Honor will remain the nation's primary maker of military decorations under a deal announced Monday with the Pentagon.
H.L.I. Lordship Industries Inc. of Hauppauge, N.Y., averted suspension by adopting an ethics code and agreeing to give employees ethics training, install surveillance cameras and require individual paperwork for each medal.
Lordship does $9 million of business with the government annually.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB