The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 1

IN BUSINESS, CI PORTFOLIO PANEL SPEAKS OUT ON MARKETS, THE FED IK OL ATI mc WO COPYRIGHT, 2001, THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER RNAL NEWSE 50 CENTS SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2001 off hraiidrecls to ay Buyouts fail to attract enough employees By Cliff Peale The Cincinnati Enquirer Procter Gamble Co. will lay off at least 900 U.S.-based employees this year. About 2,500 workers requested voluntary separation packages from the company, about 900 fewer than the company needs to avoid layoffs, Cincinnati-based said Friday. how many employees will take the buyouts until mid-July. Workers had until May 15 to request a buyout, another 45 days to decide whether to accept it, and another week after that to change their mind.

The company wanted to "If enough people had requested packages, it's possible we wouldn't have had to do any kind of involuntary (layoffs)," spokeswoman Martha Depenbrock said. "But that's not the case." Ms. Depenbrock did not know how many of the employees who requested vol untary packages were in Greater Cincinnati. has about 13,000 employees in the Tristate. The company says it's cutting the jobs to allow it to reduce product prices and pour more money into marketing and developing its 10 HYllHI City warily anticipates Taste test Cemetery languishes 'No way to treat a soldier' Restoration effort goes nowhere fast The Cincinnati EnquirerGLENN HARTONG A tattered U.S.

flag rests on the grave marker of World War II veteran David A. Cox. 'f if a. -'if 9' 'ff j(f i Festival-goers, protesters converge today By Howard Wilkinson The Cincinnati Enquirer For many, the three-day Taste of Cincinnati will be a test of whether the city is coming together or coming apart. "We are determined to make this work," said Mayor Charlie Luken, who has been boosting the 22nd annual food-and-music festival in the face of a planned boycott by a group of clergymen and the pullout of two groups -Midnight Star and the Isley Brothers that had been scheduled to play today.

Festival-goers who come to Taste today, Sunday or Monday can expect to pass through lines of protesters organized by a Group of Concerned Clergy, who are expected to pass out leaflets asking them not to attend. But they can also expect to see one of the best-known African-American entertainers in the country James Brown, the self-styled "Godfather of Soul," who Thursday agreed to perform at noon today after a prayer service to open Taste. "He's coming," said Stu Ric, president of Mr. Brown's record label, Fome INSID METRO Commission delays ballpark contract A $4 million contract that needs to be awarded soon to keep construction of Great American Ball Park on schedule was delayed Friday when Hamilton County commissioners could not agree on which firm should get it Bl SPORTS Cards 5 Reds 4 St. Louis' rally spoils Reds return Reds reliever Danny Graves gave up a three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to Craig Paq-uette sending Cincinnati to its fourth loss in a row.

Dl TEMPO rV NX. Gardener keeps hands dirty Darlene Cooper works for Delhi Flower and Garden Center, but she doesn't leave her job at the office. She brings it to her Mason home, where she tends multiple gardens. El NATION Deal struck on tax cut bill House and Senate negotiators reached a final agreement Friday night on a 10- year, $1.35 trillion tax cut package. A3 WHEELS Protege steps out of its shadow Mazda has "freshened' its smallest U.S.

offering, the Protege, into a surprisingly fun-to-drrve econocar. Gl WEATHER High 65 Low 50 -w Lowwr Showers, storms. B14 INDEX Seven sections, 161st year, No. 47 Abby E13 Business E12 Editorials 812 Rds' Comer Lotteries B2 Movies ElO-11 Obituaries BIO Punks E10 TV Classifieds Hot Off the Press A9 Online Get the latest news during the day at Cincinnati.Com. Keyword: Enquirer Portions of todasfnqurtr j8jfclJ MHIlHlilliVillllllllllllll il most profitable brands.

had hoped to lighten the impact of any job losses by making as many of them voluntary as possible. But the pain of the company's corporate cost-cutting efforts clearly is not over. won't know exactly Inside Honoring their memory: Hebron man puts flags on gravesites. Bl Visiting ritual: Cemetery visits part of every week for family. B3 Memorial Day events: Listings of what's going on in the area.

B3 cholas High periodically come to clean up Hillcrest They've erected flags, installed benches and tirelessly established grave directories. But because Hillcrest has no legal owner, no one has taken responsibility for its costly erosion control and upkeep. Some caskets are exposed. Rain often takes the hillside, and vets' tombstones, with it See CEMETERY, Page All Rescue workers search the rubble of a collapsed banquet hall in Jerusalem on Friday. At least two dozen people died at a wedding celebration Thursday night when a floor caved in.

The Associated Press PIER PAOLO CITO 1 eliminate 3,400 U.S.-based positions 900 as a leftover from the Organization 2005 restructuring and 2,500 from a new round announced in March. Overall, hopes to eliminate 9,600 positions from its operations around the world. That includes about 1,900 in Greater Cincinnati. Street closings The following streets closed at 6 p.m. Friday and will not reopen until 5 a.m.

Tuesday because of Taste of Cincinnati. Central Parkway between Plum and Main streets. Race, Vine and Walnut streets will be closed between Court and 12th streets. The Cincinnati Enquirer gofrOnOne J2ZLi Keyword: Taste Complete Taste schedule, menu and map online at Gncinnati.Com. Records.

"He just wants to come in and support this thing and say 'Let's stop the violence. Let's have some "It isn't about the mayor; it isn't about the president," Mr. Ric said. "He's the Godfather and he's doing this for the people, not the politi- See TEST, Page All $225 an hour for himself and any part-ners who work on the case. His assistants will be paid $165 an hour.

Martin Council members on Friday said the city had no choice but to hire outside lawyers, and they agreed Mr. Martin is extremely qualified. But they said this should have been considered before Mayor Charlie Luken asked for a federal investigation last month. "The mayor asked the federal government to investigate us, now taxpayers have to pick up the tab," Councilman Phil Heimlich said. "I wish the mayor had thought of this before." Councilman Paul Booth said a cap should have been established before the city acted.

"It would have been nice to know the ramifications before," he said. The city is also paying up to $15,000 for a special prosecutor to take over the case against Officer Stephen Roach, who is charged in the shooting death of Timothy Thomas. Taste of w. o. Cincinnati 3 8 1 site court St.

9th St. 3 The Cincinnat EnquirerGLENN HARTONG Carl Woodruff, an auxiliary U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, and his wife, Sharon, plant salvia and marigolds at Hillcrest Cemetery on Thursday evening. has no answers for vets' resting place siii'i City's legal bill $20K and growing Government By Tom O'Neill TTie Cincinnati Enquirer ANDERSON TWP. A year ago, the Ohio Army National Guard pledged labor and equipment worth $1.6 million to restore a run down cemetery housing the remains of more than a thousand war veterans.

But nothing has been done to Hillcrest Cemetery. The Guard has yet to even complete the study on restoration. And so another Memorial Day will pass at Hillcrest, with today's 1 p.m. ceremo ny to be held in the shadow of tombstones obscured by overgrown weeds or washed away by erosion and neglect Of the 1,388 veterans from the Civil War to Vietnam buried there, 849 are African-American vets from Jeff Bellamah, a probation field supervisor, says he and the crews he oversees can do only so much for Hillcrest with the equipment they have available. Enquirer file dier," said Carl Woodruff, an auxiliary U.S.

Air Force lieutenant colonel from Miami Township, Clermont County. Local vets groups, civil air patrol units and high-school groups including McNi- Israelis struggle with crisis overload By Robert Anglen The Cincinnati Enquirer The lawyer hired to take on federal investigators scrutinizing Cincinnati's police department will cost taxpayers $20,000 for now. City officials said Friday that the final bill for Washington, D.C., lawyer Billy Martin and his staff will be significantly higher, but that's all the money they have right now for outside legal help. Deputy City Solicitor Pete Heile said very soon the law department will have to ask City Council for more money to pay Mr. Martin.

Mr. Martin's job is to guide officials through a federal civil-rights investigation of the police department and represent the city in a federal lawsuit accusing police of racial profiling. The city recently agreed to spend $100,000 to help mediate the racial profiling lawsuit. A former Justice Department lawyer, Mr. Martin has handled hundreds of police misconduct cases and will conduct his own investigation into the allegations.

Mr. Martin's normal rate is about $400 an hour. He will be charging the city all over the United States who were denied burial elsewhere because of their skin color. An additional 700 graves are nonmilitary. "Personally, I felt that's no way to treat an American sol ber, said he was drawn to visit the disaster scene by a rescue worker's description of uncovering a family of five, dressed in their still sitting at their banquet table.

The five, who had dropped two stories and eerily landed in place, were killed in what is being called the largest civil disaster in Israeli history. More than 300 people were injured, and rescue workers were still searching for at least a dozen party-go- See ISRAEL, Page All Bombings follow building collapse By Deborah Sontag The New York Timet JERUSALEM This is a city accustomed to coping with crisis. But as sirens screamed through the night, with ambulances racing to a collapsed wedding hall in which at least two dozen people died, Jerusalem residents struggled to deal with what some described as crisis overload. One resident, Moshe Zil- tomwm win inn in 1 1 itmt hhhi i mir aiiiiiuMi I.