The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 1

i IN TEMPO, E9 COUPLE'S GARDEN A STRESS BUSTER IN SPORTS, Dl Reds Top Astros for 3rd Straight win 4 umim ATI COPYRIGHT, 2001, THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER FINAL NEWSE 50 CENTS I SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2001 1 The company The workers The pilots The travelers ftx -1 i IV i 5 1 "If i iftn Li, The Cincinnati EnquirerJEFF SWINGER Union chairman J.C. Lawson III said Friday that after three years of negotiations, the pilots have succeeded in being recognized. Enquirer file Comair jets will resume flying to 26 cities on July 2, with discount fares being offered initially, president Randy Rademacher said. The Cincinnati EnquirerYULI WU Chris Lawhead of Burlington, a passenger service representative laid off May 14, gets the call on Friday that he's returning to work. Associated Press file Travelers across the nation, including Miami, had to deal with canceled Comair flights starting March 26, when the strike began.

ffi(u Union members approve Comair contract 733 to 408 After 89 Days Inside Reaction: Travelers, business executives and tourism officials celebrate end of pilots' strike. A6 Connections: List of cities to which Comair resumes service. A6 i I I Oil I JA I'i ml 1 7 1 nm 1 1 I I I I IE Online Keyword: Comair Read about the latest developments at Cincinnati Com. Analysis Number of sources applied pressure By James Pilcher Tin' Ciiii iiiiiuli Kiiiuim' Maybe it was the fluorescent iijjhts and the window-less rooms at the National Mediation Board offices in Washington that kept anyone from sleeping. Or maybe it was the standard office chairs that aren't particularly conducive to sitting for nearly two days that kept Comair and pilots union officials attentive and working through a 36-hour marathon that resulted in the deal.

Or more likely, it was the ghosts of those outside the room who had applied the strongest doses of political, economic and social pressure on the strike that finally got the airline and its striking pilots to agree. That pressure included: Intervention from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta perhaps the only person who had enough credibility with both sides to keep the situation from becoming parochial and partisan. An enormously disastrous first half of the year financially for parent Delta Air Lines. Pilots at other regional airlines basically telling Com- Planes will return to air July 2 By James Pilcher The Cincinnati Enquirer Comair is back in business.

The Erlanger-based company's pilots Friday ratified a contract, ending the 27th-longest strike in U.S. airline history at 89 days. The airline immediately made plans to put planes back in the air July 2. "Our strike is over we are going back to work," said pilots union chairman J.C. Lawson III.

"For three years we have sought to be recognized this contract meets that requirement." In a telephone ballot that began Tuesday and concluded at noon Friday, pilots approved the contract 733-408. If the airline's approximately 1,200 remaining pilots had rejected the deal, the future of the company -begun in 1977 by a father and son was in jeopardy. The company has lost more than $320 million and counting on the strike. As a result, it laid off 2,400 employees of them in the Tri-state. News of the vote cheered business and tourism leaders, who say their interests have been hurt by the strike.

The vote also was applauded by local travelers, who have had to deal with less frequent and convenient air service. Despite the loss of $12.8 million in wages, it wasn't certain the pilots would approve the contract. Many pi- The Cincinnati EnquirerJEFF SWINGER Chatting before the announcement Friday were (from left) David Siebenburgen, president of Delta Connection; J.C. Lawson III, local chairman of the pilots union; and Randy Rademacher, president of Comair. lots said throughout the week that the new.

deal didn't measure up to the expectations they had when they walked out on March 26 a move that came after three years of negotiations didn't produce a contract. Comair president Randy Rademacher announced that flights will resume on July 2 to 26 cities, and that discount fares will be offered initially. But he added that the popular Weekend Traveler program will not return. "Tonight, we close a chapter in Comair history but we start a new chapter," he said. "We look forward to welcoming our Comair pilots and other employees back and to serving our customers." Mr.

Rademacher said the company intends to recall about 1,300 of the 2,400 can't explain it." 'No' vote a key Officials from the company and the union would not comment for this story. But according to others who were involved at some point of the talks, a big first step in getting the two sides back together was the pilots' May 12 overwhelming rejection of a proposal submitted Terms of contract Work rules: Minimum 11 days off a month in one year; 12 days off a month in two years; 14-hour, 30-minute maximum duty day during daylight hours, with maximum scheduled day at 13 hours, 30 minutes. Retirement: New pension plan with company contributing 2 percent to 10 percent of salary (depending on seniority) each year, to be paid upon retirement. Company contribution to 401(k) changed. Pay: A first-year pilot would earn nearly $21,000 annually.

A senior regional jet captain would make about $85,000 a year. New rates for 70-seat aircraft in contract call for 10 to 15 percent higher pay. Duty and trip rigs, and minimum duty pay, also added to contract Retroactive pay (difference between new pay rates and old pay rates): 5 percent of annual earnings for between June 1998 and June 2000, and 7.5 percent of earnings between June 2000 and June 2001. Payable in two installments before year's end. air's union that while they shouldn't give in if they weren't comfortable with the deal, they had done enough and not to be martyrs.

Or maybe it was all of the above, with something else mixed in. "We like to think that it's magic, and it's the magic that only comes in the middle of the night," said mediation board member Magdale-na Jacobsen. "For both sides, it was just time to do the deal, and sometimes you See ANALYSIS, Page A4 See COMAIR, Page A6 WEATHER COMING SUNDAY News brings grief, closure U.S. forces on alert Terrorist threat reported in Mideast High 76 Low 58: Mostly sunny, nice. B12 4 i Family learns man's fate 4 INDEX Hi sections, 161st year, No.

75 Abby E13 Lotteries B2 Business CI Movies E10-11 Comics E12 Obituaries B8 Editorials B10 Puzzles E10 Kids' Corner TV E13 Classifieds Hot Off the Press C7 able to tell. The theory was he stepped on one of these boulders, lost his balance and went down. Eventually I guess he just froze. Got cold and gave up." The military and Anchorage firefighters searched for Pvt. Lake back in March 1986 after his companions reported him missing.

After a while, they abandoned the effort. His family in Cincinnati had a funeral for him in July 1986 at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Montgomery. There was no body and no casket. Today, the family will have another graveside service. It will again be at Gate of Heaven.

This time they will By John Donnelly The Boston Globe WASHINGTON Following a threat against an unspecified American target this weekend in the Middle East, U.S. military forces in the Persian Gulf region went on their highest state of alert, U.S. officials said Friday. U.S. warships in Bahrain were ordered out to sea and a contingent of 2,200 Marines cut short a training exercise and left Jordan, the officials said.

The threat, called "nonspecific but credible," was based on intelligence information that guerrillas linked to Saudi exile Osama bin Laden were planning an attack within the next 48 hours, a Pentagon official said. killed 19. The reported bin Laden connection also would make U.S. security officials react swiftly, he said. Bin Laden operatives carried out the 1998 bombings of U.S.

embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and are suspected in the bombing attack of the USS Cole in a Yemen harbor in October. Also Friday, the State Department was preparing a worldwide caution to warn Americans abroad or planning to travel abroad of the increased risk of attacks against U.S. citizens or facilities. It is the third such worldwide caution issued since May. It will note the U.S.

indictments for the bomb attack in Saudi Arabia, a State Department official said. Inside Iran rejects U.S. suggestion of role in Khobar bombing. A9 U.S. forces in the Middle East were put on Threat Condition Delta, the highest state of alert, on Thursday.

Counterterrorism analysts said that while the alert was based on the information contained in the specific threat, it came against a backdrop of rising anti-American sentiment among extremist groups. The most recent irritant to the extremists, the analysts said, was the U.S. indictment Thursday of 14 people in connection with the 1996 bombing of a U.S. military high-rise apartment building in Saudi Arabia. The blast By Lew Moores The Ciiiriiniiili Enquirer Richard Lake recalls the wedge of Alaskan landscape, the sheer treachery of the terrain, the footprints that stopped in the snow stopped at the sinkhole with its rim layered with large chunks of ice and boulders.

Into this maw Army Pvt. Mark Lake disappeared 15 years ago, into the water of the Knik Arm, water that would rise and fall by 20 feet with the tide. "But you couldn't even tell there was water underneath there," said the elder Mr. Lake, of Price Hill, of the area outside Anchorage where his son disappeared. "There was so much ice in there you wouldn't even be Online Get the latest news during the day at Cincinnati.Com.

Keyword: Enquirer Hidden menace prompts worries Tens of thousands of dollars are being spent in the Tristate to clean up mold in buildings where we work, play and sleep. While some scientists warn of a potentially serious health threat, others say concern is exaggerated. But whatever their views, many people are paying II Porbonsof today's Enqum were printed on recycled paper. ll40901ll10101l See FATE, Page A10.