T H U R S D A Y APRIL 25, 2002
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVII, No. 57
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
www.browndailyherald.com
THE CIANCI TRIAL
Patch Adams, MD: the clown doctor Day two: govt shows tapes alleging mayor took bribes BY KATIE ROUSH
“What is funny in every culture?” Dr. Patch Adams asked a packed Solomon crowd Thursday afternoon. The answer? “Farting.” “Yep, that’s why I always carry at least three whoopee cushions,” Adams said. For two hours, Adams shared his primary message with the audience: “Life is a miracle. Life is a privilege.” Adams said he has used the profession of medicine as a vehicle for social change for the past 35 years. He focused on the aspect of his profession he embraces the most, which he calls his “clowning life.” “I consider myself a clown who is a doctor, not a doctor who is a clown, and both took the same amount of time to master,” said Adams. “What is more, they both do the same thing — relieve suffering and heal pain,” he added. Adams told the audience about his entry into both clowning and medicine, which began when he was 18. Adams said one day he had an epiphany, in which he realized two things. He decided he wanted to serve humanity through medicine and was determined to never again have a bad day. “I have practiced these two things with great abandon since that day,” said a grinning Adams. That decision changed Adams’ life. Always a clown, Adams embraced his clowning more than ever and integrated it into his daily life. He spoke of how for several years he spent an hour on the phone each day purposefully calling wrong numbers “just to practice talking to people.” Adams said that one of his favorite places in the world is the inside of an elevator. “When the doors close, you have a captive audience,” he said. By the time Adams entered medical school, he was “practiced at clowning,” he said. A self-proclaimed nerd, Adams told the audience how “he knew he would have a lot of free time in medical school.” In medical school, Adams evaluated hospitals, which he described as places where no one wants to see PATCH, page 7
BY SETH KERSCHNER AND DAVID RIVELLO
A new Student Activities Service Center will be housed in Faunce House rooms 202A and 202B, Cordeiro said. It will provide resources to assist student leaders both administratively and financially. The service center will be staffed by three administrators who have professional training in event planning and leadership development. They will help student leaders plan events. Cordeiro said the administrators’ roles will depend on input from student leaders. “It’s whatever students want their job description to be,” he said. The service center will also sport telephones, Ethernetenabled computers, printers, copiers, fax machines and other supplies. The availability of these resources will lower the cost of publicity for events, Cordeiro said. Student groups who now pay for copying fliers at Metcalf Copy Center or Allegra will be able to make copies at a reduced rate in the service center. UFB also plans to purchase media equipment, including sound equipment, microphones, TV/VCR/DVD equipment, a camcorder, a slide projector and a PowerPoint projector for the service center. Groups will be able to sign out this equipment at no cost, Cordeiro said. The high cost of renting from Media Services often forces groups who need to scale back event costs to eliminate these items from their budgets, Cordeiro said. Renting a TV/VCR from Media Services now costs student
Prosecutors in the case against Mayor Vincent Cianci on Wednesday used video footage and the testimony of a former city tax official to suggest the mayor accepted bribes in exchange for the sale of city property, tax breaks and jobs. It was day two of arguments in the government’s case against Cianci and three co-defendants, who are charged with racketeering, mail fraud and extortion. U.S. Attorney Richard Rose focused the government’s case on former Vice Chairman of the Board of Tax Assessment Review David Ead’s description of the city’s corrupt tax assessment system and on undercover footage recorded by Providence businessman Antonio Freitas, an FBI informant. The footage, recorded in January and February 1999, captured Freitas and Ead arranging to bribe Cianci in return for the purchase of city-owned property and future tax breaks. Proceedings moved at a snail’s pace, as defense attorneys repeatedly objected to the playing of the tapes. During the afternoon recess, Judge Ernest Torres held a conference in chambers with prosecution and defense attorneys in an attempt to resolve the matter, but no resolution was announced. Torres told the jurors that they were being shown edited clips as opposed to entire segments in order to bypass hours of irrelevant footage. The four videos and two audio clips introduced showed Ead acting as negotiator between the mayor and Freitas in the purchase of two lots on Westminster Street. Jurors were shown videotaped meetings between Freitas and Ead over the course of a month, during which time Ead allegedly approached Cianci on Freitas’ behalf to secure the purchase of the lots. In videotaped footage from Feb. 6, 1999, Ead informed Freitas that Cianci had approved the sale of the lots for $1,000 each and a $10,000 bribe for the mayor. Cianci “wanted to know that I trust you,” Ead told Freitas on the Feb. 6, 1999 videotape. “He said, ‘Do you trust him?’ I said, ‘I trust him.’” The prosecution then introduced as evidence city documents that assessed the value of the two lots at more than $10,000 each. Freitas, whose secretly recorded evidence has already resulted in six Plunder Dome convictions, is considered the key witness in the government’s case against Cianci and co-defendants Richard Autiello, Frank Corrente and Edward Voccola. Ead also testified that he arranged for Angelo Mosca, a former lawyer, to pay Cianci $10,000 in exchange for a tax break. Mosca owed the city of Providence $500,000 in back taxes on the “Ronci estate” property he was the executor for. Ead testified that he arranged to have the assessment fee lowered to $100,000 in exchange for $10,000 in “campaign contributions” to Cianci. Campaign and contribution “are nice words,” Ead said. “You can’t expect to walk into the mayor’s office — he’s got the flag of the U.S. on one side and the flag of Rhode Island on the other — and say, ‘Here’s a bribe.’” In the mayor’s City Hall office, Ead arranged for Cianci to receive the money, he said. Ead gave the $10,000 to Corrente, the former city director of administration also on trial with Cianci, he said. Corrente “opened up a big envelope, and I put the money in the envelope,” Ead said. Ead implicated Cianci in accepting a $5,000 bribe to
see UFB, page 4
see TRIAL, page 4
Allie Silverman / Herald
Dr. Patch Adams spoke Wednesday night about his experience using humor to relieve pain and suffering. His lecture packed Salomon 101.
UFB plans Student Activities Service Center The new service center will be staffed by administrative professionals who will aid students in planning events BY JULIA ZUCKERMAN
The Undergraduate Finance Board is currently finalizing plans to fund the creation of a new Student Activities Service Center, a darkroom for student use and significant change to the budgeting process for student groups. A surplus of about $600,000 that UFB has amassed over the last few years will help fund the new projects, said UFB President Nigel Cordeiro ’02. UFB distributes approximately $650,000 to student groups every year — the $120 student activities fee charged to every Brown undergraduate contributes to that total. At the end of the semester, groups return the money they have not used, and this money enters into a UFB holding account. After several years of running deficits, the holding account has grown in the past three or four years, Cordeiro said. UFB recently held a meeting for student leaders to suggest uses for the extra money, and over 100 students attended, he said. Cordeiro and Undergraduate Council of Students Student Activities Coordinator Gaurab Basu ’04 announced UFB’s plans in an e-mail Monday to leaders of student groups.
I N S I D E T H U R S D AY, A P R I L 2 5 , 2 0 0 2 Rhode Island politics heavily weighted in favor of Democrats, numbers show page 3
City passes ordinance against ‘aggressive panhandling’ on Providence streets page 3
Student-founded Internet mag ‘Glimpse’ prepares for national launch page 5
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Brett Cohen ’02 says Residential Life must improve housing for upperclassmen column,page 15
Men’s track finishes second at UConn Invitational, sets nine records page 16
rain showers high 56 low 44