Whitewater initiator sentenced to 28 mos. in prison

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) € A businessman who claims President Clinton pressured him to make an illegal $300,000 loan was sentenced yesterday to 28 months in prison and ordered to repay the government $2.04 million.

David Hale, whose allegations triggered the Whitewater investigation, also was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $10,000.

Hale faced a maximum of 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines, though under federal sentencing guidelines such a stiff term was unlikely.

Hale was accused of defrauding the SBA by misrepresenting the amount of private capital in his company so he could get more matching federal funds to invest in business ventures.

Seeking a bargain with prosecutors, Hale accused Clinton of pressuring him to make a loan in 1986 that would profit Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, and James McDougal.

Man drives van into KKK-owned store

LAURENS, S.C. (AP) € A man drove a van through the front windows of a new store that sells Confederate and Ku Klux Klan paraphernalia, and it was no accident, police said.

Police said David Prichard Hunter, 43, backed a white van in and out of the front of the Redneck Shop several times on Sunday, destroying the windows and damaging some of its contents.

Hunter, who is white, was charged with malicious damage to property and held in the Laurens city jail.

Self-professed KKK member John Howard opened his shop inside an old movie theater March 1.

Inside the store are Klan memorabilia and flags, as well as pictures of cross burnings, Klan meetings and Klan founders. He said he is selling items to raise funds for a Klan museum.