Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
But as Elisabeth grew into a teenager, Mr. Fritzl said, he became alarmed when she began smoking, drinking and staying out all night. "I tried to get her out of that swamp," he said, by arranging work for her as a waitress. He also began digging the underground bunker that became her prison in 1984, when Mr. Fritzl drugged her and dragged her downstairs.
"I had to create a place in which I could keep Elisabeth away from the outside world, by force if I had to,"
Jump to full article »
It had all the elements of a John Grisham novel: a crack legal team filing a long-shot lawsuit, a behemoth defendant peddling cancer-causing products, secret stashes of incriminating documents, and a mind-boggling, multibillion-dollar settlement. Yet Minnesota's landmark tobacco case was a real-life legal thriller. Ten years ago today, after a dramatic trial in St. Paul, the state settled with the nation's tobacco companies for more than $6 billion.
As Minnesota's sesquicentennial approaches, we're marking 150 years of statehood with wagon trains and faded photos of early settlers. But the 10-year milestone of the tobacco settlement reminds us that the state's more-recent history also offers much to celebrate, including the risk-taking legal pioneers who beat Big Tobacco. The Minnesota case not only paved the way for other states to settle, but blew once and for all the industry's smokescreen on how much it knew about the dangers of its own products.
Zagat Survey, LLC, the world's leading provider of consumer survey-based leisure content, today announced the release of its first-ever guide to Beijing. Based on the collective opinions of 1,244 surveyors, the guide includes ratings and reviews for 432 of the city's finest restaurants, hotels, nightspots, shops and tourist attractions. For travelers serious about immersing themselves in Chinese culture, the guide provides travel tips on leading museums, how to get around and phrases to use when navigating the city's menus and sites. . . .
Dining in Beijing: In addition to ratings and reviews, the new guide also measures diners' behavior. The city's newfound culinary sophistication comes at quite a price, as 73% of surveyors report spending more per meal than they did two years ago. But higher prices aren't deterring diners, as 91% indicate that they eat out just as much as ever -- as for complaints, service and smoking are number one and two.
Q. Is it still your testimony, sir, that you have no recollection of any specific instances of dealing with Compound W?
A. That's correct. Back in 1969 obviously it became a slang term, if you will, for some work we had done in the research department. This memorandum is dated almost three years later obviously in response to a direct question by Mr. Heimann. At least it appears to be that way.
Q. What was your job on April 25th, 1972?
A. I was the director of research and development.
Q. You called Compound W a slang term at this point in time? What do you mean by that?
A. A descriptive term.
Q. Was it a reference to nicotine?
A. I would assume so. Yes, sir. The memo certainly suggests that, but it is a theoretical --It's an answer to a theoretical question. How do you get higher nicotine? Well, you can add it. You can buy tobacco differently. You can do it lots of other ways. Through shuffling reconstituted, shuffling stems in the blend. It seemed to me like it was a very direct answer to a very direct question, a theoretical type of question.
Q. Why was the president of American Tobacco interested in this question in 1972?
A. He was trying to perform his function - He had dual function. He was involved very heavily with marketing, and he wanted to know why certain brands were performing better or worse than other competitive brands, and was it related to marketing and advertising or related to product? Product content.
Q. Was it his view that nicotine content affected the popularity of brands?
A. I doubt it. I don't know. I can't -- You have to ask him that. . . .
Q. But you cannot, as you sit here today, testify that Compound W was not used in any American Tobacco commercial products, can you?
A. I said to my knowledge it was never used.
Q. But you admit that you don't have full knowledge. Do you?
A. I wouldn't think I would have full knowledge about anything in this world.
Q. And you're disclaiming knowledge specifically about Compound W, aren't you?
A. No. I didn't -- I told you on the record what Iknew about Compound W. Others knew other things. Fine.
Hager contracted polio when his son was vaccinated for the disease with live virus vaccine in 1973.[3] As a result, he uses a nonmotorized wheelchair for daily ambulation - and competes in wheelchair races.[6]
Career
After his active duty military service, Hager began work for the Duke family at the American Tobacco Company in Richmond, Virginia. The company retired him after his bout with polio, but he returned - beginning at the bottom again. At American Tobacco, he served as a government affairs representative. Hager was forcibly retired from the American Tobacco Company after the company's sale in 1994.[2] . . .
* Man of the Year, Tobacco International Magazine, 1990