Moceanu Goes to Court Seeking Permanent Ruling

After gaining adult status on Oct. 28, Olympic champion gymnast Dominique Moceanu, 17, returns to court today in Houston in an attempt to have a temporary restraining order against her father made permanent.

The 1996 gold medalist says she has endured verbal threats and stalking by Dumitru Moceanu since the October ruling.

Police are also investigating a private investigator’s claim that Dumitru Moceanu offered to pay $10,000 to have a friend and her coach killed.

“The threat of danger from my father hangs over my every day,” Moceanu said in court papers filed a week ago to gain a restraining order against her father.

Neither Moceanu nor her father was available for comment.

The stormy relationship between father and daughter caught public notice in late October, when she fled from her home amid questions about her finances with the help of Marcy and Brian Huggins and her coach, Luminita Miscenco.

Jurisprudence

Eric Abrams, Stanford football’s all-time scoring leader, pleaded no contest in San Jose to sex charges involving a 14-year-old boy and faces additional accusations in San Francisco.

Abrams, 25, a former kicker, entered a plea Monday to felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor child molestation.

Abrams is expected to be sentenced in February to two years in prison and three more years of parole. He will also have to register as a sex offender when released.

In San Francisco, Abrams faces two felony counts of impersonating an officer, two charges of kidnapping, one count of attempted kidnapping and one misdemeanor count of annoying a child stemming from two incidents in April.

In 1996, Abrams pleaded no contest in a scheme prosecutors said was designed to gain nude photos of high school players.

In that case, Abrams, who ended his college career with 289 points, was sentenced to three years of probation, 100 hours of volunteer service and a $200 fine.

Football

Engineers weren’t ready to proclaim Veterans Stadium safe, but Philadelphia Mayor Edward Rendell said he’d have no problem sitting in the stands after the railing collapsed Saturday during the Army-Navy game.

Inspectors hired to look at railings throughout the 27-year-old stadium didn’t finish their work Tuesday. A report on the safety of the railings was expected today or Thursday, said the mayor’s spokesman, Kevin Feeley.

The stadium is scheduled to be used again on Sunday for the NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals.

“Absolutely, I would feel safe at Veterans Stadium for the game,” Rendell said. “I would encourage parents who bring kids to the game not to lean on the railings.”

Nine Army cadets and prep students were injured when the railing broke as they cheered for CBS cameras during the nationally televised game, sending them tumbling about 15 feet to the artificial turf. Only one, Kevin Galligan, 21, of Fairhope, Ala., was hospitalized overnight. Galligan broke a bone in his neck but is expected to recover.

Meanwhile, Baltimore has offered use of its new football stadium if the academies decide to leave Veterans Stadium because of safety concerns.

Extra security guards will be hired and a popular standing-room area may be restricted for future Pittsburgh Steeler home games after the collapse of a Three Rivers Stadium end-zone wall for the second time in three seasons.

At least two field-level spectators were struck by flying chunks of concrete and steel but weren’t hurt.

Three Rivers Stadium General Manager James Sacco said rowdy spectators were to blame each time.

Soccer

Increasing its weekend schedule, Major League Soccer will start its season on Saturday, March 20, with four games.

Opening day will offer games in warm-weather cities, including defending champion Chicago at San Jose, New York/New Jersey at Miami, Washington at Tampa Bay and Kansas City at Dallas. The Galaxy opens its season at home March 21 against Colorado.

Because its stadium won’t be ready on time, the Columbus Crew will open with seven consecutive road games and finally play at home May 15.

The All-Star game will be July 17 at San Diego, and the regular season will end Oct. 10. To accommodate ABC, the championship at Foxboro, Mass., was pushed back from October to Nov. 21.

After cutting weekend games from 88% in 1997 to 71% last season, MLS will have 159 games on Friday, Saturday or Sunday next year (83%). Of those, 136 will be on Saturday.

Miscellany

China moved into the Asian Games gold medal lead, extending its gymnastics winning streak and getting a diving sweep at Bangkok, Thailand. After two days of medal competition, China has 13 golds, Japan had 12 and South Korea eight.