NEWSWIRE : Atlanta Olympic Organizers Looked Into Buying IOC Votes

Records of Atlanta Olympics bid organizers contain documents including lists of International Olympic Committee members whose votes they believed could be bought, Cable News Network reported Friday.

CNN said it had obtained information from eight boxes that were turned over to congressional investigators but were not among some 6,000 boxes made available to the public earlier this year.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who chairs the subcommittee leading the investigation, told CNN:

“It appears as though there was a concerted effort to figure out how they might be able to buy votes for Atlanta. A dossier, maybe on most, if not all, of the voting members.”

CNN said it found no evidence that bribes were paid.

Motor Racing

Mike Skinner won the pole for today’s Exide 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Richmond, Va.

Skinner turned a fast lap of 125.465 mph around the three-quarter-mile oval for the fourth pole of his career and second this season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed Mark Martin with seven laps to go and outdueled the Winston Cup star to win the Autolite Platinum 250 Busch Grand National at Richmond.

The victory was Earnhardt’s series-high sixth of the year and extended his lead over Matt Kenseth from 26 points to 103 points with six races remaining.

Defending champion Bryan Herta, in the midst of a miserable CART season, shook himself out of the doldrums to take the provisional pole for Sunday’s Shell 300 at Monterey with a lap of 117.903 mph on the 2.238-mile, nine-turn road course at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Jurisprudence

Damon Flint, former University of Cincinnati basketball player, was indicted on a misdemeanor charge alleging that he took $2,800 from a friend’s apartment.

A Hamilton County grand jury indicted Flint on Thursday in Cincinnati, charging him with unauthorized use of property.

Flint, 25, is to be arraigned next week. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail.

Prosecutors said Flint took the money April 12 from the home of Tione Williams. Flint left a handwritten note, explaining that he was on his way to Chicago to work out for the Bulls, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, the note read, “I had to borrow $2,800, but don’t worry.”

Former junior-welterweight boxing champion Charles “the Natural” Murray was put on three years’ probation at his sentencing in Rochester, N.Y., for punching a police officer during a street brawl.

Murray, 30, had pleaded guilty in July to third-degree assault and resisting arrest, two misdemeanors, when a jury appeared deadlocked on second-degree assault charges against him. Had he been convicted of a felony, he could have drawn two to seven years in prison.

It was the fourth time in four years that Murray had been charged because of an altercation outside the ring.

Tommy Morrison, an HIV-positive former boxer, avoided jail time after pleading guilty in Tulsa, Okla., to driving under the influence of alcohol.

Tulsa County Special Judge Kyle Haskins gave Morrison a two-year suspended sentence for his guilty pleas to DUI and two other traffic misdemeanors. He also ordered Morrison, 30, to pay nearly $2,000 in fines.

Basketball

George Raveling, former USC basketball coach, left a hospital in suburban Barcelona after an overnight stay for observation.

Raveling was hospitalized Thursday when he passed out during a workout by the Nike NBA All-Star team, which he is coaching.

It was feared Raveling had suffered a heart attack, but doctors ruled that out and said the illness had to do with a stomach distress.

For the first time since 1961, Texas El Paso has a basketball coach not named Haskins after hiring Oklahoma assistant Jason Rabedeaux.

The 34-year-old Rabedeaux, who wasn’t even born when Don Haskins took over the team, is starting his new job immediately.

“The legacy, the foundation, the tradition, the success that Don Haskins has laid down at this college is unique among all athletic programs,” Rabedeaux said. “He will always be known as the coach of the Miners.”

Longtime Laker assistant Bill Bertka signed a multiyear contract with the team.

Bertka, 72, will be an assistant under new Coach Phil Jackson and will have additional front-office duties under Executive Vice President Jerry West and General Manager Mitch Kupchak.

The New York Knicks signed DeMarco Johnson, their second-round pick in the 1998 draft. Johnson, a 6-foot-9 forward from North Carolina Charlotte, played in Milan, Italy, last season.