David Owen

Politicians frequently have someone or something embarrassing in the past that haunts their careers. For Bill Clinton, that person is his eccentric former investment partner James B. McDougal, whose past misdeeds spawned the Whitewater inquiry. For Republican presidential challenger Bob Dole, it is a local businessman and ex-politician named David C. Owen. While Owen's name is by no means as well known as that of McDougal, the two men's stories have notable parallels.

"Noise" is a weird, crazy, grabby little movie that thinks big thoughts. A comedy of ideas written and directed by Henry Bean ("The Believer"), it stars a hilarious and hefty (in a good way, his self-assured charisma is infinitely expanding) Tim Robbins as a New York bourgeois who, radicalized by the suffering caused him by the ear-splitting din of the city, transforms himself into a self-styled noise-vigilante called "The Rectifier."

Britain's Social Democratic Party broke up in acrimony and discord. By a vote of 273 to 28 at a special meeting of its ruling 480-member council in the northern city of Sheffield, the bulk of the party chose to unite with their fellow opposition Liberals, while a minority faction will form a new party behind former leader David Owen. Owen opposed the merger on grounds that the two parties occupy divergent wings of centrist politics, notably over key issues such as nuclear deterrence.

The Masters was the first golf tournament to: * Give spectators daily pairing sheets and a diagram of the course. * Provide on-site parking for spectators. * Schedule 72 holes over four days (traditionally, it was three days, with 36 holes played on the final day). * Be played on terrain that routinely was reshaped to provide better sight lines for customers. * Be covered live on nationwide radio. * Provide bleachers for spectators.

THE WALLS AROUND US: The Thinking Person's Guide to How a House Works by David Owen (Villard Books: $21; 320 pp.). It's a wonder, really, why a book like this hasn't been published before--a how-to with charm. Then again, a book like "The Walls Around Us" requires a special combination of talents, for the writer must get to the heart of numerous technical subjects--plumbing, electricity, roofing, etc.--without getting lost in the details.

The Masters was the first golf tournament to: * Give spectators daily pairing sheets and a diagram of the course. * Provide on-site parking for spectators. * Schedule 72 holes over four days (traditionally, it was three days, with 36 holes played on the final day). * Be played on terrain that routinely was reshaped to provide better sight lines for customers. * Be covered live on nationwide radio. * Provide bleachers for spectators.

The general finance chairman of Kansas Sen. Bob Dole's presidential campaign said Thursday he is stepping down from the post until questions regarding his business activities are resolved. Dole himself, trying to quell a controversy over a real estate deal involving his wife's blind trust, said earlier in the day while campaigning in Iowa that he did not know if the official, David Owen, had committed any improprieties, but described the resignation as "a good thing."

"Noise" is a weird, crazy, grabby little movie that thinks big thoughts. A comedy of ideas written and directed by Henry Bean ("The Believer"), it stars a hilarious and hefty (in a good way, his self-assured charisma is infinitely expanding) Tim Robbins as a New York bourgeois who, radicalized by the suffering caused him by the ear-splitting din of the city, transforms himself into a self-styled noise-vigilante called "The Rectifier."

David C. Owen, until recently national finance director of Sen. Bob Dole's presidential campaign, received large consulting fees from two Kansas businessmen after Dole's office joined Owen in helping the businessmen win big Army contracts, The Times has learned. Owen, who resigned 10 days ago from the campaign post after controversy over his close ties to the so-called "blind trust" of the senator's wife, Elizabeth Hanford Dole, helped in 1985 to establish EDP Enterprises of Overland Park, Kan.

Now that Bob Dole's surrogates have put the "Clinton character issue" into play, it seems only fair to raise some questions about their man as well. After all, Dole did not just rise out of a foxhole to run for president the way his campaign ads suggest. World War II was half a century ago and since then, most of Dole's life has been spent in Washington feeding heartily at what conservatives like to call the public trough.

Politicians frequently have someone or something embarrassing in the past that haunts their careers. For Bill Clinton, that person is his eccentric former investment partner James B. McDougal, whose past misdeeds spawned the Whitewater inquiry. For Republican presidential challenger Bob Dole, it is a local businessman and ex-politician named David C. Owen. While Owen's name is by no means as well known as that of McDougal, the two men's stories have notable parallels.

Today begins a four-month Bosnian cease-fire brokered by former President Jimmy Carter. Will the cease-fire be observed? Perhaps: Some say the Bosnian winter imposes a natural cease-fire. But perhaps not: On Thursday Bosnian Serbs fired two shells into Sarajevo's Old Town, killing two and wounding seven. "Large pools of blood could be seen in the fresh snow," the Associated Press reported. A cease-fire is, in any event, not a peace but at best only a prelude to peace.

THE WALLS AROUND US: The Thinking Person's Guide to How a House Works by David Owen (Villard Books: $21; 320 pp.). It's a wonder, really, why a book like this hasn't been published before--a how-to with charm. Then again, a book like "The Walls Around Us" requires a special combination of talents, for the writer must get to the heart of numerous technical subjects--plumbing, electricity, roofing, etc.--without getting lost in the details.

Britain's Social Democratic Party broke up in acrimony and discord. By a vote of 273 to 28 at a special meeting of its ruling 480-member council in the northern city of Sheffield, the bulk of the party chose to unite with their fellow opposition Liberals, while a minority faction will form a new party behind former leader David Owen. Owen opposed the merger on grounds that the two parties occupy divergent wings of centrist politics, notably over key issues such as nuclear deterrence.

David C. Owen, until recently national finance director of Sen. Bob Dole's presidential campaign, received large consulting fees from two Kansas businessmen after Dole's office joined Owen in helping the businessmen win big Army contracts, The Times has learned. Owen, who resigned 10 days ago from the campaign post after controversy over his close ties to the so-called "blind trust" of the senator's wife, Elizabeth Hanford Dole, helped in 1985 to establish EDP Enterprises of Overland Park, Kan.

Today begins a four-month Bosnian cease-fire brokered by former President Jimmy Carter. Will the cease-fire be observed? Perhaps: Some say the Bosnian winter imposes a natural cease-fire. But perhaps not: On Thursday Bosnian Serbs fired two shells into Sarajevo's Old Town, killing two and wounding seven. "Large pools of blood could be seen in the fresh snow," the Associated Press reported. A cease-fire is, in any event, not a peace but at best only a prelude to peace.

Now that Bob Dole's surrogates have put the "Clinton character issue" into play, it seems only fair to raise some questions about their man as well. After all, Dole did not just rise out of a foxhole to run for president the way his campaign ads suggest. World War II was half a century ago and since then, most of Dole's life has been spent in Washington feeding heartily at what conservatives like to call the public trough.

The general finance chairman of Kansas Sen. Bob Dole's presidential campaign said Thursday he is stepping down from the post until questions regarding his business activities are resolved. Dole himself, trying to quell a controversy over a real estate deal involving his wife's blind trust, said earlier in the day while campaigning in Iowa that he did not know if the official, David Owen, had committed any improprieties, but described the resignation as "a good thing."