Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 10

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"We don't deny digging holes," said Fisher spokesman Pat Clyne. "That is what you do when you hunt for treasure. But the holes were dug in a sandy channel. No sea grass was damaged. You can't create a hole with a jet stream of water where there is sea grass because the grass is matted." Mel Fisher is as experienced at courtroom battles as he is on the sea.

He has fought governments and rivals who have lusted for his treasures. The state of Florida tried for a share of the Atocha, found 40 miles off Key West. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that the entire treasure, including thousands of emeralds and hundreds of gold and silver bars, belonged to the Fishers. This case could be more difficult for the Fishers.

All of the waters around the Keys were declared a national marine sanctuary in 1990, two years before they started poking around off Marathon. the sandy bottom of the ocean a few miles off Marathon Key, where a fleet of Spanish galleons sank in a storm in 1733. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the money would go for sea grass restoration and a search by archaeologists for the estimated $100 million treasure that drew the Fishers to Coffins Patch, a spot about three miles off Marathon. The nonjury trial should be wrapping up in about a week. Parts of the treasure ship, a galleon in a fleet of perhaps 22, sank on its way back to Spain.

Between January and March of 1992, Fisher found the anchor, cannonballs and a few other artifacts from the San Fernando. The Fishers, who found the Spanish galleons Atocha and Santa Margarita and their estimated $400 million of treasure in 1985, use big metal detectors dragged along behind hunter boats. Nine-foot deep holes in the sand are created by jet streams of water from two pipes lowered to the sea bed. The Justice Department accuses the Fishers of boring about 100 such holes in the search off KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) Mel Fisher, the swashbuckling treasure hunter accused of desecrating the ocean floor in search of Spanish gold and silver, was stooped and shuffling in a federal courtroom.

Amid a halflozen defense attorneys and Justice Department lawyers in expensive-looking suits, the 74-year-old Fisher was dressed in a print shirt, baggy pants and black tennis shoes, drained from chemotherapy for cancer diagnosed several years ago. The former Indiana chicken farmer grimaced as he listened to the government accuse him of violating a marine sanctuary. Fisher, who often wore a 12-pound gold chain around his neck while on the high seas, shook his head slowly as he looked down at his massive, weather worn hands. His son, Kane Fisher, is also a defendant. In his black polo shirt, he looked like he just got in from a treasure hunt as he sat ramrod straight during the height of the government's courtroom assault.

The government wants the Fishers to pay $664,161 for excavating 30-foot wide holes in 'Value PxcciMf We will not be Identical ttems Jet. Rt 54 121, Mt. Pulaski 792-3201 Free Delivery 90 Days Interest Free W.A.C. Are we really a bunch of liars? Pollsters wonder if the public is giving 'socially desirable' answers 500 FREE BONUS POINTS ON YOUR ARGOSY PREFERRED CARD! Everv Ask for Details Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday Fridar -Ortly 55.95 Admission to' Luncheon 3r t1 I lam 6t ipm Cruises To get around this "self -presentation bias," the experiment tacked the church attendance question inconspicuously onto a hst of questions about visits to doctors, movies, restaurants all emphatically limited to the past seven days. Attendance at reli gious services dropped to just lower than 31 percent.

Smith said a better estimate is 27-28 percent, omitting people who could not specify which day they attended. Robert Woodberry, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, presented research suggesting polls also oversample churchgoers because they are easier to reach and more likely to cooperate. Getting cooperation is a vexing issue in surveys on sensitive topics. A highly publicized sex survey conducted by NORC in 1992 let respondents answer the most personal questions in writing instead of face-to-face. told a session of the American Association for Public Opinion Research that overreporting of church attendance was smaller and more subtle than recent research has suggested.

A standard GSS question in 1996 found 36 percent of adults last year saying they went to religious services in the past seven days. Commentators who want to depict America as a nation of churchgoers can cite even higher figures such 51 percent in a 1991 Gallup poll. Smith said his research found respondents interpret "services" too broadly, counting all sorts of church-related activities such as fellowship meetings, choir rehearsals, religious TV programs, Bible study groups and lectures. Others ignore the precise question about attendance in the past seven days and respond as though they were asked whether they usually go to church or synagogue, or whether they are good Christians or Jews, Smith said. 1 ft TM LESSONS Begins Juno Sih Mondays am Mondays 6-7 pm Wednesdays 6-7 pm Members Non-Members Welcome! DECATUR ATHLETIC Ribbon Cutting The Chili Parlor 2500 E.

Cantrell Decatur Call Today! Ask about our Summer Junior Programs! 423-7020 1 01 0 Southside Drive f- i ill I IP ill 'm" Til I MM Tie NORFOLK, Va. (AP) Social desirability sounds like something everyone wants to have. But it's the bane of people who make a living in survey research. Pollsters and academics meeting the past few days in Norfolk examined whether some of their findings cited regularly by public officials and the media might result from too many respondents trying to give a socially desirable answer. The problem crops up when surveys ask about sensitive topics like sex, drug use, income, church attendance and how much interest you really had in following the O.J.

Simpson trials. "Do people lie about going to church?" asked Tom W. Smith of the National Opinion Research Center. "Depends what you mean about lying." Smith on Sunday presented results of an experiment by the General Social Survey, an extensive, long-term effort to track yearly changes in American society. He Congressional contact brings ex-aide success as lobbyist WASHINGTON (AP) A rookie in Washington's lobbying fraternity built a million-dollar enterprise in just two years, thanks to a quarter-century association with a powerful House committee chairman.

Ann Eppard specializes in clients with business before the House Transportation Committee headed by Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa. She was his chief of staff for 22 years and remains a political adviser, assistant campaign treasurer and confidante. "It's highly unusual for a 2-year-old firm to bring in a million," said Gary Ruskin, director of Ralph Nader's Congressional Accountability Project. "A lot of lobbyists are happy just to get one or two clients to survive." Clients past and present say they value her longstanding ties with Shuster, other committee members and their staffs.

"When you are bringing forward projects of this magnitude, you want the best," said Sylvia Farina, aide to Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, commissioner in Florida's Dade County. "We needed strength, people who were knowledgeable and who had the connections." Dade County, which includes Miami, wants authorization for almost $500 million for rail and bus improvements to ease traffic and encourage growth. Lobbying a former boss is legal after a one-year moratorium, which already expired for Eppard. Nevertheless, critics contend her personal and professional ties with Shuster create at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. "It's often said what's worst in Washington is what's legal," Ruskin said.

Eppard remains assistant treasurer for Shuster's campaign organization and has helped him raise more than $1 million since 1995. Much of the cash flowed in from the transportation industry. She and Shuster have defended the arrangement. But Eppard would not discuss her growing lobbying business. "I just don't want to talk," she said.

Shuster also declined comment. Ann Eppard Associates raked in $1.1 million from 17 clients in 1996, more than double the $450,000 earned in its first year. Three of its other four registered lobbyists also are former House aides, and Tim Hugo, Shuster's current staff chief, formerly worked for Ms. Eppard's firm. Eppard has signed up six new clients this year, as Shuster's committee worked on a top-to-bottom overhaul of federal transportation programs.

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