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IN THE NEWS - December 28,
2002: Time Honors 3 Women
By Jerilyn Watson
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English
program, IN THE NEWS.
For many years, Time magazine has recognized
a person or persons who made important news during a year.
Recently, Time named three American women as its Persons of the Year
for two-thousand-two. One of those honored is Coleen Rowley. She works
for America's Federal Bureau of Investigation. Time also honored Cynthia
Cooper, an official with the communications business WorldCom. The third
winner is Sherron Watkins. She formerly worked for the energy trading
company Enron.
These women reported serious problems or wrongdoing
in the places where they work. Each woman risked her job to tell the
truth. Their actions have led to congressional investigations and calls
for reform.
Coleen Rowley wrote a letter to FBI Director
Robert Mueller in May. She criticized the agency for failing to gather
evidence before the September eleventh terrorist attacks on the United
States. Mizz Rowley told how officials at FBI headquarters had dismissed
information from the agency's office in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The
information concerned a French citizen, Zacarias Moussaoui. Mister Moussaoui
is now waiting to be tried in the state of Virginia. He is accused of
helping plot the terrorist attacks.
Missus Rowley wrote that an FBI agent had identified
Mister Moussaoui as a terrorist threat one month before the attacks.
The Minneapolis office asked FBI headquarters to let it seek a court
order to search the suspect's property. Agents especially wanted to
search his computer. Yet higher-level FBI officials dismissed their
appeals. Congress and the Bush Administration now are exploring ways
to improve the agency's performance.
Cynthia Cooper examines financial records for
the WorldCom Corporation in Clinton, Mississippi. In June, Mizz Cooper
told a WorldCom financial committee that the company's records were
dishonest.
Soon, WorldCom's chief financial officer admitted
that the company earned almost four-thousand-million dollars less than
it had reported. Since then, the amount has grown to more than nine-thousand-million
dollars. Owners of the company's stock shares have lost three-thousand-million
dollars. WorldCom reported that it is unable to pay its debts.
Sherron Watkins was a communications officer
with Enron, based in Houston, Texas. In August of last year, she wrote
to then company chairman Kenneth Lay. Mizz Watkins told him about questionable
financial methods at Enron. She also said the company should tell its
shareholders the truth about its losses. Months later, the company began
to fail. By then, Enron had lost about one-thousand-million dollars.
The actions of Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper
led to criminal charges against some Enron and WorldCom officials. Congress
also is considering ways to prevent companies from lying about their
finances.
This VOA Special English broadcast was written
by Jerilyn Watson. This is Steve Ember.
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