By CHRIS KAHN
Associated Press Writer
MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson
pleaded guilty Monday to charges of drug possession and driving
under the influence stemming from a traffic stop last year as he
was leaving a nightclub.
Tyson quietly acknowledged to a judge that he had cocaine and
was impaired when he was stopped for driving erratically in
Scottsdale on Dec. 29. He faces a maximum of four years and three
months in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 19.
Police stopped Tyson after the boxer had spent the evening at
Scottsdale’s Pussycat Lounge. An officer said he saw Tyson wiping a
white substance off the dashboard of his black BMW, and that his
speech was slurred. Authorities said they found bags of cocaine in
Tyson’s pocket and in his car.
Tyson told officers later that he used cocaine “whenever I can
get my hands on it,” and that he preferred to smoke it in Marlboro
cigarettes with the tobacco pulled out, according to court
documents. He also told police that he used marijuana that day and
was taking the antidepressant Zoloft, the documents state.
Since his arrest, Tyson checked himself into an in-patient
treatment program for what his lawyer called “various
addictions.” Defense lawyer David Chesnoff had said previously
that he had try to keep the boxer out of prison.
In 1986, Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in
history when, at 20, he knocked out Trevor Berbick. He lost his
title four years later when he was knocked out by James “Buster”
Douglas. By 1997, Tyson’s career hit a low point when he bit
Evander Holyfield’s ear during a fight.
Tyson, 41, recently had been trying to revive his career with a
series of boxing exhibitions.
County Attorney Andrew Thomas said earlier this year that Tyson
should be put behind bars if convicted, noting that Tyson was
convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992 and pleaded no contest to
misdemeanor assault charges in Maryland in 1999. “He has run out
of second chances,” Thomas said.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

By DEE-ANN DURBIN
and
TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writers
DETROIT (AP) — Thousands of United Auto Workers walked off the
job at GM plants around the country Monday, in the first nationwide
strike during auto contract negotiations since 1976.
GM spokesman Dan Flores said the union launched a national
strike after the late morning UAW strike deadline passed without
agreement on a new contract, which would include a groundbreaking
provision establishing a UAW-managed trust that will administer
GM’s retiree health care obligations.
Workers began picketing outside GM plants.
The UAW has 73,000 members who work for GM at 82 U.S.
facilities, including assembly and parts plants and warehouses.
It remained to be seen what effect the strike would have on the
automaker and consumers. The company has sufficient stocks of just
about every product to withstand a short strike, according to Tom
Libby, senior director of industry analysis for J.D. Power and
Associates.
Charlie Coppinger, who has worked at GM’s powertrain plant in
Warren for 31 years, walked the picket line along with a handful of
others shortly after the deadline passed.
The 51-year-old Rochester Hills resident said he hoped a strike
could be settled quickly, but that union members were on the line
to back the union and its bargainers.
“We’re just here to support them,” said Coppinger, who said
leaflets were passed out indicating that the strike was on.
Flores said the automaker is disappointed in the UAW’s decision
to call a national strike.
“The bargaining involves complex, difficult issues that affect
the job security of our U.S. work force and the long-term viability
of the company. We remain fully committed to working with the UAW
to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges
facing GM,” Flores said.
GM had been pushing hard for the health care trust — known as a
Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association, or VEBA — so it could
move $51 billion in unfunded retiree health costs off its books. GM
has nearly 339,000 retirees and surviving spouses.
Worker Anita Ahrens burst into tears as hundreds of United Auto
Workers streamed out of a GM plant in Janesville, Wis.
“Oh my God, here they come,” said Ahrens, 39. “This is
unreal.”
Ahrens has seven years at the plant, where she works nights
installing speakers in sport utility vehicles. She waited outside
the building Monday for her husband, Ron Ahrens, who has worked
there for 21 years.
The couple has three children, including a college freshman, and
Ahrens worried about how they would pay their bills.
“This is horrible, but we’re die-hard union, so we have to,”
Ahrens said. “We got a mortgage, two car payments and tons of
freaking bills.”
More than a thousand UAW workers streamed out of GM’s Delta
Township plant near Lansing at 11 a.m. UAW members were handing out
picket signs that say: “UAW On Strike.” “I don’t think it’s a win for either s
ide. It’s too bad it’s
come to this, but we have given up a lot already,” said Pat Haley,
50, from Dimondale, a quality control specialist who has been with
GM for 31 years.
He said he didn’t have a big problem with the VEBA, but he
opposes a possible $5 an hour wage cut and restrictions on vacation
time.
While GM has enough cars and trucks to withstand a short strike
– the automaker had about a 65-day supply of cars and trucks as
September began, according to Paul Taylor, chief economist for the
National Automobile Dealers Association — it still would be costly
for the company.
The UAW last struck GM in 1998. In that strike, workers at two
GM parts plants walked out for 54 days, costing the automaker $2.2
billion. The strike, which occurred between years when national
negotiations were held, was over work rules and GM’s plans to
eliminate jobs.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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