NOTEBOOK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER, JANICE M. HOROWITZ, LINA LOFARO AND ALAIN L. SANDERS

WINNERS & LOSERS

WHITEWATER AND OTHER RAPIDS

[WINNERS]

DAVID HALE Bill's chief accuser avoids potentially self-incriminating Senate testimony--for now

BILLY DALE White House bureaucrat fired in Travelgate wins martyr's crown with revelation that WH sought his FBI files, perhaps in search of dirt

BOB DOLE Gleefully brings up Watergate as WH confesses to requesting FBI files on Republicans

[& LOSERS]

BILL CLINTON Must testify for two Arkansas bankers charged with reimbursing his campaign contributors

SUSAN MCDOUGAL On trial again, this time accused of embezzling $150,000 from conductor Zubin Mehta and wife Nancy

ALFONSE D'AMATO Brokerage firm went out of its way to help him net $37,125 (Hillary did better with futures)

PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY

Arizona Governor J. Fife Symington's real estate empire has crumbled; he's under scrutiny for possible financial wrongdoing and the misuse of office. Above all, the scion of the Frick dynasty is broke--$25 million in the hole, after a nose dive as sharp as his performance in recent polls. And one escape clause seems to have gone pffft! In an offbeat promissory note made public last week, Jerome Hirsch, a Phoenix, Arizona, lender with ties to former Symington projects, agreed to accept as little as $100,000 in final payment of a $4.2 million loan if the Governor is still in grave financial trouble by Dec. 1, 2001, the loan's due date, and "is then President of the United States of America." Don't bank on it.

OH NO, NOT AGAIN!

Nobody expected the gooey sweets sold in cafes and shopping malls to be good for you, but just how bad are they? The Center for Science in the Public Interest, the same group that ruined moviegoing by reporting that popcorn is loaded with saturated fat, now reveals the nightmarish nutritional truth:

--Cinnabon cinnamon roll (above) Fewer calories (670 vs. 820), but as much fat (34 grams) as a Big Mac and a hot fudge sundae from McDonald's.

--Starbucks Cinnamon Scone About the same number of calories (530 vs. 539) and nearly as much fat (26 grams) as two pork chops with mashed potatoes and two pats of butter.

--The Cheesecake Factory original cheesecake A single slice has as much fat (49 grams) as a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza plus two Dairy Queen Banana Splits.

BLOOD SPORTS

Couch potoatoes, take heart. Last year the cost of injuries suffered while playing sports totaled $18.5 billion. The number injured per 1,000 participants:

Basketball 14.9 Baseball 13.5 Football (touch and tackle) 12.0 Ice Hockey 9.6 Soccer 9.3 Volleyball (hard surface and sand) 2.0

Sources: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association

LOCAL HEROES

ELSIE SHEMIN-ROTH, R.N., 67; FENTON, MO.; public-health nurse A homemaker till 54, Roth became a nurse 13 years ago and immersed herself in disaster assistance. In Israel she worked in an immigrant- absorption center following the 1985 airlift of Ethiopian Jews. During the Gulf War, she tended to the injured in a trauma center. In 1995 and 1996 she helped Hadassah deliver 108 tons of medical supplies and clothing to Bosnia. She says, "The value of the human person is so high, we have to reach out."

ALVINDEE BELL, 19; LOS ANGELES, CALIF.; student Leaving work one day in March, Bell heard screams. The strapping young man rescued a teenage girl from an attacker who was later charged with sexual battery. Bell, a developmentally disabled youth who participates in the Special Olympics, received a city council commendation for his bravery. Says city attorney Lynn Magnan-Donovan: "This has reaffirmed my faith in human beings. He responded to a situation where others wouldn't."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

CHAI LING, 30; BOSTON; Tiananmen student-protest leader

She was the slight young woman who was elected commander in chief of the students, and whose rallying cries rose above the protesters in 1989. This flesh-and-blood "Goddess of Democracy" escaped the square on June 4, just before the tanks rolled in. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed, and many wonder if the decision by Chai and other leaders not to retreat ultimately led to the bloodshed; she maintains its magnitude could never have been precicted. After hiding for 10 months, Chai eventually reached France (she's saving the details of her escape for a forthcoming autobiography), and was granted political asylum. She came to the U.S. in 1990 and earned a master's degree in international relations at Princeton. She married and divorced Feng Congde, a "vice commander in chief" of the student protesters. Now a management consultant in Boston, she remains active in the fight to liberate China. Says she:"I do believe change will come in a big way."

28 YEARS AGO IN TIME

The R.F.K. Assassination

"[Robert] Kennedy fell...The gun, waving wildly, kept pumping bullets, and found five other human targets. Eight men in all, including Rafer Johnson, an Olympic champion, and Roosevelt Grier, a 300-lb. Los Angeles Rams football lineman, attempted to overpower the slight but lithe assailant. Johnson finally knocked the pistol out of the stubborn hand [and together with Grier held the suspect] spread-eagled on the counter. Several R.F.K. supporters tried to kill the man with their hands. Johnson and Grier fended them off. Someone had the presence of mind to shout: 'Let's not have another Oswald!' Johnson pocketed the gun...[S]cores of people pressed in." --June 14, 1968