Harding Confronts Motorist With Bat In Traffic Dispute

-- FIGURE SKATING

Tonya Harding got into an argument and physical confrontation with another woman in Clackamas, Ore., and had a baseball bat in her hands when sheriff's deputies arrived and tempers cooled.

The Portland figure skater, who finished fourth in the Winter Olympics last month, was driving her pickup truck at 9:25 a.m. yesterday near the rink where she trains when she pulled up behind another motorist, Kay Brooks. Brooks was stopped at a red light and waiting to make a right turn, said Judy Gage of the Clackamas County sheriff's office.

"Reportedly, Ms. Harding was stopped behind Ms. Brooks and honked her horn," Gage said. "After turning . . . both drivers stopped and got out of their cars. They became involved in a verbal dispute and slight altercation."

Gage said the first deputy on the scene observed Harding holding a baseball bat.

"The deputy asked Ms. Harding to put the bat down and she complied."

Gage said nobody was injured, no criminal charges were filed and Harding and Brooks apologized to each other.

Portland television station KGW quoted a passenger in Harding's vehicle as saying that Brooks punched Harding and that Harding punched back and broke Brooks' glasses.

-- SAILING

Sixteen sailors aboard Stars & Stripes escaped injury when unusually strong winds and lumpy seas dismasted their boat in a third-round race of the America's Cup defender trials off San Diego.

Dennis Conner was at the wheel, trailing Bill Koch's America toward the third mark, when the 10-story rig cracked just above the first spreaders and toppled over the port bow. According to Conner's crew, as a 19-knot wind powered up a spinnaker on the downwind leg, a block in the running backstay broke, removing support from the 105-foot mast.

With a tremendous crash, the rig went down, most of it in the water ahead of the boat, which spared the crew injury. The crew scrambled to cut the rig loose and salvage as much equipment as it could.

The undefeated America went on to win the four-point race and increase its first-place point total to 36. Stars & Stripes has 11. Another Koch boat, Defiant, has eight. Defiant was scheduled to sail against Stars & Stripes today, though the Conner camp was unsure whether it would be ready to race.

In the challengers trials, Japan and New Zealand are tied for first with 50 points.

-- GOLF

Officials at the Honda Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., could walk off the job this weekend in a labor dispute with the PGA Tour, a union attorney said.

-- FOOTBALL

Aaron Garcia, a former Washington State quarterback who pleaded guilty in a drunken assault on police officers, does not have to return to jail. Whitman County Superior Court Judge Wallis Friel sentenced Garcia to 90 days in jail and suspended 88 days, giving him credit for two days already served. He ordered Garcia to perform 240 hours of community service and pay restitution of $662 in medical bills to two officers hurt in the incident.

-- Thane Gash, 26, a Plan B free-agent safety, signed a two-year contract worth a reported $1.3 million with the San Francisco 49ers.

-- Defensive lineman Markus Koch, 29, who was bothered by injuries in his six-year career with the Washington Redskins, has retired, Coach Joe Gibbs said.

-- BASKETBALL

The NCAA is investigating Pittsburgh's progam for possible violations three years ago during its recruitment of Jamal Faulklner, a former New York prep star, the New York Daily News reported.

-- A judge will decide today or tomorrow whether Idaho State Coach Herb Williams will be on the sideline for the Bengals' opening game in the Big Sky Conference tournament. Big Sky Commissioner Ron Stephenson suspended Williams for one game for his role in a melee during the Idaho State-Weber State game last Saturday. But Williams asked for a restraining order.

-- BOXING

Barry McGuigan, former world featherweight champion, was ordered to pay his former manager, Barney Eastwood, $775,00 in damages. A jury in Belfast, Northern Ireland, found McGuigan guilty of libel.

-- Frankie Mitchell, defending his NABF lightweight title, scored a technical knockout over Roberto Medina in the 10th round of a scheduled 12-round bout in Philadelphia.