Kunin Seeks House-Arrest Curb

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Gov. Madeleine M. Kunin today proposed excluding drug offenders from the house-arrest program that allowed John Zaccaro Jr. to serve his cocaine trafficking term in a $1,500-a-month luxury apartment. “We must have public confidence in the system,” the governor said. “We have to send a very strong message to drug dealers.

The move came in part from the outcry over the Corrections Department’s decision to allow the 24-year-old son of former vice presidential candidate Geraldine A. Ferraro to participate in the program, which allows nonviolent criminals to find their own housing and serve their sentences outside prison under supervision. Zaccaro was convicted in April of selling $25 worth of cocaine to an undercover officer. He was sentenced to four months in jail but allowed to enter the house-arrest program after less than an hour in prison.