Gov. Sundlun Settles Paternity Suit, Will Pay for College

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island’s governor said Thursday he was “proud to be the father” of a Michigan teen-ager and agreed to pay her college costs as part of an out-of-court settlement of a paternity lawsuit.

In return Kara Hewes, 17, agreed to drop the lawsuit seeking unspecified support that she filed against Gov. Bruce G. Sundlun on June 9 in Oakland County, Mich., where she lives.

Hewes said she plans eventually to use Sundlun’s name and hopes for “all the benefits of a normal father-daughter relationship.”

“I think the important thing is not to look back,” Sundlun said at a news conference. “We’re here to look forward and try to create a relationship.”

Sundlun, a two-term Democrat, appeared relaxed and joked frequently during the news conference. Hewes wore a big smile as she confidently faced reporters and television cameras.

Under the agreement, Sundlun, 73, will pay Hewes’ tuition, room and board, books and related expenses at the University of Michigan during her undergraduate years. She said she would like a career in broadcasting or law.

Henry Baskin, Hewes’ lawyer, said he would seek to nullify Hewes’ adoption by her mother’s ex-husband, Robert Hewes. Once that is accomplished, Sundlun will admit he is Hewes’ only father and Hewes said she will begin using Sundlun as her surname.

Hewes said she had not seen her adoptive father since he and her mother divorced in 1985.

Hewes’ mother, Judith Hewes, accepted $35,000 from Sundlun in a paternity settlement in the 1970s.