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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1999)
.</ T W '• • ' 1 . ' ; „ V ■ •• >, -V V ^ :...,"4 */;■, News Digest Wednesday, September 15,1999 _ Page 2 Eye of the storm nears land MIAMI (AP) - Authorities urged nearly 2 mil lion people to evacuate coastal areas stretching from Florida to North Carolina on Tuesday as Hurricane Floyd, one of the most powerful and biggest storms to ever threaten the United States, roared through the Bahamas. Floyd’s eye was expected to pass within 90 miles of southern Florida Tuesday, and perhaps come within 50 miles of north Florida’s coast by this morning, before striking land somewhere far ther north. “If this thing parallels us, it could act like a weedeater going up the coast,” said Craig Fugate of the Florida Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. Floyd’s top sustained wind eased today to 140 mph - down from Monday’s 155 mph but still a Category 4 storm, the second most powerful des ignation for a hurricane. Forecasters, however, said fluctuations in speed were expected. It would be Category 5 if wind speed reached 156 mph. Floyd was most likely to make landfall in Georgia or the Carolinas, but “we’re so close to the coast that just about any small deviation could bring the hurricane onshore anywhere from cen tral Florida northward,” hurricane specialist Miles Lawrence said at the National Hurricane Center. At Orlando, Walt Disney World was closing Tuesday for the first time because of weather. Universal Studios also was closing, and SeaWorld shut down. Airlines canceled virtually all flights into and out of southern Florida, and die military sent air craft inland and ships out of port to ride out the storm at sea. Crews of big civilian ships were told to get ready to leave port at Charleston, S.C. The Marine Corps was moving 7,000 recruits out of its Recruit Depot at Parris Island, S.C. Only a skeleton crew was left at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Three space shuttles were in the shuttle hangar, which is designed to with stand wind of only up to 105 mph, and the fourth was in the Vehicle Assembly Building, built to withstand 125 mph wind. Four multimillion-dol lar rockets stood exposed on launch pads. Floyd was much larger than Hurricane Andrew - another Category 4 storm - which smashed into South Florida in 1992, causing $25 billion in damage, killing 26 people and leaving 160,000 homeless. South Carolina residents with memories of Hurricane Hugo 10 years ago packed up as best they could. - - XtjT How do you prepare for a storm that's going to wipe you out? Buster Browne South Carolina resident “How do you prepare for a storm that’s going to wipe you out?” asked Buster Browne, a McClennanville, S.C., resident who rode out Hugo’s Category 4 wind of 135 mph. “Category 1 or 2, you run out and buy ply wood and do what you can,” he said. “If a Category 5’s going to hit you, what the hell are you going to do? Get the stuff you want to save, and leave town.” Only two Category 5 hurricanes have hit the United States since record-keeping started: the 1935 Labor Day storm that slammed the Florida Keys, killing 423 people, and Hurricane Camille, which killed 256 people in Mississippi and Virginia in 1969. Mission looted after evacuation DILI, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian soldiers looted the abandoned U.N. mission in East Timor on Tuesday, just hours after 110 U.N. personnel and 1,300 East Timorese were evacuated and flown to safety to end a 10-day siege. Office equipment and computers were carted away and vehicles were trashed by the soldiers - “the very peo ple we asked to secure the compound when U.N. staff moved to the Australian consulate,” U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York. There were reports Tuesday that the compound was also torched, but Eckhard said he was told that it was not the compound but a small house near by that had been burned. The remaining U.N. staff mem bers, holed up in the Australian con sulate, reported that a black plume of smoke was rising from die direction of the compound in the provincial capital of Dili, said Fernando del Mundo, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Jakarta. The staff feared their headquarters had been set ablaze by pro-Indonesia mili tiamen, he said. I— The dozen U.N. personnel who stayed behind in Dili were to prepare the way for an international peacekeep ing force, the makeup of which was being negotiated by Indonesian and U.N. officials Tuesday. While it is impossible to confirm the number killed in the past week, pre vious estimates have ranged from 600 to 7,000. In Jakarta, nearly 1,000 students tried to march on parliament Tuesday, demanding the resignation ofPresident B.J. Habibie and the end of military involvement in politics - and blaming both for the bloodshed in East Timor. Two students were wounded by plastic bullets after die crowd damaged two police cars and set fire to an army vehicle. In New York, the U.N. Security Council and Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas worked Tuesday to resolve differences in the makeup of a peacekeeping force intended to halt the violence in East Timor. The Atlanta-based Carter Center, which monitors international political. crises, said militiamen, continue to ter rorize and kill refugees in camps set up in West Timor. Editor: Josh Funk Managing Editor: Sarah Baker Associate News Editor: Lindsay Young Associate News Editor: Jessica Fargen Opinion Editor: MarkBaldridge Sports Editor: Dave Wilson A&E Editor: Liza Holtmeier Copy Desk Chief: Diane Broderick Photo Chief: Matt Miller Design Chief: Melanie Falk Art Director: Matt Haney Web Editor: Gregg Stearns Asst Web Editor: Jennifer Walker Questions? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at (402) 472*2588 or e-mail dn@unl.edu. General Manager: Daniel Shattil Publications Board Jessica Hofmann, Chairwoman: (402)477-0527 Professional Adviser: Don Walton, (402)473-7248 Advertising Manager: Nick Paitsch, (402)472-2589 Asst Ad Manager: Jamie Yeager ClassifleM Ad Manager: Mary Johnson Fax number: (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: www.daByneb.com The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 20,1400 R SL, Lincoln, NE 68588-0449, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during the summer sess»ns.The public has access to me Publications Board. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling (402) 472-2588. Subscriptions are $60 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the DaBy Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 20,1400 R St., • Lincoln NE 68588-0448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT1999 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Lawyer removed from investigation ■ More removals by Justice officials may follow in Waco case. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department has removed the federal prosecutor who first raised concerns about a cover-up at Waco from further involvement in the case, saying he and his colleagues are potential witnesses in the indepen dent inquiry into the government siege. Justice officials said there could be additional removals of lawyers involved in the case, including some who are helping to defend the govern ment against civil suits brought by the Branch Davidians. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston, who helped handle the criminal prosecution of Branch Davidian sufvfvofs, was removed Friday from the Waco case along with his boss, U.S. Attorney James W. Blagg, according to court documents made public Tuesday. “I’m not sure what to make of it. I’m trying not to be paranoid,” Johnston said, adding that he hasn’t been involved lately in court develop ments related to the Branch Davidian case. Special Waco counsel John Danforth, is beginning his investiga tion into whether the government killed any Branch Davidians during the 1993 siege and tried to cover it up. The removal of Johnston came to light less than 24 hours after the pub lic release of a letter he had sent to Attorney General Janet Reno. “I have formed the belief that facts may have been kept from you - and quite possibly are being kept from you even now - by components of the department,” Johnston wrote Aug. 30. It has been revealed that the FBI used potentially incendiary tear gas during the last day of the siege. Government officials maintain that Branch Davidians set the fire on April 19,1993, when David Koresh and about 80 followers perished. | A1 Gore holds rally to court Latino activists« WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President AI Gore bounded on stage Tuesday to the hot-salsa sounds of Ricky Martin while aides passed around a 15-page list of 521 Latino activists endorsing Gore’s presiden tial campaign. “Lo acepto,” Gore grinned. “I accept.” The pep rally was staged as a for mal launch to Gore’s effort to build a groundswell of support in the exploding Hispanic community. The vice president made the most of his Spanish as he embraced supporters beneath the banner, “Ganamos con Gore” - We win with Gore - at the same Capitol Hill hotel where the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute was holding its annual convention. The Democratic presidential candidate talked of a “kinship” with Latinos. “We have had successes together We have had die same ene mies,” Gore said. Citing the community’s dispro portionately high school dropout rates and problems getting health care, Gore repeated die refrain, “I’m not satisfied. Nuestras familias merecen lo mejor. (Our families deserve better.)” Campaign aides boasted “over 700” Latino elected officials and other prominent community leaders on Gore’s endorsement list, but a pre cise counting tallied 521. His Republican rival, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, has also fiercely courted Latinos. New census data released Tuesday showed the Hispanic popu lation grew by more than 35 percent to about 30.3 million between 1990 - and 1998, increasing its share of the total population from 9 percent to 11 percent. ! ( i ■ Iowa Bush: Court wrong in ending ban on gays in Boy Scouts DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Questioned by an anti-gay rights publi cation, Texas Gov. Geoige W. Bush said Tuesday that he opposes gay marriages and that a court erred in striking a ban on gays in the Boy Scouts. Publishers of the newsletter said Bush’s comments were “a good start” but said they had more questions about the Republican presidential front-run ner’s position on gay rights. Bill Horn is a leading anti-gay rights activist who publishes a newslet ter called “Straight from the Heart.” ! He’s been questioning presidential campaigns about their views on gay issues. ■ New Jersey Miss America pageant holds off on widening standards ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)-The head of the Miss America pageant on Tuesday backed off plans to allow women who’ve been divorced or preg nant to compete for the title, saying no final decision has been made. Robert L. Beck, CEO of the Miss America Organization, said the pageant’s board of directors has agreed to hold off implementing the changes pending talks with state pageant opera tors. The Associated Press reported Monday that the pageant had decided to break with nearly 50 years of tradi tion by striking provisions in the con testant contracts that require women to swear they have never been married and never been pregnant. ■San Francisco Circuit court tells judge to rethink absolute drug ban SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The dark judicial clouds hovering over California’s medical marijuana clubs may have lightened - but only just a bit. On Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told a .federal judge to rethink his absolute ban on drug dis tribution at some northern California marijuana clubs and consider an exemption for patients who show a serious medical need and no legal - alternative. Though not as broad, the court’s language was consistent with a 1996 California initiative allowing patients with a doctor’s recommendation to possess and use marijuana for serious illnesses without prosecution under state law. '■Yugoslavia Serbs fired upon returning to homes in Kosovo PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Gunmen fired on a convoy of Serbs returning to their homes in the American sector of Kosovo, killing one and wounding others, NATO said Tuesday. Two Montenegrin women - aged 50 and 70 years - were found dead Monday in their home in the western city of Pec, the NATO command said without releasing further details. In Moscow, meanwhile, a senior Russian general said Tuesday that Russia may reconsider its participa tion in Kosovo’s peacekeeping opera tions because NATO and the United Nations are moving the province away from Yugoslav control. Belgrade still retains nominal sovereignty over Kosovo. /*