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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1985)
Wednesday, October 30, 1985 Page 2 Daily Nebraskan Rv The Associated Press News Digest Soviets make AJ3M, 'Star Wars' offers; U.S. response skeptical WASHINGTON - The Soviet Union has offered to halt construction of a suspicious Siberian radar and to accept small-scale tests of the controversial U.S. "Star Wars" program, Reagan ad ministration officials said Tuesday. But the offer to halt work at the Krasnoyarsk site, which President Reagan branded as illegal in a report to Congress, is drawing a skeptical U.S. response because it would depend on the United States not going ahead with the modernization of early-warning radar in Greenland and Britain. "They have made us an offer we can refuse," an official said, stressing the importance of upgrading the Thule and Fylingdales radars in alerting the Uni ted States to a nuclear attack. The Soviet gesture on Star Wars, however, is considered a positive move in dealing with the main impediment to progress on a new nuclear arms con trol treaty. Reagan's $26 billion pro gram to develop a high-technology anti missile shield has slowed arms negotia tions in Geneva, Switzerland. Both proposals, through diplomatic channels in Geneva, appear to be part of a concerted public relations cam paign by the Soviets in advance of Rea gan's Nov. 19-20 summit meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The Soviets are resisting cuts in offensive nuclear weapons unless curbs also are applied to the Strategic Defense Initiative. But Reagan has refused to submit the program, known popularly as Star Wars, to the give-and-take of th e negotiating table. The president also concluded this month that research, testing and development of anti-missile technology does not violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union. The Soviets, and many American scientists and analysts, insist that the U.S. program flouts the arms control accord. However, Gorbachev informed Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., in Moscow in Sep tember that fundamental space re search cannot be verified or thereby challenged by the Soviet Unioit Subsequently, officials said, Soviet negotiators in Geneva acknowledged that tests of "small-scale mockups" could not be challenged when they essentially are extensions of laboratory research. However, Moscow still objects to full-scale engineering development of anti-missile devices, said a U.S. offi cial who demanded anonymity. Lawmakers reject proposal for 1 percent cut in state aid LINCOLN A proposal aimed at curbing local government spending, in hopes of limiting cuts in the state operations budget, was rejected Tues day by the Legislature. On an 18-21 vote, lawmakers rejected an amendment that sought to impose a 1 percent across-the-board cut in state operations and state aid programs and an additional 5 percent reduction in state aid to school, counties, cities and natural resources district. "We've allowed it (state aid) to get out of control, and it is out of control," said Sen. John DeCamp of Neligh, who co-sponsored the amendment along with Sens. Vard Johnson of Omaha, Chris Beutler of Lincoln and R. Wiley Remmers of Auburn. "It is time we deal with the entire picture of government spending. You can't make all the adjustments in only one spot," DeCamp said, who added that senators have concentrated too much on state operations. DeCamp estimated that the amendment would have shaved $16 " million from the $828.3 million general fund budget for fiscal 1985-86, which fel1 a couple of million dollars below budget cuts proposed by Gov. Bob Ker rey and the Appropriations Committee. The Neligh lawmaker estimated that a 6 percent reduction would have whittled $8 million from school dis tricts, $1 million from both cities and counties and about $40,000 from natu ral resouces districts. Remmers warned that "we'll be here until Christmas" unless lawmakers accept an alternative to budget-cutting recommendations offered by the Ap propriations Committee and Kerrey. "If we don't do something like this, we are going to be here for a long time," Remmers said. DeCamp warned that rejection of the amendment would leave lawmakers with little recourse but to accept a major tax increase or "massacre" state government to resolve revenue shortfall. He said the federal government, under the Reagan administration, has passed along many fiscal burdens to state governments. Sen. Tom Vickers of Farnam argued that lawmakers should "starve" local governments to force a change in Nebraska's governmental system. However, Sen. Gary Hannibal of Omaha chided DeCamp and Johnson for abandoning their traditional pleas for property tax relief by advocating state aid cuts, which could trigger higher property taxes. Sen. Howard Lamb of Anselmo argued that the amendment fell far short of the amount necessary in budget cuts to stave off a deficit at the conclusion of fiscal 1985-86. Johnson, meanwhile, argued that local governments easily could survive a curtailment in state aid by reducing expenditures, raising taxes or trim ming bulging reserves. Johnson lambasted local govern ments for expanding their budgets amid an economic downturn that has caused state government to be "slowly squeezed. . . and wrung dry." "Local governments have continued to operate as though there is no eco nomic crisis in Nebraska," he said. After rejection of the amendment, lawmakers began to plod through a long list of budget cuts recommended by the Appropriations Committee. The panel's package is being consi dered as an amendment to LB1. Disaster agency broke rule, panel says WASHINGTON The nation's dis aster relief agency broke federal con tracting rules to purchase a radiation treatment course, and then scrapped it after persistent objections that the material could endanger accident vic tims, a House Committee reported Tuesday. The House Government Operations" Committee unanimously approved the report, which contended the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasted $90,000 and "demonstrated a lack of concern for the safety of the public." The lack of concern, the report said, came when a panel of federal scientific experts warned FEMA in August 1983 of potentially life-threatening material in the course. That was more than two months before the course was pur chased from a publishing firm Oct. 31, 1983. The report accused FEMA of "disre garding th e advice" of the panel, which included scientists. But, it added, when the panel members continued their objections, the course "was withdrawn from pilot testing and put on the shelf, where it remains today, resulting in a waste of public funds." FEMA officials originally had an nounced plans to send the course of slides and manuals around the country to teach "first responder" emergency personnel how to handle victims of radiation accidents. Bill McAda, a FEMA spokesman, said the agency has deleted the controver sial material and now is using about 85 percent of the content in its emergency training program at the agency's Emmitsburg, Md., facility. While acknowledging the course was never sent to emergency personnel around the country by FEMA, he said: "It's not all a loss." The publishing firm, Bradford Com munications Corp. of Greenbelt, Md., has said it distributed the course on its own to a number of communities, con tending it is safe and effective. The report also concluded FEMA should have allowed companies to bid competitively to produce the course. No bids were permitted by FEMA, The report, however, did not attempt to resolve whether the course was, in fact, dangerous, not did it fix blame for violation of contracting rules. It added that allegations of wrong doing should be resolved by the Justice Department, which is investigating this contract and other allegations against FEMA under former director Louis O. Giuffrida. Wewsma A roundup of the day's happenings Actor Vincent Price, 74, a veteran villain of silver screen chillers, says today's horror movies are horrible. "Right off the bat, three people's heads are rolling down the aisle," Prince said Monday during a visit to Auburn University. Sen. Cal Carsten of Avoca, a mainstay in the Legis lature and a former longtime Revenue Committee chair man, announced he won't seek re-election next year. Carsten, who will begin his 16th year in the Legislature when the regular 1986 session begins in January 1986, said the time has come to devote more time to family and give someone else a chance to serve the 2nd District in sou theast Nebraska. The odor from Lake Maloney's Brian Fourtner's sneakers became the sweet stench of success when the 11-year-old won first place in the fifth annual Rotten Sneaker contest. Brian, whose year-old sneakers were judged to be in worse shape than those of 27 other con testants, was awarded a new pair of shoes, foot deodorant and Odor Eaters. Pope John Paul II urged continued and growing understanding between Roman Catholics and Jews, and denounced the "ugly" specter of anti-Semitism while addressing a session of the International Committee of Cooperation Between the Catholic Church of Judaism. President Reagan, Chief Justice Warren Burger and the natives of about 117 nations will help celebrate the restoration of the Statue of Liberty in a July 4 weekend celebration that will be "heard and seen around the world." That's the promise of Lee Iacocca, head of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, for the unveil ing of the restored statue on its 100th anniversary. Alcohol deaths high among Indians '-- tuan 35 percent cf ail Ir.din daatlj in tl 2 IVirj States are d'-VtlyriLicJtoL'.r:'. ;l,2crrJ toar:; -:tr.: '-Vrilrr ."J by the I- -ir.sbC.2tI ;spc:'-cre.nC::- -"ir I- -: v' i. .'..a Wood, slTu.-,, ir'.-'rif-rt'sI ' d - IlscJth r , 2. o i:.::-:: i rai Hi-ac-jr:--- - " - m r V- -I - i:. r J 1 -HCi I .3 ur::t - ir ' ....-jCA:. :si: Dikcta, ' are ' cf a - -.- celty jj. j ft ! to "a o rf Jucohcl Viiityof ' ) ti.e study. - T 1 . , s .... r . 'disease linked to AIDS. virus J A r : cas-e :ih V.: ' : 1 1 ; c Y.Z virus and ' . - h-i r 'n fv i ill.'.-.-- :rj lis in Africa. v:.i..i.. . - " ihsa it Iss bzsaas kr.3v.Ti as Mciiia tezzzar V.:.;v:h tlin disease resmel'es AID3 in nzryx.yjz, it sterns to be a r.:r; e-tii-V its disaevcrcrs rat? in the Cat. 13 i : r j cfThe Lancet, a r::::-.'irr:;jlcJjourr.;J!. . AID3 and fci:-a clz2S2 shire easy cf lU f-r.c f.ptarr.s, the researchers report, bU AIDS does mi generally frs'uco the extreme weight loss mi iinrha seen in slim disease. Victims of tZst dSesae Ere net as likely to exbitit t.e swollen lymph $m&s eiiJ the rare cscer called Kaposi's ssrcor.a, kill common fea tures of AIDS, or acquired imznane deficiency syndrom, u American and European homosexuals, the researchers said. . Sixiy-thrcs of 71 patients with slim disease shoved evince cf infec tion vrith ths AIDS virus. Studies ere under my to determine why evidence of the virus did not appear m &!I patients, the researchers said. The disease, found in Uganda &rvJ thieved to lave originated in Tar-sia, differs not on!y from AID3 in America tut also from the hettrcrcxul form of AID5 seen in neighborirs Zuirr, ho rc-searchers f..r.d. Slim disease occurs pre Jo:r-;nari.t'y in promiscuous heterosexuals. Tremor shakes Mexico City again MEXICO CITY A strong tremor VA this earthquike-ravued capital shortly tS S km-Tuesday, lasting about 25 seconds. : Lair-ps swayed and ceiling lz fcil in some already d;rtf.?d buildings. Ti;e Red Crocs dispatching d?sk said it had not received any calls for assistance, and no damage was immediately reported elsewhere. The U.S. Geological Survey's Nsticnal Earthquake kfomation Center in Golden, Colo., said the quake struck-at 0.02 a.n. aad had a nicrdtude of 5.5, on the nichterscal3.lt saiJ thetc1r.blorvr33ce7.ic-red2.hout 235 miles south cf Mexico City, "This is actually us, aftershock to the n he's sor! t f earthquakes that have occurred in that trca," he sail "I o.n't tK: it is V..Q tanning of something new." . Sailor to return to Soviet Union NEW ORLEANS A Soviet sailor who jumped ship tvice near New Orleans in what appeared to be a defection attempt vviil return to the Soviet Union, an official in Washington said Tuesday. The official, declining to be identified, said the State Department planned to issue a detailed statement on the case later Tuesday. The sailor, Mirosiav Medvid, described as exhausted and nauseated six days after the ordeal began, was at the Naval Suppcrt Activity center here, State Department spokesman Eernard Kalb said in 'Vz-ihir.cn. Officials had reported earlier that the sailor rcas too sick to be inter viewed any further. But Kalb said Tuesday another htenic;v had been scheduled. Jvfedvid was taken Monday afterr.ecn ten t';2 i:.C-2tca marshal Kotiev to the Coast Guard cutter Sal. is, vJ.ce a tut 3 Department official who speaks Russian ar.d ether U.S. rr-c T.V.f i'."-1! teem inter . viewing Mm, said State Department gpofaaan Peter Martinez. Kalb confirmed that representatives ef the &wiK embassy were allowed to join Medvid during an interview Mor.rkyr.'.t zxl that Soviet representatives acccmpanied the sailer to t!;e center. Panel urges nation to pocket cards WASHINGTON The chairman cf a Houae trr.kir p-el ured the nation s 91 million holders cf credit cards cn Tucadry to cut up or burn them, or at least pocket their plastic, in a r.atier.al movement to try to force interest rates down. Consumers should "hold their credit card up to a mirror, and say Tm addicted to this darn thing and Tm better off without it,' " said Rep. Frank Annunzio, D HL, chairman of the consumer affairs and coinage subcom mittee of the House Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee. He advised consumers to either pocket their cards, cut them up or hold credit card burning parties." He said there are more than 700 million credit cards in the hands of aDout m i million Americans who are paving $6 billion in interest charges. . He said if consumers suddenly stop using credit cards, cr only use them lor emergencies, rates would drop overr.i -ht. o Opening a hearing on credit cards, Ar.r.uWio said iatereet rates average IHM percent nationally and are too hih. But David K. Hani, representirg the Azr.z'H crs Association, said that interest-rate cr-s cn tV'j"c" ""VV" '3 " c'-"i rcsu.it in a redaction cf credit, scnicck zzi ch::::3 Kr c: . .i '
