Friday, February 21, 1986
Page 2
Daily Nebraskan
Nsws
Digest-
Bv The Associated Press
Marcos may face ally isolation
In Briof
MANILV Philippines Some tradi
tional allies of President Ferdinand
Marcos appeared to distance them
selves from his government Thursday,
as European countries considered boy
cotting his inauguration and several
ambassadors met with Corazon Aquino.
Aquino, Marcos' opponent in the
disputed Feb. 7 election, met diplo
mats including 12 ambassadors
from 14 European count ries and Japan.
She told them she was determined to
assume the presidency of the Philip
pines at the "earliest possible time."
None of the ambassadors specifi
cally endorsed Aquino's claim that she
won the election but was cheated out
of victory. She had asked them not to
recognize Marcos' government.
Ambassador Wieger Hellema of The
Netherlands, acting as spokesman for
12 European Common Market nations'
envoys, was asked about Marcos inaug
uration, set for Tuesday. "That is under
consideration in the capitals" because
of the fraud allegations, he said.
Asked if any of the countries were
considering withdrawing recognition
of Marcos' government, he said there
had been "no word o.i that."
In St rasbourg, France, the European
Parliament voted unanimously Thurs
day to blame Marcos for most of the
reported abuses in the special elec-
m - . -
.'A
:
Marcos
tion, called by Marcos in an effort to
prove his popularity.
Japanese Ambassador Kiyoshi Sumiya,
after meeting with Mrs. Aquino, told
Japanese reporters she had asked him
not to at tend the inauguration. He said
he told Aquino he would relay the mes
sage to Tokyo.
Sumiya said his country has no
intention of intervening in Philippine
affairs but that he hoped "a bloody
struggle" would be avoided, according
to Japanese reporters.
Aquino, widow of assassinated op
position leader Benigno Aquino, has
launched a nationwide campaign to
keep Marcos from continuing his 20
year rule. It includes boycotts of com
panies associated with Marcos and his
friends, strikes and school walkouts.
The government has provided no
details of Marcos' inauguration plans,
although government sources have said
it might be in his Malacanang Palace.
Inaugurations traditionally are gala
outdoor affairs attended by tens of
thousands of people.
Vice President George Bush attended
Marcos' 1981 inaugural and praised the
Philippine leader for his "adherence to
democratic principles." Allan Croghan,
U.S. Embassy spokesman, said he was
not aware of any decision on U.S. plans
for next week's inauguration.
Trimly nainmed mew shuttle chief
WASHINGTON Two-time space
flier Richard H. Truly took over as boss
of the embattled shuttle program Thurs
day, saying "We've overcome very diffi
cult times before," and promising that
the cause of the Challenger tragedy
will be found and fixed.
Truly's appointment, by acting NASA
Administrator William Graham, comes
at a time when shuttle flights have
been grounded pending the outcome of
the investigation into the Jan. 28 ex
plosion and destruction of Challenger
and its crew of seven.
He relieves shuttle boss Jesse W.
Moore, who had the final word on all
launch decisions including Chal
lenger's and who heads NASA's
director of the Johnson Space Center in
Houston, home. base for astronauts-in-training
and site of Mission Control.
At a news conference, Graham was
asked about infighting and low morale
at the agency and his own status as
acting administrator. He said he finds
morale high among NASA's 22,000 em
ployees. As for his own future, he said
he is prepared to do whatever the
White House asks.
But another top NASA official, agree
ing to discuss the situation on grounds
he not be identified, said "The White
House scenario now is to bring in a
white knight soon, because that worked
so well at the Environmental Protec
tion Agency when they brought Bill
Ruckelshaus back" following allega
tions of mismanagement at the EPA.
Speculation about a NASA adminis
trator has focused on James C. Fletcher,
who headed the agency from 1971 to
1979, and on Thomas 0. Paine, who
guided NASA to its first landings on the
moon, between 1968 and 1970.
Meanwhile, the presidential com
mission investigating the accident has
split into three working groups and
awaited material it has requested by
Friday from NASA and from rocket
booster maker Morton Thiokol.
The commission has demanded all
"documents, memoranda or personal
notes," from all who took part in the
heat ed discussions and disagreements
over whether Challenger should be
launched after the coldest pre-launch
night in shuttle history.
Soviets launch space station;
joins space lab in orbit
MOSCOW The Soviet Union sent
up a space station named Peace on
Thursday to serve as a permanently
manned base for the next generation in
space. It has docking ports for six
spacecraft and private cabins for cos
monauts. It was launched without a crew and
will not be manned until tests are
completed, the official Tass news
agency said, without revealing how
long the test program would take.
The new station named Mir, the
Russian word for "peace" joins the
Salyut-7 space lab in orbit. The last
team to work aboard the Salyut-7,
which was launched in 1982, returned
to Earth in November when one of the
three cosmonauts fell ill.
Tass said both the Mir and the
Salyut-u were functioning normally.
Up to six spacecraft at a time can
dock at the Mir to deliver cosmonauts
and supplies, Tass said, and it also is
equipped to accommodate "modules"
for work on special projects.
Portion of Beatrice hearing ciosed
BEATRICE Gage County Judge Steven Timm on Thursday closed a
portion of preliminary hearing for one of two men accused of murdering
three people in a Beatrice house last month.
Timm denied a defense motion to close the entire hearing for Kenneth
Lee Johnson, 27, but over objections from the media sealed a statement
Johnson made to investigators the night after the killings.
Johnson, and David Harold Jacob, 25, are charged with the first-degree
murder in the shotgun slayings of Lisa Barrett, 18, Jerry Kechley, 22, and
Bennett L. Bartram, 21. ,
Timm agreed to close the portion of the hearing where Johnson s
statement was to be entered as evidence. He said releasing the statement
to the public could irreparably harm Johnson's ability to get a fair trial.
Kerrey prefers cuts to tax increase
LINCOLN Gov. Bob Kerrey said Thursday that if the state's projected
tax revenues show a decline, he would rather cut the state's budget than
see tax rates go up.
Kerrey stopped short of threatening to veto any tax rate increases that
might be considered by the Legislature. He commented just hours before
an advisory board was to meet and offer its advice on whether the revenue
picture would improve or decline.
Kerrey said he believed a 3 percent budget reserve could adequately
protect the state from potential cash flow problems.
Texaco bond cut to $1 billion
NEW YORK Texaco Inc. need not post a $12 billion bond required
under Texas court rules before it can appeal the Pennzoil Co.'s record
setting damage suit against it, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an
injunction issued by federal District Judge Charles Brieant Jr. of White
Plains, N.Y., who said last December that the bond requirement effec
tively denies Texaco its right to appeal.
Brieant required Texaco to post only $1 billion, a requirement the
company was able to satisfy by pledging stock in its Canadian subsidiary'.
Separately, a Texas judge refused on Thursday to grant Texaco a new trial.
Coke says it may buy Dr Pepper
NEW YORK Coca-Cola Co., the nation's largest soft-drink company,
announced Thursday it had reached a preliminary agreement to buy No. 4
Dr Pepper Co. for $470 million.
In a statement from its Atlanta headquarters, Coca-Cola said the
agreement to buy Dr Pepper from its owners, the investment firm of
Forstmann Little & Co. and senior company executives, included the
repayment of $170 million in debt owed by Dr Pepper.
The purchase is subject to the approval of the federal government and
the Coca-Cola board of directors.
Years lost from birth defects down
ATLANTA Americans with birth defects are living longer than they
did a decade ago, but birth defects remain a leading cause of early death
in the United States, health researchers said Thursday.
. researchers at the national Centers for Disease Control reported that
their statistical measurement of premature death years of potential
life lost fell 16 percent between.1970-72 and 1980-82, the latest period
for which complete figures were available,
In 1970-72, birth defects robbed Americans of 869,000 years of life that
they would have had if everyone had lived to be 65. Ten years later, the
total was 733,000 years. ' - '
NsbraMcan
34 Nebraska Union
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1986 DAILY NEBRASKAN
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u.s
Co
Nebraska
ranks second
in graduates
WASHINGTON Education Secre
tary William Bennett gave the states a
report card Thursday on test scores,
dropout rates and other measures
that he cited as proof America's
schools are on the rebound.
He said rising college entrance test
scores, and slightly lower school
dropout rates, show that "the excel
lence movement has clearly helped
our poor and minority populations."
In releasing the Education
Department's third annual chart of
state education rankings, Bennett
was following a tradition that his
predecessor, T.H. Bell, started to the
dismay of some state school
superintendents.
Most of the data on the chart,
including scores on the Scholastic
Aptitude Test and American College
Testing Program exam, has been
released previously.
The chart indicated the District of
Columbia, Louisiana and Alabama
have the worst dropout rates, while
Minnesota, Nebraska and North
Dakota have the best graduation
rates.
The chart shows a 1934 graduation
ools Q
efi better irerooirt cards
rate in the nation's capital of only 55
percent.
The graduation rate is calculated
by dividing the number of graduating
seniors by the number of freshmen
in Minnesota, 89.3 percent, and
Nebraska and North Dakota, both
80.3 percent.
New Hampshire, Oregon and Ver
mont led in SAT scores in the 22
1984 High School
Graduation Rate
100
90 H
60-fJ Jf
20- I 1 - A 1
10 V B C J V:(J V Jtl
National Minnesota Nebraska Vermont
four years earlier. It does not include
those who obtain high school equi
valency diplomas.
The national high school gradua
tion rate was 70.9 percent in 1984, up
from 69.7 in 1982. The best rates were
states where more students take that
test; Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota
set the pace in the 28 states where
the ACT is dominant.
At the back of the SAT pack were
South Carolina, North Carolina and
Georgia, while Mississippi, Louisiana,
Arkansas and West Virginia pulled up
at the rear on ACT scores.
The chart showed improvements in
college admission scores in 35 states
since 1982.
Bennett said Iowa, New Hampshire
and Wisconsin had the best SAT or
ACT scores. But he also commended
the District of Columbia, South Carol
ina, Utah, Alabama and Kentucky for
registering "the greatest test score
improvement since 1982."
He lauded New Hampshire, Ver-.
mont, Nebraska and Iowa as states
with average expenditures but above
average test scores. And he described
Illinois, South Dakota, California,
Delaware, Maine and Virginia as
states with large concentrations of
poor students and above-average
scores.
Criticism of the chart rolled in, as
it has in the past two years.
Howard Carroll, a spokesman for
the National Education Association
said, "Everybody wants to know the
score, but this is an incomplete
scorecard. Tests are not a true evalu
ator of achievement." The percentage
of seniors taking the SAT or ACT var
ies widely from state to state, he said.
John Weiss, executive director of
FairTest, a Boston-based group that is
critical of standardized tests, said the
chart 'Violates professional guide
lines for proper test use and warps
school curricula."
