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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1987)
News | ^_By The Associated Press Presidential hopeful admits plagiarism WASHINGTON — Sen. Joesph Biden admitted Thursday that he committed plagiarism in law school 23 years ago but dismissed the furor over his failure to attribute the words of others in his speeches as "much ado about nothing.” At a Capitol Hill news conference, the Delaware Democrat and presiden tial hopeful released law school records that disclosed his plagiarism at Syra cuse University in 1965 and said, "1 did not intentionally move to mislead anybody.” “1 did something very stupid 23 years ago,” Biden said. "Little did I know I would be standing before the whole world acknowledging the fact I did not know how to write a legal mem orandum and the mistake is costing me as much as it is costing me.” Biden also admitted a series of errors in not attributing quotes cor rectly in several campaign speeches this year. But he said fellow presiden tial hopeful Jesse Jackson called to say he also uses phrases Biden has been accused of lifting. Saying all candidates use "certain generic quotes” from past leaders, he charged that the controversy is meaningless. "I am being honest. . .The American people will judge. I think it’s much ado about nothing,” said Biden. "In the marketplace of ideas in the political realm, the notion that for every thought or idea you have to go back and find and attribute to someone is frankly ludicrous.” He rejected the notion that his admission of errors in speeches sug gested he cannot control himself. “I feel very capable of using my mouth in sync with my mind,” he said. Ad Biden declared he will fight on for the Democratic nomination. "I want to tell them all. I’m in this race to stay. I’m in this race to win. And here I come,” he said. Biden repeatedly suggested that the sources of the stories about his speeches and law school record came from his opponents, although he said he could not identify any one cam paign, Republican or Democratic, as the source. “It is no coincidence,” Biden said, that these allegations came to light just as he began to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court. But he said, “I don’t think it will undermine” his leadership during the hearings. That stand was supported by mem bers of the committee. "He is absolutely, totally credible. . . . He is a very strong, honest man," Sen. Dennis DeCondini, D-Ariz. "Joe has been doing an outstanding job in these hearings, and doing so under great pressure,” said Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., another presidential candidate. "I have complete confidence in Joe Biden’s integrity and ability.” Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., who is considering a presidential bid, said the flap could hurt Biden’s campaign. "Anything can be fatal is this day and age,” she said. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., added, “I think it’s always a good idea to attrib ute quotes, but I don’t think he deserves capital punishment for running a red light.” Bashes cheer Constitution’s bicentennial PHILADELPHIA — The birth place of the Constitution threw a button-popping party Thursday to celebrate the 200th birthday of a document President Reagan hailed as “the triumph of human freedom.’’ The bash was one of hundreds, solemn and sparkling, across the country Thursday as Americans rang bells, saluted the flag, became American citizens and took train rides into histoiy to commemorate the Constitution. In Kansas, water from the Foun tain of Justice began to flow by the Kansas Judicial Center, culminat ing years of fund-raising efforts by residents. On the boundary between New York and New Jersey, the largest free-flying flag in the country, all 5,400 square feet, was unfurled on the George Washington Bridge. In Georgia, hundreds of school children were treated to a reading of the great document amid marches and flag shows at the state Capitol. And in North Dakota, tl e young est Americans were the winners. Babies born Thursday were each given a copy of the Constitution. Former U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger, who turned 80 Thursday, led an international bell-ringing cere mony at 4 p.m., the precise time the 4,453-word Constitution was signed after four steamy months of hot debate two centuries ago. A beaming Burger, who accepted the signatures of 6 million school children reaffirming the Constituion, tugged on a rope to ring a replica of the Liberty Bell for five minutes. Throughout the land and military installations around the world, other bells great and small chimed in. Burger likened the Constitution to a bridle that harnesses a horse. “The government could pull but not push the people. It marked the beginning of the end of the idea of the divine right of kings,” said Burger, head of the federal commis sion celebrating the bicenntennial. The city’s $6 million bash fea tured a parade, picnic, pageantry and seven barges of fireworks to Michelle Mlklos/Dally Nebraskan honor the day when the Constitu tion was signed by 39 of its 55 designers. Speaking in front of Independ ence Hall, Reagan called the sign ing of the world's first constitution an event "that would profoundly and forever alter not just these Uni ted States but the world." "In a very real sense, it was then — in 1787 — that the revolution truly began," he said. "For it was with the writing of our Constitution. . .that the hopes and dreams of the revolutionists could become a liv ing, enduring reality." Nebraskan Editor Mika Rellley 472 1786 Managing Editor Jan Dasalms Assoc NewsTditors Jann Nyffalar Mika Hoopar Editorial Page Editor Joanna Bourna Wire Editor Linda Hartmann Copy Desk Chief Joan Rezac Sports Editor Jaff Apel Arts & Entertain ment Editor Bill Allan Asst Arts & Entertainment Editor Charles Lleursnca Graphics Editor Mark Oavla Asst Graphics Editor Tom Lauder Photo Chief Ooug Carroll Night News Editors CurfWagner Scott Harrah Supplements Editor Johanna Beam Art Director Brian Barber General Manager Osniol Shattil Production Manager Kathorina Pollcky Advertising Manager Marcia Miller Advertising Office Manager Cindy lake Creative Director Mika Lotas Art Director Mark Hina Publications Board Chairman Oen Johnson. 472 3011 Professional Adviser Den Walton. 473-7301 The Daily Nebraskan (USPS 144-060) is published by the UNL Publications Board Monday through Friday in the fall and spring semesters ana Tuesdays and Fridays in the summer sessions, except during vacations. Subscription orice is $35 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St., Lincoln. Neb 68588-0448 Second-class postage paid at Lincoln. NE. AU MATERIAL C0PYRI8HT 1817 DAILY NEBRASKAN Officials’ talks extended, ‘history in the making’ WASHINGTON — Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze decided dramatically Thursday to ex tend their talks on a missile-reduction treaty, and a Soviet spokesman said “history is in the making.’’ Shultz and Shevardnadze scrapped plans for a midday windup and separ ate news conferences, sent down to the State Department cafeteria for sand wiches and pressed on with their talks over a treaty to scrap intermediate range missiles. “We’re moving ahead across the frill range of issues,” said Charles E. Red man, the State Department spokesman. "History is in the making,” said Gennady Gerasimov, the Soviet spo kesman, "We must wait a little bit.’” The original plan had been to wind up the talks at about noon. Shultz and Shevardnadze were then to hold separ ate news conferences and make separ ate visits to Capitol Hill to talk to members of Congress. But the hours ticked away, without word from Shultz’s seventh-floor office. The first indication of a shift was a telephone call to reporters from the Soviet embassy that Shevardnadze was postponing his news conference, which had been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Then, at 2:32 p.m., Redman and Gerasimov joined a group of reporters waiting to no avail in the lobby to record Shevardnadze’s departure. Redman described the talks as con structive, positive and forward-moving. “The ministers simply decided they had a lot of work to do,” Redman said. He said they would continue through the afternoon, possibly into the even ing, and make no "formal statement” until Friday. But later, Phyllis Oakley, a depart ment spokeswoman, said Redman and Gerasimov would have a statement on nuclear testing. Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev has called a ban on further weapons tests the most urgent nuclear issue. “There is no more urgent and impor tant task today than that of ending all nuclear testing,” he said in August 1986. Gorbachev suspended ftirther Soviet tests, but failing to persuade President Reagan to join in the ban, the Soviet leader ordered a resumption last Feb ruary after a 10-month hiatus. Accusations unfair’ Bork calls his record misrepresented WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Robert H. Bork, complaining of unfair attacks by critics, bristled Thursday over an accusation he favors unbridled presidential power and com plained that his record is being misrepresented. Bork, in his third day of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee and facing a fourth day Friday, engaged in a tense exchange with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and expressed frus tration about a news report describing his denial that he is a racist. Bork suggested the report made him sound defensive by failing to point out he was answering a direct question whether he is a racist. “All of a sudden I’m denying some thing I wasn’t accused of,” Bork said. Bork, a former Yale University law professor, said some liberal groups which have analyzed his record have done sloppy research. Asked by a supporter on the commit tee, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, if he would flunk them for their analyses, Bork said, "It would not be a passing grade.” The nominee directly challenged one organization’s published report that he almost always votes for the government and big business, and against individuals. "If you look at my decisions on race, on women, on labor unions, on individ uals versus the government, you will find no consistency along those lines,” Bork said, "You will find no political axis, no political line along which those decisions line up. They go both ways. They line up only according to legal reasoning.” J Fope sympathetic to farmers, AIDS patients MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) — Pope John Paul II on Thursday asked grow ers to “respect the just claims" of their farm workers, thousands of whom took a day ofT work without pay to hear him celebrate Mass under a bright sun on a dusty racetrack. “At every level of the agricultural process, the dignity, rights and well being of people must be the central issue," the pope told an estimated 72,000 people gathered at Laguria Seca Raceway. Later, the pope was to fly to San Francisco and hold an emotionally charged meeting with AIDS patients at Mission Dolores. Among the 62 victims were a 5-year old boy, a priest, former drug abusers, and gay men unrepent ant about their homosexuality. “They all wanted the blessing of the / — pope before they die. There was no feeling that this was a time for dissent, for any sign of anger," said Sheila Mad den, a counselor at the nearby Most Holy Redeemer church and coordinator of the meeting. In his Mass at the automobile and motorcycle racetrack set in rolling hills, the pope made reference to the nation’s farm crisis which has intro duced "thousands of American farmers ... to poverty and indebtedness. "Many have lost their homes and their way of life," he told the audience, drawn from the lush growing fields of the Monterey Peninsula. Many who came to hear John Paul were Hispanic farm workers whose employees gave them the day off with out pay. The diocese of Monterey con tains 121 farmworker camps. In Brief Lebanese man charged with taking hostages WASHINGTON — Fawaz Younis, a Lebanese Shiite Moslem indicted for masterminding the 1986 hijacking of a Jordanian airliner with four Americans aboard, was plucked from the Mediterranean Sea by FBI agents and returned to the United States on Thursday to stand trial. The arrest marks the first time U.S. law enforcement officials have brought an international terrorist to justice in the United States, Attor ney General Edwin Meese III told a news conference. Sen. Zorinsky’s widow to run for Congress Cece Zorinsky, widow of U.S. Sen. Edward Zorinsky, said she will run for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 2nd District. Zorinsky also had considered running for the Democratic nomination for her husband’s old Senate seat, which will be up forelection in 1988. The 2nd District seat is now held by Rep. Hal Daub, R-Neb., who is running against Republican David Karnes for GOP Senate nomination. Hershey unveils chocolate to bar none HERSHEY, Pa. — Hershey Chocolate Co. says chocolate eravings are rutting the toot so it has introduced Bar None in an effort to satisfy them. President Joseph P. Viviano said the new product features a cocoa water, chocolate creme, peanuts and a milk chocolate coating. The last .nn«iey Pr(**uct introduced for national distribution was the Skor bar in 1983.