News Digest . By The Associated Press
House appropriates
$3.5 million to Contras
WASHINGTON — The House on
Wednesday approved $3.5 million in
* new "humanitarian” aid to the Nicara
guan Contras, and House Speaker Jim
Wright said he expects it to be the last
U.S. aid ever sent to the rebels.
The money was part of a stopgap
spending bill to keep the government
running after the current fiscal year
ends Sept. 30. The measure, approved
270-138 after little debate, was sent to
the Senate, where it is not expected to
encounter mtyor opposition.
The Contra aid money had been
worked out in a bipartisan agreement
between Wright, D-Texas, and House
Republican leaders Robert Michel of
Illinois.
The $3.5 million represents the pro
portion of this year’s $100 million in
Contra aid money that has been used
for food, medical supplies and uni
forms and would be needed to sustain
the rebels into November in their bat
tie against the leftist Sandinista go
vernment in Managua.
The vote came a day after President
Oscar Arias of Costa Rica traveled to
Capitol Hill to appeal to lawmakers to
‘‘take a risk for peace” and eschew
further military aid to the Contras at
least until Nov. 7, the target date for a
regional cease-fire.
Asked whether he believed the new
money would be the last U.S. aid to flow
to the rebels, Wright said, ‘‘Yes, unless
some drastic change were to occur in
the situation in Central America The
evidence indicates to me more reason
to be optimistic — still guardedly, but
less guardedly than before.”
The Reagan administration has sig
naled its intention to ask for $270 mil
lion in new military aid for the Contras
over 18 months if the peace plan fails.
Wright cited as signs of progress the
pledge by Nicaraguan President Daniel
Ortega to begin a partial, unilateral
cease-fire, the reopening of the opposi
tion newspaper La Prensa, the resump
tion and the appointment of a reconcil
iation commission led by Cardinal Mi
guel Obando y Bravo, a leading govern
ment critic.
Persian Gulf conflict
continues to escalate
U.S. warships sweep mine area
MANAMA, Bahrain — American
warhsips swept a strip of the central
Persian Gulf on Wednesday to recover
mines believed planted by the Iranian
ship that U.S. helicopters attacked this
week.
Commercial ships were warned away
from the waters about 50 miles north
east of Bahrain and there were reports
that some mines had been found.
Five Iranians were reported killed
and 26 were captured in the helicopter
raid on the Iranian vessel Monday
night. It was the first direct American
attack on Iranians in the two months
since the United States began protect
ing shipping in the gulf.
Despite the increased tension and
the possibility of more floating mines,
gulf based shipping sources said a
reflagged Kuwaiti gas carrier had begun
a southbound voyage under U.S. escort.
The reported departure of the Gas
Prince from Kuwait would be the 10th
convoy since President Reagan’s pro
gram of escorting Kuwaiti tankers went
into effect in mid July.
Brian Barber/Daily Nebraskan
TVs, cash and clock radios
Students profit from school
School children are being offered
scholarships, cash, even stereos and
fast food to entice them to do what
was once expected for free — study
ing hard and staying in school.
A growing number of school sys
tems, businesses and philanthro
pists are appealing to students'
profit motives to get them to apply
themselves in their studies and
continue on to college.
“1 have found in today’s society
kids are not ready to accept any
thing but a tangible kind of rein
forcement,” said Principal Dennis
Martin of Barker Junior High in
Michigan City, Ind., where for the
past two years students have earned
$50 savings bonds and free trips to
an amusement park for good
attendance, grades and citizenship.
Such tactics can bring short-term
results. Average attendance rose
from 85 percent to 90 percent in the
two years since Pittsburgh’s Pea
body High School started its pro
gram of awarding students portable
televisions, stereos, clock-radios, gift
certificates, T-shirts, hats and a
grand prize of $100 cash for good
attendance. The prizes are donated
by local businesses.
But some critics term such mea
sures “gimmicky” and say they miss
the complex heart of the dropout
problem: alienation from school and
adult values.
The more effective incentives,
said educator Ernest L. Boyer, are
tied directly to education — scho
larships, for example, as opposed to
free stereos or hamburgers. And the
reward should convey the message
that the adult world cares and that
school work pays off tangibly in the
short- and long term.
Eugene Lang, a millionaire in
dustrialist, is perhaps the most
celebrated example of this new
breed of school philanthropist. Six
years ago, Lang offered sixth grad
ers at the Harlem school he once
attended a free college education if
they would stay in school.
The resulting “1 Have a Dream”
foundation now has 100 sponsors
and is helping an estimated 4,000
students nationwide. In Dallas,
where nearly 29 percent of ninth
graders fail to graduate on time and
get accepted in a post-secondary
institution can qualify for up to
$2,000 scholarships financed by pri
vate donations.
Last year in Baltimore, a private
consortium created the "Common
wealth Agreement” under which
anyone graduating from high school
with good attendance and an 80
average can get a job or financial
help for college.
Biden withdraws ‘with incredible reluctance’
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joseph Biden ended
his 'juest for the 1988 Democratic presidential
nomination "with incredible reluctance” on
Wednesday, saying the “exaggerated shadow” of
mistakes made it impossible to continue his
candidacy.
Biden withdrew from the campaign after a
week in which his campaign was rocked by
admissions of plagiarism and false claims about
his academic record.
The Deleware Democrat is the second candi
date to be forced from the race by questions of
character and integrity.
"I made some mistakes,” Biden, his wife at his
side, told a room crowded with reporters. "Now
the exaggerated shadow of those mistakes has
begun to obscure the essence of my candidacy
and the essence of Joe Biden."
Biden said he had to choose between continu
ing his presidential campaign and chairing the
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the
Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork.
“And although it’s awfully clear to me what
choice I have to make, I have to tell you honestly
1 do it with incredible reluctance and it makes
me angry. I’m angry with myself for having been
put in the position — put myself in the pasition
— of having to make this choice," he said.
“And I am no less frustrated at the environ
ment of presidential politics that makes it so
difficult to let the American people measure the
whole Joe Biden and not just misstatements that
1 have made.”
Biden refused to take reporters' questions and
returned to the Judiciary hearings, where he was
lauded by his fellow senators.
“I would like to say the Democrats have now
lost their most articulate spokesman,” said Sen.
Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the ranking
Republican on the committee.
Bork no extremist,
retired chief says
WASHINGTON — Retired Chief Jus
tice Warren E. Burger, stirred by what
he called unprecedented disinforma
tion, declared on Wednesday that Su
preme Court nominee Robert H. Bork is
not "an extremist any more than I'm an
extremist" and deserves confirmation.
Burger, in an extraordinary appear
ance for a sitting or former member of
the high court, told the Senate Judi
ciary Committee, “If Judge Bork is not
in the mainstream, then neither am I.
It would astonish me to think he’s an
extremist any more than I’m an extrem
ist.”
In particular, he criticized paid news
paper advertisements that have sug
gested dire consequences for the nation
if Bork’s nomination is confirmed.
The hearings, despite Burger’s ap
pearance and a heated exchange later
between committee chairman Joseph
Biden, D-Del., and Sen. Orrin Hatch,
R-lltah, were overshadowed to some
extent by Biden’s midday announce
ment that he was withdrawing from the
presidential race.
At the hearings, Burger reiterated
his previous endorsement of Bork as
among the best qualified court nomi
nees in the past 50 years.
Acknowledging that his testimony
was unusual, Burger said he was promp
ted to speak up because "I don’t think
there has ever been more hype, more
disinformation” spread by opponents
of a high court nominee.
He specifically mentioned “full page
newspaper ads” opposing the nominee
but gave no further details and was not
questioned on the point by the com
mittee.
Later, Burger was asked by Biden
about a Supreme Court opinion the
former chief justice wrote granting the
public a right to attend criminal trials
even though such a right was not
spelled out in the Constitution.
Biden asked whether Bork, a propo
nent of judicial restraint and strict
construction of the Constitution, would
agree with that opinion.
“I’d be astonished if Judge Bork
would not subscribe to it,” Burger
replied.
Nebnfekan
Editor Mika Raillay
471-1780
Managing Editor Jan Denims
Assoc News Editors Jann Nyltalar
Mika Hoopar
Editorial
Page Editor Joanne Bourn*
Wire Editor Linda Hartmann
Copy Desk Chief Joan Rezac
Sports Editor Jail Apal
Arts & Entertain
ment Editor Bill Allan
Asst Arts &
Entertainment Editor Charles Llauranct
Graphics Editor Mark Davis
Asst Graphics Editor Tom Lauder
Photo Chief Doug Carroll
Night News Editors Curt Wagner
Scott Harrah
Art Director Brian Barber
General Manager Daniel Shattll
Production Manager Katharine Pollcky
Publications Board
Chairman Don Johnson.
472 2811
Professional Adviser Don Walton. 473-7301
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