Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1987)
News Digest, By The Associated Press I Ex-candidate gives pep talk Biden has ‘no bitterness ’ in shutting down nomination campaign Dts MUiNtiS, lowa — ueiaware Sen. Joseph Biden professed “no bit terness, no complaints” Thursday as he began shutting down his Democratic presidential campaign. “I’m a big boy,” Biden said. “Every other time in my life when I’ve faced something where I’ve lost, I have learned a lesson from it.” Biden withdrew from the race Wed nesday following disclosures that he had plagiarized parts of his campaign speeches and misrepresented his aca demic record. Biden on Thursday dismissed sug gestions that a rival candidate leaked the disclosures. “Nobody did this to Joe Biden,” he said. "There had to be something there for that to stitch together.” “I feel badly, not for me, I feel badly for those people in there,” Biden said after a 20-minute closed-door meeting Haig criticizes candidates COUNCILBLUFFS, Iowa — Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig harshly criticized the Democratic candidates for president Thursday, calling them throwbacks to a time when America was wracked with dissension among the young and when the country doubted estab lished values and institutions. Haig, a candidate for the Repub lican nomination for president, said the six Democrats and two former Democratic candidates — former Sen. Gary Hart and Sen. Joseph Biden — are "probably four-flushers" unworthy of support. He singled out Sen. Paul Simon, Dili., as a candidate who would return to the New Deal policies of the 1930s. Haig said the next presi dent must sustain the economic growth of the 1980s and the “re newal of the American spirit” asso ciated with President Reagan. Haig, secretary of state under Reagan in 1981-82, spoke to about 200 American history students at Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs. It was his first stop of a visit to Council Bluffs and Omaha. with campaign staffers and backers. “My political future is secure. I’ll be back.” Accompanied by his wife, Jill, and sister, Valerie, Biden flew to Iowa to give backers a pep talk on the day after he withdrew from the Democratic pre sidential field. He was scheduled to fly to New Hampshire for a similar meet ing with supporters there. He described his withdrawal speech as “relatively hard to do” and acknowl edged having second thoughts. “I’v never quit at anything. I’m not very good at that,” Biden said. “I fought it right up to walking into that room. Halfway through I think some were worried I might say ‘And I’m going to continue to run.’” “And I must admit to you that was there,” Biden said. At an impromptu news conference after the meeting with Iowa workers and supporters, Biden took full respon sibility for the missteps that doomed his campaign. “I think you are zealous, but that’s part of the job," Biden said. “We all have our problems. You all have got yours and I’ve got mine. “As far as I’m concerned, 1 think you all have treated me fairly." small vessel explodes in gull waters MANAMA, Bahrain — Shipping experts said Thursday that a small research vessel exploded and sank in the northern Persian Gulf, supporting the U.S. Navy’s contention that Iran has seeded the busy waterway with mines. American and Kuwaiti officials mean while denied reports that one, and pos sibly two, U.S.-escorted convoys were steaming through the gulf. Also Thursday, Iraq’s official news agency said Iraqi warplanes flew 96 combat missions into Iran during the day and that Iran had shelled the port city of Basra, killing 12 civilians. Iran’s official news agency denied the report. Lloyd’s Shipping Intelligence Ser vice in London, which monitors ship ping around the world, said the 180-ton research survey vessel Marissa exploded and sank early Tuesday. The sketchy Lloyd’s report said there were three survivors and four “casual ties,” apparently meaning fatalities. Gulf-based shipping executives said the vessel sank without sending any distress signal. On Monday, a British tanker was ambushed in the same area and U.S. helicopters attacked and disabled an Iranian landing craft caught laying mines 130 miles to the southeast. American warships and helicopters spent a third day sweeping central gulf waters off Bahrain for mines believed planted by the Iranian vessel, Iran j\jr. The United States began in July to escort 11 reflagged Kuwaiti tankers to protect them from Iran, which consid ers Kuwait an ally of Iraq. The reflagged Kuwaiti tanker Brid geton hit a mine on July 24 while under U.S. escort, but U.S. Navy searches for mines since then have found no mines. Senior U.S. officers have said repeat edly that they knew the location of Iranian minefields and have steered the convoys away from those areas. Iran has said it mined its own waters for defensive purposes but officials in Tehran, and Iranian President Ali Khamenei at the United Nations, denied that the Iran j\jr was sowing explosives in gulf shipping channels. Five Iranians were reported killed and 26 others, four of them wounded, were pulled from the water. Ten mines were found on the ship’s deck, ready for dropping in the water. President Reagan, again rejecting congressional calls for curbs on U.S. military action in the gulf, defended the attack and said his administration considers “this incident as closed.” In Brief Soviet foreign minister to visit Cuba MOSCOW — Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze will visit Cuba after this week’s United Nations session in New York, Tass announced Thursday. The official soviet news agency said Shavardnadze will pay a ‘working visit” to Cuba in early October at the invitation of the Cuban government. Double vision: twins large part of class CRESCO, Pa. — They're seeing double at Monsignor McHugh Elemen tary School. And double and double and double. Four sets of 5-year-old twins are enrolled in the 68-pupil kindergarten class. A Maine elementary school reported earlier this month having five sets of twins among 160 kindergarteners. School officials and parents here, however, claim the unofficial twins-per-capita record. Nebraska bank profits up slightly in ’86 OMAHA — Bank profits increased slightly in Nebraska in 1986 from 1985, and non-farm banks generally fared better than farm banks, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. As measured as a return on assets, profits increased to one-half of i percent last year from four-tenths of 1 percent the previous year, the report said. Mfyor nuclear test detonated at Nevada site MERCURY, Nev. — A nuclear weapons test rocked the desert and sent a shudder today through tall buildings in Las Vegas, 105 miles away, as peace protesters mingled with striking test site workes near the site’s main gate. The test was listed as having an explosive force of up to 150,000 tons of TNT, nearly 12 times the force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Dioxin found in many paper products WASHINGTON — Tiny amounts of dioxin, a potent cause of cancer in lab animals, are found in many paper products — such as coffee filters, napkins and tampons — bleached by the kraft process, the Environmen tal Protection Agency announced Thursday. But the agency said it believes there is no health hazard from using those products. The kraft process uses chlorine as a bleach, and the agency believes this is the origin of the dioxin. L • ■ ^ Deadline near jor 18 million workers to adjust income tax withholdings WASHINGTON — Less than a week i before the deadline, millions of Ameri- 1 can workers have yet to file a new Form ! W-4 to acfoust their tax withholding to I conform with the overhauled federal i tax code. Under the law, enacted a year ago, workers must file a new W-4 with their ' employers before Oct. 1. Those who fail to comply could find their take-home j pay sharply reduced. The Internal Revenue Service, up- i dating a survey completed by the Roper j polling organization in late July, esti /• m « r nates that about 80 percent of workers lave filed withholding forms this year. Since the agency was expecting about )4 million to file, that means about 18 nillion have not. “It’s late, but there is still time to icljust your paycheck,” IRS spokeswo nan Jonnelle Hunter said Thursday. "It night be a good idea, even if you have lied a form earlier this year, to make he calculations again and, if neces sary, file a new form to bring withhold ng in line with liability.” The new withholding forms are neces sary because the 1986 tax overhaul made many changes in basic tax provi sions that affect many people. On the plus side, tax rates have been cut significantly for most Americans. Standard deductions have been raised sharply. The personal exemption has been almost doubled, to $1,900. On the other hand, the law repealed a special deduction for two-earner couples, affecting 50 million people. More than 36 million couples and indi viduals deducted their state and local sales taxes last year; that deduction, too, has been wiped out. —. * i I- ■—-—i Nebraskan Editor Mike Reilley 472-1766 Managing Editor Jen Oeselms Assoc News Editors Jann Nyffeler Mike Hooper Editorial Page Editor Jeanne Bourne Wire Editor Linda Hartmann Copy Desk Chief Joan Rezac Sports Editor Jeff Apel a Arts & Entertain ment Editor Bill Allen Asst Arts & ntertamment Editor Charles Lieurance 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 Shattil Production Manager Katherine Policky Publications Board Chairman Don Johnson. 472 3611 Professional Adviser Don Walton. 473-7301 Tht. Daily Nebraskan (USPS 144-080) is &ublished by the UNL Publications Board lond.iy through Friday in the fall and spring semesters and Tuesdays and Fridays in the summer sessions, except during vacations Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472 1763 between 9 a m and 5 pm Monday through Friday The public also ras access to the Publications Board For information, contact Don Johnson 472-3611 Subscription price is $35 for one year Postmaster Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb 08588-0448 Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE All MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1B87 DAILY NEBRASKAN Contras set cease-jire aate TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A top Nicaraguan rebel leader said Thursday he will propose a cease-fire with the leftist Sandinista government early next month as part of his group’s com pliance with a Central American peace plan. In El Salvador, leftist rebels on Thursday also proposed a halt to fight, ing to allow peace talks with the government there. Adolfo Calero, the head of the rebel coalition known as the Nicaraguan Resistance, which is based in this country, refused to give details when asked in an interview. But he said his group “will decree a ceace-fire beginning Oct. 4 alter Cardi nal Miguel Obando y Bravo, president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Confer ence, negotiates the opening of a bilat eral dialogue with the Mangua regime." He also said the Contras plan soon to release 30 Nicaraguan soldiers they captured, as another gesture of good will. In El Salvador, leftist rebels pro posed a halt to hostilities while both sides talk Oct, 4 about a longer truce. The proposal came in a communique by the Farabundo Marti National Lib eration Front, the organization of five guerrilla armies fighting to overthrow the U.S.-backed government, and the leftists’ political coalition, the Demo cratic Revolutionary Front. The groups suggested that the cease fire begin two days before the meeting in San Salvador and last until two days afterwards. The government did not respond immediately. (Jbando y Bravo, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Nicaragua, is also chairman of a four member National Reconciliation Commission, which Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega appointed recently under terms of the peace plan. The peace plan, signed Aug. 7 at a summit of the five Central American presidents in Guatemala City, aims to defuse fighting by the U.S.-supported rebels in Nicaragua and a leftist guer rilla war against the government of El Salvador, also supported by the United States. The cease-fires and other initial pro visions of the plan are scheduled to go into effect Nov. 7. It also calls for nego tiations, national reconciliations, an end to outside aid in the region, and reform to bring greater democracy throughout the region. The Sandinista regime, with close military ties to Cuba and the Soviet Hhion, has so far refused to negotiate directly with the rebels, popularly known as Contras. But it said it is wil ling to do so with officially recognized opposition parties in Nicaragua. Amish farmers oppose proposed highway route INTERCOURSE, Pa. — Despite being surrounded by sightseers and tourist traps, Pennsylvania’s Amish farmers usually manage to avoid the politics and controversy of the rest of the world. Now, a proposal for a four-lane highway through their farmland has stirred them to action. "I can’t buy an argument that puts traffic ahead of farms,” said Dave King, an Amish farmer from Gap, Pa., dropping the normal rule of public silence at a hearing Wed nesday. Traditionally the Amish tend to avoid involvement with the world outside their community, gathering in large numbers only for funerals, auctions or barn raisings. But the highway issue was enough to bend tradition when the state scheduled a hearing Wednesday night. The state is considering six possible routes for a new $100 mil lion, four-lane highway east of Un caster, three of which would rut right through the 800 Amish farms around Intercourse. A leaflet circulated in Amish church districts during the past two weeks suggested the Amish attend the session and let their silent presence show their concern. About 1,500 Lancaster County residents, two-thirds of them Amish, turned out, filling the cafeteria of Fequea Valley High School and spil ling into the corridors. It was the largest crowd of county Amish ever gathered in the area, according to some of the participants. “To run a superhighway through the farmland could be very unhandy for the Plain People,” said one man, who asked not to be identified. "It’s bound to bring more tourists and more businesses; and more traffic." One non-Amish man, Joseph Cook of Nine Points, Pa., put it more bluntly. The traffic engineers "are think ing about ruining one of the earth’s more fertile valleys," Cook said. "It’s a shame that they should even be proposing this. This area is like heaven, and they want to turn it into California.” The Amish sect originated in Switzerland in the 1690s any first came to America in 1728. Members try to remain separate from the rest of the world, refusing to go to war, swear oaths or hold public office.
