I Npws Dippst By The Associated Press____
Earthquake hits California
Impact kills at least five, cracks buildings and freeways
LOS ANGELES — A severe
earthquake and 15 major after
shocks jolted the area Thursday,
cracking buildings and freeways
and setting off dozens of fires. At
least three people were killed and
more than 100 injured.
The U.S. Geological Survey in
Golden, Colo., said the quake reg
istered 6.1 on the Richter scale,
making it the strongest tremor to
hit the Los Angeles area since the
6.4 Sylmar quake of 1971 that
killed 64 people.
The quake was recorded at 7:42
a.m. local time, centered about
nine miles south-southeast of
Pasadena at the north end of the
Whitlier-Elsinore Fault. Over the
next three hours, at least 15 after
shocks measuring 3 or more on the
Richter scale followed.
Damage appeared to be worst in
Whittier, the closest suburban area
to the epicenter. Marsha Andersen,
a spokeswoman for Presbyterian
Intercommunity Hospital, said 60
people had been treated for earth
quake-related injuries.
“Our uptown area has suffered
considerable damage. It’s been
closed off,” said Whittier police
Officer Mike Willis.
City personnel director J. Sonny
Morkus said officials estimated
eight to 10 buildings had been
destroyed, none of them homes.
In the older residential neigh
borhoods, porches collapsed onto
lawns,chimneys toppled, windows
were shattered and most residents
sat outside on chairs, afraid to re
turn inside.
The quake was fell as far away
John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan
as Las Vegas, Nev., 250 miles to
the northeast. It knocked dishes off
shelves in the Victor Valley, 70
miles to the northeast, and shook
the ground in El Cajon, in San
Diego County to the south.
In downtown Los Angeles,
hundreds of people were evacuated
from swaying buildings, where
windows shattered and elevators
became stuck as power was
knocked out for nearly an hour.
“All at once there was a whoosh
of wind, and I walked over to a
brick wall until everything stopped
shaking,” said Gerald Livezey, a
security guard at one downtown
building. “1 was outside, and 1
mean it was really shaking. I
thought it was the biggie.”
Missiles tested north
of Hawaii by Soviets
WASHINGTON — Despite U.S.
protests, the Soviet Union conducted
two tests this week of a new long
range, nuclear-capable missile by
targeting an area of the Pacil ic Ocean
about 500 miles north of Hawaii, the
Pentagon and State Department said
Thursday.
One of the tests was an apparent
failure, but the second ended with
dummy warheads splashing into the
Pacific Ocean closer to U.S. soil than
ever before, officials said.
“We protested this,” said State
Department spokeswoman Phyllis
Oakley, explaining the Soviets had
informed the United States on Sept.
26 through diplomatic channels of
their plans.
Fred Hoffman, the Pentagon’s
chief spokesman, said the Soviets had
originally indicated an intent to
“bracket” the Hawaiian Islands with
their test shots.
The Soviets warned
ships to stay away from a large trape
zoid-shaped target area about 500
miles northwest of Hawaii and from a
smaller, circular area only about 360
miles southwest of Hawaii.
If the Soviets had fired a missile
toward the second target area, it
would have actually flown over the
50th state, Hoffman said.
“That did not happen, and we do
not know whether or not that was a
result of our expression of concern.
We have never test-flown any ballis
tic missile in the direction of or over
Soviet territory. This would have
been unprecedented if the Soviets had
done so.”
Hoffman refused to say precisely
when the two tests occurred, beyond
saying one was on Tuesday afternoon
and the other on Wednesday after
noon Hawaiian time.
The first test, Hoffman said, “was
an apparent failure. The second,
Wednesday afternoon Hawaiian
time, appears to have been success
ful.”
“Both missiles, fired from
Tyuratam (in the southwestern Soviet
Union), carried multiple (dummy)
warheads,” the spokesman said. “The
Soviet Union has announced that this
series of tests is over and that shipping
can move safely though that area.”
Florida police warned
as gun law takes effect
MIAMI — Worried police depart
ments issued special warning to offi
cers Thursday as the state’s first 100
concealed weapons permits rolled off
the presses under a new law allowing
most Floridians to carry sidcarms.
“I think it’s a very stupid idea, a
very stupid law, and they should re
consider it,” grumbled Miami Officer
Frank Pichcl before he went on patrol
Thursday, the day the law took effect.
The law, which was passed in
April after lobbying by the local
chapter of the National Rifle Associa
tion, eased restrictions on gun per
mits, allowing anyone to carry a
concealed weapon unless they arc
convicted felons or are incapacitated.
The new law also dropped an
“open carry” provision that had pre
vented people from wearing guns in
plain view. Lawmakers disputed
whether that was an oversight, but
there is little sentiment in the Florida
Legislature for changing the law.
In Tallahassee, the state printed its
first 100 concealed weapons permits
Thursday, with authorities predicting
60,(XX) Floridians will eventually be
licensed.
A spot survey found few incidents
or gun confiscations Thursday.
In Tampa, at one minute after
m idnight, police received a call about
a possible robbery in progress at a
drug store, said police spokesman
Steve Cole.
When police arrived, they found a
man with a .45*calibcr automatic
tucked into his pants.
He said he’d heard about the new
gun law, and since it was after mid
night, he decided to take his gun out
shopping with him,’’Cole said. Police
asked him to put the gun in his car
because it made people there nerv
ous, and the man obliged.
Nebra^skan
Editor Mike Ralllay
472 1766
Managing Editor Jan Oasalmt
Assoc News Editors Jann Nylfalar
Mika Hoopar
Editorial
Page Editor Jaanna Bourne
Wire Editor Linda Hartmann
Copy Desk Chief Joan Ram
Sports Editor Jail Apol
Arts & Entertain
ment Editor Bill Allan
Asst Arts &
Entertainment Editor Charles Liauranca
Giaphics Editoi Mark Oavla
Asst Graphics Editor Tom Lauder
Photo Chiel Ooug Carroll
Night News Editors Curt Wagnar
Scott Harrah
Art Director Brian Barber
General Manager Daniel Shattll
Pioduction Manager Katharine Pollcky
Publications Board
Chau man Don Johnson.
472 3611
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Robertson declares GOP presidential candidacy
NEW YORK — Longtime televi
sion evangelist Pat Robertson de
clared his candidacy for the 1988
Republican presidential nomination
Thursday, saying “I am stretching
forth my hand to all Americans.”
“This will not be the campaign of
a small, well-organized minority. It
will be a campaign to capture the
hearts of the American people,”
Robertson said. He announced his
candidacy in front of the three-story
brownstonc house in an inner-city
neighborhood where he lived briefly
27 years ago as a young minister.
Several hundred supporters
cheered Robertson and some held
aloft signs reading, “Robertson for
God and country.”
Protesters stood on the edge of the
crowd with signs that read, “AIDS
kills black people. Pat doesn’t care.”
They chanted, “Bigot, bigot, bigot.”
Earlier, Robertson spoke on the
“700 Club,” the Christian Broadcast
ing Network show he hosted for
years. Robertson, who two days ago
severed his ties to the Baptist ministry
and CBN, described his candidacy as
“a big move for me.”
Robertson outpollcd Vice Presi
dent George Bush and Senate GOP
leader Bob Dole in a straw poll at a
fund-raising event in Ames, Iowa.
He stunned Bush and Rep. Jack
Kemp of New York in the summer of
1986 when his supporters recruited a
majority of the candidates to fill thou
sands of Republican precinct delegate
slots in Michigan.
Milkweed as a crop
Farmer grows it for absorbent floss
PAXTON — Milkweed is jusl
what the name implies — a weed.
Yet some farmers in Ogallala,
Paxton and Minden arc growing it
as a crop.
Paxton farmer Ralph Hol/.fastcr
has been involved in an experimen
tal milkweed project for about 2 1/2
years. He is working with Standard
Oil of Ohio to produce milkweed
floss as an alternative crop.
“To grow something that some
body else is growing and of which
there is an ovcrsupply already
doesn’t help solve the problem,” he
said.
But he cautioned, “It’s going to
take four or five years and a lot of
hard work if the thing is going to
go.” Why would anyone want to
use milkweed? For the floss found
in abundance in the seed pods,
Hol/.fastcr said.
The floss can be used as insula
tion in garments and could compete
with down, he said.
Kimberly Clark Corp., which
produces disposable diapers, is
interested in the floss because of its
absorbancy.
“Milkweed floss will absorb
about 70 plus percent of its own
weight in moisture when it is
treated and has the natural oils
taken off of the fiber,” Holzfastcr
said.
And a field of milkweed has
enough pollen for a bee to produce
about 200 pounds of honey from it,
he said.
Opposition paper reopens
MANAGUA, Nicaragua —
Nicaragua’s only opposition newspa
per resumed publication Thursday
after a 15-month forced closure with a
banner headline saying, “Triumph For
The People.”
La Prcnsa, once Nicaragua’s most
popular newspaper, resurfaced after
the leftist Sandinista government on
Sept. 19 approved the reopening.
“We’re ready,” said an editor, Juan
Navarro, as he cut and pasted stories
for the afternoon pajicr. “Everyone is
excited.”
President Daniel Ortega said the
move was in line with the new re
gional peace plan, which calls for
restoration of democratic freedoms.
Publisher Violcta Chamorro said
Ortega assured her the newspaper
would be allowed to print without
censorship.
The 62-year-old paper was shut
down June 26, 1986 following U.S.
congressional approval of $100 mil
lion in aid for the Contra rebels.