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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1988)
News Digest Tension high after Louisiana racial disturbance SHREVEPORT, La. — Hundreds of angry black people burned stores and rioted in the streets after a white woman fatally shot a black man, and black leaders warned Wednesday against a recurrence of violence. “We’re sitting on a powder keg,” said state Rep. Alphonse Jackson, who called for a biracial anti-crime committee. “People want protection,” said Jackson, who is black. “I call on citi zens to restore law and order.” His plea followed a meeting of city officials and black leaders to discuss the rioting that persisted nearly five hours, until 3 a.m. Wednesday, and which officials said was related both to drugs and racial problems. S tores were looted and burned, and rioters threw rocks and bottles at whites. There were reports of racial slurs and chants of “Hot Biscuit,” the restaurant where a white teen-ager killed a black teen-ager on Aug. 4, an incident that set off racial tension in this northwestern Louisiana city of 250,000, the state’s second largest after New Orleans. On Tuesday night, police cor doned off a seven-block area and warned motorists to keep out. The crowd reached 1,000people at its peak, said Police Chief Charles Gruber, but other police estimates said the total was 300 to 500 most of the time. The police chief said his car took a brick through the windshield and gunfire through the back passenger door, but he was not hurl. A KTBS-TV news car was burned and a new fire department pumper was attacked with bats and bricks. No serious injuries were reported, attributed in part to Gruber’s decision to let the disturbance run its course. Throughout the incident, police ra dios crackled with orders to maintain positions and hold fire. “If Gruber had moved into the area, we would have had a large number of people hurt, so I commend him for it,” said Jackson. “We chose to let it cool off,” Gruber said. “We felt our presence would do nothing but accelerate it.” At least four people were reported taken into custody and booked with charges ranging from inciting to riot to resisting arrest. The outbreak was triggered by the shooting of a black man, identified as William David McKinney, 20, who lived in the Cedar Grove neighbor hood where the rioting took place. He was described by a witness as a by stander caught in gunfire when a drug deal went bad. A white teen-ager, Tamala C. Vergo, 17, of Greenwood was booked on a charge of second-degree murder, said police Cpl. E.T. Rushing. A sec ond woman was questioned but not charged. A man who identified himself only as a cousin of McKinney’s named Charles, said McKinney was shot at random after a woman trying to buy cocaine from a group of men was robbed. When they ran with her purse, she “took out her frustration” on McKinney, he said. The man talked to reporters after being interviewed by detectives. Officers said people in a conven ience store tried to detain the woman until police came, but a crowd of blacks gathered outside and began throwing bricks at the business and all passing motorists who were white. A witness, Anthony Johnson, said that after police took the women away, the crowd doused the store with lighter fluid, set it afire and went on a rampage. The building, containing the store and a liquor shop, was burned to the ground. Government admits to killing scores of civilians • _ . . ... _ ■ .1__u. RANGOON, Burma — Gen. Saw Maung on Wednesday became the fourth head of government in two months. The government said troops have killed more than 140 civilians since the hard-line officer ousted the civilian president on Sunday. Demonstrators demanding de mocracy and a halt to 26 years of authoritarian rule stayed off the streets for a second day during the crackdown. Troops killed 67 people, wounded 34 and arrested 100 “in the course of the government’s law and order resto ration work” in Rangoon and three other areas Tuesday and Wednesday, government spokesman Kyaw San told reporters. Kyaw San said he had no knowl edge of a rumored sweep by authori ties against student leaders who spearheaded the pro-democracy pro tests. The latest tally brought the official death toll since the coup to 144. But some Western diplomats in Rangoon believe at least 400 people have been killed in the Burmese capital alone, many when troops opened fire on largely unarmed protesters Monday. “At Rangoon General Hospital, there were 200 corpses on Monday night and that was only one hospital," said one diplomat, speaking on condi tion of anonymity. State radio said Saw Maung was named prime minister by the nine member governing council, ap pointed the day before and made up primarily of his military cronies. He also holds the defense and foreign affairs portfolios. The government spokesman listed eight separate incidents in Rangoon during a 20-hour period beginning Tuesday morning in which 57 people died as troops broke up mobs looting government warehouses and a biscuit factory. Nine more people died when secu rity forces beat back attacks on a local government office in Mudon and a patrol in Mandalay, Kyaw San said. Pro-democracy demonstrators who have filled Rangoon by the hun dreds of thousands in recent weeks stayed off the streets Tuesday and weunesuay, resiucnis icpuncu. All major markets remained closed although small food stores and roadside shops were open. Troops conducted house-to-house searches in the heart of Rangoon on Wednesday after a nighttime attack against City Hall and the main gov ernment administration, residents and officials said. No casualties were reported. Saw Maung, 59, is known as a loyal follower of strongman Ne Win, who seized power in 1962 and insti tuted a repressive, military-backed system that turned resource-rich Burma into one of the world’s poorest nations. After Ne Win resigned in late July, VVmiHV'III. TTUOIVUIVI A # VIUJOUJ former military officer Scin Lwin, who was succeeded by civilian Presi dent Maung Maung. Maung Maung gave in to opposi tion demands to hold elections and allow a multiparty system. The stick ing point was the opposition demand for an interim government to ensure a fair vote. Maung Maung was re moved in Saw Maung’s coup. Although Saw Maung also has promised multiparty elections, he has shown no signs of establishing an interim government Many observers believe Ne Win remains the supreme power in Burma and are skeptical about the promise of elections. British 1 V: Bush Knew about money laundering four years before charges LONDON — Vice President George Bush complained five years ago to Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega about alleged laundering of drug money in Panama, according to a British television documentary screened Wednesday. Two of Noriega’s former senior aides, interviewed on Thames Television’s “This Week” program, also said Noriega has tape recordings which could threaten Bush’s presi dential campaign. Bush has said the Reagan admini stration took action as soon as it learned of narcotics and other federal charges against Noriega in indict ments issued in Florida last February. U.S. actions included economic sanctions to force Noriega to resign as head of the Defense Forces, a post which makes him Panama’s de facto ruler. Noriega lias denied any wrong _ doing and refused to resign. “We have learned that as early as 1983 ... George Bush sat down with Gen. Noriega to complain about the laundering of drug money in Pan ama,” reporter Julian Manyon said on the program. “One of the vice president’s con cerns, according to Panamanians who were there, was an estimated $3 bil lion of drug profits that had already been laundered through Panama,’’ Manyon said. Noriega was shown on the docu mentary saying he never met Bush. In Washington, Bush spokesman Steve Hart on Wednesday said the vice president, during a stopover in Panama in 1983, met with Panama’s then-Prcsident Ricardo de la Espri ella and other officials, including Noriega, but did not speak of any allegations against the general. Nebraskan Editor Curt Wagner Aset Photo Chief David Fshleson .. , .. 472-1768 Night News Editor Amy Edwards Managing Editor Diana Johnson Asst Night News Assoc. News Editors JaneHIrt Edltorlibrarlen Anne Mohrt _ Los Rood Art Directors John Crime Editorial Andy Manhart Page Editor Mike Radley General Maitager Oan ShaftII _ Vwa Editor Bob Nataon Production Manager Katherine Pollcky Copy Desk Editor Chuck Green Advertising Manager Robert Oates Sayts Editor Steve Sipple Sales Manager David Thiemann Arts 6 Entetaln- Circulation Manager Eric Shanks ment Editor Mlckl Haller Publlcatlons Board Diversions Editor Joeth Zucco Chairman Tom Maey Sower Editor Andy Pollock 47S-9666 Graphics Editor Darryl Mattox Professional Adviser Don Walton Photo Chief Eric Gregory MMSS**** 144-080) is published by the UNL Publlcailons Board, Ne ?ess^wiUn °n 1400 " ®*'' *"lnco,n' NE (except holidays); weekly during the summer hu 5^!®ra^! encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Dally Nebraskan 4,72J 7®3b#tw*en8e.m and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The public also Publications Board. 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