News Digest&ssu.
Andy Itanhart/DaHy Ntbraekan
House OKs plan to track
illegally dumped wastes
WASHINGTON—The House,
alarmed by used syringes and vials
of AIDS-infected blood washing
up on shorelines, joined the Senate
on Thursday in approving legisla
tion to combat the dumping of
medical waste.
“The illegal disposal of medical
waste is spreading like an epidemic
across the country,” said the bill’s
floor manager, Rep. Thomas
Luken, D-Ohio. “This waste is not
just repulsive; it can literally kill
people.
“According to recent federal
studies, as many as 18,000 people
each year may contract hepatitis B
from accidental contact with medi
cal waste,” he said. “Hundreds of
those infected will ultimately die
from the infection.”
The bill, improved 390-28,
would require tne Environmental
Protection Agency to set up a sys
tem to track infectious or danger
l ous trash %xn hospitals, labs and
* clinics to its disposal.
| The measure, a response to this
| summer s much-publicized wash
up* of medical trash along the
| Atlantic Coast, Lake Frie aodLake
Michigan, would initially require
rackimihl 10 itflfit
They am Connecticut, New
Jersey end m states bordering the
Great lakes: New York, Pennsyl
vania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin and Minne
sota.
The control program, however,
could become national in scope
because any other state could peti
tion EPA to have its medical waste
subjected to the paper-trail system
and gain authority to take enforce
ment action against incoming
waste not meeung the tracking
system’s requirements.
“This is a national problem,”
said Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Orc.
“The medical waste system in this
country is broken. It is overloaded,
and in effect it is starting to regur
gitate what it cannot keep down.”
The House bill is similar to one
passed recently by the Senate.
Supporters in both chambers said
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Dukakis rips Quayle; Bush praises him
® i j . . ti l mIIh ur»— >
Democrat Michael Dukakis criti
cized Dan Quayle in campaign rheto
ric and commercials on Thursday,
saying the Republican vice presiden
tial candidate appeared “extremely
insecure” in debate. George Bush
praised his running mate’s perform
ance but quickly changed the subject
to crime control.
Quayle shook off a poll suggesting
that Democrat Lloyd Bentsen beat
him handily in their debate Wednes
day night and said the Republicans
are “still ahead” in the race for the
White House. Most pre-debate sur
veys gave Bush a slight advantage
over Dukakis with a little over a
month remaining in the campaign.
Bentsen preferred an instant ABC
poll rating him the debate winner by
51 percent to 27 percent. “I was just
delighted,” said the Texas senator.
The highlight of the debate came
as the 41-year-old Quayle said his
experience in Congress compared
favorably with John F. Kennedy’s
record at the time of the 1960 cam
paign.
“Senator, you’re no Jack Ken
nedy,” Bentsen shot back.
The Dukakis campaign rushed to
air two television commercials ques
tioning Quayle’s qualifications. One
showed pictures of Harry Truman,
Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford, all
vice presidents who succeeded to the
presidency without an election, while
an announcer said Bush’s pick of
Quayle as running maie iii<ukou a
“lapse of judgment.”
Dukakis told reporters aboard his
campaign jet en route to Texas the
debate was a “real plus for us and
called Quayle’s performance “very
disturbing.”
“I thought he was programmed
beyond belief... extremely insecure,
this fellow.” Dukakis said in Lone
Star, Texas, where he campaigned
together with Bentscn. ‘He didn t
have a sense of strength or control or
anything. ... Thinking about Quayle
being a heartbeat away from the presi
dency, to watch that, I think, is very,
very troubling.”
Republicans from Ford to Ronald
Reagan rallied to Quaylc’s cause as
the Bush organization appeared to be
practicing damage control.
Bush aides conspicuously vio
lated their rule about publicly dis
cussing polls. Campaign manager
Lee Atwater said the vice president
was ahead in Michigan and New Jer
sey, two key swing states. He pre
dicted the vice president would carry
Bcntsen’s home state of Texas by at
least six points.
“This race is going to quickly get
back to the two candidates for presi
dent,” Atwater said. “There arc two
gladiators in the arena that arc going
to count in the end.”
In Midland, Texas, campaign
signs distributed tochildrenattcnding
JFK. Thank God.”
Bush delivered his first speech of
the day on crime without mention of
his running mate or the debate. In
stead, he ridiculed a Massachusetts
prison furlough program by mimick
ing tough-guy actor Clint Eastwood’s
popular refrain “make my day.”
“My opponent’s answer is slightly
different,” Bush said. “His motto is:
‘Go ahead, have a nice weekend.”
He praised Quayle’s performance
as he warmed up for a morning jog,
though, and later told a rally in Mid
land, Texas, “I think Dan Quayle did
an outstanding job.”
Reagan, coming to Quayle’s de
fense, said Bentscn resorted to a
“cheap shot... unbecoming a senator
of the United Slates” with his much
quoted debate put-down of the GOP
vice presidential candidate.
Bcnlsen disputed any suggestion
of nastiness on his part.
“What happened there was Quayle
kept comparing himself to Kennedy,
and he overreached himself and I got
fed up with it,” the Texas senator told
reporters.
However, Bentsen threw his jab
after Quayle’s one and only reference
to Kennedy in the 90-minute debate.
One Democratic aide, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said Bentscn
and his debate advisers had honed the
remark in practice sessions.
Foes of Chilean president jubilant
SANTIAGO, Chile — Thousands
of jubilant foes of President Augusto
Pinochet chanted “He has fallen!”
and marched in confetti-strewn
streets Thursda> to celebrate their
ballot-box victory over the military
ruler.
“An authoritarian system has been
overthrown,” said Ricardo Lagos, a
leader of a 16-party coalition that
campaigned for Gen. Pinochet’s de
feat in a yes-or-no referendum.
Wednesday’s rejection of the
army commander, who seized power
in a bloody 1973 coup, cleared the
way for elections to return Chile to
democracy. The opposition urged
elections be held before December
1989, a plan that has been rejected by
the still-powerful military.
In downtown Santiago, police
used tear gas and water cannons to
scatter the demonstrators several
times when they neared the govern
ment palace, the Defense Ministry
and other strategic buildings.
Otherwise, there was no sign of the
swift and harsh repression that was
routine before voters soundly re
jectcd the bid of the 72-year-old Pino
chet to rule until 1997. Pinochet did
not appear in public.
Under the constitution, Pinochet
will rule until the new elections. If the
military leaves power, it will further
signal an end to the military govern
ments that have dominated South
America.
Elected civilian rule has replaced
the military in Argentina, Bolivia,
Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay in
the past decade. The nearest military
ruler to Chile is Gen. Alfredo Strocss
ncr, who has ruled Paraguay since
seizing power in 1954.
With 99.6 percent of votes
counted, “no’f votes against
Pinochet’s continued rule totaled
3,945,865, or 54.7 percent, while
“yes” voles totaled 3,106,099, or 43
percent, the Interior Ministry re
ported.
Voided ballots totaled 164,427.
The turnout was more than 7.2 mil
lion of the 7.4 million registered vot
ers.
By midmorning, small groups of
students dressed in blue school uni
forms had gathered in Santiago’s
streets and enthusiastically chanted
anti-Pinochet slogans.
Initial police attempts to disperse
the youngsters with water cannons
and tear gas angered bystanders and
only attracted more participants. By
noon, thousands of demonstrators had
spilled onto the city’s main eight-lane
boulevard, jamming traffic as they
shouted, “Go away, Pinochet!” and
“He has fallen!”
Drivers beeped their horns with
the chants. Other demonstrators
marched through the streets waving
Chilean flags and opposition party
banners. Confetti and streamers
floated down from windows of down
town office buildings.
No arrests were reported.
Under the terms of a 1980
constitution fashioned by Pinochet’s
administration, his defeat sets the
stage for an open presidential election
the government said will be held in
December 1989. Congressional elec
tions also are planned in a year.
Communist party bosses ousted in Yugoslav province
NOVI SAD, Yugoslavia — The
Communist party bosses of a Yugo
slav province were ousted Thursday
night while a stone-throwing crowd
of30,000people assaulted their head
quarters.
They had promised to resign ear
lier Thursday in the most dramatic
development in three months of mass
street protests over ethnic strife and
economic crisis.
Several people were reported in
jured when the crowd outside party
lieadquarters in Novi Sad, capital of
Vcjvodina province, surged toward
lines of riot police, hurling stones that
smashed windows in the building.
Belgrade radio quoted doctors as
saying some people suffered bone
fractures, but no figures were giver.
The protesters began to disperse after
the leadership stepped down.
Removal of the provincial leader
ship could lead to wholesale changes
in the national party and Yugoslavia’s
six republics.
Stipe Suvar, the national party
chief, said Tuesday night there will be
changes in the ruling Politburo and
policy-making Central Committee at
or before a Central Committee meet
ing scheduled for Oct. 17.
Tanjug, the official news agency,
said the Vojvodina party committee
voted 87-10 to dismiss the 15-mem
ber Politburo, the highest political
body in the province.
Provincial party leader Milovan
Sogorov said a 10-mcmbcr provi
sional group would be established
while new leaders were chosen tor
Vojvodina,' a flat, fertile area that
produces most of the nation’s gram.
Pentagon slashes cost estimate for SDI program
w AoriiJNU lUN—in what one
official acknowledged was “a star
tling change,” the Defense Depart
ment said Thursday it has slashed
the cost of the first phase of a Star
Wars defensive shield from $115
billion fo.S69 billion, rod the sys
tem could be availabfe within a
But Sea. Sam Nunn, P Ga.,
chav man of the Scania Armed
Services Committee, said the fig
ures should be viewed with “some
skeptic ism" the cost of
weapons programs often goes
down while they ace in the planning
sfegee and then rtves when produc
tion mm
ihttt.iHlIiHiilUtiliitiKittWiiM tini
IL- ■ - - - -.:
I He new tigures tnsc from a re
structuring of the Strategic De
fense Initiative, the formal name of
President Reagan’s 5-ycar-ok!
program to develop a high-tech
shield against attack by Soviet
mUtiifff
Those changes were approved
after Defease Secretary Frank C.
Cariucci ordered a review when it
became apparent the Democratic
coctroUed Congress would cut
Rcatan’s Star Wan budget request
for me fiscal year that began last
Saturday.
The president sought $4.8 bik~
host lor Star Wars, but Congress
approved $4.1 billion, tin fror* %m
year s 3>J.v buhon budget.
The current debate over Star
Wars centers around plans to de
velop a first-stage program that
could form the basis of a wide
ranging system.
The initial phase is based
chiefly on space-based interceptor
rockets, kno wn as SBIs, that would
be housed in flying “garages” cir
cling the globe, ready to be fired at
launched Soviet missiles.
The large cost reduction is
chiefly achieved by scaling back
plans for the number of interceptor
rockets, Pentagon officiate told a
joint hearing of the Senate and
House Armed Services commit
tees.
White the exact figure is classi
fied, the Pentagon said “there
worId be fewer than 200carrier ve
hicles (garages) with several SBls
aboard each carries
The Defease Department also
said il can develop a better guid
ance unit for the rockets, meaning;
the chances of success for each
rocket would be increased and thus
the number that would have to be
fired would be reduced.
In addition, the sophistication
of a planned surveillance and
tracking satellite system is being
reduced, leading no another sav
