The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, October 10, 1988, Page 2, Image 2

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    News Digest
By the
Associated Press
Edited by Bob Nelson
" ■ ■ ■ . .
Thousands of Yugoslavians rally in deepening crisis
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia —
Tens of thousands of demonstrators
took to the streets Sunday and
students began a hunger strike to
protest police violence and demand
the ouster of Communist leaders.
Residents reported a heavy police
presence and roadblocks around
Titograd, the capital of the southern
republic of Montenegro, 280 miles
southwest of Belgrade. Club
wielding riot police broke up an
overnight rally there against local
Communist leaders early Saturday.
Three people were reported
hospitalized in Niksik, 15 miles
northwest of Titograd, where police
fired tear gas Saturday (o break up a
crowd.
The state news agency Tanjug
quoted local authorities as saying the
situation in Niksic was “extremely
serious” and said thousands of
workers at a local steel mill put down
their tools Sunday and marched to
protest police actions.
The news agency said federal
president Raif Dizdarevic would
speak to the nation to address “the
deteriorating crisis situation.”
The presidency of Bosnia, another
of Yugoslavia’s six republics, issued
a statement saying violent protests
are “most seriously jeopardizing the
integrity, constitutional order and
security of the country,” Tanjug said.
At Cetinje, 42 miles north of
Titograd, authorities also increased
security at workplaces and in public
places, Tanjug reported without
further detail.
In Titograd, students went on
hunger strike to protest the police
violence and demand that local
Communist leaders resign. In an
unusually outspoken demand for
democracy, the official Communist
youth union also called for “direct
and secret” elections to get leaders
the people would support.
About 20,000 people attended a
rally in Serbia’s southern auto
nomous province of Kosovo, where
the Serbian minority alleges haras
sment by the ethnic Albanian
majority.
Police did not report any incidents
at the rally in Titovo Mitrovica, 145
miles south of Belgrade.
At dozens of similar rallies in
recent months, Serbs have rallied
against the ethnic Albanian Commu
nist leaders in Kosovo.
But in an apparent effort to
prevent ethnic violence in Kosovo,
Albanian Halit Tmavci told the
crowd that Serbs and Albanians had
forged links through the centuries in
Kosovo and should not allow these
ties to be destroyed.
About 10,000 more people rallied
in Subotica, a town on the border with
Hungary in Serbia’s other auto
nomous province, Vojvodina, Tan
jug said.
The crowd denounced Mon
tenegrin leaders for ordering police
to use violence to break up Sat
urday’s Titograd demonstration.
They chanted “They are beating the
boys to hide their deceit” ond
“Yugoslavia, wake up, don’t let
yourself be tom apart.”
Serbs have been pushing for
greater control over both auto
nomous provinces, backing the
demand with street rallies drawing
crowds of hundreds of thousands.
But the nationalist demands now
increasingly are mixed with loud
protests against economic hardship
and calls for the ouster of leading
Communists. Prices have risen with a
government austerity program to
combat inflation of217 percent and a
foreign debt of $21 billion.
Nebraska AIDS
cases reach 78
LINCOLN—The vast majority
of the 78 cases of AIDS reported in
198^_luve in
by the stale
neat in iwpuuutflL
Of those victims, 30 were alive
as of Sept 30, but 48 had died, the
report said.
Only two cases were reported as
heterosexual cases, while 52 were
either homosexual or bisexual
men. Four were listed as IV drug
abuser*. Another seven were
identified as both drug abusers and
homosexual or bisexual men, the
quarterly figures showed.
Three cases were blamed on
hemophilia-coagulation disorders,
three on transfusion-blood com
ponents and one case’s cause was
unknown.
Since Jan. 1 of this year, 29
cases of AIDS have been reported
in Nebraska. Ten were reported in
the first quarter and \2 in the
second.
Virginia Wilkinson, AIDS
program director, said the fact a
smaller number cases were re
ported in the most recent quarter is
not significant.
“We expect some variability in
the cases added in each recording
period. This quarter’s figure does
not indicate a significant fluctua
tion or downward trend in the
action number of AIDS cases in
Nebraska,” she said.
Of the new cases lastquarter, all
but one were reported in the most
populated eastern region covering
the two tiers of counties on
Nebraska’s eastern horde*. Since
1983,67 of the 78 cases have been
reported in that region, which
includes Douglas and Lancaster
counties.
A total of three cases have been
reported in the western region,
which stretches from the state’s
western border to a line that runs
north and south along the eastern
edge of Cherry and Lincoln
counties.
Eight cases have been reported
in the central region since the first
Nebraska case was confirmed in
1983.
Seventy-four of Nebraska’s
AIDs victims have been males and
four females.
AiHiy PiiHiin/Wjiiy Nf orasMn
Violence in Algeria claims
lives of at least 200 people
ALGIERS, Algeria — Soldiers
fired into crowds of demonstrators
Sunday who refused to disperse, and
police and hospital sources said at
least 200 people had died in rioting
over rising prices and a government
austerity program.
Clashes between the army and
demonstrators grew more violent late
Saturday and early Sunday. Soldiers
were ordered to shoot at protesters
who did not disperse and fired
repeatedly.
The government confirmed
deaths among security forces.
The worst violence was reported
in the southern and eastern suburbs of
Algiers and in the western port city of
Oran. Fighting also was reported in a
dozen provincial centers.
In the capital, Algiers, army
helicopters armed with rockets flew
low, apparently to discourage the
formation of crowds.
The city was mostly calm. After
midday prayers at thecily ’s mosques,
some people gathered and chanted,
“Chadli Must Go!” a reference to
President Chadli Bendjcdid. They
dispersed quickly when soldiers
charged.
Hospital and police sources in
various parts of the country providing
fragmentary information said more
than 200 people had been killed and
several hundred injured in the past
five days. The government has given
no official death toll.
From the accounts of sources, as
well as descriptions from citizens
who witnessed clashes, it seemed
likely the final death toll could be
much higher than 200.
A 26-ycar-old government
official, Aliouane Fadela, said she
saw gendarmes in riot gear “charging
bystanders who were doing nothing,
and then kick them once they were on
the ground.” The gendarmes are
police under military control.
Authorities on Thursday imposed
a state of emergency with overnight
curfews and arrested more than 900
people for looting.
The official APS Algerian news
agency gave a list of reasons for the
mounting unrest — crop failure, the
collapse of oil prices, the global
economic crisis and Algeria’s
enormous population increase —
from 9.4 million in 1954 to more than
23 million.
The unrest began about 10 days
ago, when industrial workers staged
strikes for higher wages. The
government said it would not break
with its austerity plan to raise wages,
and youths began rampaging in
Algiers and other cities.
Students equate high tuitions with high quality
NEW YORK — Fewer than six
out of 10 young people say they have
saved for college, and nearly 50
percent said tuition costs prevent
many from seeking a higher edu
cation, according to a poll released
Sunday.
In addition, more than one out of
three teen-agers and young adults
questioned in a survey commissioned
by the Council for Advancement and
Support of Education believe the
most expensive colleges offer the
best education.
The poll, aimed at measuring
student awareness of college issues,
was based on telephone interviews of
1,001 people age 13 to 21 from Aug.
24 to Sept. 7. It was released as part of
National Higher Education Week,
which began Sunday. The poll,
conducted by the Gallup Organiza
tion, had a margin of sampling error
of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Thirty-eight percent agreed that
“the higher the tuition costs of a
college, the better the quality of
education a student will receive.”
Among pre-college-age students, the
figures were higher: 53 percent of 13
to 15-year-olds agreed with the
statement; 41 percent of 16- and 17
year-olds surveyed did. But only 27
percent of current college students
and graduates felt that way.
Asked what they thought was the
major reason more students do not go
to college, 48 percent said they
thought the reason was that college is
tooexpensive and they can’t afford it.
Fifty-nine percent of high school
juniors and seniors polled said they or
someone in their families had saved
for their college education. The rest
said they hadn’t saved or they didn’t
know.
Asked what they’d do if they
couldn’t afford the college they
wanted, 37 percent said icy’d try to
get loans, 32 percent would look for
part-time jobs, 14 percent saiu hey
would select another ct-llegi and 2
percent said they would not attend
college at all. The rest weren’t sure.
Other findings:
•54 percent of America’s high
school juniors and seniors said they
expect to graduate from college; 8
percent plan to graduate from high
school but go no further. The
remainder said they plan to attend
vocational or trade school, or go to
college but not long enough to
graduate.
•67 percent said that in selecting a
college, availability of particular
courses and curriculum was “ex
tremely important”; 44 percent
cited the school’s academic reputa
tion; 45 percent said expense was a
crucial factor. Only 20 percent cited
social life or athletic reputation as
“extremely important.”
•Seven out of 10 believe public
colleges offer as good an education as
private schools, and three out of five
felt two-year institutions are on a par
with four-year schools.
----—i
1 housands evacuate for gas destruction
mTRU. w.va. — More than
3,000 people left -heir homes
Sunday while a hazardous waste
crew blew up a corroded tank
believed to hold upw«o 30 pounds of
. deadly hydrogen cyanide.
The 4-foot-long cylinder was
abandoned at the site of the defunct
Artel Chemical Co. plant, now a
federal Superfund cleanup site,
with 3,400 other drums and barrels
of hazardous materials, many of
them unidentified and most of
them rusting.
As little as 50 milligrams — a
size less than one-sixth the average
aspirin—of die hydrogen cyanide
can kill.
The explosion occurred at 1:54
p.m. and a fire was started to bum
off the tank’s contents. Environ
mental Protection Ap.ency spokes
man Harold Yates said that at 2:01
E m. “no air readings indicated any
ydrogen cyanide down wind."
BPA officials had not been
certain of the tank’s contents, so
analysis will examine a videotape
of the explosion to look for a
telltale purplish corona, an
indication of the presence of
hydrogcncyanide, surrounding the
main body of the flame, Yates said.
He said the fire would have to be
out and the wreckage of the
cylinder would have to be
inspected before anyone would be
allowed back into the evacuated
area.
Ambulances rnived shortly
after dawn to begin taking tl»c
elderly and handicapped to
evacuation centers, bai city buses
from nearby Charleston tints rolled
through the town were relatively
empty as raostpeoptechoae to go to
relatives*/ homes and local
shopping malls,
“This is going to be the best
thing that's happened for the
Charleston Town Center and the
After the area within 1,000
yards of the plant was evacuated,
three men who work for a disposal
company hired by the federal
Environmental Protection Agency
carried the cylinder 100 feet to a
bunker.
Nebraskan
Editor Curl Wagner Asst. Photo Chief David Fahleaoo
472-17hn Night News Editor Amy Edwards
Managing Editor Diana Johnson Asst Night News
Assoc. News Editors Jane Hlrt Editorllbrarian AnneMohrl
„ _ Wood Art Directors John Bruce
Editorial Andy Manhart
Page Editor MlkeRellley General Manager DanBhattll
Wire Editor Bob Nelson Production Manager Katherine Pollcky
Copy Desk Editor Chuck Green Advertising Manager Robert Bates
SportsEdltor Steve Sipple Sales Manager David Thiemann
Arts & Entertain- Circulation Manager Eric Shanks
ment Editor Mickl Haller Publications Board
Diversions Editor JoethZucco Chairman Tom Macy
Sower Editor Andy Pollock 475-9868
Graphics Editor Tim Hartmann Professional Adviser Don Walton
Photo Chief Eric Gregory
The Dally NebraskanfUSPS 144-000) Is published by theUNL Publications Board, Ne
braska Union 34,1400 R St., Lincoln, NE (except holidays); weekly during the summer
session.
Readers are encouraged to submit story Ideas and comments to the Dally Nebraskan
by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m. and 5p.m. Monday through Friday. The public also
has access to the Publications Board For information, contact Tom Mary, 4759868
Subscription price Is $35 for one year.
Postmaster; Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400
R St.,Lincoln, NE 60586-0448. Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE.
ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1966 DAILY NEBRASKAN