' T News Digest NelSaskan
^ ^ Friday, November 18,1988
— ■ -— ■ ■ ■■■ ■ - ■ ■ — - 1 — 1 ———————
Bush names Sununu and Atwater to top positions
WASHINGTON — President
elect George Bush on Thursday
named New Hampshire Gov. John
* Sununu White House chief of staff
and tapped wily campaign strategist
Lee Atwater as chairman of the Re
publican National Committee.
Bush’s selection of Sununu as his
top White House adviser prompted
the resignation, effective in January,
of long-time aide Craig Fuller, who
said he had told Bush he was eager for
the job.
Bush said he would like Fuller, co
chairman of the transition team and
his chief of staff since 1985, to con
sider a role in his administration but
that he chose Sununu because he was
the “right man for the job."
“John Sununu has the background
and experience necessary to work not
only with his former colleagues in the
nation’s statehouses but also to build
a constructive relationship with the
U.S. Congress,’’ he said.
Sununu, the first Washington out
sider to be named by Bush, will bring
“a refreshing new' perspective’’ to the
job, the president-elect said.
Atwater will succeed Frank
Fahrcnkopf Jr., who announced
months ago that he would relinquish
the GOP chairmanship at the end of
President Reagan’s term and return to
Nevada to practice law.
The Republican National Com
mittee will formally act on Bush’s
choice in January.
Bush made the announcements
after meeting over breakfast with
British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher and his customary weekly
lunch with Reagan.
Both Sununu and Atwater share
reputations as adept players of politi
cal hardball.
Atwater is considered a master of
negative campaigning, and was an
architect of the strategy that helped
Bush wipe out a 17-point poll lead by
Democrat Michael Dukakis and romp
to a 40-state victory in the presiden
tial race.
Sununu, 49, an engineer by train
ing and a former Tufts University
professor, has no previous experience
in Washington. He has a reputation
for being a quick study, highly intel
ligentand assertive. Some also regard
him as as arrogant and abrasive, traits
that could hurt him in working with
Congress.
Sununu made light ol that reputa
tion Thursday.
“I’m a pussycat,” Sununu said.
“Let me tell you about Washington.
Certainly I have a lot to learn in regard
to the details. I think I'm a quick
learner. I consider a great number of
congressmen to be close friends, both
Democratic and Republican '
Jewish lobbyists have criticized
the New Hampshire governor for
being the only governor to refuse to
endorse a proclamation attacking a
1975 U.N. resolution that equated
Zionism with racism.
“I’m very sensitive to that issue,”
said Sununu, who is partly of Arab
descent.
-- I
Millions try to kick habit
Minions oi smokers on i nurs
day swapped their cigarettes for
apples and gum, went cold turkey
for free turkey sandwiches and
tossed their tobacco into bonfires
as part of the 12th annual Great
American Smokcoul.
Newborns in several hospitals
wore’TmaBorn Non-Smoker” T
shirts, city workers in Cedar Rap
ids, Iowa, sported pins and stickers
that said, “Kiss Me, I Don’t
Smoke,” and non-smokers joined
“adopt-a-smoker” programs to
help smokers through a smokeless
day.
The American Cancer Society
estimates nearly 40 percent of the
nation’s 50 million smokers tried
to quit for the day. About one
tenth,or 2million people, will kick
the habit permanently, said Paul
Rosenberg, a cancer society
spokesman in New York.
"My grandkids keep telling me
it’s lime to quit smoking,” said Pal
z-icikc, mayor 01 1^1 c rossc, w is.,
and a pack-a-day smoker for 40
years. He quit smoking for the day
and was “adopted” by a cancer
society volunteer.
Smokers traded their cigarettes
for apples in several cities, includ
ing New York, Norwalk, Conn.,
and Philadelphia. Non-smokers
got apples, too, along w ith a “good
for you.”
The grandson of tobacco mag
nate R.J. Reynolds joined with
Pleasanton, Calif.-based publisher
SyberVision to launch a S20 mil
lion television advertising cam
paign accusing the tobacco indus
try of addicting millions of Ameri
cans.
"My grandfather, R.J. Rey
nolds. helped get America hooked
on c i gare ties t h rou gh c le ver ad ver
lising. Now, I’m going to use the
power of advertising to get Amer
ica unhooked,” Patrick Reynolds
said.
t-,—
Andy Manhart/Daily Nebraskar
Kentucky leads smoking deaths I
ATL A NT A—On the day of the
Great American Smokeout, a gov
ernment report released Thursday
shows Kentucky with the nation’s
highest smoking-related death
rate. Utah has the lowest.
Kentucky reported 176 smok
ing-related deaths for every
100,000 residents in 1985,thcU.S.
Centers for Disease Control re
ported. Utah reported just 45
smoking-related deaths for every
100,(XX) people over the course of
the year.
Nationwide, smoking killed
314,574 Americans that year.
The worst stales, after Ken
tucky, were West Virginia, with
172 smoking-related deaths pci
1(X),(XX) people in 1985; Arkansas.
164; Rhode Island, 164; and Flor
ida, 161.
Best on the list, after Utah:
Alaska, 54; Flawaii, 77; Nc\*
Mexico, 85; and Colorado, 94.
i The report is based on compute)
analysis of statistics from 1985,the
latest CDC analysis available. And
while the state-by-statc totals arc
not age-adjusted - to compensate
for areas with more older or
younger people - the rates provide i
valid “ballpark comparisons,” said
Dr. Thomas Novotny, a specialist
in the CDC’s Office of Smoking
and Health.
For instance, it stands to reason
that Utah, with its large Mormon
population, would have a lower
rate of death from smoking, he
said. The Mormon Church discour
ages smoking.
“Even as smoking prevalence
declines in this country,” the CDC f
said, “smoking-attributable illness §
will continue to produce an j
enormous disease burden well into
the 21st century.”
About 27 percent of the nation’s j
adults arc smokers, according to I
the latest national estimate. Four It
decades ago, it was 41 percent. 1
j
Landlady captured in boarding house murder cases!
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A landlady sus
pected of killing seven elderly tenants at her
boardinghouse to collect their Social Security
money said Thursday she had cashed some
checks but was no killer.
Dorothea Montalvo Puente, who vanished
Saturday after police unearthed the first of
seven bodies buried in the yard of her boarding
house, was arrested at a downtown Los Angeles
motel late Wednesday after a pensioner she had
approached in a nearby bar became suspicious.
Detectives brought Puente back to Sacra
mento early Thursday in a jet rented by a
Sacramento television station. She was being
held in Sacramento County Jail on one murder
count, awaiting arraignment in Municipal
Court later Thursday.
During the flight, she granted a brief inter
view to KCRA-TV.
“I have not killed anyone. I told you that. 1
have not killed anyone. The checks I cashed,
yes," Puente said.
She also said, “I used to be a very good
person at one time."
KCRA-TV reporter Mike Boyd described
Pente as “not in the least” emotional or upset
during the flight.
The 59-ycar-old ex-convict was wearing the
same pink dress and bright red coat that she was
seen in five days earlier, when she walked away
from her home.
At that lime, police said they didn’t have
enough evidence to detain her. But after the
other bodies were discovered, a murder warrant
was issued for Puente and a search launched in
California, Nevada and Mexico.
Police Chief John Kearns said she appar
ently went to West Sacramento on Saturday,
then took a cab to Stockton, where she boarded
a bus for Los Angeles “and has probably been
there since that time.”
Puente was arrested after CBS television
told Los Angeles police that a viewer called to
report meeting her in a downtown bar. She had
given the man the name and room number of the
motel where she was staying, and police ar
rested her there a few minutes later.
“The suspect had struck up a conversation
with a male subject in a bar. They had been
talking about Social Security,” Kearns said.
The two went to her nearby motel room and
“during the time he was talking to her, he
realized it was the murder suspect he had seen
on television.”
The man, Charles Willgues, 67, said he
became suspicious after Puente, who called
herself Donna Johanson, questioned him at
length about his Social Security benefits.
The arrest warrant charges Puente only with
the murder of Alvaro Montoya, 52, a tenant
missing from her boardinghouse, but police
Sgt. Bob Bums earlier called Puente a suspect
in the killing of all seven people buried in her
yard. None of the seven has been positively
identified.
The disappearance of Montoya, a mentally
disabled transient, led a counselor with Volun
teers of America to contact police, leading to
the diggings.
Police believe Puente killed tenants of her
eight-bedroom boardinghouse for their Social
Security benefits.
Puente hasacriminal record dating to a 1948
conviction for forging checks. She served 2 1/
2 years in state prison in the 1980s for drugging
and robbing three men she met in a Sacramento
bar.
Nebraskan
Editor Curt Wagner
- 472-1766
Managing Editor Diana Johnson
Assoc News Editors Jane Hirt
Lee Rood
Editorial
Page Editor Mike Reilley
Wire Editor Bob Nelson
Copy Desk Editor Chuck Green
Sports Editor Steve Sipple
Arts & Entertain
ment Editor Mlcki Haller
Diversions Editor Joeth Zucco
Graphics Editor Tim Hartmann
Photo Chief Eric Gregory
Asst Photo Chief David Fahleson
Night News Editor Amy Edwards
Asst. Night News
Editor/Librarian Anne Mohrl
Art Directors John Bruce
Andy Manhart
General Manager Dan Shattll
Production Manager Katherine Pollcky
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1988 DAILY
NEBRASKAN
w*
U.S., allies move to stop slide of dollar
WASHINGTON—The United
States and its major economic al
lies successfully intervened Thurs
day to halt a slide in the value of the
dollar, but economists predicted
that the Federal Reserve will be
forced to boost U.S. interest rates
in a further defense of the belea
guered U.S. greenback.
The coordinated intervention in
the currency markets by the United
States, Japan, West Germany,
England, France, Italy and Canada
was the most widespread dollar
rescue effort since last April, when
the markets were stampeded into a
dollar sell-off following a bad
monthly trade report.
Despite the success of
Thursday’s rescue effort, many
traders foresaw renew*} selling
pressure in the months jftpad be
cause of fears that PresflEm-elect
George Bush and the new Con
gress will be unable to reach agree
ment on ways to trim the budget
deficit
Investors are concerned that the
enlarged Democratic majorities in
Congress and Bush’s tough no-lax
stance guarantee further budgetary
gridlock.
For this reason, many econo
mists predicted the Federal Re
serve will be forced in coming
weeks to begin pushing interest
rates higher in the United States:
Some analysts said they would not
rule out an increase in the discount
rate, the interest the Fed charges to
make loans to member banks.
A boost in the discount rate is
the most dramatic signal the Fed
can send of its intention of driving
interest rates higher.
Higher interest rates make dol
lar-denominated investments
more attractive to foreigners and
help relieve the pressure to sell off
such assets. Higher interest rates
also dampen inflationary pressures
brought on by a weaker currency.
Intervention is the process by
which the Federal Reserve or other
countries’ central banks buy and
sell currencies in an attempt to
influence the market price.
The intervention Thursday was
begun by the Bank of Japan, which
s tarted buy i ng do l lars af tc r the U. S.
currency fell to near 40-year lows
in trading in Tokyo.
After the initial purchases by
the Bank of Japan, currency traders
reported that the central banks of
the major European allies of the
United States bought dollars, fol
lowed by buying by the U.S. cen
tral bank.
The concerted dollar-buying
helped to push the U.S. currency up
to 122.70 yen by midday in New
York trading. It had closed at
121.52 yen in Tokyo, down 2.02
yen from Wednesday’s close of
123.54 yen.
But traders said they doubted
the joint intervention effort would
have more than a temporary re
straining effect on the downward
pressure on the dollar.
“This will only provide tempo
rary relief,” said William Hand, a
trader at First Pennsylvania Bank
in Philadelphia. “The market
wants to see some concrete kind ol
plan on how the budget deficit is
going to be solved.”
Robert HormaLs, an economist
with Goldman, Sachs, predicted
that the currency markets and the
stock and bond markets would
continue to be in turmoil between
now and Bush’s inauguration on
Jan. 20.
‘‘1 think the market has confi
dence in the economic team Bush
is putting together, but the market
is impatient because the budget
and trade imbalances are so big,”
he said.
On Wednesday, Federal Re
serve Chairman Alan Greenspan
added the strongest voice yet to
calls for urgent action on the defi
cit, telling die National Economic
Commission that the deficit, which
climbed to $ 155.1 billion in the last
fiscal year, “already has begun to
eat away at the foundations of our
economic strength.”