• '
*
By the
Associated Press
Edited by Victoria Ayotte
E. Germans make triumphant exodus West
HOF, West Germany - Thousands of East
Germans arrived to a triumphal welcome in
West Germany on Sunday after their govern
ment agreed to let them flee to the West, the
latest chapter in a historic exodus from ah
increasingly splintered Soviet bloc.
"We made it, we made it," screamed one
tearful young woman after arriving in this
northern Bavarian city at dawn.
"We hnd no future there,” said 34-year-old
Uwe Kuestar of Cottbus.
About6,000refugees either arrived or were
on their way from Czechoslovakia, border
police said, and another 800 arrived from Po
land.
The refugees had holed themselves up
weeks ago in the West German embassies in
Warsaw and Prague after they were unable to
reach Hungary v a liberal Warsaw Pact nation
that had opened its western border to the East
Germans last month.
Many of those arriving here had tears of joy
‘ heir faces. Others cheered and
d Warsaw, East Germans who
heard wow! of the exodus raced to railroad
stations, some arriving in time to jump on
board the trains. West German news recoils
and witnesses said more East Germans were
rushing in their cars toward Czechoslovakia
and at least 200 were once again filling the
embassy in Prague.
The new arrivals follow the more than
24,000 East Germans who have fled through
Hungary since Sept 10, when the reform
minded Communist government in Budapest
* decided to open its border.
Hard-line East Germany reluctantly agreed
to the exodus and trains began shuttling refu
gees from Prague on late Saturday night,
iriuns from Poland arrived on Sunday.
The East German govemmem insisted the
refugees from Prague and Warsaw had been
“expelled.”
As part of the agreement with West Ger
many announced Saturday night the East
Germans had to travel in state-run trains back
through their former Communist homeland as
a face-saving measure for the government.
Hard-line Czechoslovakia had vowed that it
would not allow the refugees to leave for the
West from Czechoslovakia.
Still, the action represented an embarrass
ing retreat for the aging leadership in Ead
Berlin, which had severely criticized Hun
gary's action.
The once- unthinkable exodus of East Ger
mans reflects dramatic changes in the East bloc
and a growing disunity among its member
states.
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the
galvanizingforce for reforms sweeping much
of Eastern Europe, will visit East Benin this
week for celebrations of East Germany’s 4Qefc
anniversary. His talks with East German leader
Erich Honecker are expected to deal with the
exodus of young people, which has threatened
the nation's already demoralized work force.
“I hope that Gorbachev, during his talks
with the leaders of (East Germany) will try to
convince them thayx>litical reforms are also in
the interest of the German Democratic Repub
lic,” said West German Foreign Minister
Hans Dietrich Genscher, who engineered the
exodus.
In Prague, police initially surrounded the
West German embassy to block newly arrived
East Germans from scaling a spiked fence into
the muddy grounds. But the embassy later
again began letting East Germans back into the
embassy.
Bavarian border police spokesman Klaus
Pappenfuss said six trains were bringing the
more than 6,000 refugees from Prague during
the course of the day.
Well-wishers handed out bottles of wine, ,
champagne and fruit as the East Germans dis
embarked in Hof. Red Cross volunteers distrib
uted hot tea, noodle soup, baby food and dia
pers to the refugee families.
* Several former East Germans, who had fled
earlier to the West from Hungary, carried a
banner that restd:
“We got out through Hungary and you
made it through Prague. Soon the zone (East
Germany) will be an empty coffin.”
The cast Germans were taken immediately
to several refugee processing centers and tem
porary shelters set up by border police and the
military, officials said.
West German law automatically grants East
Germans citizenship an arrival. More than
100,000 East Germans have emigrated or fled
to West Germany this year.
Americans report drugs
not big problem locally
NEW YORK - Nearly one-third
of American adults know someone
who uses cocaine, but most say drug
abuse is not a serious problem in their
own neighborhoods, a poll has found.
While President George Bush
pursues a multibittion-doUar war on
illegal drags, saying they are “sap
ping our strength as a nation,” just 14
percent in the survey called the prob
lem “very serious where they live.
Bjg-city dwellers were the most
concerned about drags in their neigh-.
borhoods, with half saying illegal
drugs pored a “very” dr “some
what” serious problem where they
live, as opposed to “not too” or “not
at all” serious.
In the nation as a whole, four in 10
sated drugs a serious local problem
and nearly six in 10 did not
To stop the flow of drugs into this
country, eight in 10 respondents said
Bush should order the military to
patrol the borders for smugglers. But
a minority of 43 percent said he
should order military strikes against
illegal drag operations in foreign
countries.
Sixty-one percent in the Media
General-Associated Press poll identi
fied drug abuse as the nation’s great
est problem overall, a level that has
risen steadily in opinion polls as the
issue drew increasing political and
media attention.
Among that majority, barely more
than a third expected ore problem to
lessen in the next decade. And re
spondents split sharply on whether
die best line of attack is drug
producers, dealers or users.
Majorities came together, though,
m opposing some priorities of Bush’s
program. While most of its funds are
for law enforcement, for example, 60
percent said treating drug users will
accomplish more than punishing
diem.
Moreover, a 51 percent majority
said budding more federal prison
cells for drug offenders - as Bush has
proposed - will fail (6 reduce drug
abuse. Drug treatment and education
were seen by far more people as ef
fective.
Despite those differences, nearly
three-quarters of the 1,071 respon
dents were convinced that the Bush
administration is making a serious
effort And two-thirds said the federal
government cm reduce dtag abuse
significantly.
Respondents were split on
whether Bush’s $7.9 billion plan
spends enough money, too little or
too much. About half wanted anti
drug money taken from other pro
grams, while a third favored raising
taxes. The rest were unsure.
Though taxes were not popular
generally, three-quarters supported
raising cigarette or alcoholic bever
age taxes to pay for a bigger drug
program, and seven in 10 supported a
1 percent increase in corporate in
come taxes.
Another funding scheme had less
support By 53-43 percent, respon
dents opposed a 1 pocrcrt increase in
personal income taxre
The poll, conducted Sept 14-24,
had a margin of error of plus or minus
3 percentage points.
- - -- -■ - — - -- - -
Survey gives curious answers
" .WASHINGTON - DO you put
oo bothsocks and then both shoes,
or put n sock and shoe on one foot
and than the other?
How often do you weigh your
self?
WtSt0 visiting a friend’s hotgp
and the dower curtain is closedr
do you look behind it?
while the better-known poll
sters are asking Americans their
political preferences or their
thoughts on the great issues of the
worlds a couple of New Yorkers
are raising questions that inquiring
minds really want answered.
“We’ve always been compul
sive, obsessive collectors of odd
tidbits of information. How many
people wear torn underwear under
their expensive clothes? How
many unmatched socks lie lonely
in dresser drawers?” explain Mel
• Poertz and Barry S inrod in their
new book.
Under the modest tide - “The
Fust Really Important Survey of
American Habits” - Porcu and
S inrod have compiled the answers
to the questions that have been
burning holes in their curiosity.
They found, few example, that
19 percent of Americans put both
the sock and shoe on one foot first,
then the ocher, as opposed to the
■
ana tneniMuraues; r-rtttrr:
How do they know these
tilings? They asked.
More precisely, they polled ^
little more than 2,000 people
across the country. Sinrod and
Poretz, who are involved in mar
keting and polling, say their survey
represents the tastes and habits of
89 percent of Americans aged 21
and over. However, details like
margins of error that are popular
with the more serious surveys were
not reported.
“All locals are statistically cor
rect and can be verified, trust us,”
Poretz and Sinrod say.
After making that leap of faith,
readers will leant that:
• Only 7 percent of Americans
admit looking behind a closed
shower curiam when visiting a
friends home
• 37 percent of Americans
never weigh themselves. Some 41
percent of women and 37 percent
of men said they never steD on the
scales,
• 67 percent of Americans say
ttMp'speM less time in the bath
room than their mate does. The
figure was the same for both sexes.
9 38 percent of the people re
sponding say they dean their belly
button every day; 20 percent say
they never do so.
• 80 percent eat com on the cob
by going around the ear in the
circle; 20 percent nibble from side
to-side. like a typewriter.
• 61 percent say they would
wear torn underwear, 39 percent
would not Men were slightly mote
willing to wear the tom item at 68 -
percent Only 57 percent of the
women said they would. There was
this further breakdown: 74 percent
of white-collar workers said they
would wear tom underwear, while
only 48 percent of blue collar
workers would.
I r* ** TWiy *T^ IB
Edhor Amy Edwards Photo Chief
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Lebanese dispute Syria’s role in their country
• * 1 un n 0
TAIF, Saudi Arabia - Lebanese
lawmakers clashed Sunday over the
presence of Syrian troops in their
country and Christian leader Gen.
Michel Aoun demanded a timetable
for their pullout before agreeing to
peace.
In BeiniL where Aoun made his
comments, Christian forces and Syr-'
ian-backed Druse militiamen battled
for IS mmoles around the mountain
garrison of Souk al-Gharb, testing a
fragile cease-fire. No casualties were
reported.
Sources at the mooting .reported a .
stormy session Sunday as the 63
members of Parliament — 33 Chris
tians and 30 Moslems * gathered for
a second day in their bid to end the 14
year-old civil war and address an
Arab League peace plan.
The session was dominated by
disagreements between Christians
and Moslem* over what Syria's role
in Lebanon should be. said the
sources, who qpofce pa conditio* of
anonymity.
Supporters of Aoun, a Maronite
Catholic, say they will not agree to
give Moslems a greater share of po
litical power until there is a timetable
for a pullout of the estimated 40,000
Syrian troops in Lebanon.
Syrian-backed Moslem leaders
support a continuing role for Syria to
protect their position and help guar
antee a settlement of Lebanon ’f civil
war.
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