News Digest
Jubilant E. Germans cross freely to West
BERLIN -* East Germany opened the Ber
lin Wall and its other borders Thursday as its
cheering citizens crossed freely to the West for
the first time since 1961.
Late Thursday and early today, exultant
East Germans coursed through Berlin Wall
checkpoints and others entered West Germany
at other border crossings. Jubilant people
pranced and danced atop the Berlin Wall, a
sight unthinkable only hours earlier.
Near Brandenburg Gate, East Germans
raced through streams of police water cannons
and were pulled up the wall by the young West
Germans atop it. Some Germans used ham
mers to chip away at the barrier for keepsakes
or in their own small way try to destroy the
infamous symbol of East-West division.
About 100 East Berliners at the Bran
denburg Gate chanted: “Open the gate! Open
the gate!”
Hundreds of West Berliners took advantage
of the newly opened borders during the cami
val-like atmosphere to head in the opposite
direction and catch a glimpse of the other side
of the divided city.
“What joy! This is the best thing that hap
pened in 100 years!” yelled a West Berlin man
as he crossed into what had once been forbid
den territory.
President George Bush said if East Ger
many makes good on its promise to allow free
emigration, “this wall built in ’61 will have
very little relevance.”
Hundreds were seen on the Friedrichstrasse
subway to West Berlin, and East Germans also
were allowed for the first time at Checkpoint
Charlie, the famed Friedrichstrasse crossing
run by the Allied military.
Many hugged and kissed total strangers,
while cars packed with East Germans and
others paraded down the streets of West Berlin
in a carnival-like atmosphere. .
“It’s crazy! It’s crazy!” yelled one young
man as he sat in the back scat of a car with his
parents after a brief trip through the oncc
impcnctrablc Berlin Wall.
His parents said they just wanted to sec the
West - and then drive back. They declined to
give their names.
“We heard it on TV, we just decided to go
over and have a look,” said the young man’s
father. “We want to show our son a little bit of
Kurfuerstendamm.”
The Kurfuerstendamm is one of Europe’s
most elegant shopping strips. For decades, East
Germans locked up behind the now-crumbling
Iron Curtain could only dream of seeing it
All apparently were arriving without visas,
although visas technically were necessary
under regulations announced earlier in the day.
A spokesman for the West German border
police in Braunschweig said the East Germans
had been allowed over the border there without
visas.
West German leaders hailed the decision.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl, on an official visit to
Poland, said: “We will be in contact with the
East German leadership shortly after my return
and I would like to meet very soon with Mr.
Krcn/..“
New Communist leader Egon Kren/. also
urged a law ensuring free and democratic elec
lions in a desperate attempt to gain control of
his country.
More than 200,000 East Germans have fled
West so far this year; more than 50.000 have
left since Saturday alone. Hundreds of thou
sands of people have taken to the streets to
demand democratic reforms and the end of 40
years of one-party rule.
Those who want to emigrate can go to West
Germany directly without having to go through
a third country, Schabowski said.
Lawmakers discuss expanding
The Legislature's first floor
fight was more of a protracted dis
cussion Thursday on the merits of
expanding the call of the current
special session to further solve
some of the myriad problems with
the state’s personal property tax
system.
State Sen. Jim McFarland said
to support the bills offered by Orr
would “merely perpetuate the
deceit and misrepresentation" by
the administration, on the personal
property tax issue.
He cited the 1987 tax increase
and the lack of community consent
on the siting of a low-level radio
active waste dump as similar
“deceptions” from die admini
stration.
Seven senators spoke in support
of the resolution and two against it
before McFarland asked that it be
withdrawn.
McFarland’s move to petition
33 senators to call a special session
is progressing. Secretary of Stale
Allen Beermann is polling the 49
lawmakers who have until Mon
day to respond.
The Legislature’s Executive
Board referred eight of the nine
bills to the Revenue Committee for
a public hearing today.
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Nicaragua plans to meet Contra demands
UNITED NATIONS - Nicara
gua’s foreign minister said Thursday
his government will meet Contra
demands for a truce and amnesty if
the rebels agree to begin disbanding
by the end of the month.
The U.S .-backed Contras and
Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista gov
ernment began their first direct talks
in more than a year Thursday in an
effort to end an 8-year-old war that
has taken an estimated 12,000 lives.
U.N. 'Secretary-General Javier
Perez de Cuellar and his Organiza
tion of American States counterpart,
Joao Clemente Baena Soares, opened
the meeting, then turned the media
tion effort over to aides.
Foreign Minister Miguel d’Escoto
of Nicaragua said before the meeting
the key Contra demands would be
met if demobilization began by the
end of November.
The Contras insist on resumption
of the cease-fire President Daniel
Ortega ended last week, a general
amnesty and a visit by a Contra dele
gation to Nicaragua to make sure it is
safe for the rebels to return.
“They say they require three
things; the three things are met by
what we are offering’ d ’Escoto said,
waving a copy of the Sandinista pro
posals.
NetSraskan
Editor Amy Edwards Photo Chief Eric Gregory
472-1766 Night News Editors Eric Planner
Managing Editor Jane Hlri Darcle Wlegeri
Sower Editor Lee Rood Professional Adviser Don Walton
Supplements Editor Chris Carroll 473-7301
Graphics Editor John Bruce
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