The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, April 17, 1991, Page 2, Image 2

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Railroads, unions expect strike soon]
WASHINGTON - Freight railroads
and their unions bargained against a
midnight deadline Tuesday, with little
hope of averting a coast-to-coast strike
that could strand rail passengers and
stop the flow of one-third of the na
tion’s goods.
The strike, the first nationwide
walkout since 1982, could idle 235,000
freight workers and perhaps a half
million other Americans with non
rail jobs.
“Nothing has changed. We’re still
meeting, negotiating, and I suppose
growing a bit more pessimistic that
this is not going to be averted,’’ said
Dan Lang, a spokesman for the Asso
ciation of American Railroads.
As the hours wound toward the
deadline, Larry McFathcr, president
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, said “we feel we have no
choice” but to strike. “Our people
have been cut to the bone.”
Presidential spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater said the Bush administra
tion was prepared to work with Con
gress on speedy legislation “to im
pose a settlement and end the strike.”
House Speaker Thomas Foley said
there would be no action before a
strike began. But congressional lead
ers, meeting behind closed doors, said
that if a walkout occurred, they would
hurry legislation to resolve the dis
pute.
State railroaders prepare
OMAHA - About 10,000 rail
way union workers in Nebraska
prepared to picket over wages and
benefits as a national railway strike
appeared imminent Tuesday.
“I anticipate the (picket) signs
in storage for a number of years
will be taken out,” said Ray Lin
eweber, Nebraska state legislative
director for the United Transporta
tion Union.
Freight railroads and their un
ions said Tuesday they were dead
locked after an all-night bargain
ing session.
Omaha-based Union Pacific
Railroad will be completely shut
down in the event of a strike and
will lose S4 million in the first day,
railroad spokesman John Bromley
said.
Lost revenue, overtime for non
striking workers and other costs
would make it too difficult to esti
mate the losses beyond the first
day, he said.
Gorbachev woos Japanese officials
TOKYO - Soviet President Mikhail
Gorbachev devoted his first day in
Japan Tuesday to chipping away at
the the mutual animosity that has kept
Tokyo from sharing its immense wealth
with its impoverished neighbor.
Briefly leaving behind economic
and political woes to become the first
Soviet leader to travel to Japan, Gor
bachev set out to woo the Japanese as
he has done with Americans and
Europeans.
He spent the day meeting with
Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, cheer
fully chatting with Emperor Akihito
and shaking hands with Tokyo resi
dents.
“It is time to do everything so that
our peoples ... will never again drift
into the disaster of enmity,” Gor
bachev said at a nationally televised
court banquet Tuesday night. “On the
threshold of a new century and mil
lennium, wc must lake from the past
only that which brings us together
and enriches both sides.”
He was referring to the huge task
of healing the wounds left from World
War II, when the Soviets seized four
islands off Japan’s northern coast and
tens of thousands of Japanese prison
ers of war died in Siberian camps.
In his banquet toast, Gorbachev
offered condolences to the familiesof
the Japanese prisoners who perished,
but stopped short of a formal apol
ogy. He is expected to give the Japa
nese a list of the dead before he leaves
Friday.
That follows the tone of reconcili
ation he set Monday in the Siberian
city of Khabarovsk, where he visited
the graves of Japanese who died while
being held prisoner.
The territorial dispute remains a
formidable obstacle. Japan demands
return of all four islands — known to
Soviets as the Kuril Islands and to
Japanese as the Northern Territories
— before it will sign a treaty formally
ending World War II hostilities with
the Soviets, thereby clearing the way
for aid.
Gorbachev faces strong opposi
tion at home to any territorial conces
sions.
Half of his three-hour summit
meeting with Kaifu, which was de
scribed by a Japanese official as a
“frank exchange of views,” was
devoted to the dispute, and the lead
ers agreed not to divulge any details
until after further talks.
The official, who spoke on condi
tion of anonymity, said Japanese
economic aid was not discussed.
In the meeting, Gorbachev said
Soviet relations were advancing with
nations throughout the West and that
bilateral ties with Tokyo “must be
improved substantially, another
Japanese official said. The official
also spoke on condition of anonym
ity.
In some areas, Soviet-Japanese
relations are frozen and in other areas
“life can hardly be seen,” Gorbachev |
spokesman Viltaly Ignatenko quoted
the Soviet leader as saying.
The Soviet president and his wife,
Raisa, did their best Tuesday to warm
up relations.
An invitation from Gorbachev for
Kaifu to visit Moscow was immedi
ately accepted, and the two leaders
were shown frequently on television
smiling, shaking hands and sharing
laughs.
In what has become a signature
gesture, Gorbachev stopped his mo
torcade and shook hands with some
of the 200 bystanders who crowded
near his bullet-proof Zil limousine.
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High court limits appeals
for inmates on death row
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on
Tuesday narrowed the right of death row in
mates to make repeated appeals in federal
court, a ruling that could hasten many execu
tions.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the
court, said the 6-3 decision in a Georgia case
should curtail abuses dial contribute to an average
gap of nearly nine years between convictions
and executions in capital punishment cases.
“Perpetual disrespect for the finality of
convictions disparages the entire criminal jus
tice system,” Kennedy said.
The three dissenters accused the court of
substituting its own rules for those of Congress
to cut back drastically on the rights of criminal
McDonald’s plans
to cut its garbage
WASHINGTON - McDonald’s Corp. an
nounced on Tuesday a plan aimed al eliminat
ing 80 percent or more of the garbage created
by its 8,500 fast-food restaurants across the
nation.
The initiatives include the use of brown
bags made of recycled paper, smaller paper
napkins, recycling of behind-the-counter card
board boxes, and the elimination of plastic
cutlery wrappers where allowed by local health
codes. And the company is trying out reusable
coffee mugs, reusable coffee fillers, and pump
style bulk condiment dispensers.
McDonald’s, the world’s largest food serv
ice organization, said also it is looking into
replacing the plastic forks, spoons and knives
with starch-based cutlery that could be com
posted. It also plans large-scale, soil-enriching
composting of food and paper wastes on an
experimental basis.
Parts of the plan already have been put
implemented, such as the switch last fall from
polystyrene sandwich boxes to a thin-layered
wrap. Before the changes were begun,
McDonald’s outlets sent 2 million pounds of
garbage per day to incinerators and landfills in
the United States.
defendants without even acknowledging the
change.
In the case, the court dismissed arguments
by Warren McClcskey that Georgia officials
violated his rights by using a fellow inmate to
elicit McCleskey’s confession to the 1978 slay
ing of an Atlanta police officer.
Kennedy said McCleskey’s failure to raise
the issue during an initial federal court appeal
in 1981 disqualified him from raising it in
subsequent appeals. I
McCleskey’s murder conviction was over* |
turned in 1989 by a federal judge who said
Georgia officials had violated his rights by k
making a deal with another inmate, Offie Evans,
to obtain a confession from McClcskey.
Nebraskan j
Editor Eric Planner
472-1766
Managing Editor Victoria Ayotte g
Assoc News Editors Jana Pedersen
Emily Rosenbaum
Editorial Page Editor Bob Nelson
Wire Editor Jennifer 0'Cllka
Copy Desk Editor Diane Brayton
Sports Editor Paul Do malar
Night News Editors Pat Dlnslage
Kara Walls
Cindy Wostral
Art Director Brian Shetllto
General Manager Dan Shattii
Production Manager Katherine Pollcky
Advertising Manager Loren Malrose
Sales Manager Todd Bears
Publications Board
Chairman Bill Vobe|da
436-9993
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473-7301
The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is published by
the UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R
St., Lincoln, NE, Monday through Friday during the
acadomlc year, weekly during summer sessions.
Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and
comments to the Dally Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763
between 9 am. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The
public also has access to the Publications Board. For
information, contact Bill Vobejda, 436 9993
Subscription price is $45 for one year
Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Ne
braskan, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St .LIncoln, NE
68588-0448 Second class postage paid at Lincoln, NE
ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT
1991 DAILY NEBRASKAN
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