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ij ^ \ ) ^ Associated Press Nebraskan 2 O. ^ ^ ^ Edited by Roger Price Tuesday, February 4,1992 Construction slows in 1991 Slow-down worst since 1940s WASHINGTON — Construction spending on homes, office buildings and other projects shrank 9.3 percent in 1991, the sharpest contraction since World War II, the government said Monday. •< The severe cutback was concen trated in the first half of the year and spending actually picked up in the past six months, though it was down again in November and December. Separately, a survey of 300corpo rate purchasing executives suggested that as the year began the rest of the economy remained sluggish and the manufacturing sector continued to decline. The National Association of Pur chasing Management said Monday its index of business activity was unchanged in January al47.4 percent. A reading of less than 50 percent suggests manufacturing is declining; a reading under 44.5 percent would indicate the overall economy was shrinking. The Commerce Department said residential, non-residential and gov emmcnt spending on construction totaled $404.9 billion last year. That was down from $446.4 billion in 1990 and marked the lowest level since 1985, when $377.4 billion was spent on apartments, factories and other private and government buildings. Last year’s decline also was the first since the recession year of 1982, when spending fell 4.0 percent. It was the steepest since spending plunged 36.6 percent in 1944. Economist David Berson of the Federal National Mortgage Associa tion said most of the decline occurred during the first half of the year. Con struction spending actually picked up at a 5.7 percent annual rate in the last six months, he said. Analysis attributed the collapse from January through June to the Persian Gulf War, the recession and a glut of already-built structures such as office buildings and shopping centers. Despite the slack economy and its effects on revenues, government spend ing edged up 0.5 percent last year to $ 109.2 billion, although it slipped 0.3 percent in December. Construction Spending Billions of dollars, seasonally adjusted 460 450 440 430 420 19*01«1 A M J J A S 0 N D Dec. ’90 Nov. ’91 Dec. *91 |421.3| |408.4| 1407.41 AP Economic refugees return to Haiti AP Nebraskan Editor Jana Pedersen 472-1766 Managing Editor Kara Walls Assoc. News Editors Chris Hoptanspargar Kris Karnopp Opinion Page Editor Alan Phelps Wire Editor Roger Price Copy Desk Editor Wandv Navratll Sports Editor Nick Hytrek Assistant Sports Editor Tom Clouse Arts & Entertain ment Editor Stacey McKenzie Diversions Editor Dionne Searcey Photo Chief Michelle Paulman Night News Editors Adeana Lettln John Adklsson Wendy Mott Tom Kunz Art Director Scott Maurer General Manager Dan Shaft II Production Manager Katherine Policky Publications Board Chairman Bill Vobejda 472- 2588 Professional Adviser Don Walton 473- 7301 FAX NUMBER 472-1761 The Dally Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Ne braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during summer sessions Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m. and 5 p m Monday through Friday The public also has access to the Publications Board For information, contact Bill Vobejda, 472-2588. Subscription price is $50 for one year Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448 Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1992 DAILY NEBRASKAN +■* \ PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The United States began its repatriation program for thousands of Haitian refugees Monday, turning over 381 people to Haitian authorities with SI 5 in their pockets and an uncertain fu ture. U.N. officials and human rights advocates warned that many of the 12,000 boat people in U.S. custody face death or intim idation at the hands of Haitian security forces if they re turn to their towns and villages. Officials at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba said those who relumed on two Coast Guard cutters Monday did so voluntarily, while others did not want to go back. Dozens in the first group said they had risked their lives fleeing in rick ety boats to get awily from Haiti’s poverty and not political persecution. The United Slates has denied asy lum to most intercepted Haitians, saying they were not political refu gees as U.S. law requires. The Su preme Court opened the way Friday for their repatriation by overturning a federal judge’s order that had blocked their return for months. “Had we been any other country, we would have had a chance,” Florence Comcau of the Haitian Affairs Com mittee in New York said Monday. “The Cubans can come in any time. The Cubans arc people, the Haitians are people, but one is light-skinned and the other is not.” In Washington, White House press secretary Marlin Filzwatcr said the repatriation was being monitored by U.S. Embassy officers as well as representatives of the Organization of American States and the Red Cross. “We have received no credible reports of reprisals against any indi vidual Haitians who attempted to reach the United States, including those who are repatriated after the coup” that toppled President Jcan-Bcrtrand Aris tide on Sept. 30, Filzwatcr said. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees issued a statement at its Geneva headquarters criticizing the repatriation, warning that many re turnees could “be exposed to dan gcr.” “Continuing reports of serious human rights abuses and violence by security forces since the overthrow of the democratically elected govern ment of Haiti arc cause for great concern,” it said. Scientist scans ax victims FALL RIVER, Mass. — Almost a century after Lizzie Borden was ac cused in the ax murders of her par ents, a forensics expert scanned their graves with radar Monday for clues in one of America’s most celebrated mysteries. Lizzie was acquitted in court but was convicted in verse: “Lizzie Bor den, with an ax, gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.” James E. Starrs used the ground penetrating radar to search the hill at Oak Grove Cemetery where Lizzie, her father, stepmother and sisters are buried. His first task was to find the parents’ skulls, which were removed from the bodies and displayed by the prosecutor in the trial. If the skulls arc there, Starrs hopes to win permission from a court and Bordens’ relatives to exhume them, hoping modem science might shed light on the ease. The radar found evidence of two burial sites where the skulls might lie, but Starrs said it will take at least a month to analyze the findings. Courts draw attention Noriega defense claims he was a U.S. ally MIAMI—Manuel Noriega was the United States’ closest ally in Latin American drug wars and served its political ends in Central America and the Grenada inva sion, his attorneys said Monday as they opened his defense. “At the end of this case you may wonder why General Noriega was ever in dicted,” attorney Jon May told jurors. The prosecution case in Nori ega’s 10-couni drug and racketeer ing trial ended in December, but the defense was delayed seven weeks after U.S. District Judge William Hocvcler underwent heart surgery. In a brief opening statement, May argued that Noriega could hardly have sold his nation to Co lombia’s Medellin cocaine cartel while at the same time identifying its couriers to the U.S. Drug En forcement Administration, raiding laboratories and sei/.ing cocaine refining chemicals. The ousted Panamanian leader ' even broke his own nation’s bank ing secrecy laws to help the United States in major drug cash investi gations, one of which led to the arrest of the Medellin cartel’s top money laundcrer, he said. “The level and quality of the cooperation given by General Noriega to the United States was unprecedented among the leaders of Central and South America,” said May. The defense took direct aim at two key prosecution issues — an alleged S5 million bribe the cartel offered Noriega to protect its co caine chemicals, and a July 1984 meeting with Cuba’s Fidel Castro. Prosecutors said the Castro meet ing was to smooth out a dispute with the cartel after Noriega raided a Panamanian drug lab. May said the defense would show the $5 million bribe attempt was reported to the DEA when it was discovered. If convicted on all 10 counts, Noriega could be sentenced to 140 years in prison. He has been jailed since he surrendered to U.S. forces following the December 1989 in vasion of Panama. Experts testify about Dahmer’s insanity, say he couldn’t control his urge for sex MILWAUKEE — Jeffrey Dahmer had uncontrollable urges to kill and have sex with dead bodies, and planned to create a temple made of his victims’ body parts, a psychiatrist tes tified Monday in the serial killer’s insanity trial. “He planned to preserve entire bodies, but he did not do that. He saved the bones. He bought an aquarium that was going to house a head in the middle,” said Dr. Fred Berlin, a defense witness who spe cializes in sexual disorders. “He even sketched il out” Dahmer told Berlin during inter views that he planned to devote the temple “cither to the devil or to himself,” Berlin said. Dahmer, 31, couldn’t control his urge to have sex with corpses, but he knew right from wrong, Berlin testified. “I would think if a policeman were standing there watching him that he would be able... to control his behavior,” Berlin said. “The real issue is, when there isn’t any one else present to help him con trol his behavior. . . can he then apply his own willpower to stop.” Victim’s friend testifies against Tyson INDIANAPOLIS—A teen-age beauty contestant blurted out, “ ‘He raped me!’” and looked as if “something had taken her soul away,” another pageant participant testified Mon day in boxer Mike Tyson’s trial. “She said she felt so stu pid. She just wouldn’t stop talking,” Stacy Murphy told the Marion Superior Court jury. “I just wanted to comfort her. I didn’t know what to do. 1 knew she needed help, and I knew I couldn’t help her.” The prosecution neared the end of its case as the trial entered its second week. Tyson, 25, is charged with rape, confinement and criminal deviate conduct. If convicted, he faces up to 63 years in prison. The defense maintains that the woman consented to sex and has implied lhal the former heavyweight boxing cham pion will testify. In six hours of testimony last week, Tyson’s accuser said he pinned her on a bed July 19, stripped her, raped her and laughed while she cried in pain and begged him to stop. Murphy said she and the 18 year-old woman became friends during the Miss Black America pageant and joked about how nei ther had any rhythm during dance rehearsals. At rehearsal on July 19, how ever, Murphy said the woman seemed preoccupied and told her about being raped. “I asked her what was wrong with her, and she turned around and looked at me,” Murphy said. “People say a look says so much - this look said it all. She didn’t even look like herself. She was like a zombie, like someth ing had taken her soul away.” Senate subpoenas reporters who revealed Anita Hill’s allegations WASHINGTON — Two report ers were subpoenaed Monday by a Senate special counsel investigating leaks of sexual harassment allega tions against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The subpoenas seek personal ap pearances this month by Timothy Phelps of Newsday and Nina Toten berg of National Public Radio, law yers for the journalists said. The special counsel, New York lawyer Peter E. Fleming Jr,, subpoe naed Newsday, NPR and William Buzcnbcrg, the public radio network’s vice president for news and informa tion. Phelps and Totenberg were the first to report allegations by Anita Hill that Thomas had sexually har assed her. The stories led to televised Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, at which Hill, now a University of Oklahoma law professor, described the alleged harassment in sexually explicit terms. Thomas vehemently denied ever sexually harassing Hill and shortly afterwards was confirmed to the high court. Lawyers for the reporters and their organizations said the subpoenas tread on the First Amendment’s protec tions of a journalist’s right to gather news and protect confidential sources. Floyd Abrams, representing Toten berg, Buzenberg and NPR, said Buz.cn berg will appear Feb. 18 as requested and Totenberg on Feb. 25 to answer questions from Fleming. Abrams said they will not tell him what he wants to know. “This seems to me the beginning of an unnecessary, futile and uncon scionable effort to force Nina to break her word to her sources,” Abrams said. “That she will not do.” Abrams said the subpoenas were issued “in stark violation of the First Amendment. The idea of an appointee of the Senate requiring a journalist to break a word to her confidential source is inconsistent with the most basic First Amendment principles.” Theodore Olson, lawyer for Phelps and Newsday, said no decision has been made on whether the journalist or anyone else from the New York newspaper will appear as directed on Feb. 13.