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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1992)
News Digest A ^ W Tlr ^ ^ ^ Edited by Alan Phelps Bloodied Los Angeles prays for peace LOS ANGELES — The City of Angels prayed for peace under armed guard at church services Sunday in riot-tom areas, and the death toll rose to 45, making the three-day rampage the nation’s bloodiest civil unrest in 75 years. Gunshots fired at a police car near one church punctuated the tension. As services at the Greater Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in South Central Los Angeles were ending, the pastor asked the congregation to remain inside while police investigated. “We’d like it to be over,” said Willie Tagger, 54, an aircraft me chanic. “I don’t think it will end until Chief (Daryl) Gates is gone and the four police officers arc gone. How can we heal if the problem is still there? We can never forget it.” In the midst of the devastation, chimes rang out from the modem bell tower at St. Brigid’sCalholic Church, a predominantly black and Hispanic church that the pastor said had been preparing for racial unrest for years. “Everything’s been going against the black community. The ghettos have been getting worse and worse with drugs, gangs and alcohol,” said the Rev. Paul Band, a white Josephitc priest. The mood appeared more relaxed Sunday in most of the city. Troops in Koreatown were smiling and in some places posted without weapons or helmets. One pair of National Guardsmen danced to the loud music of a car radio at a traffic light. Police, guards men and H igh way Patrol officers look snapshots of one another with burned buildings as backdrops. City officials made plans to cope with the return of commuters Mon day as Los Angeles recovers from last week’s mayhem, sparked by the ac quittals Wednesday of four white policemen who had been videotaped beating Rodney King. Dusk-to-dawn curfews were to remain in place Sunday night in at least 25 cities in the Los Angeles basin. But Mayor Tom Bradley said the restriction would be lifted in Los Angeles on Monday morning. “The lifting of the curfew is an expression of our confidence that with the law enforcement and military presence we have in place, we can quell any disturbance that might oc cur,” Bradley said at a noon news conference Sunday. Restrictions on city bus service through South Central Los Angeles were lifted Sunday, the first lime public transportation was available to the riot area since Wednesday. At least 45 people were killed, including three people added to the loll by the coroner’s office Sunday. An additional 2,116 were injured. The death loll surpassed the 43 from the 1967 Detroit riots, which had been the bloodiest U.S. urban uprising in modem limes. In 1917, race riots in East Sl Louis, 111., claimed 48 lives. Hundreds of people were injured. Damage estimates in South ern California reached $550 million. In Koreatown, a target of rioters, the message from pulpits was to for give. “We cannot escape this kind of difficulty, this kind of danger. But we have to fight itwilh Christian justice and Christian faith,” the Rev. Jang Kyun told the Central Evangelical Church congregation. “We have to forgive those who have been violent and pray for them. We have to use this tragedy as a chance for renewal,” he said. Riot victims’ families lament losses LOS ANGELES — Edward Song Lee charged out to save his neighborhood. Howard Epstein flew in to protect his business, and Elbert Wilkins stopped to buy a soda. And that’s why they died. The ages, backgrounds and life styles of the riot victims were as varied as the stories of their deaths. They were mostly black and His panic. At least six were white; two, Asian. Most died from gunshots but a few from fire, stabbing, and stran gulation, miles apart, in violence that began Wednesday after four white policemen were acquitted in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. Coroner’s spokesman Bob Dambacher said he doubted inves tigators would ever know much about some of the victims — those who lived almost anonymously and died the same way. At least seven were looting and committing other crimes when they were shot by police, making their relatives reluctant to talk, authori ties said. Telephones at several homes went unanswered. The path to death for Lee, 18, began when he ignored his parents pleas to stay inside Thursday and joined friends in protecting his neighborhood, known as Korea town. “He told his parents, 'The Ko rean people need my help and the Korean community needs my help,’” said his uncle, Don Park, 34. Lee was not a gang member, Park said. _ (t Maybe, this whole thing (the King beat ing case verdict) put a little more hate in eve rybody’s mind. Hell, maybe somebody just decided, ‘Now I can shoot anybody I want to shoot,’ and they went out and shot my boy. Joseph Wilkins father of victim -»t Lee, who was unarmed when he left home, was shot in the head when caught in crossfire between police and others. His uncle said Lee graduated from high school with good grades and was planning to visit Korea this summer, then enroll in a Los Angeles university next semester to become a dentist. “He was a very good kid,” Park said. “He never got into trouble.” Epstein, a 49-ycar-old white man who lived in the Northern Califor nia city of Orinda, flew Thursday to Los Angeles to help protect his metal-stamping machine shop and its employees in South Los Ange les. “We all had a bad feeling about his going,” said Epstein’s nephew, Jeff Grind. Epstein was shot by three men as he was driving from the airport, police said. After his car came to a stop against a parked car, looters ransacked it. “It’s absolutely horrible,” Grind said. “You just don’t understand why.” Epstein was bom in Los Ange les and moved north about 10 years ago to escape the violence, his nephew said. Epstein and his wife, Stephanie, have two daughters, Jillian, 8 months, and Lauren, 7. Elbert Ondra Wilkins, a 33-ycar old black and self-employed auto stereo installer, had no enemies but found himself in the wrong place at the worst time. Wilkins was blocks away from any looting when he stepped out of a store after buying a soda and was shot by a gunman passing in a car Wednesday, police said. “Maybe, this whole thing (the King beating case verdict) pul a little more hate in everybody’s mind. Hell, maybe somebody just decided, ' Now I can shoolanybody I want to shoot,’ and they went out and shot my boy,” said his father, Joseph Wilkins, a retired county mainte nance worker. One of five children, Elbert Wilkins grew up in South Central Los Angeles. As a teen-ager, he and his father restored a van. That ; fascination with cars led the younger Wilkins into his own business of installing stereos and car alarms. Wilkins and his girlfriend, j Tomika Brown, recently had a child. Friends said he was never happier. 25 % OFF ENTIRE NEBRASKA COLLECTION t Sale prices effective through 5/8/92 Look for this tag on tank tops, shorts, t-shirts & sweat shirts Former Afghan officials nabbed, shot despite rebels’ promises of amnesty KABUL, Afghanistan — A judge who headed the ousted Communist government’s secret police court was murdered, and a more moder ate member of the old administration has been kidnapped, the government and diplomatic sources said Sunday. “It’s difficult for any government to control these personal vendettas, but we arc trying,” said Hamid Kar/ai, a spokesman for the rebel interim government. The incident heightened fears that the city could become the scene of bloody reprisals despite promises of amnesty for former government officials. Officials of the interim government reported the murder of Abdul Karim Shardan, a former Supreme Court chief justice under ousted Presi dent Najibullah. Shardan once headed a secret ■ 1 .. 'i police court that human rights groups say sent thousands to prison for opposing a series of Soviet-installed regimes. Shardan, 55, disappeared from his home in the suburb of Khair Khana on Saturday and his body was found late Saturday or early Sunday on the lawn, said the sources. They said the body had been riddled with bullets and there were signs of torture. Later, Wadir Safi, the former regime’s civil aviation minister, was abducted at gunpoint from his home, they said. The rebel government has promised am nesty toall former government officials except Najibullah, but it may be unable to control all of the various rebel factions in the country. Net?raskan Editor Chris Hopfensperger 472-1766 Managing Editor Kris Karnopp Assoc News Editor/ Wendy Navratll Writing Coach Assoc. News Editor Adeana Laftln Opinion Page Editor Dionne Seercey Wire Editor Alan Phelps Copy Desk Chief Kara Wells sports Editor John Adklsaon Arts & Entertainment Editor Shannon Uehllng Diversions Editor Mark Baldridge Photo Chief William Lauer Night News Editors Kathy Steinauer Mike Lewis Kim Spurlock Kara Morrison Art Director Scott Maurer Cartoonist Brian Shelllto General Manager Dan Shattll Production Manager Katherine Pollcky Advertising Manager Todd Sears Publications Board Chairman Bill Vobe|da, 472-2588 Professional Adviser Don Walton, 473-7301 FAX NUMBER 472-1781 The Dally Nebraskan(USPS 144 080) is published by the UNL Publications Board. Nebraska Union 34.1400 R St., Lincoln, NE. Monday through Friday during the aca demic year, weekly during summer sessions Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Dally Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9a.m. and 5p.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 Ne braskan, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St ,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1992 DAILY NEBRASKAN Protest spotlight moves off Buffalo BUFFALO, N.Y. — Abortion rights sup porters threw a parly and anti-abortion activists prayed as the Spring of Life anti-abortion campaign wound down Sunday, a day after the effort’s official end. Most national leaders on both sides of the issue left the city Saturday, leaving local lead ers to claim victory in the two-week show down. “We’d like to thank all the groups in the community who were active in defeating the Spring of Life from closing down the clinics,” Kris Smith of the Pro-Choice Network of Western New York said at a thank-you party. Anti-abortion activists said they weren’t defeated. “Clinics closed or opened doesn’t mean anything, as long as people are not in there being killed,” said the Rev. Jimmy Hunter of the Western New York Pro-Life Rescue Movement. “Keep them open, just don’t kill 30 to 35 babies (a week) like they were doing before, Hunter said before a prayer service at a subur ban church. The two-week Spring of Life brought the national debate on abortion to New York s second-largest city and led to 615 arrests; 597 anti-abortion activists who blocked clinic en trances, and 18 on the side of abortion rights.
