The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, November 12, 1992, Page 2, Image 2

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    223—~ NFWS dtgfst
Edited by Alan Phelps X 1 M J f f I V IV IJ_X
Clinton, courts could crack military homosexual ban
WASHINGTON — As president,
Bill Clinton will be forced to deal
with one of the most difficult issues
affecting the military in decades —
the Pentagon’s 50-year ban on homo
sexuals and his promise to end it.
Clinton has not said when or how
such a policy change would be insti
- tuted. And few inside the Pentagon
have begun to prepare the military’s
1.8 million members for such a major
change, officials say.
But Lawrence Korb, Pentagon per
sonnel chief during the Reagan ad
ministration, predicted, “Even if he
doesn’t act — which he could by
signing an executive order — the
President, Gore
honor veterans
at Vietnam wall
WASHINGTON — Veterans led
by Vice President-elect A1 Gore laid
wreaths in the rain at the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial Wednesday after
President Bush paid a midnight visit
to the wall where the names of 58,183
war dead are inscribed.
Ceremonies marking the 10th an
niversary of the memorial highlighted
the nation’s observance of Veterans
Day.
Maya Lin, the artist who designed
the monument, told a crowd estimated
by National Park Police at 30,000, “I
may be the author, but I would like to
remain fairly silent. This wall is de
signed for you.”
Bush and his wife, Barbara, slipped
away from the White House about
midnight, hours before the main cer
emony, and joined volunteers at the
wall who were reading the names of
those killed and missing.
____:__ *»
u woj a tvij iiu/Tiii^ un/uiv,
said Bush. “I’ve been there several
limes before, but it was extraordinar
ily moving for Barbara and me.”
Gore, whose appearance at the af
ternoon event was not listed on the
program, expressed thanks to the presi
dent “for coming here and participat
ing in the reading of names.”
“I think it is lime to put the divi
sions of the Vietnam War out of our
political process once and for all,”
Gore said.
Many-colored umbrellas dotted the
crowd of people who jammed the
grounds as a steady rain, heavy at
times, fell through most of the 90
minute program.
Terry Anderson, the longest-held
American hostage in Lebanon, who
served a tour, in Vietnam with the
Marines, asked his fellow veterans,
“Is everybody cold and wet? Docs this
bring back memories?"
“This memorial is dedicated to
those who gave their lives in Viet
- nam,” Anderson said. “It is a fitting
memorial. But it seems to me it is also
a penetrating reminder that they were
not the only ones who paid a price in
that war, great as theirs was.’’
, Nelrraskan
J . Editor Chela Hoptensperger
** 472-1766
Managing Editor Kris Karnopp
Assoc News Editors Adeana Lenin
Assoc News Editor/ Wendy NavratII
Writing Coach
Editonal Page Editor Dionne Searcey
Wire Editor Alan Phelps
Copy Desk Editor Kara Wells
Classified Ad Manager Karan Jackson
Publications Board
Chairman Tom Massey
488-8761
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473-7301
FAX NUMBER 472-1761
The Daily NebraskanfUSPS 144-080) is
published by the UNL Publications Board,
Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St., Lincoln, NE,
Monday through Friday dunng 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 Tom Massey, 488 8761
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, Nl
ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT
1992 DAIL Y NEBRASKAN
Change inevitable, official says, but Pentagon not yet prepared expected to continue in service under
courts will make the Pentagon do it.”
Just Tuesday,, a federal judge in
Los Angeles reaffirmed his order that
the Navy reinstate a homosexual sailor,
though the judge did not rule on the
overall issue of whether the military
ban is legal under the Constitution.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday
in Little Rock, Clinton said, “I don’t
think (homosexual) status alone, in
the absence of some destructive be
havior, shoulddisqualify people”from
serving in the military.
The president-elect said he intends
to consult with military leaders about
“the mechanics” of a change in policy,
but did not say when that might occur.
Spokesman George
Stephanopoulos said Clinton “under
stands the opposition” but is commit
ted to the change.
Revoking the ban would be one of
the most far-reaching social changes
imposed on the armed services since
President Truman ordered blacks in
tegrated into the military in 1948.
Proponents of a change in the policy
have expressed hope that Clinton will
remove the ban in his first days in
office.
About 14,000 men and women have
been kicked out of the services during
the past 10 years because they were
homosexual.
In the past, the courts have backed
the Pentagon directive that stales that
“homosexuality is incompatible with
military service” and that the pres
ence of homosexuals in the military
impedes “discipline, good order and
morale.”
And two of the Pentagon’s most
senior officers — Gen. Colin Powell,
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, and Gen. Gordon Sullivan, the
chief of staff of the Army — have
repeatedly declared their opposition
to any change in the policy.
Clinton — contend the issue affects
troops’ battle readiness, morale and
rights to privacy.
“It is difficult in a military setting
where there is no privacy, where you
don’t getchoiceof association, where
you don’t get choice of where you
live, to introduce a group of individu
als who are proud, brave, loyal, good
Americans but who favor a homo
sexual lifestyle,” Powell said in con
gressional testimony earlier this year.
“I think it would be prejudicial to
good order and discipline to try to
integrate that in the current military
structure.”
Soviets held, killed U.S. soldiers
after WWII, Yeltsin tells senators
No Americans
remain detained,
Russians certain
WASHINGTON — Russian
President Boris Yeltsin told U.S.
senators Wednesday in a letter that
Americans were held in prison
camps after World War 11 and some
were “summarily executed” while
others still live in his country vol
untarily.
Yeltsin’s letter also said some
Americans had been forced to re
nounce their citizenship.
Russian leaders arc almost cer
tain no U.S. citizens are still being
detained, Yeltsin said in his letter,
read to a Senate committee by the
general who serves as Russian head
of a U.S.-Russian commission
searching for American POWs and
MIAs.
Gen. Dmitri Volkogonov told
the Senate Committee on POW
MIA Affairs that he has pored
through Russian archives but has
so far found no evidence that any
Americans captured m the Korean
or Vietnam wars were taken to the
former Soviet Union. He said he
was aware only of nine American
servicemen who deserted in the
Vietnam War and went to the former
Soviet Union.
He added, however, “hypotheti
cally we cannot dismiss the possi
bility that Americans were taken
from Vietnam to the Soviet Union,
but we have no precise informa
tion” about any specific cases. It is
“a possibility and I believe not a
very strong possibility,” he said.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.,chair
man of the committee, character
ized as revelations the Russians’
acknowledgements that Americans
held after World War 11 were forced
to renounce their citizenship, that
some were killed and some still
lived in the former Soviet Union
voluntarily.
“They will be talked to ... and
asked whether they want to come
home,” Kerry said, adding that the
list of names and addresses that
Volkogonov delivered to the com
mittee would be made public.
Last August, Volkogonov signed
a statement printed in a Soviet
newspaper which said several do/cn
Americans were jailed by Soviet
sec ret police during and after World
War II and that one of them was
executed on orders of Soviet dicta
tor Josef Stalin. The statement said
most were forced to renounce their
citizenship. Two Americans
trapped in the Soviet Union for
years were interviewed by an Asso
ciated Press reporter shortly there
after.
In answer to a reporter’s ques
tion Wednesday, Volkogonov said
through a translator that 119 Ameri
cans were held in Soviet camps
after World War II. But he did not
say how many were executed or
how many were still living in the
former Soviet Union.
Committee aides did not imme
diately make available any of the
information that Volkogonov
turned over to the panel. Kerry
also said it was too early to say
definitively whether any Ameri
cans captured in Korea or Vietnam
were later taken to the former So
viet Union.
“I think you have to go through
this process considerably further
before you start making judg
ments,” he told reporters.
The committee is finishing its
work and plans to issue a report in
mid-December before it goes out
of existence at the end of the year.
Some com m i ttee mem bers planned
to visit Southeast Asia this month.
Neighborhood still in shock after Detroit beating
DETROIT — At the intersection
of Warren and 23rd, where empty lots
and boarded buildings still bear wit
ness to the riots of the 1960s, there’s
a new focal point: the police violence
of the 1990s.
On a wall adorned by flowers is a
plastic-covered picture of Malice
Green, a 35-ycar-old man beaten to
death by police last week.
It has become a gathering point for
neighborhood residents who come to
see the spot where Green died, to see
where gravel has been spread to hide
the blood stains.
“I can’t believe this is happening
in my city," Carrie Washington, a
mother of three grown children, said
in frustration. “The police used to be
our friends.”
The death of Green, who was black,
at the hands of a racially mixed group
of police has roiled this city, noted for
its integrated, neighborhood-based
policing.
The case resounds with disquiet
ing echoes of the Rodney King case.
But those familiar with Detroit’s po
lice say Malice Green’s death points
to something else: an undermanned
force lacking the money or leadership
to weed out “thumpers,” the violent
cops of both races.
Green, an unemployed father of
five, died from head injuries in a
fracas Thursday with police.
While no official details have been
released, witnesses say the confronta
tion began as Green dropped off a
friend near a boarded-up hair salon
suspected to be a crack house.
Two plainclothes officers in a
“power unit,” an unmarked car as
signed to high crimearcas, confronted
Green. Witnesses said police began
beating him when he refused to drop
something in his hand, identified vari
ously as a wallet, a piece of paper or
drugs.
Other officers arrived. Lee Hardy,
an emergency medical technician
flagged down by police, told The
Detroit News he saw four white offic
ers kick Green in the chestandbeat his
head, arms and hands with a flash
light.
Six white officers and a black su
pervisor were suspended. Mayor
Coleman Young and Police Chief
Stanley Knox, both black, decried
Green’s death — Young going as far
as to call it murder.
Residents of Green’s neighborhood
huddled under umbrellas and shel
tered flickering candles in their hands
Tuesday night during a vigil at the
death scene.
“I’m surprised they went that far,”
Washington said of the police. “They
used to come to the house and tell us
about our kids. They used to run track
with them.”
Rape
Continued from Page 1
“Rape, it’s not just a woman’s prob
lem,” Strong said. Purple fliers and
ribbons will be distributed throughout
the week to symbolize awareness and
support, she said.
“Rape is something people always
talk atx)ut but never do anything
about,” Strong said. “1 hope this week
makes people pro-active about rape.”
The first event of the week — a
teleconference about sexual harass
ment— is today from 12:30 p.m. to
2:30p.m. in the Nebraska Union. Eric
Jolly, director of the Office of Affir
mative Action and Diversity, orga
nized the teleconference.
Titled “Confronting Sexual Ha
rassment on Campus,” the teleconfer
ence will be broadcast live from Wash
ington, D.C., Jolly said. Audience
members at the Univcrslry of Nc~
braska-Lincoln will be able to call
and ask questions of the
«v
teleconference’s six panel members.
“Stopping sexual harassment in the
workplace or in classrooms is the
responsibility of everyone,” Jolly said.
“We need to lift the burden off the
victims.”
After the teleconference, a panel
comprised of Jolly, Lyn Jakobsen,
assistant director of the Housing Of
fice, and Judith Kriss, director of the
Women’s Center, will speak to the
audience about UNL’s policies on
and solutions to sexual harassment.
Matt Basta, a rape educator from
the University of Missouri-Colum
bia, will speak Monday at7:30p.m. in
the Nebraska Union Ballroom as part
of Rape Education Awareness and
on-Campus Training, sponsored by Pi
Kappa Phi fraternity and Kappa Al
pha Theta sorority.
Dave Smith, philanthropy chair
man for Pi Kappa Phi, said Basta
w ould focus on rape-awareness issues
for college students and how men and
women could avoid rape.
On Tuesday, a panel discussion
- 44
Stopping sexual ha
rassment in the work
place or in classrooms
is the responsibility of
everyone.
.. . _, Jolly
director, Office of Affirmative
Action and Diversity
titled “He said ... She said” will be
presented by Ken Cauble, chief of the
UNL Police Depariment; Janet
Crawford, head of community health
education at the University Health
Center; Deputy County Attorney Lori
Yardlcy, who prosecutes UNL sexual
assault cases; Linda Schwart/kopf
director of Student Judicial Affairs;
and Peg Miller,counseling coordina
tor at the Women’s ('enter. The panel
will be from 11:45 a.m. to I p.m in the
Nebraska Union. _
Tlther events scheduled for Tucs^
day include a self-defense training
workshop titled “When No Isn’t
Enough” from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the _
Campus Recreation Center’s Martial
Arts Room. Local comedian T. Marni
Voss will talk about issues of and
attitudes toward sexual assault at K
p.m. in the Nebraska Union Ball
room.
On Wednesday, Kriss and Pat
Tetrcault of the health center will
speak about rape victimization after a
showing of the video “Playing the
Game” at 6:30 p.m. in the Nebraska
Union Regency Suite.
Kriss said rape victims were vic
timized more than once. “They arc
victimized by the rape itself, the legal
system and then again when anybody
asks about it,” she said.
Kriss said Rapc/Scxual Assault
Awareness Week couldn’t help but
raise students’ awareness about the
issues;—■-;
“Students aren’t going to be able to
walk into the union without knowing
something is going on,” she saul