Page
2
By The
Associated Press
Edited by Jeff Singer
Nebraskan
Monday, October 11,1993
U.S. military forces headed to Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —If the United
Nations mission fails to restore democracy in
this Caribbean country, hordes of Haitians will
flee toward the United Slates, Prime Minister
Robert Malval warned Sunday.
He spoke after a night of heavy gunfire in the
capital, a stark reminder of the volatile political
passions that many fear will force the U.N.
peacekeepers into fighting, as has happened in
Somalia.
A U.S. warship carrying hundreds of GIs to
take part in the U.N. mission is to arrive on
today. A small contingent of U.S. and Canadian
peacekeepers arrived last week.
The U.N. troops are part of a U.N.-brokered
plan to restore democracy more than two years
after President Jean-Bcrtrand Aristide, Haiti’s
first freely elected leader, was deposed in a
military coup.
After Aristide’s ouster, countless Haitians
began fleeing by boat for the United States.
U.S. military ships began intercepting them
and returning them to Haiti, sparking outraged
criticism that Washington was turning away
refugees of political oppression.
If the U.N. plan fails, “more and more
people will leave the island. It will no longer be
a problem for Haiti. It will be a problem (or
Florida,” Malval told reporters, speaking from
the porch of his home.
“Even the U.S. 6th Fleet will be unable to
prevent Haitians from fleeing a less and less
hospitable land,” Malval said.
Malval rejected comparisons with Somalia,
asserting that 90 percent of Haitians wanted to
restore democracy here. However, his transi
tion government has received little cooperation
from the Haitian army, and civilian gunmen
tied to the military have been blamed for a
series of politically related killings in the past
two months.
More than 200 people have died in almost
nightly shooting attacks on pro-Aristide neigh
borhoods.
“Many friends and observers are very pessi
mistic,” Malval acknowledged. “But we arc
not. Haitians refuse to identify with those who
maintain them in poverty and terror.
He disclosed that Western Hemisphere for
eign ministers were planning to fly here Oct. 30
for the scheduled return of Aristide.
The U.S. amphibious warship Harlan Coun
ty headed toward Haiti on Sunday, carrying
military engineers, medics and civil affairs
specialists, along with troop trucks, bulldozers,
earth movers, tents and rations for a six-month
mission. Also to be unloaded are M-16s,
sideanns and ammunition, which U.S. officials
said would only be used in self-defense.
The force is to total 1,600 troops.
Six hundred American troops have been
committed to the mission, which has been the
subject of a debate within the Pentagon. To
protect the arriving American troops, a greater
concern following the attacks in Somalia, the
Pentagon said Friday that the Harlan County
will remain off Haiti’s coast, ready for possible
rescue missions. Another warship, the USS
Fairfax County, is to arrive Oct. 20 carrying
hundreds more troops and tons more materials.
Worn down by a worldwide petroleum em
bargo and other economic sanctions, Haiti’s
army agreed in July to a U.N. plan in which
commander Raoul Cedras and police chief
Joseph Michel Francois would leave their posts
and Aristide would return by Oct. 30.
Tanker explosion could
lead to ‘major spill’
GALVESTON, Texas — Salvage
crews scrambled Sunday aboard a
gasoline tanker ripped open by an
explosion that peeled back part of the
deck “like a sardine can.” Three peo
ple were believed killed.
The Coast Guard strung contain
ment booms in case of a possible fuel
spill from the damaged OMI Charger,
which was carrying no cargo but held
365,000 gallons of fuel.
“There is a potential for a major
spill,” said Capt. Paul Prokop, com
mander of the Coast Guard station at
Galveston.
The Houston Ship channel, one of
the world’s busiest waterways, was
closed part of the day because offi
cials feared ship wakes could endan
ger the tanker. Officials later allowed
restricted use of the channel, which
serves the Houston petrochemical in
dustry.
Coast Guard officials said they
were convinced none of the fuel had
spilled from the 660-foot ship. It way
partially afloat in about 40 feet ol
water. Crews planned to remove the
fuel.
Witnesses said the ship was hit b>
two explosions Saturday. The first
blast around 8 p.m. was felt more than
four miles away, while a less intense
explosion occurred about an hour lat
er. The fire burned out of control foi
about 5 1/2 hours.
Two men were confirmed killed
and one other was missing and pre
sumed dead. Three of the 35 crew
members remained hospitalized Sun
day, one in serious condition. About a
dozen others were treated and re
leased.
The blasts opened a gaping hole
along the left side of the ship, expos
ing its interior. Pipelines on the deck
were twisted like blackened spaghet
ti.
Part of the main deck was “peeled
back like a sardine can,” said Coast
AP
Guard Cmdr. Roger Peoples, who flew
over the wreck Sunday. The ship’s
stern had sunk to the channel bottom
and it listed to port, but Peoples said
it was in no danger of sinking.
Twenty-seven crew members were
rescued from the burning ship min
utes after the blast by the crew of a
passing oil rig supply boat.
Owners of the ship and the Coast
Guard would not say what caused the
blasts.
Officialscstimated the insured ship
was worth about $10 million.
-STATE WIRE
Hastings man kills police officer, himself
HASTINGS — A man searching
for his estranged wife took a hostage,
shot and killed a police officer, led
authorities on a high speed chase and
then apparently committed suicide,
authorities said Sunday.
Sylvester Frank Pettit, 35, who
lived about 15 miles away from
Hastings in south-central Nebraska,
was searching Saturday for his wife,
Paul inc Pettit, at the home in Hastings
of a woman who was providing her
shelter, Adams County Attorney Steve
Schcrr said.
He failed to find Mrs. Pettit twice
during the day Saturday and forced
his way into the house Saturday night,
Schcrr said.
“There were four young boys there,
frightened to death,” Schcrr said. “He
entered the house shotgun in hand.”
One of the boys had shotgun pel
lets removed from his head, apparent
ly struck by a blast Pettit directed at
the front door, Schcrr said.
Pettit took the woman hostage af
ter failing to find his wife, Schcrr said.
The woman’s name was not released
Sunday.
Police Officer Joel Conklin, 37,
responded to a disturbance call at the
house and was shot at near poinlblank
range and was killed, Schcrr said.
Pettit fled-with the woman and was
spotted by authorities near Alma, about
60 m ilcs southwest of Hast mgs. Schcrr
said. At some point, Pettit pushed the
woman out of the car and the high
speed chase ended with Pettit shoot
ing himself, apparently committing
suicide, Schcrr said.
Authorities believe Pettit had lived
in Ihc Spring Ranch area of Clay
County for about one month and was
working in Hastings as a low truck
driver for an auto repair shop.
Mrs. Pettit had left her husband
about one week ago and filed for a
protect ion order aga inst him. The sher
iff couldn’t find Pettit Friday to serve
him with the document, Scherr said.
Pettit had been found guilty of
manslaughter in the late 1980s in
Blaine County after his then-wife.
Pandora, was shot and killed with a
hunting rifle, Blaine County Attorney
Doug Stack said.
The conviction was overturned and
the case later dismissed after Pettit
appealed and the Nebraska Supreme
Court found that the jury instruction
on manslaughter was inappropriate.
Slack said.
-SPORTS WIRE
Barkley has tests after collapse on court
PHOENIX —Charles Barkley,
who collapsed during training camp
after his legs went numb, under
went tests Sunday to determine
when he can resume playing.
The NBA’s Most Valuable Play
er was running wind sprints with
teammates after an hour-long scrim
mage Saturday night at the Phoenix
Suns’ training site in Flagslaffwhen
he suddenly pitched forward and
collapsed. He remained on the floor
for more than 30 minutes before
being helped to the locker room,
where he underwent treatment for
an hour.
“My back and legs had been
really tight,but I wasrunningwell,”
Barkley said Saturday after leaving
practice. “I kept running. Then I
kept getting slower and slower. It
was like my legs started going into
the floor. I couldn’t lift my feet. I
couldn’t move my legs at all. It
scared me to death.”
On Sunday, Barkley wasbroughl
to Phoenix, where he was exam
ined by team doctors, said Suns’
spokeswoman Julie Fie. “Most
everything is speculation until all
the tests are done. It’s not like
we’re trying to be uncooperative,”
Fie said.
Team doctor Richard Emerson
said before the tests were conduct
ed that there was no immediate
indication of nerve damage and
Barkley’s problem was consistent
with a disk injury.
Barkley was diagnosed with a
bulging disk in August but was
treated with an epidural cortisone
shot and reported no pain when
prescason drills opened Friday night
at Northern Arizona University in
Flagstaff.
Emerson examined Barkley at
the start of practice Sunday and
decided to bring him to Phoenix for
magnetic resonance imaging tests
by a radiologist.
“My main concern right now is
that the tests show my back is not
any worse,” Barkley said before
being helped into a van for the 140
mile trip to Phoenix. “Right now.
I’m a little scared and nervous. You
don’t want to go full speed on a
basketball court and then collapse.
You don’t want that hanging over
your head.”
Support continues to
grow for warlord Aidid
2,000 Somalis
demonstrate in
Mogadishu
NAIROBI. Kenya —Some 2,000
Somalis demonstrated in the capital
of Mogadishu on Sunday in support of
fugitive warlord Mohamed Farrah
Aidid. a U.N. spokesman said.
Maj. David Stockwell, the U.N.
military spokesman, said the demon
strators shouted slogans against the
United Nations and the United Slates.
He had no other details about the
rally.
It coincided with the arrival in
Mogadishu of Robert Oakley, a former
Bush Administration official who is
seeking a diplomatic solution in So
malia and a negotiated end to the
fighting between Aidid’s militiamen
and U.N. peacekeepers.
A U.N. official in Mogadishu,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
-»said Aidid’s reported offer Saturday
for a cease-fire appeared to be a way
of opening dialogue with Oakley.
Militiamen loyal to Aidid have
brazenly attacked the peacekeepers
since June. At least 15 American sol
diers were killed Oct. 3 in one of the
fiercest battles yet. Two more bodies
believed to be those of U.S. service
men were recovered Friday, and one
soldier was still unaccounted for.
Oakley met Saturday with Presi
dent Meles Zcnawi of Ethiopia, who
has a mandate from the Organization
of African Unity to handle interna
AP/Cafl Fo*
lional negotialions on Somalia.
The United Nations accuses Aidid
of masterminding the attacks on U.N.
peacekeepers and has issued a war
rant for his arrest. And despite the
apparent cease-fire offer, Slockwell
said the U.N. military mission had not
changed.
“Aidid is still vulnerable to deten
tion,” Slockwell said.
Earlier, another U.N. military
spokesman, Capt. Tim MacDaviit,
said the United Nations had not re
ceived official notice of Aidid’soffer.
Since the Somalia operation began
in December, 31 Americans and 90
peacekeepers from other countries
have been killed.
Search
Continued from Page 1
forth,” he said.
"Last time, we made two trips for
interviews in Chicago. We also inter
viewed candidates outside of Omaha
Four sets of interviews were con
ducted in the last search, he said,
at Mahoney Park,” M ill iken said. “The
board went to Kansas City and inter
viewed three of the final four candi
dates at a convention there, as well.’
The committee wants to save mon
ey by avoiding such globe trotting this
time around, he said.
“We want to avoid that this time,
and we think we will,” Milliken said.
Milliken said the committee is
exploring the possibility ofusing some
members’ private means of transpor
tation to help cut down costs.
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436 6407
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473-7301
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Publications Board Chairman
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