Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1994)
News Digest Wednesday, September 21, 1994 Page 2 Troops ordered not to intervene in beatings PORT-AU-PRINCE. Haiti — Ju bilant supporters of Haiti’s exiled president cheered U S. troops on Tues day, but Haitian police clubbed them and fired tear gas as American sol diers stood by. Some American soldiers bridled at the orders that prevented them from intervening when police attacked sup porters of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Haiti's first freely elected president, who was ousted in a 1991 coup. “I feel terrible." said Specialist Douglas Walton of Cincinnati, a sol dier in the U S. Army's 10th Moun tain Division. “To see people beaten and not be able to do anything.” U S. officials said the troops would not interfere in Haiti's domestic af fairs. In Washington. Gen. John Shalikashvili. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned the risk of violence was high and said. “We can be taking casualties at any moment." A day after soldiers of the I Oth Mountain Division, from Fort Drum. N Y., began landing at the Port-au Prince airport. Marines extended the U S. military operation to Cap-Haiticn I About 1.600 Marines came ashore in armored amphibious vehicles, heli copters and Hovercraft. Haitian po lice cooperated with the American troops U S. troops were not seen patrol ling in Port-au-Prince and appeared to be concentrating on consolidating defense positions and supply depots. Convoys moved between the port, air port. an industrial park and a ware house district where the Americans were setting up bases. The Marines' objective was to se cure the port and airport at Cap Haiticn. then move inland to lake con trol of two roads and two bridges. Later in the day. they wcrcc.xpcctcd to move farther into town, by a Haitian army barracks and several police out posts and a prison. American soldiers numbered 7.000 by day's end A leading Haitian democracy ac tivist. Evans Paul, urged Haitians to stop demonstrating at least until American peacekeeping forces reached their planned deployment of 15.000 "Wc'vc got to know how to man ---1 Deficit in goods trade second worst reported WASHINGTON — Rising oil prices and a big drop in airliner sales in July gave the nation its second worst merchandise trade deficit in history, the government said Tuesday. Financial markets went into a tailspin. The Commerce Department said the overall deficit in goodsand ser vices surged 21.6 percent to $10.9 billion as imports remained near an all-time high while exports weak ened considerably. The worsc-than-cxpcctcd defi cit figure, which followed a June shortfall of $904 billion, rattled Wall Street. Stocks, bonds and the dollar all weakened. Analysts said the weaker dollar would only add to inflationary pres sures and increase the prospect that the Federal Reserve will be forced to boost interest rates for a sixth time this year when Fed policymakers meet in Washington. The Clinton administration sought to play down the signifi cance of July's trade deficit, saying a number of one-time events made it look worse than it was. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown said the dramatic widening of the deficit was "not indicative of the economy’s long-term trend.” Thcadminisiration insisted the defi cit would shrink in coming months as faster growth in Europe and Ja pan helps increase demand for U S. exports. Private economists were not as confident, contending the rebound in U S. exports could take some time to materialize. . America's merchandise deficit is running at an annual rate of $ 145.6 billion, second worst in history. The biggest merchandise trade deficit was a $152.1 billion imbalance in 1987. The biggest monthly deficit was with Japan, a shortfall of$5.67 bil lion. the worst showing since March The deficit with China rose 8.6 per cent to an all-time high of $2.67 billion. The administration has pushed both countries this year to open their markets to more American goods but has met with little suc cess. U S. and Japanese negotiators were meeting this week in an at tempi to resolve several tough is sues in the face of a Sept. 30 dead line. after which the administration could impose trade sanctions. The $10.99 billion gap between what America sells in products and services abroad and what it imports was the worst since the government began tracking both goods and ser vices on a monthly basis two years ago U.S. trade in goods and services The month-by-month changes in the government's new trade report, which indudes trade in services as well as trade in goods. The following listing shows the overall deficit, the deficit in goods and the surplus in services. c In billions •16 : i j K' M ! JASON D J F MAMJJ 1993 _11994 _ Source: U.S. Dept, ol Commerce AP It was the second-worst monthly merchandise deficit on record, ex ceeded only by an all-time high of $15.9 billion in December 1985. Exports of goods fell 4 percent to $40.33 billion. Nearly 60 per cent of that dccli nc came from a $ I billion drop in exports of commer cial aircraft, which declined to $841 million, the lowest level in nearly five years While airline sales swing widely from month to month, analysts said l hey were concerned by widespread weakness in other areas, with com puters. semiconductors and elec tric gcncralingcquipmcntall show ing big declines America's deficit in autos and auto parts rose to $5.6 billion in July 7 feel terrible, to see people beaten and not be able to do anything. ■ SPECIALIST DOUGLAS WALTON U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division. ngc this situation and not react by chasing rainbows." he said “It is loo soon for inass popular demonstrations, w hich arc dangerous." Marine Lt. Col. Steve Hartly. com mander of one of the the two task forces landing Tuesday, said under the rules ofengagement his men could only step in wTicn murder or rape was involved. Several thousand Haitians were gathered outside the Port-au-Prince port Tuesday. Blue-uniformed Hai tian police had held back, but at one point an officer attacked a demonstra tor. hitting him on the back of the neck with a club, witnesses said. At least 500 angry Haitians massed around his body, angry over the death Some of the protesters blamed the Americans. “If they came to help us no one would be dead." said one demonstra tor, Melax Dasluvacs. “1 don't know why they arc here.'' The crowd briefly drove ofT the police by throwing grapefruit-size rocks and pieces of concrete. One policeman was taken away to an am bulance. Another was chased by the crowd to a building. After reinforcements arrived, po lice fired tear gas at the crowd and charged, forcing 30 of the protesters to jump into the harbor to escape One of the tear gascannistcrs hit the nearby Foreign Ministry . Three U S. Army Humvccs arriv ing on the scene briefly separated the police and protesters but then drove off. Disturbances also broke out near Cite Solcil and near the airport More than 5,000 people massed just 200 yards from a police post in Cite Solcil. Many sang “We arc LavaJas! —the long-repressed popu lar political movement of Aristide Some people hopped onto two U S Army personnel carriers, chanting “Cedras has to go! Biampy has to go! Michel Francois has to go!” About a do/en Haitian policemen fired automatic weapons into the air and several officers dragged the dem onstrators off the vehicles. At the airport. Haitians mobbed another Haitian, beating, choking and grabbing him. The Haitian pleaded vainly for help from American sol diers. A priest close to Aristide, the Rev. Jean-Yves Urfic, said the American inaction was “a source of worry ” “It's obvious that the U S Army is not protecting the people,” he said “It may be protecting the Haitian army.” He also credited the U S. presence with halting the nightly gunfire in pro Aristide areas by Haitian solidersand their civilian allies. “The lessening of crime will make the people more confident. It will be harder for the Haitian military to go on a killing rampage.” he said. “Now they only beat; they don’t kill.” Carbon monoxide killed athlete SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. Former tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis was killed when a broken propane heater filled the cottage where he was staying with so much carbon monox ide that investigators had to retreat for gas masks, authorities said Tuesday. Gerulaitis. 40, was found dead Sun day afternoon. Tests showed “between 72 and 77 percent of his blood was saturated with carbon monoxide - ex tremely, extremely high levels,” said Norma Dill, assistant to the chief medi cal examiner. Police said the fumes seeped into the heating and air conditioning sys tem of the cottage, which sits near the beach on an estate in this affluent Long Island community. The Suffolk County medical ex aminer found carbon monoxide traces duringan autopsy Monday. Investiga tors then returned to the house and recorded carbon monoxide levels that were described as “off the scale.” Detective Sgt. David Betts said it was not clear if Gerulaitis was asleep when fumes swept through the house or how long he had been dead. When a servant entered the cottage Sunday afternoon, the television was on and Gerulaitis was still wearing clothes he’d worn Saturday morning at a ten nis clinic. Betts said that although the deadly gas apparently came from the heating and cooling system, the exact source had not been determined. The system had been serviced within the last two weeks, Betts said. Gerulaitis was a frequent guest at the shingle-and-stone cottage on the 4.7-acre, $5.5 million estate of devel oper Martin Raynes. He arrived there last weekend after a late-night flight from the West Coast, where he’d played in a tennis tournament with former greats Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg. Raynes last saw Gerulaitis around 5 p.m. Saturday and the two agreed to : have dinner. When Gerulaitis failed to I appear that evening, Raynes assumed ( he was sleeping. For the 24 hours after his body was < r 1 " Carbon monoxide in the home The carbon monoxide that killed Vitas Gerulaitis came from an improperly installed propane heater. Other sources of the deadly gas: Autofnobile exhaust Carbon monoxide i$ the leading cause of fatal poisoning in the United States. Blocked chimney { i| Portable Fireplace 3 heater Kitchen range or cooktop vent Grill used indoors Disconnected water heater vent as frigerator Gas clothes dryer Cracked heat exchanger Carbon monoxide (CO) CO-related deaths Symptoms of ► An odorless, colorless f 198y 708 CO poisoning gas that is produced —imzr 1 ► Dizziness | bV any fuel \ 19go M2 > Fatigue ► Kills nearly 300 ► Headache people in their homes 1991 5g4 ^ Nausea each year ■KESsUZZZ] ► Irregular breathing source U S Consumer Product Safety Commission, AP Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ound, the tennis world buzzed with and said that his appetite for drugs and •peculation, unfounded, it turned out, discos undercut a career that was based hat Cierulaitis' death was linked to on quickness and endurance. He was *ru8s- treated for substance abuse and was Gerulaitis acknowledged using implicated, though never charged, in a cocaine during the late I970sand '80s, cocaine-dealing conspiracy in I983. Netfra^kan FAX NUMBER 472-1761 ItaSSft!!*mS '.he S^mfc »Xdu™Lg LmSSo™' '*"°" “• ,40° R *- NE68588 0448. _ Readere are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phonmq 472 1763 between 9 a m and 5 p m Monday ‘ssssrs:WS s*.ajar*10 ,ha t Ba*,a F“ '",or“ ££« ??m4^L““ro92«m *"a p atuSSnJNE *** addfeSS Chan9eS ,01he Da’ly Nebraskan ■ Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St. .Lincoln. NE 68588 0448 Second class posiage paid ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT __ 1W4 DAILY NEBRASKAN
