News Digest
Wednesday, October 5,1994 Page 2
I Judge bars paper for information leak
1 1
LOS ANGELES — The judge
in the O.J. Simpson case intensi
fied his battle with the news media
Tuesday by barring the city’s sec
ond-largest newspaper (Tom his
courtroom because of a leaked
story.
The Daily News of Los Angeles
had held one of four permanent
seats designated for a newspaper
during the trial.
Superior Court Judge Lance Ito
revoked the seat as punishment for
an article in Friday’s paper that
detailed a questionnaire that the
paper had obtained a day before it
was officially released, a court
spokeswoman said.
The Daily News filed court pa
pers saying the judge’s action was
unconstitutional and has a “chill
ing effect on the ability of the press
to fulfill its historic role in ensuring
the openness and integrity of the
judicial process.”
Ron Kaye, the paper’s manag
ing editor, said the motion speaks
for itself and “the issue will be
resolved in court.”
A hearing was set for Nov. 7, the
same day Ito takes up the issue of
whether to ban cameras and elec
tronic media from the courtroom.
He received more than 1,000
letters Tuesday after a newspaper
columnist called for a citizen rebel
lion against TV coverage of the
trial.
Ito’s clerk was stmgglingjust to
open and read the stacks of mail,
said court spokeswoman Jerrianne
Hayslett.
“We 're trying to get an intern or
someone over there to help her ,”
she said.
The letters came in response to a
Sept. 27 column by Mike Royko of
the Chicago Tribune that was re
published in numerous other news
papers, including the Daily News.
“Let the trial begin with no TV
coverage in the courtroom,” said
one letter from Chicago. Another
declared: “Please stop the O.J.
Simpson circus. My husband and I
are sick of it and the news media is
just making fools out of everyone.
Enough is enough.”
Simpson, 47, is being tried for
the June 12 slayings of his ex-wife
Nicole Brown Simpson and her
friend Ronald Goldman. Jury se
lection started Sept. 26, but open
ing statement aren't expected until
November.
In recent weeks, the actions of
reporters covering the case have
often generated as much attention
as the case itself. Ito has been par
ticularly critical of TV reporters
and last week ousted the pool tele
vision camera from the court hall
way for broadcasting the faces of
jurors in other cases.
The action against the Daily
News was the most severe taken by
the judge. There are only 27 seats
allocated for all media in the court
room. The Los Angeles Times,
city’s largest newspaper; the Daily
News, which has a circulation of
about 192,000; the Los Angeles
Sentinel and USA Today had been
assigned the four full-time, perma
nent newspaper seats.
Many newspaper and broadcast
reporters share seats on a rotating
basis.
Royko defended mainstream
newspaper coverage —even as he
urged his readers to tell the judge
they were disgusted with television
coverage of the case.
“Newspapers are incapable of
being sensational,” he wrote. “We
are dull. ...We have no background
music. Just the dull printed word,
which is not multi media or interac
tive.”
He acknowledged that TV rat
ings have soared when the Simpson
case has been on the air.
“It is bigger than Haiti, health
care or even Monday Night Foot
ball,’” he wrote.
“Yet, the polls tell us something
else,” he said. “The majority of
Americans are disgusted by what
they see as a sensational media
circus.”
He provided Ito’s address and
urged readers to write to him “if
you feel that you are being overex
posed ”
The columnist was on vacation
Tuesday and couldn’t be reached
for comment.
Quake felt throughout Pacific
TOKYO — A major undersea
earthquake killed at least 16 people in
Russia’s remote Kuril Islands late
Tuesday, jolted Japan and triggered
fears of tidal waves on both sides of
the Pacific.
A quake with a preliminary mag
nitude of at least 7.9 hit near the
sparsely populated Kuril Island chain
north of Japan. At least 176 people in
northern Japan were injured by bro
ken glass and fal ling objects, but only
three of the injuries were considered
serious.
A 6.0 magnitude aftershock was
felt early Wednesday in the same area.
There were no immediate reports of
additional damage or injuries.
The first quake sent 10-foot-high
tidal waves smashing into the Kurils,
destroying moorings and hurl ing smal I
boats onto land. The waves were
smaller and less destructive farther
from the epicenter.
By early Wednesday, about 40
small tsunami waves had been ob
served in Japan. Most were less than 3
feet high, although one was 6 feet.
There were no reports of any damage.
Hawaii closed its public schools
and beaches early Tuesday and or
dered residents of coastal areas to
evacuate. The tsunami warning was
lifted Pacific-wide about six hours
later.
In Moscow, Russia’s Ministry for
Emergency Situations said the bodies
of at least 16 people were found on
three islands in Kuril chain. Most were
killed by falling debris, ministry
spokesman Anatoly Streltsov said.
In some parts of the Kurils, 18
inch cracks were visible in the earth
after the quake, Streltsov said.
Viktor Sankov, spokesman for
Russia’s regional government on
Sakhalin Island, said all of the dead
were believed to be Russian military,
Telephone service to the Kurils
was cut off, and an airport in the town
of Burzvestnik on hard-hit Iturup is
land was badly damaged and closed,
authorities said.
Yevgeny Krasnoyarov, governor
of the Kurils region, spoke to the
islanders by radio and urged them not
to panic.
About 50,000 Russians, including
several thousand troops, live in the
southern Kurils.
Three large cargo planes carrying
rescue workers and equipment were
headed for the disaster area from
Moscow and Siberia, Sankov said.
Japanese authorities said an air
force plane sent to survey damage
was missing with two pilots aboard.
The quake — which lasted more
than a minute — was centered 13
Tsunamis: the
killer sea waves
A strong undersea
earthquake centered 13 miles
beneath the floor of the
Pacific Ocean, about 125
miles east of Nemuro, jolted
northern Japan, shaking
buildings as far away as
Tokyo. Warnings for tidal
waves were issued for parts
of Hokkaido.
Sea_
level
Earth
plates
Coastline
-w
■ Tsunamis are
massive underwater
earthquakes and
are common around
the Pacific.
■ The destructive
waves can travel at
more than 435 mph.
--
■ The waves move
inland from deep
ocean to shallow
water, growing larger.
■ Individual waves
may occur at
intervals of 15
minutes, or 125 miles
apart.
-v
■ Approaching a
coast, the waves slow
down, bunch up and
rise. They may rise as
high as a 10-story
building.
■ When the waves
break, they can cause
great destruction.
Source: The Random House Encyclopedia. Our Violent Earth AP
miles beneath the Pacific Ocean floor,
near the southern end of the Kuril
chain.
Japan’s Central Meteorological
Agency estimated the quake’s
prelimary magnitude at 7.9, making it
the strongest to hit the region in 26
years.
On Japan’s lightly populated
Hokkaido island, the late-night quake
cracked roads, caused gas leaks and
flooded streets. One fire was reported
in the town ofNem uro, and more than
13,460 households in eastern
Hokkaido lost electric power, said
Kazuhiro Kojima of Hokkaido Elec
tric Co.
More than 1,000 evacuees spent
the night in public buildings in Kushiro
and Nemuro alone, according to local
officials.
Emergency warning sirens alerted
Hawaiians in coastal areas to evacu
ate their homes. Oahu Civil Defense
told tourists in Waikiki to return to
their hotels for further instructions,
and people living on the lower floors
of high-rise condominiums in coastal
areas were told to go to the third floor
or higher.
A tsunam i wave was spotted Tues
day afternoon at Shemya, in the west
ern Aleutians, about 1,000 miles east
of Hokkaido, said Coast Guard Lt.
Ray Massey in Juneau, Alaska.
In Canada, about 2,500 residents
of Masset, a village on the Queen
Charlotte Islands north of Vancouver,
were told to move to higher ground
because high tide coincided with the
time the tsunami was expected to ar
rive.
Japan Broadcasting Corp. said 196
people were injured in the quake, al
most all on Hokkaido. No deaths were
reported. Most of those injured were
cut by broken window glass or bruised
by falling objects, a hospital spokes
man said.
The National Earthquake Center
in Golden, Colo., estimated the
earthquake’s preliminary magnitude
at 8.2.
J News...
in a Minute_
It can happen here
OMAHA—When the director of the NebraskaCrime Commission
looks at the numbers from police agencies around the state released
Tuesday, one trend stands out: Total crime and arrests may be down,
but violent crime isn’t.
And more kids are committing violent crimes, said Allen Curtis,
commission director.
“It’s an absolute statewide trend,” he said.
The 71-page annual report includes the number of arrests made and
the number of crimes reported to police in 1993.
There were 41,502 crimes reported in the state, not including
Omaha, according to the report. Nearly three-fourths of them, 74.9
percent, involved larceny or theft. Violent crimes — murder, man
slaughter, rape, robbery and felony assault — made up 5.2 percent of
that total.
Haitian coup leader flees
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Police chief Michel Francois sneaked
out of Haiti in the dark Tuesday, the first coup leader to abandon the
struggle against American soldiers who poured into Haiti to install a
democratic government.
The U.S. military announced that commercial airline flights could
begin landing at the Port-au-Prince airport as early as Wednesday.
And exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide himself pledged to
return quickly, telling cheering delegates at the U N. General Assem
bly he would be back in Haiti in 11 days.
“Our hearts are filled with joy,” said Wilkens Pierre, who watched
Aristide’s speech on television in a shack in a Port-au-Prince slum.
“We don’t know if this will mean an end to the terror, but it will mean
a new beginning for Haiti.”
Ag department shuffles
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday passed and sent to
President Clinton bills reorganizing the Agriculture Department and
overhauling how farmers are paid for crop losses due to floods, .
drought or other disasters.
The two bills represent legislative victories for departing Agricul- ‘
ture Secretary Mike Espy, who on Monday announced his resignation
amid an independent counsel’s investigation into his conduct.
The reorganization bill paves the way for Espy to begin reshuffling
the Washington headquarters, cuttingthe number of agencies from 43
to 29, and cut the number of field offices by 1,100.
A new farmer service agency would combine farm-related pro
grams intoone agency that woula provide one-stop shopping out in the
field for farmers. The administration projects the bill will save $2
7*500* t*irou^1 * ,ar8e,y by cutting the number of employees by
The department is the fourth-largest bureaucracy in the federal
government and employees some 110,000 people Rill time.
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