Thursday, December 1,1994
Page 2
Several planes held at O’Hare
during icy weekend weather
Pilot concern
motivates flight
cancellations
CHICAGO — American Eagle
Airlines canceled more than a dozen
flights out of Chicago after some pi
lots balked at flying in icy weather in
the same type of plane that crashed a
month ago in Indiana.
American Eagle said jt canceled
14 commuter flights from O’Hare
Airport on Sunday after the pilots
demanded more weather safety infor
mation before they would take off in
the ATR turboprops.
Three other pilots previously
balked at taking off from O’Hare, also
citing concerns about flying the
French- and Italian-made ATR in foul
weather, American Eagle said. Those
flights were also canceled.
“No one refused to fly,” said Bob
Baker, chairman of AMR-American
Eagle. “It’s like when a pilot says
there’s a mechanical problem with his
airplane. When a pilot says, ‘I think
there’s something wrong with this
airplane, let’s check it out,’ that’s not
a refusal to fly. I think that’s a legiti
mate function of command.”
The American Eagle ATR-72 that
went down in Roselawn, Ind., on Oct.
31 was flying to Chicago in freezing,
rainy weather when it plunged to the
ground. All 68 people aboard were
killed.
Federal investigators have not de
termined the cause of the crash, but
some pilots have suggested ice on the
wings might have been responsible.
After the crash, the Federal Avia
tion Administration issued rules
aimed at reducing the time ATR
planes spend flying in icy weather.
The FAA acknowledged that some
pilots have expressed concern about
flying the ATR until the cause of the
crash is found. But the agency said
in a statement that it “would not per
mit continued operation of these air
craft if it had reason to believe that
the aircraft were unsafe.”
At the same time, the FAA said:
“The pilot in command is responsible
for and is the final authority as to the
safety of any flight.”
The Airline Pilots Association
said earlier this week it would “back
up 100 percent the decision of its
members not to fly in conditions that
they feel are unsafe.”
“Do not be intimidated into fly
ing a flight that you feel should not
depart,” the union said in a taped
message to pilots.
American Eagle said the ATR-72
and smaller ATR-42 have success
fully flown 3.7 million times since
they went into operation in 1985 and
have flown safely in icy weather
around the world.
ATR Marketing of Chantilly, Va.,
which markets the ATR in the United
States, defended the planes as
“among the world’s safest aircraft.”
Postal rates set to increase
after losing $1.7 billion in ‘94
WASHINGTON — The cost of
mailing a letter is going up after the
holidays — from 29 cents to 32.
The independent Postal Rate Com
mission approved the Postal Service
request for the January increase on
Wednesday.
But the commission turned down
a plan to raise nearly all postage rates
by the same percentage. Instead
larger increases were approved for
mailing printed matter, advertising
and parcels. The increase for heavier
first-class items was held lower. The
package is expected to bring the
Postal Service $4.7 billion in added
income in 1995, said Rate Commis
sion Chairman Edward J. Gleiman.
The post office lost $1.3 billion in the
just-completed fiscal year and $1.7
billion the year before.
“The Postal Service clearly estab
lished its need for additional rev
enues,” Gleiman said.
The increase is expected to cost the
typical household an extra 60 to 75
cents per month.
The matter now goes back to the
post office's governing board, which
is expected to hold a special meeting
in December to set a date for the in
crease — perhaps as early as Jan. 1.
The governors could reject the
commission decision and ask it to
reconsider. That is unlikely, however,
since the ruling has few major dif
ferences from the Postal Service’s
request and the agency urgently needs
additional income.
Art Sackler of the Mailer’s Coun
cil, a coalition of large mailing orga
nizations that had spearheaded the
original rate proposal, said that plan
would have been preferable but char
acterized the decision as “neither
great nor terrible.”
But Jonah Gitlitz, president of the
Direct Marketing Association, said
higher rates for advertising mail will
require businesses to look to other
ways of delivering their message,
causing a drop in mail volume and
hurting the Postal Service.
The Postal Service’s request, sent
to the commission in March, urged
what amounted to a 10.3 percent rate
increase for all types of mail.
The commission held the increase
to 8.9 percent for a first-class stamp
by setting a 20-cent post card rate
instead of the 21-cent proposed by the
post office and sticking with the cur
rent 2 3-cent price for each extra
ounce of a first-class item. The post
office had wanted the extra ounces to
cost a quarter each.
To make up the difference, the
commission proposed increases of 14
Stamp increase
The price of a first-class stamp wil increase
from 29 cents to 32 in January. With the
increase, the typical household will aoend
an extra 60 to 75 cents per month. The cost
of mailing a letter:
350 ^—W^M
»---I
AP
percent for second-class items such
as magazines and newspapers and
third-class advertising mail. Parcel
Post would jump 18 percent and the
special library rate would be in
creased a whopping 70 percent.
NelJra&kan
Editor Jeff Zeleny
472-1766
Managing Editor Angie Brunkow
Assoc. News Editors Jeffrey Robb
Rainbow Rowell
Opinion Page Editor Kara Morrison
- Wire Editor Deb McAdams
Copy Desk Editor Mika Lewis
Sports Editor Tim Pearson
Arts & Entertainment
Editor Matt Woody
Photo Director Damon Loo
Night News Editors Chris Hain
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Commodity prices fell
WASHINGTON — Steadily
Ming hog prices and a sharp drop
for corn pushed the index of prices
received by farmers for their goods
to a six-year low in November, the
Agriculture Department reported
Wednesday.
Although cattle prices rose
slightly, they still remained low.
Compared with November 1993,
prices were 8.3 percent lower. The
index is the lowest since April
1988.
The survey does not show the
hill impact of tropical storm Gor
don on prices for sweet com, to
matoes and other Florida-grown
vegetable crops. Vegetable prices
were surveyed in mid-November,
.just as the storm began pummel
ing southern Florida.
The influence of Florida’s crop
on national prices will be stron
ger in December and January, be
cause Florida grows half the
nation’s winter vegetables.
From October to November,
prices also dropped for lemons and
grapefruit while rising for eggs,
tomatoes and potatoes; Compared
with November 1993, prices fell
for hogs, cattle, com and oranges
while rising for lettuce, cotton and
wheat.
An overabundance of hogs,
brought on in part by the growth
of corporate mega-farms, caused
prices to reach a 14-year-low. They
fell to $28 a hundredweight, down
$3.90 from October and $14.50
from a year ago.
Com prices fell 9 cents a bushel
after the Agriculture Department
earlier in November forecast a
record crop of 10 billion bushels.
News...
in a Minute
Speculation grows around O.J.
LOS ANGELES — O.J. Simpson cannot get a fair trial if his ex
wife’s sister repeatedly accuses him of murder on television, his law
yers said Wednesday in a heated courtroom exchange.
“We’ve seen what appears to be kind of a media blitz,” defense
lawyer Johnnie Cochran Jr. said. “What has happened now is the court
can hardly turn on the television without seeing Denise Brown.”
Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister has implicated Simpson, as has the
father of victim Ronald Goldman. Both appeared on television Tues
day night.
Ms. Brown, 37, said she believed Simpson committed the June 12
murders outside Ms. Simpson’s Brentwood home.
And during an interview this week on ABC’s “Good Morning
America,” Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, echoed her suspicions.
Dark history of ship ends
NAIROBI, Kenya — The Achille Lauro’s history of misfortune
ended in flames Wednesday on the Indian Ocean, where nearly 1,000
passengers and crew fled in lifeboats as the listing cruise ship burned.
At least one death was reported. The ship burned into the night,
tilting 40 degrees over to its port side off the coast of Somalia.
The Achille Laura gained notoriety when Palestinian hijackers killed
an American passenger in 1985. Its troubled past includes the death
of an Italian fisherman whose boat was rammed in 1971 and two pas
sengers who drowned hying to escape a 1981 fire.
The ship was carrying 581 passengers and 404 crew, said Capt.
Ferdinando Lolli, a port official in Rome. Most of the crew was Ital
ian, and the passengers mainly South African, German, Dutch and
British. Ten Americans were on board — eight crew and a couple that
boarded in Genoa. All were reported safe.
Israel recognizes same-sex couples
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Supreme Court handed Israel’s gay com
munity a major victory Wednesday in a landmark ruling recognizing
same-sex couples.
The 50-page decision forces the national airline El A1 to grant the
partner of flight attendant Jonathan Danielevitz the same annual free
tickets and other benefits given to husbands and wives of heterosexual
employees.
The case had wound its way up Israel’s court system for five years,
reaching the Supreme Court after El A1 appealed a regional labor court
ruling in favor of Danielevitz.
El A1 spokesman Nachman Kleiman said the company would “honor
and abide by the decision in its entirety.” He said there was no prece
dent for El A1 extending the rights to unmarried couples.
Gay rights activists said the ruling would have widespread signifi
cance in Israel, which remains a relatively conservative society on
homosexuality.
Prisoner beaten with Dahmer dies
PORTAGE, Wis. — A prisoner who was bludgeoned along with
serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer died Wednesday after being taken oft life
support.
Jesse Anderson, sentenced to life in prison for killing his wife, died
at University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison, hospital spokeswoman
Lisa Brunette said.
Dahmer, who admitted killing 17 young men and boys, mutilating
and sometimes cannibalizing his victims, died shortly after the attack
Monday in a prison restroom he was assigned to clean.
Prison officials said Christopher Scarver was the sole suspect in
the slayings. The 25-year-old man is serving a life term for murder.
Smith declined to discuss a motive for the attack or what investiga
tors had learned in interviews.
Scarver, who was convicted of killing a former co-worker at the .
Wisconsin Conservation Corps during a robbery, had used an insanity
defense at his 1992 trial.
He told one psychiatrist that he was the son of God and had heard
voices that prompted him to murder Steven J. Lohman, 27.
Army ranks reduced
WASHINGTON — The Army, in a major reorganization that will
cut 18,000 troops from its ranks, is prepared to deactivate the head
quarters of the historic 1st Infantry Division in Kansas and the 4th
Infantry Division in Colorado.
The proposals also include deactivating three combat brigades in
Hawaii, Alaska and Kentucky, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. They
spoke on condition of anonymity.
The reorganization plan does not involving closing any bases at
this time.
Defense Secretary William Perry visited Capitol Hill on Wednes
day to discuss the proposals. Given the sensitive political nature of the
changes, officials cautioned that some last-minute changes were pos
sible, and that it could be next week before a formal announcement is
made.
Evangelist finishes sentence
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Evangelist Jim Bakker becomes a free man
Thursday after nearly five years of incarceration in prison, a halfway
house and finally at home for stealing millions of dollars from his
followers.
The preacher whose smiling face once appeared on television in
millions of homes across the country plans to keep a low profile, said
his attorney, Jim Toms. He will remain secluded inside the home in
the North Carolina mountains he has shared with his son during his
house arrest