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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 1995)
f !_ HUNDREDS OF TITLES 10C-75C SEPT 25-30 NEW BOOKS OUT EVERY DAY! 118N14TH M-SAT10AM - 6PM Plug Into the I World with FREE Internet Glasses Now that you have your computer account on Herbie, UNLCLASS1 or UNLGRAD1 you can discover how to tap into the resources available to you on the internet. These classes are free and no reservations are required. Seats are available on a first come, first served basis. Call 472-9050 if you have any questions. Intro to E-Mail Tuesday, September 26 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Tuesday, September 26 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Friday, September 29 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Friday, September 29 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Advanced E-Mail Wednesday, September 27 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. Bancroft Hall, 239 Electronic News Thursday, September 28 10:00 - 11:30 aim, Bancroft Hall, 239 - ~ Perot to form new political party Group will nominatepresidential candidate W ASHINGTON—In a turnabout that could dramatically reshape the 1996 elections, Ross Perot vowed Monday night to establish a new, re form-minded political party that would nominate a presidential candidate and try to swing congressional races. Perot said he had no intention to run as the new party’s standard bearer, he said. ‘The last thing I want is for this thing to be about me.” However, he did not flatly rule it out. As recently as six weeks ago, Perot said he had no interest in launching a third party. But, in a stunning change of heart, he said his United We Stand America political organization would spearhead efforts to certify a new party in California, Maine and Ohio — all of which have 1995 deadlines to qualify a new party for the 1996 bal lot. “We are going to start the process of creating a political party for the independent voters,” Perot said. “It will not be owned by the special inter ests.” Perot left open the possibility the effort could stop at the end of the year —if polls now showing 60 percent of Americans open to the idea of a third party suddenly shift and indicate a growing satisfaction with Democrats or Republicans. He said the new venture would be named the Independence Party, or the Reform Party in states that either have an independent party or do not allow use of that name. Once the new party qualifies for the ballot, Perot said it would open its presidential nominating process to anyone who could can get petitions signed by 10 percent ofthe new party’s members. “We want world-class people,” he said on CNN’s “Larry King Live.” “Some weirdo is not going to get 10 percent of our votes.” The organization then would choose a presidential nominee through a nationwide convention process. He 1_ — “This is not about me running for president. ” ROSS PEROT Ex-Presidential candidate said it was possible, but highly un likely, that the party could decide to back one of the major party presiden tial candidates. He said the new party would not field congressional candidates, or at least not on any widespread basis, but would endorse candidates from the major parties and offer them its slate on state ballots. This is not unheard of; the Conservative Partv in New York, for example, often backs Republican candidates. Perot said the new party’s agenda would mirror that of his United We Stand group: dramatic campaign fi nance and lobbying reforms including a gift ban, trimmingcongressional and presidential pensions and balancing the budget. He said he would finan cially support the early work, but that the venture ultimately would have to raise its own money. Joan Vinson, the Maryland execu tive director of United We Stand, said the new party could be available to “a candidate like Colin Powell or Bill Bradley or Ross Perot or Sam Nunn.” A spokeswoman for California Secretary of State Bill Jones said Perot’s supporters filed papers on Monday to organize as the Reform Party. Not since the Republican Party was established in 1856 has a new party been able to push aside a major exist ing party and establish itself as a na tional force. Like the Whigs did then, Perot predicted either the Democratic or Republican party would disappear if his effort is successful. Perot’s decision sets off an intense organizational scramble in Califor nia, where the deadline for qualifying a new party for the 1996 ballot is just a month away. “I would be surprised if it doesn’t sweep across the nation,” said Cali fornia executive director Platt Thomp son, who indicated that Perot had been a reluctant convert to the idea. Just six weeks ago, Perot said he was “not focused on a third party. We’re focused on trying to get the existing System to work.” He later called on both parties to adopt a litany of political reforms by Christmas, drawing bipartisan praise for his ideas but, so far, little legislative follow through. The requirements for certifying a new party vary widely from state to state. In California, supporters would need to gather signatures from 890,000 registered voters expressing support for the idea. Or, they would have to convince 89,000 people to register as members of the new party. Perot re ceived 2.3 million votes in California in 1992. In either event, the deadline to make the 1996 ballot is Oct. 24. In Ohio, where the Perot organiza tion is embroiled in an internal power struggle, 33,000 signatures are re quired by Nov. 19. Maine, Perot’s best state in 1992, requires 25,551 signatures by Dec. 14 if the party wants to qualify to run candidates in time for next spring’s primary. * “I am quite dubious that they will be able to do this,” said Richard Winger, editor of the newsletter Bal lot Access News. “Many of these very independent-minded people who are in United We Stand may not want to.” Arizona, for example, has a United We Stand chapter that is in open re bellion against the Dallas headquar ters. “I don’t know of anyone here who wants to do a third party,” said Mary Lou Stanley, the Arizona execu tive director. I Spend Our Dollar... Not Yours! Use this Disc Dollar to receive $1.00 off your next purchase. " mm* ONE DISC DOLLAR *P ■ ■ |. 1 °ne Disc Dollar per purchase Redeemable Only At Not redeemable for cash. ,n,L . mrv c. c. No. good With any other 50th & O" St. Store coupon or offer. • ^ II 1 Ml fc;;, J r | disc dollar New and Pre-Owned CDs • Various Styles • All Used CDs $5.99 to $7.99 • Computerized Inventory • Request Lists • All CDs Guaranteed • Listen Before You Buy • Posters and Imports I 50th & 'O' Street, Lincoln • 486-0047 i ^ ■ ===J< j| Author welcomed to South Africa CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The last time author Doris Lessing ventured to South Africa was in 1956, when two policemen es corted her back to the airplane she had arrived on saying: “Never attempt to set foot in this country again.” She arrived in South Africa last week prima rily to visit her daughter and two granddaugh ters. But because the trip coincides with the South African launch of her autobiography Once shunned because of her Communist Party membership and outspoken criticism of apartheid, Lessing is now being welcomed here as a writer acclaimed for seeking to break down barriers—social, cultural, sexual and literary. Netnraskan Editor j. Christopher Hain, ^ 472-1766 Managing Editor Rainbow Rowell Assoc. News Editors DeDra Janssen Brian Sharp 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 Tim Hedegaard, 436-9253,9 a.m. 11 p.m. Subscription price is $50 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Ne braskan, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1995 DAILY NEBRASKAN ’Corrections I RIFICATiOHS A story in Monday’s Daily Nebraskan incorrectly identified Donald Gregory, the director of general studies. During a Sunday memorial service, he presented a framed honor roll listing of general stud ies students to Martina McMenamin’s / mother. “Under My Skin,” she has squeezed a few speaking engagements and interviews into her vacation schedule. South Africa today is nothing like what she remembers from family holidays during the 1940s, when a trip to Cape Town from her home in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, was a five-day ordeal by train. “When I was here last there were benches for whites and blacks,” she told The Associated Press on Friday. “God forbid that any dark-skinned person went into a cafe or restaurant where whites were. All that has disappeared so totally, as it has in Zimbabwe.” Residents watch sky as volcano sputters WELLINGTON, New Zealand—Train ser vice between New Zealand’s two biggest cities was canceled and air traffic diverted Monday because of an erupting volcano that belched ash, steam and car-sized rocks into the sky. Authorities also closed the highway around Mount Ruapehu and the ski resorts on its slopes. Eruptions from the Crater Lake area were oc curring every two to three minutes, and scien tists said a major eruption may be near. Civil Defense officials warned people living within 60 miles downwindto expect heavy ash falls from the 9,000-foot peak, which is midway between Auckland and the capital, Wellington. Rescue services at the Waiouru military base, 12 miles from the volcano, were placed on full alert, and wives and children at the base were evacuated. There were no widespread evacuations, how ever, not even of the 60 residents of Whakapapa Village on the volcano’s slope. Dozens of people gathered Monday at the Whakapapa Visitors Center to watch the ash and steam spewing 12 miles into the blue sky, cheering each new explosion. The village has an alarm system to give 20 minutes warning if a mud flow from the slopes heads towards town, giving residents time to reach high ground.