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News D :gest
Friday, October 6, 1995 Page 2
Opal causes $1.8 billion damage to Florida
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. —
Under blue skies, the damage wrought
by Hurricane Opal became clear
Thursday: hundreds of houses
smashed into splintered boards, con
dominiums flattened, hotel walls
caved in and boats tossed ashore along
120 miles of eroded beach.
“This is what I call utter destruc
tion,” an astonished A1 Donaldson
said as the homeowner looked over
Santa Rosa Beach, west of Panama
City.
Opal, which hit land late Wednes
day with gusts up to 144 mph, killed
at least 15 people and caused an
estimated $1.8 billion in damage to
insured property along the Florida
Panhandle. That made it the second
costliest storm in state history after
Hurricane Andrew, which inflicted
$17 billion in damage in 1992. Fif
teen Panhandle counties were ap
proved for federal emergency aid.
“Blocks and blocks of homes are
gone,” said Jo Miglino, a spokes
woman for the state Division of Emer
gency Management. “We have wide
spread reports ... of many, many
homes destroyed.”
Opal lost its punch as it blew
through Alabama but still knocked
out power to 2 million in Florida,
Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas.
Many homes also had no water or
phone service.
Almost 4,500 National Guards
men were posted in Florida to pre
vent looting. Bay County, where an
estimated 100 homes were destroyed
and 1,000 damaged, was under a dusk
to-dawn curfew, and the Guard set up
a center to provide food, water, clothes
and showers to people left homeless.
As Opal approached land Wednes
day, more than 100,000 coastal resi
dents fled inland, clogging highways.
After the hurricane had passed, hun
dreds of people were frustrated when
police refused to let them return to
their homes.
“They’re telling us some of the
houses were blown right into the
water,” said Mike Moody, who was
trying to get back to his home on
Navarre Beach.
“We can’t let people back — not
even if they are trying to get back to
their homes,” said Okaloosa County
Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Hord. “They
would have no power and no sewage
service. You can’t even flush the
toilets because there’s no water. If
there is water, it is likely to be full of
disease.”
By midday, Opal had been down
graded to a tropical depression and
was 95 miles south of Lexington,
Ky., with sustained winds of 35 mph.
The storm disrupted air traffic
throughout the day, causing flight
delays from Philadelphia, Boston, St.
Louis, Chicago and New York, the
Federal Aviation Administration said.
In a busy hurricane year. Opal
stood out as one of the worst to hit the
Gulf Coast since Hurricane Camille
killed 256 people in 1969.
As Opal weakened over land,
Tropical Storm Pablo, the 16th named
storm of the season, formed off the
African coast in the area of the Atlan
tic that has bred some of this season’s
most dangerous storms.
“It is not a threat right now. We
ask that people pay attention because
: Hurricane Opal!
damage
After growing into the strongest
storm to hit the Guff Coast since
:! 1963, Opai waned quickly. It was
downgraded Thursday to a :=:::
tropica) depression.
Preliminary damage reports
| Florida
Damage estimates: $1.8 billion
: Left without power: 537,000
j Georgia
Damage estimates: Not yet available
Left without power: 392,000
f Alabama
; Damage estimates: Not yet available fi
I Left without power: Approx. 1 million§.
41,500 lost cower in North and ?©§
South Carolina.
anything could happen,” said fore
caster Fiona Horsfall at the National
Hurricane Center in Miami.
AP/Wm. J. Gastello, Tracte Tso
Officials didn’t immediately know
the number of buildings destroyed or
people left homeless by Opal.
Cease-fire reached In Bosnia
ZAGREB, Croatia — Bosnia’s combatants agreed on Thursday to
a 60-day cease-fire and new talks on ending their 3 1 /2 years of carnage,1
taking one big step closer to a peace settlement that U.S. troops would’
help police.
The accord on the cease-fire was reached during the United States’
strongest press yet for peace in Bosnia. In announcing the agreement,
President Clinton in Washington acknowledged that unresolved prob
lems remained before it takes effect Tuesday.
“We need to be clear-eyed about this,” he said. “It matters what the
parties do, not just what they say.”
NATO planners said they would hasten work on a military force to
help enforce an eventual peace arrangement. The United States would
commit roughly 20,000 troops to such a force, but is saying they would
not enter Bosnia until a final peace deal is signed.
Media can open bureaus In Cuba
WASHINGTON — President Clinton has decided to allow U.S.
news organizations to open bureaus in Cuba as part of an effort to
increase communication between Cubans and Americans, administra
tion officials said Thursday.
Clinton also will announce in a speech he will deliver on Friday that
he hopes to increase academic exchanges between the two countries,
the officials said.
The idea of allowing news bureaus to operate in Cuba has been in
the works for almost two years. The administration has been holding
back on an announcement because of opposition by some Cuban exile
lawmakers.
Under the proposal, the officials said, Cuban media organisations
also would be allowed to open bureaus in the United States. Just how
soon such exchanges could take place is unclear. Fidel Castro’s
government would have to approve the exchanges and it hasn’t been
approached yet by the administration, officials said.
Track slams Into day-care center
OAKLAND, Calif. — An out-of-control pickup truck plowed into
a day-care center playground Thursday, killing a toddler and injuring
10 other children, two of them critically.
TV stations reported that some witnesses said the truck had been
drag racing and doing “doughnuts” in the street. The driver told police
that she had swerved to avoid hitting a speeding car, the stations
reported.
The 18-year-old driver was questioned by police. Charges were not
immediately filed.
Ireland cheers for Nobel winner
BELFAST, Northern Ireland—Over three decades Seamus Heaney
has built a reputation as the English language’s greatest living poet
reflecting the wild beauty of Ireland and the passionate contradictions
of his native north. ‘
As he won the Nobel Prize for literature Thurst a; iiends and fans
celebrated a shaggy-locked “teddy bear” who lo.ig ago rejected the
tribal labels of Catholic and Protestant to explore ti e divided national
soul.. “It’s the kind of news that makes you want to amp in the air and
cheer,” said Frank Ormsby, a poet and editor of several anthologies of
Northern Irish poetry.
“As a teacher, I know how enjoyable and accessible Heaney’s work
is in the classroom,” Ormsby said. “At the same time it’s got the kind
of depth and profundity that challenges academics and critics. It’s so
rich and rewarding.”
_
Israeli parliament ratifies accord
JERUSALEM —Accepting Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s plea to
“give peace a chance,” Israel’s par
liament voted early Friday to ratify
an accord that grants the PLO control
over West Bank cities and signals an
end to 28 years of Israeli occupation.
The accord was approved 61-59
after a tumultuous 15-hour debate.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres,
speaking last, defended the agree
ment against charges that it gives
away too much to the Palestinians
and endangers the safety of Israelis.
“We did not concede anything,”
he said. “The agreement did hot cre
ate the reality. The reality created the
agreement.”
Earlier, more than 20,000 Israelis
holding candles and chanting “Rabin
is a traitor” marched from downtown
Jerusalem to parliament to protest
the Israel-PLO agreement.
The accord, signed last week in
Washington, calls for an Israeli troop
withdrawal from Palestinian towns
by the end of the year, the deploy
ment of 12,000 armed Palestinian
police in the West Bank and Palestin
ian general elections.
Rabin told the parliament that
bloodshed would continue unless Is
rael ended its rule over the Palestin
ians.
“This (occupation) is not a solu
tion for peace.... We can continue to
kill and be killed, but we can also try
to stop this never-ending circle of
violence,” Rabin said in a 45-minute
speech frequently interrupted by
hecklers.
Rabin acknowledged that the
agreement involves risks but said he
could freeze the withdrawl at any
moment if PLO chief Yasser Arafat
does not live up to his commitments.
“This government decided to give
peace a chance,” he said.
Opposition leader Benjamin
Netanyahu predicted that Rabin’s
government would fall soon. “Soon a
nationalist, responsible leadership
will take control, a leadership that
will return security to this country,”
he told protesters Thursday evening.
In parliament, Netanyahu accused
Rabin of putting Israelis at risk.
“You are moving the border back
to the lines of 1967,” Netanyahu told
Rabin, referring to the 1967 Middle
East war in which Israel captured the
West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Rabin had declared the proceed
ings a vote of confidence in his gov
emment, meaning a defeat would
have brought down his coalition.
The initial 1993 Israel-PLO frame
work agreement was approved by a
vote of 61 -50, with eight abstentions.
That agreement led to the establish
ment in May 1993 of Palestinian self
rule in Gaza and the West Bank town
of Jericho.
The new agreement establishes
self-rule in Palestinian towns and vil
lages in the West Bank, without de
fining the final borders or nature of
the Palestinian territories. Talks on
the final status of the territories are
supposed to begin by May 1996.
Israeli officials said Thursday that
troops would start withdrawing from
the West Bank on Sunday and plan to
be out of six cities by the end of the
year.
An Israeli official said troops
would be out of the first West Bank
city, Jenin, by Nov. 19. In one-week
intervals after that, the army will
leave Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Nablus,
Bethlehem and Ramallah. Redeploy
ment in the seventh town, Hebron, is
to be completed by the end of March.
Palestinians also will gain admin
istrative control over 450 West Bank
villages.
Court to rule on men’s school
WASHINGTON — The Supreme
Court will decide whether Virginia
Military Institute can remain all-male.
The court said Thursday it will
study competing appeals — one by
Virginia officials and one by the
Clinton administration. A decision is
expected by July.
The administration says the only
way to guarantee women equal treat
ment is to admit them to VMI. A
separate “women’s VMI” begun this
fall is as unlawful as segregated
schools once created for blacks and
whites, administration lawyers con
tend.
Virginia argues that the state-sup
ported military college must keep
female students out to preserve its
educational goals. Women can at
tend other public colleges in Vir
ginia, state officials note.
Even if the women’s VMI pro
gram were dropped, the state adds,
VMI should be allowed to remain all
male.
An eight-member court is expected
to hear arguments in January. Justice
Clarence Thomas disqualified him
self in the case because his son, Jamal,
is a VMI senior.
Virginia Gov. George Allen said
he is optimistic the court will uphold
the state’s program offering a VMI
like program for women.
“I think it’s constitutional, but
beyond all that I think it’s a great
idea,” he said. “It’s a way to allow
those who want that VMI experience
to continue to have it while ... young
women also have that leadership op
portunity in college.”
VMI Superintendent Josiah
Bunting III said Virginia offers “su
perb, single-gender opportunities for
men and women alike.... This case is
ultimately about the ability of a state
to provide opportunities that meet
the varied educational needs of its
young men and women.”
Deborah Ellis, legal director of
the NOW Legal Defense and Educa
tion Fund, said, “I think the chances
are good that the court will... say that
women have to be admitted to VMI.”
She said the case could yield the
most significant sex-discrimination
ruling since 1976, when the justices
ruled that “classifications by gender
must serve important governmental
objectives and must be substantially
related to achievement of those ob
jectives:”
Nebiraskan
Editor J. Christopher Hein
472- 1766
Managing Editor Rainbow Rowell
Assoc. News Editors DeDra Janssen
_ I . „ Brian Sharp
Opinion Page Editor Mark Baldridge
Wire Editor Sarah Scaiet
Copy Desk Editor Kathryn Ratliff
Sports Editor Tim Pearson
Arts & Entertainment
Editor Doug Kouma
Photo Director Travis Heyina
Night News Editors Julie Sobczyk
Matt waits
Doug Peters
Chao Lorenz
Art Director Mike Stover
General Manager Dan Shattil
Production Manager Katherine Policky
Advertising Manager Amy Struthers
test. Advertising Mgr, Laura Wilson
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473- 7301
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