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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1995)
By The Associated Press Edited by Sarah Scalet Wednesday, October 11, 1995 Page 2 ai ,_ _ __ r News -in a 1 Minute? Gates buys large photo archive BELLEVUE, Wash. — Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has bought The Bettman Archive, one of the world’s largest photo collections, for his privately-heId digital media company. Corbis Corp., said Tuesday that it acquired Bettman’s 16 mil lion photos, including the entire United Press International col lection and other news and historical material, from the Kraus Organization Ltd. for an undisclosed sum. The purchase represents a major advance in Gates’ efforts to create a huge bank of images available to consumers for a licens ing fee. It also raises questions about who, ultimately, will con trol the world’s visual history. Hurricane heads to Mexican resorts MERIDA, Mexico — Tourists fled beachfront hotels on the Yucatan Peninsula by the thousands Tuesday, but honeymooners and hardy souls hunkered down as Hurricane Roxanne marched toward Mexico’s Caribbean resorts. Roxanne, the 1 Oth hurricane of the busy Atlantic storm sea son, threatened to turn into one of the worst storms since Hurri cane Gilbert swept through the Caribbean in 1989, killing 300 people. As night fell in Merida, the streets became mostly abandoned. The only businesses open were grocery stores filled with people buying candles, batteries and purified water. The hurricane formed Monday in warm Caribbean waters and gained strength rapidly over two days, taking aim at palm-stud ded beaches with sustained 115-mph winds. “Please be careful. This is a dangerous storm,” warned meteo rologist Fiona Horsfall at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Probe of Amtrak derailment focuses on ‘Sons of Gestapo’ HYDER,Ariz.—FBI agents hunt ing the saboteur who derailed an Amtrak train worked Tuesday to de termine whether the “Sons of Gestapo” is really an anti-government terrorist group or just someone with a grudge against the railroad. Fifty-five miles away in downtown Phoenix, authorities found a device capable of derailing a train placed on a track. The FBI refused to discount the possibility it was a second sabo tage attempt. The FBI expanded its painstaking search for evidence to a mile-square area surrounding the gulch where the Sunset Limited lurched off a damaged track and asked the public for help finding the culprit. The train jumped the tracks at the damaged section early Monday, top pling 30 feet from a bridge, killing a crew member and injuring at least 78 people. A letter found at the scene men tioned federal raids on right-wing ex tremists at Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho. It was signed “Sons of Gestapo,” raising fears the sabotage was the work of anti-government ex tremists. A passenger who saw one version of the note said Tuesday that it didn’t specifically claim responsibility for the derailment, was written ina sort of verse and gave the impression the writer “wanted to be some sort of poetic martyr.” “It was a lot of gibberish. It started out with something about women and children praying as it gets dark, then it talked about how they didn’t have any electricity,” said Michelle Cruz, a psy chiatric nurse from Sacramento, Ca lif., who saw the letter about 8 to 10 feet from the coach, held down by a rock. The FBI was mentioned along with other government agencies she couldn’t recall. There apparently are several ver sions of the letter, said Gov. Fife Symington, who said he has read one version. He wouldn’t talk about what it said, except to say he was told there were multiple versions that were “com parable in terms of content.” FBI officials held a brief news con ference si x mi les from the scene Tues day, but offered little insight into the investigation called Operation Splitrail, refusing to comment about the letter. With about 90 agents on the scene, Larry McCormick, acting special agent in charge of the Phoenix office, said he believed it was the bureau’s sec ond-biggest crime scene investigation after the Oklahoma City bombing. “We are going to pursue every bit of evidence and every lead very thor oughly ... until we find the person or persons who committed this crime,” said U.S. Attorney Janet Napolitano. Acting on a tip from a trucker who heard a noise and saw two men acting suspiciously around a Southern Pa cific track in downtown Phoenix, po lice Tuesday recovered a device used in rail yards that can derail a train. i r* -t The so-called derailer—two heavy pieces of metal with a hinge between — is normally used to get trains back on the rails, but could have caused a derailment if a train had come by, said Mike Furtney, spokesman for South ern Pacific Railroad in San Francisco. “It wouldn’t absolutely derail a train, but I’m glad we found it before we found out if it would have worked,” Furtney said. The FBI was looking into the mat ter and wouldn’t rule out the possibil ity that it was related to the derail ment, said agent A1 Davidson. However, he noted that the derailer is a standard piece of railroad equip ment, while the derailment was caused by sabotaging rails; the derailer was on a line used by freight rather than passenger trains; and “copycats come out of the woodwork when things like this happen.” The Amtrak case was put under the supervision of Assistant FBI Director Robert Bryant, who runs the bureau’s national security division, according to a senior Justice Department official who spoke to The Associated Press in Washington on condition of anonym ity. The division handles terrorism cases. “Bryant’s national security divi sion has the case because it has the potential to become a terrorism case, but we have not reached any conclu sions yet whether terrorism is the motive or not,” the source said. *4 1 ___I Your Campus Godfather’s Connection to Delicious, Hot Pizza! Delivery/Store Hours •Sun.-Thurs. 4P.M.-12:30A.M. i •Fri. and Sat. 4P.M.-2A.M. I 1217’Q’Street 474-6000 I LARGE 1-TOPPING AND 2-12 oz. Softdrinks |$8.99^ I Must mention coupon when ordering and ■ present when pizza is delivered. Offer expires 11-30-95 2 LARGE SUPER ~\ PEPPERONI PIZZASJ $9.99^| Must mention coupon when ordering and | present when pizza is delivered. Offer expires 11-30-95 canning laws tor Homosexuals makes some justices skeptical WASHINGTON — Colorado’s solicitor general ran into skeptical questions from sev eral Supreme Court justices Tuesday when he argued the state’s citizens have the right to prohibit laws that protect homosexuals from discrimination. “I would like to know whether in all of U.S. history there has ever been anything like this,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the state’s lawyer, Timothy M. Tymkovich, who asked the high court to reinstate the ban. Tymkovich did not provide a specific ex ample. But he argued that voters have the right to bar all state and local laws giving homosexu als “special protection” from bias in housing, employment and public accommodations. The case is the most important involving homosexual rights to come before the court in nearly 10 years. in a 1 reierenaum, dj.4 percent 01 Colo rado voters approved the amendment to the state’s constitution. But the Colorado Supreme Court invalidated the amendment before it could take effect, saying it denied homosexuals an equal voice in government. Jean E. Dubofsky, lawyer for the cities and individuals who challenged the amendment, said it denies homosexuals a political right enjoyed by everyone else—the chance to seek protection from discrimination. Tymkovich said Colorado voters approved i ■ the amendment in response to the success ho mosexuals had in winning enactment of anti bias ordinances in Denver, Boulder and Aspen. But Justice David H. Souter was skeptical. “Why is discrimination against one group dealt with under state law differently than dis crimination against other groups?” he asked. Justice John Paul Stevens added, “What is the rational basis for the people outside of Aspen telling the people in Aspen they cannot have this nondiscrimination provision?” Justice Antonin Scalia appeared more sym pathetic to Tymkovich’s argument that ordi nances protecting gays against bias constitute special — not equal — protection. “They are laws that provide special protec tion to that particular category of person,” Scalia said. Other forms of discrimination are not banned, he said, adding that employers can refuse to hire someone “because you don’t like the way they comb their hair.” Scalia asked Dubofsky why, if states can outlaw homosexual conduct, Colorado cannot bar legal protections for homosexuals. The case does not address the morality or legality of homosexuality or gay conduct. But the justices’ ruling, expected by July, could indicate their views on the continuing validity of the high court’s 1986 ruling that let states outlaw consensual homosexual conduct. Nebraskan Editor J. Christopher Hain Night News Editors Julie Sobczyk „ . M 472-1766 Matt Waite Managing Editor Rainbow Rowell Doug Peters Assoc. News Editors DeDra Janssen Chad Lorenz _ . . _ Brian Sharp Art Director Mike Stover Opinion Pape Editor Mark Baldridge General Manager Dan Shattil • _ W*re Editor Sarah Scalet Production Manager Katherine Policky Copy Desk Editor Kathryn Ratliff Advertising Manager Amy Strothers Sports Editor Tim Pearson Asst. Advertising Manager Laura Wilson Arts & Entertainment Editor Doug Kouma Publications Board Chairman Tim Hedegaard, 436-9253 Photo Director Travis Heying Professional Adviser Don Walton, 473-7301 FAX NUMBER 472-1761 The Daly Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board. Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St.. Lincoln, Nt 68588-0448, Monday through Friday dunng the academic year; weekly during summer sessions. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 am. and 5 pm 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 Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1995 DAILY NEBRASKAN