Sr“ News Digest
Friday, November 3, 1993 Page 2
Emergency declared after
assassination in Colombia
BOGOTA, Colombia — Gunmen
ambushed a prominent opponent of
Colombia’s president in a crowded
Bogota street on Thursday, killing
him and an assistant.
President Ernesto Samper declared
a state of emergency, giving himself
and security forces wide powers af
ter the assassination.
Alvaro Gomez Hurtado, a former
senator and ambassador to Washing
ton, was hit four times in a hail of
automatic weapons fire in front of the
university where he taught law.
Gomez, 76, had written editorials
in an opposition newspaper urging
Samper to resign over allegations that
the cartel had given millions of dol
lars to his 1994 election campaign.
In a somber, nationally televised
address Thursday night, Samper said
Gomez’s assassination “makes the
entire nation mourn.”
He then announced police could
make searches and arrests without
court orders, and he placed limits on
press freedom, saying the media
could not carry any declarations by
persons involved in crimes.
A man telephoned radio stations
and claimed responsibility for the at
tack on behalf of a group called “Na
tional Dignity.”
“Await more actions,” the caller
said. In some of the calls, he de
manded Samper’s resignation.
A similarly-named group,
“Movement for the Dignity of Co
lombia,” claimed responsibility for
an attack on Sept. 27 on Antonio
Jose Cancino, a lawyer defending
Samper against the allegations that
drug traffickers had financially
aided his election.
Cancino was lightly wounded and
two bodyguards were killed in the
attack, which some Colombians sus
pect was mounted to divert attention
from the political crisis that threat
ens to topple the president.
Samper condemned Gomez’s mur
der as “an attack on the entire nation.”
Army commander Gen. Harold
Bedoya called it the work of terror
ists trying to destabilize the country.
After the late morning attack,
troops and riot police took up posi
tion in the streets. Hundreds of dem
onstrators clustered outside the hos
pital where Gomez died, chanting
“Samper resign!”
Dozens of heavily armed police
sealed off the area in front of Sergio
Arboleda University, where the attack
occurred. Bullet casings littered the
street.
The attack killed aide Jose del
Cristo Huertas and wounded a body
guard and a street vendor.
The assailants escaped, possibly in
a car or on a motorcycle, radio re
ports said.
The ambush recalled the worst
days of the government’s war against
the Medellin cocaine cartel in the
1980s, during which dozens of senior
officials were assassinated.
“It’s not explicable. It’s just bar
baric,” said former president Julio
Cesar Turbay. “This is the blackest
and darkest day we could have.”
Bus hijacker killed;
passengers are OK
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — For 75
terrifying minutes Thursday, an
edgy man stood on a school bus
with 11 disabled children aboard,
repeatedly reaching into his jacket
as if he had a gun and threatening
to blow everyone up.
Four times, the bus, surrounded
by police cars as it traveled 15 miles
of Miami-area highways, came to a
stop at his request. Several times, he
shielded himself by crouching
among his young hostages.
When negotiations failed, po
lice shot him to death at the door
of the bus and dragged him into an
alley.
When it was over, the crying
children were taken into Joe’s
Stone Crab restaurant, where the
hijacker was a waiter, and given
Cokes, french fries and ice cream.
The hijacker was identified as
Catalino “Nick” Sang, 42, a native
of the Dominican Republic who
had lived legally in the United
States since 1984 and went to
church every day.
Sang walked off his job.
Wednesday night, telling his boss
he couldn’t handle the pressure. On
Thursday morning, Sang asked his
daughter to pray for him, went to
church, became hysterical and
started ranting, said Fred Taylor,
director of the Metro-Dade Police
Department.
“He was not coherent and he
made several threats. He was dis
turbed, yelling. He was not ratio
nal,” Taylor said.
Sang had been angry with the
Internal Revenue Service and ini
tially said he wanted to go to an
IRS office, police said. The nature
of his tax dispute was not immedi
ately known. An IRS spokesman
said the agency cannot discuss a
private citizen’s taxes.
During the hijacking, Sang car
ried a bag and told police he had a
bomb. But the device turned out to
be one of the children’s respirators,
and police found no weapon.
News
in a (
Minute
Suicide bombings injure 11 Israelis
KISSUFIM JUNCTION, Gaza Strip — Suicide attackers set off
back-to-back car bombs near Israeli buses in the Gaza Strip on Thurs
day, injuring 11 Israelis in apparent retaliation for the slaying of a
radical Palestinian leader.
The first bomb went off shortly after 7 a.m. near an army-escorted
bus carrying kindergarten teachers and baby sitters from Israel to the
Gush Katif bloc of Jewish settlements in Gaza. Three soldiers, the
driver, five baby sitters and two other women commuting to work were
wounded.
The second attack was botched. The bomber tried to approach a bus
and other vehicles waiting for an escort into Israel, but his car blew up
50 yards away.
Live-in couples can adopt in New York
ALBANY, N.Y. — In a ruling hailed by gay rights advocates, New
York’s highest court declared Thursday that unmarried people — ho
mosexual or heterosexual — have a right to adopt their partners’ chil
dren.
Since state laws recognize that single adults can adopt, regardless
of sexual orientation, the right must also be extended to partners in
gay or heterosexual relationships, the Court of Appeals decided in a 4
3 vote.
“To rule otherwise would mean that the thousands of New York
children actually being raised in homes headed by two unmarried per
sons could have only one legal parent, not the two who want them,”
Chief Judge Judith Kaye wrote.
Trace of 35-year war begins
GUATEMALA CITY — Leftist rebels have begun the first cease
fire of Guatemala’s 35-year civil war, a two-week truce for presiden
tial elections that has raised hopes of lasting peace.
No cease-fire violations were reported Thursday, but the rebels
warned in leaflets that the underlying causes of Central America’s long
est-running conflict must be addressed before any permanent accord
can be reached.
President Ramiro de Leon Carpio said he hoped the truce, which
began Wednesday, would be extended and spark accelerated peace talks
between his government and rebels of the leftist Guatemalan National
Revolutionary Unity.
“The cease-fire will allow greater voter participation in the elec
tions, but it should be prolonged indefinitely while issues are resolved
at the bargaining table,” de Leon Carpio said.
NetJraskan
Editor J. Christopher Hain Night News Editors Julie Sobczyk
472-1766 Matt Waite
Managing Editor Rainbow Rowell ' Doug Peters
Assoc. News Editors DeDra Janssen Chad Lorenz
Brian Sharp Art Director Mike Stover
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Drug use prompts conterence
WASHINGTON — Marijuana use
by black boys as young as 11 has
tripled in four years. For white girls,
it’s more than doubled. And teens who
carry guns or join gangs are more
likely to use cocaine, a national sur
vey says.
Against this bleak statistical back
drop, President Clinton said Thurs
day he will convene a White House
conference to counter messages to
teens that it’s “cool, sexy, attractive”
to drink or get high.
“This is madness, pure and simple.
And we all have to do whatever we
can to get it out of our lives,” Clinton
said in a speech before the Commu
nity Anti-Drug Coalitions of America.
The one-day conference, slated for
January, would bring together police,
academics and clergy, and officials in
government, education and media to
seek ways to reduce crime and drug
use among juveniles, Clinton said.
As the president spoke, the At
lanta-based National Parent’s Re
source Institute for Drug Education,
or PRIDE, released its annual survey
of drug use and violence in junior and
senior high schools.
With illegal drug usage by high
school students steadily climbing over
“Clearly, the new movement back to drugs is led by
younger students. ”
DOUG HALL
PRIDE spokesman
eight years and currently hovering
near 35 percent, overall teen drug use
will, in three or four years, reach
1979’s all-time high of 51 percent,
said PRIDE president Thomas J.
Gleaton.
And junior high students seem to
be leading the way.
The survey of 200,000 students in
32 states found that marijuana use in
grades 6 through 8 skyrocketed dur
ing the 1994-95 school year. It mea
sured 13.3 percent for black males for
a 195 percent increase over the 1991
92 report; 6.7 percent for black fe
males, a 253 percent increase over
four years; and 7.2 percent for white
females, a 118 percent relative in
crease.
Slightly more than 10 percent of
white males in the same age group
reported using marijuana last year, a
79 percent increase over the 1991-92
school year.
Overall, white students reported
higher incidence of drug use than
black students for the 10 substances
studied, including cocaine, hallucino
gens and inhalants. One example:
13.2 percent of white senior males
used hallucinogens in 1994-95, com
pared with 4.6 percent of their black
male peers.
Behavioral scientist Stephen Tho
mas at Atlanta’s Emory University
blamed the “disturbing” resurgence
on waning national attention to drugs
in the wake of Nancy Reagan’s suc
cessful “Just Say No” campaign dur
ing the 1980s.
“‘Just Say No’ really changed pub
lic perceptions,” he said. “People
were talking about the war on drugs.
Now, there is a sense that the lack of
attention to it as a national issue, has
led to this relapse.”
Boycott
Continued from Page 1
havior.
“We absolutely do not condone
violence against women,” he said.
“We abhor it. For them to make that
suggestion is absolutely wrong.”
Popa said the Husker football team
should set an example for how a
“clean” football team should act.That
means not keeping violent players on
the team, she said.
As students, Popa said, the play
ers also should be expected to behave
in a certain way.
“I’m sick and tired of turning on
the TV and seeing someone shoplifted
something from Super K-Mart or beat
another fellow athlete and threw her
down the stairs,” she said. “This is not
something Nebraskans should read
about in the paper. It should not hap
pen.
Popa said people also could boy
cott Nebraska football games or stop
making contributions to the football
program. - “I already know some
people who have sold their tickets and
do not wish to participate in football
games,” she said.
Byrne said he thought the boycott
was unfair to the sponsors, many of
whom have been long-time support
ers of women’s athletic programs, not
just the football program.
“The very people they are suggest
ing be boycotted are the ones who put
a lot of time, effort and money to sup
port opportunities for women,” he
said.
Nebraska has been a national
leader in offering athletic opportuni
ties for women, Byrne said. If the
boycott is successful, he said, it could
hurt those opportunities.
“This type of boycott would re
duce revenues we could put into
women’s programs,” Byrne said.
“That would be a real shame.
“When revenues go away, then op
portunities decrease.” - Byrne would
not speculate on how corporate spon
sors may react.
Judith Kriss, director of the UNL
Women’s Center, said it was impor
tant to send a message to sponsors that
violence against women was unac
ceptable.
“It’s important that these sponsors
realize a decision (to let Phillips back
on the team) was made that did not
send that message,” she said.
Chancellor
Continued from Page 1
Arnold removed himself from the
OSU president search last week,
shortly before three finalists, includ
ing University of Nebraska at
Kearney Chancellor Gladys Styles
Johnston, were named.
Paul Risser, president of Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio, was ap
pointed to the OSU post late Thurs
day.
Arnold spent 20 years in the Col
lege of Agriculture at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was hired
at Oregon State in 1987 by then-pro
vost Spanier, who came to UNL in
1991. When Spanier came to Ne
braska, Arnold filled his position.
Arnold, who was raised in Lyons,
Neb., has not been back to his home
state since October 1994. He was
awarded an NU Alumnus of the Year
award from the College of Agricul
tural Sciences and Natural Resources.
Arnold began his career at the
University of Nebraska in 1967 in the
department of food and science. In
1973, he was appointed to lead the
department.
Seven years later, he was promoted
to dean and director of the Nebraska
Agricultural Experiment Station. And
in 1982 he become the vice chancel
lor at the Institute of Agricultural and
Natural Resources, a position he held
until leaving UNL in 1987.