--- News Digest
Tuesday, November 7, 1995 Page 2
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4 killed in Boston eatery I
2 suspects arrested;
police offer no motive
BOSTON—Two gunmen walked
through a busy restaurant in the city’s
rough Charlestown section Monday
and opened fire in front of a booth,
killing four customers and critically
wounding another.
Two plainclothes police officers
who happened to be eating lunch there
followed the suspects outside and ar
rested them in the parking lot.
Police gave no motive for the shoot
ing in the working-class, mostly Irish
neighborhood, which has long had a
reputed “code of silence” that has
sunk many a murder investigation.
Police Commissioner Paul Evans
discounted speculation that it was an
organized crime assassination.
“If it was a hit, it was a very sloppy
hit in broad daylight in a very crowded
restaurant,” Evans said.
Witnesses said the men fired at
least 13 shots inside the 99 Restaurant
& Pubs around lunchtime. A hush fell
over the room when the shots rang out,
then people started screaming and run
ning for cover.
“I heard, Pop, pop, pop.’ I hit the
deck,” said Bill Sewall, 57. “I ran out
the front door, and I’m still shaking.”
Steve Maurer was in the bar when
he heard what sounded like a balloon
popping. “I looked over to see if there
was a party going on,” he said. “Then
I heard another shot and saw smoke
and realized it wasn’t a party.”
Maurer said he heard other patrons
yelling, “Get down! Get down!” He
ran through the kitchen and hid behind
a row of cars outside.
The victims’ names were not im
mediately released.
The two men who were arrested
were identified as Damien Clemente,
20, of Medford and Vincent John
Perez, 27, of Boston. They were to be
charged in Charlestown District Court
on Tuesday with four counts each of
homicide and several weapons
charges.
Charlestown, sandwiched between
Boston Harbor and the Mystic River,
is known to tourists as the home of the
Bunker Hill monument and the USS
Constitution, the 19th-century war
ship dubbed Old Ironsides.
But to police, it is a place where
murder witnesses rarely talk. Earlier
this year, one local group said half of
the 50 murders they have tracked in
Charlestown since 1975 remain un
solved.
“It’s to the point where you don’t
want to buy the newspaper anymore;
you don’t want to watch the news,”
said Terry Titcomb, a neighborhood
activist whose son was shot and killed
a year ago.
Several residents complained that
the shootings leave the impression the
whole neighborhood is lawless.
“It’s never the good stuff, just the
bad. It’s a few people who give
(Charlestown) a bad name,” said Anne
McCarron, 63. “Ninety-five percent
ofthe people in Charlestown are warm,
great people.”
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Government postpones borrowing
WASHINGTON — The government indefinitely postponed $31.5
billion in borrowing Monday, avoiding violation ofthe federal debt limitr
but raising new talk of the first default in the nation’s history.
House Republican Leader Dick Armey of Texas predicted that
Congress would raise the limit this week. But the issue is deeply tangled
with the dispute between Congress and President Clinton over federal
spending, making the long-range outcome less certain.
Historic default on U.S. debt repayment “is a very major threat,” said
economist Elliott Platt of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp.
in New York, though he also forecast that “late this week or early next
week, there will be some sort of agreement on a temporary debt limit
increase.”
Announcing postponement of the scheduled major borrowing, the
Treasury Department said, “These postponements are necessary be
cause Congress has not completed action on legislation to increase the
statutory debt limit to permit issuance of the notes on Nov. 15.”
Gates acquires Russian museum’s images
NEW YORK—Software billionaire Bill Gates’ extensive connec
tions to the world’s great art broadened Monday with a deal to make
electronic images from the collection of Russia’s famed Hermitage
museum.
Corbis Corp., die digital media company Gates owns, will be able to
make computerized versions of several thousand pieces of art at the
museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Hermitage is perhaps most famous for its collection of impres
sionist and postimpressionist paintings, including “Woman Combing
Her Hair” by Edgar Degas and “The Dance” of Henri Matisse.
AMA: Doctors lack sexual assault training
CHICAGO—While victims of sexual assault often keep quiet about
what has happened to them, the one person many say they would talk to
— their family doctor — is often ill-prepared to help them.
Tochange that, the American Medical Association took aim Monday
at doctors’ lack of training in diagnosis and treatment.
Doctors are not asking the right questions about violence in their
patients’ lives, said Dr. Lonnie Bristow, president of die doctors’ group,
a news conference. j;
“There are clues and tips that physicians can be alert to,” he said.
“Doctors should ask questions designed to elicit the information.”
The AMA is sending guidelines to emergency room doctors, gyne
cologists and primary care physicians to help them help ask those
questions and decide what to do if a patient has been sexually assaulted.
Nefciraskan
Editor J. Christopher Hain Night News Editors Julie Sobczyk
472-1766 * Matt Waite
Managing Editor Rainbow Rowetl Doug Peters
Assoc. News Editors DeDra Janssen Chad Lorenz
Brian Sharp Art Director Mike Stover
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I
EPA says 33 regions
still must clean up air
WASHINGTON — Thirty
three regions, many of them metro
politan areas, have yet to clean up
their air enough to meet federal
smog standards, the Environmental
Protection Agency said Monday.
About 90 million people live in
areas that still violate federal health
standards for smog, compared with
140 million people five years ago,
the EPA said in its annual air qual
ity report.
“In the last five years, our efforts
to protect public health have re
sulted in 50 million more Ameri
cans who are now breathing far
healthier air,” EPA Administrator
Carole Browner said in a statement.
The EPA found air quality im
proved significantly along the New
Hampshire seacoast as the Ports
mouth-Dover-Rochester area met
federal standards. It had been clas
sified as having serious pollution.
San Diego, while still not meet
ing federal standards, shifted from
“severe” to “serious” pollution,
showing slightly improved air qual
ity, while Sacramento, Calif., went
in the opposite direction, from seri
ous to severe, the agency said.
Many cities with dirty air are not
expected to bring their air quality
into federal compliance until the
middle of the next decade. Under
federal law, they must attain com
pliance within two to 13 years, de
pending on the severity of the pol
lution.
A violation of federal health stan
dards means that the ozone level in
the air on some days exceeds 0.12
parts per million. Ground-level
ozone, a key component of smog,
causes respiratory problems as well
as irritation of the eyes and mucous
membranes.
The EPA said there were eight
areas with “moderate” smog prob
lems, compared with 14 a year ago.
Those in the “marginal” pollution
category dropped from seven to four.
Panel advises FDA to approve
new initial therapy for AIDS
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The
drug 3TC should be approved as the
first new initial therapy to treat AIDS*
since re original AIDS drug AZT,
advisers told firewood andt
Drug Administration on Monday .
A combination of 3TC and AZT
boosted the immune system of pa
tients and lowered the amount of the
HIV virus, which causes AIDS, in
their blood.
But more significantly, the drug
combination showed more effect in
patients who had never taken AZT
than in those who have taken AZT
alone, as is standard for most patients,
manufacturer Glaxo Wellcome said.
The FDA advisers agreed, although
they cautioned there are a lot of unan
swered questioned that patients must
be aware of before choosing to try the
combination therapy over AZT alone.
“I am very uncomfortable giving
this regimen in a widespread way”
because of all the questions, said Dr.
DouglasJS/teyers of Walter Reed Army
tJnstit&eedHfesearch in Washington, a
consultant to the panel.
All other AIDS drugs sold today
are for use after AZT fails and are not
used in combination with it.
Early data “support the argument
for initial aggressive therapy,” Glaxo
research chief Marc Rubin said. “3TC
AZT was consistently associated with
greater and more sustained response.”
In a statement issued by Glaxo
Wellcome headquarters in Research
Triangle Park, N.C., Rubin said the
company was pleased by the recom
mendation, “and we look forward to
working with the FDA in comingdays
to resolve any remaining questions
related to Epivir,” the trade name for
3TC, which is also known as
lamivudine.
The panel agreed that early data
was sufficient to approve 3TC for
moderately to advanced AIDS patients
as well as offering it as an initial
therapy.
The advisers also recommended that
the FDA allow Glaxo to sell strawberry
banana-flavored drops of the drug for
children, although there was little if any
evidence that the children experienced a
benefit like that seen in adults.
Doctors argued that children'
shouldn’t be denied the potential that
the therapy works, but the committee
cautioned that the drug must carry a
warning that it may cause dangerous
pancreatitis in children.
The FDA is not obliged to accept
the recommendations of advisory pan
els, but it usually does*
Retroactive per-cmld tax cut considered
WASHINGTON—Some leading
congressional Republicans want to
make the $500-per-child tax cut that’s
a cornerstone of the “Contract With
America” retroactive to 1995. If it
became law, taxpayers would receive
at least a partial benefit when they file
returns early in the election year.
Legislation passed by the House
and Senate calls for making the tax
break effective Jan. 1,1996. But Re
publican leaders in both houses have
discussed the possibility of pushing
back the effective date by a few
months, if not all the way to Jan. 1,
1995. For example, an Oct. 1, 1995,
effective date is under discussion.
“I’d like to do it, but I’ve got to
lode at the entire package,” House
Majority Leader Dick Armey said re
cently, reflecting a widespread con
cern that the change may be too ex
pensive to fit into the GOP balanced
budget legislation.
Armey, R-Texas, is one of the idea’s
strongest proponents, although House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., said
last Friday he, too, is interested, if the
funds can be found. Officials said
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R
Kan., is likewise interested.
The proposal has political appeal
because Republicans could trumpet
the tax break as an early benefit of
their legislative program — before
the GOP-inspired spending cuts begin
to bite.
Some Republicans, speaking on
condition of anonymity, also said it
could give them political advantage in
a showdown with President Clinton,
who is expected to veto the overall
balanced-budget bill because of its
curbs in spending on Medicare, Med
icaid and other programs.
The individual tax cuts aside, law
makers participating in House-Senate
negotiations are virtually certain to
make the capital gains tax reduction
proposal retroactive to 1995. The
House-passed measure would make
the cut effective Jan. 1, 1995. The
Senate bill calls for an Oct. 14,1995
effective day. ,
Capital gains taxes are levied
against the profits on sales of invest
ments. By making that cut retroactive
but the child tax credit effective Jan.
1 of next year, Republicans might be
open to fresh Democratic criticism.
' Fur ral
Continued from Page 1
“I had to pinch myself to believe
what I am seeing ” said government
spokesman Uri Dromi, notingthe Arab
robes and headdresses that dotted the
rows of dignitaries.
King Hussein forged a strong bond
with Rabin in decades of secret and
open negotiations that culminated in a
peace treaty between Jordan and Is
rael last year.
“You lived as a soldier, you died as
a soldier for peace,” said Hussein,
who wore a red-and-white checkered
Arab headdress. “I believe it is time
for all of us to come out openly and to
speak of peace.”
Rabin, who led Israel to triumphs
on the battlefield, then stretched out a
hand of peace to his Arab neighbors,
was buried with full military honors in
a pine glade atop a hill overlooking
the volatile city where he was bom 73
years ago.
His widow Leah, sitting in the first
row, wept through much of the cer
emony, supported by her son, Yuval,
her daughter, Dalia, and her grand
children Noa and Yonatan.
Clinton called Rabin “a martyr for
the casket, which was then lowered
into the grave. Members of the burial
society scooped earth into containers
and covered the casket.
A rabbi intoned the prayer, “God,
Full of Mercy.”
Peres and other dignitaries put
wreaths at the grave, and hundreds of
Israelis left flowers and pebbles, a
traditional Jewish mourning custom,
peace but... a victim of hate.”
Rabin aide Eitan Haber spoke last,
reading from the bloodstained sheet
of paper with the words of the “Song
for Peace” that Rabin had sung at
Saturday night’s rally. Rabin put the
paper in his jacket pocket just minutes
before he was shot.
“Let the sun rise and the morning
light our ways,” Haber read. “We miss
you, Yitzhak.”
After Haber spoke, Rabin’s coffin
was carried about 200 yards to the
gravesite. A blue-and-white flag with
the Star of David was removed from