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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 29, 1996)
Sw=~ NewsDgest Thursday, February 29, 1996 ' Page 2 j , &.. Clinton approves legislation aimed to bring down Castro WASHINGTON — Rushing to punish Cuba, Congress and Presi dent Clinton agreed Wednesday on new sanctions that would bridle for eign investment with the goal of re moving Fidel Castro. “Farewell Fidel. That’s the mes sage of this bill,” said Senate For eign Relations Committee chair man Jesse Helms, R-N,C., the legislation’s Senate sponsor. The White House, seeking to avoid a veto, accepted controversial language in the sanctions bill that will allow American citizens to sue foreign investors who make use of property in Cuba confiscated dur ing the 3 1/2 decades of Castro’s rule. It also denies entry into the United States to anyone who traf fics in confiscated property and codifies into law all previous execu tive orders on America’s 34-year old embargo on Cuba. “This is going to have a tremen dous impact on Fidel Castro and his ability to stay in power,” said Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., the House sponsor of the legislation. After agreement was reached with the White House, House and Senate negotiators quickly ap proved thc“Libertad” (Liberty) bill. It is expected to go to the House and Senate floors by early next week for certain decisive approval. The White House threatened to veto the bill last fall when it passed both chambers because of the law suit provision. But Clinton was re luctant this time to stand in the way of passage after Cuba’s downing over the weekend of two American planes, presumably killing four Cu ban-Americans. The Clinton administration maintains the planes were shot down in international airspace. Cuba says they were within its ter ritorial limits. In a compromise, the president was given authority to waive the liti gation right, but for no more than six months at a time, when the na tional interest is involved. “The president, in light of the in cident Saturday, believes tightening the embargo on Cuba is a necessary step now, both to deal with this in cident and promote our overall goal of democratic change in Cuba,” White House press secretary Mike McCurry said. The lawsuit provision and the entry ban are certain to draw fire from other Western countries that trade with Cuba and have long re jected participating in the U.S. em bargo. Canada and other countries have voiced displeasure over the idea of unilateral U.S. action re stricting their rights to invest in Cuba. Opponents in Congress say the lawsuit provision also could cause a serious logjam in U.S. courts. Backers of the bill, which has strong congressional support, insist it could provide the pressure finally to bring down the Castro govern ment. Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R N.Y., chairman of the House Inter national Relations Committee, con "Farewell Fidel. That’s the message of this bill.” ' JESSE HELMS Senate sponsor of the bill tended it would “bring an early end to the Castro regime by cutting off capital.” “We arc in the very last stages of this confrontation,” said Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J. He called for the “purest, hardest and most determined form” of legislation. Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would vote against the bill be cause it would worsen living con ditions for the Cuban people, “alienate our allies and tie the administration’s foreign policy hands.” Supporters said the interests of other countries were secondary to driving Castro from power. “The United States cannot continue plac ing American lives at the hands of foreign interests,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a Cuban American representing Miami. The bill urges the president to seek an international embargo against the Castro government and authorizes him to assist the demo cratic movement there. GOP lead jumbled as stretch of dozen states approaches WASHINGTON — With the deep pocketed Steve Forbes back in the hunt, the Republican presidential race careens through a dozen states in the next week, a dizzying stretch of op portunity and peril for the three can didates atop the pack. This next stretch — from South Carolina and Georgia to Maine, Mas sachusetts and Connecticut, then on to Maryland and Colorado—will, for the first time, subject the candidates to a range of diverse electorates all at once. Heading into South Carolina’s vote on Saturday, Forbes, Pat Buchanan and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole were clustered at the front. Forbes is the leader in delegates, but it is truly a race without a front-runner and one in which no prediction seems safe. Here is a candidate-by-candidate look at the terrain for the contests just ahead: BOB DOLE: South Carolina is a must-win primary for a boost head ing into Georgia next Tuesday. If Dole wins South Carolina, the next task will be to deny Forbes momentum head ing into the March 7 New York pri mary. That would require wins almost everywhere on March 5, when Colo rado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Is land and Vermont hold primaries. Still, Dole, once the overwhelming front-runner, has yet to win outside of his native Midwest. “In a two-way race with Buchanan, Dole would benefit because Buchanan motivates people who want to vote against him,” said Goeas. “But in a three-way. Dole is going to have to motivate his own vote, something he has yet to prove he can do.” PAT BUCHANAN: A disappoint ing third in Arizona makes a South Carolina win critical if he is to com pete for the nomination and not just delegates. In South Carolina and Geor gia, Buchanan is banking on deep sup port from Christian conservatives ac tive in GOP affairs. He hopes to lure “textile Demo crats” into the South Carolina primary with attacks on free trade deals. Buchanan failed to make the Rhode Island ballot, andTuesday brought this sobering news: Exit polls show half of voters believed Buchanan too ex treme, suggesting a solid ceiling to his growth potential. STEVE FORBES: Forbes will spend heavily for New York’s March 7 primary — along the way nudging Dole ever closer to the primary spend ing limit he faces because he accepts government matching funds. While the South is tough territory for Forbes because of his views on social issues, Colorado, Maryland, and the New England primaries offer a chance to target more upscale, mod crate-conservative voters with the flat tax and other Forbes proposals. A March 5 win or two would help head ing into New York. ALEXANDER AND LUGAR: Alexander needs to beat Dole some where soon, either in South Carolina or Georgia. Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar will advertise only in Vermont be tween now and March 5,believing one win will bring him a second look if the race stays so topsy turvy. If he doesn’t win Vermont, Lugar will pack it in. Legislature puts forth euthanasia bill A bill that would allow physicians to carry out the ~ wishes of tcrmi Legislature nally ill patients '96 A was introduced flU to a legislative committee Wednesday. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha intro duced LB1259 to the Judiciary Committee with the knowledge that the bill was not ready to advance, but he said he wanted to get the concept across. In the last Judiciary Committee hearing of the session, no action was taken on the bill. Many of the elderly citizens on hand to testify left before the commit tee got to the bill, but a few testifiers waited almost five hours for testimony to begin. Christopher Caudill, the president elect of the Nebraska Medical Asso ciation, said his organization would not support legislation that would permit a physician to terminate a patient’s life. The Lincoln cardiologist also out lined the American Medical Association’s statement on euthanasia and said it was a good summary of the NMA’s position. The statement said that although life became more preferable than death in extreme cases, “permitting physi cians to engage in euthanasia would ultimately cause more harm than gjpod.” 1. Carl Schmitthausler, president of Htemlock Nebraska, said doctors could help ease suffering by expediting cer tain death. “We’ve had patients for days, weeks and months waiting to die,” he said. —Ted Taylor The Associated Press contributed to this report. Law & Order Police arrested a Lincoln woman on suspicion of assault Sunday night after she pulled a gun on her husband. Pamela Grundman, 26, was ar guing with her husband, Jason, 24, at their residence on the 5100 block of West McGuire Road, Heermann said. Pamela Grundman went down stairs to her bedroom and returned with a .22-caliber revolver, Heermann said. She allegedly pointed it at her husband, cocked the hammer and told him to leave, Heermann said. Jason Grundman knew the gun was loaded and grabbed it between the hammer and frame to prevent it from firing, Heermann said. After a brief scuffle, police said, he retrieved the gun and called po lice. Pamela Grundman was ar rested on suspicion of third-degree assault. Lincoln police issued 45 tickets Tuesday evening at the White Zom bie concert at Pershing Auditorium. About 5,700 fans attended the show. Tickets were issued for the fol lowing: • Five for procuring alcohol for minors. • 11 for minors in possession of alcohol. • 12 for consuming alcohol in public. • Four for possession of mari juana. • Five for possession of drug paraphernalia. • Four for urinating in public. • Two for disturbing the peace. • Two arrests for outstanding warrants. , A University of Nebraska-Lin coln freshman was faced with a bomb threat Tuesday night while working at The Gallup Organiza tion. Tiffany Jahn, 19, was working at Gallup, 301 S. 68th St., when she received 15 threatening phone calls around 8:15 p.m. A male caller asked if she was ready to die, Lincoln police Sgt. Ann Heermann said. During one of the calls, the per son said there was a bomb in Jahn’s car, which was parked outside, Heermann said. Lincoln Fire Department searched the car for explosives but found none. Police think the calls came from out-of-state, possibly South Caro lina. — Chad Lorenz Marriage Continued from Page 1 Opposition to the bill was based largely on religious grounds. Doug Patton, executive director of the Nebraska Christian Coalition, called Chambers’ proposal “a mock ery” of the institution of marriage. “Where do we draw the lines? To day we mock the bonds of matrimony with this travesty, tomorrow... what?” he said. “Propitiate? Beastiality? Necrophilia? To what depths will we sanction our national descent into de viancy.” Jim Cunningham, executive direc tor of the Nebraska Catholic Confer ence, said marriage was not an issue of individual rights, but of institutional definition. “It is about launching Nebraska into a major social experiment,” he said. “To reformulate the basic structure of society by attempting to make relation ships which aren’t marriages into mar riages.” But Chambers said his bill had posi tive legal and economic aspects for ho mosexual couples wishing to be mar ried. He outlined government benefits, including social security and Medi care, joint insurance policies and le gal rights in medical issues. Job called the issue one of basic civil rights. “I am an obvious minority, and I am denied my most basic civil rights,” she said. “These are not wants, these are needs.” Barbara DiBemard, a UNL English professor and director of Women’s Studies, said she couldn’t understand how senators could vote no, after see ing the passionate testimony from ho mosexual couples. “Being in that room, and listening to those people testify,” she said, “it would be hard to vote against it.” She said she didn’t expect the bill to be advanced by the committee, but said it would open the door for discus sion in the future. The committee took no action on the bill. Nefcwraskan « Editor J. Christopher Hein Night News Editors Rebecca OHmans 472-1766 Melanie Branded Managing Editor Doug Kouma Anne Hjersman Assoc. 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