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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1996)
jiffCr- -1 ' "> .. 1 • ■' PAGE 2 _'__ Same-sex marriage bill falls short of Congress approval, but propo nents say their work is “far from over.” By Marcy Gordon Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Senate Democratic leader threw cold water today on gay rights activists’ hopes to revive a bill prohibiting job discrimi nation against homosexuals. Another bill placing federal curbs on same-sex marriages is going to President Clinton for his signature. In a double blow to gay-rights ac tivists Tuesday, the Senate voted 50 49 to kill the anti-discrimination bill and to reject same-sex marriage in fed eral law, 85-14. Heartened by the closeness of the vote on job discrimination, activists said they would lobby supporters to pass the bill before Congress adjourns this fall. When asked whether Senate sup porters would try again, Senate Minor ity Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said, “I don’t think so. I suspect that given the time that we have and the realiza tion that it’s not likely to pass in the House, that we’ll try to find more votes and make an even more concerted ef fort next year.” Earlier, Candace Gingrich, the les bian half-sister of House speaker Newt Gingrich, said congressional battles over gay rights are far from over. “hi the long run, the things that have transpired over the past two months are going to produce a whole new genera tion of active, involved gay and les bian Americans and our allies,” she said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Twenty-six of the Senate’s 47 Democrats joined Republicans in vot ing for the marriage bill, but also voted M This hill does nothing to defend marriage.” Matt Coles director of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Project for the job discrimination measure— underscoring the political predicament faced by senators who have supported gay rights. Across the country, meanwhile, a lawsuit went to trial that could lead Hawaii to become the first state to is sue marriage licenses to gay couples. Supporters of the same-sex marriage bill said Tuesday’s vote was a preemp tive strike against such action by states. The Senate’s overwhelming ap proval of the Defense of Marriage Act sent it to Clinton, who said he would sign it The House passed the same bill by a 5-to-l margin in July. “This vote is a deplorable act of hostility,” said Matt Coles, director of the Lesbian & Gay Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union in New York. “This bill does nothing to defend marriage.” Clinton cautioned that congres sional approval “should not be cause for any sort of discrimination or gay bashing,” adding that he regretted the discrimination bill had failed. The Defense of Marriage Act de fines marriage in federal law as a legal union between one man and one woman and allows a state to refuse to honor a same-sex marriage performed in any other state. Drunken death theory be nevermore; facts suggest Poe died of rabies NEW YORK (AP)—Edgar Allan Poe didn't die dnink in a Baltimore gutter, according to the first scientific study of the writer’s final days. The telltale facts suggest rabies instead. R. Michael Benitez, a Cardiologist who practices a mere block from the writer's grave, says it’s true that the master of the macabre was seen in a bar of Lombard Street on a dreary elec tion day in October 1849, delirious and possibly wearing somebody else’s soiled clothes. But Poe wasn't drunk. The author of “The Raven” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” en tered the hospital comatose, but by the next day was perspiring heavily, hal lucinating and shouting at imaginary companions. The day after that, he seemed better but couldn’t remember falling ill. On his fourth day at Wash ington College Hospital, Poe again grew confused and belligerent, then quieted down and died. To further discount the story that Poe was drunk, accounts have shown that alcohol made Poe violently ill. That’s a classic case of rabies, said Benitez, whose diagnosis appears in the September issue of the Maryland Medical Journal. Although there’s no evidence that a rabid animal bit Poe in the days be fore he succumbed, that doesn't cast much doubt on Benitez’ theory. About a quarter of rabies victims can’t remem ber being bitten at all. And once a per son is infected, the symptoms of rabies can take up to a year to appear. 3foundguft(y for roles in assassination TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin, already convicted of murder, was found guilty Wednesday of conspiring to kill the prime minister and to attack Palestinians. Yigal Amir’s brother Hagai and friend Dror Adani were convicted of the same charges. The three will be sentenced Oct 3, each feeing a maximum of 29 years in prison, Adani’s attorney said. Lawyers for the three said they would appeal the convictions. In addition to the conspiracy charges, Yigal Amir and the two other men were found guilty of ille gal weapons possession. Yigal Amir, 26, already is serv ing a life term for die Nov. 4 assas sination of Rabin at a Ttel Aviv peace rally. Hagai Amir denied he conspired to kill Rabin. He told the Tel Aviv District Court that while he knew of his brother’s wish to kill the prime minister to stop the peace process with the Palestinians, he never thought Yigal would go through with it. Hagai Amir—a weapons buff whom prosecutors say made the hollow-point bullets used to kill Rabin—also told the court he dis agreed with the logistics of his brother’s plan. Hortense death toll at 14; SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) —Hurricane Hortense smashed the island of Grand Turk with torren tial rain and 90-mph winds Wednes day as it picked up speed and headed toward the United States, leaving 14 dead in its wake. It was the third direct strike in two days for Hortense, which pounded Puerto Rico and the Do minican Republic on Tuesday. Search helicopters found four bodies Wednesday in Puerto Rico, where afternoon thunderstorms threatened more of the flash floods and mudslides responsible for most of the 12 deaths in the U.S. com monwealth. Authorities in the Dominican Republic found two bodies Wednesday, bringing the death toll for the two islands to 14, half of them children. Many others were missing and presumed drowned. The hurricane hit Grand Itirk at 2 p.m., lashing the capital of the British island chain with gusts up to 90 mph while churning up the Atlantic Ocean with 105-mph winds. Because telephone lines were down on the island, it was impos sible to determine whether there were any deaths or injuries. Rain and wind preceding the hurricane knocked out power and telephone service to the island of 3,200, leaving residents without state television or radio. Hie National Hurricane Center in Miami said there was a slight chance the hurricane would cross the Bahamas and come within 6S miles of West Palm Beach and Fort Pierce on Florida’s east coast Fri day. But forecasters think it’s more likely a weather trough in the mid Atlantic states will keep the hurri cane offshore, pushing the storm north and possibly targeting the Northeast and New England by Sunday. Also on Wednesday, a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch for Hurricane Fausto were in effect in the Pacific Ocean south of La Paz on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, the Na tional Weather Service said. Maximum sustained winds were reported at 86 mph with strength ening expected. Gusts were re pented as high as 103 mph. - * - Hortense’s sheets of blinding rain did the most damage in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, when highways * that had been transformed intb tft ers swept away cars and riversburst their banks, carrying away people and destroying more than 650 homes. _' . ’ Pentagon prepares for possibility of renewed hostilities with Iraq WASHINGTON (AP)—Warning Iraq that America is “not playing games,” the Pentagon ordered a pair ofB-52 bombers and eight radar-evad ing F-117 jets to the vicinity of the Persian Gulf on Wednesday to prepare for possible new hostilities with Iraq. Defense Secretary William Parry, using uncharacteristically harsh lan guage to discuss an Iraqi attempt to fire on U.S. aircraft in the region, pledged a U.S. response to Saddam Hussein “disproportionate to the provocations which were made against us.” X At a campaign rally in Arizona, President Clinton spoke in similar terms. “We will do what we must to pro tect our people,” President Clinton said. “The determination of the United States to deal with the problem of Iraq should not be underestimated.” The confrontation between the United States and Iraq began after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sent troops into his country’s northern areas in sup port of pne of two contending factions of the country’s Kurdish minority. ? In retaliation, Clinton salt 44 Navy and AirForce cruise missiles to destroy southern Iraq radar sites that might pose s dinger to U.S. pilots flying mis sion&lp enforce a southern “no-fly” zone barring Iraqi flights. " Republican vice presidential can didate Jack Kemp blamed the Iraqi problem an vacillation by Clinton in formulating foreign policy. “Our alliances are in disarray, and support for our mission is at risk be cause President Clinton’s policy is ingin Georgia. He issued the statement also in the name of GOP presidential if the administration I is becoming a po said he haaheaard of “I’d say, as we’ve said in the past, that when we’re facing provocative behavior by Saddam Hussein, the Iraq update Wednesday, September 11 ' ■■■ ‘V.r.’rt-il ^ w' . v •aa^^aaasgjaaaag* •^rassasaafSBSS“m'“>“” ■ 0 Around 5,000 refugees, arriving on foot or crammed into cars, buns SIteS^o3!^S^fiS£^Bashn^A^,hous^nw"be,i®vod,Dhaw * AP/TerryKole, Wm. J. Casieiio United States will fulfill its mission in the region best when we speak with one voice,” McCurry said. Earlier Wednesday, an Iraqi missile battery fired an SA-6 surface-to-air missile at two U.S. F-l 6s patrolling the “no-fly” zone in northern Iraq. - “Vfery foolish” is how Percy char acterized the Iraqi decision to fire. “Iraq air defense crews were play ing some kind of a game. They will very soon learn we are not playing games,” Perry said. The normally soft-spoken defense secretary, clearly irritated, said it was lucky the Iraqis activated their racfcfr only long enough to wildly dispatch onemissile. v. » ‘ifftiey’d had it on any longer than that,* he said, “thuy would have haft an anti radiation missile down they throats.”