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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1996)
News _ PAGE 2 __ " " __ MONDAY NOVEMBER 18,1996 Black leaders celebrate Tfexaco settlement Protestors vow to pressure other corporations for equality among women and minorities. The Associated Press Demonstrations against Texaco’s racial policies on Saturday turned into celebrations of a $ 176 million discrimi nation settlement, though the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other black leaders promised to keep the pressure on. Jackson said the settlement “does A A "V not indicate that the culture has changed,” and while pickets will be dropped, a boycott against the oil com pany will continue until Texaco shakes up its white male infrastructure. “There is this racism and sexism and hostility in corporate America,” Jackson told 75 protesters in front of Texaco’s massive Wilmington refinery in Los Angeles. “We want to detoxify corporate America, extend the roof and be fair.” “This issue is not the owners of the gas stations, but the board of direc tors,” Jackson said. Earlier at a news conference in Chicago, Jackson said the settlement was a step in the right direction, but did not include a comprehensive plan with goals, targets and timetables for the development of minorities and women. Jackson said his Rainbow PUSH Action Network plans to buy $1,000 worth of Texaco stock to get a voice in the company, and also will look at the racial policies of other major compa nies that share directors with Texaco — including Gillette, Johnson & Johnson and Campbell’s Soup. A protest planned for a Texaco ser vice station in Stone Mountain, Ga., was called off after Friday’s settlement announcement, but about 20 people showed up anyway. “We went to the designated loca tion but we really went more in the sprit of celebration,” said Joe Beasley, southern regional director for the Na . (-5 tional Rainbow Coalition. Texaco agreed to pay $115 million to about 1,400 current and former em ployees and to give black employees 10 percent raises. It also will spend $35 million on an task force that is to open opportunities fa- black workers, moni tor discrimination and develop diver sity and sensitivity training. In New York City, the Rev. A1 Shaipton led about two dozen sign waving demonstrators at a Texaco sta tion in Brooklyn. “Justice At Texaco, End Racism at Texaco” read some signs; “We Want Fairness” read an other. “We feel it was a historic agree ment,” Sharpton said. “But now we must deal with corporate structure, board makeup, contracting, advertis mg and franchises. “We have won the first game of the World Series, but the series is not over,” he said. Another demonstration went ahead at a Texaco station in Dallas, with members of the Black State Employ ees Association. About 40 protesters waving signs and carrying bullhorns showed up. “Tfexaco must now settle up with the African-American community for the irreparable harm, vile and disparaging attacks directed at the African-Ameri can community,” said Darren Reagan, chairman of the Texas group. Ministers in the New Orleans area dropped plans for a boycott of Texaco stations after the settlement. -, Kussia tails Mars mission Lack of funds, old facilities limit future for new journeys MOSCOW (AP)—With the biggest launch since the Soviet breakup, Russia’s space scien tists had hoped tojrevitalize the ailing space pro gram with Mars ’96, an ambitious mission to the Red Planet. But the unmanned craft never made it out of Earth’s orbit Sunday, and disappointed scien tists are now looking at a bleak future of shrink ing budgets, aging facilities and dim prospects for any new missions. The space probe, which would have reached Mars in September, was already two years be hind schedule by the time it lifted off late Satur day night at the Baikonur cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan Scientists blamed the delay on chronic li,'-.:.:■, - " " money problems in a program that is receiving only one-fifth the cash it got in Soviet times. The Russians spent $54 million over the past two years preparing for Mars ’96—a large sum for the impoverished Russians. One example: the United States is paying Russia $335 million just to sublet the Mir space station, where U.S. astronaut John Blaha cur rently has a four-month, time-share deal with two Russian cosmonauts.. Mir, which is nearing th&end of its life after 10 years, is a shining example of Soviet-era suc cesses. But the Russian space program has been “running on the brink of collapse for several years,” said James Oberg, an American special ist on Russian space activities. j&EVDrrg CALENDAR Any submissions for the Events Calendar, published every Monday, should be sent to Nebraska Union 34, Attn: Kelly Johnson, 1400 R Street, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. Phone: 472-2588 Fax: 472-1761 M - - - - --5? Monday, Nov. 18 Animal Science Graduate Student Assoc, Turkey Sale For iporgi information call: Dana Allen at 472-5237 Tuesday, Nov. 19 Interested in Account ing? Undecided? Accounting seminar: Jobs in accounting and the CPA exam explained. I Pizza ami refreshments 1 7:30 p.m. CBA, room 25 UNL Department of Geogra phy Awareness Week I Open house | Avery Hall, IJiird Floor 6:00- 9:30 p.m. I Wednesday, Nov. 20 Educator Jane Elliot, | CREATOR OF THE FAMOUS I “blue eyed/brown eyed* experiment I Speech sponsored by UPC Centennial Ballroom I City campus union I 7:00 p.m. I $3.00 with student I.D. $5.00 for faculty vi An afternoon with Dr. Elda [ Walker, first woman Bota- ^ NIST AT UNL Dr. Kathleen Keeler, professor i of Biological sciencesi, as Dr. : Walker presents uVegetation of Nebraska" Great Plains Art Collection 215 Love Library 13th and R Streets 3:30-5:00 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21 Theatrix Speed the Plow Temple’s second stage 12th and R Streets 8:00 p.m. $3.00 Show runs through Saturday For more information call: Julie Hagemeier, 472-9055 Saturday, Nov. 23 Brentano String Quartet, winners of 1995 Naumberg Chamber Music Award Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Auditorium 11th and R Streets 8:00 p.m. 3Br For more information call: Stephen Buhler, 472-1784 Refugees trek to homeland GISENYI, Rwanda (AP)—Every hour, 10,000 Rwandan Hutus trudged across the border to their homeland Saturday In a weary, rain-soaked column of humanity desperate to end the misery of their exile in eastern Zaire. ; The refugees’ unexpected return home eases the threat of a humanitarian disaster and is likely to alter the tack taken by an interna tional military force cleared by the U.N. Se curity Council to bring food and medical sup plies to the refugees. More than 200,000 refugees have streamed over the border since theexodus began Friday morning, theJUnited Nations estimates. Attownppnr Saturday 4renched the 25-mile line of men, womdii and children making their way through green, winding hills from a now-deserted refugee camp and over the border into Gisenyi. Fellow Rwandans lined the route beyond the border, applauding and hugging theirefu gees as they lugged their tattered bundles on a 20-mile slog from the border at Gisenyi to a U.N. transit center. “I’m not afraid,” said Pierre-Celestin Muyandekezi, a returning farmer. “I’m very As night fell Saturday, up to 400,000 people on the Zairian side settled down to rest by the road before resuming their trek at daybreak. Another 600,000 Rwandan refu gees remain cut off from aid in hills to the south. The refugees fled Rwanda 2 Vi years ago, fearing retribution after a Hutu-led govern ment presided over the massacre of a half million Thtsis. Hutu militias in the refugee camps in Zaire virtually held the refugees prisoner until Thursday, when an attack by Zairian rebels sent the militias fleeing into the hills and the refugees hurrying home. The Tutsi-led government that ousted the Hutu leaders after the 1994 genocide has promised to treat the returning Hutus well, and most refugees who returned earlier have resettled peacefully. Amnesty International, however, said that the returning refugees could be arbitrarily punished, and may wind up joining the 80,000 Hutus already in crowded Rwandan jails awaiting trial in connection with the genocide. Rwandan leaders say there is no longer any need for military intervention, calling instead for aid in resettling refugees. for fighter contract WASHINGTON Lockheed Martin and Bbeing will compete for a $219 billion Defen se Dc^wtmcnt fighter contract that likely will determine the U.S. leader in defense con tracting well into the next century. The Pentagon narrowed the competition for the joint strike fighter contract Saturday from three to two, cutting out defense contracting ti tan McDonnell Douglas. Officials said the win ning Lockheed Martin and Boeing designs were chosen for their price tags. “The best value to the government was re flected in these two proposals,” said LL Gen. George K. Muellner, former program manager for the jet fighter, especially in the costs of de velopment and future upkeep. The chosen two will build and develop pro totypes of their designs for the joint strike fighter Din anticipation of the final decision on the larg est procurement package in Pentagon history coming in 2000. Concept demonstrations, in cluding ground and flight tests, are budgeted at $2.2 billion, the contracts awarded Saturday said. i.• ...■ ■ 1 Compared to current airplanes, it brings a more lethal package into the theater and brings it faster ... and does so with fewer supporting assets and therefore less costs,” Defense Secre tary William Perry said in announcing the final ists. Seattle-based Boeing Co., working on its design with Britain’s Rolls-Royce, was consid ered a long shot because of its relative inexperi ence in developing fighter aircraft. But Boeing has done work on the B-2 bomber and is build ing wings for the F-22 fighter. - For Lockheed Martin, based in Bethesda, MtL, winning the overall contract would comple ment its already solid base in fighter construc tion as the prime contractor on the F-22. Critics have questioned whether the United States faces a current threat large enough to re quire such a costly program. By 2005, the United States will have more than 3,000 fighters with the latest technology. That’s more than the com bined inventories of Russia, China, North Ko rea, Iran and Iraq.