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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1997)
News Digest Postal Service suspends official over racist e-mail WASHINGTON—The U.S. Postal Service suspended a postal official in New York on Tuesday after he allegedly sent a risque glossary of “ebonies” terms on the service’s electronic mail system. The list of 16 words and their supposed meanings in common par lance among Macks was rife with sexual and racial stereotypes. A postal workers’ union labeled the e-mail a “vicious, racist message.” Roy Betts, spokesman for the Postal Service, said it was investigat ing the incident to determine what disciplinary action should be taken. Backed by snipers, workers begin Jewish housing project JERUSALEM — Yellow bulldozers began clearing away rocks and earth Tuesday for a Jewish housing project in disputed east Jerusalem, triggering ‘Palestinian protests and warnings that Mideast peace was near collapse. Hundreds of troops in riot gear, backed by snipers and helicopters, sealed off the pine-covered hill where 6,500 Jewish apartments are to be built on land claimed by the Palestinians as part of a future capital. There was scuffling around the site, and scattered protests broke out later. In the nearby West Bank town of Bethlehem, the scene was remi niscent of the 1987-93 Palestinian uprising. Teen-agers burned tires, blocked roads with garbage bins and whistled at Israeli soldiers, dar ing the soldiers to chase them. A combative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his de cision to go ahead with the construction. Both sides have made the project a test of their resolve on Jerusalem, the deal-breaker of the Is rael-Palestinian negotiations. “We’re not going to change our policy because of the threat (of Palestinian violence),” he said. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said he had ordered that there be no violence, but Netanyahu accused him of giving “the green light” to attacks. Replacement candidates for CIA post considered WASHINGTON—Reeling from Anthony Lake’s sudden withdrawal, the White House considered a quick move TUesday to name acting CIA ^SraiOT White House officials, Republican senators and even Lake himself advanced Tenet’s name as a noncontroversial way to bring a new chief to a CIA that has been without a confirmed directin' since early December. Other names were on President Clinton’s shot list, but Tenet was undergoing a final White House review and, hairing a snag, could be nominated as early as today. > “I have a lot of respect for him. We believe he’s capable,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Commit tee and the man who orchestrated much of the criticism of Lake that led to Ids withdrawing his name Monday night. Shelby said the com mittee-could move quickly on a Tenet nomination—in sharpcontrast \;-jto the drawn-out consideration of Lake’s nomination. • Matt Haney/DN Penis severed, sent aloft by wife BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Police were looking Tuesday for a woman accused of drugging her husband and cutting off his penis, then reportedly sending it aloft attached to a bunch of balloons. Prayoon Ekklang, a 47-year-old taxi driver in the northeastern city of Nakom Ratchasima, was hospitalized Saturday after trying in vain to catch his wife when she ran with his penis, said police Capt. Chompoo Somsuthai. Prayoon took two sleeping pills that his wife told him were allergy medicine, Chompoo said. Later, he awoke to intense pain in his groin and saw his wife holding a knife in (me hand and his penis in the other, Chompoo said. Local newspapers reported that she attached his penis to a bunch of balloons and released them into the sky. Police could not confirm that. “Prayoon is sad and said that ho could not imagine his wife would dare to do such a thing,” Chompoo said. Chompoo said Prayoon’s wife, La-ong Paerthong, was drunk and had argued with Prayoon about his girlfriend before the assault. Cases of Thai wives retaliating against philandering husbands by cutting off their sexual organs are not rare. One result is that Thai doctors have pioneered techniques for reattaching severed penises. ... A'*: "I . ,m* : I By David Briggs Associated Press In a major setback to Christian gay-rights activists, the Presbyterian Church (U.SA.) has voted to make its ban on the ordination of homosexuals part of church law. The ban got the majority it needed Tuesday with approvals from regional bodies in Miami and Charlotte, N.C. The Book of Order — the church’s constitution—will be changed to re quire chastity of single ministers. “It says to the country that Presbyterians are committed to reaf firming their biblical center for faith and practice,” said the Rev. Jack Haberer, moderator of The Presbyte rian Coalition, a group favoring the amendment. However, Scott Anderson, co-mod erator of Presbyterians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns, said the change will force more gay and lesbian presbyterians out of die 2.7 million member church. “It’s (me more club that has been used to beat up gay and lesbian people in the Presbyterian Church,” he said. An announcement of the vote is not expected for another week or two as votes are sent to church headquarters it It’s one more club that has been used to beat up gay and lesbian people in the Presbyterian Church.” ScottAndehson Presbyterians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns in Louisville, Ky. But advocacy groups said the 172 districts so far have voted 88 in favor and 60 against. Hie United Church of Christ is the only major Protestant denomination to permit the ordination of homosexuals. Opinion polls show a majority of people in the pews oppose having gay and lesbian ministers. But the issue continues to convulse mainline Protestantism. In a decision last May that averted the first heresy trial of an Episcopal bishop since the 1920s, a church court ruled that Episcopal doctrine does not explicitly ter the ordination of prac ticing gays. It also declared a 1979 resolution against the ordination of non-celibate gays is not binding. The Presbyterian General Assem bly, the church’s chief legislative body, affirmed in 1993 past church policie forbidding the ordination of non-celi bate homosexuals. The church's Bool of Order, however, has not specificall; addressed the issue of gay ordinations Last year, after a three-yea churchwide study of sexuality, th< General Assembly sent out a propose* constitutional amendment forbiddinj the ordination of individuals who fai to five “either in fidelity within th covenant of marriage of a man and woman, or chastity in singleness." In practice, the amendment give church policy banning gay ordination the “status of church law," said spokes man Jerry Van Marter. Haberer predicts “a couple of year worth of skirmishes” to test th strength of the amendment, but sai its passage should settle the issue. Zaire s prime minister may be out KINSHASA, Zaire (AP) — With many pro-government legislators ab sent, Zaire’s Parliament voted over whelmingly Tuesday to oust the prime minister. The government immediately de nounced the vote as invalid, saying not enough lawmakers were present. _ It remained unclear late Tuesday whether Leon Kengo wa Dondo, widely Mamed fin* sweeping military losses to rebels in eastern Zaire, re mained prime minister. The vote came only hours after Kengo left for Nairobi, Kenya, for a meeting on the insurgency sweeping through eastern Zaire. But with President Mobutu Sese Seko lying in a hospital bed in Mo naco, Zaire was left rudderless Tues day. Its two top leaders were out of the country, its third largest city was in the hands of rebels and the Parlia ment had no constitutional way to choose a successor to Mobutu. There was great concern in Kinshasa, the capital, that if Mobutu dies or the army attempts a coup, ri ots would break out among soldiers and civilians. Riots in 1991 and 1993 killed hundreds of people and de stroyed many businesses. Parliament spokesman Kinkela Vi K’ansy, a member of the opposition. said 464 members, nearly two-thin of the 740-seat transitional Parlii ment, took part in the vote IViesdi night. Nine members voted again Kengo’s removal and 10 abstained,! said. But government spokesman Jeai Claude Biebie Ekalabo said the ccn stitution requires three-quarters ( Parliament — 555 lawmakers — ft a vote to be valid. It wasn’t immediately clear if ti pro-government lawmakers had into tionally missed the vote. Parliam© sessions in Zaire often are sparse! attended. EU team assesses Albanian damage TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Piles of silvery ashes, some still holding the shape of stacked books, lay amid the twisted wreckage of the library. In the shattered laboratories, only a few mi croscope slides remain whole. Before looters left the palm- and pine-dotted campus of Albania’s ag ricultural institute they scratched a message into the bare walls: “This is occupied.” “This was a well-equipped labora tory, on the same standard as other European labs,” said lab technician Rita Jano, glass shards crackling un der ho- feet. “Within a couple of hours, it was destroyed.” While Albanians started to clean up the debris of two weeks of may hem, a fact-finding mission from the European Union — hoping the worst turmoil had ended — assessed Albania's needs for assistance. Though the capital was largely calm, 12 towns in southern Albania remained under rebel control, making a complete damage assessment inpos sible. The speaker of the Parliament, Pjeter Arbnori, warned Tuesday of a possible coup. He said the insistent by a group of former army officers ai secret police that President Sa Berisha resign by Thursday threaten* the constitutional order. In the south, the insurgent N tional Salvation Council warned < more unrest unless Berisha ste] down. If he capitulates, they said, 1 would be replaced by a committee th includes insurgents. EU officials traveled to Albania biggest seaports, Durres and VIora, determine how to deliver food ai medicine. Questions? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at 472-2586 or e-mail dnOunlinfo.un1.edu. -u. .. . Editor: DougKouma Managing Editor Paula Lavigne Assoc. News Editors: Joshua GilUn Chad Lorenz Night Editor. AmeHjersman Opinion Editor Anthony Nguyen AP Wire Editor: JohnFulwider Copy Desk Chief: Julie Sobczyk Sports Editor Ttevor Parte A&E Editor: Jeff Randall Photo Director: Scott Bruhn Art Director Aaron Steckelberg Web Editor Michelle Collins ei» — a-m me_ Nigm ntws Editors: Bryce Glenn Leanne Sorensen Rebecca Stone Amy Taylor General Manager DanShattil Advertising Manager AmyStruthers Asst Ad Manager Cheryl Renner* Classified Ad Manager: Tiffiny Clifton Publications Travis Brandt Board Chairman: 436-7915 Professional Don Walton Adviser 473-7301 MX NUMBER: 472*1761 The Daily Nebraskan (USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during summer sessions. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by caHing 472-2588. The public has access to the Publications Board. Subscription price is $55 for one year. 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