News Digest
Friday, September 17,1999 Page 2
Floyd threatens north east coast
New York and New Jersey authorities declare states of emergency
MONTAUK, N.Y. (AP) - Creating
havoc even at half-strength, Tropical
Storm Floyd raced into the Northeast
on Thursday, grounding hundreds of
flights, closing school for 3 million stu
dents and even postponing a U.N.
meeting on war.
Its winds falling below hurricane
force to 65 mph by evening, Floyd
headed for Long Island and New
England after rolling through the
Carolinas in the morning.
At least seven deaths have been
blamed on Floyd, six from traffic acci
dents in the Carolinas and one man
presumed to have drowned in the
Bahamas.
While still a hurricane, Floyd
drilled ashore at Cape Fear, N.C.,
knocking out power to more than 1.4
million in the Carolinas and flooding
highways and basements with more
than a foot of rain.
But damage to buildings was mod
est.
“We’re most fortunate,” said
George Lemons, a National Weather
Service forecaster in Raleigh, N.C.
From there, Floyd’s winds weak
ened steadily to less than half its fear
some peak of 155 mph. The minimum
wind speed for a hurricane is 74 mph.
At 5 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. CDT), the
storm was 10 miles south of Atlantic
City, N.J., moving north-northeast at
nearly 30 mph.
But even the gentler Floyd was
threat enough for New York and New
Jersey authorities, who declared states
of emergency.
Public schools were closed in
Washington, Baltimore, all of New
Jersey, Philadelphia and New York
City, a part of the country more accus
tomed to snow days.
It was the first time anyone could
recall all schools in New Jersey and
New York City closing because of a
hurricane.
Hundreds of airline flights were
canceled along the East Coast, ground
ing tens of thousands of passengers.
Amtrak suspended all train service
south of Washington, and service far
ther north was disrupted by a mudslide
and fallen trees. Ferry service was can
celed from Cape Cod to Martha’s
Vineyard and Nantucket.
“The message is, don’t fool with
Mother Nature,” said New York City
Council Speaker Peter Vallone. “Stay
home if you can.”
The New York Stock Exchange
stuck to regular hours, but the U.N.
Security Council suspended its delib
erations at 2 p.m. and postponed a
meeting on protecting civilians in war
zones.
«
I’m going to ride this one out. We re going
to spend our time watching the storm. We
have a perfect view ”
Dave Feraro
Fire Island resident
U.N. officials said it was the first
time in recent history that a formal,
open meeting of the Security Council
was derailed by bad weather.
On the eastern end of Long Island,
directly in the storm’s projected path,
residents made last-minute runs for
flashlights and emergency supplies
and hammered plywood over win
dows.
It was expected to be Long Island’s
harshest storm since September 1985,
when Hurricane Gloria caused an esti
mated $130 million in damage and
knocked out power to 750,000 homes
and businesses.
Authorities ordered the evacuation
of Fire Island, off the south coast of
Long Island, but not all its 2,000 resi
dents obeyed.
Dave Feraro, armed with candles,
flashlights, batteries and a cell phone,
hunkered down with his wife in their
Fire Island home a mere 150 feet from
the white-capped Atlantic.
“I’m going to ride this one out,”
said Feraro, who risked a ticket for
ignoring the order. “We’re going to
spend our time watching the storm. We
have a perfect view.”
In Atlantic City, N.J., the Miss
America Pageant had no immediate
plans to curtail Saturday’s indoor
pageant, but city officials feared the
storm might force them to cancel
today’s pageant parade.
The Pentagon said 8,000 members
of the National Guard in Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina, North
Carolina and Virginia were mobilized
to help communities recover from
Floyd. National Guardsmen in
Delaware, New Jersey and New York
were put on alert.
Gates makes pledge
to offer scholarships
SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft that really builds a strong
Chairman Bill Gates pledged America.”
Thursday to donate $1 billion for The gift is the couple’s largest
college scholarships for minority single philanthropic contribution
students. * and among the largest ever, rival
He said he wants to change the ing a $ 1 billion commitment by
face of American leadership - CNN founder Ted Turner to the
including that of his own compa- United Nations,
ny. The United Negro College
The “Gates Millennium Fund will administer the scholar
Scholars Program,” supported by ship program starting next year,
the world’s richest man, a Harvard Those three organizations’
dropout, and his wife, Melinda, combined scholarship budget is
will provide 1,000 scholarships a $51 million. Gates will almost
year for 20 years to Asian- double that with his donations of
American, black, Hispanic and $50 million a year.
American Indian students. The scholarships, to be award
“This country is in an incredi- ed primarily for academic achieve
ble time period. The advances in ment and financial need, will sup
technology are really quite breath- port four years of undergraduate
taking,” Gates said at a news con- education, plus graduate studies in
ference. “Is everybody getting a education, library science, engi
chance to benefit from this? The neering, math and science,
answer is really no. Eligible students must have a
“I do hope in the years ahead 3.3 GPA, be nominated by a
that as you Iook at the kids in teacher or principal and commit to
school and you look at our indus- performing community service,
try, you will see a broad, diverse Scholarship winners would have
representation, because I 'think to maintain a 3.0 GPA.
I " 1 1 1 11 ■ — ■ '■ -— ■
Police say shooter
was Very troubled’
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -
Police picked through Larry Gene
Ashbrook’s trashed home and old jour
nals on Thursday, but found no explana
tion for why he opened fire in a church,
killing seven people and himself.
Police did find holes punched in
walls, concrete poured in toilets and
shredded family photographs.
The 47-year-old Ashbrook
appeared to be “a very troubled man
who... sought to quiet whatever demons
that bothered him,” FBI agent Robert
Garrity said. “I don’t know that we’ll
ever know the answer to the question of
why it happened.”
Ashbrook, dressed in blue jeans, a
black jacket and smoking a cigarette,
entered the Wedgwood Baptist Church
in Fort Worth on Wednesday evening as
teen-agers listened to a Christian rock
band in the sanctuary.
In the church lobby, Ashbrook con
fronted his first victims with a question:
“What’s the program?” Then he shot a
janitor who approached him and killed
two other people before walking into
the crowded sanctuary.
The 150 teen-agers gathered inside
initially thought Ashbrook was part of a
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skit as he began cursing and spouting
derogatory comments about Baptists.
They scrambled for cover as
Ashbrook opened fire, pausing at least
twice to reload.
“The guy pointed at me and shot at
me!” an out-of-breath man told a 911
dispatch operator. “I saw the flash of a
muzzle and headed the other direction.”
Ashbrook lit and rolled a home
made pipe bomb down an aisle at one
point. It exploded but did not harm any
one.
Seven people - choir members,
seminarians and high school students -
were killed. Seven others were wound
ed, three seriously. Ashbrook then killed
himself in a rear pew.
Authorities said Ashbrook carried
two weapons, a 9mm Ruger semiauto
matic handgun and a .380-caliber AMT
handgun. Investigators found six loaded
9mm clips in his jacket pocket but were
unsure if the .380 was fired inside the
church.
Acting police Chief Ralph
Mendoza estimated there were 30 spent
9mm shell casings inside the church.
The .380 was purchased legally
from a now-closed flea market shop,
Mendoza said. Officials still were
researching die purchase of the 9mm.
Bomb-makingrtools, including
files, pipes, fuses and gunpowder, were
found inside Ashbrook’s modest wood
frame home in the working-class sub
urb of Forest Hill.
The journals indicated that
Ashbrook had been upset about his
inability to keep a job.
Mendoza said Ashbrook’s only
known police record was a 1971 arrest
for marijuana possession.
Ashbrook never married or had
children, and he lived alone since his
85-year-old father died in July. While
some neighbors had dismissed him as a
harmless eccentric, others said he had
become erratic, even abusive, after his
mother died nine years ago.
■ Indonesia
Indonesia troops to begin
East Timor withdrawal
DILI, Indonesia (AP) -
Indonesia’s military commander in
East Timor promised Thursday he
would begin withdrawing his
troops from the devastated
province next week, ending a long,
bitter occupation and making way
for a multinational peacekeeping
force.
Indonesia invaded the former
Portuguese colony in 1975, and the
United Nations has never recog- '
nized Indonesian authority there.
Indonesia will start withdraw
ing its 9,000 soldiers from East
Timor when a U.N.-approved
peacekeeping force arrives, most
likely on Sunday or Monday, said
Maj. Gen. Kiki Syahnakri, the
army commander in East Timor. He
said he hopes the withdrawal will
take only a week.
However, armed forces com
mander Gen. Wiranto remained
cautious about the withdrawal
timetable.
Wiranto said he would coordi
nate the withdrawal with the U.N.
approved forces and added that his
soldiers were planning to take part
in the peacekeeping force.
■Nm|Kmi
Typhoon’s winds
devastate Hong Kong ^
HONG KONG (AP) - Typhoon
York roared across Hong Kong on
Thursday - the first direct hit by
such a powerful storm in 16 years -
knocking windows out of skyscrap
ers and yanking trees from the
ground as the normally bustling
city collapsed into a chaotic mess.
One man died after being
struck by flying debris, three peo
ple were missing and at least 493
people were injured, 11 seriously,
as York pounded Hong Kong with
hurricane-force winds for nearly 11
hours.
The typhoon triggered floods
across the territory, cutting off
power to remote villages. It
blocked roads with uprooted trees,
huge shards of glass and bamboo
scaffolding that was ripped violent
ly off of buildings.
■Russia
Putin gives government
3 days to bolster security
VOLGODONSK, Russia (AP)
- President Boris Yeltsin, facing a
political crisis after a fourth bomb
ing in a month killed 17 people and
wounded 180 others Thursday, said
he has “enough will and enough
resources for the struggle against
terrorism.”
His statement came after the
latest early-morning explosion at
an apartment building. The four
explosions together have killed at
least 292 people.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
gave government agencies three
days to come up with plans for
strengthening security in industry,
transport, communications and
energy installations, as well as in
residential areas.
During a meeting of his
Cabinet, he turned to the television
cameras and appealed to citizens to
protect themselves.
“I want to turn to military veter
ans, police veterans. Take the initia
tive on yourselves ” he said. h
