Digest
Wednesday, October 27,1999__ Page 2
Investigators probe S.D. crash
Tissue samples from victims’ remains collected from the wreckage
MINA, S.D. (AP) - Investigators
returned Tuesday to the site where a jet
carrying golf champion Payne Stewart
nose-dived into a field, taking samples
of victims’ remains but cautioning there
would likely be no quick explanation
why the plane flew pilotless for 1,400
miles across the country.
Five others also were killed.
A six-member National
Transportation Safety Board team
walked through the crash site Monday
evening, hours after the Learjet crashed,
and returned to the task Tuesday.
The wreckage is “fairly contained,”
NTSB Vice Chairman Robert Francis
said. “It looks the aircraft was pretty
much vertical wheiut hit The_ground is
soft, and it went in fairly deep.”
The investigation will take some
time, he said.
Some tissue samples from the vic
tims’ remains had been removed from
the scene.
Stewart, 42, had won 18 tourna
ments over his career, including two
U.S. Open titles. He also was part of the
team that helped the United States stage
a historic comeback to beat Europe last
month for the Ryder Cup.
Also killed were Stewart’s agents,
Robert Fraley and Van Ardan, and the
two pilots, Michael Kling, 43, and
Stephanie Bellegarrigue, 27. Francis
said officials believed a sixth person
also died. The family of Bruce Borland,
40, was sure he was on board.
The jet was operated by Sunjet
Aviation Inc. Company officials told
The Wichita Eagle it had been inspected
twice in the previous three days, includ
ing just before the doomed flight.
The Lear 35 left Orlando, Fla., at
9:09 a.m. and was headed to Texas,
where Stewart was to attend a meeting
on a proposed golf course near Dallas
and the Tour Championship in Houston.
Air traffic controllers soon lost con
tact with the chartered, twin-engine
plane. It may have suddenly lost cabin
pressure soon after taking off for Dallas,
government officials said.
The plane had no flight data
recorder, just the voice recorder, which
normally erases conversations after a
half-hour to reuse the tape, Francis said.
The occupants of the plane presumably
were already unconscious or dead by
the last 30 minutes of the flight
Planes that fly above 12,000 feet are
pressurized, because the air at altitudes
above that lacks enough oxygen for peo
ple to breathe comfortably. If a plane
loses pressure, those aboard could slow
ly lose consciousness.
Once reaching a cruising altitude,
pilots often switch on the autopilot. If
they pass out the plane could continue
on until it ran out of fuel.
Fighter jets sent after the Learjet fol
lowed it for much of its flight but were
unable to help. The pilots drew close
and noticed no structural damage but
were unable to see into the Learjet
because its windows were frosted over,
indicating the temperature inside was
well below freezing.
The plane, apparently on autopilot,
cruised 1,400 miles straight up the
nation’s midsection. Authorities say the
plane was “porpoising,” fluctuating
between 22,000 and 51,000 feet.
Stewart’s Australian-born wife,
Tracey, tried to reach her husband on his
cellular phone while she followed the
drama on television, her brother said.
“She was trying to ring him on his
mobile and couldn’t raise him. It’s just
really bad for my sister to be watching it
on CNN, knowing that it was her hus
band on board,” Mike Feiguson told the
Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The plane presumably ran out of
fuel four hours after it took off, then
crashed in the field in South Dakota.
“The plane in trouble started flip
flopping around and turning somer
saults,” said Ken Dunn of Mina, one of
the first to arrive at the crash site.
“When it came down, it came down.”
Russian tanks near Grozny
■ Most of the fighting
occurred east of the
Chechen capital.
GROZNY, Russia (AP) -
Exploding artillery shells rattled
windows and spread fear in the
Chechen capital, Grozny, Tuesday, as
the heaviest fighting in weeks
brought Russian tanks and soldiers
near the city limits.
Chechen fighters battled the
Russians within two nTiles of
Grozny’s northern edge, while more
fighting raged to the east of the city.
There were unconfirmed reports that
elite Russian reconnaissance troops
had entered Grozny.
Russian jets and artillery else
where bombarded at least seven
towns and settlements across
Chechnya on Tuesday, officers on
both sides said.
Up to 200 Russian tanks and
self-propelled artillery pieces led the
fiercest assaults in the Terek Ridge
area, the strategic heights northwest
of Grozny’s airport, said Gen.
Mumadi Saidayev, a top Chechen
military official.
The Chechens claimed they had
knocked out several tanks and
inflicted heavy losses on a Russian
column advancing from the south
east, but no independent confirma
tion was available.
Residents of the battered
Chechen capital were gripped with
fear and hopelessness ahead of the
region’s harsh winter season.
“Many of those who have stayed
in Grozny feel doomed,” said resi
dent Asya Lalayeva, complaining
that officials in both the Russian and
Chechen governments “see them as
raw material.”
Russian officials have given
mixed signals about whether they
plan to storm Grozny in their cam
paign to wipe out Islamic militants
based in Chechnya. After early suc
cesses, the Russian military now
appears to be trying to occupy all of
the republic and end its de facto
independence.
Casualties in the latest fighting
are unknown. The Russians say they
have lost some 200 soldiers and
killed 2,000 militants overall, while
the Chechens claim to have lost far
fewer fighters and killed many
Russians.
U.S. sends inquiry to South Korea
WASHINGTON (AP) -The Army
is sending an investigative team to
South Korea to begin the field inquiry
into allegations of a Korean War mas
sacre of civilians by U.S. soldiers.
The investigators, headed by the
Army’s inspector general, Lt. Gen.
Michael Ackerman, plan one day of
talks with their South Korean counter
parts on Friday, defense officials said.
They will leave for Seoul today.
Kenneth Bacon, spokesman for
Defense Secretary William Cohen,
said the meeting will mark the start of
the information sharing that Cohen
promised President Kim Dae-jung in
an Oct. 8 letter. Cohen told Kim the
U.S. investigation would seek to uncov
er the truth “no matter where it leads.”
On Sept. 30, The Associated Press
reported accounts by American veter
ans and South Korean villagers that
U.S. soldiers killed up to 400 civilians
under a bridge at No Gun Ri, South
Korea, early in the war. A subsequent
AP report said that in addition to the No
Gun Ri incident in late July 1950, the
Army a short time later destroyed two
strategic bridges as South Korean
refugees streamed across, killing hun
dreds of civilians.
The Pentagon has said it will take a
broad look into the matter, although it
has not spelled out the scope, timing
and guidelines of its investigation.
Prior to publication of the AP sto
ries, U.S. officials said previous exam
inations of military records found no
evidence of a massacre. The earlier
inquiries were the basis for U.S. and
South Korean rejections of requests
from victims’ families and survivors
seeking acknowledgment of the
killings and compensation. The South
Korean government already has con
ducted some interviews with survivors.
The Pentagon has begun reviewing
historical records, but Friday’s talks in
Seoul will mark the first step in the
field investigation. Last week Cohen
announced the creation of a special
group of Defense Department offi
cials, plus some nonmilitary advisers,
to guide the Army’s investigation.
Questions? Comments?
Ask for the appropriate section editor at (402) 472-2588
or e-maH dn6uni.edu.
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Chinese
protesters
arrested
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese police
detained dozens of Falun Gong spiritu
al movement members on Tuesday,
pulling them into police vans after they
staged a second day of civil disobedi
ence in Tiananmen Square to protest a
government ban on their group.
The low-key protest, which partic
ipants knew assured their arrests,
showed that the Communist govern
ment’s three-month crackdown and its
campaign of vilification against Falun
Gong leaders has yet to eradicate the
popular movement.
A New York-based spokeswoman
for the group claimed that police have
arrested about 1,000 members over the
last few days - a report that could not
be independently verified.
On Tuesday, police took at least 36
people from the square, often in batch
es of six or more. They included mid
dle-aged or older women and a mid
dle-aged man who was forced into a
van along.
By gathering in clumps amid the
throngs of tourists on Tiananmen
Square, the protesters hoped to high
light their disapproval of a proposed
law against Falun Gong and other
groups China’s communist leaders
view as dangerous cults.
The national legislature is review
ing the law this week at the Great Hall
of the People beside Tiananmen
Square.
Police in street clothes distin
guished the Falun Gong adherents
from Chinese tourists in the vast
square by quietly asking people if they
came to protest. Those who answered
“yes” were quickly detained.
Gail Rachlin, die New York-based
spokeswoman for Falun Gong, said the
protesters “just want to have the gov
ernment understand them.”
“All they want to do is meditate,”
she said.
Without directly addressing the
allegations of mistreatment and mass
arrests, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue defended
the crackdown on Falun Gong as law
ful.
“It is an illegal organization that
constitutes a cult,” Zhang said. “The
organization has upset social order and
has damaged the health of practition
♦»
ere.
■Washington
Law restricts loans to some
students with records
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Students convicted of drug offenses
will be barred from receiving federal
college tuition aid for one year from
date of conviction and, in some
cases, permanently under rules tak
ing effect next summer.
The regulations are based on a
law enacted last year to reduce waste
in the student loan system. They do
not apply to juvenile records, and
some students will be able to retain
eligibility by completing drug reha
bilitation or by having their convic
tions overturned.
Students must report any drug
convictions on forms for federal
financial aid, including Pell grants
and student loans.
■ Indonesia
Indonesia president moves
to restrict military power
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - In
a move to sharply reduce the mili
tary’s political dominance,
Indonesia’s new president took the
radical step Tuesday of appointing a
civilian to run the Defense Ministry.
President Abdurrahman Wahid,
whose election by parliament last
week marked Indonesia’s transition
to democracy, announced a Cabinet
filled with political neophytes,
Islamic party politicians and fewer
military officials than ever before.
Juwono Sudarsono, Indonesia’s
first civilian defense minister in four
decades, faces the huge task of
reforming a military widely accused
of human rights abuses and med
dling in politics and of keeping
restive parts of the country from try
ing to break away.
■Wyoming
Defendant enacts panic
defense in Shepard case
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - The
alleged ringleader in the beating
death of college student Matthew
Shepard has adopted a “gay panic”
defense, a somewhat risky strategy
that has had little success in the past.
In opening statements on
Monday, Aaron McKinney’s lawyer
argued that McKinney snapped after
a sexual advance from Shepard trig
gered memories of a homosexual
assault by a childhood bully. The
lawyer also contended McKinney
was under the influence of drugs and
alcohol at the time.
The defense is hoping to save
McKinney’s life by convincing the
jury that he is guilty of manslaughter
instead of murder.
■ New York
City plans to require
work for place in shelters
NEW YORK (AP) - Homeless
people looking for a place to sleep
in New York shelters will have to
work for it under a policy begin
ning this winter - a move con
demned Tuesday as “a throwback
to the days of Dickens.”
New York is believed to be the
only major U.S. city to impose a
work-for-shelter requirement.
On Tuesday, Republican Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani said the city will
extend the policy in about 60 days
to the 4,600 families and 7,000 sin
gle adults staying in city-run sheh
ters.
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