jet candidates
Mcxiill News Service
Northwestern University
WASHINGTON (U-WIRE) -
Calling the 2000 presidential election a
critical time in our democracy, a coali
tion of more than 50 youth groups
Wednesday urged presidential candi
dates to take part in a debate moderated
by young people and devoted to youth
related issues.
Within hours, a spokesperson from
Vice President A1 Gore’s campaign said
Gore would participate if he wins the
Democratic nomination.
Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the
Republican front-runner, was noncom
mittal at a weekend college students’
forum.
A debate among the major party’s
presidential nominees targeted at
Americans under 30 would encourage
young people to vote and encourage
candidates to address young people’s
concerns, said Julia Cohen, executive
director of the Youth Vote 2000 coali
tion.
“Young people are disconnected
with politics and politicians,” Cohen
said. “Campaigns don’t target youth
because they believe that youth won’t
vote. Youth don’t vote because they
believe politicians don’t listen to them.
A youth presidential debate will break
this chicken-and-egg cycle.”
Cohen said that young people have
been more valued for their purchasing
power than their political clout.
“Corporate America has done a
great job at targeting young people,”
she said. “I don’t think politics has
caught up.”
Youth Vote 2000’s proposal seeks to
reverse an increasing trend of voter apa
thy.
According to U.S. Census Bureau
data, only 32.4 percent of Americans
aged 18-24 voted in the 1996 presiden
tial election, down from 49.6 percent in
1972, the first year that the voting age
was lowered from 21 to 18.
“We are becoming a nation of non
voters,” Cohen said.
Volunteers for Youth Vote 2000
hand-delivered letters requesting par
ticipation in the debates to campaign
headquarters of 10 announced or possi
ble presidential candidates, ranging
from Bush to Gore to Donald Trump,
the unannounced Reform Party candi
date.
Gore said in a statement Wednesday
that he would definitely participate in a
youth debate if he wins the Democratic
nomination for president.
Kristen Ludecke, a spokesperson
for the Bradley campaign, said Youth
Vote 2000’s letter had not reached cam
paign headquarters yet.
“We haven’t seen the letter, but it
sounds like a good idea,” Ludecke said.
At a forum in New Hampshire last
v Campaigns
don’t target youth
because they
believe that youth
won t vote.”
Julia Cohen
Youth Vote 2000 executive director
Sunday, several Republican presiden
tial candidates were asked directly
about participating in a youth debate.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, Utah Sen.
Orrin Hatch and magazine publisher
Steve Forbes enthusiastically supported
the idea. Bush sounded a more cautious
note, saying, “I will give it serious con
sideration.”
_ * Robert Nickelsburg/Newsmakers
EUAN GONZALEZ sprays party string at people as he and his great uncle
Lazaro Gonzalez watch Miami’s annual Three Kings parade Sunday.
Cuban boy’s father
lashes out at relatives
WASHINGTON (AP) - Flashing
anger at those responsible for keeping his
son in Miami, the father of Elian Gonzalez
said Thursday he feels like “breaking the
neck” of politicians fighting the boy’s
return to Cuba.
Repeating previous statements that he
has no intention of coming to Miami to
pick up the boy, Juan Miguel Gonzalez
told ABC’s “Nightline” that Elian’s U.S.
relatives don’t “have any feelings.”
The interview was conducted as
Attorney General Janet Reno sought die
return of the 6-year-old child.
“The issue is a father who wants his
son home and grandparents who want
their grandson home, and these are bonds
that should be honored,” Reno told her
weekly news conference Thursday.
Gonzalez asked whether, if he went to
Miami, his son would be handed over.
“No,” he said, answering his own ques
tion. “Miami Cubans would just entangle
me in their political games.”
In a transcript released by the network,
translated from Spanish, the father grew
angry when he was asked about a news
report that he didn’t work anymore, didn’t
live in his own home and was under psy
chiatric treatment.
He called the report “a lie,” and added:
“Perhaps I might be a little bit crazy
because I would feel like breaking the
neck of all those SOBs” opposing Elian’s
return. He cited “the politicians in Miami
and those who... have behaved in a man
ner that is contrary to what our relatives
should have done.”
At another point, Gonzalez said he
“what I would like to do is go down there
with a rifle.” Told by interviewer Chris
Wallace the remark was inflammatory, the
father responded: “Isn’t it inflammatory
what they are doing with my son?”
An attorney for Elian’s Florida rela
tives said they would go to federal court
next week to challenge the Immigration
and Naturalization Service’s ruling that he
must be returned to his father in Cuba.
The INS, meanwhile, rejected a sec
ond asylum petition filed this week on
behalf of Elian by his Florida relatives.
Justice Department spokeswoman Carole
Florman said that only the boy’s father
could represent his son before the agency.
Florman said the new petition contained
“no new information.”
To allow time for a federal court chal
lenge, Reno said Wednesday the INS
indefinitely would extend its Friday dead
line for turning the bey over. She brushed
aside a state court ruling delaying the
boy’s return and said any challenge to the
INS would have to come in federal court.
<4
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high 56, low 37 high 65, low 31
Daily
Nebraskan
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THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Swiss plane crashes
in Mediterranean Sea
BERN, Switzerland (AP) - A twin
engine plane carrying employees of a
Libyan oil company to a refinery
crashed in the Mediterranean Sea on
Thursday with 41 people aboard
There were unconfirmed reports of
fatalities. __
Eighteen on board the Swiss plane
were rescued, according to state-run
Libyan television, and search and res
cue efforts were continuing.
“The plane hit the water just off the
Libyan coast and sank,” said Hugo
Schittenhelm of °theM pWsss
TranspWtatidhlfMisTfy. “Asearchior
survivors and for the aircraft is under
way. Nothing can yet be said about the
exact number of victims.”
All 38 on board were employees of
a Libyan oil company, said Franz
Fassbind, chairman of Avisto AG air
services company, which is based near
Zurich and owns the plane. There were
also three crew members, he said,
Schittenhelm earlier said die min
istry had unconfirmed reports that 15
people were killed. Fassbind told a
Zurich television station that he had
, ^
information there were up to 15 dead,
but did not elaborate.
Seventeen people on board were
Libyans and the others were foreigners,
the Libyan television report said. It did
not give their nationalities, but Fassbind
told a Zurich television they were citi
zens of four different countries.
The British Foreign Office later
confirmed that 13 Britons were aboard
the plane, but officials did not know if
any had'died.
.vi Aboutisix milesfbefor&th©airport, A\<
IhfajpilgVreportedibOt'hengiineslliiad .< j
stopped working, and he was going to
try landing on the water.
Fassbind said his company has been
working in Libya for the past 15 years
and had never had an accident before.
The pilots were trained in Switzerland
and were very experienced, he added.
It was the second air crash involving
a Swiss-owned plane this week. Crash
investigators had closed their office to
work on the site of the first crash, in
which 10 people died when their
Crossair Saab 340 came down shortly
after takeoff from Zurich airport.
-WORLD/NATION -
■ Georgia
Rhesus monkeys to be
grown in laboratory
ATLANTA (AP) - Researchers
using a technique called embryo
splitting hope to grow genetically
identical rhesus moneys in the labo
ratory.
The breakthrough would enable
experiments such as growiig organs
from stem cells to be tested on mon
keys rather than mice. Monkeys are
closer to human biology.
The technique has so far pro
duced one living rhesus nonkey, a
female named Tetra, but officials said
that four more twinned infants are on
the way.
The goal is to produceidentical
monkeys that could be used to per
fect new therapies for human dis
ease.
■ Michigan
Eleven-year-old spared life
in prison for murder
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP)- One of
tiie youngest murderers in U.S. histo
ry - a boy who shot a stranger at age
11 - was spared life ii prison
Thursday and sent away to i juvenile
detention center until he turns 21.
Judge Eugene Moore said that
the 1997 Michigan law that allowed
Nathaniel Abraham to be prosecuted
as an adult is fundamentally flawed
and the boy needs a chance to be
rehabilitated
Abraham, now 13, was the first
youth to be charged with fust-degree
murder under the law, which allows
children of any age to be prosecuted
as adults for serious offenses.
Abraham was convicted in
November of second-degree murder
for shooting Ronnie Greene Jr., 18,
outside a Pontiac convenience store
in 1997 with a stolen rifle.
Prosecutors said Abraham had
told a friend that he was going to
shoot somebody, practiced his aim
on stationary targets, shot Greene in
the head and bragged about it the
next day.
■ Washington
Oil pipeline company
agrees to penalties for leaks
WASHINGTON (AP)- One of
the country’s largest oil pipeline
operators, Koch Industries, agreed
Thursday to pay $35 millior in penal
ties for leaking 3 million gallons of
oil into lakes and streams in six
states.
The government said t was the
biggest civil fine ever levied under
the Clean Water Act
The settlement resolved lawsuits
charging that Koch’s pipeline sub
sidiary had left thousands of miles of
pipeline in disrepair, leading to hun
dreds of oil leaks.
The spills polluted waterways in
Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Alabama,
Louisiana and Missouri, according to
theEPA.
■ Washington
Bill to make intercollegiate
bets illegal to be introduced
WASHINGTON (AP)- Betting
on intercollegiate sports should be
outlawed, say two senators who plan
legislation banning it, argung that it
has contributed to the growing num
)tberpfgamhiing[s^di4?PS capaws
auw aH" .biez
The National Collegiate AJbleha
Association this week urged its 1,031
member colleges and universities to
lobby members of Congress to sup
port the bill, which Seas. Sam
Brownback, R-Kan., and Patrick
Leahy, D-Vt., plan to introiuce Jan.
26.
The NCAA says illegal attempts ;
to influence collegiate sports are
increasing.
The Brownback-Leahy bill
would bar wagering on college
sports, and high school and Olympic
competitions.