Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday. Januarv 25. 2000
Nation/World
Security forces invade hospital Mourners remember students killed in fire
RATCHABURI, Thailand — Thai security forces stormed a hospital today where heavily armed insurgents from Myanmar had trapped hundreds of patients, visitors and staff in a 22-hour hostage drama.
Automatic weapons fire cracked, and explosions thudded from inside the hospital, possibly from grenades or mines that the hostage-takers had rigged after taking control yesterday morning.
Reporters in front of the sprawling hospital compound throughout the daylong crisis had been steadily moved back by police. When the assault began, journalists could see trucks and jeeps filled with police and soldiers speeding into the walled, six-acre hospital compound.
Sporadic gunfire and occasional explosions still were ringing out above the compound more than 15 minutes after the operation began.
There were no initial reports on casualties in the attack, which was launched in the predawn hours.
The rebels belonging to God's Army, an insurgent group led by 12-year-old twins, took the hostages in an attempt to pressure the Thai government to help their beileagued movement.
The rebels, who reportedly were aided by dissidents from the group that took control of Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok last October, wanted helicopters to make their escape.
The rebels had released at least 40 patients yesterday afternoon, some in exchange for food, and dozens of others escaped. Those freed included a pregnant 18-year-old who went into labor and an 8-year-old boy in a coma after brain surgery.
The takeover began at dawn when the raiders hijacked a Thai bus near the border with Myanmar and forced the driver to take them 45 miles to Ratchaburi.
About 10 rebels wearing camouflage gear and masks forced their way into Ratchaburi provincial hospital. A food vendor, Sombonang Songthong, said he saw two men
overcome guards at the hospital gate, wire explosive devices to it and fire shots into the air.
"I was shocked, and everybody started to run away," she said.
Security officials said the rebels threatened to blow up the hospital if attacked.
In the past week, God's Army has come under sustained attack by troops from Myanmar — formerly known as Burma — at their jungle base near the border, driving at least 1,000 minority Karen refugees into Thailand. Thai troops have fired artillery to prevent the fighters from crossing over the border.
After the hospital was seized army commander Gen. Surayud Chulandon said Thailand would stop its shelling, allow civilians refuge and let injured guerrillas receive treatment in Thai hospitals. Rebels seeking refuge would have to surrender their arms.
"We will deal very carefully with the situation," he said. "Our first priority is every one of the hostages has to be safe."
patients were in the hospital when it was seized, said Kawat Suntrajarn of the Public Health Ministry. About 200 were believed to be in the five-story administrative building and emergency room building that were held by the insurgents.
About 200 medical staff and 600
Little was known about the gunmen or the situation inside the hospital until they let in a television crew from Thai television Channel 7. They took footage showing scores of frightened people sitting on rows of waiting-room benches and of a masked man brandishing an assault rifle.
"We want to tell the world how Karen and Burmese refugees live during the fighting," said one hostage-taker, who called himself Nui. "We will not hurt any hostages. We take good care of them."
The government of Myanmar expressed hope that the siege would end without bloodshed, and said the hostage-takers should be treated as terrorists by the international community.
New tabloid's press will not be stopped
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge refused to block distribution of a new daily tabloid that debuted at transit stops yesterday, despite objections from competitors who said the paper's relationship with the city's transit agency was unconstitutional and unfair.
U. S. District Judge Robert F. Kelly refused to grant the temporary restraining order sought by the publishers of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, The New York Times and USA Today against Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.
They had argued that Metro's deal with SEPTA was unconstitutional because it allowed a government
The Associated Press
agency to assert control of a newspaper and created an unfair advantage by allowing the free paper to be distributed where other publications cannot be sold.
But Kelly said the publishers failed to show that they would suffer immediate and irreparable harm unless a restraining order was granted.
The decision does not prevent the publishers from continuing their challenge of SEPTA's relationship with Metro, but allows the tabloid to operate as it had planned.
"They will have to weigh whether the benefits of proceeding outweigh the negative publicity of an unseemly appearance of large, powerful news media attempting to suppress a small competitor," said SEPTA
attorney William Roberts.
Michael Schwartz, an attorney for the newspapers challenging Metro, said he would appeal Kelly's ruling to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals and also would file a request with the judge to issue an inunction pending that appeal.
"We believe that SEPTA's policy to allow the newspaper Metro to be distributed in areas where no other newspapers are distributed is unconstitutional under the First Amendment." Schwartz said.
Attorneys for the other publications could not be reached for comment.
The ruling came hours after the inaugural edition of the 24-page Metro was delivered to train, subway and bus stops across SEPTA's
"Obviously we're very pleased, and we're looking forward to continuing to publish just as we did today and provide Philadelphia with a great, new newspaper," said Jack Roberts, managing director and publisher of Metro.
Launched six years ago in Sweden, Metro International now publishes free daily transit system newspapers in 13 European cities and in Santiago, Chile.
Billing itself as a paper that could change the face of journalism in the United States, Metro published a colorful edition yesterday, with the Time Warner-EMI merger as the lead story and a fire that killed a family of four Sunday in suburban Levittown the top local story.
The Associated Press
LONG BRANCH, N.J. — More than 800 mourners turned out yesterday for the funeral of one of the three 18-year-old victims of last week's residence hall fire at Seton Hall University.
Frank Caltabilota's former classmates from Seton Hall and Shore Regional High School — some wearing their varsity letter jackets — as well as friends and relatives overflowed St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church for the funeral Mass.
Caltabliola was a star football and baseball player at Shore Regional.
Funeral services also were held yesterday in their hometowns for John N. Giunta of Vineland, N.J., and Aaron C. Karol of Green Brook, N.J. A public memorial service will be held today at the university where all three were freshmen.
Caltaliota was remembered by his brother and girlfriend as someone who always put others' interests before his own.
Karol's former classmates at Watchung Hills Regional High School read poems yesterday at his service and wore their high school soccer jackets in memory of the varsity player.
"You touched the lives of so many people, even if you'd only known them five minutes," said Erin Brown, 18, Caltabilota's girlfriend in a eulogy.
"We say that Seton Hall is a family, and it is." Seton Hall chancellor Thomas Peterson told Karol's relatives during the funeral Mass at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church. "We, like yourselves, have lost a son."
About 500 mourners attended Glunta's funeral yesterday at St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church in Vineland.
"John will be with us always," said Monsignor Robert Sheeran, Seton Hall's president, at Giunta's service.
The fire broke out about 4:30 a.m.
Wednesday on the third floor of
Boland Hall, a six-story residence
hall that housed 640 people.
Five of the 62 students who were injured remained hospitalized yesterday. Four were in critical condition with burns, and the fifth was in stable condition.
Investigators have been interviewing students and others. Essex County Prosecutor Donald Campo has said arson, careless smoking or electrical problems had not been ruled out.
Published reports said that Seton Hall's public relations team had held strategy meetings within hours of the blaze to discuss preserving the university's reputation.
In a statement, Seton Hall officials said they hired a marketing communications firm one day after the fire to poll colleges and universities about residence hall sprinkler systems. The poll, which surveyed 37 colleges in seven states at random, showed 45 percent of campus residence halls were not equipped with sprinklers.
The hall where the fire started was built before laws required sprinklers in new campus residence halls. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said Sunday she planned to introduce legislation to require sprinklers be installed in all campus residence halls.
Dan Jones, fire chief in Chapel Hill, N.C., has led a national campaign to install sprinklers in campus housing since a 1986 fraternity fire killed five people at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
While most university handbooks detail fire procedures and most residence hall staff hold fire safety talks, few students pay attention, Jones said.
At Seton Hall, many students said they didn't leave when the alarm sounded because they thought it was another false alarm — there had been 17 this school year.
Israel, Palestine to hold marathon negotiations to reach agreement
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM — With three weeks to go and not even a draft agreement in sight, Palestinian and Israeli negotiators announced plans yesterday for marathon negotiations aimed at meeting a Feb. 13 deadline on the outline of a final status agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, limping on the Syrian track, is eager to show results
with the Palestinians. His office said in a release yesterday that negotiations would be held on several levels with the intent of speeding up the talks.
The talks likely will start Feb. 1, somewhere near Washington, according to Palestinian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. They will address the sensitive issues of borders, Palestinian refugees, the status of Jerusalem and the future of
Jewish settlements.
Even with the renewed efforts, Israeli negotiator Oded Eran said yesterday the February deadline would be very difficult to meet.
Barak, elected in May on a platform of thawing peace talks frozen by his hard-line predecessor, ambitiously set the February deadline for the outline of an agreement. He predicted permanent peace agreements with the Palestinians and the Syrians by
the end of 2000.
The renewed talks with the Syrians have proven more complex than he realized, however, and have sidetracked him from the Palestinian track.
According to Palestinian officials, Barak's distractions have meant that there is not even a draft of an outline agreement, three weeks before the deadline.
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said after his 3 1/2-hour
meeting with Eran yesterday that they had reached an agreement on a delayed Israeli troop withdrawal from 6.1 percent of the West Bank. The withdrawal, which had been scheduled for Jan. 20, now will take place by Feb. 10.
The Palestinians want the Israelis to hand over Arab suburbs of Jerusalem, currently under joint control, to full Palestinian control in the next withdrawal. Israel has resisted, apparently
hoping the Palestinians would settle for the suburbs as a substitute for Jerusalem in the final status agreement.
"We have reached an agreement satisfactory to both sides," Erekat said when asked about the suburbs as he was leaving the luxury hotel on Jerusalem's east-west divide.
Israelis say they will never relinquish east Jerusalem, while Palestinians want it as a capital to their planned state.
AUDITION
University Dance Company
7 P. M. WEDNESDAY JANUARY 26, 2000
Studio 242, Robinson Center
No solo material required. For further information call: 864-4264
DATING 101 does your relationship make you feel like dancing?
Join us for a discussion on how to maintain healthy relationships. Wednesday, January 26
3:30-5:00
Centennial Room, Kansas Union Co-Facilitators: John Wade, Counseling and Psychological Services Laura Montgomery, Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Program Sponsored by the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center. 22 Strong Hall, 864-3552. Please call for more information.
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GET KU FIT! KU FIT Session I begins Jan. 31!
The KU FIT program offers fitness classes and personal training sessions. Fitness classes include Hi/Low aerobics, Step, Aqua classes, Funk, Boxing, Toning, Yoga, Dance-influenced classes, and much more! Attend any of our 50+ classes offered weekly for only $60 a semester! TOP BY 208 ROBINSON TO SIGN UP OR CALL 864-3546 FOR MORE IN CHECK US OUT ON THE WEB AT WWW.UKANS.EDU/ RECSERV
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