MONDAY, DECEMBER 9.2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN - 7A
Cheney neighbors disturbed by construction
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON—Neighbors of Vice President Dick Cheney are being shaken and rattled at least once a day by mysterious blasts at the U.S. Naval Observatory where Cheney lives.
The Navy says the explosions are part of a construction project that has been going on for several months now, but won't say more because the project is classified.
Navy spokeswoman Cate
Mueller described the work as an "infrastructure improvement, a utility upgrade."
She said they have tried to reassure the neighborhood, which includes the Washington residence of former President Bill and Sen. Hillary Clinton, that the blasts will not damage their homes. She said most understand that, because of national security concerns, they can't reveal details or confine the construction to a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule.
Joseph Rieser, who lives a halfblock off Observatory Circle, said each blast was "almost like thunder because it rolls and it lasts a noticeable period, probably several seconds." It said the explosions rattle windows that aren't shut tight.
He said his concern was that neighbors received no forewarning of the project. "If this were a normal construction contract I would expect that they would have told the neighbors."
Mueller acknowledged that they were "not as aggressive upfront in warning" neighbors about the project.
She said the construction is expected to last another eight months, and for the time being there will be one or two blasts a day, each lasting about three to five seconds.
The blasts were being carefully monitored to assure they were well under acceptable vibration standards so there would be no
damage to either nearby residences or to facilities at the observatory, she said.
The Naval Observatory moved to its present location on Massachusetts Ave. in Northwest Washington in 1893. The vice president took up residence on the site in 1974. It houses the master clock of the United States and telescopes dating back to a time when it was one of the premier astronomical observatories in the world.
The Washington Post, which
reported the issue Sunday, said David Gillard, the observatory's superintendent, had sent the local neighborhood commission a letter noting that "due to its sensitive nature in support of national security and homeland defense, project specific information is classified and cannot be released."
Jennifer Millerwise, a spokeswoman for the vice president, referred questions about the project to the Navy.
European Union passes tanker ban to prevent oil spills
The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium European Union nations agreed Friday to ban singlehull tankers carrying heavy fuel in their waters, an effort to prevent disasters like the devastating oil spill off the coast of Spain.
The ban will come into force next month as part of a package of measures rushed through by EU transport ministers after the Prestige oil tanker cracked, spilling millions of gallons of fuel oil onto Spain's Atlantic beaches. It then broke into two pieces and sank.
"We want to avoid these ecological bombs being able to sail in our waters," said EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio.
That ban is likely to come into force in 2010, de Palacio said.
Under the agreement, the 15 EU nations will also enact a total ban on single-hulled vessels over 15 years old.
The EU also declared its ports immediately off limits to 66 ships listed as particularly dangerous.
The EU plans to set up "safety zones" that would keep out dangerous ships and introduce a $1 billion fund to help areas stricken by oil slicks.
It's not known how effective that will be.
A Spanish research institute. Home of the Employed Foundation, said more than 50
blacklisted cargo ships have entered Spanish ports over the past 10 days despite pledges to keep them out.
De Palacio brushed aside fears from the Netherlands that the ban on single-hulled vessels could jeopardize fuel supplies, saying 50 percent of tankers worldwide already had double hulls and that the percentage was growing.
Heavy fuels represent just 7 percent of oil carried by tankers, she said.
The ministers also issued a warning to skippers and shipping companies.
"Any person who has caused or contributed to a pollution incident through grossly negligent behavior should be subject to appropriate sanctions," they said in a statement.
EU environmental commissioner Margot Wallstrom, visiting the affected northwestern coastline, offered Friday to send foreign experts to the area.
"I would like the Spanish government to accept a team of experts to look at the effects both in the mid-and the longterm of the accident, and we also offer to make an environmental study." Wallstrom told reporters after visiting a bird rescue center.
"What has happened is a criminal act and the guilty ones should assume their responsibility, those who pollute should have to pay," she said.
The Associated Press
United to keep flying even if bankrupt
CHICAGO—United Airlines' pilots union urged travelers yesterday not to abandon the world's No.2 carrier if it files for federal bankruptcy court protection.
The plea came as United's board of directors, which would need to approve a bankruptcy filing, was reportedly scheduled to meet in special session for a second straight day.
"We're going to be flying airplanes, today, tomorrow, next week and next year," pilots spokesman Herb Hunter said. "We don't want people to give up on us, because we're going to come through this."
flying under Chapter 11. Union leaders have told their members a bankruptcy filing is imminent and unavoidable, and CEO Glenn Tilton has told employees it was becoming "amore likely outcome."
The airline has pledged to keep
United spokesman Joe Hopkins, reached at company headquarters, refused to confirm the board would meet Sunday and said the carrier had no comment.
But union sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said directors would resume a meeting that Hopkins would only say had "recessed" Saturday afternoon.
United, based in suburban Elk Grove Village is on a pace to lose an industry-record $2.5 billion this year and had warned for
"We're going to be flying airplanes, today, tomorrow, next week and next year. We don't want people to give up on us because we're going to come through this."
Herb Hunter United Airlines pilots spokesman
months that a bankruptcy filing was likely if it didn't get a $1.8 billion federal loan guarantee. The Air Transportation Stabilization Board rejected the request Wednesday.
The Chapter 11 filing would be
the largest airline bankruptcy ever and one of the biggest bankrupties in U.S. history.
"This is going to be painful for the stockholders and the employees, but the airline's going to keep flying and we're going to come out of this stronger," Hunter said. "The passengers shouldn't notice any difference."
United proposed $5.2 billion in labor cutbacks by 2008 in its pitch to the government stabilization board, but the three-member panel found the business plan was not financially sound.
United's 83.000 employees own 55 percent of the company. The carrier's stock closed at 93 cents a share Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Contract dispute continues on West Coast
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — The bitter contract dispute that closed West Coast ports for 10 days this fall isn't over yet.
Members of the dockworkers' union still must approve the tentative contract their representatives signed last month, and going into a union caucus that begins today. signs are that's far from automatic.
That's because in the fiercely democratic International Longshore and Warehouse Union, such gatherings are traditionally raucous, ranging debates. Whats more, this year's landmark contract is a tinderbox because it would usher in new cargo-tracking technology that costs about 400 union jobs in the short term.
"I would be alarmed if there weren't people voicing objections, then I'd be concerned," union spokesman Steve Stallone said. "The only way for this to pass and work is that the members own it."
About 80 delegates from Seattle to San Diego will convene here to entertain their negotiating committee's explanation of the contract before they pelt them with questions. On Friday, delegates will recommend that the union's 10,500 members either reject or approve the contract. The rank and file will cast their ballots in January.
The contract comes with heavy buggage.
It took a federal mediator to coax the deal from a conflict that included the lockout, which President Bush ended in October by ordering both sides back to work.
Already, the ports handle $300
billion worth of cargo each year; a volume that's expected to swell with Pacific Rim trade. Shipping companies argued the ports are inefficient and demanded that the negotiations yield a plan to modernize the 29 major Pacific ports with new computer technology.
One part of the answer was a package that includes average dockworker salaries hovering around $100,000—instead of the current $80,000—and unusually generous retirement plans.
The other part was language on technology that is vague enough to give the union and shipping companies a plausible victory.
Those are precisely the gray areas that worry Jack Heyman, a caucus member from San Francisco who opposes the contract.
He has no quarrel with the
pensions, health care and other benefits.
Instead, Heyman said, of particular concern was its length six years, double the norm and whether the union gets jurisdiction over jobs created by new technologies.
"This is a rapidly changing industry," Heyman said. "We don't know where this is leading, so to have a contract of six years is like heading a ship through narrow straits without navigational charts."
In Seattle, a local union chapter leader said he expected a raucous caucus, but that ultimately the contract would pass.
"There's going to be hot and heavy debate and there's issues," said local Vice President Del Bates. "There's always that in our ranks. And we've got a contract so far."
SUNFLOWER OUTDOOR
& BIKE
Keep warm with great hats,
coats, gloves, and undies!
Winter Essentials!
804 Massachusetts St. • Downtown Lawrence • (785) 843-5000
20% Off All Services
With this Ad
Not Valid With Other Offers • Exp. 12-25-02
COPY CO MORE THAN JUST A COPY CENTER
785-832-2679
23rd & Naismith
copycousa.com
WAL★MART
ALWAYS LOW PRICES. ALWAYS WAL-MART.
Always.
3303 Iowa (K-68) • 242-4555