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University Daily Kansan, October 20. 1982
News Briefs From United Press International
Salvadoran guerrilla chief appeals for peace talks
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — A top trelor commander yesterday appealed for peace talks with the Salvadron government amid a bloody 10-day guerrilla offensive that has engulfed half the country in warfare.
Broadcast by radio, the appeal came as rebels yesterday battled government troops for three hours at a key bridge, severed the Pan-American highway and bombed Coca-Cola trucks in San Salvador.
Jorge Melendez, commander of the rebel forces in northeastern Morazan, said in a broadcast by the guerrillas' Radio Vencerence, that the shared the objectives of liberal army officers who overthrew the shared government in northeastern Marroo Oct. 15, 1979 and introduced sweeping land and banking reforms.
Rebel forces held on to five villages captured at the start of their "October offensive" and pressured government troops into retreating from a sixth village in northern El Salvador.
There were no casualty reports on yesterday's fighting but the rebels said 189 government troops were killed or wounded since the beginning of the offensive.
Judge gives resister probation, fine
CLEVELAND — A federal judge, saying "the prayers of many of us are with you," yesterday refused to send Memonite draft registration resister Mark A. Schmucker to prison. Instead, the judge ordered him to work with the mentally retarded.
U. S. District Judge Ann Aldrich, who said Schmucker was "not street-wise" and had led a "very sheltered" life, placed him on three years' probation and ordered him to spend two those years working at a hospital for the mentally retarded. She also fined him $4,000.
Schmucker, 22, of Alliance, Ohio, was the third draft registration register sentenced since the Vietnam War. He had repeatedly refused to register, saying it violated Christ's teachings.
He was convicted Oct. 5 of failure to register with Selective Service and faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fee.
FBI reports crime declining in 1982
WASHINGTON — The number of serious crimes reported in the first half of this year was 5 percent lower than in 1981, and murder, rape, robbery and assault declined by 3 percent, the FBI said yesterday.
The overall drop was the first half-year decline in four years, the FBI said. The figures complement a recent report that serious crime leveled off.
FBI Director William Webster said the bureau's six-month crime index showed a 3 percent drop in violent crimes — murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. The index showed a 6 percent drop in property crimes — burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft.
The only crime that showed an increase was aggravated assault, which was up by 1 percent, the FBI said.
Pro-British offices blasted in Belfast
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Terrorists bombed the headquarters of Northern Ireland's largest pro-British political party yesterday, and police warned of a new wave of attacks on the eve of the province's first assembly election in 10 years.
Police said no one was hurt in the blast in the offices of the pro-British Official Unionist Party.
But 20 people, including party leader James Molyneaux and five assembly candidates, scrambled from the building only minutes before the explosion. Damage was minor.
Police sterlyn warned the public to be vigilant in the face of an *expected new wave of attacks on prominent public figures.*
The outlawed Irish National Liberation Army said it was responsible for the latest bombing. The INLA warned it would use all the means at its disposal to resist the return of the Belfast parliament suspended by Britain in 1972 amid escalating societal violence.
Tent cities to protest Reagan policy
PITTSBURGH — Tent cities, dubbed "Reagan ranches" and planned as reminders of the Hoovervilles of the 1930s, will go up in 33 communities across the country next week, a nationwide community action group said yesterday.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) said the action, sponsored by an assortment of community, church, union and other social groups, was a protest against Reagan administration domestic policies.
"It is designed to send a message to Reagan that people are fed up with the cutbacks, the philosophy of profits over people," Pittsburgh ACORN spokesman Jeff Elmer said.
Elmer said the tent cities will go up Saturday in most of the target cities, which include New Orleans, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, New York and St. Louis, and will last 10 days.
Chinese defector seeks $2 million
SEOUL, South Korea — A Chinese Air Force major who flew a MIG-19 to South Korea for refueling has demanded permission to continue his flight to Taiwan and collect $2 million for defecting, diplomatic sources said yesterday.
The government, on the third day of what has become a potentially damaging issue for Sino-South Korean relations, confirmed for the first time that a Chinese MIG-19 of Soviet design landed at an airbase near Saturday.
Officials in Taiwan said the pilot, 25-year old Woo Yung-Keng, naud been unwavering in his demand to complete his journey. They said Woo rejected suggestions that he defect to the United States or remain in Seoul.
Taiwan has offered Woo about $2.2 million in gold as a reward to fly the jet to Taiwan.
Skeleton gives coroner bone to pick
PITTSBURGH — The Allegheny County coroner and a costume snop owner yesterday battled over a century-old human skeleton that has been used as a Halloween and movie prop.
Alleghegh County Coroner Joshua Perper said the skeleton, that of a middle-aged female, and which was believed used at one time as a medical school specimen, should be buried or cremated.
But the skeleton's "owner," Marilynn Wick of Boca Raton, Fla., said in a phone interview that the skeleton was obtained legally, and she said she was not charged.
The skeleton, which Wick affectionately calls Betsy, has been used as a movie prop in the horror film "Dawn of the Dead," as well as for Halloween parties and lodge initiation.
Police confiscated the skeleton from Wick's suburban Pittsburgh costume store, where it had been displayed in the shop's window, after they discovered it was not artificial.
Poles flee to Sweden, seek asvlum
By United Press International
MALMO, Sweden-Fifteen adults affiliated with the outlawed Solidarity trade union yesterday stole a state-owned crop duster in Poland, flew in it across the Baltic Sea to Sweden and sought political asylum, officials said.
In Poland, the martial-law government, while taunting the opposition for lacking the strength to rally large crowds, warned on the eve of a protester's funeral that further demonstrations could extend martial law.
Five children also were aboard the single-engine plane that landed at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. CDT). at Sturup Airport outside Malmo.
AN AIRPORT police spokesman said the adults were members or former members of Solidarity. Eight women, seven men, a teen-age boy and four girls were aboard. None were identified.
applicant would face political persecution if returned to his homeland
They were questioned immediately by authorities and asked for asylum. Political asylum is generally granted in Sweden if there is a danger the
Officials said the group had begun to think about leaving Poland six months ago but decided to leave only last week following renewed street violence among riot police and workers who took for two days in Gdansk.
Six of the Poles are experience pilots, officials said.
THE PLANE'S pilot shot in a news conference that he flew the Russian-built Antonov 7 bipLANe only 50 to 100 move the sea to avoid radar detection
It was not known from where the state-owned agricultural spraying plane took off. The airport police said it was from "somewhere in northern Poland."
As the aircraft approached the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic between Poland and Sweden, the pilot heard that two thought were two Soviet helicopters.
He said he immediately dimmed his lights and talked by radio with Danish air traffic controllers on the islands who directed him to Malmo.
The pilot, who refused to comment on the situation in Poland, said he was relieved when he saw Swedish fighter planes in the air as he neared Malmo.
THERE WERE reports the plane had been shot at as it left Poland, but the pilot denied them.
In Warsaw, government spokesman Jerzy Urban said authorities learned three things from strikes and street clashes sparked by the outlawing of the independent trade union Solidarity Oct. 1.
"First, the extremist parts of the political opposition have not laid down their arms," he said. "They still are afraid that the worse things are, the better."
"Second, they do not have the strength to organize strikes and demonstrations on a large scale."
THE THIRD thing, urban said, was the realization that there was a need for better government propaganda about climate change, which was published when Solidarity was outlawed.
The Communist Party Polliburo meeting for the first time since strikes
But despite the government warning, Poles in the Krakow suburb of Nova Huta, where 20-year-old Bogdan Wiosk was shot and killed by police during pro-Solidarity demonstrations last week, feared that his funeral today would bring defiant workers into the streets.
and riots last week — warned that more protests could lead to an extension of martial law.
Riot police contingents poured into town and armed patrols cruised the streets to prevent further unrest. |
WLOSIK'S DEATH Wednesday touched off street clashes, and underground leaders have again cled for the arrest of a tainted town to coincide with the funeral.
But leaflets distributed by the underground calling for strikes Monday went unheeded in Warsaw, Gdansk and Nowa Huta, home of the Lenin Steel Mill, Poland's largest factory with 40,000 employees. Workers reported promptly to their jobs for a second straight day yesterday.
Israel fears Lebanon weak, delays retreat
By United Press International
Israeli forces separating rival Lebanese factions fabs out of their withdrawal from mountain villages southeast of Beirut yesterday, fearful that Lebanon's army could not halt renewed armies between Druze Moslems and Christians.
The Druze are a sect that broke away from mainstream Islam in the 11th century.
"We don't want to be blamed for another Sabra and Chatila," a spokesman for the Israeli units said, referring to an attack that massacre at two Beirut refugee camps.
He said Israel is worried the Lebanese have not sent enough soldiers into the Shouf mountains to separate the
Christians and badly outgunned Druza
Christians and badly outgunned Druze.
In Washington, President Reagan told Lebanese President Amin Gimayel he could " rely on the help of the United States" to rebuild Lebanon and remove 70,000 Israel, 25,000 Syrian and 10,000 Palestinian fighters from the eastern Beka Valley.
NO EXACT figure was set on U.S. aid to Lebanon although officials noted: "Lebanon is interested in a lot of assistance."
Lebanese authorities estimated that $10 billion to $15 million will be needed to rebalance Belirut, which has been torn by a decade of war and factional fighting.
Gemayel left the United States last night for a brief stopover in Rome before continuing on his way.
He also asked Reagan to expand
American, French and Italian forces from Beirut into the Lebanon country-side and to have the troops remain in unilien until all foreign forces are gone.
A State Department official said Reagan "would seriously consider" Gemayel's proposals. "But I'm not sure what the United States is sympathetic to able to an expansion of Marines in Lebanon. I can't answer that," he said.
LEBANON YESTERDAY sent three tanks and 20 more soldiers to join 30 other troops stationed in Kfar Matta.
But a Lebanese army spokesman insisted a "final deployment" of his troops "awaits the total withdrawal of the Israelis from the region."
Israeli army officials said they would
not pull out completely until the Lebanese bolster their presence in the battle mountains. The Israeli mountains are expected that to occur in three days.
The militia battles last week in the Shouf mountains caused a reported 15 deaths.
IN JERUSALEM, hundreds of Druze, including reserve Israeli soldiers who fought in Lebanon, demonstrated outside Prime Minister Menachem Behrize and blamed the government for the attacks on their Lebanes brethren.
In Morocco, Foreign Minister M'hamed Boucetta said yesterday, a Palestine Liberation Organization delegate will not attend a White House meeting between Reagan with a special Arab League committee Friday.