2A
The Inside Front
Wednesdav November 19, 1997
News
from campus, the state, the nation and the world
NATIONAL
WASHINGTON — Strengthening his hand in the standoff with Iraq, President Clinton ordered a fresh buildup of U.S. firepower in the Persian Gulf yesterday even as signs emerged of an accelerated push for a diplomatic solution.
WASHINGTON — If Congress played only by the numbers, it would indeed have been a dismal year. It a handful of the thousands of bills introduced have become law.
WASHINGTON — In the early 1960s, U.S. military strategists offered their bosses a bagful of dirty tricks to harass or humiliate Fidel Castro. The schemes ranged from flooding Cuba with faked photos of an over weight Castro "with two beauties" to simulating the sinking of a U.S. warship in an exercise intended to provoke a war.
WASHINGTON — About 150,000 consumers will share a $5 million settlement the government has reached with operators of a pyramid investment scheme.
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, calling it a difficult choice, said the Clinton administration would allow drivers who need to sit close to the steering wheel, parents driving children's car pools and certain other motorists to get on-off switches for air bags.
INTERNATIONAL
MEXICO CITY — About 20 women who once worked in the lower house of the Mexican Congress accuse the woman in charge of the pages of running a prostitution ring for lawmakers.
CAMPUS
Former walk-on KU football player Michael S. Harris was found innocent of aggravated assault charges Friday. He was found guilty on charges of resisting arrest and having a concealed weapon.
Former KU football player innocent of assault charges
The charges resulted from a July incident in which he allegedly had threatened a 19-year-old woman with a .357-caller revolver in the back of the Jayhawk Bookstore, 1420 Crescent Road.
Harris had the gun in a bag while he was in the store. The woman said he had shown it to her and threatened her with it because she owed him $445.
Harris played on the football team in Fall 1996. He was not on this season's team.
He was arrested three hours later near Snow Hall. Police found the revolver in his backpack.
Harris' lawyer, Charles Whitmore, said Harris had been out on a $7,500 bond since August and still was out on bond pending his sentencing hearing.
"He will be sentenced in due course, and I think that will be the end of it," Whitmore said.
Harris will be sentenced later this month.
NATIONAL
Clinton orders increase of forces in Persian Gulf
WASHINGTON — President Clinton ordered a fresh buildup of U.S. firepower in the Persian Gulf yesterday even as signs emerged of an accelerated push for a diplomatic solution.
Clinton told the Air Force to dispatch six of its F-117 stealth fighters, six B-52 long-range bombers and four refueling planes. Pentagon officials said the decision was based in part on the heightened state of alert of Iraq's air defenses.
Despite Iraqi threats, a U-2 surveillance plane flew above Iraq without incident, and the Pentagon said at least one more mission would be flown this week.
The United States had about 1,700 combat aircraft in the Gulf during the 1991 war against Iraq.
Berger said the buildup was not related to the U-2 surveillance flight. The spy plane, operating
to support U.N. efforts to monitor Iraq's weapons program, completed its mission without incident, he said. Iraq had threatened to shoot down the U-2, but U.S. officials said it did not try.
Clinton: Instructed the Air Force to send planes to the Persian Gulf.
Bacon said the U-2 flew for about one hour just west of Baghdad. One more surveillance mission would be flown by the
Berger confirmed that the Clinton administration was prepared to consider altering a U.N. "oil-for-food" program under which Iraq is allowed to buy $4 billion a year in food and medicine from U.N.-supervised Iraq oil export revenue.
end of the week. he said.
Berger said Iraq first would have to comply with a U.N. demand that it permit U.N. weapons inspectors back, including the American team members it kicked out last week.
"Saddam Hussein must reverse course and allow the inspectors back in." he said.
Myriad bills fall by wayside as Congress ends year
WASHINGTON — If Congress played only by the numbers, it would indeed have been a dismal year.
House members introduced 3,036 bills in the congressional session beginning in January and ending last week. So far,59 have become law, according to the Congressional Record.
Of those that did survive, House and Senate votes, House-Senate conferences and the president, many were not exactly monumental. There were post office naming, medal awards, land exchanges and technical amendments to existing laws.
The Senate did not do any better, getting the president's signature for 19 of the 1,568 bills senators introduced during the year.
The Republican-led Congress this session also was noteworthy for its enthusiasm for — and total lack of success in — amending the Constitution. In the House, there were 77 proposed amendments. In the Senate, there were 17, many overlapping on such subjects as a balanced budget, term limits, school prayer and abortion.
None got the necessary two-thirds majority in both chambers. One, on flag desecration, did pass the House but Senate supporters decided to wait until next year in hopes of picking up more votes.
The White House said yesterday that 35 bills were on the president's desk, awaiting his signature, and another three dozen or so have passed Congress but have yet to be delivered.
Clinton is likely to sign these into law, although he does have his veto power, which he exercised three times this year — on a disaster relief bill, a late-term abortion bill and an attempt by Congress to restore money for military building projects Clinton had previously eliminated.
U.S. planned to play dirty when dealing with Castro
About 1,500 pages of newly released Defense Department documents show that the Pentagon even considered squeezing anti-Cuba propaganda from a space disaster.
The schemes ranged from flooding Cuba with fake photos of an overweight Castro "with two beauties" to simulating the sinking of a U.S. warship to provoke a war.
WASHINGTON — In the early 1960s, U.S. military strategists offered their bosses a bagful of dirty tricks to harass or humiliate Fidel Castro.
The "Operation Dirty Trick" *nemo* — written just before John Glenn left Earth on America's first orbital space mission in 1962 — proposed blaming a Cuban impediment in case of a mishap.
"This would be accomplished by manufacturing various pieces of evidence, which would prove electronic interference on the part of the Cubans," the memo said.
Some of the ideas were bizarre but others were serious, intended to give the United States a pretext for attacking Cuba in response to a faked provocation.
The proposals got as far as the secretary of defense, or even discussion with the new president, Lyndon Johnson, within a month of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963.
The documents were declassified by the Defense Department at the instigation of the Assassination Records Review Board, a small agency created by Congress.
Government will allow drivers to pull air-bag plug
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater said the Clinton administration would allow drivers who needed to sit close to the steering wheel, parents driving children's car pools and other motorists to get on-off switches for air bases.
The move comes in response to the deaths of 87 children and adults from the force of air bags' deployment. The safety devices, now mandatory in new cars, also are credited with saving 2,600 lives.
He said the new policy attempted to preserve the benefits of air bags and minimize the risks. It would allow on-off switches for both driver and passenger air bags.*
"We have made a difficult decision. Now, it is the public's turn to make theirs." Slater told a news conference.
Motorists who fit into high-risk groups will have to read a brochure to understand the risks, then submit "an easy-to-fill-out application that we will respond to expeditiously." Slater said.
Slater's department will launch an extensive campaign to educate motorists about the pros and cons of air bags and encourage greater seat belt use.
Air bags have been blamed for the deaths of 49 children and 38 adults since 1990.
Barry Felrice of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association said the new rule wasn't a recommendation to turn off air bags.
"It's a statement that defines those populations that are at slightly greater risk," he said. "But it's still a very small risk and most people will not benefit by turning off their air bags."
Under the new regulation, motorists would be required to read information about the safety devices and sign paperwork under penalty of perjury certifying that they fit into one of several higher-risk categories before a switch could be installed, industry and government officials said.
INTERNATIONAL
Mexican Congress' pages may have been mistreated
MEXICO CITY — The pretty young women filter through the aisles of Mexico's Congress with miniskirts and smiles, delivering papers and serving coffee to lawmakers.
The pages — and their ability to laugh away the politicians' leers — are almost as much an institution as Congress itself. But now, a few former pages are attacking tradition.
About 20 women who once worked in the lower house of Congress accuse the woman in charge of the pages of running a prostitution ring for lawmakers. A congresswoman who has taken up their cause is demanding a criminal investigation.
The accusation goes to the heart of women's role in the Mexican workplace, where want ads often request unmarried, pleasant secretaries with good presentation — and no one older than 25 need apply. Photos of applicants often are mandatory.
Mexico has no laws that prohibit hiring on the basis of appearance, age or marital status. Though sexual harassment is prohibited, the problem rarely is addressed in Mexico.
The director of the pages, Rebecca Montes de Oca, denies the accusations.
ON THE RECORD
A KU student's checkbook was stolen between 8 p.m. Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday from the 700 block of New Hampshire St., Lawrence police said. The item was valued at $10.
A KU student's Cannondale mountain bicycle was stolen from the 1800 block of Naismith Drive, Lawrence police said. The bike was valued at $300.
A KU student's black CD carrier and 50 CDs were stolen and passenger door car window damaged between 10 p.m. Friday and 9:45 a.m. Saturday in the 1000 block of Emery Road, Lawrence police said. The items and damage were valued at $500.
A KU student's Kansas tag was stolen between 1:30 p.m. Nov. 7 and 7 p.m. Saturday in the city at large, Lawrence police said. The item was valued at $5.
A KU student's passenger door car window on a 1989 Nissan was damaged between 6 p.m. Sunday and 12:48 p.m. Monday in the parking lot east of Joseph R. Pearson Hall, KU police said. The damage was estimated at $100.
A KU student's KUID with bus pass and nine basketball game coupons were stolen between 11 and 11:15 a.m. Saturday from the fourth floor of the Kansas Union, KU police said. The items were valued at $140.
A KU student's Nikon 6006 camera, Tamron 300 mm lens, Nikkor 35-135 mm lens, Promax flash units and other items were stolen between 8 a.m. June 1 and 8 a.m. Oct. 29 from room 427 in the Kansas Union, KU police said. The items were valued at $4,122.49.
ET CETERA
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
The University Daily Kansan (USPS 450-640) is published at the University of Kansas, 119 Stuaffer-Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 66045, daily during the regular school year, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods, and Wednesday during the summer session. Periodical postage is paid in Lawrence, Kan. 66044. Annual subscriptions by mail are $120. Student subscriptions of $2.33 are paid through the student activity fee.
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RECYCLE
Forget those other clubs... Come to the
ISA BIG WINTER PARTY
Where: Varsity Theatre 1015 Mass St.
When: Fri. Nov. 21, 1997 Time: 9p.m.-2a.m. Cost: $4 at the door
Featuring D.J. Sonney and Cheap Drinks
*** Last party of the Semester***
18 to enter 21 to drink