Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, September 17, 1998
Additional rainfall in Mexico hinders relief efforts, travel
The Associated Press
TAPACHULA, Mexico — More rain delayed aid flights yesterday to villages isolated by a week of flooding in Mexico, while the death toll rose to 119 and hunger grew among those cut off by the downpours.
Helicopters resumed shuttling food, water and medicine to the 400,000 people isolated by mudslides, swollen rivers and downed bridges when the rain let up in the late morning in the southern state of Chiapas.
The floods tore through an area the size of Massachusetts last week, leaving residents without food, water or power. By yesterday, 119 bodies had been recovered, said Health Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente, although officials expect the number to rise.
Local newspapers said more than 200 had died, and the Roman Catholic bishop of Tapachula, Monsignor Felipe Arizendi, said the church expected the death toll to reach 500 or even 1,000 when officials were able to count all the missing from tiny villages in the mountains.
Many bodies are believed to have washed into the Pacific Ocean or disappeared beneath the mud.
Hunger was increasing among flood victims, and in one village people attacked a military helicopter dropping off alf, according to the Mexico City newspaper Reforma.
newspaper no. 1067
Dozens of villagers in Soconusco, 40 miles northwest of Tapachula, swarmed onto a helicopter dropping off rations Tuesday, grabbing everything inside the chopper. Soldiers were unable to stop them, *Reforma* said.
"People are starving to death here," a local leader, Leobardo Broca, was quoted as telling the soldiers. "See for yourselves. I want all of you to understand that I'm not guilty of anything because you've left us alone."
you've felt the wind.
The fight for the aid was intense, the newspaper said. Two women fought for the same sack of flour, splitting it in half and sending a cloud of flour over the area, churned up by the helicopter's rotors.
Weather officials said 3.2 inches of rain had fallen in Pijijiapan, one of the hardest-hit communities, and half an inch in
Tapachula. Another 2 to 2.5 inches is forecasted for the next 24 hours.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department has advised travelers to exercise caution when in Mexico because the floods have washed out roads and bridges, blocking passage on some, including sections of the Pan-American Highway.
Highway:
State government officials said hell-copters had been grounded Tuesday afternoon and yesterday morning because of rain, but the rain turned into a drizzle, and the aid teams resumed their work.
Cincinnati challenges campaign-spending case
The Associated Press
CINCINNATI — The city of Cincinnati is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its landmark 1976 ruling that campaign-spending limits violate free speech rights.
The city wants the Supreme Court to overturn a lower-court decision that said Cincinnati's spending cap on City Council candidates was unconstitutional under the 22-year-old ruling known as Buckley vs. Valeo.
The Cincinnati case is being watched closely around the nation because other states have seen their spending caps tossed out. Thirty-three states and Guam have filed papers in support of Cincinnati's position.
The Boston-based National Voting Rights Institute, which is representing the city, filed the appeal Tuesday.
"Our view is that the Supreme Court never said the door was completely closed to spending limits and that new facts and circumstances justify Cincin-
nati's limits," said John Bonifaz, the group's executive director.
Bonifaz said that large campaign contributions had too much influence and that raising money interfered with politicians' responsibilities.
The case came about when John Kruse, an unsuccessful City Council candidate in 1993 and 1995, challenged the ordinance capping spending at three times the post's annual salary, or about $140,000. Kruse said the law was designed to protect incumbents and violated his right to free speech.
lated this right to Repeal a federal judge and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati found the ordinance unconstitutional.
David Goldberger, a constitutional law professor at Ohio State University, said he, too, doubted the city would succeed.
"A lot of people are unhappy with the 1976 ruling, but the facts are that the court has shown no inclination to overturn it," Goldberger said. "The court has clearly indicated that spending limits are considered violations of free speech."
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