2A
Thursday, January 15, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
Around the World
Hotel busboy charged with arson in Puerto Rican fire that killed 96
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Dupont Plaza Hotel busboy was charged yesterday with helping a maintenance worker start the New Year's Eve fire that killed 96 people at the luxury hotel.
Both long-time hotel employees were in custody on arson charges as investigators of the fire indicated more arrests could follow.
"The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will continue to investigate this case until we're certain anyone connected with the fire has been identified and brought to justice," said Jerry Ruddin, a spokesman for the agency.
Armando Jimenez Rivera, a 28-year-old bar busboy, was arrested Tuesday and arraigned yesterday on a charge of arson in
U. S. District Court. He was accused of helping Hector Escudero Apone. 35, set fire to the hotel.
Jimenez Rivera provided Sterno-type fuel that Escuroder Aponce placed on a pile of new furniture stacked along a wall of the hotel's south ballroom, a federal complaint alleged.
Both men, if convicted, face maximum sentences of life imprisonment. Puerto Rico does not have the death penalty.
Escudero Apone was charged in federal court Tuesday with arson and in Puerto Rico District Court alleging his property and 96 counts of murder.
Federal officials identified the men as members of the Teamsters union. Union leaders have denied any involvement in the fire.
Blizzards to blame for 180 deaths in Europe
LONDON — Europe slider deeper into one of the century's coldest winters, yesterday, with weather-related deaths climbing beyond 180 and hundreds of thousands of people staying home from work.
The deaths were triggered by a two-week wave of blizzards and record low temperatures that have spread across the continent.
Heavy snowfalls and freezing temperatures afflicted most of the continent from Siberia to the Atlantic, causing food and fuel shortages and halting transport.
At least 27 people in Britain were reported dead from hypothermia, accidents or heart attacks caused by the cold.
British Rail virtually suspended London area commuter services Wednesday morning, keeping about 700,000 people from work.
French President Francois Mitterrand called out the army to help cope with conditions as temperatures plunged to a record 44 degrees below zero near the Franco-Swiss border.
Across the Country
Amendment would deny Congress pay raise
WASHINGTON - In response to President Reagan's recommendation that congressional salaries be raised by 16 percent from $77,400 to $89,500 a year, Sen. Pete Wilson, R-Calif., said yesterday that it was the wrong time to increase congressional salaries.
"It is just wrong for Congress to vote itself a pay increase when we must spend the rest of the year trying to find ways to cut spending in order to trim the deficit down to the $108 billion required by law," Wilson said.
Earlier in the day, Wilson announced plans to present an amendment to the president denying members of Congress a proposed 16 percent pay raise.
Wilson's amendment, expected to be offered within the next few weeks, would affect only members of Congress and not government executives and federal judges who also are slated for pay raises.
The raises go into effect automatically unless both houses of Congress vote to reject them. Without action, the lawmakers' $12,100 increase would take effect Feb. 5. 30 days after the president submitted the proposal.
State and local tax rates make poor pay more
WASHINGTON — Most state and local taxes have become so unfair that families making over $500,000 a year pay a smaller share of their income to the tax collector than those living below the poverty line. a study concluded yesterday.
Citizens for Tax Justice, a Washington-based organization, conducted the study. The organization used the study to kick off a campaign to rewrite state and local taxes in the wake of federal overhaul.
In two states, Wyoming and South Dakota, the pay a percentage of their income that is four times as large as paid by the rich, the study found. Fifteen states tax the poor at a rate more than double that applied to the rich. In 10 states, the burden on middle-income families is at least twice what the pay rich.
The new federal system has a major impact on state systems because most of the 43 states that have income taxes model them after the federal tax. The new law wipes out or reduces several federal deductions, cuts rates and increases personal exemptions.
If all states conformed, it said, "the share of income paid in state and local taxes by the super-rich would rise from 73 percent to 91 percent of that paid by the poor, and from 75 percent to 92 percent of that paid by middle-income families."
From Kansan wires
WEATHER
LAWRENCE FORECAST
FROM THE KU WEATHER SERVICE
Winter weather resumes today along with classes. Today there is a chance of flurries as colder temperatures blow in from the northeast. The high today will peak at 33 degrees and then temperatures will drop as flurries change to light snow tonight with some possible accumulation. The low tonight will be 16 degrees with diminishing winds. More snow possible tomorrow with additional accumulation possible by night.
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