t
World & Nation
Page 4
Friday, July 12,1991
Thrill-seekers, scientists watch eclipse
RICHARD S. JAMES/The Battalion
Children look at an image of the solar eclipse projected day afternoon. The museum hosted a program de-
through a camera at the Brazos Valley Museum Thurs- scribing what happens during an eclipse.
ATOP MAUNA KEA, Hawaii
(AP) — The moon slipped over
the sun Thursday in the ageless
celestial ceremony of the eclipse,
turning day into night for thou
sands of thrill-seekers.
Clouds and fog interfered with
the view for many, however.
Thousands of thrill-seekers
and scientists came to see the
moon line up between the sun
and Earth and plunge into dark
ness a 160-mile-wide swath
stretching from Hawaii to Mexi
co's Baja Peninsula, central and
southern Mexico, Central Amer
ica, Colombia and Brazil.
As totality arrived at sea level
on Mauna Kea, the sun was hid
den by clouds. It still got dark,
but the clouds disappointed
about 500 people gathered on
the driving range at the Mauna
Lani resort in south Kohala.
Their hopes had fallen and risen
in the previous hour as the
clouds came and went.
"I came especially for this, and
hope we get to see it," said Mar
garet MacLeod, a mathematics
and science teacher from Man
hattan Beach, Calif., shortly be
fore the eclipse. "If we don't get
to see it, I may have to go to Iraq
for the next one."
At the astronomy observatory
at the top of the mountain, the
view was better, and television
pictures of a disappearing sun
were beamed statewide. But
high cirrus clouds put scientific
experiments in doubt.
Even thin clouds affect the sci
entists' efforts to gather knowl
edge from the eclipse. The ice
crystals that make up cirrus
clouds could scatter some of the
light from the sun's corona and
also could affect some infrared
experiments, scientists said.
Donald Hall, director of the
University of Hawaii's astron
omy institute, said that if the in
termittent fog conditions didn't
improve by the time of totality,
scientific experiments could be
severely affected.
In spite of the threat of clouds,
Fred and Nancy Tom, who made
the two-hour drive from their
home in Hilo, were among hun
dreds of people who spent the
night camped out along the
western coast of the "Big Island"
of Hawaii.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime event,
and we didn't want to take a
chance on the weather," Mrs.
Tom said. "Hilo is often rainy
and cloudy in the morning."
Eclipse mania gripped Hawaii
and Mexico, which offered the
best viewing spots.
About 500 astronomers and
tens of thousands of amateurs
arrived in recent weeks. Entre
preneurs peddled T-shirts and
other paraphernalia. Events
ranged from ancient eclipse ritu
als to a wedding atop a man
made waterfall in Hawaii.
Only a partial eclipse would be
visible in the mainland United
States and southern Canada.
The best viewing spots in the
continental United States were
in the Southwest and southern
California.
But in some places, part of an
eclipse was nearly as good as a
whole one.
In El Paso, summer school stu
dents planned to watch during
lunch. "It'll be right over the
lunch hour which is real conve
nient," said John Peterson,
school district planetarium direc
tor. "It's like this thing was
scheduled just for us."
In Mexico City, a ritual depict
ing the moon attempting to eat
the sun was planned at the An
thropology Museum. Guatema
lan Indian villagers, who worry
during eclipses that the sun will
disappear forever, were to ring
church bells and bang pots and
pans to resurrect it.
Observers were warned not to
look directly at the sun because
of the risk of eye damage from
any bright light and radiation
not blocked by the eclipse.
Vendors selling protective
glasses were doing a brisk busi
ness, but the American Aca
demy of Ophthalmology said
they weren't foolproof and sug
gested ways to view the eclipse
indirectly, such as through
homemade pinhole cameras.
A local wit in Mexico City
joked, "Be safe: Listen to the
eclipse on the radio."
Guilty pleas
disrupt CIA
proceedings
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alle
gations that CIA officials knew
more than they admitted about
the Iran-Contra affair have cre
ated a "brushfire" that will com
plicate the confirmation hearings
on Robert M. Gates as CIA direc
tor, a Senate
Republican
said Wednes
day.
The reve
lations also
have thrown
into doubt the
timing of the
hearings,
which had
been expected
to begin Mon
day. Sources
who asked to
remain anonymous said that at a
closed-door Senate Intelligence
Committee meeting on Wednes
day there was considerable hesi
tation about going ahead with
the hearings.
Afterward, Chairman David
Boren issued a cryptic statement
saying a decision on the timing
of the hearings would come on
Thursday, after he has consulted
all panel members.
"Obviously the committee, in
order to be thorough in its work,
must allot sufficient time to con
sider the information" arising
from Tuesday's guilty pleas by
former agency official Alan D.
Fiers, Boren said in the
statement.
"We are now trying to deter
mine how long it will take us to
analyze this information," he
said.
Robert M. Gates’
confirmation
hearings as CIA
director may be
delayed.
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Fighting erupts
in El Salvador
as peace talks
push for end
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador
(AP) — Scores of leftist guerrillas
and government forces were
killed or wounded in fighting
that erupted as the two sides re
sumed peace talks, officials said
Wednesday.
Representa
tives of the Fa-
rabundo Marti
National Lib
eration Front,
FMLN and
the U . S.-
backed right
ist govern
ment of Presi
dent Alfredo
Cristiani have
been meeting
for the past 14
months in an
effort to end tt
war.
President Alfredo
Cristiani is the
leader of the U.S-
backed govern
ment.
e 11-year-old civil
The U.N.-mediated peace ne-
;otiations resumed in Mexico
lity late Tuesday.
The heaviest fighting was re
ported in Nueva Concepcion, a
town 30 miles north of San Sal
vador. Combat raged there for
more than 12 hours Tuesday,
and reporters who visited the
town said they saw the bodies of
11 government troops and one
civilian.
The FMLN said in a clandes
tine radio broadcast that a total
of 153 government troops were
killed or wounded in fighting
Tuesday in seven of the coun
try's 14 provinces.
Explosion rips ammo depot,
injures U.S. troops in Kuwait
KUWAIT CITY (AP) — An explosion ripped
through a U.S. ammunition depot Thursday, sho
wering soldiers with artillery and shrapnel and
engulfing vehicles in flames. At least 50 U.S.
troops and six British troops were injured, offi
cials said.
"It was raining metal," said Spc. Mark Alexan
der, a 23-year-old firefighter from Norwich,
Conn., who was hospitalized with smoke inhala
tion. "I saw a dude with half his hand off."
The chain-reaction blasts at the Blackhorse
Camp in Doha apparently began with an electrical
fire on an ammo truck carrying 155 howitzer
shells, military officials said. The U.S. Embassy is
sued a statement ruling out sabotage.
The ammunition, stored on pallets in a large
open-air compound, included tank rounds, artil
lery and various types of bullets, officers said. It
sits near a British mess hall, which was empty at
the time of the 11 a.m. blast.
"It was blowing out shrapnel so we had to pull
back, and then it went off," Alexander said.
"It tossed people around as they were trying to
get away. That's why you have got a lot of these
guys with broken ankles, broken arms."
The U.S., British military and U.N. forces have
bases near Doha, on a peninsula about 12 miles
west of Kuwait City.
Full casualty figures were not immediately
available, but the Central Command in Tampa,
Fla., said at least 50 U.S. soldiers were hurt. Their
injuries ranged from minor cuts to serious shrap
nel wounds.
Doctors at Al-Sabah Hospital said one U.S. sol
dier had serious brain damage and was not ex
pected to live after shrapnel shattered his skull.
Three others underwent surgery for shrapnel
wounds to their abdomens.
About two-thirds of the 3,700 troops of the 11th
Armored Cavalry Regiment at Blackhorse were on
desert maneuvers when the explosion occurred,
military officials said.
Six British soldiers, from the 2nd Royal Battal
ion Anglian at the St. George's Lines Camp
nearby, were slightly injured and not hospital
ized, said a Ministry of Defense spokesman in
London. ,
A Defense Department spokesman in Ottawa
said one Canadian soldier received a minor in
jury.
Bush denies filling racial quota,
predicts Thomas will win approval
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Bush said Wednesday he is
not filling a racial quota by pick
ing Clarence Thomas for the Su
preme Court, calling his nomi
nation of the black jurist "the
right thing at the right time."
Predicting Thomas will win
Senate confirmation. Bush told a
news conference he expects
widespread public support for
the nomination despite criticism
from some civil rights groups.
"We're taking on some water
on this," the president said. But,
he added, "I think it... is well re
ceived. I have an innate confi
dence that this man will be con
firmed and the reason he will be
is that he deserves to be confirm
ed."
Bush was asked about remarks
Monday by Senate Majority
Leader George Mitchell, D-
Maine, who said the president is
opposed to quotas except when
it comes to selecting a nominee
to the high court.
Thomas would be the second
black on the court, replacing the
first — retiring Justice Thurgood
Marshall, 83. Thomas is an out
spoken conservative on many ra
cial issues, espousing self-help
for blacks and minorities.
Marshall is a leading liberal
who has championed govern
ment efforts to overcome racial
discrimination.
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