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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1994)
Wednesday, January 19,1994 The Battalion Page 3 IS ^ush 97. res >dential “d prestigf 1 h e looks ' s from the id research n g public 3 rnanyof ' a tremen- Californians face changed world after quake The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Under skies as bright and blue as ever. Southern Californians con fronted a changed world Tuesday. The defining features of this region's life — water, power and freeways — were suddenly uncertain. In their place: long lines, hellish commutes and constant earthquake after shocks. A 16th body was found inside a flattened apartment building in Northridge, near the epicenter of Monday's powerful earthquake, bringing the death toll from the quake to 34. "The days ahead will also be rough for us,'' Mayor Richard Riordan warned Angelenos, even as he praised them for a cool-headed re sponse to the crisis. "Let's all stick together." A snapshot of a region in crisis Tuesday: • Many offices, schools and stores were closed, and workers were urged to stay home. The closure of four of the nation's busiest free ways still made commuting a frustrating ad venture. • Aftershocks, some as strong as 5 on the Richter scale, continued to jolt the region. • About 100,000 homes remained without power, and between 50,000 and 100,000 were without water, almost all of them in the hard- hit San Fernando Valley. The Department of Water and Power said it could be a week or more before water was restored. • About 20,000 people were camping in parks, the Department of Parks and Recreation said. • About 100 building engineers and inspec tors fanned out across the damaged area, but no preliminary estimate on the number of buildings damaged was immediately avail able. • More than 2,000 National Guard soldiers were mobilized; many could be seen patrolling the San Fernando Valley, guns at their sides. • After a dusk-to-dawn curfew, police re ported about 75 arrests overnight for crimes such as robbery and curfew violation. California Governor Pete Wilson answered questions outside the crushed apartment building in Northridge. "Unfortunately, it is going to be a major, major inconvenience," Wilson said. He said it would take up to a year to rebuild fallen bridges that carry Interstate 10, the Santa Monica freeway, over surface streets in Los Angeles. Several hundred thousand people a day use the Santa Monica Freeway, making it the nation's busiest highway. Near the fallen bridges Tuesday morning, traffic crawled on Fairfax Avenue at a rate of about four blocks per hour. Late in the morning, huge construction cranes began tearing down sections of the freeway, biting cracks into the concrete slabs and lifting them away. The quake also collapsed sections of Inter states 5 and 14, and state Route 118. The clo sure of Interstate 5, the major north-south highway on the West Coast, left truckers stranded in the San Joaquin Valley north of Los Angeles and gave a hint of the economic reverberations of the quake. In the San Fernando Valley, the 60-square- mile suburban expanse most badly damaged by the quake, many people stayed home to clean up and take stock. That kept commut ing problems to a minimum. Those who ventured out in their cars had to negotiate a crazy tangle of detours around cracked residential streets and flooded areas. A few opted for mass transit. "I was kind of surprised that it was so un crowded," said Scott Draper, Los Angeles, a city analyst who lives in Glendale and took the train. Although the train was late, he said, "I'd still ride it. We all need to sacrifice and be more understanding of one another." At dawn, continuous aftershocks raised a slight brownish haze of dust over the north ern and western portions of the valley that slightly dimmed the rising sun. Guardsmen stood on street corners and in critical areas where the destruction was the heaviest. A few also patrolled Hollywood Boulevard. "We're here basically to make sure every one behaves themselves," said Pvt. Timothy Roth, 25, on patrol in the San Fernando Val ley suburb of Reseda. Throughout the valley, power was being restored in a patchwork fashion. Traffic lights worked in some areas, but were out in others. Long lines snaked around the few open gasoline stations. Many markets remained closed, but those that were open did brisk business. At a Shell gasoline station on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, a National Guardsman in full battle regalia stood in the driveway to help keep tempers in check. ar, o the gaso ting beam pumps at i vehicle, a e the store laze. :ruck was passenger 1 actually ;as pump, pokesman ore. rayed with il fires ass 1. a shipment ardous Cal ais initially as from the t be toxic, afe," said ross disas- own abd Houston, felt a quai- cials evac- ementary Colombian rebels kidnap American missionaries il hundred y[ ons that killed hundreds of peo- :rict high were sen! The Associated Press BOGOTA, Colombia — Colom bia's finance minister narrowly escaped assassination Monday when a remote control bomb blew up as he drove by in an armored car. A bodyguard was wounded. Leftist rebels claimed responsi bility for the attack. Rebels also kidnapped two American mis sionaries, reportedly to protest the presence of U.S. troops in Colom- nia, and sabotaged the country's largest oil pipeline. The bomb shattered windows as far as 100 yards away, flung a light pole across the road and damaged a bus. Traffic was snarled for blocks. Finance Minister Rudolf homines was unhurt. The bombing was further indi cation that the death of drug lord Pablo Escobar did not mean an end to political violence in Colom bia. Escobar, who was slain by se curity forces Dec. 2, had waged a war of bombings and assassina- ple. In the jungle-covered plains east of Bogota, guerrillas kid napped Stephen Welch of North Platte, Neb., and Timothy Van Dyke of Towanda, Pa., on Sun day, said Mel Wyma of New Tribes, the missionary group the pair work for. About 15 guerrillas walked into a school tor children of mis sionaries near Villavicencio, 50 miles east of Bogota, ransacked the school and took the two men, Wyma said in a telephone inter view from New Tribes' headquar ters in Sanford, Fla. Local police reports said the guerrillas took the Americans to protest the presence of some 250 American soldiers who are build ing a military base in the region, training Colombian troops and doing humanitarian work around the country. "The guerrillas said they were taking our people to make a state ment to the Colombian govern ment, but how they will be used to make a statement and what that statement is, I don't know," Wyma said. Van Dyke is the acting princi pal of the school; Welch is a groundskeeper. Police said the rebels were members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a group loosely linked to the Na tional Liberation Army, known as ELN for its Spanish initials. The National Liberation Army told RCN radio that it attacked Hommes because of unemploy ment in Colombia. The official un employment rate is about 9 per cent, but underemployment, for which no figures are available, is much higher. Hommes has been criticized by rebels for supporting the pri vatization of state companies, free trade and less government regulation. He also angered trade unions by approving a new minimum wage without consult ing them. Silk Stocking Spungc A Gentlemans Club Let Us Entertain You! • Stage Shows Nightly • • Beautiful Girls • Mixed Drinks • Cold Beer • Pool Open 7:30 P.M.- 1:00 A.M. Tel. (409) 690-1478 1 Mi. So. College Station, On Highway 6 South Driver’s license required - 21 or over *Neetl Waitresses and Dancers Dancers paid nightly editor editor ditor lotoedit 0 ' . ■dionsedit 0 ' ■rja^ i Piphe' MdcmannS' .ee, Md'S* 3 ; juezada ls P r in ^£l exam | Reefl L ,,v J M(05' H advertise A!SUr r collegiate Beach Club A Division of Holiday Express SPKIKI& BREAK 94 MOM STOP PARTY CHARTERS ! flkapalco & Cancan plus rax ITS TOURS & TRAVEL 1055 Texas Ave: / College Station 764-9400 / 1 -800-533-8688 . HOLIDAY EXPRESS (800) 235-TRIP Mntlday tf# Kerrigan attack Authorities question Harding The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. — Tonya Harding faced questioning by the dis trict attorney and FBI for the first time Tuesday as she sought to dear her name in tire attack on Nancy Kerrigan and preserve a berth on the U.S. Olympic team. Voluntarily appearing with two attorneys, a somber Harding stared at the ground as she walked into the FBI office to give her ver sion of events surrounding the Jan. 6 assault at tire U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. Authorities are trying to determine if Harding's money, some of it from Olympic sources, paid for the attack on Kerrigan. Federal charges against Harding are "possible at this point, but re mote," FBI spokesman Bart Gori said before the meeting. He would not say if 1 larding would take a lie detector test. Jeff Gillooly, Harding's ex-husband, didn't take part in the meet ing, which lasted several hours. Harding and Gillooly divorced last year but reconciled and are living together. They both maintain they are innocent. Authorities, worried about jeopardizing a possible case against Gillooly, have not subpoenaed him or demanded that he come in for questioning. Under state law, a person can invoke his right of silence and, if compelled to give testimony in a grand jury proceeding or oth er investigatory proceeding, can receive immunity. "We don't want to take that chance of him getting immunity," as sistant district attorney John Bradley said. On the way to the FBI office, Harding was asked whether Gillooly was going to be arrested. "No, lie's not, she replied. The alleged "hit man" in the attack was due to arrive from Ari zona later Tuesday to face charges of conspiracy and assault, Shane Minoaka Slant, the man accused of striking Kerrigan on the leg with a metal baton, appeared before a judge in Phoenix and agreed not to contest extradition to Oregon. Slant was to be arraigned in Portland on Wednesday. He turned himself in last week jn Phoenix after learning there was a warrant for his arrest in Oregon. In Detroit, Wayne County prosecutor John O'Hair told The Associ ated Press that, -'At this point, we have no evidence here ... at all about (Harding's) culpability as far as the episode is concerned." He said Detroit's investigation was nearly complete, but Oregon's was still unfolding. He noted that Oregon authorities haven't inter viewed Gillooly. The Battalion is looking for people to fill positions on the following desks: City Photo AggieLife Sports Applications are available in room 013 Reed McDonald, and will be due back Jan. 31. All majors are welcome to apply. $8,000 in your pockel ma kes the world a mucl ? smaller place. TLc National Security Lducali P rogram (NSEP) for undergraduates w 11 pay for a summer, semester or year of study al>roa d NSEP w ill Fool ike till: all you liave to do is decide wkere you re going! • applicant must ke a U.S. citizen • program must provide academic credit acceplakle ky Texas A&M • destination country must ke outside ^iVeslern Europe and Canada FOR MORE INFORMATION. COME TO 251 Bizzell Hall West TUnunrs. Ian. 20, al 9:00 APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 7! e» WMimOIJSE •Buy—Sell—Trade • WeVe moved! We are now located direedy downstairs from our old 2nd floor location, in Northgate. 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