2 The Daily Collegian Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1987
Officials: Minority prevents settlement
By SONYA ROSS
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) A “small but aggressive
minority of Cuban inmates blocked the release of
90 hostages from a federal penitentiary yesterday,
officials said, while hundreds of Cubans who
surrendered in Louisiana were sent to other feder
al prisons.
The same 100 Cubans, out of a total population of
1,118, earlier blocked the release of 50 hostages in
Atlanta, said Patrick Korten, deputy director of
the public affairs for the U.S. Justice Department.
“Unfortunately, a small but aggressive minority
appears to be able to intimidate this majority into
dragging out the incident and avoiding a set
tlement,” Korten said.
“Had it been up to those who have been negotiat
ing on behalf of the apparent majority, they (the
hostages) would probably be out.”
The prison was quiet yesterday, and there was
no inmate reaction to the Louisiana settlement.
Authorities spoke with some inmates on Monday,
but no formal negotiations were scheduled.
The riots by Cuban detainees in both states
followed a government announcement that 2,500
Cubans mostly criminals or mentally ill
would be returned to their homeland. The inmates
have demanded that they be allowed to remain in
the United States. Cubans seized the Oakdale, La.,
prison Nov. 21 and the Atlanta penitentiary two
days later.
Atlanta inmates and federal officials have been
Court to decide
By JAMES H. RUBIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON, D C. - The Rea
gan administration and white police
officers in New York City urged the
Supreme Court yesterday to make it
easier to file lawsuits attacking affir
mative action plans benefiting mi
norities.
Justice Department lawyer Glen
D. Nager said white officers who
were denied promotion to sergeant
should be allowed to challenge the
city’s plan in a separate lawsuit rath
er than being required to intervene in
the original case.
“It is in the interest of fairness and
efficiency,” to permit such suits, he
said.
Ronald Podolsky, a lawyer for the
white officers, said his clients were
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“unnecessarily excluded” from the
promotion plan. He said they should
be allowed to choose their own legal
remedy.
But Leonard J. Koerner, represent
ing New York City, said the lawsuit
filed by Podolsky was designed to
“sow confusion.” He continued, “We
believe what he has done is place
himself in the middle of nowhere.”
Koerner said it would undermine
the finality of court-approved minori
ty job quotas to allow separate suits
by those who claim they are affected
adversely by such agreements.
The justices are expected to an
nounce a decision in the dispute by
July.
The case stems from a plan
adopted in 1985 by New York City in
response to lawsuits charging the
police department with discrimina-
Matches
don’t start People do.
at a stalemate since four hostages were released
Sunday morning.
“We are prepared to be as patient as necessary
as we await a decision by the Cuban detail*** to
settle the incident on a fair and equitable basis,”
Korten said, refusing to give additional details on
the rift between inmates.
Federal agents will not use force to regain
control of the 85-year-old stone prison as long as
the prison workers held hostage are safe, he said.
Inmates have made videotapes of 70 of the 90
hostages and all appear to be safe, Korten said. He
said officials have verified the safety of the re
maining hostages by other means which he would
not describe.
Three Cuban exile leaders met with inmate
representatives Sunday to discuss the settlement
reached in Oakdale, but there has been no reaction
from the inmates, Korten said.
One of the exile leaders, Cuban-American Foun
dation President Jorge Mas Canosa, said a majori
ty of the Cubans want to release all the hostages,
but a group of radical inmates is holding it up.
“The radicals are pretty much in control of the
situation,” Mas told reporters Monday. “The
rational leadership, the ones that they (the Cu
bans) elected, they are fairly moderate. They
want a solution.”
In Louisiana, the 950 Cubans who on Sunday
released 26 hostages at the Federal Detention
Center boarded buses yesterday en route to 12
other federal prisons.
The eight-day Oakdale uprising ended after a
ease of
affirmative
tion against minorities in an exami
nation for promotion to sergeant.
While 21 percent of those who took
the test in 1984 were black and His
panic, blacks and Hispanics received
high enough grades to account for
only 6.5 percent of the more than 1,000
promoted to sergeant.
The minority groups said the test
was not job related and discriminate
unlawfully against them.
A settlement between the city and
the minority groups was reached in
late 1985.
It called for promotion of all of the
more than 1,000 who scored highest
on the exam. Additional blacks and
Hispanics were promoted to sergeant
so that approximately 21 percent of
those who took the test were from the
minority groups.
The agreement was spurred in part
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Cuban-born Roman Catholic bishop issued a video
taped appeal to the inmates to throw down their
weapons and free the hostages.
A search of the detention center Monday found
no Cubans or bodies inside, said Bureau of Prisons
spokeswoman Luenette Johnson. Authorities ear
lier believed some inmates may have hid in the
center.
The search also failed to turn up any booby
traps, which agents also believed they might
uncover, Johnson said.
Auxiliary Bishop Agustin Roman, the highest
ranking Cuban-born priest in Miami’s Roman
Catholic Archdiocese, told Louisiana inmates that
be had reviewed a document offered by the gov
ernment promising individual case reviews for
those facing deportation.
Roman has said he’s willing to work to end the
Atlanta prison takeover but officials have not
sought his help.
“Bishop Roman has returned to Miami, there
are no present plans for him to come to Atlanta,”
Korten said. “That could always change later, but
there are no present plans to bring him here.”
Attorneys for prisoner support groups criticized
the agreement that Oakdale inmates signed.
“The Cubans signed the document and I’m sure
they’re happy with it. But there are many techni
cal matters that only lawyers can understand. And
it raises questions that they might not have got
what they thought,” said Steven Donziger, an
attorney who is acting as spokesman for the
Coalition to Support Cuban Detainees.
action suits
by the growing need for sergeants on
the police force.
While final approval of the
agreement was pending before a fed
eral judge, groups of white officers
who had not been promoted filed a
new lawsuit claiming their rights
were violated.
The white officers had test scores
equal or better than those of the
blacks and Hispanics who were added
to list of those promoted.
A federal judge threw out the suit
by the whites on grounds it was an
unwarranted “collateral attack” on
the consent settlement. The judge
said the white officers should have
intervened in the original case that
led to the consent settlement.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Ap
peals upheld the judge’s ruling last
year.
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Could a good computer system help?
The Engineering Undergraduate Council presents:
Dr. Adams off the Engineering Computer l-*H
to speak on the computer systems and applications
available to all undergraduates.
There’s more than you think!
A tour of the E.E. West Facilities follows.
Tuesday, Dec. 1 7:30p.m. 131 E.E. East
A short business meeting preceeds the speaker A
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