Page 8- The /lehrend College Collegian - Thursday, March 26, 1998 Cubans rescued by fishing crew in nick of time liy Serge I. Kovaleski=(c) 1998, The WitOnngion Poq NASSAU, Bahamas —Some 45 miles off Ragged Island in the Baha mas, the crew of about 70 men had just finished dinner and was prepar ing to naive its fleet of three fishing boats to prepare kir the next day's lob ster dive when crew members spot ted a small light shimmering in the distance. Several hundred yards away some one was waving a flashlight in what was a silent cry for help from nine Cuban refugees, including four base ball stars and a coach, whose dilapi dated lX- foot boat was ankle-deep with water and sinking in the dark- "If they had been five minutes later getting to us, they definitely would not have made it. They were taking on water fast," Joshua Bastian, 39, cap tain of one of the boats that rescued the defectors last Friday night, said in an interview Monday. "The first thing they said was, 'We need help. We need help badly.' " The rescue capped more than a week of fears, false reports and ru mors that the Cubans had been miss ing at sea for 10 days before suppos edly landing on the shores of the Do minican Republic. For much of last week, U.S. Coast Guard aircraft and volunteers Cuban exile pilots from Miami conducted search missions amid fears that the refugees had per ished in the rough waters of the Florida Strait or the Windward Pas- In fact, the nine men, who report edly listened to radio reports about their fate, had been hiding in the base ment of a house in the town of Holguin in eastern Cuba and in a nearby network of underground tun nels in an effort to evade Cuban au thorities. They were waiting for in clement weather to pass so they could sail, and did not depart Cuba until Friday morning. Although it few of the Cubans Serial killings in Spokane By William Both=(c) 1998, The Washington Post SPOKANE. Wash. Kathy Lloyd misses her little sister very much her sly sense of humor, her tough smarts, the good things. "We were a lot alike in many ways. - the elemen tary school teacher remembers. "She was my hest friend. Bul she had her Last month, police spent several days flying over the outskirts of Spokane in a helicopter affixed with infrared sensors, searching for the heat that might have been given off by a decomposing body. They found nothing. problems The last Imc Lloyd .aw her sister iha w n NicClenahan. alive was in November on a seedy stretch of East Sprague Avenue here the local stroll of adult book stores, nude danc ing Joints and terminal honky-tonks, where streetwalkers gather on the indy corners. get into dark cars and dyke ass as ss ith strangers. Addicted to heroin. a high-dollar habit. Nl:Clenahan. 3'). socked as a prosti tute. In a note McClenahan sent to her sister in December. she asked for for- fineness fot the drugs. prostitutitm :Ind disgrace. and spoke of her hope of getting clean in a methadone pro gram. Tell the rest of family. she n rote. that "I hn c them. and I'm still I'hc ne‘t time 1.10 . %,.1 sa%% her little sister %%as the Lla :titer Christmas. after her :rumpled bod% was found near an o‘ergrimn gra% el pit b% the side of a lonel road a fe‘% miles (EOM - I gent up there. - Lloi.l said. - It's %%here people dump their gar bage. But my sister %%asn't garbage. She %%as a person %%ill) a famil:% that 10% ed her.- There is A serial killer at N‘ork in Spokane. ‘‘ho is murdering \\ omen \\ ht) are in% 01% ed. as the poilie rut it. "in highk mobile li lest% les associated who had set out with little more than fresh water had been overcome with seasickness, they all appeared to he healthy and were euphoric to have been picked up after more than 17 hours at sea and to discover they had made it to the Bahamas, Bastian re called. "They did not cat at all that night because they were too happy," he said, noting that the next morning they had a breakfast of ham and tuna sand wiches and milk. "They did not know where they had been going. They had just been guessing because they had no navigational equipment," he said. The Bahamian fisherman said that the baseball players and the coach de scribed the four other Cuban men as the crew members of their single-en- ginc boat. The following day, one of the fish ing vessels took the defectors to tiny Ragged Island, the southernmost Ba hamian island, 80 miles off the north ern coast of Cuba, where they were turned over to local authorities and moved to the Carmichael Detention Center in Nassau on Sunday. "When we saw (the fishermen), we became ecstatic and started giving thanks to God and all the saints," one of the baseball players, Jorge Luis Toca, 23, said Monday from behind a fence at the detention facility. Besides Toca, a first basemen, the players arc catcher Angel Lopez, 25; second baseman Jorge Diaz Olano, 23; and Michael Jova, 17, a shortstop from Cuba's junior Olympic team. The coach is Enrique Chinea, 41. All five were banned from baseball on the Caribbean island nine months ago because Cuban authorities suspected they were planning to defect. On Sunday, Miami-based sports agent Joe Cubas. a Cuban American, flew here in a chartered plane carry ing legal documents, including re quests for humanitarian visas, and clothing for the detainees. Rene Guim, a spokesman for Cuhas, who has assisted a numberof athletes from Communist-ruled Cuba with the streets." Most are working as prostitutes or involved with drugs like heroin, crack or incthamphet amine. Their work on the streets en ables them to maintain their habits, the vicious feedback loop of addic tion. Since late last fall, investigators say, at least six women five here in Spokane and another in Tacoma have been murdered by a serial killer or killers. it is possible that many more have been slain by the same as sailant. There have been 19 unsolved murders involving prostitutes or drug users or both here since 1984. All of the six most recent murder victims were associated with the streets. All the women died of gun shot wounds. All were dumped in the same tOrlorn temporary graves. The police are keeping most of the gruesome details out of the press: the caliber of %%capon: location of wound: other marks. fibers or clues. Police refuse to discuss whether the women ‘‘ etc killed soon after their abductions or kept for awhile. as some family members fear. before they were slain. The family members pray that it was done quickly. that the killer is not some kind of collector. The victims range in age from 16 to 39. The most recent body. of Sunny Oster. %%as found in February. A sev enth possible ictim. Linda Maybin. has been missing since November. Last month. police spent several days flying leer the outskirts of Spokane in a helicopter affixed x‘ith infrared sensors. searching for the heat that World and Nation in obtaining lucrative contracts in the United States, said the priority is to prevent the repatriation of the nine refugees and to get them to a "safe haven," which in a country such as the United States, Costa Rica or Nica ragua. Several other sports agents have also shown up at the detention center here and are seeking visas from other countries for the refugees. Complicating matters is an agree ment that the Bahamas has with Cuba to return refugees. Furthermore, a myriad of U.S. and Bahamian immi gration laws, as well as Major League Baseball regulations, would have to be dealt with before any of the defec tors could sign with a U.S. team. Three months ago, however, Cuban pitcher Orlando Hernandez, who also had been barred from playing base ball in Cuba and whose half-brother Livan pitches for the Florida Marlins, fled to the Bahamas by boat and soon after arriving was allowed to go to Costa Rica. He has since signed a $6 million contract to pitch for the New York Yankees. "We were suspended from baseball because we were not trustworthy. We were possible immigrants," Toca said of the four players on the boat. "If we returned we would be jailed. Cuban security was always after us. We would like asylum or to go to a third country." In the meantime, Toca, as well as other detainees at the detention cen ter, complained about what they de scribed as poor living conditions, par ticularly for the 11 children held there. "We are sleeping on the floor, there are no mattresses, the food is no good, there is no medical attention and there is not enough milk for the children," Toca said. Phone calls to the Bahamian Immi gration Department were not returned. The four other defectors rescued on Friday , vere identified as Ernesto Perez Toma, 28; Giovani Pena Gonzalez, 25; Pedro Ferrer Chacon, 30; and Jose Roche, 27. might have been given off by a de composing body. They found noth ing. "I'm personally very concerned about Linda," said Spokane Police Capt. Chuck Bown, a co-leader of the task force formed here to end the kill- ing spree. Bown is a man with a lot to be con cerned about. Almost all of the 19 unsolved murders involved women with known histories of prostitution or drug addiction. Most were shot. A few were strangled or bludgeoned to death. One had her throat slashed. They were killed and dumped in lonely spots overgrown lots, city alleys. the banks of the Spo kane River. abandoned gravel pits and, eerily, along Hangman Valley Road. There were three women murdered and found in the summer and early autumn of 1997. There was another cluster of three murders in 1990 that police be lieve were committed by one assail ant. All were shot and all the bodies had traces of a green carpet fiber. Bown said the task force has not linked all 19 murders. though inves tigators have been reviewing evidence from all the cases and re-interview ing witnesses. Some might be added. some not." Bown said. Bown said the investigation to date has produced no suspects and surpris ingly little evidence. A "profile" of a possible suspect has not been offered to the public. though FBI agents with the agency's Serial Killer Unit have been to town. "We don't have a lot." Bown said. - We have very little physi cal evidence and there's only so many appeals you can make to the public for information...- Fund draws by using Diana's name on margarine By T.R. Reid=(c) 1998, The Washing ton Post LONDON Memories of the el egant Princess Diana tend to evoke images of fabulous jewelry and floor length gowns, of long limousines and lavish balls, of champagne glistening in crystal goblets beneath sparkling chandeliers. But margarine? In plastic tubs? The charity fund established as a memorial to the Princess of Wales already under fire here for commer cializing Diana's memory ex panded the late princess' legacy Mon day by announcing its first consumer product endorsement. The recipient of this honor is Flora margarine, a Brit ish brand previously best known for its slogan "High in Essential Polyunsaturates." Flora on Monday began selling its basic margarine in white plastic tubs bearing a large purple replica of the signature "Diana." The package also bears a logo indicating an official en dorsement from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, the charity set up to handle the flood of money contributed in the princess' honor since her death in an auto accident in Paris in August. In return, the margarine maker will contribute proceeds from the sale of the special packages to the Diana Fund. Further, this year's running of Flora margarine's annual London marathon will be turned into a fund raiser for the charity. Flora estimated Monday that the charity will net about $2 million from the arrangement. Diana, the divorced wife of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, was by far the most popular member of Britain's royal family when she was alive. Since her death the national es teem for "Princess Di" has ap proached religious fervor. Seven months after her death, newspapers here still find ways to get her picture on the front page several times a week, and anything bearing her im age seems to sell. Accordingly, Flora's maker, Van den Burgh Foods, presumably will realize a commercial boon from put ting her name on its tubs. It has prom ised not to charge extra for the offi cial Diana margarine, which will be sold for the standard price, about 6 jailed American activists freed by Serbians By Tracy Wilkinson=(c) 1998, Los Angeles Times PRISTINA, Yugoslavia Six American activists arrested by Serbian police over the weekend were freed Monday and expelled across the border into Macedonia, but only af ter jail authorities shaved their heads, U.S. officials said. The arrests and stiff jail terms had provoked an expression of "outrage" from Washington. where officials ac cused the government of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic of at tempting to harass foreign aid work ers and journalists in the wake of a Serb anti-terrorist operation that left scores of ethnic Albanians dead. The activists arrived in the Macedonian capital of Skopje Mon day afternoon and seemed fit. officials there said. They ran afoul of Serbian law when they failed to register with the police as required by law and on Saturday were sentenced to 10 days in jail. "They seemed pretty happy to be here." U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia Christopher Hill said in a telephone interview from Skopje. "They were not too happy about their hair cuts." Hill said they had gotten a military style buzz cut: it is routine in Serbian jails for new prisoners to he shorn of their hair. Otherwise. there was no sign the five men and one woman had been mistreated. U.S. officials said. The Americans had traveled to Serbia's southern Kosovo province criticism 51.10 for a 9-ounce container. But spreading the royal image to a polyunsaturated spread is almost cer tain to fuel the growing criticism here of the Diana Fund and the ways its managers have chosen to exploit her exalted memory. Prime Minister Tony Blair has pub licly complained about "tacky" sou venirs emblazoned with the late princess's famous smile. Just last week Diana's friend Elton John who dedicated all proceeds from the massive global sales of his memorial song "Candle in the Wind 1997" to the Diana Fund argued that the "Diana industry" has gone too far. He said commercial tie-ins and promo tional events for the charity should be curtailed. This backlash has created problems for Diana's brother, Charles, the ninth Earl of Spencer. He is planning a me morial rock concert this summer in Diana's memory at Althorp, the Spen cer country estate, where the princess is buried. Initially, it was promised that all the greatest names in "Brit Pop" would perform at this gala re cital of an art form Diana particularly enjoyed. But many of those great names, including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins and the Spice Girls reportedly have declined to take part. There was also criticism here this week of a new plan to invoke Diana's name in a campaign to get auto pas sengers to buckle their seat belts. The general response was typified by an editorial in today's Daily Express, which called the seat-belt plan and its unstated evocation of the car crash that killed the princess "macabre." But the margarine tubs that went on sale Monday have drawn the most biting criticism. Dame Barbara Cartland, the romance novelist who was the late princess' step-grand mother, launched a zinger at marga rine in particular and the exploitation in general. "She should remain magnificent in our memory," Cartland told the Daily Telegraph newspaper, "not attached to something I have always considered a poor substitute for butter." "Her name, her image, everything about her memory is being commer cialized," Cartland said, "which is very sad and a great mistake." last week to lecture the ethnic Alba nian majority on nonviolent resis tance, including the art of picketing, getting arrested, staging sit-ins, as well as other tactics from America's anti-war protest era. Ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo province are fighting for indepen dence from heavy-handed Serbian rule. Most of the struggle has involved pacifist, nonconfrontational actions. The Americans were put on trial and sentenced Saturday and immedi ately jailed. They were freed Monday and driven by police straight to the border with Macedonia, where they were left and retrieved by U.S. Em bassy officials. U.S. officials had not been allowed to see them in the Pristina prison. It was unclear why the group was re leased. Holding them may have proven a greater embarrassment to the government than releasing them especially as Belgrade faces possible economic sanctions when the six-na tion Contact Group meets to decide how to punish Milosevic for the ex cessive force used in this month's police crackdown. There was no immediate comment from the government on the release of the Americans. "We are pleased. but we reiterate our strong view that they should never have been arrested in the first place on these ridiculous charges." State Department spokesman James Foley said. Sleepless in Seattle City Hall By Terry McDermott=(e) 1998. Los Aneeles Times SEATTLE If the mayor has his way. Seattle might just become the first city in history to build a new city hall because the old one is too nice. Since taking office three months ago. Mayor Paul Schell has presented a dizzying array of proposals on hous ing, transit and other big issues fac ing the city. Last week. he added yet another. sketching out a plan to de molish the current city hall. sell the building the City Council intended as its replacement and build a bunch of new buildings to replace the replace ment. If this seems complicated. it's prob ably because being humble is hard work. Here's the problem. A couple years back, the local government strapped for both office space and money stumbled onto a great deal on a nearly new, mostly empty 62- story skyscraper. The building own ers were in default on their mortgage. And the banks, stuck with the debt, were eager to unload it. The economy was in a slight recession, so the city was one of the few buyers in the mar ket able to purchase the building, which it did for $l2O million about 60 cents on the dollar for what it cost to build. The city then began moving its employees out of a collection of old, seismically unsafe buildings into the skyscraper. The council planned to move itself and the mayor there as well. Schell has other ideas. He grants that the city got a great deal on the building but says, in essence, that he would be embarrassed to live there. "It was designed as a symbol of corporate power," Schell says, not a quality with which he wishes to asso ciate the city. Schell thinks the sym bolism of city government's occupy ing the high rise would be "undemo cratic." To say that Seattle wears its egali tarian politics on its sleeve is like say ing Microsoft is ambitious. This is a city where the amount of public par ticipation in government often doubles or triples the time and effort it takes to get things done. Fostering undemocratic practices is as close to mortal sin as politicians here can get. So it comes as little surprise that the mayor is reluctant to take up residence in a skyscraper. Still, Schell's proposal received a tepid reception. His aver sion to civic ostentation ran smack into another highly prized civic vir tue a love of thriftiness. The city got such a great deal on the building that replicating it for any thing near the same amount of money would be impossible. Schell says the sale of the building would finance all of its smaller replacements, but few members of the council really believe it. City halls have a bad history here. For decades, the city shared space with the local county government. When it finally built its own build ing, the City Council acting as the design jury picked a blueprint in tended for an office park in Texas. They don't even call it City Hall. Its proper name is the Municipal Office Building, and it is about as generic as the name implies. Schell, a former dean of the Uni versity of Washington's architecture school, wants to replace it with a new civic center of appropriate scale and style. He has enlisted some of his ar chitect buddies to help sell the plan. which at this point he is careful to say is very preliminary. "A visual descrip tion of a vision." is how one of the architects put it. But while the architects talked about the need to visualize city streets as rivers of commerce and new build ings as armchairs firm on the sides. soft in the middle the real issue loomed overhead. The skyscraper that would be the new city hall is anything but generic. Which isn't the same as saying it's a handsome building. Key Tower. named after a tenant. is big. brown and tall. 62 stories of Finnish granite with a gabled roof that looks for all the world like a bright green
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