4 The Daily Collegian
State
Deep freeze Impairs
electricity restoration
(AP) - Frigid temperatures
complicated efforts yesterday to
restore power to the last of what had
been more than a million people left in
the dark in eastern Pennsylvania over
the weekend.
In York County, temperatures were
so cold that icy roads thawed by the
sun refroze immediately, said Chris
Leiphart, assistant York County
manager of the Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation.
Crews were forced to spread anti
skid, a combination of dust and
crushed stone, which is prone to rolling
and blowing off roads, Leiphart said.
PECO Energy Co. crews yesterday
restored power to another 10,000 of a
total 590,000 customers who lost power
because of last week's ice storm, said
spokesman Michael Wood.
By yesterday evening, roughly 3,000
customers; 200 in Montgomery County;
150 in Bucks County; fewer than 1,000
Delaware County, and fewer than 2,000
in Chester County remained without
power, Wood said.
Auditor General Hafer
won't run for governor
HARRISBURG (AP) The crowded
field in the Republican gubernatorial
primary grew less so yesterday when
Auditor General Barbara Hafer
announced she will not run for either
the Republican nomination for
governor or U.S. Senate this year.
Hafer was strongly interested in
trying again for the office she lost by a
landslide in 1990 to incumbent
Democrat Robert P. Casey. But party
leaders wanted her to run for the
U.S. Senate.
Either race would have required
intense fund raising. U.S. Rep. Tom
Ridge of Erie is leading on the
Republican side with roughly $2 million
raised in 1993 for the gubernatorial
primary, Incumbent U.S. Sen. Harris
Wofford, a, Democrat, is. well on his
way to raising $7 million for his re
election this year.
"Fund raising is tough any time,"
Hafer said yesterday. Her campaign
had raised about $400,000, and about a
quarter went to retiring past campaign
debt.
• •
711
Jury selection begins
for Branch Davidian trial
SAN ANTONIO (AP) —Jury selection
began yesterday for 11 surviving
Branch Davidian members, 11 months
after the shootout outside the sect's
compound that killed four federal
agents and started a seven-week
standoff.
U.S. District Judge Walter Smith
questioned a panel of 80 prospective
jurors yesterday after shedding his
black judicial robe to keep from
"intimidating" them.
The defendants 10 men and one
woman —sat attentively as the judge
asked questions. Each stood and
smiled, or nodded briefly, as their
attorneys introduced them.
Testimony is expected to begin mid
week and last for two months.
Twelve jurors and six alternates are
needed to hear testimony on the
charges that the 11 followers of
doomsday prophet David Koresh
conspired to murder federal agents
during a raid on the religious group's
compound near Waco on Feb. 28.
The case pits the prosecution's
evidence of tape recordings, law
enforcement testimony and the group's
stockpile of weapons against defense
claims of excessive government force.
Rain assists in battle
with Australian bushfires
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) Hot,
gusty winds abated and a light rain
fell, giving firefighters the break they
needed yesterday against 136 bushfires
raging across southeastern Australia.
By nightfall, all but two major fires
were in check.
During the previous three days, the
winds had whipped up huge firestorms
and the 10,000 firefighters had no
chance of putting out the flames.
Instead, they could only try to save
lives and property.
More than 20,000 people fled their
homes ahead of the fast moving fires,
which came within 5 miles of
downtown Sydney, and most have
returned to undamaged houses.
Others in the suburbs of Sydney,
Australia's largest city, returned to sift
through the ashes of their homes and
watched tearfully yesterday as
bulldozers demolished the blackened
ruins.
Parliament polarizing
Yeltsin allies aim to prosecute ultranationalists
By DEBORAH SEWARD
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW, With President
Clinton's visit only two days
away, Russia's first post-Soviet
Parliament was emerging as a
bitter battleground of supporters
and foes of Boris Yeltsin.
On the eve of today's opening
session of the parliament, the
Russian president's supporters
threatened to prosecute ultrana
tionalists and blamed Commu
nists for the deaths of millions of
people.
The statements had all the
markings of a pre-emptive strike.
Yeltsin's allies are outnumbered
by his foes in the new legislature,
and the president's opponents are
expected to waste no time in
attacking his pro-Western
reforms.
Clinton arrives tomorrow in a
display of support for Yelstin and
his reform program. The
U.S. president also is expected to
meet with other political leaders.
But he has no plans to visit
Parliament or meet with Yeltsin's
Lorena Bobbitt talks to her attorney, John Lowe, at the beginning of her trial. Radio disc jockeys
outside the courthouse during yesterday's proceedings gave away free Slice soda and wieners.
Bobbitt tried
By ANNE GEARAN
Associated Press Writer
MANASSAS, Va. For John
Bobbitt, it was the same court
house, the same excruciating
tale. But this time, he told it for
the other side.
In a circuslike atmosphere
captured on live television,
Bobbitt described to a jury of
seven women and five men
yesterday how his wife, Lorena,
cut off his penis.
He gave virtually the same
testimony in November, when
he was tried and acquitted for
marital sexual assault. But the
second trial drew nearly four
times as many reporters as the
first.
Vendors hawked T-shirts
saying "Revenge How Sweet
It Is" and "Cut Me a Break,"
while two disc jockeys from
Norfolk, Va. about 200 miles
away gave out Slice soda and
wieners to the crowd.
The first witness to take the
stand, John Bobbitt testified he
"felt a couple of jerks" before
the attack. He said he felt diz
zy, then sought help. With his
Poorer schools to plug in' with free computers from Bell At/antic; TC/
The two corporations are
funding access to
information networks for
schools that might
otherwise be bypassed.
By JAMES H. RUBIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C. Prodded by a
key congressman, two telecommunications
companies said yesterday they will help
one-fourth of the nation's schools plug in
free of charge to computer and video
information networks.
Bell Atlantic Corp. and Telecommunica
tions Inc., which agreed last October to
merge, said they are starting the largest
corporate program ever linking class-
Dateline
most vociferous critics, including
Vladimir Zhirinovzky, who has
called Clinton "a coward" who
should stay out of Russia.
Yeltsin gained some political
ground at home yesterday with
Clinton's announcement in Brus
sels of a pact that will rid the
Ukraine of its 1,800 nuclear war
heads.
Yeltsin's opponents had accus
ed him of being too soft on for
mer Soviet republics including
the Ukraine that they see as
threats to Russian security and
national interests.
The new parliament, which is
intended to mark a new chapter
in Russia's young democracy, is
already deeply divided, with
extreme nationalists and Com
munists determined to undo
Yeltsin's reforms. Yeltsin dis
missed the previous parliament,
setting off a violent backlash by
conservatives.
Russia's Choice, the main bloc
supporting Yeltsin, said it would
try to make parliament members
face criminal responsibility for
for 'malicious wounding'
hands pressing against his
groin, he said he woke up a
house guest for help.
"I didn't know how to explain
it to him," John Bobbitt said.
"It was kind of embarrassing."
Lorena Bobbitt is charged
with malicious wounding for
cutting off Bobbitt's penis after
he came home from a night of
drinking June 23. If convicted,
she could be sentenced to 20
years in prison.
Lorena Bobbitt's lawyers
have argued she was driven to
the act by an "irresistible
impulse" caused by years of
abuse, including forced sex the
night of the mutilation.
In her opening statement,
defense attorney Lisa Kemler
said John Bobbitt "took away
any control his wife had over
herself" after he raped her that
night.
Kemler, who described the
Bobbitts' relationship as a
"reign of terror," said sexual,
physical and verbal abuse had
begun in the first month of
their four-year marriage.
John Bobbitt, who is seeking
a divorce, contends his wife
rooms to the "information superhighway"
now under construction.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., had
urged the telecommunications industry
last month to do more to assure access to
high-tech information networks for
schoolchildren in poorer areas.
Markey, chairman of the House sub
committee on telecommunications and
finance, praised the two companies yes
terday. He is sponsoring legislation to
oversee competition for local phone serv
ice and between cable TV companies.
"America cannot leave the bottom 20 to
30 percent of this population out of the
knowledge-based economy and still hope
to retain its economic standing," Markey
said. The Bell Atlantic-TCI plan is a first
step in making multimedia education
accessible to schoolchildren, Markey said.
Bell Atlantic and TCI held simultaneous
statements that incite hatred or
violence.
The threat was aimed at Zhiri
novsky, whose Liberal Demo
cratic Party won 23 percent of
the vote in last month's election
by promising to expand Russia's
borders and expel dark-skinned
traders from southern former
Soviet republics.
Yegor Gaidar, economics min
ister and Russia's Choice chair
man, said some of Zhirinovsky's
statements could be punishable
by up to eight years in jail for
sowing the seeds of war.
Zhirinovsky fired back, telling
his party's 64 parliament mem
bers that his party would not
accept a strong president and a
weak legislature.
Yeltsin's new constitution,
which was adopted by referen
dum Dec. 12 reduced parlia
ment's powers and strengthened
the president's. But the president
does not have the right to dis
solve parliament for at least a
year.
Russia's Choice will have the
attacked him because she was
angry over his plans to leave
her.
In November, he was
acquitted in the same court
house in Prince William County
on a charge of marital sexual
assault.
The jury hearing the case
against Lorena Bobbitt was
empaneled before Judge Her
man A. WhisenantJr. after
three hours of questions from
Commonwealth's Attorney Paul
E. Ebert and defense lawyer
Blair Howard.
Ebert asked whether the
prospective jurors would be
able to put aside the jokes they
may have heard about the
highly publicized case.
"We've all heard those, I
guess, but putting that aside do
you recognize that this is a
serious criminal matter?"
Ebert said. All said they did.
The trial was expected to last
three days.
While John Bobbitt's trial
drew about 50 reporters, Lore
na Bobbitt's trial attracted
several hundred reporters and
technicians.
"America cannot leave the bottom 20 to 30 percent of this
population out of the knowledge-based economy and still
hope to retain its economic standing."
news conferences in Washington and Los
Angeles to announce their plans, with
reporters in each city able to question
company officials in the other via a TV
hookup.
Company officials said they hope even
tually to provide free access to computer
and cable networks for 26,000 elementary
and secondary school in areas served by
the two companies.
"This commitment to education means
Deputies in the new Russian parliament's upper house, the Feder
ation Council, get money for expenses as they register in Moscow's
House of Press. The members registered yesterday in preparation
for today's opening session.
largest faction in the 450-member
lower house with 94 seats. Zhiri
novsky's faction will be second
and the Communists a close third
with 50 seats.
With no faction controlling a
majority, it is unclear whether
the new parliament will be as
obstructionist as the previous one
and prompt a new power strug
gle.
Congress term limit
challenged
By PEGGY ANDERSEN
Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE Initiatives limit
ing the number of terms mem
bers of Congress may serve, so
far approved in 15 states, get
their first federal court test
today in a case challenging the
Washington measure.
U.S. District Judge William
Dwyer has set aside three hours
for arguments. He is expected to
issue a ruling in about five
weeks.
"It will be an action-packed
three hours," said Margaret Col
ony, spokeswoman of the state
League of Women Voters, which
opposes term limits.
At least eight attorneys will
take part, including two former
Carter administration officials:
one-time Attorney General Grif
fin Bell, representing organizers
of Initiative 573, and former
White House counsel Lloyd Cut
ler, arguing against the measure.
Colorado was the first state to
pass a term-limits initiative in
1990. Fourteen others followed in
Radiation
displayed
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
Associated Press Writer
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. A public
reading room for documents on
once-secret radiation experi
ments opened quietly yesterday
in this city that helped create the
atomic bomb.
Twenty documents were placed
on file in a building that formerly
housed a museum to the Atomic
Energy Commission, which over
saw many of the studies.
The city of Oak Ridge began as
a Manhattan Project complex
that supplied enriched uranium
for the Hiroshima bomb and plu
tonium-processing research for
the Nagasaki bomb. For years,
the government refused to
acknowledge that the complex
even existed.
"What we have done is gone
ahead and put the readily avail
able documents (on display) and
created a new facility for that
purpose," said Steve Wyatt, a
spokesman for the Energy
Department's Oak Ridge com
plex. "We never really gave the
impression that was new."
Tuesday, Jan. 11, 1994
But Yeltsin's top aides seemed
nervous ahead of the parliament
session
Perhaps to avoid his most ven
omous opponents, Yeltsin has
chosen to address the opening
session of the Federation Council,
the upper house of parliament.
Prime Minister Viktor Cherno
myrdin will speak to the more
powerful Duma, the lower House.
In court
1992, including Nashington.
The term-limits movement bills
itself as the antidote to fat-cat
career politicians who are out of
touch with their constituents.
Term limits are supported by
22 million voters and represent
the will of the people, said Sherry
Bockwinkel, spokeswoman for
the LIMIT organization that led
the Washington state campaign
for the initiative.
Opponents argue that term
limits can be imposed only
through an amendment to the
U.S. Constitution. A brief filed by
Cutler's firm called the limits an
attempt "to trump the judgment
of the Founders that only age,
citizenship and state residency
and not other qualifications such
as non-incumbency should be
qualifications for service in Con
gress."
Washington's law limits
U.S. House members to three
two-year terms over 12 years and
Senate members to two six-year
terms over 18 years. It also limits
terms for state officials, but
those provisions are not at issue.
documents
for public
~... about 695
persons were
exposed to radiation
Four of the 20 documents now
available involve a single case
a boy who died from leukemia
while under experimental radia
tion therapy from 1965 to 1968 at
an Oak Ridge cancer research
hospital owned by the AEC.
Also on file in the reading room
is a 1986 congressional commit
tee report called "American
Nuclear Guinea Pigs: Three
Decades of Radiation Experi
ments on U.S. Citizens."
The 36-page report details 31
government experiments from
the 1940 s to the 1970 s in which
"about 695 persons were exposed
to radiation which provided little
or no medical benefit to the sub
jects."
Rep. Edward Markey
D-Mass.
that student and teachers will have at
their fingertips homework hot lines, par
ent-teacher discussions, video materials
and a world of electronically stored data,"
said Raymond Smith, chairman and chief
executive officer of Bell Atlantic.
The companies provided a glimpse of
how the system works with TV hookups to
Christopher Columbus School in Union
City, N.J., and the Carrolton, Ga., school
system.
Congressional
report