The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 12, 1999, Page 3, Image 3
Fwww, Uov&Aom 12,1999 j
Building collapses in Italy, dozens feared dead
by Ellen Knickmeyer
Associated Press
Foggia, hAiy — A six-story apartment
building in southern Italy collapsed into
a pile of rubble before dawn Thursday,
burying scores of people. Authorities
found nine bodies and feared dozens more
residents could be dead.
Rescuers could hear just one faint
voice under the rubble and were work
ing quickly in search of survivors. “Every
minute we lose could mean the end of
someone’s life,” said Salvatore Distaso,
president of the Puglia region, which en
compasses the town of Foggia.
Between 70 and 75 people were in
the building when it collapsed, said Capl.
Antonio Di Spazio of the paramilitary
police. The death toll could reach 50 or
more, he said. By late afternoon, nine
bodies had been pulled from the ruins,
and 16 people were known to have sur
vived.
Rescuers were trying to reach a young
man named Angelo, whose voice they
could hear from deep in the rubble.
“Vvfe have to proceed with much cau
tion,” Fire Chief Paola Moccia said.
“We’re talking to him, he’s asking for
help, saying he’s thirsty. We’re trying to
keep him calm.”
When residents woke during the night,
they tried frantically to escape the build
ing. Many might have died on the stairs,
unable to get out in time as the building
came down around them.
The superintendent, Luigi Laconta,
50, said a resident woke him and said the
building was creaking.
They ran, ringing doorbells lo alert
people.
“At this point I look a step back,
thinking I would see someone stick their
head out of a window,” Laconta said. “In
stead, I saw the entire building crumble
in front of me.”
“In the heart of the night I heard my
bed shake, like an earthquake,” said
survivor Salvatore Taronna, 19, from his
hospital bed. “Then I heard creaking nois
es, but I couldn’t understand what was
happening.”
“All of a sudden, I found myself deep
in chunks of cement,” Taronna said. “It
was dark, and I didn’t have the strength
to scream.”
Special to The Gamecock
A man Is rushed to the hospital after being injured Thursday In the
rubble of an apartment building that collapsed before dawn In Foggla,
Italy.
Internet providers left
out of satellite TV bill
by Kalpana Srinivasan
Associated Press
Washington — America Online and
other Jntemet companies could be shut
out of delivering local TV to their cus
tomers under a satellite TV bill passed
by the House.
Language in the bill could stifle the
ability of Internet providers to become
competitors of cable television and satel
lite companies as deliverers of broadcast
programming, House Commerce Com
mittee Chairman Tom Bliley, R-Va., said
Wednesday. ,
“The importance of the Internet and
other online communications technolo
gies for enhancing consumer access to
information and programming cannot be
overstated,” Bliley wrote in a letter to
the House Judiciary Committee.
The issue has to do with blanket li
censes that currently make it possible for
cable companies to carry local pro
gramming without having to hammer out
individual copyright agreements. The
House bill would give satellite compa
nies similar authority to offer local sta
tions to their subscribers.
In meiging Senate and House bills on
the issue, lawmakers inserted a provision
excluding any “digital online-commu
nication service” from licenses to carry
broadcast programming. Internet service
providers and other technology compa
nies now want the provision removed.
“Communications is changing so
quickly today no one knows what the fu
ture holds. We and others in the indus
try don’t think it makes sense for Con
gress to close any doors, particularly when
there has not even been a debate or pub
lic airing of the issue, ’’said AOL spokes
woman Kathy McKieman.
But the director of the Copyright Of
fice questioned Wednesday whether In
ternet companies should ever have the
same authority as cable and satellite com
panies to carry television broadcasting.
Y2K royalties shock businesses
BY Anick J esdanun
Associated Press
New York —Some businesses that
thought they’d fixed their Y2K problems
might still find themselves in for a mil
lennial shock.
Companies that use the most popu
lar technique for eradicating the Year
2000 bug are getting an unexpected bill
for thousands, even millions of dollars in
licensing fees. The man who invented the
process wants to be paid for it.
At least 70 percent of companies use
the process, known as windowing, to
make their computers Y2K complient,
analysts say. Bruce Dickens, who worked
at McDonnell Douglas Corp., developed
and patented the technique.
“If it stands, the implications are
huge,” said Dale Vecchio, Y2K research
director at the Gartner Group, a tech
nology consulting firm. “Mr. Dickens is
going to be a rich man.”
The windowing fix involves tricking
the computer into thinking the century
rollover is decades away. Programmers
instruct software to interpret digits low
er than a “pivot” number, such as 30,
to represent the 21 st century. Higher dig
its would represent the 20th century.
A software with a pivot of“30" would
inteipiet year “00” through “29” as 2000
to 2029 but assume years “30” through
“99” to be in the 1900s. The fix is
short term but popular because it is rel
atively easy and cheap.
Y2K experts say the procedure ex
isted long before the government grant
ed the patent in 1998. Proving that in
court can be costly, so some companies
may opt to pay the fee instead.
“Even if you think it’s a flimsy patent,
it might be worth paying off,” said
Jonathan Band, an intellectual property
lawyer.
About 30 other Y2K-related patents
exist, but most deal with specialized tech
niques for specific products. Dickens’
patent covers a general technique, and
most companies were apparently unaware
that such a patent even existed.
Late last week, Dickens began send
ing letters to Fortune 500 and Informa
tion Wfeek 500 companies, asking for roy
allies. No one has paid him so far, but de
pending on the response, he may go af
ter smaller businesses and government
agencies.
He wants payments based on com
pany revenues, and prices will go up 100
times in the new year. A company tak
ing in $ 1 billion a year would initially pay
$25,000, as well as licensing fees. After
Dec. 31, that same company would ini
tially have to pay $2.5 million.
Dickens tried to collect licensing fees
from some companies in June but was
turned down. This time, he got a lawyer.
“Bruce believes he’s made a signifi
cant contribution, and he should be re
imbursed for it,” attorney William
Cray said.
Dickens, who still works at Boeing
as a software developer, declined to be
interviewed.
Patent law covering software and
high-tech applications is murky be
cause the U.S. Patent and Trademark Of
fice has relatively little information to
use in evaluating whether an idea is tru
ly new.
World Briefs
Man kills self,
companion in mall
Aventura, Fla. (AP)—One man shot
another to death and then killed himself
after they argued in a Starbucks coffee
shop in a suburban shopping mall Thurs
day.
The men were silting at a table when
they started to argue, police Lt. Skip
Washa said. One man stood, pulled out
a handgun and shot his companion, Washa
said. The man then shot hiijiself in the
head.
One man appeared to be in his 30s,
the other in his 50s, Washa said.
Police sealed off the upscale Aven
tura Mall after the shooting. The palm
fringed, pastel-colored mall features de
partment stores like Macy’s,
Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor and many
smaller stores.
Michel Bashik, who works in an elec
tronics store one floor below the mez
zanine-level Starbucks, said he heard six
shots, “knowing it wasn’t like any oth- ,
er type of noise.” He and his co-work- '
ers dropped to the floor.
Boy turns in mom,
stepdad for abuse
Chicago (AP) — A 13-year-old boy
turned in his mother and stepfather for
allegedly beating him and stockpiling
drugs in their apartment.
Police arrested Kenneth Sharp and
Hazel Poisso after a search of their home
turned up more than 17 pounds of co-,
caine, 20 grams of marijuana, a 12-gauge
shotgun and a 9 mm handgun, Lt. John
Carioscia said.
The boy, who wasn’t identified, con
fided Tuesday in a 17-year-old friend that
he was afraid to go home because his
mother beat him. He told police lie had
n’t been to school in three yean.
Shaip faces drug and weapons charges
and was in jail in lieu of $2 million bail.,
Ms. Poisso was charged with a misde
meanor count of domestic battery and
released on bond.
All five of Poisso’s children were
placed in state custody.
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