The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 21, 2000, Page A3, Image 3
News Briefs
■ All signs indicate
EgyptAir crash
was deliberate
North Kingstown, R.l. (AP) —
Weeks after the last pile of debris from
EgyptAir 990 was pulled from the sea,
investigators say they are more convinced
than ever of their original theory: The jet
was crashed deliberately.
The examination of the shattered Boe
ing 767, some 70 percent of which was
recovered from the ocean floor, has re
vealed no signs of a mechanical failure
that would have caused the plane to plum
met 40 minutes into its 11-hour flight,
according to three officials close to the
investigation who spoke on condition
of anonymity.
“Everything leads everyone to be
lieve that the plane was mechanically
sound and it was doing what it was sup
posed to,” one government official told
The Associated Press. “There’s just no
smokinggun” to indicate mechanical fail
ure.
The National Transportation Safety
Board has said there are no plans to re
construct the aircraft, which speaks
vnlnmpc ahnnt thp invp^tiontinn PYnprtc
Three die in Seton Hall blaze
by Robert Ingrassia
Knight-Ridder
South Orange, N.J. — Screams
drowned out the fire alarm, choking
smoke filled the halls and flames shot
through a Seton Hall University dormi
tory early Thursday as hundreds of fresh
men fled in terror.
One girl plunged through a wall of
flame at her door, and at least two stu
dents leaped from windows to escape a
blaze that left three male students dead
and 58 people injured.
I The fire, whose cause had not been
determined, originated in a sofa in a third
floor lounge in Boland Hall on the South
Orange, N J., college campus at 4:30 a.m„
forcing coatless students into frigid dark
ness.
“The screams we heard could have
been some of the people dying,” said Greg
Edwards, 18, of Valley Stream, N.Y. “I'll
never forget the screams. It was the worst
thing I've ever heard.”
A recent spate of false alarms led many
students at theCatholic college to ignore
the warning at first.
“When people came out with black
stuff on their faces and yelling, Help me!
Help me!' — that’s when reality set
in,” said 18-year-old Vanessa Gomez.
Lisa Sepulveda, 18, of New York City,
said she passed a burned young man moan
ing as she fled the residence hall. “He
looked like he had painted his entire body;
it was purple and blue and orange.”
The dead victims were all 18, from
New Jersey and third-floor residents of
Boland, a freshman dorm. They were
identified as Frank Caltabilota of West
Long Branch, John Giunta of Vineland
and Aaron Karol of Dunellen.
Frantic parents rushed to the college
to find their children, 18- and 19-year
olds who seemed much younger as they
stood crying in pajamas, hugging their
mothers and fathers.
The blaze apparently started in the
third-floor lounge in the north wing of
the 600-student dorm, spreading quick
ly into a hallway and sending black smoke
through the building.
“This was a pretty intense and fast
moving fire,” said Essex County prose
cutor Don Campolo.
Local fire investigators and agents of
the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms were probing the cause.
There was speculation that someone had
been smoking on the sofa.
An accelerant-detecting dog failed to
detect any apparent evidence of arson,
authorities said.
“This is an investigation that's going
to take some time to complete,” Cam
polo said.
Two of the dead were found in the
lounge; they may have tried to put the
fire out, authorities said. The three so
fas in that room were just charred frames;
the hallway was blackened by soot. Dorm
room doors left open by fleeing students
revealed normalcy — computers, books
and sneakers —juxtaposed with the hor
rific scene.
The third victim was found in a near
by room; emergency personnel had at
tempted to revive him, said Campolo.
“I actually went back to sleep after I
heard the alarm, and my roommate had
to wake me up and tell me it was real,”
said Pete Tomatore, 18, ofManalapan,
N.J.
“It could have been us,” said George
Kelly, 18, of Wildwood N.J., hugging his -
girlfriend who was clad in Winnie-the
Pooh slippers. “This was a total reality
check.”
Resident assistants went from room
to room banging on doors to get the
students out. firefighters guided other
students out by crawling with them, form
ing human chains.
Later, students—who 12 hours be
fore had celebrated the Seton Hall Pi
rates' upset win over the St. John’s bas
ketball team—milled around the student
center adjacent to Boland Hall, some cry
ing, some in shock, most exhausted from
grief and relief.
-1
Ed hill KRT
Firefighters stand in front of Boland Hall at Seton Hall University,
where an earfy morning fire on the third floor killed three people
and injured more than 50 others.
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Seton Hall students Vanessa Gomez (left) and Nicole Ncera stand
outside Boland Hall.
Besides being plagued by 18 false
alarms since September — including sev
en times during finals week of the fall se
mester — the dorm had no sprinkler sys
tem. Sprinklers were not required when
it was built in 1971, officials said.
Also, fire hoses in the building had
been disconnected from the standpipe
system, but Campolo said firefighters
wouldn't have used those “obsolete” hoses
anyway because of uncertainty about
whether they were in working order.
The residence had 55 fire extin
guishers; at least one of them was used
in the blaze.
Forty-two of the injured were treat
ed at area hospitals and released. Of the
remaining 16, at least three were in crit
ical condition.
The blaze was extinguished quick
ly. Firefighters searched rooms to account
for all the residents.
One student apparently slept through
the whole thing. He was found in his room
in the dorm at 1:30 p.m. after his parents
inquired about him.
Classes and other activities have been
suspended at least through Sunday. Boland
Hail will reopen today so students can
retrieve their belongings.
Last night, an overflow crowd of hun
dreds of students attended a solemn, half
hour memorial Mass at Immaculate Con
ception Chapel, just across a field from
the fire-ravaged dorm. Hundreds of oth
er grieving students waited outside the
stone chapel.
“It was a great thing for everyone
to come together,” said Tricia Santiago,
21, a senior. “That's what helps.”
Mourners walked out of the chapel
arm-in-arm, and several wiped away tears.
“Wfe just prayed for the dead and those
that were injured,” said Maria Stratigis,
19, a freshman from Fort Lee, N.J.
Back at the dorm, the building's ex
terior displayed nothing of the day's dead
ly drama. Its pale exterior walls weren't
charred; the icy air had erased the odor
of smoke.
But bouquets of red roses and white
carnations were laid at the entrance in
remembrance.
Clinton proposes
$30 billion 'College
Opportunity' tax cut
by Kevin Galvin
Associated Press
Washington — President Clinton pro
posed a tax credit Thursday designed to
make college education more affordable,
saying that “when we open the doors to
college we open the doors to opportu
nity.”
The political overtones were obvi
ous at the event called on the first day of
his last year in office: First lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton, and the man she would
serve alongside were she to win her Sen
ate bid, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.,
stood by the president as he chided Re
publican leaders who have all but closed
the door on his agenda.
“Some in Congress, I note, are say
ing that because this is an election year
we really shouldn't try to do anything for
the American people,” Clinton said.
“'Nothing ... should get in the way
of making a college education more af
fordable for all Americans.”
The centerpiece of the program be
ing outlined by the president today is a
$30 billion, 10-year initiative that would
make higher education more affordable
for millions, said the officials, who spoke
on condition they not be identified by
name. When the “College Opportunity
Tax Cut” is fully phased in, a family could
receive a tax deduction of up to $ 10,000
for tuition, fees and training. Alterna
tively, taxpayers could seek a maximum
credit of $2,800 a year. A similar pro
posal died in Congress last year.
“When we make college more af
fordable,” Clinton said, “we make the
American dream more achievable.”
The president also was calling for a
$1 billion increase in Pell Grants, new
College Completion Challenge Grants
and other federal education assistance,
including work-study and a new plan for
helping students pursuing dual degrees.
Asked why Congress could be ex
pected to pass Clinton's plan this year,
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart
replied: “Members of Congress who have
been in their districts understand that ed
ucation is the top priority for most Amer
icans.”
The political season has raised doubts
that Congress will act on much of Clin
ton's agenda. “The public wants progress,”
Lockhart said. “I think there will be a
political cost for those who want to walk
away.”
The proposal includes $35 million
for the college Completion Challenge
Grants, designed to spur college dropouts
to return to class; $40 million for a new
initiative to help minorities pursue five
year dual-degree programs in fields where
they are underrepresented; and $716 mil
lion for the Pell Grants.
Additionally, Clinton's plan seeks
$400 million in increases for the Gear
Up program, which helps disadvantaged
youths stay in high school; TRIO, which
helps them stay in college; Job Corps, a
national education and job training pro
gram taigeted at impoverished youths;
and similar initiatives.
Making college tuition tax deductible
was a key campaign pledge of Schumer
in his successful bid to oust Republican
Sen. Alfonse D’Amato in 1998. His pro
posal was narrowly defeated as an amend
ment to the tax cut package last year.
Schumer's plan would have allowed
families to deduct up to $12,000 from
their income to cover the costs of col
lege tuition. That would have saved the
average middle-class family as much as
$3,360 per student.
Schumer said his plan would cost be
tween $45 billion and $50 billion over
10 years and could be paid for out of the
nation's budget surplus.
Mrs. Clinton is also trying to appeal
to middle-class suburban voters in the
New York Senate race. Polls show her
trailing New York City Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani in the politically crucial suburbs.
said.
“I think they’re fairly convinced they
know what happened based on the
radar data, flight data and voice data,”
said Barry Schiff, a TWA pilot for 34 years
who instructed trainees on the Boeing
767 and now serves as an aviation safe
ty consultant.
Investigators have said the cockpit
voice recorder contained some utterance,
perhaps a prayer, before the plane went
into its fatal plunge. Schiff said the
flight and radar data alone make it clear
someone forced the aircraft down Oct.
31 off the Massachusetts island of Nan
tucket, killing all 217 aboard.
■ U.S. ends military
mission in Haiti
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (AP) — A ;
U.S. Air Force C-141 carrying a lone sol- ’
dier and 15,000 pounds of equipment left
Haiti on Thursday, marking a symbolic
end to a mission that began with the 1994
U.S.-led invasion and restored elected
government in this Caribbean nation. *
“We’re concluding our permanent
mission here in Port-au-Prince,” said
Army Lt. Col. Ray Duncan. Without cer
emony or fanfare, crews nearby loaded a
hydraulic lift, generator and other equip
ment onto the plane.
The U.S. Support Group was the ex
tension of a contingent of 20,000
troops President Clinton sent to Haiti
in 1994 to restore the elected govern
ment of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
after a bloody three-year military dicta
torship.
■ uusioay ngni
over Elian moves
to federal court
Miami (AP) — The custody fight over
Elian Gonzalez has spilled into federal
court, but some legal experts doubt the
gambit by the 6-year-old Cuban’s Mia
mi relatives will succeed
Attorneys for Lazaro Gonzalez, the
boy’s great-uncle, went to federal court
Wednesday to challenge the Immigration
and Naturalization Service’s ruling that
Elian must to be returned to his father in
Cuba.
The legal team filed a lawsuit accus
ing the INS of violating Elian’s due-process
rights and asked the judge to prevent the
agency from returning the boy before it
gives him an asylum hearing.
“It is about protecting Elian’s civil
and constitutional rights, the same as if
he was any other child” said Spencer Eig,
a lawyer for the great-uncle.
Many legal experts insist that Elian’s
U.S. relatives have no legal standing be
cause their rights do not trump those of
his father, his closest relative.
■ Israeli president
refuses to resign as
investigation begins
Jerusalem (AP) — Ezer Weizman
steadfastly refused calls to resign Israel’s
presidency on Thursday — even as po
lice launched a criminal investigation in
to his relationship with a French mil
lionaire and some supporters openly
discussed successors.
In a nationally televised news con
ference, Weizman’s lawyer, Yaakov Wfein
roth, said the president “is innocent, spot
less, and free of all impropriety.”