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.Snots fired in hostage standoff BY SHEILa HOTCHKIN Associated Press Dundalk, Md. — A murder suspect holding three people hostage for a third day repeatedly fire! bursts of gunfire out a window at policeSunday while break ing off his telephone contact with nego tiators, officials said. Authorities tried to avoid agitating the suspect, who wasbelieved to be watch ing the ordeal on television. Joseph Palczymki had been on the run since March 7, when police say he ^ kidnapped his girlfriend, Tracy White head, and killed the couple she was stay ing with and a neighbor. A fourth per son was killed and a boy was wounded when Palczynski allegedly carjacked a vehicle, police said. Whitehead escaped unharmed; po lice wouldn’t disclose her whereabouts. Palczynski later fled to Viiginia, where he stole guns and forced a man to drive him back to Baltimore County. The five bursts of gunfire Sunday morning were the first signs of activity since Palczynski took Whitehead’s moth er and two others hostage Friday night. No injuries were reported and police didn’t return his fire. Palczynski stopped talking with ne gotiators for about an hour and a half Sun day morning, and police moved in with an armored vehicle and a bullhorn to urge him to resume communications. “Joby, we need you to pick up the phone,” an officer said over the loud speaker, using Palczynski’s nickname. “Come on Joby, pick up the phone.” Palczynski responded with shots and the armored vehicle backed away. He soon resumed talks, but then fired more shots, spokesman Bill Toohey said. “Our main strategy is patience, pa tience, patience,” Toohey said. After Palczynski returned to the area from Vnginia, police searched the area for more than a week. On Friday, he broke into a house, tied up the occupants and stole three guns. He then shot his way into the home of Whitehead’s mother, Lynn Whitehead. Relatives said he was holding Lynn White head; her boyfriend, Andy McCord; and 12-year-old Brad McCord. Police refused to characterize their negotiations with Palczynski but con finned that a psychiatrist was helping ne gotiators. Police have said Palczynski has bipolar disorder, often called manic-de pression, which causes extreme mood swings. The 31-year-old unemployed elec trician also has a history of convictions for assault and battery. Days before the killings, he was charged with assaulting Whitehead but was released on $7,500 bail. In 1992, he kept police in Idaho at bay for 16 hours following a domestic vi olence complaint by a girlfriend. He was finally forced out with tear gas. Relatives and friends say Palczynski has said that he would shoot himself or make police shoot him rather than go back to prison. Police had not allowed anyone in or out of the blue collar suburb east of Baltimore since the standoff began. Death toll in Uganda fire could reach 470 by George Mwangi Associated Press Kanungu, Uganda—RutembaDidas heard what sounded ike an explosion, then saw black smoke billowing from the brick structure on a lilltop compound where members of a Kligious cult had been living for several years. The farmer and his neighbors heard screams coming from the chapel, but they couldn’t get close to the new building in side the compound where members of the Movement for the Restoration of Ten Commandments of God lived in this re mote comer of southwestern Uganda. Police said Sunday it may take them a week to determine how many people died in the Friday morning fire, but they believe there were as many as 470 victims — of mass suicide or mass mur der. .... “Wfe did not see any person running away. We really don’t know what hap pened to the leaders,” Didas said, stand ing a short distance from where charred bodies lay spread across the floor of a 120-foot by 30-foot structure. Circumstances surrounding the deaths — who the dead were and how the fire was started — remain foggy. Little was known about the cult, although it ap peared to incorporate Christian beliefs and local fanners said it was led by a for mer prostitute. Syncretic Christian religious sects are mushrooming across «*> * nany peo ple become disillusioned with the inability of politicians to improve their lives. In one case, also in Uganda, a sect turned into a guerrilla movement that used claims of religious powers to attract fighters. In Kanungu, cult members locked themselves in the chapel early Friday and nailed doors and windows closed, then sang for a few hours before dousing them selves in gasoline and paraffin and setting themselves ablaze, said David Sseppu uya, deputy editor-in-chief of the gov ernment-owned New Vision newspaper, quoting investigators. “According to an eyewitness on the site, they came around and bid farewell to die people and they heard that the Vir gin Mary would appear on Friday, so they did expect to die on Friday,” Sseppuuya said. Dldas said the cult was established in 1994 by former prostitute Credonia Mw erinde at her family’s compound. He said members of the cult did not socialize with others in the area and com municated only by gesture, although they did sing and pray aloud. The women wore white veils, and the men wore black, green or red shirts, he said. Taiwanese president to resign party post by William Foreman Associated Press Taipb, Taiwan — Storming the Na tionalist Party’s headquarters, a stone tltrowing crowd demanded—and got — President Lee Teng-hui’s promise Sunday to quit as the party’s leader, oik day after its humiliating election defeat Many of the thousands of protest ers blamed Lee for fielding a weak can didate who was trounced by the oppo sition in Saturday’s presidential election. The vote will bring to power an untested leader, Chen Shui-bian, who some fear could spark a devastating war with Taiwan's longtime rival, China, through his party’s support for the is land’s formal independence. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949, and China insists Taiwan must eventually reunify with the mainland. A crowd of about -3,000 chanted "Step down president! ” and surround ed the Nationalists’ headquarters in downtown Taipei. Some smashed the windows’of lim ousines bringing party members to the building for an emeigency meeting with Lee to respond to Vice President Lien Chan’s loss in Saturday’s vote. An angiy mob chased senior party adviser Hsu Li-teh down the sidewalk, kicking, punching and beating him with poles. They knocked him to the ground, but he was able to stand up and scurry into the building. The violence and chaos were rare for Taiwan, where political violence is almost unheard of and heated street protests have grown increasingly rare as full democracy has taken root over the past decade. But with the Nationalists losing the presidency for the first time in Tai wanese history, the island’s young democracy headed into the unexplored and voters tried to make sense of Taiwan seei*g£4 News Briefs ■ Clinton arrives . in Southeast Asia New Dehu, India (AP) — President Clinton opened the first visit by an Amer ica president to South Asia in 22 years Sunday night, hoping to curb the nuclear weapon rivalry between India and Pak istan and cool territorial tensions in “per haps the most dangerous place in the world today.” Security concerns arose almost as soon as Clinton arrived. Shortly before a daylong trip to Bangladesh, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said a visit to the rural village of Joypura was canceled “because of con cerns raised by the Secret Service.” In stead, Clinton planned to meet with the villagers in the capital of Dhaka. White House officials would not elab orate. Also before his arrival, protesters in the capital burned an effigy of the presi dent. In the northern region of Kash mir, police beat back separatists seeking to reach New Delhi and draw attention to their cause. ■ Putin urges Russia’s voters to elect him in first round of voting Moscow (AP) —With his standing in the polls dipping, acting President Vladimir Putin uiged Russian voters Saturday to elect him with a clear majority to avoid a second round, but denied that he’s wor ried about winning. On a campaign trip to the southern city of Nforonezh, Putin was cautious about the outcome of the March 26 election, saying he would prefer a clear decision to avoid a runoff. But he said his call was based solely on a desire to save the coun try the expense of a second-round vote. Recent polls show support for Putin down by 2 to 3 percentage points com pared to the 60 percent he had received in recent weeks. Putin’s nearest rival, Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov, trails with about 20 percent, while most of the other candidates bare ly show up in the polls. “I count on success, but it’s not of major importance in which round to win. It’s the result that matters,” Putin said Friday. If: Starting this Wednesday, March 22, the On-Line appl system will be turned “On”. If you want to sign up for Bate: Capstone, Columbia Hall, the Horseshoe (non-honors Laborde, Sims, East Quad, South Quad, or the Roost yoi apply via the University’s VIP website. % So all current on-campus residents, start those computers ; log-on to http://www.vip.sc.edu. The On-line application system will be turned “Off” at midnight, ^ "ffi March 31. You can modify your application as many times as you jjgLJffg would like before the system is turned off. (Whatever information that is in the computer at midnight on March 31 will be used in making your housing assignment!) Don t be an April Fool! Be sure to get your housing requests entered before the deadline, March 31 at midnight, to be included in the inital assignment ■