The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 05, 2000, Page 5, Image 5
Demonstrators surround Elian
Father obtains visa as
human chain forms
by Mildrade Cherfils
The Associated Press
Miami —Anti-Castro-demonstratois suiged through
a police barricade and formed a human chain around
Elian Gonzalez’s house Tuesday as rumors swept the
crowd that the U.S. government was coming to take
the boy away. Miami police stood by and watched.
The protesters broke through after Elian’s father
„ was issued a U.S. visa to come to the United States
and be reunited with his son.
They vowed to resist any attempt by the U.S.
government to take the 6-year-old boy away.
“Elian won’t go! ” demonstrators chanted as they
linked arms around the small white house in Mia
mi’s Little Havana neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Cuban officials said Elian’s father,
Juan Miguel Gonzalez, will not come to the Unit
ed States unless he is assured his son will be turned
over to him while the court battle over the boy plays
out.
Negotiations between U.S. authorities and the
boy’s Miami relatives continued with no agreement
on turning Elian over to his father. The talks were
suspended until Thursday.
Outside the home where Elian has lived since
he was rescued from a Thanksgiving shipwreck that
killed his mother, the crowd grew edgy in the heat
as they learned of the visa.
About 200 protesters suiged through the metal
barricade after a rumor spread that federal agents
were coming for Elian. Olga Hernandez said they
“saw a bus and they thought they were coming to
take him.”
Miami Detective Delrish Moss said the demon
strators would be allowed to blow off steam for a
while and would then be asked to move back.
Many demonstrators said they were ready to be
arrested for Elian’s sake.
“They have to take all of us. We will not move,”
said Marta Lara, 24, a mortgage broker. “I sincere
ly hope he feels protected. I don’t want him to
feel seared.”
Ramon Saul Sanchez, president of the anti-Cas
tro Democracy Movement, addressed the demon
strators through a bullhorn. “Will we commit any
kind of acts of violence?” he asked.
“No! ” the protesters shouted.
“We want the father to come here to this house
and meet with this family to resolve the issue,”
Sanchez said.
Adorning the barricades and nearby utility poles
were more than 20 white cardboard signs with the
words: “Pray for Elian.”
In other developments: _
• Almost two-thirds of Americans approve of
» %
the government’s decision to send the boy back to
Cuba to be with his father, according to a Gallup
Poll released Tuesday. Just more than half of those
polled said the Clinton administration is making the
decision based on what it feels is in the best inter
est of U.S. relations with Cuba.
• The cousin who has been Elian’s stand-in moth
er, Marisleysis Gonzalez, was hospitalized in stable
condition Tuesday after becoming faint during a
round of morning television interviews. Family
spokesman Armando Gutierrez said she had been
vomiting.
• Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian’s great-uncle, urged
the government to allow an independent psycho
logical evaluation of the boy to determine whether
he might be harmed by a return to Cuba. “We
have always complied with the law, and will con
tinue to do,” he said in a statement. “What we are
not prepared to do is to participate in any action that
Elian seepages
Senate leaders block
debate of flag plan
by Leigh Strope
The Associated Press
Dr. Seuss couldn’t have written the
Confederate flag debate any better: I do
not like the flag on the dome or in a box.
Or by a pool or under locks. Or on a pole
or near the stairs. I do not like it any
where.
The flag has not even been discussed
officially on the Senate floor because law
makers cannot even agree to debate —
let alone compromise — to remove the
flag from South Carolina’s Statehouse
dome. On Tuesday, the Senate postponed
plans to debate any flag bill this week.
Time is running out to get the issue
resolved before lawmakers adjourn June
1. A flag bill must pass the Senate or House
by May 1, or it needs a two-thirds vote
» just to be considered.
Senate President Pro Tern John Drum
mond, D-Ninety Six, was one vote short
of the seven he needed from Senate com
mittee chairmen to put a flag bill on pri
ority status to be debated this week. He
accused Republicans of sabotaging the
bill to make the flag an election issue. All
170 lawmakers are up for re-election in
November.
“It’s not on my shoulders anymore;
it’s on theirs,” Drummond said of GOP
leaders. “This is the most partisan thing
I’ve ever seen.”
One vote Democrats thought they
could count on was Sen. Nikki Setzler,
D-West Columbia, who sided with flag
supporters. Setzler said his vote would
have disrupted “very sensitive negotia
tions going on.” He refused to say who
was involved or what was being discussed,
only that participants needed more time.
But flag opponents regained some
ground later in the day when the Senate
Judiciary Committee passed a different
flag bill. But getting that bill on a fast
track for debate will take at least six more
legislative days. Flag opponents are not
concerned with details of a flag bill. They
just want a bill on the floor so procedu
rally all plans could be debated.
The bill the Judiciary Committee ap
proved would fly the flag at a pole be
hind the monument to Confederate dead
on the north side of the Statehouse — a
key element to any compromise, flag
supporters have said.
But the leader of the pro-flag forces,
Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston,
voted against the bill because it did not
put a flag at the monument honoring Con
federate women and did not address the
playing of “Dixie” at state-sponsored
events. He was joined by Republican Sens.
Larry Martin of Pickens, William Mesch
er of Pinopolis, John Russell of Spar
tanbuig, Greg Rybeig of Aiken, and Joe
Wilson of West Columbia.
“I think it’s been made very clear
that there is a group that does not want
anything,” said Sen. Darrell Jackson, D
Hopkins.
“Today we made them put up or shut
up,” he said.
Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges has said
he will support whatever idea can get
enough legislative support to remove the
flag.
King Day
heads back
to House
by Jim Davenport
The Associated Press
With little public discussion, the
House Judiciary Committee sent a bill
creating a holiday for state workers hon
oring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
back to the House floor.
A month ago amid bitter floor de
bate, House members took a bill creat
ing a King holiday and attached language
that protected Confederate monuments
and said that the Confederate flag is •
not a symbol of racism.
At the urging of House Speaker David
Wilkins, R-Greenville, the bill was
sent back to the House Judiciary Com
mittee. Wilkins spent at least two weeks
trying to gain enough Republican and
House votes to pass the bill without the
pro-Confederate language.
Wilkins had insisted that it made
no sense for the House Judiciary com
mittee to take up the bill if there weren’t
at least a majority of Democrats will
ing to support the bill.
Gov. Jim Hodges and House De
mocratic Minority Leader Gilda
Cobb-Hunter did the same with De
mocrats.
“What we’ve tried to do is to just
work quietly behind the scenes to get
our various constituencies to understand
how important it is that we pass a Mar
tin Luther King holiday bill,” she said.
‘I think it’s been made
very clear that there is
a group that does not
want anything.’
Darrell Jackson
D-Hopkins
is*? 53^ 5
A few months into his first /
job after college, Gary Van /
Deurse needed a break
from his nine-to-five
routine—a way to feel “useful
and alive.” Gary found his answer in
AmeriCorps. During his year of service in a
rural community, he helped improve the lives of
families who needed education, affordable
housing, and other support. Looking
back, Gary says, "Joining AmeriCorps
is the best thing I've ever done.
AmeriCorps challenged me, opened
my eyes, and gave me new skills and
new energy."
Judge must decide how
to punish Microsoft
BY EUN-KYUNG KlM
The Associated Press
Washington —The judge oversee
ing Microsoft’s antitrust case must now
decide what punishment to mete out:
Slice the software giant into Baby Bills?
Impose a hefty fine? Force Microsoft
to reveal its secret software code to ri
vals?
U.S. District Judge Thomas Pen
field Jackson will spend the next few
months trying to determine the best
way to craft a remedy that won’t ham
per the company’s ability to innovate
in an industry changing at warp
speed.
Unlike the judge’s ruling Monday
—a sweeping verdict that handed the
government a powerful but anticipat
ed victory after nearly two years of le
gal wrangling—the punishment Jack
son will dispense is uncertain. He will
hold hearings to explore the options,
taking into consideration recommen
dations from Microsoft, the Justice De
partment and 19 states involved in the
case.
“The dilemma for the judge and for
the Justice Department is how to make
the remedy effective without making
it overly regulatory,” said Warren
Grimes, an antitrust expert who teach
es law at Southwestern University
School of Law in Los Angeles.
Joel Klein, who heads the Justice
Department’s antitrust division, offered
few hints at what remedy the govern
ment would seek, other than one “that
will protect consumer?, innovation and
competition by putting an end to Mi
crosoft's widespread and persistent
abuse of its monopoly power, and to
rectifying its unlawful attempt to mo
nopolize the Internet browser market.”
The options before Jackson range
from breaking up the company that
made founder Bill Gates a billionaire
to ordering Microsoft to change its busi
ness tactics.
Among the milder options: pro
hibiting Microsoft from using price as
a way to punish clients who deal with
competitors and forcing the company
to relinquish control of tie first screen
most people see when they turn on
their computers. Microsoft also
could be ordered to license, if not com
pletely surrender, the lucrative blue
print, the so-called “source code,” for
its Windows software.
While the government reportedly
dropped its pursuit of a company
breakup during recent settlement at
tempts, Jackson’s ruling may have em
boldened Justice attorneys to ask for
the toughest penalty posable.
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News Briefs
■ Stock rout is short
lived; market closes
down moderately
New York (AP)—Fueled by an exo
dus from all things technological, the
stock market went into a stomach-churn
ing rout Tuesday, with the Nasdaq com
posite index and Dow Jones industrials
each dropping more than 500 points. But
the stampede reversed as buyers returned
in search of bargains, and most stocks end
ed Wall Street’s most volatile day ever
with only moderate losses.
The selloff came amid a collapse of
the euphoria over high-tech issues that
had driven the Nasdaq to unprecedented;
gains in recent months. Analysts said they
couldn’t point to any one factor in Tues
day’s large selling, but most said the purge
was long overdue.
The Nasdaq and the Dow each record
ed their widest point swings in history on
record volume. The Nasdaq, dominated
by the technology stocks that have plunged
the past three weeks, was down 574.57
points at midday, then clawed back to fin
ish down 74.79 at 4,148.89. From its high
to its low, the Nasdaq moved more than
634 points.
■ Japanese ruling
party chief expected
to replace Obuchi
Tokyo (AP)—Japanese political lead
ers were expected to name top ruling par
ty official Yoshiro Mori as the new prime
minister Wednesday, replacing Keizo
Obuchi, who is on life support after suf
fering a stroke.
The entire Cabinet resigned Tuesday,
paving the way for the quick selection of
a Liberal Democrat to the country’s top
post. After the new leader is named, a
Cabinet could be installed by late Wednes
day.
Government ministers promised to
move swiftly to avoid a political vacuum
after Obuchi’s collapse. The 62-year-old
prime minister suffered a stroke Sunday
and lapsed into a coma.
■ Charleston boy
steals Pokemon cards
Charleston (AP) —There was an all
points bulletin for Pikachu and his Poke
mon pals.
Now North Charleston police have
arrested an 11 -year-old boy who they say
ran out with about $2,200 worth of Poke
mon cards Friday. The owner of Joe’s
Cards told police the youngster was look
ing through a notebook binder full of the
collector cards when he grabbed the book
and ran off. Police have not decided
whether the boy will be chaiged.
The book contained about 90 cards,
with some worth as much as $30 each,
said Joe Wooten, the store’s owner.
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