Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Gonzalez impatient to reclaim son by George Gedda The Associated Press Washington — On U.S. soil, Juan Miguel Gon zalez said Thursday he was “truly impatient ’ to re claim his son Elian, but his hopes for an orderly trans fer of custody were dimmed when government ' negotiations with the 6-year-old Cuban boy’s Mia mi relatives broke down. * The father declared his love for son Elian and ‘ chastised those who are trying “to obtain political ; advantage” from the custody battle over the ship * wreck survivor. He received immediate assurances that the U.S. J government is eager to reunite him with his son. “It J is simply the right thing to do,” said Deputy Attor Jney General Eric Holder. “The father and his son need to be together.” But Jose Garcia-Pedrosa, the attorney for the relatives with whom Elian has been staying since November, said the negotiations with the govern ment were over, primarily because the government refused to promise that they wouldn’t “take Elian away in the middle of the night.” He also said Im migration officials refused to agree to a psycholog ical evaluation determining whether Elian should be handed over to his father. “He has not had his day in court,” Garcia-Pe drosa said. “This is a very, very sad day. ” A Justice Department official stopped short of saying the talks were over. “We are disappointed that the attorneys for the Miami relatives insisted on relitigating the issue of whether Elian should be returned to his father as op posed to how to car- ' ry that transfer out in the most appro priate manner,’’said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said Justice lawyers were drafting a letter to lawyers for the Miami relatives “providing additional guidance explaining what fu ture steps could be taken. ” Gonzalez planned to meet Friday morning at the Justice Department with Attorney General Janet Reno, Immigration and Naturalization Service Com missioner Doris Meissner and other officials. In Miami, Elian seemed unaware of the new phase in the struggle over his future. He played on a slide outside his great-uncle’s home and fired a toy gun as the usual horde of reporters and photogra phers took note. Relatives said he learned of his father’s trip on ly hours before it took place. It was an unsmiling Juan Miguel Gonzalez who Elian seepages ‘He [Elian] has not had his day in court. This is a very, very sad.’ Jose Garcia-Pedrosa Attorney for Elian's Miami relatives by Paul Reicer The Associated Press Washington —A private company mapping the human genetic blueprint said Thursday it has completed a major step — decoding all of the DNA pieces that make up the genetic pattern of a single human being. The milestone puts the company, Celera Genomics ofRockville,Md., far ahead of an international government effort to map the human genome using a different method. “ Wve now completed the gene sequence plan of one human being,” said Craig Vfcnter, chief scientist for the company. He said that human being was an unidentified male, adding, “By the end of next week, we will have finished the gene sequence for a female. ” Investors were pleased by the Cel era announcement, pushing its stock nearly 22 percent higher. Shares of PE Corp., Ceiera’s parent company, rose $25 to $140 in trading at 4:30 p.m. on the New York Stock Exchange. There are about 3 billion DNA sub units in virtually every human cell. This DNA contains about 100,000genes. The gene sequencing done thus far lines up small segments of the DNA. Assembly of the entire genome will involve putting these segments in proper order. This process, said \fenter, will take several weeks. But he said the Celera work is far ahead of a similar effort by the government-funded Hum® Genome Project. “Wfe don’t want to declare absolute victoiy yet, but call me in three or four weeks when it is all assembled,” said Venter. Dr. Francis Collins, the Human Genome Project’s chief, said, “I’m hap py to hear that Celera has completed this part of their business plan. Wfe look, forward to hearing how the assembly process goes and ultimately seeing the sequence made available” to the pub lic. Venter said the ordered sequence of the human genes will not be released to the public until it has been completely assembled. “I don’t believe a genome is done until there is an attempt to identify the genes and the linear sequence along all of the chromosomes,” he said “We will not have that completed until later this year,” President Clinton’s press secretary, Joe Lockhart, said the Celera an nouncement “marks a... significant point in what the president has talked about extensively as... one of the most im portant scientific developments of our time.” The Human Genome Project is expected to complete a “rough draft” of the human gene sequence this spring, but this will not be assembled into a fin ished order for several more years. The federal project is using a dif ferent method than that used by Celera, which is using a technique developed by Venter. But, in contrast to Celera, the fed eral project is releasing to the public the genetic sequences as they are identified The federal project thus far as put on the Internet the codes for about 2.3 bil lion subunits of the DNA. Clinton recently announced that the United States and Britain have agreed to share data from their efforts to de code the human genetic pattern. AUS. British statement urged private compa nies to follow the lead of government laboratories in sharing data. Some com panies have shared data, while others have not. In testimony before Congress, \fen ter said Thursday that-his company will make the entire genome available on the Internet, but will provide special services for analyzing the massive amount of data to drug companies and to uni versities for a subscription price. Sub scriptions for drug companies, he said, will cost millions, while the rate for uni versities will be in the thousands of dol lars and not much more than what is now paid for some advanced software. To decode the genetic sequence, Venter said his company drew speci mens from 30 different people. One specimen was then used to draw up the completed sequence, A male was cho sen because only males have at least one copy of all the chromosomes, including the X and Y sex chromosomes. Females have two Xs and no Ys. “That one individual probably does n’t know who was selected for se quencing, but probably knows about be ing a donor in the pool,” said Venter. “All 6 billion of us on this planet differ enough from each other so that no one individual is significant. It is significant only as a reference source and because it is the first one.” Christopher leads Gore's running mate search by Glen Johnson The Associated Press Washington — Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher will lead A1 Gore’s effort to select a running mate, Gore announced Thursday, launching a vice presidential sweepstakes that until now had been more of a political parlor game. The job is a familiar one for Christo pher, who did the same chore in 1992 for Bill Clinton in a process that ended with the Arkansas governor picking Gore to join him on the Democratic ticket. Christopher later helped Clinton choose his first Cabinet, which included his own name as top diplomat. He was secretary of state for four years to mixed reviews, with some criticizing a lack of progress in Middle East negotiations and his handling of Bosnia while otheis praised him for steady good judgment. Now 74, Christopher is a lawyer in Los Angeles. “I welcome his experience and judg ment in this important effort,” the vice president said in a statement. His selection brings concreteness to a process that was the subject of specu lation even before Gore and his Repub lican rival, Texas Gov. Geoige W. Bush, wrapped up their parties’ nominations on March 7. Bush has other priorities—integrating his own campaign structure with the na tional Republican Party apparatus, for ex ample — before he turns to establishing a vice presidential selection process, of ficials say. Presidential candidates usually try to pick someone who can help win elec toral votes in a big state, or help in a cer- ' tain region, or make up for some weak ness in their own candidacy — or all of those. The selection is also considered a can didate’s first presidential-level decision, with all the wisdom or ineptitude it might signal. For Gore: • Among the nation’s governors, Gray Davis of California gets mentioned be cause his state has the country’s most electoral votes, 54. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire could help with women. James B. Hunt Jr. of North Carolina could help swing a Republican state to the De mocratic Party. • Among U.S. senators, Evan Bayh of Indiana is mentioned frequently. A first term senator, he and his young family project well on TV, although his tradi tionally Republican state would likely have to be within the Democrats’ teach to prompt his selection. Other senators: John Kerry of Mass achusetts, a Vietnam-era contemporary of Gore’s, Bob Graham of Florida, whose state has the fourth most electoral votes with 25, and Richard Durbin of Illinois, whose state has the sixth most votes with 22, and Dianne Feinstein of California. • Other Democrats mentioned include former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, who challenged Gore for the nomination, En ergy Secretary Bill Richardson, Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, Fannie Mae Chairman Franklin D. Raines and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Defense Secretary William Cohen, a Republican, is cited as someone who could help bring bipartisanship to relations with Congress. For Bush: • Among governors, Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania, Christie Whitman of New Jersey and George Pataki of New York are mentioned frequently. All three come from states with large blocs of electoral votes. Ridge, Whitman and Pataki support abortion rights, and their consideration brings a warning from James Dobson, a conservative broadcaster. “If Bush follows the advice that he’s getting to move to the mushy middle and select a pro-choice running mate, the re sult will be the same as it was for Re publicans in 1996” when Bob Dole lost, Dobson said in an interview. Other gubernatorial possibilities in clude Tommy Thompson of Wtsconsin, John Engler of Michigan, Marc Racicot of Montana and Frank Keating of Okla homa. • Among senators, John McCain of Arizona gets mentioned because he mounted the closest challenge to Bush. Others include Fred Thompson of Ten nessee, George Voinovich of Ohio, Con nie Mack of Florida and John Ashcroft of Missouri. One teen arrested, another sought in church burnings The Associated Press Sumter—One man and one teen, both white, have been chaiged in connection with separate incidents of vandalism at two black churches in Sumter County and with breaking out windows at the lo cal NA ACP office. Sheriff Tommy Mims said Wednes day that Bryan Alan Carraway, 18, of Sumter, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with attempted arson and burning of personal property. A 15-year old, whose name was not released, also has been chaiged. The two also are chaiged with break ing out windows at the Sumter office of the National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People, Mims said. Mims said Carraway gave a written confession stating that he threw a fire bomb through the window of St. Paul AME Church Monday and set fire to two Easter crosses outside Goodwill Presby terian Saturday. Mims said the teens made statements indicating the crimes were racially motivated, but would not elabo rate. He said more arrests were expect ed, but gave no details. “It’s a sad commentary on today’s so ciety that we find ourselves here dis cussing this,” Mims said. “I would hope because of what has been done, it will create a sense of healing and coming to gether.” The fire bomb, thrown through a rear window, did not ignite St. Paul AME Church, which is off U.S. Highway 378, about five miles east of Sumter. It was unclear why the device failed, sheriff’s Maj. Anthony Dennis said. Everyone is siunnea iNotnmg uko this has ever happened to us,” said Alvin Webb, a minister at St. Paul. “I view this as an act of God the church did not bum down.” The crosses burned at Goodwill Pres byterian, just a few miles from St. Paul’s, had been put in front of the church to celebrate Lent, the 40-day period of penance between Ash Wednesday and Easter. “For something like this to happen, it really hurts the black and white folks in Sumter,” said the Rev. Richard Baxter, pastor of Goodwill Presbyterian, the coun ty’s oldest black church. “It’s a sacrile gious crime because most Christians and other believers hold a place of worship with high esteem.” The charred remains of the crosses and the fire bomb were being sent to the State Law Enforcement Division labo ratory for analysis. The Goodwill con gregation planned to replace the cross es. Baxter said there have never been any racial incidents at the one-story, red brick building in the heart of Sumter County’s farmland. ‘Everyone is stunned. Nothing like this has ever happened to us.’ Alvin Webb Minister at St. Paul AME Church Accused general had been tapped for deputy inspector general's slot by Robert Burns The Associated Press Washington — The two-star general accused of sexual harassment by the Army’s highest-ranking female had been chosen for the No. 2 job in the Army of fice responsible for investigating wrong doing, officials said Thursday. Since the accusation was leveled last fall, Maj. Gen. Larry G. Smith’s move into the job of deputy inspector general has been on hold, even though the Army publicly refuses to say that he is the sub ject of investigation. He has been working at Army Ma terial Command in Alexandria, Va., since last November. The accusation of sexual harassment was made by Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, the Army’s only female three-star gen eral and its top intelligence officer. Neither she nor Smith has discussed the matter publicly, but other defense of ficials said Thursday that Smith could not assume the post of deputy inspector gen eral - which the Army announced last August - until the Kennedy accusation has been resolved. The matter is being investigated by the Army inspector general. The identity of Smith as the officer accused by Kennedy was first made pub lic Thursday by The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wash ington Times. Army spokesman Col. Edwin Veiga and Defense Department spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley both refused to com ment on the newspaper reports. “I’m not advancing this any bit fur ther,” Quigley said. Other defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Smith is the accused general. Veiga said Smith was not responding to requests for interviews. Kennedy al so has declined to discuss the matter. The New York Times reported that Kennedy told her superiors about the al leged sexual harassment - said to have taken place in her Pentagon office in 19% - immediately after the incident but chose not to file a formal complaint. She did file a complaint last fall, how ever, after the Army announced last Aug. 27 that Smith had been selected for the deputy inspector general’s post, the Times said. As deputy inspector general, Smith would be responsible for investigating wrongdoing in the service, including al legations of sexual harassment similar to those of which he has been accused. This case is the latest in a string of embarrassing sexual misconduct cases in the Army. t News Briefs ■ Dutch peacekeeper testifies before war crimes tribunal The Hague, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch peacekeeper whose battalion was overrun as Serb forces stormed the Bosnian Muslim enclave of Srebrenica in 1995 told a U.N. court on Thursday of the horrors that followed: mass execu tions, a truck filled with corpses, and roads littered with victims’ clothing. The grim testimony came in the tri al of Serb Gen. Radislav Krstic, the high est-ranking Bosnian Serb commander be fore the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. “It’s a smell I won’t forget,” said the U.N. peacekeeper, Pvt. Andre Stoelinga, describing a vehicle filled with victims. “The container of the truck was proba bly full of bodies... I think they were get ting rid of them.” Around 40,000 Muslims fled to Sre brenica, a U.N.-declared “safe haven,” as Serb forces closed in on the enclave in northeast Bosnia during the 1992-95 Bosn ian war. In July 1995, Serbs broke through the weak U.N. defense posts and slaughtered at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys, pros ecutors say. The remaining refugees es caped or were deported to Muslim held territory. ■ Sharif escapes death penalty Karachi, Pakistan (AP) — Former Premier Nawaz Sharif escaped the death penalty but was sentenced to life in prison today, almost six months after he tried to fight off a coup by refusing to let a pas senger plane carrying the army chief land in Pakistan. Sharif was convicted of hijacking and terrorism but found innocent of attempted murder and kidnapping. Six other men, including Sharif’s brother, were acquit ted of all charges. The former leader was given a life sentence on each count, but the judge or dered the sentences to run concurrently. In Pakistan, a life sentence is 25 years, but there is a chance for earlier parole. The judge also ordered all of Sharif’s property confiscated. The ousted leader was to pay $37,000 in compensation to the passengers and crew aboard the Pak istan International Airlines aircraft and an additional $18,500 in fines. ■ Gingrich’s divorce from second wife final Marietta, Ga. (AP) — Newt Gin grich’s divorce from his wife of 18 years was finalized Thursday when a judge ap proved a settlement agreement reached by the couple in December. Marianne Gingrich appeared in court to answer routine questions, but the for mer House speaker wasn’t present. Su perior Court Judge Dorothy Robinson sealed the agreement, keeping its terms closed to the public. “This is a very sad day for Marianne,” said her attorney, John Mayoue. “She in tends to continue with her chanty work, including the Red Cross, and she’s go ing to take the next few weeks to ex amine various opportunities that are now available to her.” Gingrich’s lawyer, Randolph Evans, did not immediately return calls. Gingrich, 56, separated from his wife last May and filed for divorce in July. His attorneys have acknowledged his rela tionship with Callista Bisek, a 33-year old former congressional aide, that began in 1993. The divorce is Gingrich’s second. He mamed his former high school geome try teacher, Jackie Battley, when he was 18. They were divorced 19 years lat er, in 1981, after having two daughters. Within months, Gingrich married Ma4l anne Ginther, 48, a county planner and business consultant from Ohio. ■ Comedian’s wife pregnant New York (AP) — Imagine Jerry Se infeld inside his Long Island mansion, ba by bottle in one hand, burp cloth in the other, musing: Whyyyyy do they call it a burp cloth? That’s right. First came love (1998), then came marriage (last December)— and now Seinfeld and bride, Jessica Sklar, will soon be pushing a baby carriage. The big announcement was made Thursday by Seinfeld pal Regis Philbin on TV’s “Live With Regis and Kathjfc Lee.” “Yes. It’s true. There will be a new little Seinfeld sometime this fall,” said Seinfeld’s spokeswoman, Elizabeth Clarice. r i