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Reno: Government to take necessary steps in Elian case by Calvin Woodward The Associated Press Washington—The government “will do what is necessary” to reunite Elian Gonzalez with his fa ther soon, a top Justice official said Sunday, as lawyers for the boy’s Miami relatives warned that the fam ily can’t control protesters if they stand in the way. Attorney General Janet Reno refused to discuss the use of force as a last resort except to say such plans have not been presented to her formally. “I hope with all my heart that the rule of law prevails, and I expect that it will,” she said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” ' Eric Holder, the deputy attorney general, said officials want a peaceful transfer this week but will consider taking Elian from unwilling hands if they must. “Wfe don’t expect anything like that to happen,” Holder said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We will do what is necessary to reunite father and son, how ever.” In Miami, the relatives fighting to keep the Cuban boy in the United States would not offer a firm com mitment to meet Monday with the three psychiatric experts appointed by the government to smooth the boy’s return to his father. Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian’s great-uncle and tem porary custodian, asked in a letter to Reno that the meeting “be scheduled on a tentative basis” because his daughter was in the hospital and the family want ed her to be part of the discussion. Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the family’s Miami home at times over the weekend, keeping up a peaceful vigil that officials fear could turn confrontational if agreement is not reached on handing over Elian away from that scene. Outside Washington, such a vigil became noisy and tense Sunday in the Bethesda, Md., neighbor hood where Elian’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, is staying at the home of ' a Cuban diplomat. Within shouting dis tance of the house, dozens of protesters chanting “Help is with you” be gan crossing a police bar- ; ricade — trvine to set the father to come outside and meet Delfin Gonzalez, another of Elian’s Miami great-uncles, who stood with them. Police held the crowd back. Justice officials, family lawyers and politicians from Washington and Havana filled the Sunday talk shows, demonstrating the preoccupation of two na tions with a 6-year-old boy rescued at sea four months ago but left adrift in a wrenching international and family struggle. In Washington, Juan Miguel Gonzalez person ally thanked the two Florida fishermen who pulled the boy from the waters off Fort Lauderdale on Thanksgiving Day after his mother, fleeing Cuba, drowned. Cousins Donato Dalrymple, who thinks the boy should stay in the United States, and Sam Ciancio, who thinks Elian should go back to his fa ther, emeiged from their visit believing a bond ex ists between father and son. “I came here to satisfy my own heart,” Ciancio said outside the office of Gonzalez’s lawyer. “I am leaving here satisfied.” Dalrymple, who met Gonzalez separately, said: “I do believe that he loves him.” 'I hope with all my heart that the rule of law prevails, and I expect that it will.’ Janet Reno U.S. Attorney General Military airplane crashes, killing 19 by Michelle Erushlo The Associated Press MARANA, Ariz. —A Marine Corps air craft attempting to land during a night time training mission crashed and burst into flames, killing all 19 aboard and adding to a checkered history for a new breed of hybrid plane that can take off and land like a helicopter. The MV-22 tiltrotor Osprey, which looks like a turboprop, is part of a new generation of aircraft scheduled to even tually replace all of the Marines’ prima ry troop-transport helicopters. The mil itary began flying the aircraft six months ago. The four crew members in Saturday night’s crash were from a task force head quartered in Quantico, Va. The passen gers were 14 Marines from 3rd Battal ion, 5th Marines based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and one from Marine Corps Air Station-Miramar in San Diego County, according to the Marine Corps. On Sunday, investigators were re viewing the crash site at Marana North west Regional Airport west of Tucson. Few details were released. Carol Whrd, who lives about five miles from the airport, said she watched the plane fly by from her porch. It disap peared behind a mountain and a few sec ond later “I saw the smoke and this big old poof,” she said. The dust from the crash “just elimi nated the sky,” she said. A heap of twisted, charred metal was visible at the scene and aerial footage showed a Iaige blackened patch on the airport grounds. Military officials said the downed air craft had been attempting to land at the airport when it crashed. It was one of two Ospreys simulating the evacuation of civil ians, similar to what Marines would do if they were removing people from an em bassy in a hostile country. The mission was conducted with night-vision goggles and infrared radar, officials said. Firefighters said witnesses reported seeing the plane head straight down and become engulfed in flames after it crashed. “Our sympathies go out to the fam ilies of these Marines,” said Marine Lt. Mark Carter, a spokesman for the Ma rine Corps Air Station in Yuma, where the flight originated. President Clinton called the units’ commanding officers and asked them to “pass condolences to the families and tell them of the importance of their service,” White House press secretary Joe Lock hart said. The crash is again raising questions about the safety of the aircraft that has been over a decade in the making. Former President Bush’s administra tion tried to scuttle the project after ear ly safety concerns, but builders say mod ifications from the original design make today’s Ospreys lighter and safer. The Marine Corps lists two other Os prey crashes, both early in the aircraft’s development: One, in 1991 in Delaware, was blamed on gyro wiring problems; and the other, in 1992 in Virginia, killed all seven people on board after an engine caught fire. News Briefs ■ CIA fires employee over bombing mistake Washington (AP)—The Central In telligence Agency has fired an employ ee whose inaccurate information led to the mistaken bombing of the Chinese em bassy during the NATO war against Yu goslavia. “We did sever ties with one agency employee,” an intelligence official said Saturday night, speaking on condition Zr anonymity. Six others, including a senior official and four managers, received administra tive punishments that ranged from oral warnings to letters of reprimand. CIA Di rector George Tenet singled out for praise an official who expressed concern about the target early on, the official said. CIA spokesman Bill Harlow issued a statement late Saturday confirming per sonnel action was taken but refused to make public details “for reasons of se curity and privacy.” ■ Gore, Bush still neck' and neck in latest poll Washington (AP) — Vice President AI Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush are running neck and neck in the presi dential campaign, according to a poll released Saturday. The Newsweek poll showed that 44 percent of registered voters favor each of the two major party candidates, while 12 percent were undecided. Among independent voters, Bush had a slight edge with 45 percent compared with 39 per cent for Gore. Bush scored 81 percent of Republi can voters, Gore 76 percent of Democ rats. Among minorities, Gore was fa« ahead, getting 63 percent compared with 23 percent for Bush. If President Clinton could run for a third term, against Bush, he would get, like Gore, 44 percent of registered vot ers, the poll shows. In that matchup, Bush would get 49 percent. For the poll, 588 registered voters were surveyed Thursday and Friday. The margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.