Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Elian’s relatives offer meeting Reno 'very likely' to travel to Miami to meet with community leaders by Brendan Farrington The Associated Press Miami — Elian Gonzalez’s Miami rela tives offered Tuesday to meet with his fa ther in Florida and bring the boy along, and a Justice Department official said At torney General Janet Reno “very like ly” would come to Miami to meet with community leaders and the boy’s great I uncle. The senior official, who spoke on con dition of anonymity, said Reno probably would go to Miami on Wednesday and meet with federal officials, community leaders and, most significantly, the fam ily of Lazaro Gonzalez. Arrangements were still being worked out, said the official, who added that any meetings involving Reno wouldn’t alter the timetable being worked out for Elian’s return. Reno said she had indicated “the will ingness and desire” to meet with com munity leaders. Miami Mayor Joe Carollo talked with Reno in Washington Tuesday and said she is “very willing to meet Lazaro and any member of the Gonzalez family and wants to meet with community leaders in Mi ami.” In a letter distributed Tuesday morn ing outside the great-uncle’s home and addressed to a psychiatrist assigned by the government to the case, the family said it would be willing to meet Juan Miguel Gonzalez at any “neutral place in South Florida.” Relatives demanded assurances that Elian would not be taken from them during such a meeting. The letter said the conference could be “followed almost immediately by a meeting to include Elian.” But Arman do Gutierrez, a spokesman for the rela tives, said they wanted written assurance that the government wouldn’t try to take Elian at that time. “This is extremely important, not on ly to me and Marisleysis, but also for Elian so that he can be assured honestly that his going to the meeting will not imme diately place him on a plane to Cuba,” Lazaro Gonzalez wrote, referring to his daughter. Justice Department spokeswoman Carole Florman characterized Lazaro’s offer to meet Juan Mijguel as a family matter. “This is not a request the Miami relatives can make of the government,” she said. “They need to make it to Juan Miguel.” On Monday, Lazaro Gonzalez met for an hour with two psychiatrists and a psychologist sent by the government to arrange his 6-year-old grandnephew’s smooth transfer to his father. The doc tors, who met with Elian’s father in Wash ington on Sunday, held a telephone conference this morning with Immigra tion Commissioner Doris Meissner to give their recommendations, Florman said. Officials were drafting a letter telling Lazaro that custody was being transferred Euan SEE PAGE 8 Historian loses suit involving Holocaust by Mara D. Bellaby The Associated Press London — A judge branded historian David Irvipg as an anti-Semite racist and an apologist for Hitler in a strongly word ed decision Tuesday, ruling that an Amer ican scholar was justified in calling him a Holocaust denier. Jewish groups hailed the verdict against Irving, who sued Deborah Lip stadt and her publisher, Penguin Books, over a 1994 book that he said damaged his academic reputation and ac cused him of playing down the horrors of the Holocaust. “I had argued that David Irving was partisan and an apologist for the Nazis and anti-Semitic,” Lipstadt said after the verdict. “The judge went further than I did in his ruling — and called him a racist.” Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, issued a statement saying the judge sent a message to the world “that the aiguments used by Irving and others to deny and diminish the events of the Holocaust are not within the realm of acceptable or reasonable discourse.” In his two-hour judgment delivered to a packed courtroom, High Court Judge Charles Gray found that Irving “mis represented and distorted” historical ev idence and that he is “anti-Semitic and racist and that he associates with right wing extremists who promote neo Nazism.” “Irving has for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately mis represented and manipulated” history to paint Adolf Hitler in a favorable light, the judge said. Irving, the author of nearly 30 books, Holocaust see rage 7 News Briefs ■ Census response surpasses officials’ minimum goal Washington (AP) — In Florida and Michigan, they stuffed Chinese fortune cookies with “Census 2000” messages. In Santa Ana, Calif., traveling food merchants hand over groceries in bags emblazoned with the Census 2000 logo to customers. These are some of the more iMsual things the Census Bureau is doing to get Americans to fill out and return their forms, and Census officials say it’s work ing — despite recent criticism that some of the things asked on the 53-question long form are too intrusive. As of Tuesday, 62 percent of all forms were mailed back, census director Ken neth Prewitt said, surpassing the 61 per cent minimum goal that officials had set for this year’s count. ■ Barak’s withdrawal proposal wins • Clinton’s approval Washington (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak drew the Clinton administration’s endorsement Tuesday for his decision to pull Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon. At the same time, he was prodded to move faster with the Palestinians toward a West Bank with drawal. “We will do what we can to help,” President Clinton said as he met at the White House with the Israeli leader. Meet ing mostly alone, except for note-takers, they surveyed for more than 3 1/2 hours Mideast peace prospects, taking time out for a dinner of hambuigers and ^xed vegetables. Barak, without making any statement, then left in a motorcade for Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland to board his jet and fly home, where a visit by Chi nese President Jiang Zemin loomed on Wednesday. Responding to reporters’ questions on the South Lawn, with Barak at his side, Clinton said he would try in their meet ing to energize the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, now en gaged in talks at a Washington Air Force base. “There’s a lot of hope for rapid move ment on the Palestinian front,” Clinton said. But he said the next few weeks will be critical. ■ Senate rejects * gas tax rollback Washington (AP) —A temporary fed eral gas tax cut was resoundingly defeat ed by the Senate, where opponents said its meager benefits for motorists fuming over high fuel prices wasn’t worth jeop ardizing money for critical transportation projects. “Yes, there’s anger at the pump. That’s understandable,” Sen. John Warner, R Va., said Tuesday. “But there’s also anger behind the wheel. We cannot have insta bility in our highway modernization pro gram.” By 17 votes, the Senate failed t^pch the 60-vote threshold necessary to cut off debate and proceed to the bill, effec tively killing it. Twelve Republicans and 44 Democrats voted against the measure, sponsored by Majority Leader Trent Lott, who was backed by 43 Republicans. — i Bodybuilding & Fitness Club hosts 21st Mr. & Ms. USC Championships A record number of male and female entries competed in the annual Mr. & Ms. USC Bodybuilding & Fitness Championships Saturday night, April 8th in the Blatt Campus Recreation gymnasium. The full house applauded the Bodybuilding and Fitness Club’s twenty-first year for sponsoring the event. In women’s fitness, after a two minute fitness routine presentation showing flexibility, poise, athletic talent and coordination, Kristy Robbins (sophomore) placed fourth, Michelle Bailey (graduate student) third, Jill Szczubewski (graduate student) second, and Latronia Sumter (senior Computer Science major) first. Men’s bodybuilding is divided into three weight classes. In the lightweight men’s class, Chris Lord (senior) earned third, Kennett Washington (junior) second, and Matt Schilit (senior) took the first place statue. In the middleweight class, David Snyir (senior) placed first, John Baker (junior) second, and Jeff George, (freshman) third. Robert Jackson took second in men’s heavyweight with Ben Rogozinski placing first. Ben, a senior Exercise Science major, also won the overall Mr. USC trophy. Guest poser, Ian Williams, the 1999 Mr. USC, impressed the audience, judges, and Bodybuilding and Fitness Club members with his presentation. Special thanks was noted to the many Club alumni who returned to assist with this annual event. Off-Campus ■ ■ ^ ■ — Wednesday, April 12 @llam-2pm -Russell House Patio_ -(Apartment list:) Apartment Finder Bluebook The Biltmore Crossroads Cypress Run Essex Park Apartments Forest Brook Gable Hill Hampton Greene Intermark Management Corp. Old Mill Apartments The Park Polo Commons Riverbend Apartments Rivergate Riverwind Apartments Senate Plaza Shandon Crossing St. Andrew’s Apartments St. Andrew’s Commons Stone Ridge University Commons USC Family and Graduate Housing The Waterford Whaley’s Mill RUSSELL The Russell House University Union at the University of South Carolina is sponsoring HOUSE the Off-Campus Housing Fair to give students the opportunity to meet with representatives from area apartment communities and leasing agencies. REMINDER Don’t forget to renew your reserved space for the Summer and/or Fall semesters. • • Deadline is... April 28, 2000 for Summer May 31, 2000 for Fall Failure to renew by this date will result in the loss of your space. If you already made payment, please disregard this notice. Don’t have a space and are interested in getting one? Sign up for the Lottery drawing at Parking Services. Deadline is July 14, 2000 Questions should be directed to the Parking ^ Services Office. Phone #777-5160.