The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 14, 2000, Page 3, Image 3
Government backs down on
deadline for Miami relatives
by Alex Veiga
The Associated Press
Miami — Elian Gonzalez’s great-uncle defied the
government Thursday and the government blinked,
letting its deadline to collect the boy pass and agree
ing to a delay that averts a law-enforcement show
down for now.
In Little Havana, thousands cheered wildly at
the news.
£ Attorneys for Elian’s Miami relatives claimed
victory after a federal appeals court issued a stay
blocking anyone from taking the boy out of the coun
try. The Justice Department, though, said it had
agreed to a delay of “three or four days.”
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told the
government to respond to the stay by 9:30 a.m. to
day, giving great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez’s family
another day with Elian at the very least. Lazaro “feels
relief,” family spokesman Armando Gutierrez said,
“at least until tomorrow morning.”
Thursday’s court action capped a fluid, electri
fying day that began minutes after Lazaro Gonzalez
dared the government to take Elian by force. In less
than 24 hours, the Miami relatives met with At
torney General Janet Reno, publicly announced their
defiance of her, allowed Elian to speak on TV and
ignored a 2 p.m. deadline to deliver him to an air
port for return to his father.
Since January, Reno and the government have
repeatedly extended the deadline for Lazaro Gon
zalez to surrender the boy despite a standing order
to do so. And this week, the nation’s top law officer
took the extraordinary step of flying down herself
in a chartered plane to hammer out a settlement.
Attorneys for Elian’s father, Juan Miguel Gon
zalez, said the Miami relatives had, with their ac
tions Thursday, “emotionally damaged and exploited
this most wonderful little boy.”
“Today, Lazaro Gonzalez defied the nation’s
chief law enforcement officers and publicly and bel
ligerently refused '
to turn Elian over
to his father,” said
Gregory Craig,
Juan Miguel Gon
zalez’s attorney.
Today, Lazaro
Gonzalez broke
the law.”
Outside Lazaro Gonzalez’s house in Little Ha
vana, a throng several thousand strong massed to
protest and, though it would prove unnecessary, pro
tect. “War! War! War!” some shouted in Spanish.
Others renewed pledges of nonviolence.
“While this child remains in this house, there is
hope,” Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas said. “We
are living very tense moments, perhaps the most
tense in the last 25 years.”
After the stay was announced, the crowd jubi
lantly cried “Victory! ” Salsa music pumped through
the neighborhood into the night as cars clogged 20
blocks of city streets, homs honking.
“A second miracle is happening in the case of
Elian,” said Raul Gonzalez, a 72-year-old accoun
tant who lives in the neighborhood. “It seems that
God is guiding us.”
The stay issued by the 11th Circuit does not
specifically prevent the government from trans
ferring Elian to his father. But a Justice official, re
questing anonymity, said the government gave its
word that it wouldn’t. The stay was issued while the
11th Circuit decides whether to hear a full appeal
Elian see rage 4
‘We want no violence. We are a peaceful community.’
Gloria Estefan
Singer
Bill creating King Day passes House
Jtill passes overwhelmingly; also
creates Confederate Memorial Day
by Jim Davenport
The Associated Press
By the end of the month, Gov. Jim
Hodges could sign a bill creating a holi
day for state workers to honor the slain
civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr.
The Republican-controlled House
voted 71-32 Thursday morning to pass
a bill creating a permanent state holiday
honoring the slain civil rights leader.
Six weeks ago, House members cre
ated racial and political rifts during ran
corous debate on the same bill, which al
so creates a Confederate Memorial Day
holiday. House Republicans, all white,
pushed a plans that used the bill to pro
tect Confederate monuments and pro
claimed the Confederate flag is not a racist
symbol. House leaders sent the bill
back to the House Judiciary Committee
to be salvaged.
“I think we made bold step forward
in moving in the right direction,” House
Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville,
said.
“We just felt it was time and the right
thing to do,” House Democratic Mi
nority Leader Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Or
angeburg, said.
The vote came as national media
turned attention to the Statehouse as law
makers took up debate over the fate of
the Confederate flag that flies atop the
Capitol dome and in its legislative cham
bers.
National media should “tell people
that we are not backwater and that we
are not crazy and that we are God-fear
ing, patriotic folk who sometimes have
(a) different way of thinking and doing
things. But we always manage to come
around and do the right thing,” Cobb
Hunter said.
Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, vot
ed against the bill, saying he is against ty
ing King holiday with a Confederate hol
iday. That was the same desire Democratic
Gov. Jim Hodges had
“This is a step in the right direction,”
Hodges said. “I would have preferred a
clean bill, but that’s what compromise is
all about. This is progress.”
Hodges said he was encouraged by
the “broad support of both the blacks and
whites and the Democrats and Republi
cans” on both the King holiday bill and
the Confederate flag compromise bill that
gained key Senate approval Wednesday.
“That’s what you need to get the flag
measure resolved. You need support that
crosses racial and political lines,” Hodges
said.
Previously, South Carolina had of
fered employees an option of a King hol
iday or one of three holidays honoring
Confederate figures. State offices remained
open.
The bill now needs a routine third
reading in the House and for the Senate
to go along with a House amendment that
sets the King holiday as the third Mon
day in January, instead of Jan. 15.
News Briefs
■ N.H. house votes for
impeachment inquiry
into high court
Concord, N.H. (AP) — The New
Hampshire House voted overwhelming
ly Thursday to open an impeachment in
quiry into New Hampshire’s Supreme
Court justices, deepening a constitution
al crisis that began over a divorce case.
Lawmakers decided 343-7 to au
thorize the first impeachment probe of a
New Hampshire judge in 210 years.
The crisis has brought down one mem
ber of the high court already and threat
ens three of the four remaining justices.
“The court’s been sinking its own
ship pretty well,” said Rep. Paul Mirs
ki, sponsor of the legislation. “We’ve got
to let the committee go where it can
go. This stuff is just going to continue to
erupt.”
■ Bush, McCain
to meet in Pittsburgh
Washington (AP) — Texas Gov.
George W. Bush and one-time Republi
can primary rival John McCain will meet
May 9 in Pittsburgh, the first time the
two men have met since their struggle
for the GOP presidential nomination end
ed.
Bush said today he wants McCain’s
endorsement, but doesn’t know if he’ll
win official backing during the planned
meeting.
“Of course I want his support, but I
don’t know if it will happen as a result of
die meeting,” Bush told reporters in Austin
when asked if he was looking for an en
dorsement. “John wants to visit I want
to visit.”
>
*
■ Russia charges
American with spying *
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities S
have charged a former U.S. Navy officer
with espionage after holding him in a jj
Moscow prison for more than a week, J
saying he had tried to obtain military J
secrets, officials said Thursday.
The U.S. Embassy has identified the {
American as Edmond Pope, but Russian !
authorities have consistently refused to j
identify him or a Russian man arrested as j
an alleged accomplice. ■*
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