Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Tent ©amtcocR Gordon from page 4 Cedar Key sits two to three feet above ^ea level — forecasters were expecting a storm surge of ? to 10 feet would likely coincide with high tide, a combi nation that could cause particularly bad flooding. Gordon’s weakening though the day was due to a combination of factors, said Hugh Cobb, a meteorologist at the Na tional Hurricane Center in Miami: “The circulation center is getting close to land, plus it’s pulling in dry air from the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S.” There was also a threat of isolated tornadoes, forecasters said. At least one tornado was reported by Sunday evening, in Palm Beach County, the National Weather Service said. Levy County Sheriff’s deputies had ordered non-residents on Cedar Key to ft lear out by Sunday afternoon. Two hur ricane watchers from Atlanta had hoped to watch the storm’s approach. “We have been chasing hurricanes for about 15 years,” said John Tyler, a pizza delivery man. “It’s real weak,” he said before the storm made landfall. “It’s too dry and cool to get much stronger.” Others along the coast weren’t tak ing any chances. The Red Cross report ed about 500 people were taking ad vantage of its shelters around the state, dozens of flights were canceled at Tam pa International Airport, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ baseball game with the Oakland A’s was called off. “Right now, there are a lot of peo ple who just wanted to leave,” said Mar garet O’Brien-Molina, a Red Cross spokeswoman. “They wanted to try, but these bands come in again and the trees start bending and the rain gets really, really stiff.” Evacuations were ordered for low lying areas and mobile home parks in Cit rus and Taylor counties north of Tampa, and five counties — Pinellas, Hillsbor ough, Manatee, Hernando and Pasco — were under voluntary evacuation. In low lying Dixie County, just north of Cedar Key, emergency management director Arthur Bellot said most of ltis county’s 13,000 residents “are as ready as they can get.” In the Levy County town of Chiefland, Iva Elbridge, 36, brought her family to a shelter at Chiefland Ele mentary School without complaint, es pecially after recalling their survival of 1992’s devastating Hurricane Andrew. “We went through Andrew when we lived in Cross City—a tree went through our house then,” Elbridge said. A tropical storm warning was in ef fect for the Florida Gulf Coast from An na Maria Island to Indian Pass, and an other warning was issued for the southeast coast from Titusville to Little River In let, S.C. A tropical storm watch ex tended north to the North Carolina-Vir ginia border. S.C. from page 4 ably won’t cause any huge scale prob lems, Ray said. “There is a tropical storm watch along the coast of Georgia all the way up to South Carolina and a chance of tornadoes developing in that area,” Ray said. State climatologist David Stooks bury said there are two main con cerns in Georgia; flooding from heavy rains and tornadoes. “Anytime we have a tropical sys tem come ashore, tornadoes are like ly,” Stooksbury said. “So people in those areas need to be on guard. ” If high winds accompany the storms, he said, there’s a danger that trees killed or weakened by the three years of drought will not be able to withstand them. “Parts of south central and south eastern Georgia have had some heavy rains in the last few weeks, so the soil may not be able support trees with that additional burden of high winds,” he said. Tire storm may affect furriers the most, Stooksbury said. Heavy rains and high winds can knock immature pecans from the trees and ready-to pick cotton bolls from plants in the field. Peanut farmers may have it no better. U.S. court: 37 Swiss firms sought protection on slave-labor claims by Alexandra G. Higgins Associated Press GENEVA —Thirty -seven Swiss com panies, including Nestle, Roche and . Novartis, sought protection from a U.S. court against lawsuits over the possible use of slave labor by German subsidiaries during the Nazi era, documents disclosed Saturday. A deadline set by the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn prompted the Swiss firms, most of which had been silent on their possible involvement, to come for ward, a court-appointed expert said. According to documents posted on the Internet, Nestle, Roche and Novartis told a U.S. District Court in Brooklyn that subsidiaries they owned in Germany or Nazi-occupied areas during Wbrld Whr II used slave labor. Other companies said they could rule out any use of slave labor, but were sign ing up anyway — thus gaining protection against separate U.S. lawsuits. Switzerland was not only a World War II banking center but also a manu facturing base that used its neutrality to deal with both the Nazis and the Allies. The documents were among the lat- . est additions to an Internet site that ad vises Holocaust survivors about progress n their $1.25 billion settlement with Swiss banks. Earlier in the week, special master ludah Gribetz recommended on the site ■ :hat the bulk of the money should go to Holocaust victims and their heirs who tad claims to deposits in Swiss banks. A ‘special master” is a person appointed oy a court to help research a particular question. . Gribetz said former slave laborers — whether or not they worked for Swiss subsidiaries — should receive $500 and 51,000 from the Swiss fund in addition :o whatever they obtain from a German fund. Gribetz said that would save “mil lions” in administrative costs and spare she former slave laborers from having to letermine whether the company they tad worked for was Swiss- or German owned. He said it was impossible to say how many people had been forced to work for she Swiss subsidiaries. Initial numbers are low, but an estimate of 11,000 “does not ippear unreasonable,” he added. In a ruling last July, Judge Edward [Comian told Swiss companies seeking release from slave labor claims they should identify themselves to the court within 30 days. “Chief Judge Korman’s order ap pears to have prompted a great many Swiss corporations to examine the slave labor use of their wartime subsidiaries,” Gribetz’s report said. The food giant Nestle identified sev en German plants where it understood slave labor was used, Gribetz said. Pharmaceutical group Novartis said it liad found two sites owned by its predeces sor that had used slave labor. Engineering and manufacturing con glomerate ABB Ltd., formerly known as Brown Boveri and Cie., identified six sub sidiaries that used or possibly used slave labor. The aluminum-manufacturing Alusuisse Group named five German sub sidiaries which “employed force labor ers assigned to them.” Nestle has taken the lead on the is sue, saying last month it was giving about $14 million toward the settlement fund. “It is either certain or it may be as sumed that some corporations of the Nes tle Group that were active in countries controlled by the National Socialist (Nazi) regime employed forced laborers,” it said Clinton proposes j$i billion to staff nursing homes by Lawrence L. Knutson Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Clinton proposed spending $1 billion to remedy what he said is inadequate staffing at nurs ing homes, the “number one culprit” leading to neglect for too many older Americans. “Older Americans, who have worked hard all their lives, deserve respect, not neglect,” Clinton said Saturday in his weekly radio address. He was broadcast live from the Washington Home, a ven erable nursing home not far from the White House. The Republican-controlled Congress, which expects to consider health care this fall, “will try to find fair middle ground” on a variety of issues, said John Czwartacki, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, found the president’s proposal “promis ing” and awaited details. Clinton, speaking before about 100 residents and employees at the nursing home, said he believes Congress could act this year on his five-year plan to in crease nursing home staffing levels and raise the quality of care. “Of all the obligations we owe to one Another, our most sacred duty is to our parents,” Clinton said. “They kept us safe from harm when we were chil dren, and we must do the same for them as they grow older. They shouldn’t go an other day without the care they deserve.” Nearly 1.6 million Americans are c;ircd for in 16,500 nursing homes, many of which Clinton said provide quality care. Others, however, lack both ade quate staff and training. Clinton said these problems will on ly increase as the baby boom genera tion ages. He cited a recent govern ment study that concluded “patients in these homes are more likely to lose too much weight, develop bed sores (and) fall into depression.” The report issued in late July by the Health Care Financing Administra tion said that at more than half— 54 per cent — of the nursing homes surveyed, nursing aides spent less than two hours a day with patients. The study examined 1,786 nursing homes in three states. Clinton’s plan includes penalties against homes found to be “endangering the safety of their residents.” Fines col lected would pay for improved patient care. He also directed the regulators to establish minimum staffing requirements for homes within two years. To help families in selecting a nurs ing home, Clinton said the government will require all facilities to post the num ber of health care personnel on duty. “A key factor for my support is se curing accountability from nursing homes that they will spend the additional money only on staffing,” said Grassley, R-Iowa. The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging said the president’s plan was “a very important step.” Mary Alice Ryan, head of the group’s board of directors, said the pro posal would let states “reward homes that staff at higher levels” or have inno vative programs to recruit, retain and train staff. Andy Stem, president of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 100,000 nursing home work ers, said Clinton’s recognition of a link between staffing and quality care is long overdue. ,Dalai Lama urges India to let teen-age Karmapa stay Associated Press NEW DELHI, India —The Dalai Lama urged the Indian government Saturday to allow the Karmapa—the teen-age monk who was refused asylum after fleeing Clii na in January — to stay in India. The Dalai Lama, the supreme Tibetan leader, made the request in a meeting with Lai Krishna Advani, the interior minister, Press Trust of India reported. The Tibetan leader also requested the government let the Karmapa travel to the Rumtek monastery in the remote ^ikkim state. Advani reiterated the Indian position lhat asylum would not be granted to the Karmapa, United News of India report ed. The Karmapa, the third highest Ti L~*— n i ii • . i . i . ... dia to reclaim the traditional black crown kept in the Rumtek monastery for 18 years. “I assured him of discussing the mat ter with the prime minister... after he returns home,” Advani told reporters. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is currently on a state visit in the United States. In January, the boy recognized as the 17th Karntapa defected to India from China in a grueling trek by car, horse and foot over 900 miles through the Hi malayas. His departure from Tibet has led to widespread speculation that he is being groomed to succeed the Dalai Lanta as political and spiritual leader of the Ti 8 grenades found before Schroeder’s visit by Ciaran Giles Associated Press HERNANI, Spain — Police with he licopters and sniffer dogs uncovered eight grenades in woods near a Basque town just hours before a visit by King Juan Car los, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar mid German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Authorities said the grenades were planted by the armed Basque separatist group ETA — whose political allies warned this week that although Schroed er was welcome in Hemani, the king and prime minister were not. The grenades were found in rudi mentary launching tubes in a pit about 600 yards from the open-air museum of sculptor Eduardo Chillida, which was in augurated by the king and later visited by Aznar, Schroeder and more than a dozen, other Spanish politicians. “The grenades had a launching mech anism, but it was so sloppily put togeth er they would have not gone further than a few” yards, said a spokeswoman for the Basque regional Ertzaintza police force who refused to be identified. “There was no danger of anyone bding injured.” The event went ahead as scheduled, and ETA issued no immediate comment. There had been conflicting police re ports earlier as to whether the grenades had launching devices. The grenades were found only half an hour before the king’s arrival, despite a week of intensive police searches of the hills and woods around the museum to prevent any attacks. ETA lias admitted to about 800 killings since it began fighting for independence of northern Spain’s Basque region in 1968. It has escalated its campaign since end ing a cease-fire last December and claimed 11 killings so far tliis year. It is also blamed for a 12th. Several hundred police, many in full riot gear with rubber-bullet rifles and masks, manned controls for miles around the museum and Hemani, a traditionally pro-independence town. Helicopters con stantly hovered overhead. Unable to reach the museum, about 1,000 people paraded through Hemani chanting: “The king of Spain should stay in Spain!” and “Independence now!” Others shouted in favor of ETA, whose name is a Basque-language acronym for Basque Homeland and Freedom. “My family and 1 are Basques, through and through. We’re not Span ish,” said Jose Alarda, a 60-year-old na tive of Hernani. He said he felt ETA’s killings were often wrong, but insisted “it’s the only way they can fight, and if they don’t fight for independence, who will?” The latest victim of the violence was a university teacher and former Socialist politician who survived a shot in the face Thursday outside liis house in nearby San Sebastian. The museum visit came three days after Spanish police arrested 20 sus pected ETA fund-raisers and oiganizers. Then on Friday, French police just across the border detained Ignacio de Gracia Ar regui, also known as Inaki de Renteria, considered the head of ETA’s military planning. Gracia Arregui, a fugitive for more than a decade, is under investigation for. his alleged role in several ETA killings. He also is accused of planning a foiled as sassination of the king in 1995. The king also was believed to have . been the target of an attempted attack in a 1997 visit to the Basque region to in augurate the Guggenheim museum in Bil bao. A day before the museum opened, a policeman was killed when he tried to detain suspected ETA members posing as gardeners to place a bomb outside the museum’s entrance. Schroeder was visiting the Chillida museum Saturday at the invitation of the artist, who designed a sculpture titled “Berlin” for the German government. Standing beside the gigantic rust met al structure, said to depict two entangled hands as symbols of Gentian reunifica tion, Schroeder admitted he ran a risk by visiting Hemani. “But I confirmed I was coming here last year,” he said, “and I didn’t want to cancel it so as to show solidarity against terrorism and with Spain.” Schroeder was officially in Spain for an annual bilateral summit. He and Aznar agreed to push for stable fuel prices as Europeans across the continent con tinued protests over high costs. Aznar asked Spaniards for patience in die battle against ETA. He insists there is no political problem in the Basque region —just terrorism. The Basque region is one of 17 semi autonomous divisions of Spain and en joys substantial self-governing powers. Feds ponder size of cheese holes byPhilip Brasher Associated Press WASHINGTON —Anyway you slice it, the Swiss on your ham and cheese is n’t going to be the same. It seems the holes in traditional Swiss are so large that the cheese gets tom up in the new high-speed slicing machines used by the food service industry. So cheese makers have asked the Agricul ture Department to change its standards to allow for smaller holes — or “eyes” — in Grade A Swiss. Under the existing standards, most of the holes must be between eleven sixteenths and thirteen-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. USDA wants to re duce the minimum size to three-eighths of an inch. Cheese makers want to “loosen up the regulation and put a little flexibili ty in,” said John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Mak ers Association. “It’s an odd thing that the government pays tliis close attention to Swiss cheese.” It’s not just Swiss. USDA establish es standards for characteristics and in gredients for a variety of dairy products, including several cheeses: American, Cheddar, colby and Monterey Jack among them. Although the standards are tech nically voluntary, they are used through out the industry to ensure consistency and determine pricing. Currently, Swiss cheese with holes smaller than eleven-sixteenths of an inch cannot be sold as Grade A. For cheese makers, that represents a loss of 15 cents to 20 cents a pound on what they can chaige. Some people who have heard about the proposed new standard find it ridicu lous that the government would spend time contemplating the size of cheese holes. “Oh, please? There must be tilings of importance that demand your funds and attention,” Dale M. Piper of Mid dlebury, Vt., said in a recent e-mail to USCA. “Busywork is one tiling (and usu ally indicates a pressing need to down size), but this is patently ridiculous.” Babagalleh Barry, who manages a deli in Bethesda, Md., doesn’t have any problem with the size of the holes in his Swiss. But, he said, “If it’s a little smaller that might be easier to slice.” Taxpayers won’t be out a nickel, USDA officials say. The entire cost of changing the standard, including staff salaries and the expense of printing the rules in the Federal Register, isn’t ex pected to exceed $5,000. And that will be reimbursed by cheese makers through user fees, said Aggie Thompson, an ad ministrator with USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. While it may seem trivial to some consumers, Thompson said, it is a sig nificant issue for cheese makers. “That’s who this is intended to tar get. It was not our idea to change it,” she said. “These standards are voluntary standards, requested by the dairy in dustry and paid for out of user fees by the dairy industry.” She said she expects the department to make a decision on the hole sizes by the end of the year. The holes in Swiss cheese are actu ally bubbles, formed by carbon dioxide emitting bacteria. Cheese makers can precisely control the size of the holes by varying the temperature and acidity of the cheese. Preferences for hole size can vary according to cultural and regional dif ferences. Texans, of course, like “big eyed Swiss,” said Umhoefer. India from page 4 sprinkled red rose petals at the front of the almost 9-foot high statue, which shows Mahatma Gandhi in a pose leaning against a staff. The 75-year-old prime minister, assisted by Clinton be cause of a bad left knee that will be replaced, called the dedi cation “one of the finest moments” in U.S.-lndian relations. Clinton, asked about the visit, which includes a gala White House Uiiiner Sunday night, said, “I think it’s been a great suc cess. It sort of rounds out our efforts to make a different turn in Earlier, Vajpayee praised the progress in relations, agree ing on more cooperative programs, particularly economic deals, but still refusing to budge on nuclear issues. The White House meeting Friday reflected “the consid erable progress made between the two countries even within six months,” Vajpayee said. In March, Clinton visited India and laid the groundwork for the White House session. The prime minister met with U.S. and Indian business lead ers Friday night and discussed recent and planned changes in In dian regulations to privatize slate utilities and other industries. He was there to woo foreign investment to help India gain the high-tech infrastructure it needs to expand its economy. At the same time, he expressed awe at U.S. economic pow er. “The continued U.S. prosperity is almost a miracle,” he said. Hostages from page 4 Officials said clashes were continu ing Sunday and that the military had over run two rebel camps, including the area where two French journalists had been held, but found no hostages. Residents said mortars were relent lessly pounding rebel positions in the hills of Jolo. In neighboring Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ah mad Badawi was quoted by the New Sunday Times newspaper saying patrols had been stepped up to prevent Abu Sayyaf rebels from fleeing into Malaysian waters. One woman died and four other civil ians were being treated at a Jolo hospi tal. They said they were in a group of about 10 people strafed by the military because one was wearing camouflage clothing. Other injured civilians were unable to pass through tight military blockades to reach the hospital, they said. Military Chief of Staff Gen. Ange lo Reyes said six rebels were killed and 20 captured. Four soldiers were wound ed, he said. The rebels are believed to have tak en the journalists with them when they fled, Reyes said. Various Abu Sayyaf factions are hold ing an American Muslim, twp French journalists, three Malaysians, a Filipino captured in April and 12 Filipino Chris tian evangelists. Before they began their kidnapping spree in March, the heavily armed Abu Sayyaf had fewer than 200 members. That ballooned to more than 3,000 as large ransoms reportedly paid by Libya and Malaysia for the release of other hostages attracted many new re cruits on impoverished Jolo, the mili tary says.