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.. .* Page A6 !f| ' - { : ‘ •*’. ‘ V J§ Tuesday, January 16,2001 Earthquake recovery continues by Will Weissert Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador —Authorities have buried in mass graves many of the 400 confirmed victims of El Salvador’s earthquake, saying a landslide that wiped out entire families had made it impossible to know the identities of many who died. Two more people were found alive, including a small child and a young man whose cellular phone call alerted au thorities to his location. Some 1,000 peo ple were still missing, and the mayor of a hard-hit community said Monday that as the ground firms and time passes the chances of finding more people alive un der the mountain of dirt is becoming more remote. “VNfe always have hope that someone can be found alive, but we have to ac knowledge that there is less possibility of finding life,” Mayor Oscar Ortiz of Santa Tecla told The Associated Press. On Sunday, distraught relatives lined up at an improvised morgue in a blood stained Santa Tecla alley to identify some of those mangled and entombed in Sat urday’s 7.6-magnitude quake. The need to dispose of the mounting number of corpses cheated some of the chance for closure. One woman looking for a pair of miss ing cousins showed up at the morgue in the half-buried Las Colinas neighborhood only to find out that two children who matched their description had already been sent to a mass burial. “My cousins are similar to the ages of the ones you buried, and they are miss ing,” 18-year-old Kenya Marbella told stem-faced soldiers who said it was too late to see the bodies. “How could you just throw bodies in the ground like that?” With no refrigerated facilities, and bodies and body parts piling up in the al ley near the quake-triggered landslide that covered Las Colinas in a wall of dirt, there was little choice but mass burial, said coroner Mario Alfredo Hernandez. About half of the corpses were uniden tified, he said. Earthquake see page az Joy turns to anguish as quake survivor fights for life by Niko Price Associated Press SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador —For two days and a night, the young musician lay beneath 15 feet of cin <derblocks and mud while rescuers worked desperately to pull him to safe ty But the elation when Sergio Moreno was finally freed turned to agony on Monday when heart and kid ney failure left him fighting for his life. “After so much joy when we saw him pulled out, we are again living in anguish,” said his mother, Leticia del Carmen de Moreno, weeping in the hospital. Moreno, 22, is the keyboard play er for the popular Salvadoran merengue band Grupo Algodon. But he recent ly decided to return to college to study computers, and had bought a humble, two-story house in the Las Colinas neighborhood of Santa Tecla, just ‘After so much joy when we saw him pulled out, we are again living in anguish.’ Leticia del Carmen de Moreno Mother of-Sergio Moreno outside the capital where he would study. Saturday morning, Moreno was painting his new home when an earth quake sent the hillside above crashing down on top of him. Moreno was trapped in darkness in the bathroom, with cinderblocks pin ning his legs. The ironwork of a bal cony shielded his upper body. He had a cellular phone with him and dialed a friend. He got through, and within an hour, rescuers were cutting through concrete to open a pathway. It was tough work, and with the earth still trembling, the rescuers knew they could be crushed at any moment. But Jhonny “Cannibal” Ramos and Manuel Guzman weren’t going to aban don Moreno. “We made a pact: No matter what the risks, we weren’t going to leave until we got him out,” Guzman said. Digging mostly with their hands, the two rescue workers tunneled down 15 feet and opened a small hole to where Moreno lay. They pushed in a garden hose, and told Moreno to put it Survivor see page az Clinton wishes for racial harmony by Larry Margasak Associated Press WASHINGTON — Marking the Martin Luther King Jr. holi day, President Clin ton said Monday that his wish as he leaves the White House is for an America where the V^UVOV. 1W1 WliUUVIl uu CLINTON manity outweighs racial, ethnic and cul tural differences among citizens. “If I could leave America with one wish as I depart office, it would be that we become more the ‘One America’ that we know we ought to be,” Clinton told a crowd of about 900 at the Uni versity of the District of Columbia. Clinton also referred to a message he sent to Congress over the weekend that calls for improvements to the crim inal justice system, restoring voting rights for people who complete their prison sentences, and a national election com mission led by former Presidents Ford and Carter that would review balloting problems that surfaced in the past pres idential election. Earlier, Clinton, who signed the King Holiday and Service Act in 1994 to es tablish the day as a national day of ser vice, went to a local senior center where he painted a pillar and told reporters that he hoped his successor’s commitment to civil rights is not marked by parti sanship. Minority citizens in America still face problems that must be addressed by the next administration, Clinton said as he rolled pumpkin-colored paint with Americorps workers at the Greenleaf Senior Center. “I hope it will be a commitment that goes way beyond party,” Clinton said. The president also told reporters he’s considering clemency for several people who have completed their sen tences and want their voting rights re stored. He called on Congress to pass leg islation similar to that in Arkansas that automatically restores voting rights af ter people have served their sentences. “It would seem to me most Amer ican people agree that when you pay your debt to society and become law abiding citizens,” that voting rights should be restored, he said. “I would really like to see it done. I think there’s a lot of bi partisan interest in it.” On Sunday, Clinton sent to Con gress his recommendations for improv ing race relations in the United States. In his message to lawmakers, Clinton called for an end to the “intolerable practice” of racial profiling. He also said Election Day should be declared a national holiday and rec ommended that the incoming Bush administration appoint a nonpartisan presidential commission on election reform. “If ever there was a doubt about the importance of exercising the most fundamental right of citizenship, it was clearly answered by the first presi dential election of the 21st century,” Clinton said. President-elect Bush will be sworn in Saturday to succeed Clinton after winning the closest presidential race in recent history. Some minority voters — especial ly in Florida, where the outcome of the election was ultimately decided—said they were intimidated or even blocked from voting when they went to the polls on Election Day. World Briefs ■ Bush marks King holiday at Houston elementary school AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Facing deep suspicion among black Ameri cans, President-elect George W. Bush was marking the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with a scheduled trip to a Houston elementary school to call for unity and to highlight his education proposals. Joining him Monday at Kelso Ele mentary School was expected to be Rod Paige, the president-elect’s choice for Education secretary. Paige, who is black, runs the Houston school district and is a product of segregated schools in Mississippi. Blacks favored Democrat A1 Gore by a 9-to-l margin in the November election, and by better than a 2-to-l margin, most blacks believe they will lose influence, rather than gain it, un der Bush, according to a Pew Research Center poll this month. ■ California focuses on wholesalers for energy crisis relief LOS ANGELES (AP) — Apian to try to fix the energy crisis by mak ing the state a major electricity broker will likely be introduced Tuesday to the state Legislature, officials said. After a seven-hour meeting with energy providers and state and federal officials, Gov. Gray Davis said Sunday , the state will try to sign contracts with electricity wholesalers to buy power and sell it to utilities. The state believes it can negotiate better prices than financially unstable utilities, which have amassed billions of dollars in debt by buying energy in a California market unhinged by deregu lation and supply shortages. Welcome Back! Carolina Collegiate Federal Credit Union is pleased to offer USC Students credit union advantages! As a student of USC, you are eligible for membership. Along with many membership advantages, we offer extensive electronic services, including... On-Campus Surcharge-Free ATM Located at the Humanities Building, part of a state-wide Free ATM Network. Free Private Teller Service 24 hour computer account access. Free Nightwatch Service 24 hour telephone account access. 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