University of South Carolina Libraries
AFL-CIO president arrested during Northeast unions rally BY LAURA WALSH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW HAVEN, CONN. - AFL CIO President John Sweeney was arrested with 151 other demon strators Saturday for blocking traffic as they marched through city streets in support of two striking Yale University unions. Sweeney and hundreds of demonstrators had planned to be arrested during the rally and march, which drew a crowd that police estimated at more than 10,000. The march jammed down town traffic for blocks and drew lengthy honks from supporters and aggravated drivers alike. Sweeney’s hands were bound with plastic ties as he boarded a bus and yelled, “Anything for the workers!” Meg Riccio, a Yale dining hall worker who was among those ar rested, said she didn’t mind be ing taken to a police station. “It’s worth getting a criminal record because I’m working for a criminal,” she said. The protesters were charged with disorderly conduct and re ceived misdemeanor summons es to appear in court, police said. All were released from jail. Thousands of members of Northeast unions converged on New Haven for the demonstra tion in support of two unions rep resenting about 4,000 clerical, technical and maintenance work ers at Yale. The unions went on strike three weeks ago. “This is a fight against a very wealthy institution,” Sweeney said. “Unions across the country are coming to lend their support. They are coming to bring their attention to the struggle.” Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said the demonstration was ir relevant to contract negotiations, likening it to a union recruitment drive. “Yale is just serving as a good backdrop,” Conroy said. Leaders of Locals 34 and 35 have said some progress has been made since the strike began, but they and Yale remain far apart on pension and other issues. Yale has offered an eight-year contract with pay raises of 3 per cent to 5 percent annually, pen sion benefit increases and signing bonuses. The university has re peatedly said that more unionized workers are reporting to work than walking the picket lines.. BRIEFLY Brief power outage hits campus again Parts of USC’s campus lost power for several minutes Sunday night, and South Carolina Electric and Gas is still trying to figure out what hap pened. The outage disrupted a performance of Sunday Night Alive in the Russell House and knocked out the street lights on Greene Street. A spokesperson for the power company said they did not know what caused the outage. Scholarships open to USC students The American Society of Safety Engineers Foundation has announced scholarships for college students pursuing a de gree in occupational safety, health and the environment or a related safety field. Scholarships include Liberty Mutual, Ford Motor and UPS scholarships. For more infor mation, contact Michael Nowak at (847)-768-3404 or by e-mail at mnowak@asse.org Speech support group to meet The USC Speech and Hearing Center is sponsoring a support group for people who stutter. The group meets the last Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. at the center on 1601 St. Julian Place. For details or directions call 777-2614 or e-mail stut terers @hotmail.com. V — STATE Hunley crew burial draws protesters CHARLESTON (AP)-A Texas Confederate flag activist says the U.S. flag has no place at the April burial of the last crew of the ill fated Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley. In August, Carl McClung posted a petition on an Internet site that says the flag of their en emy, the United States of America, must not be displayed at any ceremonies for the buri al of the CSS Hunley crew. More than 1,660 people have signed the petition. The Hunley became the first submarine to sink a ship in war time on Feb. 17,1864, but it sank before it returned to shore near Charleston. In August 2000, the Hunley was recovered from Charleston’s waters. Hunley Commission Chair man Glenn McConnell said Friday that the Hunley Commission, which is planning the funeral, had not considered leaving the U.S. flag or Confederate banners out of the interment ceremonies. Lawmaker asks for domestic abuse law GREENVILLE (AP) — A state lawmaker says the process of let ting domestic abuse suspects out of jail needs to be retooled to pro tect victims better. Rep. Gloria Haskins, R Greenville, came up with the proposal she is calling “Maranda’s Law” following the shooting death of a woman by her ex-boyfriend. Maranda Williams, 24, was killed by shotgun blasts to the » back on Sept. 3 as she worked in the deli department in a Bi-Lo grocery store. Her ex-boyfriend, Charles Christopher Williams, was charged with murder and is be ing held at the Greenville County Law Enforcement Center. After his initial arrest, he was released within hours after Greenville County Magistrate Shirley B. Keaton set bond at $45,000. NATION - Kerry challenges Dean to debate WASHINGTON (AP) - John Kerry wants to go one-on-one with Democratic White House rival Howard Dean. Kerry issued the challenge for a face-to-face debate during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. He had been asked about re cent comments from Dean fol lowing a debate in Albuquerque, N.M., in which Kerry refrained from directly attacking Dean. Afterward, Dean said, “I wish he’d say to my face what he says behind my back.” In response, Kerry said Sunday that he’d welcome a de bate with just the two men on the stage. “If he wants a challenge and he wants us jo go face-to-face, I accept,” said Kerry. “Let’s get together. Let’s have a debate.” Kerry suggested Iowa or New Hampshire for such a meeting. The Dean campaign didn’t ex press much interest in the idea. Gas prices level out after21-cent jump CAMARILLO, CALIF. (AP) - Retail gasoline prices rose a frac tion of a penny in the past three weeks, stabilizing after a steep climb of 21 cents a gallon since early June, an analyst said Sunday. The average price for a gallon of self-serve gasoline nation wide, including all grades and taxes, was $1.75 on Friday, ac cording to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations. That was up about 0.29 of a cent since the last Lundberg Survey was taken Aug. 22. Analyst Trilby Lundberg said the end of the summer driving season and a general reduction in the cost of crude oil helped prices stabilize. “I expect gasoline prices to go down from here,” Lundberg said. Price cuts already were oc curring in some parts of the country, including much of the West Coast and parts of the Midwest and Gulf Coast, Lundberg said. WORLD WTO talks collapse amid differences CANCUN, MEXICO (AP) - Talks designed to change the face of trade around the world collapsed Sunday amid differ ences between rich and poor na tions, the second failure for the World Trade Organization in four years. Delegates from many poor countries celebrated what they called a victory against the West, and an increasingly powerful al liance of poor but populous farming nations said they had found a new voice to rival the de veloped world. “The developing countries have come into their own,” said Malaysia’s minister for interna tional trade and investment, Rafidah Aziz. “This has made it clear that developing countries cannot be dictated to by any body.” Hours later, the meeting’s chairman; Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez, declared the meeting over, say ing: “Unfortunately, we didn’t achieve the advances we had proposed to achieve” and pledg ing to work toward completing negotiations in the future. West African leader overthrown in coup LISBON, PORTUGAL (AP) - Soldiers ousted the president of the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau on Sunday, tak ing advantage of widespread dis content with his rule to seize power in a bloodless coup. The army chief of staff, Gen. Verissimo Correia Seabre, de clared himself in charge of the country after the early-morning arrest of President Kumba Yala. A dawn-to-dusk curfew was im posed, and soldiers patrolled the streets of the capital Bissau with automatic weapons and grenade launchers. Several African countries in cluding Nigeria and Senegal condemned the coup, as did Portugal, the former colonial ruler. But some residents ex pressed relief as much as alarm. “It’s all calm. People aren’t afraid,” a man said by phone from the capital. .. . " . i._"...: ... —..-. 1 *