Columbia Daily Tribune from Columbia, Missouri • 16

PACE Columbia Daily Tribune Columbia Mo riday April 24 1987 ''ii jUBLwgg ft TxISEol Workers lift a large slab of concrete from the wreckage of an apartment building that collapsed yesterday in Bridgeport Conn The structure was under construction when It collapsed (Wirephoto) 19 buried in structure collapse BRIDGEPORT Conn (AP) Rescuers using dogs and sensitive microphones today searched piece by piece through tons of concrete and steel for 19 workers trapped when an unfinished high rise apartment building collapsed killing at least nine chances of finding anyone alive are very minimal" mayor Thomas Bucci said late yester day given up hope hoping there are pockets within the destruction where survivors are orty one workers from the construction site were alive and accounted for including 12 who were hospitalized Bucci said Witnesses said some of the workers jumped "like pigeons" from the building as it fell Police said the search for those missing In the collapse of the downtown Alliance Plaza proj ect could take a week because each concrete slab had to be lifted carefully from the wreckage Two concrete pillars left standing when the building fell were demolished to protect rescue workers "I think some of the guys are still alive There are some tunnels where they could be getting air from" larry Edmonds a construction worker from another site who went to help with the res cue said late last night rank Mercaldi director of the city Building Department said he inspected the site Monday He said city inspectors looked at the site several times a week and called the building's construc tion technique known as lift slab "totally ac cepted" The technique involves pouring the concrete floors at ground level and then hoisting them into place Mercaldi said he believes a slab was being put into place when the building collapsed amilies spent the night at a high school a few blocks away to await news of their relatives Rescuers from neighboring towns converged on the site and construction companies sent crews and equipment Scores of people in hard hats watched under high powered lights Several cranes were used to pull pieces of concrete off one by one and dump trucks hauled away debris Several times the scene became quiet All ma chinery Including trucks fire engines front end loaders and cranes were shut off as dogs were sent sniffing across the rubble and microphones lowered in City officials asked for help from lorida Cali fornia and Mexico where authorities have expe rience dealing with major natural disasters Joe Grabarz assistant to Bucci said today The New York City ire Department also sent a thermal imaging camera that lets rescuers see the outline of objects emitting heat said John Mulligan a department spokesman The 217 million project in Bridgeport an indus trial city of 142600 people on the southern Connec ticut coast 65 miles northeast of New York City was to be 13 stories tall with 218 units Richard Morales who lives across the street from the site said he was walking down the street when the building collapsed "It was like two planes crashing together" Morales said "At first all I could see was smoke and white clouds And then all we could see was people jumping" Money trail traced Iran arms deal channel known Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON Congres sional investigators have con cluded that millions of dollars from the Reagan administra tion's secret arms sales to Iran were diverted to aid Ni caraguan rebels but far less than the $30 million initially estimated officials familiar with the inquiry said yester day The chairman of the Senate committee investigating the scandal Sen Daniel Inouye Hawaii told reporters that most of the from the arms sales now has been traced think ever be able to relate to the people of the United States the com plete money trail" said In ouye on a scale of one to 10 we've got Attorney general Edwin Meese whose aides first dis covered evidence of the di version last year said Nov 25 that up to $30 million from the arms sales may have gone to the contras Congressional in vestigators say now they be lieve that the diversion in volved $30 mil lion but refused to be more precise Other officials said that Senate and House inves tigators have accounted for most of an estimated $20 mil lion in profits that flowed from the secret weapons sales during 1985 and 1986 are now confident that we know where the money a Senate aide said Much of the money paid for a secret operation directed by then White House aide Oliver North to ship arms to the Nicaraguan contras dur ing the time when Congress banned US aid to the rebel cause they said But a good deal of the money also went to middle men in the various arms deals they said Inouye other members of the House and Senate com mittees and their aides all re fused to divulge details of their findings saying that the facts will be laid out in public hearings scheduled to begin May 5 are some small sur said one source liave to wait for the hearings" A key break in the investi gation officials said came earlier this week when inves tigators interviewed Albert Hakim the secret arms net financial manager in Paris Hakim who was granted limited immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony turned over extensive financial records and "laid out the basic struc ture of the one source said Two members of the inves tigating committees Sen James McClure Idaho and Rep Richard Cheney Wyo participated in the in terview with Hakim aides said Hakim is expected to testify publicly in Washington next month they said Inouye said that another key figure in the case retired Air orce Major Gen Rich ard Secord may agree to tes tify at the hearings without a grant of immunity from pros ecution Secord was the top manager of the arms network outside the White House St Louis antiquities are modern Mexican forgeries ST LOUIS (AP) Collectors of pre Columbian art have been warned to re examine such pieces in the wake of revelations that a number of forgeries have been found in one of the most important collec tions in the country Officials said yesterday that at least three of the 3000 pre Colum bian works of art in the Morton May Collection at the St Louis Art Museum are forgeries The origin of nine other pre Columbian pieces in the May collec tion is suspect and might never be determined museum director James Burke said In addition three important pre Columbian pieces at the Dallas Mu seum of Art have been discovered to be forgeries and another piece at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is suspect officials said All have been claimed as original work by Brigido Lara an artist and museum employee who lives in Jala pa Mexico Art experts called the discoveries one of the most stunning forgery scandals to hit the art world in re cent years and the first major one in volving pre Columbian art Burke said the discovery could have international implications be cause of the number of forgeries claimed by a single artist He said it would be wise for every collector and museum with preColumbian works in their collection to re exam ine their pieces the man made as many pieces as he claimed this would indeed be far Burke said preColumbian area has always been touchy because for years always heard people talk about how many forgers there are But this is the first time that aware of that someone has actually put one and one together and got two" Harry Parker director of the Dallas museum said he knew of no forgery scandal this scale in volving objects that have been ex amined by authorities in the field and been published and withstood scrutiny over many years" Parker said the discovery of three forgeries in Dallas was dis tressing particularly because of its implications for other materials It may be that we have been compar ing forgeries to forgeries without knowing it" Betty McNichols Morton administrative assistant for 25 years and the trustee of his Interim trust said yesterday that she was by the revelations was terribly terribly careful about the pieces he acquired" she said always bought through dealers in New York and California He never bought anything in Mexico by himself 'KRM8 I 'tl BCERIIsociew fill I WkyJ I I jut I A M' 3 Rock on Mark renkel left and Brian Yawitz members of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity sit In rocking chairs this morning during a rock a thon at Ninth Street and Broadway Organizers of the benefit which began at noon yesterday and will last until 1 am Sunday hope to raise $16000 for the American Cancer Society renkel said he had been rocking since the benefit began yesterday (Jeff A Taylor photo) Democrats planning statewide comeback By MIKE REILLY of the staff JEERSON CITY reshman state Sen Jay Nixon is expected to seek next Democratic nomin ation for US Senate or possibly the attorney nomination sources have told the Tribune Democrats speaking on the condi tion they not be identified say Nixon has begun to lay the groundwork for a statewide candidacy most likely for the US Senate seat held by Sen Jack Danforth and will probably publicize his intentions within weeks Nixon a 31 year old lawyer from Hillsboro all but confirmed his in tentions in an Interview yesterday Asked whether he would be a state wide candidate next year he said would be difficult for me to see a scenerio in which not in Democrats will focus on their hopes for 1988 this weekend at a "Jackson Day in Springfield To date only state Sen Harry Wiggins Kansas City has announced a bld for statewide office He is running for governor Nixon said he not ruled any of the statewide races but said the US Senate and attorney gener office drawing my inter Lt Gov Harriett Woods the only Democrat now among statewide of ficeholders is also considered a pos sible Senate candidate She lost Sen ate campaigns to Danforth in 1982 and to Sen Kit Bond last year and has said she would not announce her 1988 intentions until after the legisla ture adjourns in June US Rep Ike Skelton is also considered a possible Senate candidate Nixon said Democrats would need an early start in order to unseat next expected slate of GOP incum bents: Danforth Gov John Ash croft attorney general Bill Webster treasurer Wendell Bailey and secre tary of state Roy Blunt Democrats consider Nixon a strong prospect In his first bid for public office he upset two longtime Jefferson County officeholders in last Democratic primary with a well organized and well fin nanced campaign then rolled into office with 65 percent of the general election vote But his party colleagues are divid ed over whether Nixon is too hasty in seeking major office Some say he has nothing to lose and much to gain He could run without giving up his Jay Nixon (34 state Senate seat because his term expires in 1990 The exposure could help him in a later bid for statewide office And of course he could win the nomination and upset Danforth Others worry that voters will re ject him as an upstart with more ambition than experience told him to wait a few years and estab lish a one source said Nixon when asked about his youth and relatively short time in public office yesterday noted that Dan forth won the 1968 race for attorney general with no elected office expe rience Sen Kit Bond also a Repub lican did the same when he won the race in 1970 and was elect ed governor two years later Kunstler says people must fight for rights By STEVEN BENNISH of the staff Taking a breather from his de fense of a US Marine accused of es pionage in Moscow premier radical lawyer William Kunstler yesterday praised anti apartheid activists at UMC and castigated most attorneys as that feed on the mis ery of others" Kunstler 70 a perennial defender of the downtrodden and reviled spoke to an audience of more than 100 for two hours at the United Meth odist Church He exhorted his lis teners to combat encroachments on civil liberties government propa ganda and other demons he has bat tled since the '50s Kunstler is one of several speak ers invited by University of Mis souri Columbia student groups to speak about South Africa and free speech in the wake of arrests earlier this year of student anti apartheid demonstrators speech is far from dead he said "I followed the anti apartheid demonstrations here at the university with great interest The shanties on this campus stand in front of Jesse Hall and show how people of color live in South Afri He attacked those who have tom down the shanties are aspects of self expression that are unprincipled because they present no principle Now vice president of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York Kunstler counts the new Phil ippine government as one of his or clients That country is trying to recover national funds loot ed by former President erdinand Marcos and his henchmen who were removed from power in a popular uprising last year Kunstler is also representing one of the youths gunned down by sub way vigilante Bernhard Goetz and has represented the Black Panther Party Martin Luther King and the Chicago Seven Kunstler also repre sents convicted Atlanta child mur derer Wayne Williams Last night he claimed to have new evidence linking the Ku Klux Klan to the kill ings Another current Kunstler client Marine Sgt Clayton Lonetree is the latest defendant in a lifetime of con troversial court cases Kunstler last night reiterated his stand that Lone tree is being framed by government prosecutors The accusations are Kunstler said Kunstler described Lonetree as a young man who came from a militaristic family no doubt he had a love with a Soviet woman who worked in the embassy as a translator The affair stopped short of espionage Kunstler insist ed He said statements implicating Lonetree made by fellow embassy guard Cpl William Bracy were coerced Bracy has recently recant ed his statements and has turned down an offer of immunity if he would testify against Lonetree forced Bracy to sign a statement that he stood guard while agents roamed the embassy" Kunstler said finally said lie a consum mate Kunstler also scorned his brother attorneys for being too beholden to monied interests regard most lawyers as parasites that feed on the misery of others I believe in law yers who fight the excesses of the system" he said state should always be UMC journalism student Aki Soga said message might make citizens realize the fragility of their freedoms are taking their constitutional rights for grant Soga said something you have to fight Said Kunstler: you think you have freedom of speech or the press you will sometime in your life run into some mechanism that will try to curtail it an eternal endless 15 white supremacists indicted in 1983 killing WASHINGTON (AP) ifteen white supremacists were indicted today in Arkansas and Colorado for allegedly murdering a radio talk show host in Denver in 1984 and con spiring to overthrow the US gov ernment the Department of Justice announced A federal grand jury in ort Smith Ark accused 10 of those in dicted of sedition or conspiring to topple the government over a 21 month period beginning in July 1983 The members were affiliated with white supremacist groups the Order Aryan Nations or dhe Ku Klux Klan The ort Smith indictment also charged five people with conspiring to murder the chief US district judge of the western district of Ar kansas as well as a special BI agent assigned to the Little Rock office One of the five was among the 10 accused elsewhere In the indictment with sedition The indictment said that the 10 fin anced their efforts by armed rob beries and counterfeiting and that they planned to assassinate federal officials including a judge The in dictment also said they targeted members of ethnic groups for bomb ings they also plotted to destroy utili ties pollute water supplies and es tablish guerrilla warfare training camps according to one of the in dictments In addition the 10 pro cured false identification to allow members of the group to remain un identified In Denver a one count indictment was returned against four people In cluding three who were charged in die Arkansas Indictment for mur dering radio talk show host Alan Berg The four were charged in a federal civil rights indictment with interfer ing with right to engage in his employment because of his religion race or national origin Berg who was Jewish frequently used his show to attack and embarrass white supremacist movements and their leaders He was slain with a subma chine gun the night of June 18 1984 as he got out of his car in front of his apartment.