The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 1

i i ii mfmmm Dolphins Are Ready for Today's Draft SPORTS D1 Renting Produces Oddball Stockbroker Indicted in Mail Fraud Case LOCAL NEWS B1 Stories WiGG'NS CI Confidant Deaver Wants Special Prosecutor STORY A2 The Beach Post Palm GOOD MORNING April 29, 1986 i 40 Paget Vol 78 No 95 Copyright 1986 Tha Poat Weal Palm Baach. Florida 25 Cent! Gauged Fallout Could Indicate Core Meltdown Soviet Nuclear Accident Hurls 4 Cloud By Boyce Rensberger Washington Post Nws Service WASHINGTON The Chernobyl nuclear power plant may have sustained at least a partial meltdown of Its fuel-containing core, according to American scientists interpreting yesterday's reports that Swedish scientists had detected forms of radioactive fallout usually indicative of such an event. This would be similar to the 1979 incident at the Three Mile Island atomic power plant, this country's worst accident at a commercial nuclear facility, except Turn to NUCLEAR, A4 SOVIET UNION SWEDEN SloclaV)llJVj jjp E3 Ez Sat 3r Moscow Nuclear Plant rpncjL Accident POLAND nA. Chernobyl 1 VOT Okraln HUNGARY jtH Vx" ROMANIA I the atmosphere during the 1970s. "I know of no earlier nuclear power plant accident which has led to such high radiation levels in this area," he said.

The Hungarian broadcast referred to an official communique that it said was read on Vre-mya, the main evening newscast in the Soviet Union. But in Moscow, there had been no report of injuries. Tass had referred only to aid being given to those "affected." Finland reported picking up increased radiation Sunday night, but neither it nor Sweden said the levels were dangerous. Denmark also was recording increased levels, indicating radiation had blown without warning from the Ukraine over much of Scandinavia. Birgitta Dahl, Sweden's energy minister, said the Soviets were asked for an extensive report and added: "They should immediately have warned us." She said initial inquiries drew the response that Soviet officials were not aware of a radiation leak, but she said the questions probably led to the unusual Soviet confirmation of the accident.

"We must demand higher safety standards in the Soviet Union," she said, and Sweden may insist that the Soviet civil nuclear program be overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations agency. White House spokesman Edward Djerejian said: "It must be very serious if the Soviets talk Turn to ACCIDENT, A4 Post Wirt Services MOSCOW The Soviet Union said yesterday that an accident at a major nuclear power plant in the Ukraine had damaged a reactor and caused unspecified casualties. The unexplained accident also sent a radioactive cloud hundreds of miles into Western Europe. The announcement, unusual for the Soviet Union, which rarely publicizes disasters, came several hours after Finland, Denmark and Sweden, 750 miles from the Ukraine, reported detecting abnormally high levels of radioactivity in their atmosphere and Sweden's ambassador to Moscow began questioning Soviet officials. Budapest Radio in Hungary reported early today that there were injuries from the accident, and noted that the power plant was at the conjunction of the Pripyat and Uzh rivers, near the reservoir that supplies Kiev, a city of 2.4 million people and the capital of the Ukraine.

The official Soviet news agency Tass said people affected were being aided, but did not say whether there were injuries or deaths, when the accident occurred, nor the exact location of the plant. Tass said it was the first nuclear accident in the Soviet Union and a government commission was appointed, an indication that it was serious. Lars Erik de Geer of Sweden's Defense Research Agency said: "It must have been a relatively big accident, since we have received such high levels of radiation from so far away." He said the radiation levels corresponded to those recorded after nuclear weapons' tests in I Stec Su 1 in Moscow Hjy Av i Moscow gf TTB QT SOVIET UNION turke rO -J THt. ABULIA I tD FKLbb Swedish power plant workers are checked for radiation 2nd Defeat Virtually Kills 4No Pass, No Play' Bill If Hawkins said the Texas rule, which went into effect last fall, has not prompted a marked Increase in the dropout rate. A Pinellas County school administrator told lawmakers last week the rule would exclude 38 percent of high school students from extracurricular programs, some with grade-point averages as high as 3.0.

Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Tom Mills, who also opposed the proposal, said earlier this month that the percentage would be similar for the local district. He said the bill would penalize a good student who fails a single difficult course. mediocre students were forced from extracurricular activities because of a failing grade. "Would Einstein have been able to play on the football team or the band today?" Hazouri asked, referring to the poor marks the famous scientist reportedly earned while In school. The bill was opposed by educators and teachers unions who claimed the requirement would be too harsh for students who have trouble in one academic area.

"I don't think we should penalize (students) if they have problems with one subject," said Rep. Bernard Kim-mel, R-West Palm Beach. "Theoretically it's idealistic," Rep. Ray Stewart, D-Zephyrhills, said of the proposal. "But it's not practical." Under the proposal, based on a similar and much-publicized Texas law, high school students would be required to earn a 1.5 grade point average, the current standard, and make a grade of or higher in all classes in a semester.

Opponents said the measure would prompt students to avoid challenging courses rather than risk a failing grade that could keep them off the band, debate club or football team. Others said they fear Florida's increasing dropout rate would rise if By Charles Holmes Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE For the second time in a week, "No Pass, No Play" the proposal to prevent high school students from participating in extracurricular activites if they fail a course was narrowly rejected by the House Education K-12 Committee yesterday, virtually killing the measure in the 1986 Legislature. "It's being called a 'No Pass, No Play' bill. But it's probably a no-win bill for the student," said committee Chairman Tom Hazouri, D-Jackson-ville. The measure was defeated by a 9-8 vote, the same margin as when the committee voted the bill down April 21.

Under House rules, the bill was revived for reconsideration yesterday, but will not get another chance. An identical Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Curtis Peterson, D-Lakeland, is stalled in the Education Committee. "The issue certainly is not dead. It will be seen again in the legislative session," said Rep.

Larry Hawkins, D-Perrine, the bill's sponsor and a candidate for education commissioner. Hawkins said he will attempt to attach the measure to another education bill under consideration by the full House. But for all practical purposes the proposal is stalled until next year. Tom Hazouri Pahokee Housing Authority Records Seized; County, State Probe Begins By Dean Jones 6l.i(l Writer ii. said, "is that I want all Pahokee Housing Authority assets back where they belong, and that includes anything from money to automobiles." Sheriff's detectives yesterday seized tapes and transcripts of the minutes of board meetings conducted since Nov.

1. Mills maintains the only funds involved other than his retirement fund money are from the administrative fund. That fund is not related to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds or to rental fees paid by authority tenants. No Turn to PROBE, A4 $9,500 of his own money from an authority retirement fund.

He said he hasrepaid $9,900 to the administrative fund. On Friday, The Post reported Mills' admissions that he used authority funds for personal expenses and that he once was addicted to cocaine rocks until he sought treatment last fall. Both the Sheriff's Office and State Attorney's Office began investigating authority finances at the request of authority board member Murray Brinson, agency spokesmen said. "My primary concern," Brinson I PAHOKEE The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and State Attorney's Office both began investigating Pahokee Housing Authority finances yesterday in the wake of revelations that authority money was used by its executive director to pay bills incurred during treatment of his cocaine rock addiction. Executive Director Randall J.

Mills, in a series of interviews with The Post, said he borrowed $26,400 from the authority's administrative Ifund through cash advances and I rX JctSct Canine Splits; Owners' Hopes Fading By Jon Marmor Stall Writer In a suburban Lantana home, during what was supposed to have been a vacation, Rhonda Dest sits by the telephone all day, waiting for any word from Delta Air Lines, which lost her dog at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport nine days ago while transferring it from one flight to another. Dest, 28, decided to take her two children and her dog to Florida to stay with her husband's parents rather than be cooped up in a San Antonio motel room waiting for closing on the sale on her family's new home. Her husband Steve, 32, a Pratt Whitney Aircraft engineer, stayed behind because he had to work. It was to be a nice little vacation, a chance to hit the beach and let the children and her dog Willis run around. But shortly after the Dests arrived in Dallas April 20 from San Antonio on Delta flight 377, Rhonda Dest was paged.

It was a Delta employee, telling her Willis got out of his pet carrier while it sat on a ramp, crossed three active runways and escaped after being cornered near a hangar. Go on to West Palm Beach, Dest was told. The airline would send Willis to Florida on the next available flight. That was a week ago Sunday. The nice little vacation has become an ordeal.

Dest, who has had Willis since he was a puppy, is unable to sleep. Four-year-old son Darrin asks Turn to DQQ, A3 IV 1 i xT Burger Chides Miami Attorney For Filing 'Frivolous' Motion MIAMI (AP) A 27-year-old attorney held up to scorn by U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger insisted yesterday that the written tongue-lashing he received was unjustified, but probably will make him "come out looking like an idiot." Burger Issued a separate opinion to the Supreme Court's rejection of Bret Clark's appeal stemming from a 1982 speeding ticket, saying the high court should fine Clark $1,000 for the "utterly frivolous" appeal. In a five-page opinion, the chief justice, a frequent critic of the proliferation of lawyers and lawsuits In the United States, said Clark's case "suggests the dangers of a system of legal education that trains students in technique without instilling a sense of professional responsibility and ethics a bit like giving a small boy a loaded pistol without instructions as to when and how it Is to be used." Burger added that continued such conduct by Clark would entitle the state "to conclude that he was unfit to be Turn to LAWYER, A3 Weather Mostly sunny today. Mostly sunny today.

High In the upper 80s; low in the low 70s. Wind northerly at 5-10 mph. Details, A2 Inside Business AS Classified Ads C4 Comics B8 Crossword B6 Dear Abby C2 Editorials A12 Horoscope B6 Letters A12 Legislature B4-5 Obituaries B5, C4 Stocks A6-11 Theaters C3 TV Listings B6-7 TV Sports D6 Ron Wiggins CI Unhappy Dallas Cowboys quarterback Gary Hoge-boom Is traded to the Indianapolis Colts. Story, Dl HA UN 1 AN I Mrtll Htiulnqr Rhonda Dest waits by phone for news'of family pet.