The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 2

A2 I III THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1998 GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS County forecast Today, morning cloudiness becoming partiy cloudy. Highs near 90 coast to the lower 90s inland. South wind 15-20 mph. Tonight, Extended forecast becoming'mostly cloudy after midnight. Lows near 80 coast to the upper 70s inland.

Friday, partly cloudy. Highs near 90. Friday Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid-90s inland to near 90 Recast Lows the upper 70s inland, lower 80s coast. Saturday Partly cloudy and continued hot.

Lows near 80. Highs 90 coast, in the 90s Sunday Partly cloudy and continued hot. Lows near 80. Highs foear 90 coast, in the 90s elsewhere. Monday elsewhere.

Marine forecast elsewhere. Partly cloudy and continued hot. Lows near 80. Highs 90 coast in the 90s High Island to Froeporh Today: Southeast winds 25 knots and gusty. Seas 7 feet.

Tonight: Southeast winds 20 knots. Seas 6 feet. Local climate data Wednesday High Low Record high 95 (1901) Record low 69 (1957) Rainfall through 4 p.m none Rainfall this year 14.18 (2.10 inches below normal) Bay to Port Aransas: Today: Southeast winds 25 knots and gusty. Seas 7 feet. Tonight: Southeast winds 20 knots.

Seas 6 feet. Sun, moon and tides Today 90 High tide 11:45 a.m. (1.3) 81 Low tides 4:50 a.m. (0.6) 6:45 p.m. (0.3) Sunrise 6:20 a.m.

Sunset 8:22 p.m. Moonrise 2:08 a.m. Moonset 2:41 p.m. The for noon, Thursday, June 18. Lines separate high temperature zones for the day.

70s 90s COLD WARM STATIONARY 1998 AccuWeather. Inc. Pressure HL EE3ES353 EZ3 E3 ES HIGH LOW SHOWERS RAIN T-STOFIMS FLURRIES SNOW ice SUNNY PT. CLOUDY CLOUDY State report West Texas was sunny and hot, while North Texas enjoyed partly cloudy skies and slightly cooler temperatures Wednesday. Clouds did little to slake off the heat across South Texas, which Temperatures suffered under continued uncomfortable humidity.

Winds were generally out of the south at speeds from 10 to 30 mph, with some gusting reported. Texas Highest temperature last 12 hours, lowest past 18 hours and precipitation for 24 hours ending at 7 p.m. CDT: HI Abilene Alice Amarillo Arlington Austin Mueller Beaumont Brownsville Bumet Childress College Station Conroe Corpus Christ! Corsicana Cotulla Dalhart Dallas Del Rio Denton El Paso Fort Stockton Fort Worth Hartingen Hondo Houston Hobby Huntsville JuDCtion Kingsville Laredo Longwew Lubbock LutKin Marfa McAllen Mckinney Midland Mineral Wells New Braunrels Palacios Paris Rockport San Angelo San Antonio Terrell Tyler Victoria Waco Wichita Fatts Wink 97 98 99 98 97 93 96 94 108 100 94 94 99 106 94 99 102 97 95 107 98 100 98 95 99 95 97 110 99 101 98 97 100 97 106 98 91 95 91 99 98 98 98 95 101 96 105 Lo Pep. 76 81 74 76 77 81 81 78 78 76 82 76 79 60 77 79 77 74 72 76 81 75 81 78 74 82 80 74 73 77 57 80 78 80 74 76 82 72 81 77 76 77 76 78 77 77 76 Nation Temperatures indicate previous day's high and overnight low to 8:30 p.m. Aibany.N.Y.

Albuquerque Anchorage Asheville Atlanta Atlantic City Baltimore Billings Birmingham Bismarck Boise Boston Buffalo Burlington, Vt. Casper Charieston.S.C. Charteston.W.Va. Charfotte.N.C. Cheyenne Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Columbia.S.C.

Columbus.Ohio Concord.N.H. Hi 76 84 64 83 89 83 85 61 93 66 76 66 70 80 48 94 81 91 57 84 S3 .80 92 84 73 Lo Pep. Otlk. 65 .32 Rain Clr Cldy Clr Clr Cldy Clr S3 48 55 66 62 63 47 .14 Cldy Cldy .70 Rain Clr .23 Cldy .16 Cldy Rain .88 Cldy .13 Clr Cldy Clr .24 Clr Rain Cldy Clr .01 Clr .01 Clr .83 Rain Dayton Denver Des Moines Detroit Duiuth Evansville Fairbanks Fargo Flagstaff Grand Rapids Great Falls Greensboro.N.C. Hartford Spgfld Helena Honolulu Indianapolis Jacksonville Juneau Kansas City Las Vegas LMeRock Los Angeles Louisville Memphis Miami Beach Milwaukee Paul Nashville New Orleans New York City Norfolk.Va.

North Platte Oklahoma City Omaha Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland.Maine Portland.Ore. Providence Raleigh-Durham Rapid City Reno Ricnmonfl Sacramento St Louis Salt Lake City Diego San Francisco San Juan.P.R. Santa Fe St Ste Marie Seattle Shreveport Sioux Fails Spokane Syracuse Tarnpa-St Ptrsbg Topeka Tucson Tulsa Washington.D.C. Wichita Wilkes-Barre Wilmington.Del. 83 64 79 83 74 87 64 79 70 82 61 85 80 61 82 83 96 99 69 93 82 94 79 86 96 94 77 81 89 94 83 86 87 91 89 100 83 94 79 72 74 80 87 58 77 86 87 90 52 70 81 88 78 70 64 98 81 75 74 96 94 94 92 84 97 83 63 45 60 1.76 63 .01 50 60 .23 .02 .05 .09 .18 47 64 44 59 48 65 65 48 .06 73 61 75 74 48 68 51 72 64 65 69 82 60 60 62 78 68 .21 70 .03 61 73 64 73 66 75 61 56 52 63 71 52 1.01 43 65 .03 58 64 41 1.62 61 .02 62 77 48 56 49 75 62 50 64 1.27 81 68 66 71 65 .01 72 60 65 .22 .12 .19 .28 .07 Clr Clr Rain Cldy Rain Cldy Cldy Rain Clr Cldy Cldy Clr Cldy Cldy Clr Cldy Clr Cldy Cldy Cldy Clr Cldy Clr Cldy Cldy Cldy Rain Rain Cldy Cldy Cldy Clr Clr Cldy Rain Cldy Cldy Clr Cldy Rain Cldy Cldy Clr Rain Clr Clr Clr Cldy Clr Clr Clr Rain Clr Cldy Rain Cldy Rain Cldy Cldy Cldy Cldy Clr Cldy Clr Cldy Cldy Cldy 64 60 50 56 61 60 44 76 64 69 43 62 64 64 70 65 64 Worid Temperatures and weather conditions from midnight on previous day: Athens Bangkok Beirut Caracas Hor.g Kong London Moscow Paris Rome Sydney Tokyo Toronto HI 93 96 82 84 87 66 77 62 77 57 78 75 LO 66 82 68 64 86 53 57 51 50 44 69 60 Wtfir clr clr clr cdy clr cdy cdy cdy clr cdy clr A LVESTON THE DAIIY NEWS Your Local News Source Since 1842 Call us Newsroom MM) Mainland: (409) 986-7711 3000 FM 1764, La Marque 77568 Island: (409) 744-3611 (281) 488-1009 8522 Teichman Road, Galveston 77554 Toll (800) 561-3611 Mailing Address: P.O.

Box 628, Galveston 77553 Island delivery problems 7444SU. Mainland delivery problems (409)906-7711 a-m. Mf, a-m. SaSu. Heber Taytor Ext.

245 AiMcMtEdMar Kelly Kawes Bet 233 To place an ad (WO) WO-TJW 235 CKyBMot Michael Smith ExL 312 Worid Wide Web: http://www.galvnews.com For questions about news, sports or tetters to the editor Ext 208 Direct (403) Fftx Island main fax (409) Mainland main fax Newsroom fax 740-3421 Retal advertising fax 744-7679 Les Ext. 283 1 rVaMnVB Ddph Tiltotson Matt Young Ext 242 UfHtyteCdKoc 219 Heidi Lutz Ext 231 CkoMfanl EXt 253 GumeyKif 61 Cliff Clements Ext 380 214 Laureen King Ext 240 Tuan Ext 229 ButifMCt MvMtiCf Rosetta Bormin Ext 213 Carry Serrato £xt 281 EL PASO Authorities crack auto theft ring; eight arrested U.S. and Mexican police have cracked an elaborate international car theft ring with connections to drug trafficking. A three-month investigation wrapped up Tuesday with the arrests of eight suspects in El Paso. Authorities also recovered 32 vehicles that had been stolen in the United States and Mexico.

Three more suspects remain at large and may be in Mexico, where they are being sought by Mexican authorities. Police say the ring may have moved upwards of 300 stolen vehicles. The ring ran an elaborate operation that involved changing vehicle identification numbers and creating false insurance and ownership documents. The cars where then sold to reputable dealers who didn't know they were buying stolen property, police said. "Once the numbers were changed out, as far as we could tell, they were perfectly legal," said Lt.

Ai Lowe of the police auto theft task force. "We're not talking about junked cars we're talking about new cars." State Judicial Police in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, say they have identified the origins of several vehicles stolen in Mexico that ended up in the United States. ELSEWHERE: TEXARKANA: Testimony resumed Wednesday in Camp County for Bowie County Clerk Marylene Megason, who is on trial for two counts of abuse of official capacity. She is accused of paying her son's company, Moving, for work performed by employees of her office and county jail inmates. Prosecu- allege Moving was hired to move the books for a fee in the thousands of dollars.

INSIDE: TEXAS A Buddy's Natural Chickens owner A.M. "Buddy" Undeman Jr. checks on 2-day-old chicks Wednesday in San Antonio after losing more than 18,000 chickens last Sunday from heat exhaustion. The temperature Sunday reached 107 degrees officially in San Antonio, but some reports in the area recorded up to 114 degrees. (AP) 4 Indiana State Police troopers talk with 81-year-old Robert Kupferschmid after he crash-landed the plane in the background at Mount Comfort Airport, on Wednesday in Mount Comfort, ind.

The Fishers, resident was a passenger in the plane who had to take over controls after the pilot passed out. The pilot, Wesley Sickle, died in the incident. (AP) MOUNT COMFORT, Ind. Passenger lands plane with help from pilots An 81-year-old man with no flying experience landed a small airplane Wednesday with the help of voices on the radio after the pilot died at the controls. Robert Kupferschmid and friend Wesley Sickle were flying from Indianapolis to Muncie to have lunch when Sickle, 52, suddenly slumped in his seat.

Kupferschmid said he grabbed the flight stick of the two-seat Cessna and prayed. "The plane started nosing to the ground," he said. "I got on the radio and asked for help." Mike Bbwen was flying about 20 miles away, doing aerial surveys of gas lines fora utility company. He heard Kupferschmid's plea for help and quickly located Mount Comfort as having the nearest airport. Kupferschmid, meanwhile, listened to a steady stream of instructions.

"I described to him what I do every day," Bowen said. "He was concerned, but he never sounded frantic." Emergency crews were called to the airport, figuring a crash was imminent. From his cockpit, flying close behind the runaway airplane, Bowen gave instruction on climbing, steering and scariest part of all landing. Another nearby pilot, Eddie Merchant, also helped. Together, he and Bowen guided Kupferschmid to the runway.

They circled the runway three times before Kupferschmid was ready to attempt the landing. ELSEWHERE: EAU CLAIRE, An outbreak of E. coli that has been blamed for sickening at least 28 people in western Wisconsin has been linked to cheese curds, state health officials said Wednesday. INSIDE: NATION BAJRAM CURRI, Albania Top Albanian negotiator turns down peace talks A top ethnic Albanian negotiator turned down talks with Yugoslavia on the future of Kosovo province Wednesday, while the Yugoslav army fired across the border into Albania in an effort to stop arms smuggling to Kosovo rebels. Fehmi Agani, head of the four-man Kosovo Albanian team named to negotiate with the Serbs, insisted that Slobodan Milosevic's forces must leave the province before any talks can start.

Agani spoke after Milosevic under heavy international pressure promised Russian President Boris Yeltsin to reopen negotiations with Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority. "What was announced in Moscow is no news, because the problem is not whether there will be any talks with the Albanians, but the conditions in which talks should be held," Agani told The Associated Press in Kosovo. Previous talks have produced no significant results. Rerce fighting in the embattled province continued, with at least 12 new deaths reported on both sides by Serb and Albanian sources. Albanian President Rexhep Meidani demanded that Yugoslavia to "stop the bloodshed" after what he described as a series of confrontational incidents of Yugoslav forces firing across the border from Kosovo.

9 ELSEWHERE: TRIPOLI, Libya: Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi appeared before Western journalists for the first time since a reported assassination attempt, denying that he had been wounded or that such an attack occurred. A Libyan Islamic opposition group claimed it had killed four bodyguards and wounded Gadhafi in an attack June 1 as the party headed for Egypt on an official visit. MOSCOW: Six "spy mailbox" satellites launched by Russia have strayed into the wrong orbit, but authorities said Wednesday they can still be used to transmit secret messages to and from intelligence agents. The six satellites reportedly designed for the intelligence branch of the Russian Defense Ministry were launched simultaneously early Tuesday from the Plesetsk cos- modrome in northwestern Russia.

CARACAS, Venezuela: An outbreak of dengue fever has killed at least eight people this year and sickened thousands more in Venezuela, Health Ministry officials said Wednesday. Although outbreaks of dengue are common in Venezuela and Latin America, recent heavy rains have multiplied the mosquito population, which transmits the disease, officials said. Officials are urging people with any influenza-type symptoms to seek immediate treatment. INSIDE: WORLD In our notebooks Look for these stories in upcoming editions of The Daily News: 0 A look at security measure and procedures at the Galveston County Courthouse. The Gaiveston County Daily News your source for local news since 1842.

Later this month Here are the special sections we have planned for the next few weeks: Galveston County Directory and Events Guide, June 20. With summer here, you're sure to be looking for things to do. This guide will help you plan for fun-filled days and action- packed nights in the county. I SE1 "I was swamped with phone calls from the ad I placed in The Daily News classifieds! I received 18 calls from the ad and sold the car I advertised in only 2 days!" Cindy Grubbs Texas City, TX 111 T-V A TTT TV IftTryy www.galvnews.com Classified ads Extend your reach with searchable ads. We'll help you buy, sell, rent or swap it!.