Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 1

FIRST EDITION 1 1 1( -1 rw Western ways Arizona Strip Coronado Cave Ranch attracts tourists Land north of the Canyon A deep, dark exploration MetroRegion, Page IB Travel, Page 1-1 Sports, Page 1C 1995 The Arizona Daily Star First Edition, Tucson, Sunday, August 13, 1995 Vol. 154 No. 225 $1.50 U.S.$2.50 in Mexico 146 Pages 2 friends recall horror of WWII at hands of Japanese -Y-v--: -3' v. LI: i If i if i I i When the Philippines fell to Japan in 1942, the Japanese forced some 60,000 American and Filipino prisoners to march nearly 70 miles to prison camps. On that brutal trek, now known as "The Bataan Death March," about 10,000 POWs died of starvation, exhaustion or disease.

Those who couldn't keep up were shot, beaten to death, bayoneted or beheaded by their captors. Fifty-seven percent of the POWs held by the Japanese were to die before the end of the war in the Pacific. By contrast, only 1 percent of Allied POWs in Europe would die while in captivity. In 1944, as the war neared its end, the Japanese crammed prisoners like cattle aboard merchant ships in the By Ed Severson The Arizona Daily Star For as long as they live, they will be bound by the suffering, terror and deprivation they endured and by the unbroken loyalty that kept them alive. Together, they survived three of the ugliest horrors of World War II: the Bataan Death March, Japanese prison camps and the "hell ships." "It's something I wouldn't try again I'll tell you that right now," said Jay Harrelson, 75, an Air Force colonel who retired in 1970 and lives in Tucson.

"I'd take as many of them with me as I could and then say, 'Forget because it wouldn't be worth that 3'2 years again." His friend, Phoenician Charles Beck, 75, a retired Air Force major who shared Harrelson's ordeal, recalled his shock upon seeing his reflection in a mirror af- Philippines to send them to Japan and China to replenish their labor supply. In December 1944, 1,619 Allied prisoners, mostly American, were crowded into the holds of a Japanese freighter. At the end of their journey aboard that ship and two others, the 400 survivors who finally emerged from their ordeal were little more than living skeletons. Their comrades had died as a result of thirst, starvation, suffocation, exposure to intense heat and bitter cold, neglect, Japanese brutality and bombing by American Navy pilots, who didn't realize the unmarked ships carried their countrymen. Fewer than 200 survivors of the Japanese "hell ships" are alive today.

Brian Winter, The Arizona Daily Retired Air Force Col. Jay Harrelson lived to tell his story, 50 years later, of the Bataan Death March, Japanese prison camps and the "hell ships." Son-in-law says he'll orchestrate Saddam's defeat 1 i "i AMMAN, Jordan (AP) In his first public appearance since fleeing Iraq, Saddam Hussein's son-in-law and former right-hand man condemned his longtime chief for bringing misery to the Iraqi people and announced a campaign to topple him. The threat from Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamel al-Majid, a former defense minister, could be the most serious challenge to Saddam's rule since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Al-Majid masterminded Iraq's secret nuclear armament programs in the 1980s and built up the army's elite Republican Guard units, which spearheaded Iraq's 1980-88 war against Iran. He said he left Iraq because Saddam was more interested in defying the outside world than bringing about an end to the economic embargo imposed by the United Nations after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. The sanctions have led to severe shortages of food, medicine and other supplies in Iraq, although the elite, al-Majid said, was not affected. ter tottering off the last of the three hell ships in Japan. "You could see every blood vessel and artery that I had," he said.

"The biggest things about me were my hip bones and knees." He weighed 92 pounds, about the same as Harrelson. Each swears he wouldn't be alive today without the help of the other. Harrelson, from Alabama, and Beck, from Texas, both enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1940. After flight training, the young lieutenants were sent by ship to See HELL SHIPS, Page 12A "We were not being harmed in the leadership," he said. "But the people are suffering." He said he made his criticism plain to other members of Saddam's inner circle, in recent months, "but unfortunately no correction was made." Therefore, "we'll work to overthrow the existing regime through political and through military means," he told a news conference at King Hussein's al-Qasr Al-Sagheer palace.

Al-Majid also said he was willing to reveal secrets pertaining to Iraq's secret weapons program "if it is in the interest of Iraq." Al-Majid drove out of Iraq in a convoy with his brother, Col. Saddam Kamel al-Majid, and their wives, Raghad and Rana, both daughters of Saddam. His brother did not speak at the news conference. In Washington, a White House official said al-Majid's news conference "underscores the extent of Saddam's isolation." Speaking on condition of ano-See SADDAM, Page 18A TEP crews are working around the clock, but some customers Gonzales could not say how many may not get power restored until tonight. "It's a real slow process because it's just real scattered and spread out," he said.

"It's all over town." Friday evening's storm, a long-awaited break from an otherwise parched summer, was more than residents bargained for. Winds up to 76 mph ripped roofs off buildings, broken traffic See DAMAGE, Page 17A WEATHER Fading monsoon. The rainfall chance is a slight 20 percent today, with a high near 101 and an overnight low in the upper 70s also in the forecast. Yesterday's high was 93 and the low 72. Details, Pape 17A.

X-J- '-6 Tucsonans patch, clean after Friday's big storm iff t. ZZ. Teen births leap in state, but solutions die aborning By Ann-Eve Pedersen The Arizona Daily Star First of a four-day series Like the bulging belly of an expectant young mother, Arizona's teen pregnancy problem has reached the point where it's hard to hide. Arizona has the highest teen birth rate of any state in the country, according to a Kids Count report by a national child advocacy foundation. In the past 10 years, the state's teen birth rate has jumped by 28 percent.

Last year, the number of births per 1,000 teens between 15 and 19 was 83 compared with the most recent national rate of 62. But like a teen in denial, Arizona has done virtually nothing about the problem. "One of the reasons that Arizona's teen birth rates are so high is because we've paid so little attention to the problem," said state Sen. Ann Day, a moderate Tucson Republican who has pushed for teen pregnancy prevention. "Social programs and prevention are not big-ticket items in the state Legislature." Other states, including California, have launched full-scale media campaigns and abstinence-based programs in schools.

But Arizona is still mired in the family values and abortion debate, said Day, a former Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona board member. "Instead of discussing how we'll solve the problem, the issue always bogs down along ideological lines," she said. As state leaders quibbled, 10,858 girls under 20 had babies last year in Arizona. One of those girls, 15-year-old Rebecca An-tone, wishes she had known more before becoming pregnant After attending an "uninformative" sex education class in school, Antone continued having sex without using birth control. But had Antone who is raising an 8-month-old son known the hardships of being a teen mom, she would have been more careful, she said.

"I wouldn't want any other teen-ager to go through it because it's hard emotionally, it's hard See TEEN BIRTHS, Page 11A David Sanders, The Arizona Daily Star Ondrea says her son is a handful, but "there's nothing we can't handle" 13-year-old's hard lesson in life: 'You play, you pay' By Alexa Haussler The Arizona Daily Star About 1,000 Tucson-area residents remained without electricity yesterday after a rush-hour deluge killed one driver and left a widespread trail of damage Friday evening. Dozens of downed power lines left about 35,000 residents without power at the storm's peak, said Jay Gonzales, Tucson Electric Power Co. spokesman. It was the electrical utility's worst storm damage since the October 1983 floods, Gonzales said last night INDEX Wooing Perot's backers GOP looking for votes Republican presidential candidates present themselves before Ross Perot supporters and court the independent voters by depicting themselves as fellow revolutionaries trying to reduce the federal government's power. PagelA.

Accent. Books- 9G Home 16F Money, 1-6H was pregnant, but no one else. Especially not her mother. With the unblinking finesse of a fibbing teen-ager, Ondrea successfully deflected her mother's persistent questions. "She just kept telling me what I wanted to hear," said Diana Rose, a youthful-looking woman who, at 35, could easily pass as Ondrea's sister.

"It's just not what you think can happen to your 13-year-old daughter. Even if you know, you tell yourself it can't be." Months later, Rose could no longer deny the truth. She took Ondrea to get a pregnancy test and received the doctor's confirmation See ONDREA, Page 10A By Kristen Cook The Arizona Daily Star She was just 13. In junior high, years from a driver's license and even further from a place of her own. By her own admission, she was still a kid.

A pregnant kid. "I was so scared," recalled Ondrea Rose, now 16. "I thought, 'Can I take care of myself, let alone another It was very scary. A very lonely feeling." She and her 18-year-old boyfriend had used birth control a condom but it failed. As she continued to attend Tortolita Junior High School, Ondrea hid her changing body with baggy clothes.

She told her boyfriend she Movies 5G Classified -1-32 Cormnent 1-40 Crossword 8G Dear AM 3G Home 1-6E Noon to Moon 4G Obituaries 16A Sports 1-12C Travel 1-64 7 Ui50136l'00Q07'.