Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 1

STAR TR1B0RE QT--pArn FnmnM Rccclu'Jnna Salvador says gunrunner implicated CasoloIOD Stars lose 2-1 to Wings1 The governor's 1 mansion gots a vwr nt give ClOSe-uplOOk "-uyuraton3B I i i nn mm? SATURDAY December 91989 iermaim party Grand jury decides not to indict of ficer who killed two boys weirlhayls leadership Reformist in line to lead Communists INC IT I Teachers ratify contract, but anger remains Members of the Bloomington Federation of Teachers have approved a new contract raising salaries and benefits by an average of 1 1 .3 percent over two years. Teachers continued to voice anger over what they considered the board's intransigence at the bargaining table and particularly at the board's decision to hire replacements in the event of a strike. The vice chairwoman of the school board said later that board members now want to heal the wounds. Story on Page 3B. case to the grand jury, Robert Stan-ich and Mary Theisen, said the decision means either that the jurors thought Inver Grove Heights officer Kenneth Murphy was justified in using deadly force under the circumstances or that there was insufficient evidence to charge Murphy with a crime.

Grand jury deliberations are secret and juries typically do not give reasons for their decisions. While the families of the two St. Paul boys, Thai Yang and Ba See Lor, Jury continued on page 13A By Dennis Cassano, Conrad DeFiebre and Gary Harvey Staff Writers A Dakota County grand jury Friday declined to indict a police officer who killed two 13-year-old boys with a shotgun blast as they fled from a stolen car. The grand jury made its decision in about 30 minutes of deliberations after hearing about 30 witnesses in four days of testimony. The prosecutors who presented the Communists' last as the nation's ruling party.

The meeting began Friday evening, only hours after prosecutors charged former party leader Erich Honecker and five other top party officials with corruption and enriching themselves while in office. All but Honecker and one other were taken into custody; Honecker, 77, was "too ill to be questioned or jailed," the East German Arbitrators sottte- disputes between home buyers, sellers A R- 0 news agency ADN reported. Party spokeswoman Brigitte Zim-(nermann, briefing reporters on a closed door-session of the party's emergency congress, said Gysi, 41, was the only candidate for the post. Gysi has spoken out for sweeping political and economic reform and E. Germany continued on page ISA nine years, Daniel and Peder Lindberg transferred to Minneapolis' Southwest High School.

Their parents weren't unhappy with Catholic schools; on the contrary, they had been pleased with the boys' education. But it seemed time for a change. "Finances were part of it, but it was also time for them to experience life as it exists in all its diversity," Wil Vv Asteroid impact Ww' 1 in 6,000 Botulism Fireworks Tornados Airplane crash Electrocution 1 in 2 million 1 in 1 million 1 in 50,000 1 in 20,000 1 in 5,000 Firearms accidents 1 in 2,000 Homicide 1 in 300 Sources: Clark Chapman of Planetary Science Institute and David Morrison of NASA Star Tribune graphicDavid Silk defense, or at least warn people. Asteroids continued on page 12A hockey was 6 to 8 From News Services Berlin East Germany's embattled Communists today overhauled their leadership structure and proposed for the post of party chairman a reformist lawyer who has worked for the opposition, a party spokeswoman said. Gregor Gysi's name was put forward during a meeting that could be the Minority role set for Czech leaders Communists to step aside From News Services Prague, Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia stood on the verge of its first non-Communist government in more than 40 years Friday after the ruling party agreed to accept a minority role in a new national government.

"A new coalition will be formed," declared Communist Politburo member Vasil Mohorita, who represented his party at talks with other political groups. Echoed Vaclav Klaus, a negotiator from the opposition group Civic Forum: "We agreed on almost everything. You'll hear extraordinary things." Both men spoke as they emerged from nearly six hours of round-table negotiations that brought the Com munists and Civic Forum together for the first time with members of other political parties and other national organizations, including the traAc union movement. Half the top Cabinet posts will go to specialists with no party affiliation and the rest will be divided among the Communists and four smaller parties, a government spokesman The Communists conceivably "could end up with no more than six of 20 Cabinet posts. Participants in the meeting also indicated that the country's president, Qustav Husak, the last old guard Communist remaining in a senior, position, was expected to step down by the end of the weekend.

Staff Photo by Brian Peterson Blade runners Joe Pitzen, 14, and hit brother, Luke, 12, skated Friday on Gervais Lake in Little Canada. Both are members of youth may be thinner, so caution is In order for those who want to skate on nature's rinks. teams in Little Canada. The ice on Gervais Lake inches thick, but that on other Minnesota lakes City schools attracting students from private ones can compete with even prestigious private schools, it also illustrates the power of reputation and the impact of what friends and neighbors say. Several parents said neighborhood gossip about public-school programs, as well as a desire to save money, was what first interested them in switch- -ing.

Schools continued on page 10A liam Lindberg said recently. "So far I'm pleased. It seems right for us." Those transfers contribute to a seemingly contradictory trend: While Minneapolis schools have lost students to surrounding suburbs, they've gained pupils from parochial and private schools. St. Paul schools also appear to have gained students Czechs continued on page 14A After attending parochial schools for Beware of falling rocks from asteroid belt A crafty caper Record armored-car heist baffles police months later Almanac Saturday, December 9, 1 989 343rd day; 22 to go this year 7:39.

Sunset 4:32 .) Today's weather Partly cloudy with a high in the 30s. Shifting winds will peak at 15 to 25 miles per hour by noon. By Mary Jane Smetanka Staff Writer It was time for his boys to face the real world, William Lindberg decided last spring. No more uniforms, no all-encompassing rules, no more shelter in an overwhelmingly middle-class world. "But there probably is going to be an impact that could threaten the existence of civilization." There are about 1,000 asteroids a half-mile wide or larger that occasionally approach the Earth's orbit The locations of only about 100 of them are known, and any one of these large, uncharted asteroids could crash into the Earth with very little warning and end civilization.

Chapman and David Morrison, coauthor of the study and chief of NASA's space science divisiqn, called Friday at a meeting of scientists for an extensive effort to locate the uncharted asteroids and calculate their orbits so that Earth can mount a from nonpublic schools. Finances play a part, as do philosophic issues and, some parents say, the improving reputation of public schools. The enrollment shift also reflects a statewide decline in parochial school enrollment. While the trend shows that sufficiently attractive public-school programs a word, the largest heist in Minnesota history was over. The date was April 18.

The take was just less than $1 million. But what strikes FBI agents, more than the size of the take is the sophistication of the crime. "It's unusual in its magnitude and precision, not just here, but anywhere in the nation," said Al Garber, an FBI supervisor in charge of the investigation. "They're pros. They just Robbery continued on page 17A By Jim Dawson I Staff Writer San Francisco, Calif.

Add "Death by asteroid from space" to your personal list of possible tombstone inscriptions. Two noted space scientists have determined that each of us statistically, at least is more likely to be killed in a cataclysmic collision between the Earth and a large rock from space than of dying in an airplane crash, a tornado or several other forms of demise. "This is something people might not take seriously," said Clark Chapman, a planetologist with the Planetary -Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz. Index Comics 8-9E Obrtuertoe 6B Movtet 4-5E TV.RacHo 10E Complete Index 2A Telephones ijl Ctrcutatton 372-4343 StPeulrwwe 227-0866 Want Ads 372-4242 By Kevin Diaz StaffWriter There were no screeching tires or slamming doors, just the hum of an approaching car's engine. A blue Oldsmobile had come up behind the armored car in the parking lot of the First State Bank of Eden Prairie.

A gray van pulled in front-Three masked gunmen appeared. They carried M-I6 rifles, an Uzi submachine gun and a box that looked like a bomb. In less than a minute, almost without v. Copyright 1 989 Star Tribune Volume VlllNumber 249 7 sections.