News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 1

FORT MYERS EDITION WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 3, 1990 FORT MYERS, FLORIDA 35 CENTS Lee approves airport plans Expansion off the groundIB Red Sox lose, lead by one Toronto stays alive1 Business news and stocks Futures markets6B-9B Partly cloudy High in lower 90s. Low in mid-70s. A 30 percent chance of rain.20A Bashaw is re-elected to Fort Myers council Lopez-Wolfe wins runoff Candidate credits educated voters for Lee victory By JOHN SHIFFMAN News-Press Staff Writer By BETTY PARKER News-Press Staff Writer INSIDE Earl Hamilton and Gary Giebels win their districts in the Cape Coral City Council primary 710B Jim Minter derailed former federal judge Alcee Hastings for the Democratic secretary of state nomination.11B Complete election results for state races and the region.10B "I had a good feeling throughout this campaign, but a small turnout can be dangerous," he said. "That's the part I worried about the most." Bashaw's biggest support came from precinct 48, where he lives.

There he received 301 votes, while Snelling got 1 33 and Higgins won 22. "We got on the phones this afternoon and called our strongest supporters," the councilman said. "My daughter must have made 200 calls." In precinct 46, where Snelling and Higgins live, Bashaw got 104 See BASHAW, back page this section election, Democratic incumbent Bill Fussell, said their upcoming race will continue to focus on issues. "I never looked at Bill Fussell as an opponent until today because I bad to concentrate on this election," said Lopez-Wolfe. "But I feel certain there will be no more negative personal attacks and that he'll run an upbeat, issue-oriented campaign." She plans to spotlight Fussell's voting record during his eight years as a commissioner.

"I know he's a good person, but there may be some votes there that a lot of people in Lee County differ with," she said. Fussell also reiterated his plans to avoid "this negative mudslinging" that arose periodically during the See RUNOFF, back page this section Richard Bashaw, buoyed by large support from his neighborhood precinct, swept Ward 4 with 60 percent of the vote Tuesday night to win reelection to the Fort Myers City Council. Bashaw received 540 votes. Thom Snelling, a site planner, garnered 264 ballots, or 29 percent of the total. Frank Higgins, a community activist, got 100 votes, or 1 1 percent.

Bashaw said the low voter turnout less than 25 percent had him a bit nervous early in the day. Educated voters who care about the issues were credited by Vicki Lopez-Wolfe for her solid victory in the Republican runoff for Lee County Commission Tuesday. With all 101 precincts counted, Lopez-Wolfe won her party's nomination with 8,888 votes or 57.3 percent over Paul Phillips, who gathered 6,625, or 42.7 percent. Lee County elections officials said the total turnout for the election which included the GOP county commission runoff, a Democratic runoff for that party's Secretary of State nominee and city elections in Cape Coral and Fort Myers was 24,426, or 1 6.5 percent of the county's 148,281 total eligible voters. Both Lopez-Wolfe and her opponent in the November rflMMDGff fltasai ODD (pDfi) E.

Germany: end of national identity East, West unite with party of the century By The Associated Press By The Associated Press GERMANY REUNITED j.t'v if- OX Jf i BERLIN East Germany spent a melancholy last day as a nation Tuesday before passing into history, leaving behind 40 years of communism and one brief, dizzy fling as a free country. 4 Bureaucrats emptied their desks and clasped hands in farewell, the first freely chosen Parliament held a wistful last meeting, and the chief government spokesman said he was looking for work. The museum devoted to the former nation's history laid off some workers and began closing departments. West Germany shut its embassy in a country now part of its own. East Germany's once-sacred Communist flag, a red, gold and black banner emblazoned with a hammer and drafting compass, was spread on sidewalks and sold as souvenirs.

Lawyers and bureaucrats, once among the powerful elite, stood in the last unemployment lines of an autonomous East Germany. East Germany would have been 41 years old on Sunday, but instead acceded to West Germany and transformed itself into just another five states of the mighty Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany. Phones rang at government offices Tuesday, but there was nobody home. "I hope for a new chance in the new Germany. I'm deeply moved by what has happened here," said Franz Jahsnowsky, a top Foreign Ministry official.

Jahsnowsky, who spoke in the ministry parking lot, was the former chief of diplomatic protocol for ousted Communist boss Erich Honecker. He said he is not optimistic about a role in the new German government. About 220,000 government workers nationwide automatically went into employment limbo. They will receive about 70 percent of their pay while West German officials decide how many to keep. Chief East German government spokesman Matthias Gehler would not hazard an estimate.

"I know I'm out of work," Gehler said. Some government workers may get jobs after the new BERLIN The two Germanys ended 45 years of division with a blaze of fireworks and the pealing of church bells today, declaring the creation of a new German nation in the heart of Europe. Near the ruins of Hitler's citadel in the city that symbolized the Cold War division of Europe, the German flag was hoisted to crown the dramatic rush to unify a Germany divided by World War II and the Communist Berlin Wall. Rockets burst in the sky over Berlin, illuminating the war-scarred Reichstag building and the Brandenburg Gate. The shower of fireworks also lighted the upturned faces of thousands of Germans, united in peace but troubled by the political and economic problems facing a united Germany.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl and other leaders stood in the glare of floodlights at the Reichstag and joined in singing the national anthem as a vast party occurred across the land of 78 million residents. Millions of Germans and a watching world joined the ceremony by television. Today was declared a national holiday, but late Tuesday police in Goettingen, 66 miles south of Hanover, reported 1,000 leftist protesters opposed to unification rampaged through the city. Authorities said the radicals broke store windows and chanted "Never Again Germany!" and "Nazis out!" In Berlin, police detained seven people who were caught with paint INSIDE The Soviet Union took credit for helping the two Germanys on the path to unification.14A A chronology of events leading up to German unity.14A The U.S. Senate committee passes the treaty ending the division of Germany.15A Experts say German unity will have a profound effect on America.16A and gas pistols.

Another man was arrested in the Kreuzberg district after a policeman was stabbed in the arm during a scuffle between police and about 500 youthful demonstra- See GERMANY, page 17A Associated Press Enthusiastic Germans celebrate under the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin Tuesday night, Just before East Germany and West Germany reunited. See IDENTITY, page 16A BllS'h asks U.S. Senate votes 90-9 to confirm Souter to back budget INSIDE A Secretary of State James Baker says nations have become more willing to consider military action against lraq.2A By The Associated Press By The Associated Press Congress confirmed this nomination. We think Judge Souter will be an I outstanding justice for many years. He will render many 1 ii iij mm Jr WS I 1 It i fit learned decisions." II 11 Fitzwater said Bush hoped to at- tend Souter's swearing-in.

1 7. Souter watched the proceedings WASHINGTON President Bush asked Americans IN SIDE A Drinking Tuesday night to support a demanding $500 billion pack-leads to death before age age of tax increases and spending cuts. "Everyone who 6575 A can should contribute something," the president said. Claiming rare unity with leaders of the Democratic- Ann Landers controlled congress, Bush said in a 10-mlnute televised Bridge 3D SpeeCh from the Oval Office that the package was written Business 6-9B in "eight months of blood, sweat and fears fears of the Classified 12-20B economic chaos that would follow if we fail to reduce the Comics 5D, 18B deficit." Crossword 5D, 16B "It is the best agreement that can be legislated now," Horoscopes 4D Bush said of the compromise. Lottery numbers 2A Bush's address from the Oval Office was nationally Movies 4D televised, but his message was primarily aimed 1 6 blocks Obituaries 5B awav: at Congress, where an initial vote on the plan may beheldasearlyasThursday.

srort9 Section Although the package generally has support among 2J eD Democrats, lawmakers from Bush's own party partlc- 1 'V: ularly in the House have balked at Its tax provisions. weather UA Bush himself had to abandon new taxes" pledge In Copyright 1990 The News-Press faceof thegrowlngdeficlt. A Gannett Newspaper WASHINGTON The Senate voted 90-9 Tuesday to confirm the nomination of Judge David H. Souter to the Supreme Court. The only dissenting votes came from liberals who fear he will oppose abortion rights.

The New Hampshire jurist was approved less than 2i2 months after he was tapped as President Bush's first nominee to the high court. It was too late put him on the court for the start of its session this week but, at age 51, he'll probably participate in Its rulings well Into the next century. The Supreme Court announced that Souter would be sworn In as the first Item of business this morning, At the White House, presidential spokesman Marlln Fltzwater said: "We're obviously very pleased that SOUTER from a friend's law office in Concord, N.H. Associated Press President Bush asks for support. "He's just exactly the kind of person with a broad background that we need on the Supreme Court," Sen.

Orrln Hatch, R-Utah, said as debate on the nomination began. "1 think he See SOUTER, back page this section "I'm not, and I know you're not, a fan of tax Bush said. "But if there have to be tax measures, they See BUSH, page 5A.